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: I rewrite the entire part, deciding to do away with the majority of the meeting issue – because it's quite boring anyway. Okay, so there are 2 new characters in this chapter – the intro as follow:
New Character involved in this chapter: Matsushita Ayano; childhood acquaintance of Zero & Ichiru. Her parents were the personal guards to Yukari & Satoshi respectively. She would also be part of the new students joining Cross Academy when the new term begins. Last but not least, she's betrothed to Sayori's elder brother.
The second character would be Fujiwara Misaki – the daughter to Fujiwara Haruto.
Chapter 43 – In which Maria Kurenai make reappearance…
Fujiwara Misaki, daughter to Fujiwara Haruto arrived at the Kyoto estate a little after 7.p.m. fully clad in a Kimono; just like the rest of the members within the Clan. The twenty-five year old female had just came rush down all the way from her ancestral home situated in the Toyama prefecture; after flying back to Japan from her cut-short vacation trip in United States of America.
Unlike her father, Fujiwara Misaki was not skilled in the areas of hunting at all. While she was quite aware of the Clan's business with the Association, she never quite involved herself in it because she does not have a talent for hunting vampires. To be more precise, she faint upon the first sight of blood and therefore Fujiwara Haruto has never liked his daughter around much. Obviously, the man had found his daughter weak and unsuitable to be a member of the hunter's clan.
However, Fujiwara Misaki was not all that useless on the overall. She might be useless in hunting grounds, but she is very good at negotiating and striking deals in business realms. Therefore, Fujiwara Yumi priced her as an asset to the family clan business. The girl, at the age of twenty-five now holds a degree in the field of law and legislation and was one of the legal advisors for the Fujiwara Corporation out in the public market.
"Misaki-san…" Zero greeted when he saw the girl heading towards his direction.
"Good evening, Zero… has the meeting begun yet?" The girl asked.
"Not yet, we are still waiting for Yuka." Zero answered back with ease.
"I see…I supposed an apology would need to be in order." Fujiwara Misaki said then, as she bowed down to Zero in a 90 degrees angle to show her utmost sincerity in apologizing for her father's actions.
"…Apology accepted, though you have no need to take responsibility of your father's antics." Zero sighed aloud as he regarded the older girl in front of him.
"Still I should have said something when I got hold of the information in prior." Misaki replied, apologetically.
"You are in no position to hinder your father's act at that point of time and besides, it was my mother's own decision to take on the mission despite knowing that it is a set-up. As for his recent deeds, he managed to kept it under wraps without anyone detecting until Ichiru wormed himself into the centre of it all to gain information." Zero responded coolly, while analyzing the reason why he would not be blaming his family misfortune on the girl.
The meeting over at the Fujiwara estate took a whole of 3 hours, and several issues have been addressed at once. Among them, included are the list of unredeemable deeds committed by the 'sinner' Fujiwara Haruto and the 'punishments' to be lay out to him; also included in the same meeting was the election of the new Clan Head for the hunter's branch of the family. Initially, it was suggested for Zero to succeed the position – since before Haruto's reign; the rightful successor to the position should be his mother. However, Fujiwara Yukari relinquished her right to success the role when she opted to marry into the Kiryuu Clan.
Nevertheless, Zero and Ichiru both expressed their lack of interest in taking over the Clan Head position while pointing out the sheer fact that – with their current status being vampires; they should automatically being disqualified from the position run. Therefore, the Clan Head for the Hunter's Branch eventually falls upon Fujiwara Satoshi. The son of the previous Clan Head; younger brother of Fujiwara Yukari; the rightful second-in-line to succeed the position before Haruto butted in and seized the position for himself after Yukari married herself off to the Kiryuu.
Due to the uniqueness of the Clan, the hunters of the family were usually working for the Association on free-lance basis. Meaning, when a job comes around for them to handle – they can choose to reject the mission if they do not feel comfortable with handling it. Usually, the Association would only approached the Clan Head and then the Clan Head make the decision to accept the mission or not. If accepted, the Clan Head would pick someone under his league to handle the task and if not – any other people within the Clan with hunting license could come forth to the Association itself and volunteered themselves for the job.
