Title: Visitors from the Future
Genre: General/Romance/Friendship
Rating:T
Pairings: Zero/Kaname
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Vampire Knights. It belongs to Hino Matsuri - I only borrow the characters from the series and use it in my own fic. However, I do own the three original characters featured in this story.
Author's Notes: Finally, it hits 100 reviews XD A very big thank you going out to those faithful reviewers, I really appreciate the reviews. ^__^ Again, credit going out to Craze_Izumi for selling her ideas to me and helping me out on the planning of this fic.
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Chapter 20 - Kaname, Zero and the Vampire Council, Part 1
"Daddy! We're here to visit you!"
The sudden sound of Akira Kuran's excited voice jarred Zero out from his thoughts, the injured guardian had been staring at the bottle of blood from Shizuka in a daze-like manner for the past thirty minutes. Zero had to admit he was indeed surprise to have the twins waited this long, before coming over for a visit. It had been two days since Kaname came by and dropped off the bottle of blood that belonged to Shizuka Hiou for his consumption, which he had yet to touch. For he was still somewhat hesitant about the idea of drinking it.
His logic had been urging him to drink the blood so as to prevent himself from the possibility of falling to 'Level E', but on the other hand, he was uncertain about the future. He had come this far and survived this long just for the sake of revenging his family, but now with Shizuka dead. The motive which had kept him alive thus far, had disappeared completely. So what could he possibly be doing, after ingesting the blood of Shizuka?
His twin, Ichiru had vanished after blaming him for the death of Shizuka Hiou and Ichiru's words had been circling around in his mind over the past few days. After giving it some consideration, he decided that Ichiru did have a reason to blame him for Shizuka's death. If only he had not weakened Shizuka significantly with his anti-vampire weapon, then Shizuka certainly would not be killed by Kaname Kuran, that easily.
The sheer thought of Kaname Kuran caused Zero to frown in confusion again, up until now he still had not come up with a possible reason to explain why Kaname had to kill Shizuka. Certainly, those blood cannot be the reason why Kaname Kuran killed Shizuka Hiou, right? He highly doubted Kaname would kill the pureblood female for his sake, so it must have been because of Yuuki. Probably Kaname was angered by how Shizuka had intended to make use of Yuuki, that resulted in Kaname's decision to kill. Zero thought, what he does not know was that Shizuka had practically provoked Kaname into killing her by threatening to harm Subaru and himself. That, combined with her making use of Yuuki pushes the dark haired pureblood over the edge and thus ended up killing her.
"Daddy!! Are you listening to me?! " Akira's loud protests snapped Zero out from his train of thoughts, drawing him back into reality.
"Sorry Akira ... I was pre-occupied, what did you just say? " Zero apologized to the younger boy, as he responded.
"... Never mind, I was just complaining about Subaru's hesitancy at coming over to visit you. " Akira mumbled aloud, before darting his eyes towards the doorway where the other boy stood awkwardly and uneasily with a guilty expression on his features.
"Daddy, how are you feeling today? " Subaru's voice questioned tentatively from the doorway, trying his hardest to avoid looking at the silver-haired teen.
"Subaru, I'm fine. Why are you standing in the doorway and not coming in? " Zero asked, as he frowned upon sighting the guilty expression on the silver-haired child's features.
Silence was the only response which Zero had gotten from the guilty boy, and instead it was Akira whom responded on behalf for Subaru. "Daddy ... Subaru's guilty because he thought it was because of him, that you are now injured ... "
Unlike Subaru, the younger twin was exceptionally at ease and was making himself comfortable in Zero's room within the Chairman's residence. Due to his injury, he had once again being forced to stay and recuperate in the Chairman's residence instead of heading back to the Sun Dormitory.
"And what about you, Akira? " Zero asked, directing his question to the younger boy. For he found Akira's reaction to his injury too calm, and he thought it strange as it was usually Akira that snapped before Subaru does. However, it seems that this time around their reactions varied too much from one another.
The dark-haired boy blinked twice, before turning around to face his Daddy as he responded with solemnity. "To be frank with you, Daddy ... I am not happy with the fact that you've injured yourself just for the sake of calming Subaru down. However, I cannot reversed the situation as what had already happened cannot be undone. Therefore, I am just going to make the best out of the current situation and that is, to remain optimistic. You might thought it strange that I didn't come running to you, after feeling Subaru's power going out of control since it wasn't anything that occurred on a daily basis.
