Captured Hearts

Chapter Seven: The Abused

A Couple Days Later...

*achoo!*

"Hibarin! Come over here!"

The vampire walked over to the observation area and sighed. "Yes, Dino?" "That's about the ninth time you've sneezed in the past half hour. I think you've got yourself a cold," Dino said while a couple of ladies behind him giggled. "And I think its about time I took you into the lab so that Chrome can see how bad it is."

"It'll pass," Hibari said. "I'm fine."

"No, I don't want you getting Basil sick, too. Besides, the last sick vampire we had got so grumpy, we had to have him shot."

The laughing in the back stopped immediately, and Hibari took the silence as an opportunity to say, "It's not that bad, I feel all right."

"Now, Hibarin, it's never good to allow someone- especially a vampire- to get sick. If they don't get tempermental, then they accidently bite themselves when they sneeze, they get others sick, or it gets really bad and they die. Got it? I'm taking you to Chrome the second hunting's over."

"I'll take him," Mukuro said as he stopped at the observation area. "It's my reason he got pulled into the merpeople tank."

"What was he doing with the merpeople?" a guest asked. Another squealed.

"He wasn't sucking their blood, was he? Poor Bluebell!"

"No, he was just curious," Mukuro replied.

"Oh, so he's pretty smart, I guess, if he feels curiosity," they said. "He's kind of like a lost little puppy, isn't he?"

Hibari, already annoyed that he'd lost all say in the matter, grabbed the bars of the cage and hissed loudly, making everyone take a step back and listen to him. "First of all, never call me that. And second, I don't need to see Chrome, I'm perfectly... per... puh... uh..."

*achoo!*

"See, Hibarin, you're not fine," Mukuro said, reaching through the bars and holding the vampire's cheek. "All they'd do is give you something to take, like a pill. Okay?"

"Fine," Hibari muttered, a little embarassed by his badly timed sneeze.

"All right, ladies, let's go to see the merpeople, c'mon, they just got fed..." Dino led the small crowd away, and as the observer's gate began to close, Mukuro tried to get the rest of his information through quickly.

"I'll pick you up the second you reenter the vampire enclosure, all right?"

"Yeah," Hibari said, before turning around and walking over to the pond. He was about to bend over to hunt when someone suddenly burst out of the pond, before landing on the grass. "What the-"

"Shh. Fran and Bluebell might be able to withstand those screaming girls, but I can't take it," said the person, gruffly. Hibari watched as the merman sat up, keeping his tail in the water, and sighed, running a hand through his long, silver hair. "I'm just going to hang here for a bit."

"Since when was there a path here from the merpeople's tank?" Hibari asked.

"There always has been," Squalo answered. "That damned tamer actually did something useful when he made this. Only problem is sometimes the werewolves fall into the pond and end up half-drowned in our tank."

Hibari chuckled, and sat upright. "Hey, is it true that you can become human when you're completely on land?"

"I dunno, but even if it is, I'm not going to try," the merman muttered. "I'd rather die then beach myself."

The vampire sighed, then looked over at Basil, who was waiting beside the enclosure door with a bored look on his face as he ate a fish. Hibari then stood, wished Squalo luck in avoiding the observers, and walked over to the other vampire. He took a seat beside Basil and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You tired?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not so fond of the other species," Basil whispered, "I was nearly drowned by a merman once, nearly shredded by a werewolf, trampled by a centaur. And just when I thought I'd avoided it all, I got captured by Mukuro and thrown into this prison."

"They aren't so bad," Hibari said, trying to cheer the young vampire up.

Basil shook his head. "You settled in quickly. But... thou did not have me. I didn't have a nice vampire to get used to, I had a heartless, abusive vampire named... Xanxus."

Hibari thought he saw Squalo perk up at that name, but he ignored him. "What was he like?" The younger vampire shuddered and hugged himself.

"First of all, he was always really angry. He constantly tried to attack Dino and Mukuro, and he hissed every time anyone came close to him. He swore a lot, he threw things... and several times... he couldn't control his instincts and he'd just suddenly bite me... I still have a scar on the back of my neck. It was a living hell for me, and it still is, even though now he's locked away where he can't hurt anyone."

"Xanxus is still alive?" gasped the merman, now on his stomach, listening to the story. Basil nodded.

"He's a little further underground. He was so wild that they couldn't neccessarily shoot him, so now he's in a cage much stronger than these."

Squalo reached up and placed a hand over his neck. "That guy bit me once, too," he said quietly. "Thought I was a fish."

"Well I'm glad I wasn't alive for that," Hibari sighed. "But its better now, right, Basil?"

"It won't be better until I can leave the cage freely and go out to hunt my own food."

Hibari sighed, and embraced the young vampire. "It's all right, Basil. I would never have wanted to be caged down, but here, I can learn about all of the other creatures that humans have called 'supernatural.' I can learn everything I couldn't learn in the wild."

"Well that's good for thyself," Basil muttered, before burying his face in his folded arms. "Let me alone for now, Lord Hibarin."