This privilege of choosing own missions to partake however does not applies to the Kiryuu Clan, and that was why the set-up was able to occur in its first place. That was the initial loopholes, and while Zero's mother could very well wash her hands off the entire matter. She opted to go along with her husband's duty, but only after she approached Fujiwara Yumi on her own accord striking a deal with the clan to protect her two sons from it all.
Henceforth, the failure for the Association members to 'kill' Zero initially after he was bitten by Shizuka Hiou and left out on the front porch to fend for himself after his family demise. Zero was first brought under the roof of the Fujiwara Clan following his family's tragedy, whereas Ichiru left with Shizuka Hiou on his own accords under the watchful eyes of one Shizuru – Shizuka's very own sister from the Hiou Clan.
However, during the meeting to discuss what to do with Zero that very night – many things had happened. Basically, Fujiwara Haruto whom was ruling the Hunter's Branch together with the aid of Fujiwara Satoshi then claimed that it would be best for Zero to be 'dead'. Fujiwara Satoshi had protested vehemently then, wanting to save his nephew at all costs. The two of them were locked in a stand-off situation then, and eventually Fujiwara Yumi intervened by bringing up the pact she had strike with Fujiwara Yukari. Claiming to say that she had already failed Yukari for being unable to protect Ichiru, and she was not going to stand by and wait for another tragedy to befall the other twin – Zero.
The situation ended up with Fujiwara Haruto forcing Satoshi to back down from the Clan Head position, and grant him full control and authority over the hunter's branch of the family. The bargain strike between them then was that if Haruto could spare the life of Zero, he could have the position of the Clan Head that he desires so much. However, that was not all there was to it – following Haruto's succeeding in his quest to get the full control of the Clan Head position. He demanded for Zero to be placed under his supervision, and this was objected gravely by Satoshi and eventually Fujiwara Yumi decided to bring in a third party – Kaien Cross into the picture.
Kaien Cross was a retired hunter back then, and was earnestly trying his hands out at the idea of promoting co-existences between humans and vampires. Fujiwara Yumi was willing to give him a chance, so she allowed the man to take custody of Zero and at the same time consented to the idea of Kaien Cross setting up a school for that purpose. Operation of private academic institutions required a license from the local authorities – especially with the education sector of the government. Fujiwara Yumi was willing to grant Kaien Cross an easy way out, by making use of her fellow clan members' authorities in that factor.
The route towards co-existence was never an easy pathway to take, it started out with Juri Kuran's ideals spur on after she had witness how the Fujiwara Clan handled the whole situation in general. Members of the Fujiwara Clan sticks together, they learnt in the same school compound, starting from elementary level and going up all the way to tertiary stage.
Fujiwara Gakuen – one of the most ancient schools set up within the district of Kyoto, Japan. Operated under several clan members, splitting duties evenly among themselves – curriculums offers under the schools are no different from the other public state schools in Japan. However, one would easily notice that within the school over 80% of the school's populations are made up of descents from the Fujiwara Clan and its' supporters family members and it matters not which race they belongs to. The sight awe Juri Kuran to no end, and that was why she had thought co-existence might work out well if properly managed.
Either way, coming back to the topic at hand – with the recent Rido fiasco over at the Cross Academy; Fujiwara Yumi had made the decision to classify Cross Academy as a sister school to the Fujiwara Gakuen managed and operated by the Clan – itself The decision proved to be a wise one, the land where Cross Academy was situated upon falls under the ownership of the Fujiwara Clan and with Yumi's latest proclamation of the affiliation made between both schools.
The Association is now officially off Kaien Cross' back, and with the Council wiped out by Kaname Kuran. There was no need to deal with problems arising from that side either.
Zero was in the midst of clearing away the dishes when the doorbell sounded, turning his eyes upon Kaname Kuran – he asked curiously.
"Were you expecting anyone to visit?"
"No…" Kaname responded, equally bewildered by the sudden guest that comes knocking on the front door of the Kuran's estate at 2.a.m. during dusk hours.