In actuality, I did thought about checking out the situation for myself when I felt Subaru's power spinning out of control but I did not because I know you will be able to get Subaru to calm himself down. Besides, I know if I were to go running to you after feeling Subaru's power going haywire, you would ended up having to calm two distressed boys instead of the initial one. That would do you more harm than good, and despite how I may have acted at times. I still have some common sense in me, and in addition Aunt Seiren was keeping a close watch on me. I honestly doubt that I could sneak off that easily, with her watching me like a hawk. "
Zero stared at Akira, open-mouthed and in shock. Of all the possible things he had thought the boy would be saying to him, this was certainly not what he had been expecting.
"... Daddy, close your mouth or you would be catching flies in there. I know what you are thinking, but honestly give me some credit. Will you? Although, I may not have acted like it but I am still a Kuran, alright? Besides, I believe Subaru need your comfort more than I do, at this point of time. " Akira Kuran stared up at his stunned Daddy, as he commented dryly.
The night when Akira felt his twin brother's power going out of control, he had a feeling that something must had happened to their 'Daddy'. For he knew, nobody but their Daddy have the capability to make that usually calm and collected twin brother of his to lose control like that. Then when Akane returned with the guilty and distressed twin brother of his, the dark expression on his adopted sister's face stopped him from asking anything in detail. If it had been any other days, he might have pressed the former for an answer but he was definitely not going to try anything of that sort on that night. Not when his twin sibling was already emotional to start with, and that Akane's mood was not faring too well either.
Nonetheless, that did not stop him from snooping around for details. Over the past few days, he had somehow managed to discover just what exactly had happened on that night when he scented his daddy's blood being spilled twice within an hour, and felt his twin brother's powers going out of control. He had found things out when he eavesdropped on a conversation between Akane and Takuma Ichijo, when the duo were conversing about the events that occurred that night within the privacy of Akane's room. His first reaction then had been anger, but the raw feeling of rage subsided and gave way to logic soon enough. After all, it was no use for him to get angry over something which had already happened. For it would do nothing to change the situation, and therefore he told himself to try acting normal and pretending that nothing had ever happened.
Unfortunately, even while he could act as though he was still oblivious to the happenings. Subaru could not, and therefore he ended up having to assure his distressed brother several times a day that their 'Daddy' would be alright. Still, it failed to stop Subaru from guilt and blaming himself for their daddy's injury. For the days that followed, Subaru started to get hesitant about visiting their 'Daddy' but yet was deeply concerned with the silver-haired hunter's condition as well.
In the end, Akira had to drag Subaru over with him when their father had finally gave them the permission to visit the recuperating silver-haired guardian, this morning.
"... " Zero sighed inwardly, as he make his way over to the doorway and pull the boy in for a hug. He was apparently still limping, but thankfully he was no longer bleeding. Otherwise, Subaru's guilt level would be brought up another notch instead of being lowered.
---
During which period of time whereby Zero was busy comforting Subaru. Akira had somehow gotten his hands upon the bottle of red liquid that was sitting innocently on his Daddy's bedside table and had decided to figure out just what exactly that red liquid was. He was shaking the bottle around trying to decipher just what exactly was within the bottle, when his Daddy's voice calling out for his attention startled him so bad that he dropped the bottle of red liquid in shock.
Silence reigned, as the sound of the bottle breaking rendered Zero immobile for a minute before he recovered from the shock. Akira blanched, hoping that he had not break anything valuable.
"I'm sorry, Daddy ... I didn't mean to drop the bottle, its' just that your voice startled me so bad that I lose my grip on it. " Akira apologized as he bend over the broken fragments of the bottle and tried to clean up the mess with his hands.
"Akira, its' fine. Leave it, and don't touch it. The fragments are sharp and you could end up injuring yourself if you're not careful. I'll take care of them later. " Zero said, as he stopped the younger boy from cleaning up the mess created from the destruction of the bottle that contains Shizuka's blood. Deciding that maybe he was just not meant to be saved, Zero merely shrugged nonchalantly as though Akira had just broke something that could be replaced easily.
