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: This is yet another hard chapter to write; so many things at one go… edited twice or thrice, I can't remember. From this point onwards, manga references would be ignored completely… because the back portion of the manga series doesn't fits in with my plotlines anymore. So once Rido's dead – it will be completely AU from original anime/manga series.
Chapter 38 – In which the final showdown approaches…
Ichiru Kiryuu stood in front of the coffin filled with blood of the Kuran, his features unreadable. He was thinking back to the times he had spent with another pureblood, Shizuka Hiou. The same woman whom had wiped out his family, and turned Zero against his wish but was willing to spare his life and took him along with her as she went on her escape route.
The revival process for Kuran Rido is now officially in progress, but there is at least another few hours to go before that body of Kuran Rido could be considered done with the regeneration process. Kaname Kuran; had after all, damaged more than 95% of the body during the fight between the duos about 10 years ago. Even after the 10 years, the self-generating process could only go up to 50% and the last remaining portion of it would lies in the hand of this particular revival ritual.
"It seems like the peace in this academy will be shattered soon." The Chairman of the Academy, Kaien Cross murmured to himself as he started issuing out orders to the day-class students – notifying them of the temporary suspension of lessons. Depending on the situation, the day-class students might have to be send home for the time-being.
"Neh, have you heard?"
"You mean about the classes being suspended issue?"
"Yeah, some says we might have to be send home for a while too…"
"So… you gals want to sneak out to the Moon Dorm to take a peek before that?"
"Are you joking, head over to the Moon Dorm in the broad daylight?!"
Wakaba Sayori observed from the sideline in silence as the conversation around her continues on to revolve around the Moon Dorm and the night-class members, in general. Sighing inwardly, Sayori thought – ignorance is bliss. Wait till the day-class girls realized the true nature behind those night-class members, then the fear will begin.
The ominous feel in the air has yet to subside, if anything – it seemed to be thickening. A slight buzz in her skirt pocket jarred the girl back to her senses, a quick look at the message later – Sayori excused herself from the bunch of ignorant girls crowding in the hallway and made a beeline for previously shared room with Yuuki. Making a grab for her crossbow, and her stock of remaining arrows – she hurried with the process to coat the arrows with poison meant for vampires in general before setting them aside.
When the first sign of a fight out there caught her attention, she wasted no time in slinging the bag of arrows behind her back while gripping her weapon in a tightly grasp manner. The moment when a Level E broke through the window panes to her room, Sayori had been ready for it. In fact, she was about to released an arrow towards it when she detected the familiar presence of a certain aristocrat member from the night-class.
Immediately, she changed her mind and ended up throwing out poison darts instead of releasing her crossbow arrow. Turns out her change in tactic is the right thing to do, as her darts hits the Level E in the chest the same moment an ice dagger was seen piercing through its torso. The next moment, the Level E turns into nothing but sheer dust.
"Yori-chan…!" Yuuki called out to her, drawing her back into reality.
"…Yuuki, glad to see you back – I assumed it's for the Artemis Rod?" Sayori responded, in a knowingly manner.
"Eh…?" Yuuki was quite surprise by her friend's obvious lack of reaction to the 'man' that turned into dust, and in fact the confrontation moment she was waiting for did not even happened. If anything, her friend – Wakaba Sayori was completely calm about seeing her change in appearance. Even the sight of witnessing Aidou-Sempai wielding an ice dagger around formed out from thin air did not get her friend to bat an eyelid.
"Yori-chan… what was all that?" Yuuki finally had it in her to ask, when she noticed the waist pouch full of darts and the bag of arrows sling over her friend's shoulder, not to forget the crossbow held tightly in her friend's hands.
"Yuuki, it's really nice to see you back here but I really do not have the time to explain to you now. There is somewhere that I really need to be, the first wave of attack has started. It would not be long before everything went haywire out there, so I must really get going now." Sayori said, not caring if Yuuki had managed to catch on to her underlying meaning in her words – but she knew the blue eyed blond aristocrat would know what she was trying to get across.
