Captured Hearts
Chapter Seventeen: The Infatuated
"My! I didn't know that so much would happen while I was away! Such a beautiful vampire he is~!"
Hibari turned, then walked over to the observation area, and surveyed the new person with his eyes. He was an older man, with an odd hairstyle- a shaved head, with a green-dyed bang, and his body was well built with the frame of a fighter. But his voice was more on the feminine side, which admittedly confused the vampire. "Who're you?" he asked.
"My, of course you don't know, honey, my name's Lussuria," said the man, placing a hand on his heart. "And your known as Hibarin, yes?"
"Yeah," Hibari said warily, trying to force a smile for a good impression.
"A~aw, such a gentleman," Lussuria gushed, "well, you're probably wondering, so I'll tell you this. I'm both a tamer, and a hunter, but I don't shoot, I simply bring the creatures here. I'm the one who caught the merpeople and most of the centaurs."
"Ah."
"So, Dino tells me that you're a great help around the lab, so I'm assuming you have some friends around this place, hmm? Have you met dear Fran?"
"Yes," Hibari said. "Fran's a good friend of mine... Takeshi and Hayato, too."
Lussuria chuckled, and folded his arms. "How darling~. Poor Basil back there... he's never quite warmed up to this place. But you and he are going to become mates, right?"
"I... I guess," Hibari mumbled, blushing lightly.
Lussuria smiled even wider, if that was even possible, and reached through the bars to pat Hibari on the head. "You're a good vampire, aren't you? Must've been raised in a good clan to have such superb mannerisms~."
"Well... uh... actually, Mukuro killed my parents when I had turned of age to hunt on my own... so...," Hibari murmured. The reaction of Lussuria was stronger that he would've expected.
"MY! MUKURO-CHAN, GET OVER HERE!" he screamed over his shoulder. Mukuro soon walked over.
"What is it, Luss?" he asked. Lussuria pointed a finger at Hibari.
"You killed this poor darling's parents? My, Mukuro-chan, he was so young!" Lussuria scolded.
"Hey, look, I didn't know him," Mukuro protested, raising his hands in defense. "All I knew was that his father was attacking humans, and they needed to be shot. All right? That's all I knew."
"But what a terrible way to become independant... I pity the poor thing," the other man sighed, gazing at Hibari, light blue eyes glinting beneath his sunglasses. "Truly awful."
"Well, jeez, Luss, I did give him a little something to say I was sorry, ne? You see that necklace he's wearing?" Mukuro challenged, pointing at the vampire's neck. "Those are his father's fangs!"
"MUKURO-CHAN, YOU HEARTLESS JERK!" Lussuria shrieked, clapping his cheeks with his hands. "You killed them, and now you're rubbing it in his face! What a poor darling!"
"Lussuria... uh... it's okay," Hibari said. "I'm... glad I can remember the vampire who cared for me in my early life. It doesn't matter... Mukuro was doing his job."
Lussuria paused, then nodded. "All right, Hibarin... if that's how you feel..."
The other man walked away, and Hibari sighed. "He's... loud...," he muttered. Mukuro chuckled, and shook his head.
"No worries, Hibarin, you'll get used to it."
Meanwhile...
"Ryo-chan! Did you miss me?" Lussuria called, swinging himself over the fence into the centaur enclosure. He looked around it, confused. "Ryo-chan?"
"Sorry, Luss, he's not here," said Takeshi, trotting over to the older man. Lussuria paused.
"Then... where is he?"
"They moved him to a different enclosure... he was going wild. But don't worry, he wasn't sh-"
BANG.
Lussuria jumped, and all of the centaurs reared up, spooked by the gunfire. "My, what... what was that?" Lussuria cried, before running out and running into the rogue vampire enclosure. He was shocked by what he saw. One of the mermen he'd captured- Squalo- was lying on the ground, his shoulder bleeding, and Reborn was standing there, aiming the pistol at Xanxus. Instantly, Lussuria rushed forward, and locked his arms around Reborn's. "You mustn't, boss!" he cried. "You mustn't! Let Xanxus be... please...!"
Dino soon came out from behind the two, and began to drag Squalo away, grunting, "You really thought that would work..."
"Please... no... boss...," Squalo hissed, his face scrunched up in pain as he struggled to get back to the other creature. Dino took a spray bottle from his belt, and, having finally reason to use it, squirted water on to Squalo's waist, making his legs revert back into a tail. The merman grunted as he was pulled into the tamer's arms, then allowed his body to go limp, and placed a hand over his wounded shoulder. "Xanxus..."