"Erm… I'll go get the door then." Ichijo Takuma volunteered himself for the task, and only to come back minutes later with a hyperactive Maria Kurenai in tow.
Ichiru Kiryuu was just stepping out from the bathroom when he had his wind knock out from him by one very excited Maria Kurenai.
"… Maria…why did you suddenly decided to come here?" Ichiru questioned, looking quite bewildered by the sudden appearance of the girl as well.
"You didn't invite her over?" Zero turned inquiring eyes upon his twin and asked.
"I most certainly did not; I didn't even think I would be here either. So no, it's not me whom invited her." Ichiru replied in a flat-like manner and after sharing a look with Zero – they shifted their eyes to the unsuspecting figure of Yuuki Kuran.
"Hehehe… sorry, its' me…" Yuuki grinned sheepishly when the Kiryuu twins turned their eyes upon her.
"Okay… fine, your guest – you deal with her on your own." Zero throws at Yuuki, as he headed back upstairs to catch some winks. He had after all woken up early for the day, and sitting through a boring meeting that lasted for 3 hours straight – he figured some sleep would be good for him.
"Boys, don't bugged your Uncle Ichiru anymore. He has guest to be dealing with, come along now – it's time for an afternoon nap for the two of you." Zero nearly stumbled over the term 'afternoon' since it was clearly the hours of dusk to him. Still, it does not change the fact that it was 'noon-time' for the vampires in general.
"Okay, Daddy…" Akira and Subaru immediately headed for the awaiting figure of Zero Kiryuu and left Ichiru alone in peace to be handling the sudden arrival of Maria Kurenai together with Yuuki.
"Takuma, leave the living room area to Yuuki and Kiryuu. We will adjourn to the Study for further discussion." Kaname Kuran started; knowing that his continue presence in the room would only resulted in the girl's uneasiness.
"Anou… Kaname-sama, if you don't mind – I would like to speak to you briefly at a later stage of time." Maria Kurenai gathered up her courage and said, trying her hardest not to flinch in fear upon the memory of what the man in front of her had did to the council members the last time she'd checked on the council.
"Of course, but in the meantime – do try to make yourself comfortable in Yuuki's presence." Kaname responded, before leaving the area completely.
Maria Kurenai felt her knees giving way under her once Kaname Kuran was no longer in her presence, and she would have buckled if Ichiru hadn't stepped in to stable her petite frame.
"Honestly, you didn't stumble when Shizuka-sama stood in front of you – why is it so different when it was Kaname Kuran?" Ichiru questioned with skepticism.
Maria Kurenai only allowed herself to smile weakly in response, before steering the conversation elsewhere – she was not going to reveal her reason for fearing Kaname Kuran in front of Yuuki. She does not have a death wish on her list yet; it was obvious judging from Yuuki's expression that whatever happened at the council – the girl was totally clueless and oblivious to it all.
"So what brings you over?" Ichiru knows Maria was hiding something from his knowledge, but he knew the girl would eventually tell him – probably when the pureblood princess was not around and so he didn't pressed on for the details.
"Ah…What do you reckon is the reason behind my visiting here?!" Maria shot back at Ichiru, an expression of utmost displeased on her face.
"… So you knew already?" Ichiru sighed inwardly as he prepared himself mentally for the possibility of needing to calm a hysterical Maria Kurenai down.
"Of course I knew! Do you know how worried I had been when I heard about the battle over at Cross Academy?! And you – how dare you! Why couldn't you have just left the revenge thing to Zero and leave it as that?! Shizuka-sama would have wanted to see you safe and sound, not trying to be a smart-alec and continue her quest for revenge against that Kuran Rido!"
Ichiru listened on in silence as Maria Kurenai ranted and raved about his idiotic acts for a whole of thirty minutes before she finally had it in her to vent off all her extra steam in her system. Then it was another thirty minutes of checking him over, at one point even going to the extent of prying clothes off him to check and see for herself that the wound inflicted upon him by Kuran Rido was fully healed and patched up nicely.