Kaname Kuran had been waiting outside for the twins patiently, having just emerged from a discussion with the Chairman about the issue about what to do with Maria Kurenai when he heard the sound of something breaking within the room. Initially, he had wanted to cast the issue off easily, but when he scented Shizuka's blood in the air. Kaname knew it was the sound of the blood bottle breaking that he had heard previously, and decided that it was perhaps time for him to step in for some damage control.
Upon his entrance into the room, Kaname knew instantly that it was Akira whom had broken the bottle and not Zero. For a while, he thought of disciplining the boy but before he could get a word out, Zero intervened.
"It's alright. " Zero started, trying his best to sound unaffected by the incident before Kaname could penalized the boy for breaking the bottle of Shizuka's blood.
Kaname Kuran stared at the silver-haired hunter for a second, before addressing the two boys in the room. "Subaru, Akira ... go outside and wait for me. Regardless of what you hear later, do not attempt to enter the room or else ... "
"... " The twins shared a look among themselves before scurrying out of the room, to give their young parents some privacy. They knew their father had in mind to do something to their daddy, which would be unsuitable for kids like them to witness. However, knowing their parents' there would be some verbal arguments before anything else were to happen or it could be just that their father does not enjoyed the idea of being interrupted by them.
After all, the last time Akira walked in on the two young adults, it had resulted in their Daddy slapping their Father on the cheek out of embarrassment.
"You're lying." Kaname stated, as soon as the twins were out of ear-shot.
Zero bristled upon Kaname's words, as he threw back a sharp retort. "I don't get what you are trying to say, and just what exactly are you trying to do by chasing the twins out? "
"By forcing the blood down your throat if I absolutely have to. If only, you'd just drink Shizuka's blood without so much hesitancy then I probably would not have to resort to such extreme measures. However, I should probably be thankful that I had the insight to separate the amount of her blood into two separate bottles, just in case you happened to smash the first bottle into bits and pieces. " Kaname responded, his voice even and smooth as he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out another similar bottle that contained the same amount of blood in the smashed bottle.
Thankfully, the amount of blood supplied by Shizuka had been rather generous. The amount was more than sufficient to keep a 'Level D' sane and free from insanity. Only a mouthful of the master's blood was enough to keep any ex-human sane, so why did Shizuka went to the extent of giving him a full bottle of blood? That, he do not understand but now he was exceptionally glad that Shizuka had given him more than enough blood to let him separate them into two portion. He had then give the first bottle to Zero, while keeping the other bottle himself as a form of precaution.
After all, there was no guarantee that the silver haired hunter would not smashed the bottle upon sighting it. Therefore, Kaname figured that it would be better to be safe than to be sorry, later on in time. Deciding that he should simply just take the matters into his own hands, lest Zero destroyed the only chance of survival by damaging the only other bottle of Shizuka's blood on hand. Kaname decided to take a page out of Akane's books, and force the blood down the silver-haired hunter's throat in the exact same manner as the girl had been seen using previously.
Zero, on the other hand, was staring wide-eyed at Kaname as the former pulled another bottle of Shizuka's blood out from the pant's pocket. As the pureblood started heading for him with determination, Zero felt himself stiffening for he was suddenly reminded of a certain memory whereby Akane had headed for him in a similar manner only to force-fed him with the blood of a future Ichijo.
'... No way, please tell me that guy is not thinking about doing the same ...' Zero thought inwardly to himself, as his eyes widen upon the sight of Kaname removing the bottle cap before the content of the bottle was emptied by the pureblood.
"Shit!" was the only word which he could get himself to utter before he felt his mouth being claimed by the former, again. This was the second time that he had been subjected to a kiss that was being forced upon his lips by the pureblood, only this time around the former was trying to feed and kiss him, doing both things at once.
Upon the first taste of Shizuka's blood on his taste buds, Zero felt the logic and common sense in him forsaking him in a flash of light. The blood of the female pureblood tasted awfully sweet, and despite the annoyance that Zero had felt in response to that particular notion. Zero still felt himself craving for more of that woman's blood.
Maybe, it was due to the lure of his blood-lust or it might just be the fact that the blood of a pureblood vampire always had an alluring effect to the other lower ranking vampires by nature. Somehow, Zero found himself responding to the kiss of Kaname Kuran unknowingly as he darted his tongue out and into Kaname's mouth, exploring and taking in the remaining blood of Shizuka that still lingers in the mouth of the former's greedily and passionately.
