Chapter Text
They were on their way to Sanguinem. It wouldn’t be long before they got there. Kyoto was only roughly an hour away from Nagoya. It felt like the best choice for now. He had to admit that he was in agreement with Krul. It was the best thing for Guren. Kureto had to be honest when he said that he didn’t want to leave Guren’s side yet.
The humans were sitting on the opposite side of the vampires. Krul was sitting towards the front of the plane. Guren wasn’t far from here. It felt so strange that they were in the same plane as Guren, but he was in all technicality, with the enemy. He technically was the enemy now. Not to them though. He didn’t think one person on this plane would see him as one.
Shouto was with Guren. The boy was somewhat awake. Becoming more aware that he waws now on a plane. Shouto was looking more excited by the second. Kureto couldn’t exactly hear what all of them were saying. They were all speaking quietly. Like they were whispering. To them, they were probably talking just loud enough for each of them to hear each other. Guren seemed engrossed with what Shouto was saying. Kureto kept watching Guren specifically. He was so guarded. A tension in his shoulders that was so subtle that Kureto almost missed it entirely.
Kureto watched as Krul reached over, just carefully moving Guren’s bangs away from his face. It had caused the Omega to look at her. Kureto couldn’t tell what she had said to him, but he had noticed the gentle smile that came to Guren’s face as he relaxed. She was almost motherly to him. Kureto did believe that the vampires truly saw Guren as one of their own. He had no doubts that they were initially nursing the anger and rage that Guren had been feeling for so long. Waiting for the moment that it finally imploded, and he lost his cool. It had happened. He didn’t think he would ever get seeing Guren drenched in blood and injuries out of his head. He had practically been covered head to toe in blood.
Guren could have died. He had been on the third day without blood. Littered in injuries that were causing severe blood loss for even a vampire. It could have ended badly, but somehow, he managed to survive all of it. Even if the combined efforts of them and the vampires had turned the odds into Guren’s favor.
His father had led to that.
Again.
Twice now that it happened.
Kureto turned his gaze away, eyeing the others for a moment. They were just as silent as he was. Rather it was tension from being in an enclosed space with a bunch of vampires or just the situation at hand was up for debate. Kureto didn’t necessarily care about the vampires. Krul made it obvious that she was using them specifically on Guren’s behalf. Guren wouldn’t do anything to them. Kureto seemed to come to an understanding with Crowley. Horn and Chess followed his lead. Ferid seemed to be the only wild card in this scenario. Aside from that blonde vampire, Mika, if Kureto had heard his name right.
Then they had the issue of if Tenri was alive or not.
Kureto was certain his father was still alive. He felt like it would take a lot more than what happened.
Krul stood up, bringing their attention to her as she held her head up. “Before I allow you humans entry into my city… I need to lay down a ground rule.” Kureto eyed her for a second as she straightened her back, making her way down the middle of the plane. “There will be no use of your Cursed Gear inside of my City. My men will not attack you if you do not attack them.”
That seemed like a fair enough request. It was enemy territory, but even with all of them wielding Cursed Gear, there would be no way that they could take all of them if they decided to attack. With Krul’s desire to use them to sustain Guren, he doubted they would be in any danger.
Kureto looked back to the other humans before giving a nod towards them and looking to Krul, “We can do that.” For a brief second, he had caught Guren’s eye. The Omega had diverted his gaze just as quickly. One thing that he could figure out was, it was a lot harder to get a good read on Guren. He must have spent the last four years doing everything he could to be able to block out what he didn’t want people to see. Guren was already hard enough to figure out. Now, they were adding this into the mix.
“We’re here.” Guren cut through it, standing up as he slipped his hands into his pockets. The others were bracing themselves for the landing. Guren didn’t even bother as he just stood there, looking out the window. Kureto held onto something, his entire body jerking a bit as the plane started its descent to land.
