Categories > Anime/Manga > Vampire Knight > A Light in the Dark
“Hello, Precept,” greeted Kaname politely. Seemingly relaxed, he held Yuuki to him closely. “Is my Yuuki required to join you downstairs?” With one arm around her he stood calmly by the settee and proceeded to do up his belt in simple, elegant movements with his free hand. His shirt still lay forgotten on the arm of the settee, and before his very eyes Yuuki shyly produced his tie from inside his protective wing. The men had no idea where she’d been hiding it; it wasn’t like she had much dress left to conceal it in…
Zero’s lips pulled back and he seethed in anger at the vampire lord who feigned such an insulting casualness; Aido, Kain and Ichijou stayed close, but at Kaname’s quick look did not interfere.
The vampire hunter’s eyes were still wide as he took in Yuuki’s slender, hunched form while Kaname covered her with his jacket. For a second he’d seen her back completely exposed, her hair in loose curls and waves around her pinked face, eyes bright and lips slightly swollen, her shoes were discarded on the floor and her stockings were rumpled, one pulled low enough he could see the lace top sticking out from under her slip as she tried to straighten her dress over it. Her face as she buried it in Kaname’s side burned scarlet at being caught.
But what drove him to rush into the room and shove Kaname roughly to the wall, breaking his hold on Yuuki, were the small round bruise-looking welts that marred Yuuki’s body from her lower back to her shoulders and down to the sensitive inner flesh of her wrists. He curttailed his curiosity from imagining what evidence her dress was still keeping from his eyes.
Unforgivable, he vowed, and went blind with rage. The tattoo on his neck thrummed with the power that coursed through him. How dare he…
A pair of end tables overturned and the silver platter of fruit was jostled to balance precariously on the edge of its supports as the two men crashed viciously into the velvet-draped walls. The ruckus was enough to carry into the audience below, but the spectators thought it was part of the action onstage and ignored it, luckily.
“Yuuki, get out of here and wait downstairs for me,” growled Zero, his eyes locked coldly on Kaname’s as he held the Pure Blood’s naked torso to the wall. Kaname’s eyes flashed blood red and his face darkened at the clear threat the vampire hunter was communicating through his overt, hostile body language.
“Yes, Yuuki-darling, please wait downstairs, this will only take a minute,” agreed Kaname, one of his hands rising up to grasp Zero’s wrist tightly. They started struggling, little at first, and then with more force. Both bore their fangs at each other then, and snarled; the fight was on. They pushed Yuuki clear and the struggle escalated, their grunts and breathing becoming harsher.
Yuuki watched them in disbelieving horror; but remembering her promise to her father, she jumped back between them, holding on to both their wrists now. She could only pray there were no protection wards in this part of the theatre to punish them.
“Zero!” Yuuki cried, clutching the jacket closed around her and trying to pull him off, “Zero no! Stop it!” She was joined by the other three vampires in an instant, and while they managed to pull Zero off, they couldn’t get him to let go of Kaname.
“Zero please,” begged Yuuki again, “See, I’m already going,” she tugged at his now wrinkled uniform coat and tried to pull him to where her shoes were by the settee. “Let’s go back to the auditorium; the rest will notice if we’re all missing.” She hopped a bit as she started trying to slip on one of her long, complicated-strapped shoes before she promptly fell over with a soft “ooph!”in classic Yuuki style.
Her actions did distract the men, though, and her separation from the Pure Blood slowly settled Zero’s rush of protectiveness. He gave a searing, gruff sound of acceptance in her direction, conceding peace. Begrudgingly he released his hold on Kaname and stepped back; the vampires let go of him in return, and they spaced themselves apart a moment, watching each other warily. It was a very fragile ceasefire.
For his part, Zero turned his head away from the vampires, and Yuuki too, and stood stubbornly at the edge of the fray. He looked like he’d rather have had the fight.
Ignoring Zero, Kaname moved slowly back to Yuuki and picked her up by the waist to her sit up on the settee while he picked up her shoe with his other hand. “Let me help you,” he said softly, and kneeled at her feet to slide the shoe over her foot reverently.
