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: In which, there are finally some real KanZe moments. Hopefully, not too ooc… I figured they are both not the type to show much romantic actions … but one could think it in this manner, something 'good' to last them for the 3 weeks of separation. Not a lot of twins' actions in this one… I'll try to make it up somehow in the end chapter of next chapter. Anyway, without further ado – enjoy!
Chapter 26 – Whereby the Vacation Starts…
Final exams for the school year was over in a flash of lights, and following the end of the examination period marks the start of the Winter Term Break for the students of the Cross Academy. For both the students from Day-Class and Night-Class, they will be requested to head back to their respective homes for the term break while the school would then closed for about three weeks to carry out some regular maintenance work on the academy grounds.
Ever since the 'talk' in the woods with a certain pureblood, the silver-haired guardian found himself observing his partner's reaction towards the night-class members during the class change-over time. Yuuki could not have been more obvious with the way she was feeling awkward around Kaname, with the way her eyes always had a tendency to stray whenever the pureblood came into her vision range. And the funniest thing is – she had thought that neither he nor the pureblood him-self had noticed her uncomfortable stance during the routine class-change over time.
On the last day of class for the day-class students, Zero had skipped out the morning lessons and only waltz into the classroom an hour before lunch break. A quick glance around the classroom notify him the absence of a certain sandy-haired girl – Kiryuu Akane, currently going by the alias of being his distant relative when in actual fact, was his future adopted daughter.
No doubt, Akane was trapped in the Moon Dormitory placating the two boys whom were relatively upset about the need to be separated with their 'Father Dearest' for a period of 3 weeks. During last night's dinner over at the Chairman when the twins first heard of the issue, they were greatly upset – even the usually obedient Subaru and that surprised Zero a great deal.
When he had called up Akane at a later point of time to check things out, the girl had claimed the twins had taken to stick by Kaname for the rest of the evening showering the said pureblood with all the questions in the world pertaining to why they couldn't spend the vacation together as a family and instead would have to be separated. Now with the moment of the departure nearing, Zero could only hoped that the pureblood had managed to placate those boys of theirs to let him leave the academy in peace.
"Neh… Yuuki-chan, do you have anything planned for the vacation?" Two day-class girls approached the female guardian and asked.
"Eh… not exactly…" Yuuki replied, seeing as she was the adopted daughter of the Chairman – there was no need for her to leave campus after the school closes for the term break. The same could be said for Zero, so most probably this vacation would just be like any other ones that they had had before.
"Then… do you want to perhaps help us out in the task of setting up microscopic cameras within the building of the Moon Dormitory?" One of the girls suggested boldly, and although the words uttered were in the form of a whispering tone – Zero still managed to catch wind of it, just fine.
"Good morning, Zero…" Yuuki started weakly, sweat-dropping upon the sight of the two girls fleeing the site as soon as they noticed the silver-haired guardian standing behind them with the usual mask of annoyance.
"It's already noon." Zero commented dryly, before beckoning for Yuuki to follow him in his lead.
"Eh… Zero, where are we going?" Yuuki asked when she realized that they were heading towards the direction of the Moon Dormitory.
"Our last duty for the month or at least until the new term starts – all the night-class members are going to pack up and leave for home. We, as the school guardians, are supposed to supervise their departure and send every one of them off safely. I thought you knew that?" The silver-haired guardian stated, plainly before throwing a questioning look over his shoulders at the girl whom had paused in mid-steps.
"…I'd forgotten about it." The chocolate haired girl muttered aloud, as she fought the urge to face palm herself.
"…" Zero was speechless, usually he was the one whom hardly cared and preferred to skip out on his guardian duties. Normally, Yuuki is the one being extremely enthusiastic about it all – but today, she actually forgotten about her supposed duties? Is she really that bothered by Kaname's actions taken on that day after the party towards her? Zero wondered.
Outside of the Moon Dormitory building, Takuma Ichijo was enthusiastically instructing for his family servants that had came by to pick him up to move his precious belongings back home for him. Yuuki and Zero took a look at the number of boxes to be shifted out from the Dormitory and sweat-dropped in unison – no wonder Akane had said that this guy started packing up for the vacation since two weeks ago.
According to Akane, 80 percent of Ichijo Takuma's luggage happens to be mangas to be shipped home and only 20 percent of it was clothes for the said vampire. His belongings were said to be the most among the night-class members, with the way he was instructing for his family servants to shift his belongings – one would have thought he was moving house instead of going back home for a 3 weeks vacation of sort.