Just after he said that, the door opened for the vampires to return to the enclosure, as well as the gate to the centaurs' ramp. Squalo immediately left, and Basil retired to the cage immediately, whereas Hibari wanted to see how Takeshi was doing, so he waited. Soon after, Byakuran galloped into the enclosure, then slowed to a trot, stretching, when he noticed Hibari. "Oh? The vampire's here," he said to Kikyo, who instantly moved to the opposite end of the enclosure. Ryohei ran in just a few moments later, and he didn't slow down in the slightest once he was inside the enclosure, he just began to gallop in circles, shouting something that Hibari didn't even bother to hear. He glanced at Byakuran as he lied downand began to talk to his friend, then back to the entrance when he heard gentle, uneven hooffalls. Takeshi came out into the enclosure, limping on his left foreleg, and he was about to head over to the pond when Hibari called him.

"Hibarin, what're you doing here?" Takeshi questioned, walking over.

"How's your leg?" Hibari asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh, great!" the centaur replied. "It's been healing quickly, but its still a bit sore. I'll wash your tie and give it back if you want-"

"You can keep it," the vampire replied. "I'm fine."

Takeshi smiled, and patted Hibari on the head, only annoying him a little. "You're pretty nice for a vampire, ya know that?"

Hibari chuckled and brushed the ebony centaur's hand off of him, and said, "I suppose I better-"

"Hibarin! Get into the vampire enclosure! Seriously!" Dino shouted as he opened the observation area.

"I better go," Hibari finished, "get well soon."

"I will, thanks to you!" Takeshi answered, before rearing up. "Go on now, Hibarin~."

Hibari stepped back to avoid the deadly hooves at first, then grinned awkwardly at Takeshi and passed through the tunnel back into the vampire cage. Sometimes, those centaurs were just a tad reckless for him. "What were you doing?" Mukuro asked, opening the cage door. "Hibarin, you could've been killed- those guys are easily spooked!"

"Yeah, whatever," Hibari muttered as the hunter leashed him. "Y'know, at this point, isn't it kind of silly to keep putting this dumb thing on me?"

"No, Hibarin. It's not," Mukuro replied, before tugging on him. "Let's go." The vampire sighed and stepped out of the cage, waiting for Mukuro to close and lock the door again before they started towards the science department. "Hibarin... er... I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"Do you... like Basil? Are you going to eventually take him as your mate?" Mukuro asked.

"... Probably... eventually," Hibari mumbled, blushing. Suddenly, he was turned, and pressed into the wall. "Mu-"

"Shh," the hunter hushed, before kissing the vampire. Hibari struggled, however, and Mukuro backed off. "Listen... I want you to be resistant to this. Don't get any closer to Basil. Okay?"

"Mukuro... are you possibly...," Hibari began, a little breathless. He soon found his voice again, and finished, "jealous?"

Mukuro's eyes were stern and mean when the vampire spoke, and Hibari grunted as a gloved hand flashed across his face, making a sting well up in his cheek. "Don't start," Mukuro hissed. He grabbed the leash, and yanked, and Hibari stumbled into a walk, reaching a hand up and rubbing his face where he'd been hit.

It had been an innocent question- Hibari meant Mukuro no offense in any way. He had asked the question because he wanted the answer. But something changed in that moment. A fine ounce of trust was lost, for the vampire now felt that Mukuro could attack him with ease, despite the blood bond that had connected them. That thought made him a little fearful.

He didn't like to think that it was unsafe there.

"Chrome," Mukuro called, "Hibarin has a cold. Can we have some pills for-"

*achoo!*

"... a runny nose?" the hunter finished, brushing off his shoulder as Hibari quietly apologized.

"Oh, sure, I'll be right there," Chrome replied, walking away. Hunter and vampire waited patiently for a while, before Mukuro could hardly stand listening to the sounds of other scientists' keyboards.

"Spanner, what are you working on?" Mukuro asked.

"Reports on the merpeople," Spanner replied. "None of them have taken an intrest in another, except Fran keeps watching the werewolves during their feeding time. I think we'll need to move them, soon. The plan was for Fran and Squalo to compete for Bluebell, but strangely enough, neither of them are intrested. They'll need no distractions in order to start interacting more."

Remembering the mosaic of Belphegor inside the merpeoples' cave, Hibari spoke up for Fran. "What if Fran wants to take a werewolf mate? Shouldn't you let him? I mean, it would be pretty intresting... right?"

Spanner shook his head. "That's inpossible. Gokudera and Belphegor need to be mates. There aren't any extra werewolves just floating around, you know."

Hibari sighed. He shouldn't have asked.

"I'm back," said Chrome. "Okay, Hibarin, just take a pill twice a day for three days and you should be fine." She handed the vampire a bottle with the cold medication, and the vampire bowed slightly.

"Thank you," he said.

"C'mon, Hibarin... back to the enclosure," Mukuro sighed, pulling on the leash.

Hibari reached up and touched the metallic collar. "I don't want to go back to the enclosure. I want to go see outside."

"Come on, Hibari Natsu Kyoya II," Mukuro muttered. Hibari paused.

"No."

Almost the second the word left his mouth, a shock passed through the leash and was transmitted into his neck. He yelped, collapsing, for it didn't even feel like a warning spark- it hurt!

"Hibarin."

Hibari stood, trembling, and followed Mukuro back to the enclosure.

He was beginning to understand Basil's feelings.

-End Chapter

This is kinda long, ne? Please review!