Yuuki Kuran sat by the edge of the sofa feeling like a third wheel, the odd one out – Maria Kurenai and Ichiru Kiryuu seemed to be stuck in a world of their own. It is a rare sight to see Ichiru resigning himself to the fate of being fussed over by Maria Kurenai. It almost reminded her of the times she spend fussing over Zero, back during the days whereby she was still Yuuki Cross.
"Pardon my intrusion, but would you like to have some tea?" Yuuki finally interrupted Maria Kurenai in her mid-fussing act, by bringing up the subject of serving them tea.
Maria Kurenai blinked, and then nodded in response as she said. "Ah yes… tea would be good."
Yuuki nodded, and then retreated into the kitchen to boil water for tea brewing. Ichiru took a look at Yuuki's departing figure, and then he sends his newly acquired guard – Matsushita Ayano out to help the pureblood princess.
"Ayano, go and help her out – I don't want her to injure herself in there." Ichiru stated flatly, last thing he needs now was to have those nobles biting his head off for allowing their pureblood princess to play 'servant' to him and his 'guest'.
"Now, care to tell me the other reason for your coming over?" Ichiru prompted, looking at the girl with expectation apparent on his features.
"The council… what's going to be the future fate for the council supporters? My parents allowed me to come over for the sake of getting an answer to that particular question." Maria Kurenai eventually said, averting her eyes to the ground now.
"Has that issue got anything to do with your sudden increase of fear level in Kaname Kuran?" Ichiru prompted, again.
"Somewhat… I used my powers the other day to check on the council's possible actions in relations to what happened at the academy, but I saw him cleansing out the council members instead." Maria Kurenai revealed uneasily, keeping her tone soft so as to avoid catching the attention of the pureblood princess in the kitchen.
"I see…so when do you intend to chat with the Kuran prince then?" Ichiru asked next, keeping an eye out on the kitchen's occupant's moves at the same time.
"I'll wait a few more days before broaching the subject…" Maria Kurenai answered, while Ichiru nodded in response – and then steering the conversation to something else more lightening.
In the end, they ended up speaking of the Hiou's Clan inheritance instead. How ironic – that is the only topic they could speak of without bringing a certain Kuran into discussion.
Upstairs on the second storey, Zero Kiryuu was thinking about what to do with the inheritances from the Hiou's Clan. He wanted to have nothing to do with it that much was certain – from what he had pried out from Akane. Seems like the 'him' in Akane's time-era had decided to pass it all over to Kaname Kuran to handle, but now he was thinking along the lines of letting Ichiru handle those portion of the inheritances. At least that would give his twin something to do, to occupy the time with – and besides, Ichiru is better at dealing with the Kurenai.
"Maa… I'll speak to Ichiru later on about this then." Zero muttered to him-self, before heading back for the pureblood's room and retires for the night.
Meanwhile, down in the Study – Ichijo Takuma and Kaname Kuran were discussing about their guest Maria Kurenai's reason for wanting to speak with the pureblood prince in private.
"Kaname, what do you think is her reason behind wanting to speak with you?" Ichijo Takuma asked.
"Probably it had something to do with the cleansing of the Council; I am quite surprised that the Kurenai is the first family to react. I would have thought the Aidou's would be the first bringing the questions over to my attention, with all that close relationship between his son and me." Kaname mused aloud to himself.
"So what are you going to do with her?" Ichijo Takuma asked next.
"Correction, I am not going to do anything with her. I am only going to tell her the same thing I intend to tell the others. Besides, it's her parents that need clarifications not her. She's still too young to involve herself into this whole issue." Kaname responded.
"Young…? She's already 15, hardly considered to be young at all by our standards of course." Ichijo Takuma pointed out that sheer fact.
"The whole lot of you decided to involve your-selves with my plan, I did not force you people to go along with it." Kaname pointed out, evidently.
"Fine then…now I seriously think that you need to do something to soothe the frantic nerves of those nobles out there. The meeting and restructuring of the council can wait, but I honestly think you need to organize a reception or sort – invite those affected personnel out and give them some form of reassurance." Ichijo Takuma supplied helpfully from his position in front of the fireplace within the Study room of the Kuran's estate.