"…Where do you intend to go?" Aidou Hanabusa asked with a frown, as he removed himself from the window sill allowing the girl sufficient room to leave the room.
"I thought you would be able to guess it by now?" Sayori throws back at the blond, calmly.
There was a moment of silence, before Aidou Hanabusa responded. "Go by the back, it's faster – I'll send a message off to Ruka informing her to let you pass."
"Thank you…" Sayori whispered as she passes by the blond, and then a jump later – she was out there running across the path throwing out darts after darts towards that Level E that stood in her way.
"Yori…! It's dangerous out there, get back in here!" Yuuki shouted out to her friend through the window, but Sayori did not bothered with the task of responding and instead was moving at an exceptionally fast speed across the aisle heading for the familiar building of the Moon Dormitory.
Then out of nowhere a Level E jumped out from its' hiding place from behind Sayori and attempted to pounce. Yuuki gasped, and Aidou nearly yelled for his cousin – Akatsuki to help when an unknown man leapt forth and basically slashed the Level E down into half using a katana.
"Thanks Makoto, you saved me there." Sayori throws over her shoulder at the man before continue sprinting towards the Moon Dormitory, there was no need to worry for Makoto – he can handle the night-class members and the explanation him-self.
With Sayori completely out of sighting range, the man named Makoto turned his attention back to Akatsuki Kain, Ruka Souen and the newly arrived Aidou Hanabusa.
"No need to fret, I am not your opponent. For introduction, my name is Sawashiro Makoto though an ex-human but my master is not the same one as those lurking out here with ulterior motives. Now if you excused me for a moment, I need to report to Zero-sama." The man then turned away from the lots of the nobles gathered outside of the Moon Dormitory and made his way over to where the Chairman's residence was situated.
"Zero-sama…? Was there anything that I should know about that?" Akatsuki Kain questioned when he realized he was the only one who simply looked baffled by someone addressing Kiryuu Zero as such.
"…Don't ask me, I had no idea myself. You can bring all your questions up to Kiryuu later on, after this whole fiasco is over." Aidou Hanabusa snapped at his cousin, as he continues to fend off approaching enemies.
"Yes, Akatsuki… saved your doubts and questions for later." Ruka Souen added from her side of the field, sending a kick off to another approaching Level E.
Fujiwara Yuka passes through the line of Level E surrounding the Moon Dormitory perimeter with ease, her pureblood aura flaring out at its maximum level. The Common Class Vampires defending the Moon Dormitory were jittery, the sudden arrival of another pureblood that was not within their expectations stalled them for some moments until Risa Miyazaki emerged from within the building only to kneel down in front of the female pureblood passing them by.
"Good evening, Yuka-sama. I apologized for the delay in welcoming your presence." Risa Miyazaki greeted with respect.
"A-ra… Risa-chan… There's no need for such formalities between the both of us. Come now, has Makoto came by yet?" Fujiwara Yuka asked.
"No, he haven't … I believed he went in search for Zero-sama." Risa responded, matter-of-factly.
"I see…our guests are in there, are they not?" Fujiwara Yuka questioned next, causing Risa to blink in bewilderment for a minute before catching on to the underlying meaning behind the young pureblood lady's words.
"Yes, they are…Would you like to meet them?"
"Definitely, that's the reason why I came in so early anyway!" Fujiwara Yuka nearly squealed in excitement.
Subaru Kiryuu and Akira Kuran froze upon detecting the presence of one Fujiwara Yuka, before they turned wide startling eyes towards their adopted elder sibling – Akane for help.
"Ah! So cute!" Fujiwara Yuka literally dropped all her pretence of being elegant and made a beeline for the twins' location upon landing her eyes on them.
Akane watched by the side-line sweat-dropping when she noticed Fujiwara Yuka squishing her two brothers as though they were plush dolls. Giving it a minute or so to let the girl enjoy her moments, and to entertain herself with her siblings' helplessness – Akane finally interrupted the moment by speaking up.
