"My dear pathetic son, you have failed me for the last time. You should have died instead of Sakura." Riku says angrily as he glares at his only son. Kira clenches his hands tightly and glares harder at him, feeling the tree under his feet slowly changing. He fought his way through ex-human vampires and went directly to his father. He needed to be the one to face him after fearing him most of his life.
"Honestly, I'm glad she died. That way she didn't have to suffer by your side as she watched how you turned me into a hateful monster." Kira says angrily as his pale pink eyes turn a bright crimson. His fangs extend and sharp thorns of vines start to come out of his right shoulder and run down his arm.
"You little brat, I should have killed you when I had the chance. You are completely useless!" Riku yells out at him as he does the same thing. Kira stares at the vines growing out of his father's arm and knows perfectly well the battle will not be easy since he was the one who trained him in battle.
"If that's what you believe, so be it. But you're not going to have an easy time killing me." Kira warns him before throwing his hand up and sending sharp vines in all directions. He gets the vines off his arms and jumps through the vine openings to find his father and attempt a finishing blow.
"A little cocky, aren't you?" Riku says as he comes through the vines behind him and jabs a sharp wolfsbane root on his shoulder. A far more developed type of flower, as opposed to a naturally grown one, that holds a deadly poison, even to purebloods. Kira winces in pain and gets out of the vines, landing on the ground. He looks up as it starts to rain and reaches to the wolfsbane, pulling it out of his arm.
"Damn, this much poison. . . I have to finish him quickly." Kira says as a dull throb begins to make itself known but he ignores it and looks through the dispersing vines for his father. He narrowly avoids vines flying at him and feels his arm start to tingle. The poison alone is already deadly, but his increased heart rate is making it spread through his body faster. It's now or never, he has to take him down too.
"Don't go numb on me yet." Kira tells himself as he puts his hand to the ground and with the hardest rocks and minerals in the earth he pulls out a blade. He quickly turns back and cuts Riku's hand off as he tried to come down on him with more poisoned plants. He smirks, but is a little disappointed at how Riku's hand starts to regenerate quickly. He hasn't been injured enough for his healing to slow down.
"You're only making the blood circulate faster to your heart and kill you." Riku says with a cold smile as he puts his hand to the ground and rock creatures rise from the ground. Kira starts to slice away the growing creatures, but there are too many that grow out and he's not fast enough to get to all of them. He feels the throbbing on his arm spreading and he doesn't have much time before the poison starts to reach his heart.
"No, I can't die like this. I won't leave things the way he manipulated them to go!" Kira tells himself and finds strength and determination in him to cause a large tremor that implodes the ground under him and the stone soldiers. He jumps on their heads letting them fall as he jumps out of the hole. He drops to his knee and grips his shoulder.
"Not yet, I have to stop him. I won't let him hurt Alondra-san." Kira tells himself, trying to get his body to work with him, but he's beginning to feel a pain in his chest. He stabs the blade into the ground and unsteadily gets to his feet.
"Too slow." Kira coughs out blood as his father stabs a matching blade through his chest. Riku smirks and then his smirk turns into shock as cherry blossoms begin to circle around both men. He looks up and through the petals he sees a fairly transparent woman.
"Sakura?" Riku questions as he tries to see past the ragging petals. He looks closer and sees a transparent little girl with snow white hair standing beside her. "Shizuka?" He questions as he recognizes her. His hand trembling as he begins to release the blade.
Kira looks up at his father and reaches for the blade in his chest. He lets the earth shift and now the blade is where the handle was and part of the handle is in his chest. He takes advantage of the cherry blossom distraction and then with a powerful swing he cuts Riku in half, blood beginning to mix with the rain as he watches his body start to shatter.
Kira falls back and is bathed in water, blood and his father's dust. He looks up at the petals that slowly start to disappear. He reaches for one of the petals and looks at it, trying to get his blurry vision to focus on it.
"The cherry blossom though stained in red will always look beautiful, but you must not let it deceive you for it could be the end of you. That is what it truly means to be beautiful yet deadly." Kira says feeling his whole body going numb.
"I wonder if I'll see you again, Okaasama. . . Shizuka." He says to himself, ready to let go and finally end the cursed bloodline of the Hio family. The only person who deserved to live was Sakura, but now things are righting themselves.
His blurry vision moves over to a tornado in the sky. In his haze, he realizes that Alondra is probably in there, fighting her own battle with the person who tried to break her. Unlike himself, she didn't let him break her. She is fighting to live.
"Alondra... I believe in you." Kira's eyes slowly close as his body starts to shut down. He suddenly feels something bitter being poured into his mouth. It makes him cough a bit until he hears a soothing voice.
"It's alright, Kira-sama. This will help get the poison out of your body." Kira focuses on the person and then drinks the bitter liquid feeling it take effect quickly. He recognizes the taste of the plants that grow in his backyard to treat poison.
"Thank you, Amelia." He says to the auburn haired woman who smiles relieved at the recovering pureblood. He slowly sits up and looks at the blood on him. He lets out a sigh of relief and stands up. He looks up at the sky and sees a tornado. His eyes widen as he senses the strong powers coming off of it and catches the scent of familiar blood.
