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[The feed is met with one long, drawn moment of silence upon opening. Thick with contemplation and a certain tension that might leave a person either eager for that first utterance, or eventually too impatient to bother listening for another second
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How could I just let myself become idle? Inwardly she curses herself, frustration churning her stomach as she desperately races through the streets of Ukiyo, thoroughly ignoring, for once, the usual unease she feels while out on her own. Content almost, she's let the days go by without even attempting escape.
How could I be so foolish? Isn't this place supposed to help grant wishes? If unrestricted, her emotions would be manifesting to spiral out of control. They were lying. She wants peace, she wants happiness, she wants everyone to get along. This is not that future...! Why? Why...? Over and over again the question overwhelms her senses, unable to think past searching out an explanation or any reason that can explain away or justify. Damn it! He's murdered Aidou's father!? The heavy hurt floods her heart. She wont just let things sit. She'll find him.
Feet grinding to a halt, her long hair whips forward as she stops before the tall wall surrounding all of Ukiyo. Tense, body ready and poised upon the natural fight or flight reflex that only shock and adrenaline can bring, she dips within the shadow of a tree. Her senses reach out, large brown eyes watching for any of the guard or opening she'll have. Soon, she'll be out. Climbing is nothing to her.
I have to know why. The tragic way things are... it can't be left off like this.
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He swiftly moves, light on his toes and keenly focused. The mild disorientation upon waking within the floating city again, thankfully, has worn off, although it doesn't completely dispel the frustration harbored when it comes to there being so many other species present, even with how accustomed he's become. Even so, Zero doesn't doubt his ability to seek her out.
From the looks of it, he arrives at the scene just in time. The guards are preoccupied, seemingly paying no mind to the young, petite girl about to make her move.
He hisses, a biting, hushed demand for her attention as he stops just beside her, cloaked within the shadow. The very last thing they need is to attract anyone.]
Stop this, Yuuki! There's nothing beyond that wall but water. Calm down.
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[Quiet, urgent without turning to him. Teeth grit, frustration and anxiety building within at the sudden appearance. Water, he said. That's right. She's heard something about such before in the past. She can swim. How far? Even if she tires after a time she won't die. That's true even with the bracelet, right?
She just has to find the right moment.]
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Composed, especially as he knows she isn't, he reaches to take hold of her wrist. A firm grasp, just solid enough in its hold to not harm her, but not enough for her to slip away so easily. His voice bears a similar, almost commanding tone.]
Look at me, Yuuki.
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Let go of me.
[Cool; feigned composure demanding as she doesn't release a counter measure to the grip holding tight to her wrist. I don't understand... It breaks her heart. It's painful, confusing her beyond the uncertainties she's been fighting through her experiences here in Ukiyo. Nothing. Even after everything I still don't understand anything. No matter how much time passes it's always the same, isn't it? And now, things are unraveling to pieces.
I can't stand it!
She needs to be there, home, some place where she can try and put the puzzle together on her own and find him. She can't do that while here.]
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[Fingers curl tighter, steady.
Seeing her like this is painful. The stake driven deeper, lined with a near-inevitable and known hatred and bitter spite, if only for the fact that it's Kuran who is at fault for hurting her like this. Bitter, because it's far too inappropriate (which even he will admit) for the thoughts of 'I told you so's to seep into his mind.
It's hardly the time to consider the other angles and edges that build this scenario.]
Snap out of it!
[Instead, it's time he guide her back. At least away from the eye of the guards (who have begun to grow suspicious), or at least before she does something stupid.
He'd grabbed her by her shoulder with his other hand, forceful in the way he made her face him, giving her small form a rough jerk to try and get her to pay attention.]
There is no way out of here, Yuuki! It's entirely water out there, as far as the eye can see. [He wants to bite his tongue upon even thinking of speaking the words that follow, their feel leaving his mouth sour. If it might help, however...] I know you want to go find him, but you can't right now. So don't try and go do something stupid! It can wait; time isn't passing there while you're here, and you know that.
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Slowly, after a long moment she slumps, body slackening with her weight. The helpless feeling of anguish rises up inside her and tears then bitterly sting her eyes to fall freely past velvet lashes. How can this be...? With a small shake of her head, her breath trembles as she inhales shakily.]
I don't understand. He promised--
[And now...? The place where her heart rests feels hallow, all but torn out with the news from home. Head hanging her fangs peek out as she clenches her teeth, numbed inside. Her whole world feels ripped from beneath her feet again. Worse, even, she can't even imagine the heartache that he must be feeling.]
Aidou-senpai... [His kind-hearted, smiling father. One of the few friendly faces she's become familiar with in this past year. How could Kaname...?]
It's all wrong.
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[Again he mentally bites his tongue, the reply a touch softer, in spite of how he feels otherwise. I'll spare you from any other details. He doesn't want to discuss the matter any more than he already has (doesn't want to hear of promises made). It'd further stir her up and further drive in the fact that there's nothing to be done, here.