"Yuka-sama, I would very much appreciate it if you could kindly let them off the hook. As adorable as they might be, they are still living beings and not dolls. Your current actions would no doubt cut off their oxygen supply if continue in a long run."
"Oh… you must be the Akane my future self was telling me before in my dream…Wow, you really do look like Yukari-san!" Fujiwara Yuka took a moment to take in Akane's features before gushing out in a rush.
"You mentioned you heard from your future self… so was there any message meant for us from the future?" Akane asked, she was certain that Fujiwara Yuka would not just randomly bring up the topic of her ability to communicate with her future self through the use of dreams.
"Ah… right, according to the future ME – your parents had said for the three of you to wait for a while longer. Once the time comes for your return – you three would be notified." Fujiwara Yuka responded, before she went back to her task of cooing over the twins again. It remained that way up until the point whereby her servant Sawashiro Makoto brought along the severely injured Ichiru seeking for her help.
Akane, meanwhile, decided to leave the twins to the protection of the newly arrived Wakaba Sayori while she headed back upstairs to Touya Rima's room to check on the two models. Her cousin, Takuma had taken the liberty to shift the unconscious Shiki into Rima's room after it became evident that the revival process for Rido Kuran was in progress.
Entering the room just as Shiki was awakening from his 'sleep', and Takuma was polishing that katana of his to rid off the blood of those brainless Level E who had it in mind to attack him in prior – Akane stalked over to the green eyed blond and said in a steel-like manner.
"You are not going to head out there alone; I am going with you too!"
"Huh…?" Takuma Ichijo blinked once then twice, he had not even said anything about what he intended to do – so why it is that Akane already thought of it?
"…" Shiki Senri was equally bewildered by Akane's words, even he had no idea of what Ichijo was thinking of doing – and yet Akane was demanding to tag along?
"Never venture into a battlefield without reinforcements, and I am going as your back-up." Akane throws at her confused cousin.
"Huh…? Akane, would that be wise – actually? Kaname had no idea about your decision to join me on the trip down to the council, right?" Ichijo Takuma responded to Akane's words with another question of his own.
"True, he had no idea of it as of current but he would be thanking me for it later. Situation is complicated enough; I don't want any further complications to arise." Akane gritted out from frustration, if her memory served her correctly – allowing Ichijo Takuma to head out there alone to slay that grandfather of his would only resulted in the final outcome of him being kidnapped by one sadistic Sara Shirabuki. Akane figured since the history was already changed with their arrival into this period of time-frame, then might as well just changed everything that she feels like doing.
Shiki, meanwhile, was left behind to tend for the still unconscious Rima and when another Level E serving under his father's wing came by to 'check' on his well-being. He retaliated for the first time in history, using his powers against the approaching figures. It was one thing to be allowing that lunatic father of his to possess his body, but totally another when the former used his body and powers to strike out to his best friend.
"Never would I imagine that there would be a day whereby I'm actually defending the vampires." Yagari Touga muttered aloud as he stood by the side of Kaien Cross, his old time friend and the current Chairman to the Cross Academy.
"Sorry for making you accompanying me on this issue… I know it goes against your usual beliefs." The Chairman responded in a serious tone, unlike his usual annoyingly cheerful manner.
"Cross… it has been a long time, hasn't it? Well, although I am impressed by your courage to go through with this co-existent plan of yours but I'm sad to say that this is going to be the end of it. We are here to remove those threats to the common public." The current Chairman of the Association said as he greeted Kaien Cross, with the folded fan held to the front of his lips.
"I apologized but I would not allowed you to do that to the night-class members who are actually trying their best to protect the day-class students as of current, and if they are the ones protecting the day-class population – then I truly believed it is our duty to protect the members of the night-class against you lot of hunters at this moment of time." Kaien Cross responded as he held his weapon out front and pointing to the hunters of the Association, likewise – Yagari Touga had his barrel gun train against those hunters surrounding him too.
"I hoped I wasn't too late into the party…" Fujiwara Yumi appeared in front of Chairman Cross and Yagari Touga then.
