Vampire Knight OS - Part V

Part V: The Rising Soldier


A few days have passed. Under the sky, in the forest, on the ground lightened by the moon was Akito. Everything was calm. Too calm. He was thinking about Izano and his followers. That night when he kidnapped Rima he was only a bit injured, very far from being lethally wounded. He knew that he would try something again. He wasn’t the type that would give up on something he put his eyes on. And Rima was on of them… “What should I do…” he thought. He knew that he didn’t have enough power to defeat him, but even so, he wanted to protect her.
A combination of a laugh and a sigh slipped his mouth… “Heh… wanting to protect a vampire… looks like life loves to play pranks on me…”. He was caught in his thoughts… Without realizing, he started to talk loud …“Even so… I wonder what she’s doing right now…”
“Wonder what’s doing who?”
Akito got startled by the voice that came like… out of nowhere. He got on his feet, looked around and then he saw him. Izano was leaning his back on a tree, and keeping his arms crossed. He had a sick looking smile on his face. “Thinking about the princess I wonder?” he said wile walking towards Akito. Instinctively, Akito made a step backwards.
“You’re on guard I see… but don’t worry, I don’t have an interest in you right now” he said while turning on a side and looking up at the moon. “But…” his eyes turned towards Akito again “… I’ve not yet given up on the little princess. And there’s the ‘knight’ that protects her too”
“What are you planning?” said Akito with an angry look on his face
“Dunno… maybe… kill the ‘knight’… take he princess for myself…”
“You bastard!!”. Akito snapped. He charged right at him, trying to hit him. But Izano avoided him easily.
“Eeh?? Looks like I struck a nerve” said Izano with a grin on his face.
“Don’t get close to her or else…”
“Or else what? Bite me? Show me your little fangs? Heheh…” he said while starting to walk away.
“Where are you going? Are you running away?!?”
“Give it up, you have no chance against me. I could kill you right this instant, but I may have some further use for you” said Izano while his voice was fading away, and then disappeared.
Akito hit the ground in anger
“… Damn it…”
At the house, Shiki was walking on the hallway. Everything seemed calm. He was humming a song when he heard a noise.
“Footsteps? It can’t be…”
Knowing that Kaname was out, Yuuki was still at the Academy and Rima was in her room, he didn’t know who else would be in the house.
“Unless…”
“Unless what?” said a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw the lycan with light green eyes and dark brown hair with black and white mashes he knew very well
“How did you get in here?”
It wasn’t strange that Shiki was confused. After all, Izano managed to sneak into the house without being noticed at all.
“Well, not too hard… It’s just that your guard is low” he said, rising his shoulders.
Shiki gave him a glare, full of hatred and anger.
“My, don’t look at me like that. You’ll make me feel intimidated.” said Izano with a grin on his face.
“You just made the biggest mistake in your life when you set foot in this house. This time, I’ll kill you!.”
“Do you want to start a fight in here and involve your beloved princess in here? Who knows what I may do to her when I’ll see her…” said Izano with a smile full of satisfaction.
Those words made Shiki hesitate for a while. But then Izano spoke again.
“In town, there’s an old castle that’s been abandoned and no one visits. They say it’s haunted… Scary, huh? People say that they see figures moving in there even though nobody lives in it…” his eyes were looking at Shiki as if he had a victory. “If you want to protect your princess, you will come there. I’ll be waiting for you”
Shiki didn’t say anything, but it was obvious what his answer will be. Izano started to walk away.
“Oh, and if by chance you don’t show up, be prepared for the consequences” said Izano and then disappearing like he always does.
Shiki knew well what those consequences would be. In order to get Rima, he had to get rid of him first. But that wasn’t his only purpose. Izano was strong. If he wanted, he could get her without paying too much attention on Shiki. But Izano had the playful part of a canine in him too. He wanted to make Shiki suffer, to get revenge for what he did last time they met. He knew that well.
It was past midnight, and Shiki sneaked out of the house to go and meet Izano. He checked first on Rima, and got out as soon as he was sure she was sleeping. He didn’t want to worry her. But before he left, he entered her room, and gave her a kiss, being careful not to wake her up. He knew that he was against Izano, and might not get out of it alive. But still, he had to take the risk. Giving her a last gaze, he set off.