On the other side of the foyer, a certain blue eyed blond vampire was fidgeting about as he glances around the vicinity uneasily while his own family servants' packed his luggage into the car trunk. Zero left the supervision duty to Yuuki, while he busied himself with the surveying of the surrounding area. He could easily hear the cheerful green eyed vampire teasing Aidou about loosening up and assuring the former that their resident pureblood leader would definitely go and visit the Aidou during the vacation period, because the idea of teasing Aidou was too fun for them all to pass up – resulting in the blond aristocrat's anger towards the former.
"A-ra? Kiryuu-kun, Yuuki-chan! How are you today?" Ichijo Takuma, whom had enough of poking fun at Aidou then shifted his attention towards the two guardians and greeted them with a bright smile on his face.
"… You aren't on sugar high, are you?" Zero asked before he could stop himself, and thus ended up two sets of eyes staring at him in surprise.
"Zero…" Yuuki's mouth was twitching uncontrollably, whereas Takuma Ichijo's eyes were dancing with amusement.
"Oh my… how did you know that?" Takuma Ichijo responded a bright smile on his face as he regarded the cool and usually aloof silver-haired guardian.
If Yuuki was only surprised by Zero's odd remark from before, she is now absolutely speechless by the green eyed vampire's response. Since when did Zero's relationship with the said vampire are this good – to be joking around?!
"…You are behaving like Akira usually did when he was given candies." Zero stated, without batting his eyelid.
"Oh… am I?" The green eyed blond aristocrat member mused aloud, while he thought is that the impression he was always giving out to the others?
"Where are the twins?" Zero then questioned, after realizing that the twins were nowhere in sight and the same could be said about Akane as well.
"Aa… they're with Kaname, most likely doing last minute check on the windows lock and all." The Vice-President of the Moon Dormitory responded.
There was a moment of silence, until the distinctive yell of the word 'Daddy!' broke the peace surrounding them. Then out came the twins barreling towards the silver-haired hunter – more like Akira barrel out with Subaru trailing behind the younger twin at a more sedated pace.
Akane followed suit, and the last to exit the Moon Dormitory was none other than Kaname Kuran – himself. Seeing as he has to be the one locking up everything, and finally when he reaches the guardians – Yuuki started to reach for the keys to the now vacant dormitory building in hesitation.
"… Yuuki, you do not have to dwell over that incident so much – I know you meant what you said the other day and that's good enough for me already." With that said, Kaname proceeded to pat Yuuki in a reassuring manner on the girl's head before shifting his glance to Zero.
"Kaname, we are leaving already – are you coming yet?" Takuma asked, voicing out on behalf of the other members already seated in the car.
"I'm coming, in another five minutes." Kaname told his childhood friend, then turning to Yuuki and requesting for the girl to take her leave first.
"Eh…?" Yuuki flickered her gaze between the two male figures, before bowing and take her leave hastily.
"… Come along boys, we will head over to grandpa Cross first." Akane started as soon as Yuuki left the site, and dragging the two boys along while she provide some privacy for the two males that is still standing unmoving from their initial position.
"…"
"Out with it already – you have your whole group of supporters awaiting your presence outside. Whatever you want to say, keep it short – you previously told Ichijo to give you another 5 minutes, and already you've wasted 3 minutes of it." Zero kindly reminded the pureblood in front of him.
"Well… there's no other ways of saying this, but although its' only a period of 3 weeks. Do try to refrain from injuries, will you?" Kaname finally opened his mouth to speak; only the words that tumble forth from his lips – caused the silver-haired guardian to feel like punching him in the gut.
"Excuse me but I don't always injured my-self – okay?! That sounds more like Yuuki's style of doing things!" The silver-haired teen huffed in annoyance.
"Alright… I'll amend what I said then. Do take good care of yourself and also of the boys, keep an eye out on Yuuki and Akira – especially Yuuki she had a knack of landing herself in trouble. Akane, I'm not so worried about – she's old enough to take care of herself. You, on the other hand, I'm not going to order you anything because I know you never obey them. All I'm asking of you is to keep yourself safe from injuries if you really have the need to accept missions from the association, also remember to feed when necessary." Kaname Kuran said, listing down the number of things for Zero to take note of causing the said hunter to roll his eyes in response.
"Are you quite done with the instructions yet?" Zero asked, pointedly while tapping his feet against the ground with mild irritation. The pureblood was behaving too much like a long-winded parent, that half-irritate and half-amused the ex-human in this situation, because Zero was trying his hardest to fight a grin that is threatening to form on his lips.
"Yes, just this one more things to do then I will be done." With that said Kaname Kuran reached forward and pulled the silver-haired hunter in for a hug – at the same time planting a friendly peck onto the hunter's cheek.