"Fujiwara Yumi, what the hell are you doing here?" Someone hiding among the hunters which the Chairman of the Association brought along suddenly spoke up, demanding for a response out from the newly arrived Fujiwara Yumi.
"That, I could ask the same from you – Fujiwara Haruto. Have you forgotten the unwritten rule within the clan?" Fujiwara Yumi throws back; her tone calm but there was something in her tone that sends chills up everybody's spine.
"Ooi, if this is about your family disputes – solve it elsewhere. The two of you are hindering our movements." Yagari Touga interjected, sounding extremely annoyed – snapping every one out from the shell-shock state.
"Indeed." With that said, Fujiwara Yumi unleashed her powers in full fledged and immediately Haruto was roped up and cocooned by her flowing long hair.
The next moment, both Fujiwara disappeared from the hunters' view. However, neither of them made a move to 'save' Fujiwara Haruto – because that is not their position to do so. Fujiwara Haruto may be a hunter but because of the lineage uniqueness – the clan was always on self-governing system.
At the same moment of time, the nobles and common class vampires defending the day-class students found themselves facing off with the envoys from the Vampire Council. Following which, Kaien Cross was facing off the Chairman of the Association and in process dragging out the conspiracy acts between Ichijo Asato and the Hunter's Association.
"Zero-sama, it's time." The sound of one Sawashiro Makoto rang out from behind, and Zero's eyes snapped open in an instant.
"How is Ichiru?" The question was out from his lips almost instantly.
"Ichiru-sama will be fine." That was all Makoto was willing to provide Zero with, he hardly was going to reveal to Zero that his master has ended up 'waking' the vampire genes in Ichiru to prevent the latter from dying due to the excess loss of blood. It will do no good to the elder Kiryuu twin as of current, and would only risk the said person to lash out at everything in general.
Ichiru Kiryuu had turned up in front of Zero approximately half an hour ago, with a fatal injury to the side of his torso – how the teen had managed to cross over the lawn and get to where he was without falling over, Zero had no idea. Then Ichiru had pleaded for Zero to 'eat' him, claiming to say that it will then complete the whole 'change' cycle because Ichiru had quite a vast amount of Shizuka Hiou's blood in him. When Zero had refused, Ichiru had launched into the tale of how the ancestor of the Kiryuu clan had came about despite the injury the teen had had suffered from a failed attack launched upon Kuran Rido.
It had continued on until Sawashiro Makoto came by and simply opted to knock his twin out cold before he was saved from listening in to his twin's account of the story session while worrying over his twin's injury. Then Makoto explained the reason behind his appearance in front of the Kiryuu twins, and then proceeded to throw a bottle of blood towards Zero which he had caught easily with his hand.
{Flashback}
"What's this?" Zero frowned as he questioned the bottle of blood held in his hands.
"Blood from the Hiou Clan... it should have the same effect as the blood of one Shizuka Hiou." That had been the reply given to him by that ex-human, going by the name of Makoto.
"How did you get this?" Zero questioned next.
"My master gives it to me, and don't bother to ask me of its source – because Master did not say." Makoto responded flatly.
Zero flicked his gaze between the unconscious Ichiru, obviously still bleeding and then his eyes flicked to the unmoving man. With a sigh, he uncapped the bottle and chugged it down in one shot – before shifting his eyes back towards the ex-human by the name of Makoto. The next instant, Makoto carried Ichiru up in the arms and vanishes from sight. Now fifteen minutes later, the man was back in front of him without Ichiru.
{End Flashback}
"Let's get a move on then." Zero commented, not bothering to look around for any possible weapons to use because nothing would have worked for him – anymore. His bloody rose had melted into his skin upon his first touch of it, merely five minutes after he ingested that bottle of blood rumoured to be from a member of the Hiou Clan.
Now as he made his way out to the battlefield outside, his senses alert and on a lookout for a particular Kuran princess. Zero was very much aware of his 'Bloody Rose' in him, only existing in a different form now…
"Makoto, go to the Sun Dormitory and stayed there." Zero told the man, as he ventured up front to where he had felt the aura of Yuuki was.