In the woods, Akito calmed down after meeting Izano. He climbed on a tree, and started to think about what he was going to do.
Then, he saw Shiki passing by. Judging by the look he had, and the way he was headed, he figured that something happened. Something concerning Izano…
“So he made his move already, huh?...” said Akito to himself while getting off the tree he was on and landing right in front of Shiki
“Yo…” he said with an unusually calm face. Shiki instantly gave him a glare.
“Hey, what’s with the face?” said Akito surprised.
“Nothing… move, I don’t have the time to chat with you here” said while continuing his way. From behind him, standing still, Akito spoke again with his calm expression.
“I see he told you to do something… does Rima know?”
Shiki stopped. He didn’t say anything back to him.
“He’s strong, maybe even stronger that you.” said Akito as he knew what his silence meant.
“I’ll get through this…”
“You might get killed…”
“So what are you implying, that I should just run away, abandon her and let him have his way ?!?” yelled Shiki as he took a grip of Akito’s shirt, ready to punch him. Akito could read Shiki’s anger and desperation in his eyes.
“I see you will not do otherwise, will you…?” Akito released himself from Shiki’s grip and stepped back. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“You already caused enough trouble.”
“I see… Well then, be careful what you do… If you happen to die, Rima will be sad…”
“I know…” said Shiki and the next moment he started running towards the town.
Akito watched as he was disappearing into the night.
“That idiot… he could have just accepted my help…”
There was a dark room… in the room there were two people… they were fighting. One of them was hurt… he was badly hurt… The other one had his hands full of blood. Probably the blood of the guy that was hurt and standing in front on him… The wounded man looked bad… really bad… another strike and he would be dead for sure… the face of the guy became clearer and cleared… it was Shiki…
“No… don’t… no… Shiki!!!”. Rima woke up in a scream. He looked around and realized that she was in her room.
“A dream, huh…?”
Still, she was feeling uneasy. She put her fingers on her lips… a feeling remained on them… something happened…
She got out of her room. The house was quiet. Too quiet. She knew that Kaname and Yuuki were out, but what about Shiki? He should have been in the house.
Not knowing where he is and the feeling that remained after that nightmare made her feel more uneasy. Her walk became rushed, and then she found herself running into the forest. She was looking in all directions as she was running. Yet she didn’t pay any attention on what was on the ground. She suddenly tripped on something and fell over it. But it wasn’t something hard…
“Auch…”
She paid a closer look and saw the familiar face she lately got so accustomed with. It was none other than Akito, who was all laying down lazy again.
A pissed look took over of Rima’s face.
“Oh, not you again…”
“It’s good to see you too” said Akito while he was rubbing his head.
Rima pushed herself up.
“Just why do I have to ALWAYS bump into you?!?”
“You’re the one doing the bumping, not me. I’m completely innocent” he said while getting himself up. Rima caught a glimpse of a smile while he was doing so.
“You seem to have a lot of free time, being lazy like that all the time”
“Well, being lazy sometimes serves its purpose. If I wasn’t here, being lazy right now, you wouldn’t have bumped into me like this, and we wouldn’t have this friendly talk”
The words “friendly talk” reminded Rima that she didn’t have the time to idle around. She had to find Shiki. She had a feeling that something bad will happen if she doesn’t find him soon.
“Sorry, but I have to go. I don’t have the time to chat with you here.”
“Man, you two really are alike. You even use the same phrases.”
Rima stopped. She turned her face to Akito.
“Did you see him? Where did he go?”. She already knew that he was talking about Shiki.
Akito didn’t reply to her.
“Please, tell me, where did he went to?” she said while gripping his shirt and looked like she didn’t have much and she would start crying. But the grip wasn’t like Shiki’s. He took his shirt with both hands, but it didn’t have the sensation that it would be followed by a punch. Yet her gaze made him feel like there was nothing else around them. He was hardly keeping himself from kissing her. But instead, he embraced her. He was holding her tight, and didn’t look as if he was planning to let go of her.