"I know where you're coming from, I really do. In fact, I already have a plan for the reception party but before that – I believed I would need to get Yuuki in shape first." Kaname answered.
"Get Yuuki in shape?" The green eyed blond vampire repeated in confusion, still not quite catching on to Kaname's hidden meaning behind the words.
"Yuuki's birthday next month – that would be when I would bring the Kuran Clan into light again." Kaname further elaborated for his friend's sake.
"Okay… so I gathered that you would need to get Yuuki into the proper lady she should be? Should I be getting Ruka ready for all that coaching lessons?" Ichijo Takuma asked, starting to sympathize with his friends now.
"Yes, please kindly fill them in on the details." Kaname nodded his agreement to his friend's words.
"…You are not thinking about bringing Zero out as your 'Queen', are you? Zero would flip, and not to mention the nobles might reacted in a negative manner." Ichijo then started with hesitation.
"That – I haven't decided. Depending on the situation, I just might decide to do that. Either way, my main aim was to introduce Yuuki into the night-society officially." With that said, the pureblood heir promptly shoo his friend out from the Study to grant himself some peace and quiet for his thoughts.
Touya Rima and Shiki Senri were currently in the basement room – Yuuki's old room, chewing away on their private stash of chocolate 'POCKY' stick. Reason being, to prevent the twins from getting their hands upon this junk food – Kaname had told them to avoid eating these snacks within the twins' vision range. That ended with them having to make the basement room their secret hideout place for junk foods, and they can only come in here to 'chill-out' when the boys are nowhere in sight.
That was exactly how Ichijo Takuma stumbled upon them later when the green eyed blond ventured in here to search for his missing manga volumes.
"The two of you skipped meals for junk food?" The Vice-President of the Night-Class arched an eyebrow up when he entered the basement room.
"Technically, Shiki decided to skip meal because he's uncomfortable with the idea of sitting down together with the younger Kiryuu twin on the same dining table. I told him there's no reason for him to be feeling jumpy but it seems like he's still quite bothered by the sheer notion of being in the company of Ichiru Kiryuu." Touya Rima kindly enlightened their resident Vice-President about their reason for munching on Pocky stick in here instead of joining the rest at the dining room in prior.
"Honestly, Shiki – there's no need for you to worry yourself over nothing. No one is going to blame you for allowing your father to possess you, okay? Now stop hiding in here like a hermit, Akira and Subaru missed having their wonderful Uncle Shiki back – you know?" Ichijo Takuma said, wondering what else he could have done to snap his friend out from that 'hermit-crab' status.
"…" Shiki remained silent about it, making no promises saved for the exception that he would turned up for the next meal.
"…Make sure you do as you said, else I'm going to come in here and drag you out personally. Right, did anyone of you happen to see the latest volume of 'Prince of Tennis' manga – anywhere?" Ichijo Takuma then asked.
"No, it's definitely not here – have you check Akane's room for it yet? She had a knack of sneaking into your room to get her hands on those mangas of yours – I'm certain you are very much aware of that." Shiki Senri answered his friend's question in a deadpanned manner.
"Oh…" Upon Shiki's enlightenment on the issue, Ichijo Takuma finally recalled Akane mentioning about being bored earlier on in the day and he had told the girl to take whatever she wish to flip through off his precious collection of the newly released mangas.
So there is a very high possibility of his missing mangas being in Akane's grasp as of current – but seeing as Akane's asleep now, he couldn't sneak into the girl's room and get it back. If not, Kaname would sure have his head on a silver platter. Because Akane's current room also serves as a room for the pureblood Kuran princess…
Ichijo Takuma was feeling bored with absolutely nothing to do, the twins are napping and Akane sleeping. The living room is out of bound for now, Maria Kurenai and Ichiru Kiryuu was probably in there chatting. That Matsushita girl was probably in the kitchen helping Yuuki out, Aidou and Akatsuki busy with some research materials in the library.
Ruka has taken to hiding herself in the room again, most probably still sorting out her luggage – seeing as most of them haven't really unpacked yet. This is after all, only their third day here in the estate.
