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 & the Fujiwara Clan featured in this story.
Author's notes: Shocking – no? Well, Ichiru's pairing was revealed… I gathered it's easier to put him with Maria Kurenai XD I'll be sure to put a lot of KanZe into this chapter XDDD
Chapter 50 – Affairs of heart…
Dinner at the Cross Residence turns out to be a confrontation event between the veteran hunter Yagari Touga and Kaname Kuran, the pureblood heir of the Kuran Clan. Thank goodness for Kaien's insight to involve Zero into the situation, else hell might break loose within the academy grounds. Upon the first sight of Kaname Kuran, Yagari Touga had snapped and trained his gun upon the pureblood vamp – pulling the trigger without giving it a second thought.
The first thing Zero Kiryuu did then was to unleash his rose whips and in process blocking the pureblood prince from the bullet of his Master's gun rifle before roping the said weapon away from his Master's grasp.
"Master Touga, need I remind you that I am bound to him in all essence? If he dies by your hands today, I either go insane from the sheer idea of losing him or I could merely follow him to hell." Zero interjected, flatly as he stood his ground in front of Kaname – shielding the pureblood away from his incensed Master in hunting skills.
"Kid, are you trying to threaten me for him… for this LEECH?!" Yagari Touga demanded as he throw a look of absolute detest towards Kaname's direction.
Kaname, meanwhile, remained unfazed from the glare directed towards him by the veteran hunter. This was nothing new to him, since he had knew from day 1 that Yagari Touga detested vampires with a passion and his current relationship with Zero would no doubt drive the hunter over the edge. Judging from the man's dark mood, it would be best if he did not let his annoyance towards the hunter shown lest it upsets his lover further.
"…No, I am not threatening you – I don't think you will feel threaten by me either. I am merely stating a fact." Zero replied plainly, but his eyes remained fixed on the veteran hunter – he called his master.
"Now, calm down – Touga… I organized this dinner for the sake of you. It's the chance for you to talk things over in a peaceful manner with Kaname-kun, not for you to kill him at your first sight." Kaien Cross intervened then, bringing a stop to the eyes staring contest between his old pal, and his foster son.
Dinner was carried out in tensed silence, the master and disciple were mainly locked in eye contact whereas the pureblood vampire and the ex-hunter, current Chairman of the Academy chatted on to catch up on recent happenings instead. Desserts were entirely forgone, as the veteran hunter and Zero Kiryuu left for the Study of Kaien Cross for some 'private' chat.
Outside in the living room, Kaien Cross took his time observing the pureblood in front of him. Kaname Kuran sat regally on the sofa couch, his facial expression carefully masked up behind his poker face of indifference. He was trying his best to appear unconcerned of the happenings taking place now behind the Chairman's Study door.
'Calm down… Zero would be fine, that's his master inside the Study with him. Nothing would befall him…' Kaname Kuran was willing himself so, but then his inner voice reminded him of Yagari Touga's previous act of shooting Zero when the former caught the silver-haired teen attempting to bite Akane for blood.
'If that was the outcome of a mere feed session, it could be worst today.' Kaname almost paled when the earlier happenings replayed itself in his mind. Zero had stood up for him, going up against the veteran hunter. Zero had taken his side, over that Yagari Touga whom his lover had looked upon as a 'teacher' figure.
"Kaname-kun, you cared a great deal for Zero." Kaien Cross said then, jarring the pureblood from his worrying thoughts.
"I supposed that would be the case." Kaname answered, carefully unsure of the Chairman's motive behind the sudden comment about his feelings for the silver-haired guardian.
"I gathered that much – I can see that you have come to love him now. Of course, I could also sense that the feelings are mutual between you two." Kaien Cross responded next, successfully rendering Kaname Kuran's mask of indifference to slip for a minute.
Kaname snapped his eyes to the Chairman in shock, before he hurried to school his mask back up to indifference again.