He stayed there until the moment that the plane had landed, and the announcement was made that they were able to get off of the plane. Kureto took the moment to look at the others, dropping his voice as he said, “We’re going into enemy territory. Keep your guards up, but don’t provoke them either.”
“Yes, sir.” He got back.
Kureto exhaled sharply, turning his gaze just as the doors started to open and the vampires who had been on the plane started to get out. The first was Krul. Departing first as Kureto got a good look at the area around them. They had a complete area for aircraft. It was probably right on the outskirts of Sanguinem.
“Welcome home, Queen Krul.” One of the vampire guards said as they approached. Then their eyes landed on them, “Would you like us to escort the live—”
Kureto barely had a chance to blink before he felt his hair moving from a slight gust of wind. Within a blink of an eye, the same guard was on the ground. Guren now stood behind him, tilting his head back enough to growl out, “Finish that sentence and I will kill you.” The guard was staring with wide eyes. Guren’s sword was drawn, level at the guard’s neck despite the fact that Guren was behind him. “These humans are not to be harmed. Touch them and I’ll kill you in an instant. No hesitation.”
“Of course, Lord Guren.” The guard squeaked out.
Next to him, Kureto’s attention was grabbed as he heard the soft chuckling coming from Ferid as the Seventh Progenitor came up next to him. “It’s always a delight to see our lovely Guren get a bit ticked off.” Ferid purred for a second, humming before he added in, “He held back.”
“Guren.” Krul simply said, and that one word had Guren dropping his sword and putting it back in its sheath. Krul’s gaze moved back towards the other guards, “These humans are guests underneath Eighth Progenitor Guren Ichinose. No harm will come to these humans. Do not harm them, and they won’t harm you.”
“Momma is so cool.” Shouto murmured as he walked up by Kureto, reaching out to grab at his jacket. The young boy was staring in awe at where Guren was standing. Guren’s attention had been grabbed again. This time, he was speaking to some of the guards.
“Come on, humans.” Ferid purred, “With Guren around, nothing will ever happen to you. You can trust my word on that.” Ferid started off of the plane, also being greeted. Some vampires had boarded the plane, probably going for what was still on the plane such as the machine used on Guren and the bag that held his soiled clothes. “Get those to the lab immediately.” Ferid called out to one of the guards before he was completely off of the plane.
Slowly, the humans had made their way off of the plane. Kureto was doing everything in his power not to instinctively reach for Raimeiki. They were in enemy territory now. True to Krul’s word, they weren’t trying to attack them. Now, Kureto needed to think of their plan. Where they went from here. Kureto needed to seize control of the Imperial Demon Army back. If his father was still alive, they would need to get him out of the equation. A full coup de ta.
His mission to get Shouto to Guren was a moderate success. His role had been played almost perfectly, but it was only because Guren had been captured. Tenri had been too distracted at the time. The only reason this had been a success the way it had been was because of that.
And that was a sickening thought.
Kureto was brought out of his thoughts as he heard Guren say, “Shouto.” The Omega turned to face them, holding his hand out, “Stay by me.” Shouto looked up to Kureto for a second before he was rushing off to where Guren was. He had reached out and taken the Omega’s hand, following after him as Guren started to walk right passed the guards. Guren had quickly been joined by Yuu and Mika. Who had fallen in step right behind him. The guards were eyeing them. Not attacking them, but it was clear that they were nervous at the sight of them. Guren had stopped at the door, turning to look back at them, “Well, let’s go.”
Kureto was the first to walk forward. They would figure this out. They just needed to get through this first.
As they walked, it was pretty clear that Guren was taking them the shortest possible route. Avoiding going into the depths of Sanguinem. The place was huge underground. Kureto was actually in awe of the place. It felt so old and historic as they walked. The others were staying quiet as they walked.
“Hey, Momma.” Shouto finally cut through the silence. While Guren didn’t answer, he did hum to notify the boy that he had been listening to him. “Where are we going?”
“My mansion.” Guren stated.
“You live in a mansion?!” Shouto exclaimed.