“Let… go…” said Rima, but she didn’t give any resistance. She calmed down.
“Don’t put yourself in more danger than you already are…”
Rima didn’t say anything for a moment. But then, Akito saw something that he didn’t think he would see, and especially in her case.
Rima was crying. Crying in his arms. Like that time when Yuuki was crying, he didn’t know what to do. But he didn’t do anything. He was just holding her while she was crying. After a while, she stopped.
“Sorry… I have to go… I…”
“Looks like you’re not the type to be convinced to do otherwise… In that case, I’ll go with you. And I won’t take a ‘no’ for an answer”
Rima smiled then.
“And it seems like you’re not that type either…”
After that, they headed to the town.
Shiki was reaching the castle. It looked like it had a little and it would fall apart.
“I hope I won’t end up being killed by this place instead…” he thought. He reached the front door, and when he was right in front of it, the door opened by itself
“Maybe this place really IS haunted… Now, where is he…”. He started to look around the place for Izano, but didn’t see him. He used the staircase to get to the upper floor. It really was a large place. A scent came to him.
“Pfeuuu, this place reeks of dogs…”. But because of that, he was able to find the room he was in. He opened a big door and found himself in a huge room.
“So, you really came”
Shiki was looking at where the voice came from. In a chair on the platform in front of him, Izano had a smirk on his face.
“Of course I came, I want to make sure you’ll die today here, once and for all”
“You seem pretty confident. Do you really think you can kill me?”
“Well, let’s find out!” said Shiki and charged right at him. He bit the top of his finger, and a thin blood string came from it. Izano jumped off the chair as Shiki directed the string at him and split the chair in half”
“Oooohh, and that was my precious golden chair. How could you do that sort of stuff to it?” said Izano, keeping the creepy smirk on his face.
“You’ll suffer the same fate as that chair”
“Oh, really… we’ll see about that”
Izano then tuned into his werewolf form and started attacking Shiki.
“You know, there are some differences between lycans and vampires. No matter how fast you are, the lycan is always faster”
Shiki tried to hit him, but instead he hit the wall behind him, making a big hole.
“Eeeh, looks like you have some force it that little string of yours” said Izano while moving the room next to them through the hole.
Shiki didn’t think twice. He went straight after him. This room was darker than the previous one.
“Where are you?!” he shouted.
“Right here!”
Izano came from behind straight at him. He didn’t have time to avoid him. In a split of a second, Izano’s fangs were piercing his shoulder.
“One strike. I wonder how the next one will be?”
Shiki gave him a glare while holding his shoulder. He was bleeding heavily. Even with the vampire’s fast healing, it would take a while until it’s healed.
“It hurts, right? The next one will hurt even more!”
Shiki directed the blood string at him, but the aim was off. His shoulder was hurting too much.
“Finished already?”
“Not yet!”
He had to win. If not, his coming here would be meaningless. He tried another hit. He missed him again.
“Damn, he’s fast…”
“Or maybe you’re too slow”
Izano appeared from his right side. He couldn’t dodge him again. This time, Izano took a grip of his leg. . His fangs sank deep into it, taking some flesh along with them.
Now he was really in trouble. With his leg in that condition, he couldn’t move anymore. His vision became blurry from the loss of blood.
“So this is it, huh…?” said Shiki to himself.
In town, Rima and Akito were searching for clues to where Shiki is.
“I can feel it. He’s close by” said Rima.
“Man, are you sure you’re a vampire and not a lycan? You’re senses are pretty good”
“Oh, shut up…”
She heard a couple of villagers talking, and being quite in a panic.
‘Did you hear those sounds like explosions in the castle?’
‘Looks like it’s really going to collapse, right?’
‘I think I saw some figures there not long ago’
‘Well, it’s haunted, right?’
This was what the entire village was talking about. From listening to them, Rima’s first reaction was to start running towards the castle.
“He… Hey!” said Akito when she suddenly took off.
“He’s in there! I know it!”
“Wait a minute! Are you just going to charge in?” he said while running after her.
“What else can I do?!?”
“Rima, calm down! You’ll get killed if you go in like that!”
