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: Woots! 40 Chapters already, and Rido is dead… yay! I hope to finish this story by this year, and let's all hope that it can be done… ^^;; Now, on with the chapter
Chapter 40 – In which Ichiru awakened…
Zero Kiryuu woke from a nice and peaceful slumber when he felt someone rolling into his side, blinking blearily from the sleep – the silver-haired teen glances to his side to find Subaru nesting up to him. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he took in the sight of the two boys, but his smile was gone when his eyes landed upon the figure sleeping peacefully next to Akira.
Kaname Kuran – that sneaky and insatiable git, Zero thought. If looks could kill, Kaname would be ten times dead over by now. The sheer memory of how that man had coaxed him into the idea of consummating their bond in that bathroom caused Zero to flush crimson. Initially, Zero had caved to the request after how miserable Kaname had seemed to be after all that fiasco with Rido – thinking that it would be just a one-time thing.
Lesson learnt here – never to show any form of sympathy for the pureblood prince of the Kuran Clan; that sneaky fellow would simply take advantage of it all. In the end, that guy had ended up taking him three times in a row without any breaks in between – until he actually passes out from it all.
'Good Riddance, thank goodness I don't have to see Master Touga later on in the day.' Zero was thinking to him-self, when a slight move of his body caused him to wince from the discomfit feel between his legs.
Slowly and gingerly, Zero inches himself off the bed and then tried his luck out at the idea of walking. One step, two step then three steps – starting out slow and careful, and then slowly quicken up his pace. By the time he reached the wardrobe of the pureblood, Zero was heaving a sigh of relief – thinking that lucky he had a very high tolerance level for discomfit and pain. Else with the soreness he now feels, he highly doubted he could make it out of bed this successfully.
Hurriedly, Zero dug into the wardrobe of the pureblood and 'borrowed' some long sleeves shirt and pant from within. The long trail of hickeys left all over his body by a certain Kaname Kuran was getting too much for Zero to bear the sight of, and so the first thing he did was to cover up all signs of what they had done several hours ago in the bathroom.
Chancing a look towards the direction where the clock was situated by the side of the bed, the time read 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Okay, so he only slept about 8 hours – and waking up at 2.p.m. is still considered early for a vampire though considered a little too late for his liking. Then again, considering the fact that he had not been sleeping during the 48 hours when the Rido fiasco took place – Zero gathered that waking up at 2.p.m. is still acceptable for him.
Glancing over to the three slumbering figures, Zero sighed – thankful that at least the twins were already fast asleep when Kaname and he consummate that bond of theirs. If not, Zero didn't think he could stomach the idea of looking the twins in the eyes later on in the day. Deciding to head out and find out for himself the current situation out there, Zero closed the door carefully behind him – cautious not to wake any of its' occupant from within.
The Moon Dormitory at 2.p.m. was usually quite empty of life, but right now – it was bustling with life. Akane was wide awake already, it would seem – and she's helping Ichijo Takuma out with the task of doing headcount of the night-class members. Distinctively, he heard Akane questioning the green eyed blond vampire something pertaining to the two missing models of the night-class.
"Akane, is there a problem down here?" Zero questioned, as he entered the lounge situated on the second floor of the Moon Dormitory Building.
"Ah… Zero, nice to see you up and about…I would have thought you would have problem climbing out from bed after Kaname-sama is done with you this morning." Akane teased, as she runs her eyes up and down Zero's choice of attire. Long black sleeves button down shirt, and also long pants of the same color – looks like someone did a fantastic job on leaving behind hickey marks and all. How else would Zero be spotted in long sleeves attire in the season of spring, at mid-day some more…
"Akane…would you be teasing about this if you are back in your own time?" Zero started in on the girl warningly, despite the slight hint of pink in his cheeks upon Akane's mention of a certain pureblood's name.
"…Okay, fine … you win. I zipped my mouth shut from this point on." Akane hurried to surrender her hands up in the air, and said.
"Good, now care to fill me in what's the matter here?" Zero repeated his earlier question, this time directing his words to the Vice-President of the Moon Dormitory instead.