“Thank you,” she said shyly, and smiled back with only a bit of hesitation. Then her blush deepened as his hands stayed at her ankle, tying the ribbons very slowly and carefully, his fingers resting on her calf. When he was done, his hands stayed there, holding her. The pads of his forefingers twitched, as if gauging her reaction, and then traced small, faint circles over the silk-stockinged skin of her legs, just above the high line of the ribbon laces. “Sempai,” she said, blushing deeper; the sempai in question looked her in her shining eyes and his expression promised something she’d only read about in books.
Kaname was watching her, her every breath in and out, the alluring changes her eyes revealed as he’d touched her this way and that, the way her chest rose and fell and hitched when he put his finger just the right way on the most sensitive inch of the tender skin behind her knee. Every part of her wanted him, and he wanted her just as much.
He wanted it all, he realised; he wanted her; he wanted her body and soul and he wanted to drink her blood until he was mad with it, until it filled him, and he wanted to take her and fill her, too, with his. The thought of being inside her, being part of her…
He felt himself lengthen and harden, his canine teeth aching against his lower lip as his eyes filled with blood-lust for the young woman in front of him.
“Your other shoe?” he said so softly only the two of them could hear it. He had to do something to extend his time with her. Even if it was by just a few minutes. She nodded; his hand slid all the way up her ankle, past her knee to her thigh to the seat beside her where the shoe rested. His hand was warm. In her stomach Yuuki recognized the current of warm sensation that was rapidly becoming familiar when she was around her sempai. He seemed to create a pull in her that longed only for him, his closeness, her soulmate. Having his hand, face, his entire being so near made her want to pull him to her, onto her, to cover her with his body and join with him and…
Then she remembered the others who were still in the room with them, and nearly gasped at her own thoughts, her mouth going dry in embarrassment. Her eyes flew open in surprise, and want, and confusion.
They’re right here with us! How could you do something so bold? Her eyes seemed to ask. And how could she have let herself think such things with others so nearby? What was she thinking?
“Sempai-” she started to say, but his hand swept up quickly to muffle her voice before his palm moved to caress her cheek.
He smiled lovingly at her and spoke to her without words. We were so close…We’ll try again, Yuuki. When they won’t interrupt us, I promise. We’ll…
Zero turned to look at them when he sensed something happening behind him. The looks in their eyes were obvious, and their closeness made his throat squeeze shut. It was the last straw; he’d had enough.
The rumbling in his throat was the only warning. Snapping up Yuuki’s other shoe before Kaname could reach it, he strode directly between the two and grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet and dragging her after him to the stairs that led back down to the mezzanine and lower theatre levels.
Too shocked to argue, Yuuki could only turn to stare at her handsome, vampire sempai as he watched her leave, her feet tripping and stumbling at the silver-haired man’s selfish, rushed pace. Knowing that it was better to let her go at the present time, Kaname forced himself to relax his hands at his side and watched her head bob down each step. He’d always remember the silken feel of her dress as it had slid through his fingers as she was pulled away from him; he’d always curse Zero Kiryuu for it, too. He rose to his feet again when she reached the last step and turned the corner to the hallway.
With his hands in his pockets, Kain watched his leader’s anger simmer on low burn behind his eyes. Not too far from him Ichijou sighed thoughtfully to himself and righted some of the articles around the room that had been overturned in the contained scuffle, and Aido was making caustic remarks about how poorly Zero treated his women.
Until Kaname’s head snapped around to pin Aido in his place.
“She isn’t his woman,” the Pure Blood stated icily.
“My apologies, Kaname-sama, I spoke without thinking,” corrected Aido, cold fire creeping through his veins a moment longer until Kaname turned away again, looking down the stairwell while he heard Yuuki arguing with Zero about letting her go since she could walk perfectly well on her own. His eyes hid his pain, but Aido had watched his leader a long time and could guess at just how tightly controlled the frustration was behind the calm façade.