"Alondra!" He stumbles a bit since his body isn't fully recovered, but forces himself to keep going. Amelia tries to help him, but he puts his arm out and forces himself to go towards the tornado, the scent of her blood growing stronger.
"Kira-sama! Wait!" Amelia calls after him, but he doesn't listen and she watches him go with a worried expression. She wants to go after him, but she must prevent the other servants from trying to go towards the main battle. She pulls her spear off her back and prepares to battle the incoming vampires.
"I will not allow you to go any further!"
~0~
"Zero! Zero are you okay?!" Ichiru questions as he looks over at his slumped over twin. When he got the chance, he left to go find Zero and Alondra to help them if need be. He had a hard time getting close as a tornado appeared. When it started to weaken, he made himself over and saw that Zero was trying to keep himself conscious.
He shakes him a bit and Zero's eyes snap open. He looks at the tornado and grabs Ichiru's wrist, pulling him away from danger, but gets dizzy halfway and Ichiru uses his body to help Zero support himself.
"Calm down! The tornado hasn't moved at all from that spot! What is going on?!" Ichiru questions Zero who leans against a tree and looks at the tornado that remains in place. The scent of blood filling the air around them as the grey tornado begins to turn red.
"Th-that bastard he hurt Alondra while she protected me! Now I don't know what is going on!" He says staring at the tornado, not knowing what to do as much as Ichiru. He senses another presence and looks up to find Kira on a tree, filled with blood from head to toe from his own injuries as he looks up at the tornado.
"This battle. . . she is dethroning the evil tyrant of her grandfather." Kira says, holding on to his arm there is no visible injury anymore, but his shirt shows he had been injured on the arm. The Kiryu twins look up at him completely confused.
"Grandfather?" Ichiru questions him and Kira nods his head. He spits out blood and lands on the ground gently.
"I found out that he was her grandfather when Otousama started planning to want to kill the vampire king himself, but he knew he couldn't do it himself. He wanted Alondra to do it and I was just a game piece to help assure her trust and willingness to kill him." Kira says to the twins who stare at him wide eyed. They look back as the tornado begins to vanish and the only thing that begins to fall to the ground at an alarming speed is a long haired Alondra.
"Damn!" Ichiru rushes towards Alondra and catches the unconscious girl, he drops to the ground, taking the brunt of her fall. Ichiru manages to compose himself and sits up to look over Alondra. He looks at her and nears his ear to her lips, feeling that she is hardly breathing. He looks at the rips of her uniform on her chest and realizes her heart was hit, her skin is healed over, but damage is on the inside. He quickly looks at her face and finds that her face is turning blue, setting her down on the wet and muddy grass, he starts to compress her chest and breathe into her. Anything to get her heart started and get oxygen into her. He even tries to get blood into her.
He pulls away as she sits up abruptly and coughs, taking big gulps of air while Ichiru puts his hand to her back to keep her up. He looks at her trembling figure and carefully picks her up. Ichiru walks over towards Kira and Zero who are looking at the trembling girl. Before anything is said, he walks past them and heads over to the dorms, the only buildings that were spared from damage.
"Ichiru-kun! Ally-chan!" Ichiru looks up and finds Kaien Cross rushing towards them. He doesn't look like he took much damage on himself, but his hair and clothes are covered in dust of his fallen enemies.
"It's over. . .but she's taken a lot of damage. Physically and mentally." Ichiru tells him. Kaien looks at the pureblood that stares blankly ahead of her. He nods his head and motions Ichiru to follow him to his place in the Sun Dorm area.
"We need to get more blood in her system. Her heart doesn't feel like it's beating correctly still. Do we take her to a doctor or something?!" Ichiru questions him as he opens the door and leads him to his bedroom.
"No, she's going to be alright. Her body is healing, it may just take a couple of days for it to become obvious. We just have to watch over her and at least get blood into her during regular intervals." Kaien sets up the bed and Ichiru lies her down. She lies limply on the bed, her blank gaze pointed to where her head is set.
"I'll go see if Yuki can get her a change of clothes and help dry her and change her." Kaien says to Ichiru who sits on a chair beside Alondra. He moves away her tangled bangs from her face and strokes her moist cheek. Moving his hand around to help her close her eyes. It works and she starts to let sleep take her over.
"Say, Alondra. . . should I finally let you go so you don't feel guilty about hurting me?" Ichiru questions Alondra who frowns in discomfort and unconsciously grabs Ichiru's hand. He smiles sadly and kisses her forehead.
"Rest up, you've had a difficult battle. I will stay by your side until you wake up." Ichiru says, sitting back and feeling Alondra's hold on his hand tighten a bit. He smiles a bit and patiently waits for Alondra to awaken from her deep slumber.
"She will need all the support she can get, so I trust that you'll be there for her, Ichiru-kun. I'm going back out there to see how the battle is going." Ichiru doesn't look away from Alondra as Kaien starts to walk over towards the door.
"The two purebloods are dead. So really, the others should be no problem for the aristocrats, Kaname Kuran and Kira Hio." He tells him and Kaien looks back at him surprised. He didn't expect Kira to fight on their side, but then when he looks over at Alondra, things become clear. He sighs and smiles, nodding his head and leaving the building to make sure that the Night Class students are able to handle the issue.