"It's just that when I took the attendance of the night-class members earlier on, I found Shiki and Rima missing from the room they were in prior to the start of the battle. Then I tried to search the compound of the dormitory, and still I can't find them at all." The green eyed blond seemed to be quite anxious about it all, and Akane was obviously cracking her mind trying to see if she can remember anything from her memory.
"Erm… I believed I saw them leaving the school compound, though I am not exactly sure where they went off to. I should have said something earlier on, but I guess it totally slipped from my mind." Zero said then.
"Huh…? They left the academy? When was that?" Ichijo Takuma hurried to ask.
"When Yuuki and I was busy battling Rido, it would seems." Zero answered, truthfully.
The next thing Akane and Zero saw Ichijo did was to pull out his cellular phone and started to call up Shiki's mobile number, demanding to know the teen's exact location.
"Oh… by the way, our dear Uncle Ichiru was situated downstairs in the entertainment room. Apparently, his condition cannot afford to wait when Makoto brought him over for attention – and so the twins had arranged for him to stay in the entertainment room for 'treatment' or sort." Akane added before Zero could whizz by her.
"I see… and do you happen to know where Fujiwara Yuka is?" Zero asked next, recalling the issue on his agenda that has yet to deal with. On the very top of the list, included the need to meet Fujiwara Yuka.
"She's in the entertainment room with that guard of hers' tending to our dear uncle." Akane responded, before shifting her attention to her cousin whom was obviously pressuring Shiki into coming back with Rima.
"How is he…?" Zero asked, upon his entry into the entertainment room which now served as a temporary bedroom for his twin. A makeshift bed had been created from utilizing the 'sofa-bed' within the very room, itself.
"Zero-sama…" Sawashiro Makoto, the ex-human servant to Fujiwara Yuka started to greet as Zero entered the room.
"Ichiru is progressing quite well, I'll say. The body has started to regenerate by itself when my blood was injected into his veins, waking the vampire genes in him. Probably, the Hiou's blood in him was already at work – but because he wasn't really a vampire then; the regeneration process could not be start on its own." The sound of Fujiwara Yuka came then, keeping Zero updated on his twin's recovery process.
"I beg your pardon, did you just say injected?" Zero blinked, wondering whether or not has he heard wrong. He had thought his brother was bitten and turned, but now Fujiwara Yuka was telling him that his brother was turned by using injection means?
"Well, granted that Ichiru was unconscious when he was brought to me… and required immediate attention. I can't really expect the re-generation process to start by just biting him to 'wake', can I? The fastest way was for him to ingest my blood, but with him knocked out – he can't do that either. So I go by the injection method to start up the genes in him instead." Fujiwara Yuka responded with ease.
Zero was completely speechless by now, he certainly do not know how to react to Fujiwara Yuka's way of informing him that she had wake the vampire genes in Ichiru in order to turn his twin into a vamp. That was exactly like hinting at him that they could very well be vampires in nature just hidden by a layer of human shell or something, the sheer idea of it irked him to no end.
He figured that must have been the Fujiwara's blood in them that made it possible since that was the case with all Fujiwara hunters and humans alike – a bite or ingestion of a blood-related vampire would change them easily and completely, waking up that side of them. And then he frowned, if that is the usual way of how it works – why the hell did he have such a horrible changing process then?
It took him a total of four years to change into a Level D, and half a bottle of blood from Shizuka Hiou to level him up to C-Class Vampire. Lastly, the combination of Kaname's blood and that quarter bottle of Hiou's blood to up him to his current Level B standards…
"Zero, the Kiryuu blood in both of you was the reason behind your horrible changing process. However, you would have an easier time if you managed to get a hold of the blood belonging to any of the Hiou's Clan members." Fujiwara Yuka said then, as though sensing his unasked question.
"What do you mean by that?" Zero questioned aloud, this whole thing is puzzling him to no end.
"The Kiryuu's family history, I heard that Makoto said Ichiru had told you some?" Fujiwara Yuka turned her attention fully onto Zero then, inwardly thinking that Ichiru was probably the twin with the higher level of IQ. Either that or it was just Zero simply refused to crack his mind for the sake of figuring out something of this sort.