"What the …!" Zero fumed, as he felt himself flushing a deep crimson after being subjected to a friendly peck by the pureblood on his cheeks. Reacting on sheer instincts, Zero did the first thing that came to mind – attempting to send kick to the pureblood only to find him-self kicking the air.
Apparently, Kaname had made full use of his vampire's speed and promptly remove himself from Zero's attack range once he managed to place a kiss on the irate ex-human's cheek. Laughing jovially, the pureblood grabbed his suitcase and left the area heading outside where the rest of the noble-class vampires awaited his arrival.
Zero glared at the departing figure of Kaname Kuran, as he punched the bark of a nearby tree in order to vent off some agitation.
"Damn you, Kuran! Why the hell did you have to go and do that?!" Zero fumed silently to himself as he felt his cheeks still flushed from the earlier intimate act instigated by that infuriating pureblood. Granted, the deed was performed when there was no one in sight but still it do nothing to soothe the embarrassing feeling arising in him.
Horror flooded through him when he realized he had actually found the pureblood's earlier actions 'nice and sweet', and immediately Zero banged his head against the tree bark this time around.
"Good lord… I'm doomed." Zero muttered aloud once he realized he was indeed smitten by the pureblood's acts, inwardly he was thankful that his master was not around to witness how he had reacted earlier on to the peck which the pureblood had managed to plant onto his cheeks while he let his guards down.
'Come on… get a grip on yourself, it's just a friendly peck on the cheeks not a kiss on the lips – stop blushing already!' Zero willed himself mentally as he commanded his inner self to snap out of that love struck teen mode and get back to his usual cold and unfeeling mode.
A loud shrill ringing jolt the teen back into reality, holding a hand to his swelling forehead – Zero slide his other free hands into the back of his uniform's pocket and withdrew a slim silver gadget out from it.
"What is it now?" He asked into the receiver, only to snap it shut within 1 minute of the talk time. His mind only registers one thing – that is, 'Maria Kurenai is awake!' Promptly, and immediately Zero turned on his heels and made his way towards the infirmary ward where they had stationed the unconscious night-class transfer student after Shizuka Hiou withdraw her soul from it and return to her own body after which.
It has been nearly a month after Shizuka's death by Kaname's hand – and Zero had nearly forgotten all about the existence of Maria Kurenai if the Chairman did not think of calling him to inform of the student's awakening – approximately one minute ago.
Stopping momentarily, Zero send a text message towards Akane informing the girl of the issue and claimed that he will be late – entrusting the twins into her capable hands until then. By the time Zero arrived at the infirmary ward, he noticed that Yuuki is already there and judging from the expression on the Chairman's and Yuuki's face – somehow his being there would only complicate situation further. His inner doubts were addressed soon after, accompanied by the mad dash of Maria Kurenai barreling towards him uttering the name of his twin 'Ichiru!'
"…" Zero stared at the female vampire hugging his waist area, and froze momentarily. How should one react under this situation? He thought – as he glances over to where the Chairman was, then diverting his gaze towards Yuuki instead. The duo just stood there like a wooden block, half panicking and half in amusement.
"Ichiru… you're finally here! The two of them there kept on lying to me claiming to say that Shizuka-sama is already dead and that you are not here!" The female vampire wailed as she clings onto Zero's waist for some kind of moral support.
"…" Running a hand through his silvery hair strands, Zero wondered – just how exactly is he going to get across to the vampire clinging onto him, that Shizuka is indeed dead and he wasn't that twin of his but soon he found that there was no longer any need for them to explain further. Because the female vampire by now had recognized from his uneasy expression that he was not whom she thought him to be – starting with her hesitant utter of his name 'Zero' followed by a sway of her petite body only to be stable again when Yuuki reached a hand out to balance her.
"I see… so Shizuka-sama has already met you." Maria Kurenai whispered, no longer looking in Zero's direction as she shifted her glance elsewhere – probably staring at the ground.
Zero stood by and watched in silence as Maria Kurenai launched into her tale of how she met Ichiru and Shizuka, then it went on to become the life story of Shizuka Hiou. Throughout this whole process, Zero said nothing merely listening on to the girl's tale in silence. It surprised himself even, let alone the Chairman and Yuuki.
He supposed, in more ways than one, he did owe it to Akane and the twins, also a certain resident pureblood of their academy. Somehow over the past 2 months, his patience while dealing with the vampires had increased a whole lot. Just look at how he didn't flipped out when Maria Kurenai literally went barreling into him. Under usual circumstances, his gun would be out shooting at the intruder of his privacy area already. Yet, nothing of that sort happened this time around – must have been due to Akira's tendency to tackle him down with hug.
