Captured Hearts

Chapter Twelve: The Betrayed

Hibari rubbed his side sorely as he stood up straight, glancing over at Basil, who was napping beneath the small shade that the ungrown tree provided. It had been three days since the incident with Mukuro, but rumors had already spread about them, and it was taking its toll on the vampire's good reputation. While the scientists and tamers didn't know or suspect anything, all of the captive animals had gotten word of the rumor, and a good number of them had begun to shun the ravenette.

Mukuro hadn't spoken to him since then, Basil refused to look at him, Belphegor frequently poked insults at him, and most of the centaurs were just plain mean. Three creatures took pity on him, however- Hayato, Fran, and the centaur Takeshi. Even as their own kind shunned him, those three were indebted to the vampire, or otherwise fond of him.

Besides, Hayato and Fran could clearly relate, because the both of them disliked their cage/tankmates, and preferred to hang out with other species.

"Hibarin! Wanna help me out with the centaurs today?" Dino called, opening the door to the vampire enclosure. Hibari soon came out from the main enclosure and stepped out from the cage, tensing when Dino leashed him. "Thanks, vampire. Byakuran won't let me lead him today... so I could really use your help. I don't know what it is- everyone's a little riled up today, ne?"

Hibari nodded, then walked up to the centaur enclosure with Dino, and the tamer went to handle Kikyo as the vampire approached Byakuran. The hybrid watched, his amethyst eyes narrow as the ravenette stepped closer, then snorted as Hibari took a bow. "Just because I'm a halfbreed doesn't mean I welcome the mixing of blood, vampire."

"You don't understand," Hibari replied in a low voice, looking up to meet Byakuran's gaze. The hybrid snorted and folded his arms.

"That may be true," he admitted. "However, I don't need to accept it. Don't touch me."

"Oh, man up," the vampire hissed, before grabbing the halfbreed's wrist and yanking him towards the rampway. Byakuran tried to rear up on his hind legs, but Hibari's death grip kept all four hooves firmly on the ground.

"Let me go," Byakuran hissed, beating his wings wildly as he tried to free himself. Suddenly, an ebony-coated centaur trotted up to the two, and placed an arm around the hybrid's shoulders.

"Cool down, Byakuran, we're going to go graze, right?" Takeshi said, grinning. The halfbreed snorted, then relaxed his hand, before holding it out. The vampire took it willingly, then also grabbed a hold of Takeshi's.

"I'll take the both of you down," he offered. "We've wasted enough time already."

"Hibari successfully led both centaurs down to the grazing area, and Takeshi thanked him, while Byakuran tore his hand away from Hibari, stomped the ground, and trotted away to greet Kikyo. Hibari bid Takeshi farewell, and went back up to the main centaur enclosure to meet up with Dino. The tamer had his whip equipped, and was frantically trying to calm an overly-excited Ryohei. "All right, Ryohei, if you don't let me lead you down, I'm going to have to force you down!" he called. Ryohei shouted something (who knows what), and threw his hind hooves into the large tree, and DIno gritted his teeth in frustration, before running up and leaping on to the centaur's back, using his whip as reins. "C'mon, Ryohei!" he shouted, digging his heel into the centaur's side. Hibari watched as Ryohei started to gallop out of the enclosure and down the ramp, then waited for Dino to return.

The tamer didn't take long, but he certainly looked shaken up by all the chaos. "You all right?" he asked Hibari. The vampire nodded, and Dino patted him on the back. "Thanks. By the way... er... Byakuran mentioned something along the lines of... crossbreeding? What was that about?"

Hibari paused. "No idea."

The tamer shrugged, and he and Hibari were about to head back, when Dino stopped, then grinned. "Wanna help out with the merpeople, too?"

Hibari thought of Fran, and nodded. He hadn't seen his merman friend for a couple days, so he could use the comfort. He and Dino headed over to the merpeople's tank, and Dino left, saying he was going to get them some food. Meanwhile, Hibari sat down at the edge of the tank, and Fran soon came up to the surface.

"Hey," he greeted. "How are you?"

"Exhausted," Hibari replied, leaning over slightly to see Fran better. "Everyone thinks that something happened between me and Mukuro."

Fran sighed, then reached to hold his hand. Now, Fran was so close that Hibari could see the teal dolphin tail keeping him at the surface. "Y'know Hibarin, they're just acting normal. Crossbreeding is frowned upon by a lot of species. Us merpeople aren't that fussy about it, though... As you know, I like Belphegor..."

A blush crossed Fran's cheeks as he said it, and Hibari smiled to see that he wasn't the only one uncomfortable with his feelings. "Yeah," he said. "I know."

Dino then came back, and set a couple buckets on the ground. Fran immediately backed down away from Hibari, and beached himself on to the banks so that he could see what was in them. He soon wrinkled his nose. "Eew. What did I say about the fish?" he growled. Hibari laughed, and took the merman's hand, before yanking him up and into his lap. Fran blushed, for his tail didn't vanish with his position- half of it was still in the water.

