A/N: Alright, so here is the fifth chapter of Missing- a long time coming, I know. I already have the next chapter outlined and I plan on outlining a few more chapters ahead at least when I have free time, so I have enough of an idea as to what to write to be able to pump out more chapters for all ya'll. I'm writing this A/N on the night I'm writing it- tuesday night, or well, wednesday morning technically lol- but this will be posted on Thursday- and hopefully Missing will be updated every Thursday from here on out! :) Thank ya'll so much for replying to this story- you have no idea how happy it makes me that my writing attracts people that actually bother to read it. Enjoy :)
He was lying on the couch in his office as he turned over the tattered remains of his plans in his distant mind- it seemed all he could focus on now was the irritated bond that tied him to his mate who hadn't spoken a word to him in three days- as if her anger with him was only growing instead of dying off like surely a lesser being's would.
He both admired and despised her for it- he could not recall her being so patient in the past- it was as if his most admirable quality had worn off on her, but only when she was put out with him.
It was quite astonishing how she managed to ignore him even as he slept beside her- the bond would not allow them to have separate rooms they had learned.
Suffice to say, he had been the one to beg her to come back to his bedroom because she seemed more bull-headed than even Kiryu was, even to her own detriment as he saw plainly written on her palid face how the bond weighed on her as well.
It had been a week since they had met- basically a week since he fucked up within the same twenty-four hour period of meeting her.
Yeah, he was getting off to a great start.
He teased ways he might ease her down in his mind, but to be frank, he could not recall enough about the past to know how to appropriately accomplish such a feat.
He couldn't even blame her for her anger- he was in effect lying to her, his mate, he was lying to her by omission- her of all people.
He sighed and felt Seiren outside his door. He sat up, downing the rest of his drink before standing and walking over to his desk to sit and hear her report.
He had sent her out the day after Amaya's arrival to search for who had been the cause of the attack on the school, and to see why they had done so.
Why they had disregarded him as a threat, but cared enough to slay Kiryu of all creatures.
Seiren entered at his behest and bowed neatly before beginning- her voice even and unfeeling as she recounted her search for answers.
She laid out how she had discovered a nomadic pureblood of all things taking up house some fifty miles north a few months prior- and that he had apparently been gathering forces of unknown number there for some time even before his arrival.
All level-C or lower, though Seiren passed him a file containing the names of a dozen Nobles who were apparently supporting him behind closed doors.
"What is this pureblood's name?"
"Rumor has it he is only known as 'Shame'." Seiren recounted and he nodded.
"You believe he is the one responsible?"
She nodded, "I have it on good accounts from anonymous sources."
He sighed, "Do some more digging into his background and his potential reasons for attacking the Academy or Kiryu."
She nodded and left with another bow, "Hai, Kaname-sama."
He leaned back in his seat after scanning the file.
Something about that name- about the title 'Shame'- dug its nails into his brain and demanded he pay attention. He had heard that name before- he was certain of it.
A glimmer of candlelight dancing across the doors to the main hall- there was an unruly male who had been acting as a thorn in his side for too long- the male had even attempted to garner his mate's eye, igniting a fury in the pureblood King as he was welcomed into the hall to pass judgement on said thorn.
Amaya needn't know of the male's attempts to get her attention- his mate might have grown sterner since becoming Queen, but she had a soft spot a mile long and the bond demanded he destroy the idiotic pureblood who dared come between them.
He settled himself in his throne and waved the standing crowd to retake their seats as his first approached, the familiar shadow casted down upon her features- thoroughly hiding them from ne'er-do-well view.
She leaned in close to his ear, recounting the male's offenses briefly.
He had been spreading a rumor that he would one day overtake Kaname as King of their kindred in addition to eyeing his mate.
That would not be tolerated.
The male was dragged before them in chains of hunter origin, his copper colored hair overgrown and hanging in his eyes.
He was as tall as Kaname- of similar build as well- but the male held himself lower than any male of worth would, his posture closed in as if he were weak.
A pitiful excuse for a pureblood.
He would not be a genuine threat- Kaname was sure- no male as weak and simple-minded as he had to be could be a real threat against his reign.
But still, it could not go unpunished.
"Exile." He proclaimed, clearly surprising his first, her head slightly cocking in curiosity before she righted herself.
The male was pulled to his feet and she stepped off the dais, her skirts gliding like ghosts against the stone floors as she settled before him.
"Your fate is exile. Never will you step foot in these lands again, never will you be welcomed by your brethren. Have you anything to declare?"
The male said nothing, so she moved on.
"May the gods forgive you for the shame you have brought them by defying your King..."
Amaya uncrossed her legs and stood from the courtyard bench, Kaito standing as well, staying close to the pureblood vampiress as his hunter training no doubt demanded as she twirled about the garden, stopping to smell the fragrant roses every few feet.
She stretched her senses- something was in the air tonight, something was coming and she wanted to know what.
But Kaito had no answers for her- no one ever told him anything as he was prone to snarking out secrets and the like whenever pressed, or hell, even poked if Zero's memories were to be believed.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.
He was astonishing, she decided. She had never met someone quite like him- so... snarky? Yes, snarky, and maybe with a bit of an 'up for anything, anywhere' attitude.
It was the confidence that came off of him in waves that was so confusing to her- she had never seen anyone other than a pureblood exude confidence the way he did.