"Is there a reason for you to be so surprised? I've heard from Zero a few days ago, when he dropped by for a late night visit. He told me that the two of you have bonded with one another. I wouldn't say I know you well, but at least I knew enough to know that you would not mark him if you don't feel anything for him. The same to go for Zero, he would never allow you to mark him if he didn't wants it – subconsciously." Kaien Cross surmised, eyeing the pureblood with amusement much to Kaname's annoyance.
Regardless of what was happening outside in the living room between Kaname Kuran and the ex-hunter, current Chairman of the Cross Academy. Inside the Study room of Kaien Cross, the atmosphere was entirely different – the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife.
"You are siding with him now, aren't you?" Yagari Touga gritted out at his once favorite disciple, from frustration and irritation.
"So what if I am indeed siding with him? What are you going to do then?" Zero throws back at his Master, evenly.
"Did all the learning over the past years go down the drain? How could you place your trust in those blood-suckers? For all you know, he could be involving himself with you for some ulterior motive!" The veteran hunter snarled out in response to his disciple's firm decision to stand by the Kuran heir.
"Ulterior motive… like what exactly? If you are talking about him using me merely for sex pleasures, then why the hell would he want to bond with me then? Vampires bonded for life, there's no such thing as divorce – you know?"
Zero pointed out objectively to his mentor in hunting skills. He knew the former was worrying for his well-being, and he really do appreciated it. Still, affairs concerning the heart are always unexpected and they usually don't go according to plan. If one were to ask him six months ago, what did he think of Kaname Kuran – his answer would definitely be immense dislike or even hatred. Now though, his answer would be a complete opposite to what he had thought before.
Zero respected his mentor a lot, and the last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint the former. However, like what people always say – one cannot control feelings of the heart that easily. His mind was telling him the logical thing to do but his heart, body and soul desires the exact opposite. He had once vowed never to let any vampires come too close for comfort, and look at what he had been doing these days?!
"Master, I know you're upset with me now… but all I want to say is that, I'm of age already. I had a very clear idea of what I was getting myself into by allowing the bond to occur." Zero said, his words coming out sounding like a plea for understanding from the other party.
Yagari Touga sighed; he knew nothing that he said could have dissuaded his disciple anymore. Moreover, what happened had happened – nothing could be done to reverse the act. The bond has been set into place, and whether he likes it or not – his disciple and that Kuran heir was now bounded for life and eternity.
"Master, I would understand if you do not wish to see me again in future. Nevertheless, it remained a fact that I still see you as my mentor." Zero eventually said after a couple minutes of silence between them, before he turned on his heels to exit the room.
"Zero…" Kaname started when he saw his silver-haired lover exiting the Study of Kaien Cross, his eyes roaming as he took in Zero's appearance. Inwardly, he heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed no injuries from the silver-haired hunter.
"Let's go." Zero told the pureblood evenly, and then he turned to acknowledge his foster father – Kaien Cross with a nod. Kaname Kuran followed Zero's example of acknowledging the Chairman, before hurrying to catch up with the departing figure of his lover.
Halfway across the lawn, the pureblood asked. "I thought you were going to invite the Chairman for your twin's engagement party?"
"I changed my mind, telling him now would only irk my master further. I do not want my master to take his frustration out on Ichiru." Zero responded coolly after reaching to the place where Kaname's driver had waited patiently for their emerging from the Academy grounds.
"You really care a lot for your brother…and what happened to your previous anger for not being informed of his impending engagement before the cards were sends out to the guests?" Kaname questioned.
"I guess; I just couldn't stay mad at Ichiru for long… just like how you always let Yuuki off the hook whenever she messed something up by attempting something ridiculously stupid?" Zero throws back easily.
Meanwhile, within the Kurenai's residence situated within the prefecture area of Toyama among the mountain regions. Ichiru Kiryuu was engrossed in the task of understanding the sales records for the cluster of businesses registered under the brand name of 'Sakura' – when the daughter of the said Clan entered the guest room where he had been allocated for usage over the past week.