"You want to try feeding vampire style?" Hibari asked, offering his neck. Fran threw his tail upwards, splashing Hibari in the process, then slid himself back into the water where he was comfy.

"No, I don't," Fran replied. "Sorry, Hibarin, I'm not intrested," he said. "I'll take the fish."

Hibari smirked. His plan had worked. "Okay, Fran, do me a favor and call out the others," Dino said, passing a bucket towards Hibari. The vampire took a fish from it, frowned at it, then handed it to Fran, who chuckled, stuck it in his mouth, and dove beneath the surface, going to what Hibari knew was an underwater cave. "Phew," Dino said, sitting down beside the tank. "Hey, Hibarin, why are you so... tame? When I first met you, you were downright mean!"

"I don't know," Hibari said honestly. "I get along better with other animals more than with Basil though."

Dino looked at the vampire funny, then started, "Are you...?"

"Hm?"

"... Nevermind," he sighed. "Nothing. Uh... they're coming back."

Hibari smiled as Fran and the other merpeople surfaced, and Squalo suddenly screamed, "'Ey, vampire! Xanxus says HI!"

"'Ey?" Fran repeated. "Mam, you are fo embaraffing. So umstyish. So UMcoo. Umike me," Fran said, a fish tail hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

"Vooi, Fran! How about you shut up?" Squalo replied, glaring at the younger merman. Fran grinned, then held out his hand.

"Hibarin! How about another fish for your favorite merman?" he requested.

Hibari chuckled and tossed the teal-haired man another fish, before throwing one to Squalo, who looked like he was going to throw a fit over the fact that Fran was getting fed before him. "You guys are lucky," Hibari muttered. "You get to swim around in a tank all day."

"Hey, it's not as fun as you think," Squalo said.

Dino watched the three as he fed Bluebell, blissfully unaware of who each of them had targeted as their mates.

"Basil!" Hibari called as he entered his enclosure. "Look, nothing happened between me and Mukuro, okay? So stop shunning me!"

The young vampire stood up from where he had been, and his dirt-covered hands told Hibari that he'd been gardening. "I planted a rose garden for you," he murmured. Hibari walked over to where Basil was, and looked into the tear-filled eyes.

"Are you all right...?" he asked, placing a hand on the other's shoulder. The younger vampire leapt up and hugged Hibari tightly, burying his head in the ravenette's chest.

"I want thee to be my mate," he cried, "I don't want to lose thee to a human! I love thee, Lord Hibarin!"

Hibari was suprised, of course, but he definitely believed Basil. Since the start, Basil had been talking about how they should be mates. Hibari didn't really take him seriously, though, and he now could see that he had been hurting the other by doing so. "I'm sorry, Basil," he murmured. "For... everything." Hibari was fully aware that a vampire was always instinctive about his or her mates, but it was always a little difficult that way, for most of the time, the other wouldn't return their feelings. That was the main reason as to why there weren't a lot of them around- they believed in love at first sight, which wasn't exactly easy to come by. Hibari may not have felt the overwhelming urge to mate with Basil, but he did pity the younger one a bit. It must've been awful to think that the one he loved had chosen another over him.

"Hibarin... thou art very kind... but... I wish not to interfere with thy love. Thou will either return my feelings or not, yes? Which is it?"

Basil was a very kind young creature, delicate and cute in comparison to many of his fellow vampires. He was striving to impress Hibari at every turn, and Hibari was just starting to appreciate that. Even though Hibari had told the young vampire that he wasn't intrested, Basil kept trying, whereas most other vampires would be disappointed for a few moments, then go to live life on their own so that their love could enjoy life the way they wanted. After all, vampires were very sensitive to one another's feelings, and typically didn't meddle where they weren't wanted. Basil, however, was different. He didn't have as strong of a composition. He was fragile.

And when Hibari looked in to the deep, sad, blue eyes, he couldn't help thinking he didn't have a real choice here. He had to bring himself to love Basil, otherwise the young vampire would be crushed. "Basil... I...," Hibari began. "I... need... I need time... to think about this... is that all right?"

The other nodded, but both of them knew that Hibari would never have 'true' feelings for Basil.

All of his 'true' feelings... more than likely belonged to Mukuro.

The man who had already taken his first time.

-End Chapter

N'aw, ain't that just adorable? Hibari's lyin' about him and Mukuro to Basil- this can't be good!

It's starting to look like I'll have to change paths to Takeshi, which I can guarantee will be a cinch... but just so you know, there won't be lemon for either Hayato pairing because I don't exactly like to write about Tsuna, and well... what the heck am I supposed to do with a centaur body? (Please, don't answer that question.)

Please review!