It was baffling to see a mortal (granted, with the extended lifetime that hunter's were gifted with) just, the way he was.
He was attractive for a mortal too- not as fatally perfect as a pureblood, but just as stunning when it was combined with his confidence.
Thick, tousled ash brown hair, hazel eyes, and a lean frame complimented by a height that surpassed even her mate- he wore it all well and maybe in another life she would have taken him as a lover, but in this life she had a mate- granted a mate who had forgotten her existence and hid his everything from her- but a mate nonetheless.
But that didn't mean they couldn't be friends- and Amaya had always longed for a friend.
But that would come later- she could read the tempest that stormed in his mind without even bothering to use her telepathy- he broadcasted his emotions, his thoughts more than most others she had met.
He was conflicted- he saw Zero in her in some ways, and perhaps that softened him to her- but he held a deep seated hatred of her kind, her pureblood kind in particular.
He wore his pain on his sleeve for anyone to see who dared look close enough- and for some reason she didn't want him to decide she was like the rest of her kindred- she wanted him to see her as someone who he could trust.
She glanced away and turned her back on him, ghosting over to the next patch of flowers- bright and cheerful marigolds.
"I feel as if I can tell you anything, Kaito-kun..." She admitted quietly.
Amaya kneeled down to brush the petals of a flower with her fingertips, busying herself as she allowed him room to breathe.
He was apprehensive, and for some reason she felt the desire to comfort him- to soothe his nerves.
Why? Why do I feel like this? Why do I find myself caring for this mortal- this hunter?
He said nothing in reply and she sighed when she spotted the prefects bolting over to the courtyard when they spotted her.
Yuki and another girl with mousy blonde hair- Wakaba Sayori- no, Yuki called her Yori in Zero's memories.
The girl that was apparently closer to her mate than she was herself was grinning brightly, as if untainted by the weight of her former adoptive brother's death.
He just died a week ago. Why doesn't she still mourn for him? She was his closest friend beside Kaito-kun... did he really mean so little to her?
Amaya smothered the flame of fury that sparked in her at the thought.
Zero- she seemed to be beginning to care for him- or perhaps his memories- like he was her own child.
In a sense, she could suppose he was.
Or were they one in the same? Amaya sighed softly as the girls drew closer.
Her mind was a mess, a mish-mash of memories belonging to nearly a hundred, or perhaps even more, hunters. Her head ached with it still- they were not easy to make sense of, and for the most part she tried to block out all but for Zero's.
For some reason she couldn't gather the desire to forget him.
If no one else remembers him- then I will.
Yuki was the first to reach them and as she approached her smile began to droop till it was erased completely.
She scared the girl, or at the very least intimidated her.
Good. She should learn her place.
"Amaya-senpai, I'm afraid I must ask you to return to the Night Dorms. Night Class are not allowed on the main campus during daylight. You must remain at the Dorms until sundown unless you have special permission from Kaname-senpai or the Chairman."
"It's within the hour, Yuki-chan. I do not see why I cannot walk the grounds and stretch my legs a bit during the day." Amaya purred, unsettling the petite brunette even further.
Her beast yearned for the brat's blood- yearned to rip her to pieces so that she would never come between she and her mate.
"I'm afraid it's the rules, Amaya-senpai." She continued after a thick swallow.
Yori nodded from her position a few feet behind Yuki- neither of the girls had been trained to fight, Amaya knew. They knew it too, she could sense Yori's fear at approaching her- she had much more common sense than Yuki, who while scared of Amaya herself, was almost always indifferent to the other members of the Night Class.
"But I assure you the humans are of little interest to me- and!" She cocked a brow at Yuki who looked fit to interrupt her, "I am in the company of a hunter! Do you imply that Kaito-kun is failing in his duties?"
She finished with a smirk and she felt Kaito's amusement behind her even as his stare penetrated her back.
"Rest easy, Cross. I've got my eye on her." He finally drawled and Amaya's smirk deepened.
"I bet you do." Yori snarked and Amaya snapped her eyes to her- perhaps she lacked common sense as well.
That wretch! To imply I would ever cheat on Kaname! How dare she?
Amaya soothed her beast,- she owned her mind, she would not be reduced to her baser urges- glancing away from the now scared blonde to Yuki before turning her back on the girls to go back to flitting around the garden.
Kaito sighed, spotting her agitated expression.
"C'mon, Yuki." Yori urged, "We have to report to the Main House to show the new Night Class student around."
The girls bolted away- their clomping shoes signaling their departure.
"That's right.." She muttered, "There's a new Night Class student- Kurenai Maria."
Ichijo had said as much to her at final meal the night before.
"The Kurenai's are related to the Hio line, correct?"
Kaito nodded, "The Kurenai's are the Hio's closest relatives."
"Unfortunately." He muttered in closing, glancing away from her.
She hummed her reply, her lips edging up into a wry grin as the scent of cherry blossoms greeted her on the breeze.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading- be sure to tell me what you think in the comments/reviews and of course I'll respond if you leave questions via PM, so be sure to leave your questions under accounts so I can! Questions for ya'll this chapter: What are your predictions for Shame? What are your feelings toward this friendship Amaya is developing with Kaito? How do you think Kaname will win her back? Let me know below! :)