Captured Hearts

Chapter Twenty: The Diseased

Gazing out at the splendid rose garden that he and Basil had nurtured together, Hibari smiled, and left the new enclosure- intending to go to the hunting area. But just as he was about to step from the old enclosure into the aforementioned hunting area, the door was opened, and he was snatched from the cage so quickly that he could hardly protest.

Hibari was dragged backwards, and blindfolded, bound by ropes that suffocated his wrists, and shoved around until he was suddenly pushed over. He landed painfully on the stone ground, but then, to his suprise, the ropes were cut, and the blindfold was lifted, revealing to him the outside of the lab. Pleasantly suprised, he looked to see where his captor had gone, but behind him, there was no one. Nor was there anyone within his line of vision. It looked as though he was being set free.

Free.

The moment it crossed the vampire's mind, he took off, running at full speed into the open space and looking around him with awe. Out here, there were no artificial lights, or rocks, or plants. Everything was real. He slowed, then smiled, turning and slumping against a tree, and panting quietly, overcome by the joy of being outside of that prison. He saw a rabbit, then suddenly broke into a smirk, lowering himself into the grass so that he could watch it better. The moment it strayed to close, he sprung out, snapping its spinal chord with his fangs, and drinking as he enjoyed the freshly killed animal. This was life. This was how it was all supposed to be. A place where he relied on his instincts for everything, where any and every little detail was right. This was what it felt like to be free.

Hibari began to climb up the tree, digging his fingers into the bark until he was able to go out on one of the branches, and when he did so, he sat there, watching as a baby bird broke free of its eggshell. Such a divine sight it was. Such a peaceful place it was.

Life.

Then, a growl.

Hibari leapt from the branch, and looked about himself. That had sounded like the snarl of a werewolf, and Hibari was already thinking that he may have intruded on one's territory. He backed up from the direction of the sound, then turned, and ran full speed for some bushes nearby, when he suddenly crashed into something, and fell back. Dazed and confused, Hibari stared at what was before him, then reached out, and touched the continuation of the land. But there was no land. There was only wall. He glanced back at the bird's nest. No eggshells were falling from it, nor were baby birds crying for their mother. Where was their mother? Hibari's thoughts all shattered, and he smashed his fist into the wall, enraged, and looked about himself. What had once looked like a sky now looked like a dome of painted wall, and it wasn't long for him to find a speaker in one of the bushes. It was a setup. Hibari was not free. He had never been free. It was all a trick.

He was alone. A fool, drawn in by the fantasy of freedom. His eyes watered when his head began to ache from the crash into the wall, and he sat down, rubbing his forehead sorely as tears began to track down his face. Hibari didn't neccarily know what the tears were, for he almost never cried. All he knew was that it was part of a bitter emotion, and that it meant he was sad. That's all that really mattered, anyway. He was sad, and he was going to destroy those who set this foul feeling on his fragile body.

"Uh... Hibarin?"

A human.

Kill them.

In a rush of fury, Hibari leapt up and charged at the man who had walked in, and, once he had pinned the man down and was about to rip his throat out, he heard a click. The sound of a loaded gun. Below him was Lussuria, his head turned away as if he knew what Hibari's intentions were, and feared them. "Hibarin... please...," he whimpered.

Hibari considered the sound he'd heard earlier, and backed off, but the fire inside his eyes wasn't put out yet. He was filled with hatred and anger. Not a soul could calm him down. "What the hell is this?" he hissed.

"Its your new habitat," said someone else, walking into the place and Hibari frowned to see Mukuro. "You're going to hang in here now, because you're sick with something bad."

"What do you mean, something bad?" Hibari asked. "I don't want to stay in here!"

"It's bad," Mukuro repeated. "We don't have a cure for it."

"Let me out of this place!" Hibari cried, his tears returning with a vengeance. "I don't want to be in here! I want to be with Basil!"

"We can't let you out, baby," Mukuro hissed, easing down onto the ground beside him. "Luss... you're dismissed. I need to tend to my vampire."

"Y-yessir!" the tamer answered, before dashing out of the room. Hibari immediately snarled at Mukuro, yet the hunter only smiled.

"Clearly, my attempt to seduce you failed. But this doesn't matter. I've trapped you, my sweet Hibarin," he chuckled, his eyes glinting in a dangerous manner as he did so. He then reached into a pocket, and drew out a needle. "Now... this here in my hand is a virus known as Heartsickness. Have you heard of it?"

Hibari shook his head. "I haven't, and I don't know what you're up to, but if you try to pull anything, I'll kick your-"

"Heartsickness is a disease that is most common in younger vampires such as yourself. It's not a love potion... but a true sickness born of love. Specifically, of true love. This is why vampires so easily succomb to it. Now, I extracted this little bug from Mammon's father, Viper, who had had this since Mammon's mother gave birth to their son. Now, this disease isn't highly contagious, but it's very dangerous. Having this disease will keep a vampire bed-ridden, sluggish, and quite ill-feeling. They can't hunt for themselves, they cough until their throat stings, and, in severe cases, they will have trouble breathing and sometimes faint. Hibarin, you are very able to take this virus into your body, and so is Basil. But injecting this into your body won't do anything." With that, Mukuro licked the needle, and pressed his lips against the vampire's, successfully transferring the Heartsickness disease into Hibari's mouth. When Hibari swallowed, it was all over. He was infected. Mukuro then backed up, and he was smirking. "This virus doesn't live inside me, because I don't feel true love for anyone. You on the other hand, loved me from the moment I became a host and fed you. You're sick now, Hibarin, and whether you accept it or not is still to be decided. Fufufu~."