Upon feeling the response of Zero's tongue darting into his mouth, Kaname felt himself shuddering against his will. Part of him was shock at the response he was receiving from the silver-haired hunter, whereas another part of him wanted to moan with pleasure as he felt Zero's lengthened fangs brushing past the flesh of his tongue in estacy. Yet, at the same time he felt a slight annoyance towards the silver-haired hunter for he knew - it was Shizuka's blood that spurs the former into kissing him. If it was not for the fact that he had been feeding Zero with the remaining portion of Shizuka's blood by force, the silver-haired hunter would never be caught kissing him, at all.
The kiss ended almost immediately once the silver-haired hunter realized just what exactly had he been doing. With cheeks flaming red and flushing from both stark horror and embarrassment, Zero forced himself to pull away from the pureblood while keeping his eyes away from the former, opting to stare at the ground with intensity instead.
Inwardly, Zero was so flustered that he wanted so much to just hide himself away from the world's detection for the days that follow. He was born and raised to be a hunter, and yet here he was obviously enjoying a kiss that was being forced upon him by another vampire. Not only was he enjoying the kiss, he was responding to it as well with passion, at that. He had no idea what was worse, the 'kiss' between Kaname and himself or was it the fact that he actually craved for the blood of Shizuka Hiou, whom he used to hate.
Not knowing how to react to the pureblood's presence, Zero started to speak. "Get out ..."
Kaname was more than willing to comply to the silver-haired hunter's request this evening, after all, his motive for coming over today had been accomplished. He had managed to get Zero to ingest the blood of Shizuka Hiou, thus putting a stop to that possibility of the former falling to the realm of insanity for good.
The fact that Zero had responded to the kiss was good enough to him for the time-being, despite the fact that it was partly due to the former's desire for Shizuka's blood that resulted in the 'kiss' being reciprocated. After all, he had confidence in himself for the capturing of the fellow hunter's heart given time. Besides, he prided himself to be a man with patience.
Kaname was half-way out of the door, when he heard the hunter speaking up again. "Take the twins with you as you leave, they can come back again tomorrow if they want. For now, I wished to be left alone ... "
There was no need for Kaname to respond, for the twins had already heard Zero's words from their position outside the room. Thus, they understood and had obeyed the silver-haired hunter's request for them to leave with their younger father without kicking up a fuss.
---
Following the departure of the twins and Kaname Kuran, Zero allowed himself to drop wearily onto the foot of his bed. Closing his eyes for a moment to calm himself down, as he was still blushing madly with mortification over his previous actions. Zero slowly replayed the events that had transpired over the past hour and sighed aloud in weariness.
"What the hell am I supposed to do now? " He could not helped but asked himself.
With the ingestion of Shizuka's blood into his own, he knew he was already saved from the fate of falling into insanity. Still, his future remained questionable for he had absolutely no idea what he should be doing in the near future that was to come in time. For years, he had survived on the idea of taking revenge upon Shizuka Hiou and that one of these days, his life would be ended due to his 'fall' into 'Level E'. Therefore, he had never really given his future much thoughts before today. Since the idea of ingesting Shizuka's blood had never did crossed his mind before, and he had always assumed that he would die with Shizuka while trying to kill the former. Thus, the idea of having a future had never did crossed his mind prior to the recent events.
Even with the trio arrival several weeks ago, he still remained skeptical about the whole issue of him having a future together with the pureblood - Kaname Kuran. True, he admitted the fact that he might felt something that's akin to attraction towards the former now, and that he was very much aware of the former's lust towards him at this point of time. Still, it did nothing to change the fact that there would be Yuuki to consider. Yuuki had been his first friend since he was turned by Shizuka, and therefore he does not want to hurt the girl unnecessarily.
Furthermore, there was the fact that Yuuki had been Kaname's rightful fiancee and that Kaname's past actions had made it perfectly clear to him that the pureblood was in love with Yuuki. Although, it was rather obvious that the pureblood did felt something for him now, Zero knew the feeling would never surfaced or arises if the trio had not turned up and let them in on the possibility of them being together in the distant future.