Yuuki Kuran had her 'Artemis' out stretch in front of her, now changed into a form of a Scythe probably to suit her vampire nature. Poor girl must have had a hard time holding in before it gradually accepted her as the new master; after all, anti-vampire weapons are very picky of their wielders. Zero thought.
He however has an easier time with his 'Bloody Rose', then again that is to be expected since his weapon of choice was manufactured by the Fujiwara Clan members. Most likely, it had been custom-made to suit his vampire nature right from the start following his being bitten and turned by Shizuka Hiou back then.
"Subaru… do you have any idea where on earth did Father went off to?" Akira Kuran asked, directing his question to his elder twin who is now reading a book in peace amidst all that chaotic battles going on around them.
"No idea… he didn't say, but I reckon he can take care of himself. Daddy has a very high chance of being out there battling that grand uncle of ours, with our Aunt Yuuki in tow. Akane is out with Uncle Takuma…" The silver-haired boy quoted each and every of their close kin whereabouts to his younger sibling, lest the boy question him again and again disrupting his intention to read in peace.
The sun has set by now, and the common class vampires of the dormitory have more or less being send out to battle with the envoys from the council. Those whom remained are mostly those under specific instructions to tend to both Akira and himself. Also, part of them was actually from the Fujiwara Clan – brought along by Fujiwara Yumi a while ago.
Fujiwara Yuka was now tending to the unconscious and newly turned uncle of theirs… looks like their being here had indeed changed a couple of things for the future. Ichiru Kiryuu is supposed to be dead during this battle, but now he isn't. Daddy would most probably throw a fit pertaining to how Ichiru was not turned by Shizuka Hiou, but ended up being turned by Aunt Yuka instead. Nonetheless, that is to come later on in time – after Rido Kuran has been dealt with.
Fujiwara Yumi is now battling their grand uncle Haruto somewhere out there, whereas Fujiwara Satoshi has a very high chance of waiting everything out in his house situated in Chiba prefecture. The evidences pertaining to the conspiracy acts between Fujiwara Haruto and the Hunter's Association are more or less gathered in Fujiwara Satoshi's hands now. Then the evidences of the Vampire Council being in cahoots with the Hunter's Association are in the capable hands of Fujiwara Yumi, and that is exactly what Yumi is going to be using against Fujiwara Haruto in a while's time.
The sin of going into cahoots with the Hunter's Association is already bad enough, and to go into a conspiracy plan with someone who had conspired with the Vampire Council too was just too incorrigible to be pardoned. Subaru sighed inwardly, pitying the members of Haruto's branch when this whole thing has been blown over – there is a very high chance of them being penalized by the new clan head for withholding information pertaining to Haruto's antics before the situation boils over.
Kuran Rido and Yuuki were already in the midst of a battle when Zero intervened. His newly evolved 'Bloody Rose' now in the form of 'Rose Whip' swept out from right arm and lashes out towards the figure of Kuran Rido without a bat of his eyelid.
"Zero…" Yuuki gasped upon registering the newcomer into the battlefield.
"Step back Yuuki… he is my responsibility to be dealing with." Zero started, never stopping in his actions to lash his attacks on the other pureblood.
"Zero… he is also my responsibility; this man needs to be rid off the plane of living." Yuuki insisted upon on staying where she was, her voice lacing with underlying tone of determination that no one could argued with.
"…Suit yourself, but bear in mind that I will be throwing you out from here if you ever stepped into my line of attack range and prove yourself to be a hindrance instead of being a helpful ally." Zero eventually said, in his usual tone of annoyance.
Over at the Vampire Council, Kaname Kuran had arrived at the site ahead of Takuma and Akane combined it would seem. Using his authority of being a pureblood, he managed to gather the whole lot of the high-ranking council members together in a group saved the exception of one Ichijo Asato. And then he unleashed his overwhelming source of powers and turned them all into nothing but sheer dust in an instant. After which, he proceeded down the hallway heading towards the office of one Ichijo Asato with determination in stride.