"So what if he did mention some of it… what does that has to do with anything?" Zero frowns, still finding it hard to comprehend the meaning behind Fujiwara Yuka's words.
"…Everything, it has a lot to do with everything pertaining to the changing process of your body. The Kiryuu, you might not agree to it – but it is a fact that Mamoru Kiryuu was the black sheep of the Hiou Clan. He was a vampire whom never managed to grow fangs and thus was banished from the house of Hiou. Don't ask me why – I'm no genius.
Anyway, like I'd said before – vampires without fangs are not 'acceptable' in our society. So he was forced to leave home. I'm not sure of the process, but eventually he somehow ended up being a hunter and that started off the legacy of the Kiryuu Clan." Fujiwara Yuka was telling Zero, whereas the listener had on a very strange expression.
"Okay… so, you are saying that the Kiryuu originated from the Hiou Clan and that the ingestion of a fellow Hiou's blood will somehow fixed that genetic err in me and brings on the 'change' process?" Zero started, sounding slight skeptical by the whole issue.
"Yes, well… something likes that."
"Does it have to be Shizuka Hiou's blood or any other members from the Hiou's clan will work the same way?" Zero asked next.
"No it doesn't have to be from Shizuka Hiou, any other members' blood will work the same way but it would have to be from the same branch." Fujiwara Yuka added.
"…May I inquire the owner of that blood you asked Makoto to pass over to me?" Zero questioned next, it was obviously not from Shizuka Hiou since he could recognize from the smell of it.
"Shizuru…"
"Come again…?"
"It came from Shizuru, you know – that lady who used to give you and Ichiru lots and lots of cupcakes whenever Yukari-san brought you two over for a meeting?" Fujiwara Yuka prompted.
"I know who that is; I just don't get how she's related to the Hiou – that's all." Zero gritted out from frustration.
"Ah…that's easy, she was married into our clan." Fujiwara Yuka dropped the news onto Zero's lap with ease.
"…" Zero feels like finding a wall and head-bang him-self, he had absolutely no idea what to think – right now. Knowing Zero probably need some time to clear his thoughts, Fujiwara Yuka left the room for the moment and ventured off for a self-exploration tour around the dormitory building.
"Zero-sama, you have a guest." The sound of Makoto speaking up jarred the silver-haired hunter out from his thoughts, and turned his eyes upon the so-called 'guest' only to find Yuuki standing in the doorway with slight hesitancy on her features.
"Yuuki…" Zero nodded, he had heard from Kaname that Yuuki was already clued in on what transpired between them and since then he had been expecting for the girl to pay him a visit of sort – but he wasn't expecting it to be this soon. He thought Yuuki would at least need a few days before she could finally get the whole picture…
"Neh… Zero, do you happen to have a moment – Can I speak to you for awhile?" The once adopted daughter of Chairman Cross, started – her eyes flicking to the unconscious figure of Ichiru for a brief moment before turning back to Zero.
"Sure." Zero agreed easily, instructing Makoto to let him in once Ichiru had awakened – he left the room with Yuuki in tow.
Ten minutes later, the two of them were out in the woods surrounding the Moon Dormitory Building. It was nightfall now, so there was no need for Yuuki to worry about the strong rays coming from the sun. Having regained her pureblood ancestry heritage now, the sun is no longer that welcoming to her. How Zero could stand being in the sun so long, she could not help but wonder…
Silence hung between them, until Zero decided to take the initiative and kicked off the conversation start.
"Yuuki, what is it that you want to speak with me about?" Zero prompted, despite having a good guess of what's on the girl's mind. Yuuki was still far too easy to be read, as compared to a certain Kaname Kuran.
"Zero…Kaname-niisan has already informed me of the bond and relationship that the two of you now shared." Yuuki decided to cut straight to the point, beating around the bush clearly was not a style of speaking method that she could accustom herself to.
"I see… and…?" Zero prompted, knowing for a fact that Yuuki must have something else to say in relations to 'that' – else she would not be suggesting for them to talk out here in order to ensure privacy for the conversation.