"Ichijo Vice-President…May I inquired your reason for coming out here?" The sudden sound of Risa Miyazaki's voice jolted the green eyed blond vampire to reality.
"Eh…?" The Vice-President of the Night Class widens his eyes for a split second, as his mind registered the place he was now in – the front patio of the Kuran estate.
"…" Risa Miyazaki sighed, looks like the blond was zoning out when he came over – hence the look of complete bewilderment when she addressed him. "Was there anything that I could perhaps, help you with?" The female Common Class Vampire asked.
"Hm..m…Maybe…" Ichijo Takuma responded.
"…You have got to be more precise with your answer, Ichijo-san."
"Well, I'm bored – and there's nobody to entertain me. So…I was thinking that perhaps we could have a short chat or something?" The green eyed blond answered.
"I see… so what do you wish to chat about?" Risa Miyazaki prompted, as she took the liberty to pour the blond a cup of tea from the pot that she had brewed and brought out here in prior.
"Tell me something about yourself then…" Ichijo Takuma suggested.
"Me…? There's nothing special about me."
"I'm sure there's something which you can say about yourself that's not stated in the profile… for instances, your hobbies? What do you do usually when you are free?"
Risa Miyazaki stared for a while before shrugging and giving in to the blond request for having a short chit-chat session. So she started playing 50 questions with the Vice-President of the Night-Class, answering harmless and completely random questions that seemed to pop into the said person's mind.
Slowly, she began to shoot her own questions towards the blond as well – not wanting to be the only one answering those stupid questions as she dubbed them. The session continues on until the twins boys woke from their little nap, and come tumbling out from the house heading for their direction.
"Aunt Risa!" Akira called out for the female's attention, become coming to a stop in front of the said female.
"Yes, Akira-sama…?" Risa tilted her head slightly to the side, looking at the wavy haired boy in a quizzical manner.
"Are you having a mid-night rendezvous meeting with Uncle Takuma?" The boy asked with an innocent smile on his face, successfully rendering the two teenage vampires silence.
"No, we are just playing 50 questions." Risa told Akira in a tone devoid of emotions and her expression a mask of indifference.
"Oh…" The boy for some odd reason appeared to be disappointed for a minute, before brightening up again. "Aunt Risa, can you and Uncle Takuma bring Subaru and me up to the rooftop for a while?" The boy requested, using his favorite puppy eyes look.
"…" Risa sweat-drop, inwardly wondering how is she going to fight against 'that' when Ichijo Takuma smiled down at the boy and asked.
"Akira, why do you want to go up to the roof?"
"Sunrise…we want to catch that moment with our own eyes!" Akira announced, and then sliding his glance over to his elder twin - Subaru for some form of morale support.
"…" Subaru took one look at his twin's face, and then turned back to the two teenage vampires in front of them and nodded in agreement to his twin's words.
Ichijo Takuma and Risa Miyazaki shared a common look among them-selves, before abiding to the twins' request. And so Ichijo took Subaru in his arms, while Risa took Akira – by the mental count of three, both of them bring the boys up to the rooftop with a fast leapt motion.
Back in the living room where Maria Kurenai and Ichiru Kiryuu chit-chatted among them-selves, when the female aristocrat brought up the question pertaining to the twins' existence…causing the younger Kiryuu twin to sweat-drop in response.
"Maria… just drop the issue for now, okay…? It's a long story, for the time being you'll only need to know that the two boys' are our temporary guests from the future." Ichiru responded, hoping that Maria Kurenai would simply leave it as it is and drop the issue entirely.
"Alright… but promised that you will tell me next time!" Maria Kurenai pouted adorably as she answered Ichiru.
Ichiru Kiryuu merely shrugged in response, not giving any form of confirmation for the girl. Whether or not to reveal the entire situation to Maria Kurenai, the decision shall lay with his twin not him. Signaling for Yuuki to come over and arrange for a guest room for Maria Kurenai's temporary stay, Ichiru headed back for his assigned room and get ready for his long over-due rest.
Date started: 17/1/2013
Date completed: 19/1/2013