"Yuki, how are things around the dorms?" Kaien questions as he spots his daughter making the rounds near each building. She runs up to him, holding her Artemis rod at her side and smiles, nodding her head.
"Only a couple managed to come this far, but Sensei and I dealt with them! We sent everyone to the basement of the dorms when we saw a tornado... Though, it never moved from where it was, so Sensei and I stayed outside to keep protecting the students. Are they safe to come out? Everyone is scared." Yuki questions Kaien as he looks over the two dorm buildings.
"Thank you for your hard work. We will have to erase their memories of this incident and replace it with new memories. Something to excuse why everyone is being sent home for a temporary, out of date break. It should prevent us from having to explain to a majority of student parents why the school building is in shambles... The school board and investors are a whole other story..." Kaien starts to look tired at the thought of all of those explanations and excuses he has to put together and maintain to those who know of vampires and those who don't.
"Ah, good luck, Headmaster!" Kaien goes to hug Yuki, but she ducks past him as she runs over towards Zero who walks into the gated Sun Dorm area, holding his side. "Zero! Zero, are you okay?! Is the battle over?!" She questions concerned, looking him over to inspect his injuries.
"I'm alright, just a few cracked ribs and a concussion. But, the majority of the battle is done. The purebloods were brought down, so it's up to Kuran and Hio to control what's left of the ex-humans. How did things go here? You okay?" Yuki sighs in relief and tucks her rod away in its holster.
"I'm alright, a few managed to slip over the walls, but Yagari-sensei and I dealt with them. Everyone is safe!" She says with a smile and smacks his arm in pride at the same time that Zero is smacked on the back. A jolt of pain passes through him and he drops to his knees.
"What the hell are you doing Sensei?!" Zero yells out as he looks back over at Toga Yagari who was now behind him. Yuki jumps and checks on Zero, keeping an eye on him.
"Well, looks like you made it out alive too. You need some patching up. So you better get into that idiot's home building, or whatever he wants to call it." Yuki helps Zero up as best she can, he curls up into himself as his ribs feel the brunt of him rising. She walks beside him, leading him over to the Headmaster's building.
"Zero... you need to heal, I won't... I won't force my blood on you, but if you need it... My blood is always available to you. If you can feel better with it, I'd gladly give it to you." She blushes lightly, but also hopes he doesn't get upset at her.
"I'm sorry, Yuki. I haven't been clear about my own feelings. I know... I said before that your blood was the only one I wanted. I meant it at the time, but things changed so much since we encountered Shizuka. So-" Yuki laughs lightly making Zero look over at her confused.
"Ah, it sounds like you're trying to break up with me or something. I get it! I know we never had that kind of relationship! We have always been friends... family even! Cause you and I both know that my heart has always been with Kaname-senpai, but that doesn't mean you don't have an ability to make my heart waver. Alondra-senpai, her blood is the one you truly want, right? Both you and your brother, you both treasure her so much. So lets go find her! She can help you heal!" Zero winces as Yuki becomes a little too eager and starts to pull him over towards the bedrooms.
"For once I wish all your noise could wake her up, but I don't think even that will." Yuki stops with Zero as they reach the Headmaster's bedroom. They look in to see Ichiru sitting beside Alondra's bed as she sleeps. Yuki becomes confused wondering how her hair grew out so much. She lets Zero through and he slowly makes his way over towards Alondra, kneeling painfully next to the bed.
"Alondra, I'm here. I'm glad you're okay." Zero says gently to the slumbering girl, the furrow on her brow lessens as she feels both twins beside her. Ichiru looks at Zero's pitiful form and holds out his arm.
"It may not fully satisfy you, but it should help speed up your healing. Drink my blood, Zero." He looks at his twin surprised, but knows he can't keep bearing the pain as his adrenaline starts to die down. He takes his arm, exposing his wrist and biting into it, carefully taking in his blood.
Yuki looks away from the trio, they fall into their own world. She steps away from the doorway and jumps as she sees Yoru coming in. She makes her way over towards him to see how his own injuries faired.
"Are you-"
"So, you've seen it too. Those three have a bond and live in a world we can never cross. Fate separated them cruelly, and it has brought them back together. They can never get away from each other completely." Yoru says with a sad smile, looking over Yuki's head at the hallway she just came from. She feels a tightening in her chest as she begins to comprehend her own feelings.
"It's strange, it took me so long to realize that... that even my heart was torn between two people, but it's too late now. Zero... Zero wasn't going to wait for me forever because he was never mine to begin with. How long did it take you? To realize your own feelings, I mean?" Yuki asks Yoru who looks back down at her.
"I knew my feelings a long time ago, but I held them in. Because she is my pureblood master and because her heart was taken a long time ago. By those two. All I can do is continue being the way we are now. Servant and master." He tells her and Yuki shakes her head.
"I may not know much about Alondra-senpai, but I think she would call you her friend. She is definitely not an ordinary pureblood." Yuki says with a small smile, Yoru nods his head. She really has no idea how correct she is.