"I have a question for you, and I honestly hope that you could answer me truthfully." Yuuki's words jarred the silver-haired teen back to his senses.
"…Okay, so what is it that you wanted to ask?" Zero asked back in return; inwardly glad that he would not have to deal with Yuuki's whine of 'stealing' Kaname or something of that sort.
"Are you happy?"
The question caught Zero off-guard for a minute, before he throws back another question in return.
"Care to elaborate a little on that question – by asking if I am happy, what exactly are you referring to?"
"I'm referring to what happen between you and Kaname-Sempai. Are you happy with the recent developments and with the idea of being together with him?" Yuuki responded, as she leaned her back against a tree bark directing her gaze to the ground.
Yuuki Cross or rather Kuran now – supposed it was not exactly hard for her to stomach the idea of Zero and her beloved Kaname-Sempai being together. Since, the future trio had proved it to be possible for quite some time now. In fact, she had actually seen how the two of them started out to make peace for the sake of the future trio; and their relationships with one another did improved a great deal as compared to the times before the trio arrival.
Contrary to what most people may think, she was not that blind to all those signs and hints that emitted off the two important male figures in her life over the past few months.
"…" Zero took a minute to organize his thoughts together, thinking back on all the instances whereby he had spend time with the pureblood prince and also the twins. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he mused. "I supposed I could live with the idea of it."
Yuuki took in the sight of Zero smiling and heaved a sigh of relief, before speaking up again. "Well, if you are content with the current situation – then I shan't fret any longer. Granted, I am still a little annoyed by the fact that neither of you had it in mind to notify me earlier but I'll survived."
With that, Yuuki Kuran turned on her heels and made her way back to the Moon Dormitory Building while leaving Zero behind to mull over her words.
"Daddy…!" Zero was on his way back towards the Moon Dormitory, after sending off Fujiwara Yuka and her guard – Sawashiro Makoto when he heard the sound of Akira calling out for his attention.
Inwardly, he was glad that most of the day-class students have already been send home for the term under the Chairman's excuse of major renovation work on campus. If not, after Akira's shrill greeting to him from across the lawn – everybody in the day-class would be up in chaos by the end of today.
"Yes, Akira…? Why are you so excited all of a sudden?" Zero questioned as he crossed the lawn swiftly to reach to the excited boy.
"Uncle Ichiru has awake!"
"What…?! Already…?" Zero sprinted into the building then, not forgetting to pick the boy up in his arms despite his eagerness to get to his twin's side.
"…" The noble class vampires that hung out in the front lounge blinked twice in surprise, when Zero passes them by in a sped of light not even stopping to acknowledge their presence.
"What's the mad rush about?" Aidou Hanabusa questioned aloud.
"Saa…who knows." Ichijo Takuma response was a mere shrug of his shoulders.
Minutes later, Akane was seen chugging down gallons of blood tablets before giving up entirely on the entire idea and made a grab for one unsuspecting Ichijo Takuma. The nobles watched in stunned silence, as Akane wasted no time in biting down hard sinking her fangs into the wrist of their resident Vice-President and then drinks thirstily from it.
Ichijo Takuma blinked in bewilderment as his cousin sapped away at his blood, while the rest of the nobles around them were openly gaping at the scene.
"Akane…why are you drinking from Ichijo…?" Aidou Hanabusa questioned before he could stopped himself.
"I need blood in the system fast, and the blood tablets are quite slow in the effect." Akane throws back, before adding as an afterthought. "Ichiru took a little too much blood from me…"
"Huh…? Ichiru Kiryuu – since when did he became a vampire?"
"Since he was turn by Fujiwara Yuka in an attempt to save him from dying due to excess blood loss." Akane figured the best way was to throw out the pureblood girl's name, there was no way she could explain the entire process without dragging the family history of the Kiryuu into the open and as of current, she wasn't sure if Zero had wanted these aristocrats to know just yet.
Back in the room where Ichiru was situated in, Zero stared after the figure of Akane in a worrying manner. The girl never did once lose her composure after feeding him, but she apparently seemed to be in a rush to replenish her blood loss this time around. Needless to say, the main culprit behind her current predicament is his younger twin.