But Rima didn’t listen. She entered the castle, and she heard noise coming from upstairs. She ran as fast as she could until she reached the door of the big room and entered it.
“SHIKI!!!”
The next thing she saw was a big hole in the wall that connected to another room. There she saw Izano in his werewolf form and Shiki in a pool of blood
“RIMAA!!! RUN FOR IT!! PLEASE!!!” yelled Shiki in desperation when he saw her.
“Heeh, looks like you saved me the trouble of looking for you”
Rima couldn’t move after the scene she saw. Fear and helplessness invaded her body. She didn’t manage to move even after she saw Izano coming after her.
“Why are you just standing there?!?”
Akito’s voice brought her back to reality as he went after Izano, stopping him.
“Go to him, I’ll keep him busy for a while. Take him and hide somewhere safe!”
After hearing him, she ran straight at Shiki. He was in a really bad condition.
“Why… did you come..?” said Shiki when she came next to him.
“Idiot! Didn’t you say you won’t leave me anymore? Look how hurt you are!” said Rima, almost yelling at him, as she burst out crying. She was crying for the second time that day. She didn’t even remember when was the last time she cried like this.
Shiki reached his hand and touched her face, wiping her tears.
“Don’t worry… I’ll be fine” he said with a smile on his face.
For a couple of moments, she just looked straight at him. She bowed her head, exposing her neck to him.
“Take my blood” she said with a determined voice.
After a little hesitation, Shiki finally said:
“It’s been a while since I last had a taste of it…”, then he reached her neck and buried his fangs into it. While he was drinking her blood, his wounds were starting to heal, and he felt as if power was invading his body. A pureblood’s blood can heal any wounds, as well as giving the vampire who drinks it a power far different from his usual one. His leg and shoulder healed completely. After stopping to drink her blood, he looked into her eyes which were still red from the crying.
“Thank you…” he said with a smile on his face and then kissed her. “I’ll be back, you wait here for me” he said as we went in the room where Izano was fighting Akito.
“Izano!” said Shiki in a loud voice.
Izano stopped fighting Akito, which had some injuries himself.
“You! Go hide somewhere; I’ll take care of him”
“I have a name, you know…” murmured Akito as he stepped back.
“A fallen soldier should just stay fallen” said Izano towards Shiki.
“Some fallen soldiers can come back to battlefield even more powerful than they were before”
“Is that so… then we’ll see right now who is right”
Izano charged at him right away. This time, Shiki avoided him quite easy.
“I’ve been recharged” said Shiki with a serious look on his face. He bit one of his fingers, and another blood string came out. But this time, it was different. The density of the blood has changed; it became harder and sharper, finally turning into mini-blades.
“This is the end for you, Izano!” said Shiki while sending the mini-blades towards him.
“Heh, do you think you can kill me with these? They’re no different from that string you had earlier.”
“See for yourself if they’re different or not.”
Izano grinned as he avoided the blades coming in front of him. But that grinned disappeared when he saw that from left, right and behind, more mini-blades were coming. He couldn’t avoid them. The blades went right through him.
No matter how small the attaching object was, if it passed through any vital organ, it would mean death. It was the end for Izano.
“Damn it… just a little more and…” but he didn’t manage to finish the phrase. He died.
“Wow… are you really the same guy I saw in a pool of blood just a couple of moments ago? Are you sure you’re not a clone or something?” said Akito after the battle was over. Shiki turned around and gave him a little smile.
Akito froze for a moment.
“Now, that was creepy…”
“You think so?” said Shiki back to him. He the turned around and started walking to the hole in the wall. To the room where Rima was. “Now, shall we go?”
Rima’s face got brighter. She was happy.
“Yes!” she said with a big smile.
Her eyes turned then at Akito. She went at him, and for his surprise, she hugged him.
“Thank you” she said with a bright smile.
“Wow… now that was awesome…”
She let go of him.
“Now, let’s go, shall we?” she said while going towards the exit door.
Akito closed to Shiki.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself a rival”
Shiki looked at her as she was standing there and saying something like “Come on, are you guys coming already or not?” with a serious look on her face, then he finally smiled and said:
“… I wonder about that…”

Author: Lacramioara Cobzaru