"Ichiru…?" Maria Kurenai called out from the door-way, drawing the silver-haired teen away from his task at hand.
"Maria…" Ichiru started, as he put away the stack of documents originally sitting on his lap as he flipped through them idly.
For a while, silence hung between them as they stood staring right into each other's eyes. Maria Kurenai was puzzled; she was groggy and sick with high fever over the past few days. Therefore she had no absolute idea as to how the situation had come down to this point. Imagine her bewilderment when her parents' suddenly announced to her yesterday's evening, that she would be engaged to Ichiru and that the engagement party would be taking place in three week's time.
Being born into a family of aristocrat class, Maria Kurenai had long understood the fact that her future marriage was not in her hands but of her parents' arrangement and decision. However, nothing could have prepared her for the idea of being engaged to Ichiru Kiryuu. Sure, she was attracted to the said teen with a passion but the idea of being engaged to the former had never once crossed her mind. Since Ichiru was a mere mortal up till recently…
Ichiru Kiryuu was no genius, but he was smart enough to piece the puzzles together within a short period of time. Despite the fact that his little fiancée had yet to say anything to him, he could guess what was going on in his fiancée's mind easily. Maria Kurenai was quite an easy feat to read, her confusion was visible in her eyes and the hesitancy on the girl's face speaks volumes.
With a sigh, he reached for the female aristocrat and pulled her to him – settling the girl down in the empty chair that he was previously occupying. Reaching a hand out to smooth the girl's hair gently, Ichiru took a moment to gather his wits together before addressing his fiancée.
The sheer notion of getting himself engaged when he dropped by to pay Maria Kurenai a visit was the last thing on his mind about a week ago, but over the past week – the girl's condition had been critical to say. Slipping in and out of consciousness from her fever induced sleep, and calling out his name in the midst of it all. In response to which, he had spend hours guarding the girl in her feverish state of mind; tending to the girl's needs personally.
On his third day of his arrival, he had approached Martin Kurenai with the topic of the Hiou's business for discussion. The man had been kind enough to brief him on the details of operation, things that cannot be seen from the reports. For that alone, he was grateful – but then somewhere along the line, the topic of discussion had strayed and Martin Kurenai had brought on his worries of Maria's health condition to say.
Martin Kurenai could not fathom the reason why his daughter's health condition had fluctuated so suddenly, and Ichiru nearly let it slipped of the fact that during the past four years the health condition of Maria was actually kept stable by the late Shizuka Hiou's blood. Nevertheless, he knew that was not a topic to be brought out into the light for a casual discussion so he kept his silence.
Either way, Martin Kurenai was telling him that with Maria's condition being in the current state it would be difficult for the girl to take control of the company if anything were to happen to him and his wife. That was when the topic of his engagement with Maria was first brought up for discussion; the man's reasoning was simple to understand enough. To put it simply, Ichiru was already getting himself familiarize with the company's operation and Maria appeared to be quite taken by him – so why not make the best situation out of it by getting them together as a couple?
"…And you agree, just like that?" Maria Kurenai gaped, of all the possible reasons behind her engagement to Ichiru – this was the last thing on her mind, obviously.
"Well…there are no valid reasons for me to reject the offer either…so…why not?" Ichiru told the girl with a smile, before urging the girl back to her room for some rest.
Maria Kurenai was in a daze-like mood when she returned to her room, she would be jumping up in joy if it was not for the fact that this particular engagement had come to her so suddenly without any warning in advance. She was after all betrothed to her dream guy and not just some random dude from their society. That alone, was enough to cause Maria to grin like an idiot once the reality of the situation sets in on her.
Ichiru watched until Maria's figure disappeared completely from sight, and that was when he recalled that he had yet to inform his twin on his impending engagement party. Groaning inwardly as he prepared himself mentally for the possible reaction from Zero, the younger Kiryuu twin pull his cellular phone out and dialed his twin's mobile number.