Quelling the urge to punish everyone in his midst for the interruption, Kaname returned his attentions to the small private box. Ichijou handed him his shirt and Kain did a sweep of the room, too, and went to stand by the balcony overlooking the entire auditorium. He caught sight of Ruka looking slightly peevish in her seat as some of the human boys made googly eyes at her. It appeared most were still too terrified of her to approach her, however. One of Yuuki’s male friends had taken a particularly obsessive interest in her, and it looked like he was hyping himself up in his own seat to go greet her. He chuckled in the back of his throat in sympathy for the lovely vampiress.
When he turned back he saw the coal-haired vampire twisting his cufflinks back into place; the rest of his buttons were securely fastened again. He was, however, without a jacket and that would raise questions.
“Here,” said Kain, and he slipped off his jacket to hand it over. “I’m the closest fit to you.”
Nodding in understanding, Kaname accepted and thanked him in return.
“Let’s pray that Zero or Yuuki has the sense to put away your jacket now before they hit the main auditorium,” muttered Aido grouchily.
Kain thumped him on the back of the shoulder in warning but the blond vampire didn’t miss the sad look his sempai wore as they left the private box. If the other students found out why Yuuki had left, they wouldn’t let it pass. It may make her life difficult… and possibly even cruel, outcast.
They abandoned the box and the events it had sheltered. Ichijou and Aido moved more quickly ahead of the two other vampires and Kain fell back a moment to walk beside the distracted, but serene-looking leader of the Night Class.
“That jacket is full of memories,” he said vaguely as they walked together and reached the landing that led back to the mezzanine. They stopped and Kaname regarded him patiently as he continued. “Wrapped up in every pocket.”
He gave Kaname a half-smile as he went on his way back to the auditorium to join Ruka, knowing his sempai was a smart enough man to figure out the rest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TBC.
AN: Thank you for reading! I think there’ll be one more chapter after this. (We need to make sure everyone makes it home safe, don’t we? Home, safe, in bed, coughcough…) 8)
AN: I'm really sorry about the errors in this chap, I just wrote it in a rush this afternoon. Eep. (Redid it two or three times now, grr.) I'm not sure why, but the formatting keeps going wonky, though... Urk.
Personal sidenote AN: I can’t wait for “Vampire Knight: Guilty” to premier this autumn--the previews and trailers look so hot! Eee!!
/mm Chapter first posted 08 Sept 2008
Zero’s lips pulled back and he seethed in anger at the vampire lord who feigned such an insulting casualness; Aido, Kain and Ichijou stayed close, but at Kaname’s quick look did not interfere.
The vampire hunter’s eyes were still wide as he took in Yuuki’s slender, hunched form while Kaname covered her with his jacket. For a second he’d seen her back completely exposed, her hair in loose curls and waves around her pinked face, eyes bright and lips slightly swollen, her shoes were discarded on the floor and her stockings were rumpled, one pulled low enough he could see the lace top sticking out from under her slip as she tried to straighten her dress over it. Her face as she buried it in Kaname’s side burned scarlet at being caught.
But what drove him to rush into the room and shove Kaname roughly to the wall, breaking his hold on Yuuki, were the small round bruise-looking welts that marred Yuuki’s body from her lower back to her shoulders and down to the sensitive inner flesh of her wrists. He curttailed his curiosity from imagining what evidence her dress was still keeping from his eyes.
Unforgivable, he vowed, and went blind with rage. The tattoo on his neck thrummed with the power that coursed through him. How dare he…
A pair of end tables overturned and the silver platter of fruit was jostled to balance precariously on the edge of its supports as the two men crashed viciously into the velvet-draped walls. The ruckus was enough to carry into the audience below, but the spectators thought it was part of the action onstage and ignored it, luckily.
“Yuuki, get out of here and wait downstairs for me,” growled Zero, his eyes locked coldly on Kaname’s as he held the Pure Blood’s naked torso to the wall. Kaname’s eyes flashed blood red and his face darkened at the clear threat the vampire hunter was communicating through his overt, hostile body language.