Guren finally turned his scarlet gaze down towards the boy and nodded with a slight smile. “It’s rather boring.” Guren looked back ahead of them, humming softly for a second. Just humming a random tune at first. “All the Nobles have mansions. Well, the ones who live here in Sanguinem. I live right by Queen Krul.”
“Because she’s your sire?” The little boy further questioned, the curiosity coming to his face as he practically hopped alongside Guren.
Guren looked back to him and nodded again. “It was better to be close to her.” Guren made a face for a second as Kureto caught his glance again. It wasn’t the first time in their walk that Guren had looked right at him and then avoided looking at him. “For reasons.”
They had fallen back in silence for the rest of the walk until they came up to a rather large mansion. It wasn’t the only one. There was one not far from it. Which, he would guess belonged to Krul. As they got to the door, Guren turned to look at the two teenage boys. “Show them around. We have plenty of rooms. Let them pick out whatever.” He made a noise, waving his hand, “I don’t give a shit what they do. Just don’t destroy my house.”
“Of course, Lord Guren.” Mika stated.
“What have I told you about calling me that?” Guren said to the blonde vampire, giving the slight quirk of a smirk.
Mika hummed, looking to them. He was standoffish to them. Yuu was more warm to them. Giving him a smile as he nudged his head, “C’mon.”
Guren had walked in first, pushing open the door as he dropped Shouto’s hand. “I’m going to take a shower.” The Omega said simply before he was disappearing towards the large set of stairs that they were greeted with. Kureto didn’t take his eyes off of him as he watched him go up the steps.
“Well, he’s back to being cold.” Yuu sighed, stretching his arms above his head before clasping his hands behind it.
“What do you expect, Yuu?” Mika questioned, “That vile human.” With that, Mika had turned and walked away. “He’ll be a while.”
Yuu smiled at them, motioning his hand now, “I can show you all the best rooms. Stupid Guren has plenty of them.” His gaze then fell on Shouto as his grin got a bit bigger, “I think we have some kid stuff still. I don’t know. I’ll ask Guren later.”
Shouto eyed the teenage boy for a second before muttering, “I’m okay. I just want to see Momma.”
“Let him take his shower and he’ll come back and see you.” Yuu replied, giving that same smile again, “For now, let’s have some fun. This place is huge.”
Kureto sighed as he let his gaze turn to the stairs. As the others were being guided away, Kureto looked back at them for a moment before deciding to follow after the Omega.
He didn’t want to leave him alone.
Not this time.
So much bloodshed. The ground was stained red. Seven corpses laid on the ground. Prone and show clear signs that they had been dead for a few days. Mahiru walked between them, a smile playing on her face as the absolute carnage that she was seeing.
Her nose twitched. She could smell vampire blood mixed in. Guren was definitely injured in this fight. She kneeled down, sliding her fingers through the blood as she lifted up her fingers. Sweet and intoxicating. This belonged to Guren. Her sweet Guren. It was going straight to her head as she let her eyes flutter shut. Remembering the moment that she had bitten Guren when he was still human. This smelled even more exhilarating than that.
“Momma was here.” Mizuki murmured as she walked through the blood path. Her amber eyes moved around, looking around for a moment. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. It was beautiful. The little girl didn’t even bat an eye as she looked down at the dead body in front of her. Instead, she stepped onto it, kneeling down as she looked at it in curiosity. Mahiru could care less about these men. They hurt Guren. They had it coming. Mizuki had reached out, small fingers moving over the slashed throat. “Momma was hurt.”
Mahiru stood up, humming as she merely kicked the body that she was standing beside away. “Ignore these vermin, Mizuki. They aren’t who we are looking for.”
Mizuki had listened, moving towards where Mahiru had started to walk off. She had fallen in step beside her, turning her gaze up to her. “Do you think Momma will like me?”
Mahiru smiled, reaching out her hand for Mizuki to take. The little girl did so, curling her hand over hers. “Of course, he will, Mizuki.” She turned her gaze down towards Mizuki, smiling a bit more, “We’ll save Momma and bring him home.”