"Let me go, Lussuria," Reborn commanded. "We need to get rid of this malicious beast, otherwise no good will come. Squalo would undoubtedly become Xanxus's mate, and that would leave Bluebell and Fran to easily become mates. We already have an accurate hypothesis on merpeople mating. We need those two to compete for her to prove our suspiscions."
"No!" Lussuria cried. "You don't understand! Merpeople almost never take merpeople mates!"
"What?"
When the attention was on Lussuria, he was fast to elaborate. "You see, merpeople are creatures that usually have very low self-esteem! They capsize boats and attack people purely because of that! It helps them feel better about themselves- more in control! But as a side of that, the merpeople who can't find their own beauty see beauty in other creatures! That's why they have that charm to make themselves look human in the first place, can't you see?"
"Oh wow, Luss... I... didn't know...," Dino murmured, looking at the wounded merman in his arms. "But they always seem so confident!"
"In captivity, they're offensive so that they can inflate their own egos. The thing is, merpeople are very loving creatures, but they don't love other merpeople! That's why poor Squalo's defending Xanxus! He's found beauty in Xanxus!"
Lussuria finally began to calm down, and Reborn hesitantly put away his pistol. "So you're saying that crossbreeding is normal for merpeople," he concluded. The older tamer vigorously nodded, and Dino placed Squalo on the ground. Immediately, the merman shook all traces of water from his tail to reactivate the human charm, and hurriedly scrambled over the land to Xanxus.
"Voi, boss... you all right?" he asked. Xanxus snorted, but was smiling when he looked back at the silver-haired creature.
"Only thanks to you," he murmured.
Reborn snickered, and started back up the stairs. "I suppose we're going to have to redraw our assumptions on the merpeople. Lussuria, come along, you need to help."
"Wait... I need to see Ryohei, where is he?" Lussuria asked. "I just know that he didn't want to see me go..."
Dino sighed. "Check the far pastures beyond the main centaur enclosure. He's in there. Poor guy was going crazy, 'cause you know how centaurs get all attatched..."
"So do people!" Lussuria announced, before starting to dash up the stairs, shouting, "I'm coming, Ryo-chaaaan!"
The next day...
"All right, Hibarin, listen up!" Dino called, "A new werewolf is coming in later, and he's more than likely going to have trouble understanding our layout. Help show him around?"
"Sure...," Hibari murmured. "I suppose I could..."
"He's really shy, Mukuro tells me, so you're going to have to be careful, okay?" Dino said.
"Yeah, I got it," Hibari said. "Ready anytime." Now that was a lie, and Hibari knew it. He still hated werewolves. "Can you tell me his name?"
"I'll let him tell you when he gets here," Dino replied. "Now, come out to the hunting area, Mukuro will lead him in at any time."
Hibari agreeably headed towards the hunting area, Basil following closely behind him. The two walked in, and Basil moved over to the pond, nodding to his mate when the vampire indicated that he was going to head out of the enclosure. "Go forth, Lord Hibarin. I dost not mind, however, I will pray to see thee soon..."
The older vampire leaned in and kissed Basil on the cheek, then walked over to the observation area. Sure enough, Mukuro eventually walked over, with a roped werewolf walking behind him. This creature had dark, indigo hair, and large wolf ears of the same hue sprouting from his head, but laid flat with a sort of anxiety. Trembling, purple eyes looked around the dark cave, and from those eyes stretched lavender, triangular markings that closely resembled those of Fran. His pale skin couldn't hide his slight, embarassed blush as he walked up to the cage, and Mukuro forced the captive to bow, showing Hibari the indigo wolf tail, as well as the hands that were bound tightly behind his back.
"Show some respect. This is a very high-classed vampire," Mukuro hissed.
Quivering slightly, the werewolf nodded, and whispered, "I'm sorry, sir..."
"Hibarin, are you okay with showing this petty thief around the place?" Mukuro asked, yanking the werewolf back up. Hibari nodded, and the enclosure was soon opened. He stepped out of it, and took the rope that was tied around the werewolf's neck in a sort of nuse, which only defiled the poor creature more. Although it felt very odd to hold another creature captive by use of a leash, Hibari accepted it, and looked back at Mukuro. "I'll let you show him about freely, because I trust you. But be careful- one wrong move, and you can lose my trust like this." The hunter snapped his fingers. "And that goes for you, too, werewolf."
He left, and Hibari sighed, glancing at the indigo-haired werewolf. "So... what's your name...?" he asked. The other looked up, and frowned.
"I... have no need to tell you, but... well... my name is... Mammon."
-End Chapter
We~ell, I was thinkin' about werewolf Mammon, and I just got all into it, so we all know my favorite love triangle, right? *hint hint* Don't worry (again), because main pairings in the end will be 6918, B26, XS, 8059, Luss/Ryo, ByaKikyo, etc...
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