"…Ichiru, don't you know how to control your bloodlust?" Zero throws at his twin wearily.
"As if you knew how to control yourself when you first fed…" Ichiru throws back evenly at his elder twin.
"…At least I had enough sense in me to prevent myself from sending her into a craze for blood." Zero interjected then.
"I thought that was only because the session was rudely interrupted by Yuuki and me back then." The cool voice of Kaname Kuran inserted itself into the Kiryuu twins' conversation, drawing both their attention to him – then.
Upon his words, Ichiru shot Zero a look that clearly says – 'See… you nearly did the same thing too.'
"Okay, Fine…so how do you feel now?" Zero decided to drop the issue of the 'feeding' and went off to the next thing on his mind.
"Alright I guess, although I had my mind sets upon the notion of dying before but it seems like you would not allowed that to happen just yet." Ichiru responded in a mocking tone of voice, especially towards the end of his statement.
"Correction, I would not care less if you decided to die outside my range of vision – but I'm warning you now never to attempt dying in front of me again. Let alone requesting for me to be the one that sends you down the pathway of death." Zero stated flatly, in response to Ichiru's earlier remarks of sarcasm.
"…" Ichiru Kiryuu watched in silence as his elder twin stalked out of the room, with the twins and the pureblood prince making a move to follow soon after.
"You went a little too far with that statement; Zero was quite worried about your well-being." Yuuki Kuran spoke up then, she had been standing by and observing in silence all these while – and now she finally have a chance to speak.
"Is nosy your middle name?" Ichiru shot back almost instantly following the end of Yuuki's comment.
"Why you…Argh! Anyway, I'm just here to tell you that Maria Kurenai mentioned that she kind of missed seeing you around – and since you aren't exactly dead, it would be good for you to at least give her a call." With that, Yuuki proceeded to stalk out of the room – fuming inwardly.
"Darn that Ichiru to hell! Why must he always talk to me in that manner?! One minute says I'm stupid, next minute call me nosy! Who does he think he is, anyway?! If it's not for that message that Maria Kurenai had wanted to let him know, I won't even bother to speak with him." Yuuki Kuran was muttering to her-self under her breath, when she went literally smack into her friend – Wakaba Sayori.
"Ah…Sorry, I didn't mean to…Yori-chan, what are you doing here?" Yuuki asked, and in which process forgotten all about the Chairman whom is standing next to her friend.
"…Yuuki-chan~~~! How could you ignore your dear PAPA?~~~" Chairman Cross started to wail in a dramatic manner, in an attempt to get the girl's attention.
"…Chairman Cross, I didn't mean to ignore you – I just didn't happen to see you." Yuuki massage the side of her temples when she saw her foster father going into yet another episode of 'whiny' acts.
"So you didn't ignore me on purpose?" Big and teary filled eyes stared up at Yuuki pitifully, causing the two girls to sweat-drop in unison.
"Yes, I didn't ignore you on purpose…" Yuuki answered, automatically.
"Zero, I thought you wanted to speak with the Chairman?" Upstairs on the second storey, Kaname whom just happened to glance out from his room's window – landed his sight upon the scene almost instantly.
"Well, yes – is he here already?" Zero asked, diverting his attention towards the pureblood prince – while splitting half his attention to keep an eye on the twins' packing procedure.
"Yes, he's here and making a fool of himself by playing 'idiot' again." Kaname commented, shaking his head as he took in the scene enfolding downstairs involving the Chairman and Yuuki. Looks like Yuuki had indulged the Chairman's acts again.
"I see… then I think I'd best go downstairs to rescue them all from that idiotic foster parent of mine. Boys, listen to your father while I'm not here – okay?" Zero said, as he directed his words to the twins busy packing their belongings for the 'move' to the Kuran's estate – soon.
"Okay Daddy…" The two boys chortled in unison, flashing a big beam smile towards Zero as they send Zero out from the door.
Date started: 12/1/2013
Date completed: 16/1/2013