“Yes, Yuuki-darling, please wait downstairs, this will only take a minute,” agreed Kaname, one of his hands rising up to grasp Zero’s wrist tightly. They started struggling, little at first, and then with more force. Both bore their fangs at each other then, and snarled; the fight was on. They pushed Yuuki clear and the struggle escalated, their grunts and breathing becoming harsher.
Yuuki watched them in disbelieving horror; but remembering her promise to her father, she jumped back between them, holding on to both their wrists now. She could only pray there were no protection wards in this part of the theatre to punish them.
“Zero!” Yuuki cried, clutching the jacket closed around her and trying to pull him off, “Zero no! Stop it!” She was joined by the other three vampires in an instant, and while they managed to pull Zero off, they couldn’t get him to let go of Kaname.
“Zero please,” begged Yuuki again, “See, I’m already going,” she tugged at his now wrinkled uniform coat and tried to pull him to where her shoes were by the settee. “Let’s go back to the auditorium; the rest will notice if we’re all missing.” She hopped a bit as she started trying to slip on one of her long, complicated-strapped shoes before she promptly fell over with a soft “ooph!”in classic Yuuki style.
Her actions did distract the men, though, and her separation from the Pure Blood slowly settled Zero’s rush of protectiveness. He gave a searing, gruff sound of acceptance in her direction, conceding peace. Begrudgingly he released his hold on Kaname and stepped back; the vampires let go of him in return, and they spaced themselves apart a moment, watching each other warily. It was a very fragile ceasefire.
For his part, Zero turned his head away from the vampires, and Yuuki too, and stood stubbornly at the edge of the fray. He looked like he’d rather have had the fight.
Ignoring Zero, Kaname moved slowly back to Yuuki and picked her up by the waist to her sit up on the settee while he picked up her shoe with his other hand. “Let me help you,” he said softly, and kneeled at her feet to slide the shoe over her foot reverently.
“Thank you,” she said shyly, and smiled back with only a bit of hesitation. Then her blush deepened as his hands stayed at her ankle, tying the ribbons very slowly and carefully, his fingers resting on her calf. When he was done, his hands stayed there, holding her. The pads of his forefingers twitched, as if gauging her reaction, and then traced small, faint circles over the silk-stockinged skin of her legs, just above the high line of the ribbon laces. “Sempai,” she said, blushing deeper; the sempai in question looked her in her shining eyes and his expression promised something she’d only read about in books.
Kaname was watching her, her every breath in and out, the alluring changes her eyes revealed as he’d touched her this way and that, the way her chest rose and fell and hitched when he put his finger just the right way on the most sensitive inch of the tender skin behind her knee. Every part of her wanted him, and he wanted her just as much.
He wanted it all, he realised; he wanted her; he wanted her body and soul and he wanted to drink her blood until he was mad with it, until it filled him, and he wanted to take her and fill her, too, with his. The thought of being inside her, being part of her…
He felt himself lengthen and harden, his canine teeth aching against his lower lip as his eyes filled with blood-lust for the young woman in front of him.
“Your other shoe?” he said so softly only the two of them could hear it. He had to do something to extend his time with her. Even if it was by just a few minutes. She nodded; his hand slid all the way up her ankle, past her knee to her thigh to the seat beside her where the shoe rested. His hand was warm. In her stomach Yuuki recognized the current of warm sensation that was rapidly becoming familiar when she was around her sempai. He seemed to create a pull in her that longed only for him, his closeness, her soulmate. Having his hand, face, his entire being so near made her want to pull him to her, onto her, to cover her with his body and join with him and…
Then she remembered the others who were still in the room with them, and nearly gasped at her own thoughts, her mouth going dry in embarrassment. Her eyes flew open in surprise, and want, and confusion.
They’re right here with us! How could you do something so bold? Her eyes seemed to ask. And how could she have let herself think such things with others so nearby? What was she thinking?
“Sempai-” she started to say, but his hand swept up quickly to muffle her voice before his palm moved to caress her cheek.
He smiled lovingly at her and spoke to her without words. We were so close…We’ll try again, Yuuki. When they won’t interrupt us, I promise. We’ll…
Zero turned to look at them when he sensed something happening behind him. The looks in their eyes were obvious, and their closeness made his throat squeeze shut. It was the last straw; he’d had enough.