"Yes, Ichiru…?" Zero's voice sounded from the other end of the line, annoyance lacing the tone of his voice. Ichiru could just imagine his twin's look of annoyance as the former answered the call, easily.
"I just thought to inform you that I'm getting engaged." Ichiru said through the receiver, keeping his tone calm despite the fact that he was kind of unnerved on the inside. In fact, he was so nervous that he had taken to count the number of polka dots on the bed-sheets to calm his nerves as he spoke to his twin.
"Yes, I know – your future in laws had it in mind to send the Kuran's an invitation card for the event." Zero's voice was laced with unbidden sarcasm.
Ichiru winced, he had no idea that Martin Kurenai's actions was so efficient that the cards were already issued out to the invited personnel. If he knew the man would be so efficient, he would not have waited and would have called his twin up the moment he nodded his consent to the 'proposal'.
Wakaba Sayori was out in the patio with a novel in hand trying to read while keeping an eye out on the twins when she detected a familiar presence behind her. With an inward sigh, she put away her novel and said.
"Aidou-sempai, why don't you take a seat? I believe it's high time that we have a talk with one another."
The blue eyed blond aristocrat hesitated for a second before complying with Sayori's request, pulling out the chair next to the girl and settled him-self into it.
"Aidou-sempai, I supposed there's really no other way to broach this subject other than coming outright and say it to your face." Sayori started, averting her eyes elsewhere so that she would not stammer while speaking.
"Care to enlighten me what the hell are you on about?" Aidou Hanabusa responded calmly, rather as calm as he could manage – all the while ignoring the nagging feelings in his stomach. He had inkling that whatever topic that was coming up for discussion, he would not be enjoying the talk.
"I've spoke to Akatsuki-san sometime ago, rather he had approached me then. We spoke for a while, and the topic of discussion just happens to be you. He was telling me that you had an unhealthy obsession with ME and was hoping that I could perhaps talk some sense into you." Wakaba Sayori started, still not looking at the blond.
"I see…" The response from Aidou Hanabusa was tight and mixed with a hint of displeasure in it, but since Sayori was not keeping her eyes upon the blond – she had no idea how the vampire in question had taken her words.
Silence hung between the duos, the twins were still playing some distances away with Risa and Ichijo supervising them. Seiren was out with Zero and Kaname to the Academy, the rest of the aristocrats and Yuuki Kuran were gathered in the living room – eyeing the duos from the inside of the house.
Yuuki Kuran was puzzled, she had no idea what her friend had been saying to the blue-eyed blond to gain such a displeasing reaction from the blond. For a while, she had wanted to head out and play peace-maker until she felt Ruka Souen pulling her back with a warning glare.
"Yuuki-sama, please do not involved yourself into it." Akatsuki Kain started, his tone firm but the expression on him seem a little too weary for the pureblood princess' liking.
"Yes, Yuuki-san… please refrained from bothering yourself with whatever was going on out there." Matsushita Ayano spoke up then, her tone stern.
"But…but…" Yuuki hesitated, her eyes trained upon her friend and the blue eyed blond vampire speaking out in the patio.
"Yuuki-san…Please! You have no need to meddle in it; Aidou Hanabusa would not harm Sayori – if that's your worry. They just had to get some things cleared up between them…" Ayano raised her voice at Yuuki then.
"W…what do you mean?" Yuuki was frowning now.
"I am sure you have eyes to see for yourself… Aidou Hanabusa was getting too attracted to Sayori, and that is not a good sign." Ayano throws back at Yuuki.
"Why is that so?" Yuuki frowned, still not getting the whole picture yet.
"…Yuuki, what Ayano meant to say down here was that Aidou Hanabusa was obsessed with Sayori – he likes Sayori a lot that it was becoming unhealthy for everyone involved. I am certain you know the reason why your friend and Aidou would never work out between them now, don't you?" Akane prompted, having had enough of Yuuki's retarded reaction to simply throw out facts to the girl.
