[Vampire Knight] Deeper than Blood (Book 1)

Chapter Two

(Cover picture is Akiko)
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Akiko knocked on Kaname's door later that night after classes were finished. Kaname had asked Akiko to see him in his room while everyone else were busy, and Mikio had gone to explore the academy. Akiko had told him she would join him after she saw her cousin, but Akiko was really nervous about this family reunion. Maybe she should have a full reunion with both Kaname and Yuki later, but she knew that Yuki wouldn't understand that it was a reunion between three cousins, not a reunion of two cousins with the human girl that one of the cousins had saved.

The door swung open but no one was on the other side. Instead Kaname was lying on his bed, one of his arms underneath his head and the other resting over his eyes. His brown hair was perfect despite being ruffled, and his black under shirt was undone, displaying his impressive upper body.

"I would be freaked out by the whole door opening by itself, but then again I can do the same thing," Akiko states, stepping into the room. And as if to prove her point Akiko willed the door to shut itself. Kaname removed the arm over his eyes and looked up at Akiko as she surveyed the room, her eyes landing on a chess board on a table. She walked over to it and fingered the King before looking over at her cousin with raised eyebrows.

"A bit old to play chess, aren't you?"

"Ha, ha, very funny," Kaname said sarcastically, even though Akiko wasn't trying to be funny. She was the only one besides Haruka, Juri and Rido that knew Kaname was the Kuran Ancestor and not her cousin. Akiko remembered that time when Kaname told her, when she was three.

"Akiko, there's something I should tell you," Kaname told his three year old cousin, who was playing with her two year old cousin Yuki. Akiko looked up at Kaname with a look of child-like curiosity in her red and purple eyes.

"What is it Cuz?" she asked, jumping up and following Kaname out of the basement room and into the top floor.

"That's just the thing," Kaname said, leaning against the wall. "I'm not really your cousin."

"Than who are you?" Akiko asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I'm still Kaname Kuran, but I was born ten thousand years ago," Kaname explained. "I'm your ancestor."

"How are you so old?" Akiko asked, not knowing yet that Purebloods lived forever.

"I was in a slumber for all that time and your father awoke me from that slumber," Kaname explained. "So I'm not your real cousin."

"It doesn't matter if you're not my cousin!" Akiko exclaims, rushing over to Kaname and surprising him by wrapping her small arms around his legs. "We're still related!"

"I was so naive back than," Akiko tells him, back to the present. "But after living by myself for ten years I've learnt to break that naivety."

"Akiko," Kaname said, "why did you come to this Academy?"

"Honestly I don't know," Akiko admits, perching on the edge of Kaname's bed. "I guess I wanted to see you and Yuki again, even though Yuki doesn't remember who I am."

"Perhaps I should introduce you to Yuki tomorrow," Kaname says, grabbing the pillow and putting it over his head. "She's a Guardian here. But I'm afraid that the other Guardian wouldn't like your presence here."

"How come?"

"Your mother," Kaname answered. "She was responsible for destroying his life four years ago."

"I heard about that," Akiko states. "About the Pureblood vampire that attacked the vampire hunter family, killing them all and turning the son. I never guess that it was my mother."

"It was," Kaname said. "She is called The Madly Blooming Princess for a reason."

And with that Akiko left Kaname's room, leaving her to her thoughts about her mother, Shizuka Hio The Madly Blooming Princess.
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Akiko joined Mikio by a water fountain a little while later. The sun was beginning to rise in the distance and Mikio was watching it, a far away look on his face. Akiko knew that Mikio always loved to watch the sunrise as it was the end of the vampire night and the beginning of the human day, and Mikio was always fascinated by humans even though he feeds on them.

"What did Kaname want?" Mikio asked, not looking at Akiko. Akiko sat down on the fountain beside Mikio, moving her hair over her shoulder as to not get it wet.

"Wanted to see me to ask why I came here," Akiko answered. "But to me it was more like a family reunion."

"So it wasn't a Pureblood meeting?"

"If it were a Pureblood meeting, I'm pretty sure you would have been invited too, seeing as you are a Pureblood as well."

"Touché."

Mikio stood up and put his hands in his pant pockets. "Come on, we better go back to the dorms. It's almost daylight."

Mikio walked away, leaving Akiko to wonder what was wrong with the other Pureblood.