Through Maria Kurenai's recount of Shizuka's story, he found out the reason behind his family demise. How ironic, he thought – his parents' being sent out to take down a lover of a pureblood vampire, and afterwards his family was brutally killed by the pureblood seeking revenge. Now as he come to think about it, it was not as though there has been no warning in prior to Shizuka's arrival.
In fact, Zero now recalled that three days prior to his family's tragedy event – Ichiru and him-self had indeed seen that woman loitering about the area, perching atop of a sakura tree watching the two of them played. Ichiru had even spoken to her then, and Zero wondered if that has been the reason behind why Shizuka did not choose to kill Ichiru when she had the chance to do so – if anything, Shizuka choose to give Ichiru her blood willingly even.
"Zero… It's not my place to say this, but I believed Shizuka-sama would never regret to let you kill her. The things that she had done to you and your family members, she regretted them – even if she didn't say but I know she did regret losing herself in the midst of her craze for revenge." Maria Kurenai said in her agitation, her hands grabbing on to the fabric of Zero's uniform blazer now.
"Maria-san, you've just wake up and it will do you no good to be this agitated. Therefore, please calm yourself down – okay?" The Chairman had intervened then, not wanting to be responsible if anything untoward were to happen to Maria Kurenai before her family sends their people over to take her back – most likely.
Zero was on his way out from the infirmary room, when Maria Kurenai spoke again. This time, her features completely serious and void of emotions as she told him.
"Zero… I just thought that you should know, the orders that the Kiryuu received then – pertaining to the hunting of Shizuka-sama's lover. That was a set-up; someone was obviously displeased by a pureblood taking on an ex-human lover …By the time Shizuka-sama was informed of this information, it was far too late. The Kiryuu clan was already wiped out by her in a moment of folly… I think that person should be the one you should blame your family's demise upon." Maria Kurenai finished.
"…" Zero said nothing but nodded in acknowledgement, signaling to the agitated noble that he had heard her. Then, he closed off the door leading to the infirmary and was about to turn and leave when he realized that the duo was still waiting for him outside.
"Zero, are you okay?" Yuuki asked in concern.
"I'm fine… whatever makes you think otherwise?" Zero question back in return.
"No… nothing, I'm just thinking about what Maria had said earlier on. Regarding love…" Yuuki murmured, more like speaking to herself really – because the tone she had used is so soft-spoken that if it wasn't for his vampire sense of hearing, he definitely would not be able to make out what she had mumbled to herself.
Zero listened quietly as Yuuki questioned about the reason behind why her parents had deserted her, leaving her out on the cold winter night for the vampires to find. Almost immediately, the girl changed the subject of conversation again – this time reassuring Zero that she is fine; after all she had no memories of the past and all that.
Nonetheless, Zero knew enough of the girl to judge that nothing is fine with Yuuki at all – she was still immensely bothered by her missing past, and then she asked him a very strange question. Does one get stronger when he or she is a vampire? That silent Zero for a while, then Yuuki rambled on about how Kaname Kuran had brought up the subject on asking her if she wanted to be a vampire that day after the end of the party when Zero was away – and how she had responded a 'yes' to it then.
Of course, this information was nothing new to Zero because he had already heard it once from the lips of a certain pureblood in prior, during their 'chat' after their return from the party in the woods that surrounded the dormitory building.
"Ah… of course, Kaname-sempai is just joking around." The chocolate brown haired girl scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she said this, as though worrying about Zero's possible response to her earlier words.
"… Still, you are seriously contemplating about it." Zero stated, flatly but with his facial expression devoid of emotions – not even Yuuki could tell what he was thinking about at this moment of time.
"Erm… Zero, are you mad?" Yuuki felt herself asking stupidly.
"…" Zero said nothing; he was thinking about how on earth is he supposed to answer something like that? Telling Yuuki to just go ahead with what she wants doesn't sound like what he would suggest, but telling her to not even think about it will ended up putting himself in between Yuuki and Kaname Kuran. Both options do not sound appealing to him at all, so he decided to remain silent and steer the topic of conversation elsewhere instead.
"If you have the time to think about such things, why don't you worry about the sleeping arrangements for the next 3 weeks instead?" Zero shot back, as he made his way back towards the Chairman's place.
"Huh…?" Yuuki blinked in bewilderment.
"In case you've forgotten, Akane and the twins will be living with us for this vacation and while we dawdled around here – those three might be bored out of their mind waiting for us to head back there." With that said, Zero left Yuuki's vision range completely as he turned and disappeared around the corner bend of the corridor.
Date started: 2/1/2013
Date completed: 2/1/2013