"You mean to say that Sayori was now breaking things off with Aidou-sempai?" Yuuki questioned.
"There's nothing to break, because there has been nothing going on between them. Aidou Hanabusa was in denial all these while because he knew nothing would work out between them, there has been no confession of the heart all these time. In case you'd failed to noticed, all these while it was just Aidou Hanabusa's own decision to care and protect Sayori.
Sayori's reaction to it all was indifference, she simply leave things be – she knew whatever that was going on between them was merely hopeless pining. It would be better to do without; and now she was trying to spell things out for Aidou. Therefore Yuuki, please do not poke your nose into it because it would only complicate matters for them." Akane explained.
"Aidou-sempai, I'm sure you are no fool – whatever you feel for me, it cannot continue on. We are of different world, I am certain you knew this." Upon this statement, Sayori finally looked at the blond in the eyes.
Wakaba Sayori tried her best to remain unfazed by the look in those blue orbs of Aidou Hanabusa, she could easily see that the blond was struggling to keep his emotions in check. She felt bad for breaking those hopes of the blond, but she knew it would have to be done.
All these while she had pretended to be indifferent to what Aidou Hanabusa had done to care and protect her for – and with each passing day it became harder and harder for her to feign indifference. She was only human, and humans have feelings unlike wooden block.
To say that she was not touched by the blond actions would be a lie, but she cannot allow herself to surrender to those growing feelings in her. Neither of them can afford to act on their desires, they were simply not meant to be. They both have their roles to play, and besides not every vampires family can stomach the idea of having their sole heir to take on a human for a bride. Let alone, this is the Aidou clan that they are talking about – and up till the current point of time, no vampires clan in the Asian region had allowed an union between human and vampire to take place before saved from the exception of the Fujiwara Clan.
After saying her piece, Wakaba Sayori rise from her seat and took her novel with her as she made her way back into the house. She left the blond alone to his thoughts, and went upstairs to her room immediately.
"I've done all I could, whether or not he decided to drop those feelings he had for me – now depended on his own decision. Like you'd mentioned before, he can be too bull-headed for his own good." Wakaba Sayori managed to keep her voice even as she whispered to the cousin of Aidou Hanabusa before leaving the living room area altogether.
"Akira, try to hold your tongue over the next few days around uncle Aidou." Subaru suddenly spoke up in the midst of a card game with his younger twin, Risa Miyazaki and Ichijo Takuma.
"…I know, I'm not that stupid – okay?" Akira Kuran throws back at his elder twin.
"What are you two on about?" Ichijo Takuma questioned, sounding bewildered while Risa wisely kept her silence on the matter.
"Aunt Yori and Uncle Aidou – they just have a talk, and judging from the tension over there … I'll say Aunt Yori spelt things out to Uncle Aidou – and now our dear uncle's temper is not at his best condition." Subaru responded.
"Huh…?" Ichijo Takuma blinked, obviously still not catching the balls yet.
"Let's just say the Uncle Aidou from our time was in love with Aunt Yori, despite knowing the fact that neither of them could have a future with one another. What happened just now was Aunt Yori trying to talk some sense into him, but whether or not will he be able to snap out of it – depends on his own will now." Akira summarized the situation to his best ability and feed it to his beloved Uncle Ichijo.
"Ah…I see, I didn't see that coming at all." Ichijo Takuma mused, finally having caught on to the twins' words.
"Of course, you didn't catch on – I believed the only one whom did was Akatsuki Kain. You spend most of your time with Kaname-sama, Akane or Shiki Senri. Otherwise, you are busy reading your collection of manga – so of course you failed to notice the other people's life-story." Risa Miyazaki interjected.
"And you did?" Ichijo Takuma retaliated with an arch of the eyebrow.
"Of course I did notice… imagine the number of times I had to sneak past Aidou's detection to get to Sayori for information prior to the whole Rido's fiasco." Risa Miyazaki muttered aloud in annoyance.