"…Looks like Kaname-sama reaches before us…" Akane muttered aloud as she took in the near deserted halls of the council building, and Takuma had all but sprinted towards the direction of his grand-father's office already.
Taking in a deep breath to compose herself, Akane took a minute to mull over her current options. Members of the Shirabuki Clan would be coming in a short while's time, until then she would need to get Takuma safely out of this place and avoid clashing head-on with Sara Shirabuki. What could she do then…? Perhaps if she…
A thought wormed itself into the mind of Akane as she set off to work directly, pulling a dagger out from her cloak pocket – Akane hurried to slice herself and dripped her blood upon some charm papers she had the insight to bring along with her. Then she set the papers coated with her blood around the four pillars in the centre of the lobby, and started to chant an unknown incantations under her breath. Slowly, the papers started to glow an eerie shade of pink before blending into the surrounding fully. This would not be able to hold for long, but should be enough to hinder the members of the Shirabuki Clan for a while and buy them all some-time.
Racing down the hallway to where the office of Ichijo Asato was, she caught hold of the departing figure of Kaname Kuran and said in a hurrying manner.
"Don't leave via the front door, use the back exit or better yet go out using the windows – I set a hindrance charm out there in the lobby to fend off any newcomers. It's meant to target pureblood in general, since my ultimate aim for being here is to stop Sara Shirabuki from abducting Takuma following the end of his actions to kill Ichijo Asato. It would affect you as well, if you stepped into the formation." Akane throws out to the young pureblood lord before he could question her reasons for being here.
"…" Kaname Kuran did not even bothered to press Akane for further details, the girl having arrived from the future certainly was acting on her knowledge of this particular portion of the history. Although, he was still wondering just why exactly Sara Shirabuki would attempt to kidnap Takuma – he decided to leave the question to another day. For now, he decided to take Akane's advice to heart and made his exit from the council using the window way instead.
"Takuma, are you done with it already?! If not, I might jolly well help you with it – you know as much as I do how much I yearn to kill him with my bare hands for some-time already!" Akane yelled out for her cousin's attention before she even enter the room, her most vicious charms and weapons ready at hand to 'send' that grand-father of hers' by blood into hell if Takuma was still not yet done in his task.
"… No need for you to dirty your hands, I'm just about done with him already." Takuma throws back at the girl as he ignored the cold glare of his grand-father and raised his katana above the man's head and sliced into down into half – ending his grand-father in mid-rants of his un-filial acts.
Akane entered the room just in time to witness the end of Takuma's act and frowned for a split second before responding. "You know if killing him caused you this much anguishes to begin with, you should have just allowed me to commit that sin. Unlike you, I do not have any close relationship with him to begin with and henceforth there would not be any guilt for me to live with."
"…No, it is my way of expressing my loyalty to Kaname." The green eyed blond vampire responded then.
A sigh escaped from Akane's lips as she soak in the words of her cousin, a slight pricking feel in her palms where she slashes herself earlier with the dagger for the charm to be invoked snapped her back to reality plane. Making a grab for her anguish-filled cousin, Akane had all but dragged him off towards the window and simply make a leap out from it – startling the teen back to his senses.
"Akane… what's all this about?" Takuma asked, as soon as they had both landed safely down on the grass patch below the window.
"No time to explain, I'll tell you later – and now let's get back to the academy first." Akane responded in a tight voice, her eyes still darting warily around the corner for possible signs of pursuers.
To be frank, Takuma Ichijo was beyond comprehension behind Akane's acts – with his grand-father dead there should be no other problems for them, right? However, it seems like Akane was not going to give him any form of response until they were safely back in the academy. With an inward sigh, the green eyed blond allowed himself to be dragged back to the campus ground by one jittery Akane Kiryuu.
Due to Akane's intervention, by the time Sara Shirabuki gets to the venue – both Kaname Kuran and Ichijo Takuma were gone. Therefore, the daughter of the Shirabuki Clan could only stand aside and fume inwardly as she unleashed her unhappiness onto her supposedly well-trained and capable guards.
Date started: 10/1/2013
Date completed: 15/1/2013