"Why did you do that?" Hibari asked, wiping at his eyes. "Why can you do this to me so easily?"

"Kufufufu~, it's really very simple, Hibari Natsu Kyoya the second. You see, you're a very strong vampire. Basil, not so strong. Now, I managed to fool Lussuria into thinking you were sick, and now, you really are. But those stupid scientists don't know much about Heartsickness. Should they let you into the enclosure once more, you will have two options. You will either abstain from all sexual contact with Basil, or you will let him mate with you and be infected as well. Fufu~, and if that should happen, he will more than likely find his pathetic little throat blocked by swelling... and he will suffocate to death. You can't even have a single blood exchange without getting him sick. It's perfect, isn't it?"

"You're crazy!" Hibari protested. "If I never mate or exchange with him, what's he going to think? He'll be crushed!"

"Fufufu... but of course, he'd understand if you're sick, hmm, Hibarin?"

"You are jealous," Hibari spat. "I don't even know what I saw in you."

Hibari was prepared for the slap across the face that followed up his remark. "I'm not jealous, Hibarin. And don't use past tense. We both know that your true love is me. Not him."

"But how does this even work?" Hibari protested. "How can you infect me with it?"

"Another darling question, Kyouya. You're right. This disease is caused by hormones and chemicals in the brain that more or less stress out so much that they cause the illness to take place. And vampires have evolved since to be able to better handle their mental stability when falling in love. But, dear Hibarin, this infection is in fact contagious. Through sexual contact, it's easy to catch this disease. Kissing, blood exchange, and any form of sex can result in it. So I acquired this virus from Mammon's father- don't look at me like that, it's not what you think- and I just gave it to you. Because you, Kyouya, can only get it by being infected. Your mind cannot create it on its own, but it can be given to you. Now do you understand?"

Hibari nodded.

"Well good. Now, I'm going to go report this to the scientists... Hibari Natsu Kyoya II, sit still, and be good until I return."

When the door closed, Hibari was reminded of the first time he came there. The first time he was told to sit and be a good boy. Back when neither Mukuro nor Basil were his mate, when he could live life as he wanted it. But even more than that did he want freedom, and freedom could only obtained by courting and mating with Basil. Now, however... now that he was sick! The complexity had doubled in moments- Hibari wasn't sure what his next move would be. From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to keep on mating with Basil so that they could be released together- and at the very least, Basil would be free, but what would freedom be should that be if he was ill? He'd only be in another prison, encased by Heartsickness, and that, to Hibari, seemed worse than any physical cage.

Plus, what if Basil should die of Heartsickness? Hibari was quite fond of the little vampire, he didn't want him to die. But all the same, what if they were to overcome that sickness and be mates out in the natural world? They could adopt an orphaned young vampire and raise him or her, frequently exchanging blood so that their body cells would be spread from their adopted child to others across the vampire society... Hibari had always wanted to know that part of him would be left behind when he died. What if he could mate with Basil and not get him sick? Wasn't that possible, too?

"All right, if you insist... but honestly, I thought that vampires had grown immune to Heartsickness," sighed Dino, walking into the room with Mukuro close behind. Dino knelt down beside Hibari, and touched his cheek. "How are you feeling, Hibarin?" he asked in a soft voice, gently caressing him.

"Well, a little awkward at the moment," Hibari replied. "What's this stupid place for, anyway?"

Dino laughed in a sort of nervous way as he withdrew his hand. "Well, you see, a long time ago, we used to hunt the offspring of vampires, because adult vampires were never tame. We had to tame the young and nurture them to adulthood. This was... well... their room."

Another thing about the humans that disgusted Hibari. To steal away the young of a couple who truly loved each other, and to 'tame' it to be human? Ah, he could just see the horrified looks on the parents' faces as they came home to discover that their sweet little child- their link to future generations- had been lost. Vampires were scarce as it is- but now there was another major reason. If they were tamed by humans, then released back into the wild, they'd be defenseless, and would die in an instant.

Hibari would never understand it.

He would never be able to comprehend the cruelty of humans.

-End Chapter

Annnnd that's that!

Youtube Video Contest thing: I'm considering doing aloud readings of this and others of my stories (because self-promoting is a bad habit) and if anyone is intrested, I'm accepting fanart to be put into the video. As of right now, any scene from chapter 1 of Captured Hearts can be submitted. Please have work finished by the end of the month, if possible. To submit, pm me a link (remember to use spaces because links are cencored), or pm me for my e-mail, and we'll see if I trust you enough. Lol.

Now... who wants to guess at what Mukuro was telling Hibari in this chapter? Anyone?

Review by one of my classmates: "Mukuro is one jealous bastardo!" -Beckett (That's her fake username!)

^^' Yeeaaah, PLEASE REVIEW!