In any case, the engagement between Kaname and Yuuki would need to be resolved before anything else could happen between them but Zero knew, the engagement issue probably would not be resolved until a later stage of time whereby the suppressed memory of Yuuki started to re-surface and make itself known again. Until then, nothing much could be done except to wait.
The lingering scent of Shizuka's blood reminded Zero of the need to clean up the mess which Akira had created earlier on in time. With a shake of his head, Zero started to head for the attached bathroom and emerged soon after with a rag cloth and a bucket of water. During which process, he realized that he was no longer limping. That caused him to frown in annoyance, for the now fully healed injury had served to remind him again of the fact that he was no longer a human, but a vampire. At the same time, it also clued him on the fact that the blood of a pureblood vampire does seems to work better and faster than the blood of a noble.
While Zero was working on removing the stain of Shizuka's blood on the flooring of his room situated within the Chairman's residence, Yuuki was conducting one of her usual routine inspection round about the school. Akane, on the other hand, was working on a school project with Sayori in the school's library. Although, it was now officially the time of lesson for the night-class students and that the day-class students were strongly urged to return to their own dormitory building to continue their work on the project. The two girls were given special permission to stay around longer by the Chairman himself, providing that they lock up the library after their usage.
Initially, when Akane brought up the suggestion to the Chairman, Kaien Cross had frowned over the request. However, he relented when Akane brought up the valid point that neither of them would be able to work on the project if they were to remain in their respective dormitory once evening comes around. For Akane resided with the vampires in the Moon Dormitory, and Sayori with the humans within the Sun Dormitory for girls. Seeing no other options available, the Chairman had agreed reluctantly to grant Sayori the permission to stay on in school for an extended period of time, until the final term project for the year was completed and submitted to the teacher-in-charge.
Besides, what could possibly go wrong? Sayori was well-known for her sensibility, and would never go around trying to attract the attention of the night-class members and being a friend of Yuuki, Kaname would keep it in mind that nobody from the night-class would tried to harm the girl. In addition to Kaname's supervision of the night-class students, the Chairman knew what Akane was capable of doing if they were to be ambushed by any members of the night-class. Not that anyone would dared to attempt something of that sort, since anyone whom attempted to mess with Akane would have to answer to both the President and the Vice-President of the Moon Dormitory.
Aidou Hanabusa, on the other hand, was skipping out on his regular class with his cousin in tow. The duo had been conversing among themselves outside, when they sensed a group of approaching vampires intruding on the academy's grounds.
At the same point of time, Kaname turned towards the rest of his classmates and said. "I have a favor to ask from everyone of you here ... "
Everyone within the night class stood, and turned towards their leader as they responded with utmost respect. "Its' our pleasure to be able to serve under you, Kaname-sama. "
Takuma was beaming; Rima and Shiki nodded to Kaname's words. Only Ruka was frowning, but still she refrained herself from commenting otherwise on Kaname's actions. Instead, she only expressed her concerns on what the council might do in response to their intervention upon the situation. Kaname only responded by telling her to trust his judgement, while staring at the blonde female vampire in expectation.
Eventually, Ruka caved and gave in to the pureblood's request and thus the whole night class left the classroom and headed for the direction where they sensed their intruders heading for.
"So what are we going to do now, Hanabusa? " Akatsuki questioned, as he glanced over at his cousin for a response.
However, before the blue-eyed blond vampire could respond. The duo were interrupted by the sound of someone calling out for their attention from above, the two of them had been standing directly under the window of the day-class library building. They had thought the area to be deserted by then, what they had not been expecting was that there were still people staying within the said building.
"Akatsuki! Duck!"
"What the hell ...?! " Akatsuki uttered aloud, as he leaped out of the way to avoid himself being hit by something or rather someone.
"Bloody hell, Akane! Are you trying to murder me?! " Akatsuki complained aloud, once he realized that the person whom had jumped from the third storey was none other than one of their time-traveling guest from the future.
"I apologized, but I did shouted a warning to you. Didn't I? " Akane responded, as she pulled herself up into a standing position after landing safely onto the ground level.
"... " Akatsuki fought the urge to roll his eyes at the girl's words, and was about to come back with a sharp retort of his own when he realized that his cousin's attention was no longer upon him. Instead, the blond was now glaring heatedly at a day-class girl whom had just exited from the library building looking exceptionally at ease.