The rumbling in his throat was the only warning. Snapping up Yuuki’s other shoe before Kaname could reach it, he strode directly between the two and grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet and dragging her after him to the stairs that led back down to the mezzanine and lower theatre levels.
Too shocked to argue, Yuuki could only turn to stare at her handsome, vampire sempai as he watched her leave, her feet tripping and stumbling at the silver-haired man’s selfish, rushed pace. Knowing that it was better to let her go at the present time, Kaname forced himself to relax his hands at his side and watched her head bob down each step. He’d always remember the silken feel of her dress as it had slid through his fingers as she was pulled away from him; he’d always curse Zero Kiryuu for it, too. He rose to his feet again when she reached the last step and turned the corner to the hallway.
With his hands in his pockets, Kain watched his leader’s anger simmer on low burn behind his eyes. Not too far from him Ichijou sighed thoughtfully to himself and righted some of the articles around the room that had been overturned in the contained scuffle, and Aido was making caustic remarks about how poorly Zero treated his women.
Until Kaname’s head snapped around to pin Aido in his place.
“She isn’t his woman,” the Pure Blood stated icily.
“My apologies, Kaname-sama, I spoke without thinking,” corrected Aido, cold fire creeping through his veins a moment longer until Kaname turned away again, looking down the stairwell while he heard Yuuki arguing with Zero about letting her go since she could walk perfectly well on her own. His eyes hid his pain, but Aido had watched his leader a long time and could guess at just how tightly controlled the frustration was behind the calm façade.
Quelling the urge to punish everyone in his midst for the interruption, Kaname returned his attentions to the small private box. Ichijou handed him his shirt and Kain did a sweep of the room, too, and went to stand by the balcony overlooking the entire auditorium. He caught sight of Ruka looking slightly peevish in her seat as some of the human boys made googly eyes at her. It appeared most were still too terrified of her to approach her, however. One of Yuuki’s male friends had taken a particularly obsessive interest in her, and it looked like he was hyping himself up in his own seat to go greet her. He chuckled in the back of his throat in sympathy for the lovely vampiress.
When he turned back he saw the coal-haired vampire twisting his cufflinks back into place; the rest of his buttons were securely fastened again. He was, however, without a jacket and that would raise questions.
“Here,” said Kain, and he slipped off his jacket to hand it over. “I’m the closest fit to you.”
Nodding in understanding, Kaname accepted and thanked him in return.
“Let’s pray that Zero or Yuuki has the sense to put away your jacket now before they hit the main auditorium,” muttered Aido grouchily.
Kain thumped him on the back of the shoulder in warning but the blond vampire didn’t miss the sad look his sempai wore as they left the private box. If the other students found out why Yuuki had left, they wouldn’t let it pass. It may make her life difficult… and possibly even cruel, outcast.
They abandoned the box and the events it had sheltered. Ichijou and Aido moved more quickly ahead of the two other vampires and Kain fell back a moment to walk beside the distracted, but serene-looking leader of the Night Class.
“That jacket is full of memories,” he said vaguely as they walked together and reached the landing that led back to the mezzanine. They stopped and Kaname regarded him patiently as he continued. “Wrapped up in every pocket.”
He gave Kaname a half-smile as he went on his way back to the auditorium to join Ruka, knowing his sempai was a smart enough man to figure out the rest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TBC.
AN: Thank you for reading! I think there’ll be one more chapter after this. (We need to make sure everyone makes it home safe, don’t we? Home, safe, in bed, coughcough…) 8)
AN: I'm really sorry about the errors in this chap, I just wrote it in a rush this afternoon. Eep. (Redid it two or three times now, grr.) I'm not sure why, but the formatting keeps going wonky, though... Urk.
Personal sidenote AN: I can’t wait for “Vampire Knight: Guilty” to premier this autumn--the previews and trailers look so hot! Eee!!
/mm Chapter first posted 08 Sept 2008
Sign up to rate and review this story