He averts his gaze as she looks upon him. The way his heart sits heavy and thick within both his throat and the very pit of his stomach is nauseating. Seeing her like this, knowing why, though still wishing to do whatever possible to ease her... ]
Come on, Yuuki.
[Lightly squeezes her shoulder this time, his other hand slipping from her wrist to take her hand, guiding her in the opposite direction. There isn't much else that can be said.]
Let's get you back.
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Gone. If she's been apprehended by the hunter association, that means he's fled without her. How can this be? After all of this time she's finally only gotten a peak into the real Kaname, discovering who he is. All her strength had been gathered to tell him what she had right before arriving here. Together they were going to step forward on equal ground, their long journey only beginning.
And now...?
Why did it end up like this? She ignores the lone tear that streaks down her cheek, gaze unfocusing and blurry. She knows that in his heart, he has to know that such actions separate their paths. How can they stand together like this...? She can't support what he's done. She can't think of a single reason to have taken Lord Aidou's life.
Ah...
Why him...? The weight in her heart grows, painful as she chokes, swallowing thickly past the lump in her throat. The kind-hearted smile of a truly loving father comes back to her, making everything so much more difficult to bare. The Aidou family has only ever put their best efforts forward to help assist them. He's one of the few people who has known all along her whereabouts. Miserable, her heart sinks further.]
...Do you know if Aidou-senpai is okay?
[The question is quiet, full of concern, without her feeling she truly has the right to ask or know. How much must his heart be aching?]
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He hates how he can smell her tears, only knowing how quick they can be to gather and fall. He hates to recognize how there (still) is a part of him that believes he should feel more embittered by recognizing just how he aches to sweep them away with a soft kiss or gentle brush of his fingertips, knowing too well their subtle warmth or how they must taste. He hates, perhaps for once, how he can feel and hear as her heart desperately fights to decide how heavily it should pound within her chest, and stick to the back of her throat.
He despises how it was him who made her like this. That bastard who so often strung her about, memories or otherwise, and the audacity to still do so (even the earlier basement remark still has the fuel to boil his blood), it seems, even when full aware of just how hurt she would be.
The question has him quiet, still. Aidou was the last person he saw before finding himself in Ukiyo again, his words still clear; heard, though left without a response. There hadn't been any use for one.]
... He's managing.
[It's a quiet remark after a length of silence, which continues for some time as he leads her towards Jisei. Minutes pass before he speaks again, however telling her that Aidou was a witness as well remains unsaid.]
Both of you are there, still. You, personally, are being kept under close watch, but have been allowed to move about headquarters by the president.
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I see.
[It seems that Aidou has never been given the chance to leave the association. Instead, upon her own arrival there, it must have broken his heart to hear something so devastating. She hopes that at least he is free to go, particularly after everything. Her voice is sad, smile cracked and splintered as she lingers a moment upon his last words.]
After all of this time, this is how he sees his daughter again.
[At the very least, her hope, upon next meeting Headmaster, was for it to be under happier terms. Unlike their incredibly brief meeting at the ball.]
...Do I... [She pauses, uncertain as to how to ask or if Zero knows.] Am I to stay there until he...is taken into custody?
[She doesn't want to say hunt. Doesn't want to think of what plans the association themselves might have in store for him. She knows the treaty that the Kurans are meant to uphold on their behalf, but when it comes to hunter law, she can't say one way or another. She knows, at the very least, that the killing of a pureblood is considered one of the worst taboos ever committed.
But... that's what Kaname just did, isn't it?]
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There's almost too much difficulty in deciding where to begin. It's different. Facing her like this, here, in such a world so far from what's normal, is vastly different. The memories of home, and every detail that compose each of the recent events, continue to ring clearly within his mind; that single line that spans between the two of them, is clean, even despite the persistent hairline fractures. It's easy to perceive where she stands, and the space he claims as his own. Back home, be it during those several days recently spent there, or all of the five years and some-odd months it's been since he's known her, it's a more simple feat to keep his heart and all its desires in check, even if, at times, it's primarily out of necessity.
Simply contemplating Ukiyo, and all that has happened, now, leaves him conflicted. Inflicted by his own brand of resentment, while stubborn in its existence, now born from a first-hand experience. Did showing up here, and the absurd circumstances it presented him with, truly lead him to give in so easily? When did that line blur so far beyond recognition?
The answer may not be what she wishes to hear, but he isn't going to create something new. He has no reason to lie, just knowing that likely the last thing she needs is more fabricated lines. It simply is a different angle, while insinuating the same thing. ]
The last time I saw you, you seemed to be doing all right. The president said you understood what you had to do.
[Right now, he can't even be detected. He wonders just how far she may have gotten, back home, if left to seek Kuran out.
He glances down to her for a moment before continuing. While at home it was annoying, the delivery colder, the remark is offered, this time, as an attempt (even if a poor one) to lift her up again.]
... And actually, you stole my target. [Dryly this time.] ... with your handbag.
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