"Wakaba Sayori! What the hell are you doing, staying out this late? Wasn't it already time for curfew, several minutes ago?! " Aidou gritted out in frustration, upon sighting the girl on campus at this late of time. He had no idea why, but somehow he felt himself fearing for the girl's safety for being out alone at night. Despite the fact that he knew the girl was more than likely to be able to defend herself, if anyone of the night-class members attempted to attack her for blood. Still, the knowledge did nothing to stop him from worrying and frowning over the issue.
"What else could I be doing here in the library, except to do the project that was supposed to be due in another week's time with Akane? " Sayori responded, calmly as she stared up into those attractive blue eyes of the blond vampire. For a moment, she nearly loses herself in those sparkling blue orbs but she managed to pull herself back in time. It would do no good for her to be caught staring into the eyes of a vampire, in a daze-liked manner. Especially, at this point of time whereby she had something else that requires her attention on her mind.
"... Can't you do the project during the day? "
"Impossible, the project are supposed to be done and completed outside of class hours. "
"Then why can't it be done over the weekends? "
"Possible, but this coming weekend neither Akane nor myself could meet up and finalized the project. She had something on, and I have something personal to settle over the weekend too. " Sayori responded, patiently as she tried to ignore the silent vibration of the phone in her skirt's pocket.
"Well then, in that case I'll be in charge of escorting you back to your dormitory every night, until your project with Akane was completed and send in for grading. " Aidou responded, proclaiming himself to be Sayori's personal escort while the girl was out wandering alone at night on school grounds.
"Suit yourself then ... not that it would matters to me much. " Sayori responded, nonchalantly as she took a step forward and headed towards the direction of the Sun Dormitory.
"Was it just me or ... did Aidou just show concern for someone else aside from Kaname-sama? " Akane found herself questioning aloud, as she jabbed the stunned cousin of Aidou Hanabusa with her elbow.
However, there was no response from the commonly known 'Wild-Senpai' for Akatsuki Kain was too stunned for words. This was the first time he had seen Hanabusa talking to a human girl that seriously, usually the blond flirts with them instead of talking to them. Not only that, his cousin was frustrated with a day-class girl being out after curfew and that never happened before. In the past, when they came across any day-class girls whom stayed out after curfew. Hanabusa would start to flirt with them and teased them mercilessly, until the guardians comes along and lectured them on their doings. After which, it would proceeded on to a verbal disagreement between Kiryuu and his cousin.
Now his cousin was showing frustration, and the frustration was brought up by the hidden concern that Akatsuki had sensed hidden underneath the depth of Hanabusa's heart. The others may not have realized it, but he most certainly did. Having being Hanabusa's cousin, and spending most if not all of his childhood days in the blond's presence. He could now read his cousin's feelings and emotions like an open book. Hence, he knew Hanabusa was attracted towards the human girl in more ways than one, and that his cousin was actually trying to hide the little detail from everyone's view. With an inward sigh, he could only hoped that his cousin knew what he was getting himself into by getting attracted to a mere human girl.
"Come on, let's go ... leave him alone. If he wants to play bodyguard and escort to some day-class girls, he's more than welcome to try. " Akatsuki muttered aloud, as he started to depart from the area.
In the meantime, Yuuki's eyes scanned her surrounding area warily. Somehow, the area that she was patrolling just now gave her the creeps. There was something in the air that felt strange to her, and she thought she had saw shadows moving around this part of the school and that was why she had ventured over to inspect the area in detail.
"Excuse me, little girl ... Is this the Cross Academy? " Someone spoke up from behind her, causing Yuuki to nearly stumble and fell from shock.
"So what if it is? " Yuuki shot back in defiance as she pulled out her Artemis rod in defense, there was something about this man's aura that reminded her awfully of the vampires. However, she failed to understand the reason why the Vampires are intruding on the school grounds.
"Oh? So you are a guardian too? In that case, would you be so kind to let me know the whereabouts of the male guardian of the school? " The unknown vampire said, as he smiled creepily down at Yuuki causing the girl to shudder involuntarily.
~to be continued~
Date started: 04/06/09
Date completed: 06/06/09
Date edited: 06/06/09