"Akira, Subaru – why are the two of you out here?" The sudden sound of Zero Kiryuu's voice jarred the group of four out from their conversation, and shifted their eyes over to the gate's direction.
"Daddy…!" Akira's eyes immediately brighten up, as he made his way over to greet the newly returned Kaname Kuran and Zero Kiryuu.
"Kaname-sama, Zero-sama…" Risa greeted with utmost respect.
"Risa, thank you for keeping an eye out on them…" Zero responded, before flicking his eyes over to the beaming green eyed blond and then he smirked.
"I thought you would be fretting over the company's issues and would have no time for the twins'?" Zero directed his words to the green eyed blond vampire, and said.
"…I got some help in that area, so I'm about done – right now." Ichijo Takuma responded, without batting an eyelid while Risa Miyazaki throws the blond a warning look. Meanwhile, the twins promptly broke into giggling fits.
"What is so funny, care to share it with us?" Zero looked at the twins for an answer – to which, Akira immediately launched into the tale of how pathetic their Uncle Ichijo had been some hours ago when they passes by the library and how their Aunt Risa had muttered something about idiots before stepping in and volunteer to help Ichijo Takuma in high-lighting the key points to look out for in the reports.
"…" Both Risa and Ichijo Takuma throw a look in the twins' direction, before dropping the matter entirely. No point pursuing matter further, they should have known the twins enough to know that they would no doubt spill everything forth to Zero and Kaname upon the duos return from the Chairman's place.
With the twins back to hogging their young parents' attention, Risa Miyazaki and Ichijo Takuma shared a look among them-selves before heading back to the library to continue sorting through the pile of work left undone previously when the twins burst into the library with the request to play out front in the garden lawn.
Later that night after coaxing the twins off to bed, Kaname and Zero were back in their room for some private moments between them-selves when Kaname suddenly brought up the issue of his childhood friend and Risa Miyazaki up for discussion.
"Zero, why is it that the twins are so adamant about getting Takuma to work together with Risa?" Kaname found himself voicing his doubt aloud to his silver-haired lover.
"You mean there's something you don't know about?" Zero mused, arching an eyebrow up in question as he took in his lover's look of contemplation. Kaname was currently sitting up in bed waiting patiently for him to ready himself for bed.
"You seemed quite amused by my words, was there something that I had no idea about?" Kaname arched an eyebrow up in question.
"If you weren't too busy with your work and 'molesting' me at every possible occasions, you would be able to notice how the twins had been plotting with Akane days ago – it happens that the trio had this wonderful idea in mind to conduct an 'operation match-making act'. The first couple they had in mind was their dear Uncle Takuma and Risa, it would seem." Zero responded, a bemused expression visible on his features.
"…You are okay with them poking their nose into this?" Kaname regarded his lover curiously.
"Well, I'm not objecting to it – if that's what you mean. The Miyazaki's obviously up to no good, and while the Fujiwara could shield Risa from it for the time-being. It cannot always be in the case, because once Fujiwara Hayate – Risa's maternal grandfather passes on. There might be a change in the circumstances again, so if the twins' match-making attempt turns out well and Ichijo was willing to take Risa under his wing – it would be best. It is a fact that the Ichijo's influence in the night-society remained, despite the death of Ichijo Asato. In which case, Risa's paternal side of the family would most definitely be thinking twice before attempting any acts of stupidity." Zero responded, matter-of-factly.
"I see, so that's the reason why you supported the twins actions' and even aid the process along by making them work together…" Kaname commented, as realization dawns in on him.
Zero shudders as he felt his lover sucking on one of his more sensitive spot, seems like Kaname cannot survive one minute with him in private without making an attempt to get intimate with him. Several moments later, his clothes were off his body and the lights were off in the room – followed by them both ending up on the bed deeply engrossed in the task of love making.
Date started: 26/1/2013
Date completed: 28/1/2013