Mizuki nodded. “Save Momma.”
“We just have to find him first.” Mahiru replied, “And you can reunite with Momma.”
Guren stood in his bathroom, taking the shirt off that he had been wearing. He was still wearing Crowley’s clothes. He had decided it was a better thought to wait until he had the opportunity to actually clean up before putting on his own. He’d have Crowley’s cleaned before giving them back. Hell, if Crowley even wanted them back to begin with. Guren looked at himself in the full length mirror.
He felt almost zoned out as his gaze fell on his stomach. Perfectly flat. His body should be frozen. He had completed the transformation. Krul said it was possible. Which meant it was a possibly. He hated the thought. Would he hate the thought so much if it hadn’t been for falling victim to Tenri again?
He just felt numb to the entire thing. He refused to let Tenri win, but what could he do if he didn’t know anything?
He already had his shower going. It would decontaminate any curses that might have been left on him. He didn’t need to go to the common area for it. All the Nobles had their own right in their own homes. Guren didn’t like the thought of being completely naked in front of others anyway. No one would bat an eye in his direction, but he just didn’t want too.
Guren dropped the shirt down, undoing the belt that they had put on him to keep the pants on. Crowley was larger than he was. His hips were much slimmer despite that Omega curve to them. He was still rather lean compared to Crowley’s larger size. He dropped the belt down, going for the pants next. Now, they were hanging off of his hips more. He didn’t have anything on underneath, so it was showing the skin off more than he would like. It’s not that it mattered. It was just him in here.
Guren’s nose twitched as he caught the smell of approaching blood. He turned his attention towards his bedroom. The Omega walked out of his bathroom, going for his door. The closer he got, the better that he caught Kureto’s scent. He could smell his natural scent a bit more than his blood now. Guren paused as he got to the door. Grabbing ahold of the knob for a moment before finally deciding to open it. As he swung open the door, he was greeted with the sight of Kureto’s hand raised up to knock.
“Guren.” Kureto sounded almost shocked for a second before he laughed softly, “Right… vampire nose.”
“Mhm.” Guren hummed as he took a step back and nudged his head, motioning for the Alpha to step in. “Shouldn’t you be with the others?”
“Probably.” Kureto stated, “But I would rather see you.”
Guren felt the slight smile come to his face as the Alpha closed the door for him. “I’m okay, Kureto.”
“I could beg to differ.” Kureto mused as he looked around the room. His eyes fell on the bed, and he turned his gaze to Guren again with a slight amused smile. “You actually have a bed?”
“Vampires can sleep, Kureto.” Guren stated as he moved by him to head back into the bathroom. “Besides, it’s comfortable and it’s my bedroom.”
From the bathroom, he turned to look back at Kureto. The Alpha was just looking around the room. Surveying everything that Guren kept in there. “This room is very much… you.”
“Well, isn’t that self-explanatory.” Guren retorted, opening up the door to his shower. It was just Kureto. He didn’t exactly mind that the Alpha was in here. It wasn’t like Kureto hadn’t seen him naked before. If he was being honest, he was perfectly fine with Kureto seeing him.
He slipped out of the pants, discarding them over in the pile that he had made. He took a glance over his shoulder to see that the Alpha was distracted still. Guren stepped into the shower, feeling relief as he felt it quick at work. He should go through a full decontamination, but he just didn’t feel like it at the moment. He let his eyes flutter shut from the feel of the hot spray on his skin.
The Omega spent a while just standing under the water. Letting it flow over his head and face and down his body. He had the urge to scrub his skin until he had completely taken off a few layers. They had cleaned him up on the blood and presumably other substances that had been on him. It at least felt good to clean his body. It felt like something. He couldn’t get it out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes and seeing Tenri looming over him. The threat of the unknown. It was all making his mind feel like mush.
Guren kept standing there. Looking down to stare at the water swirling around the drain. Guren finally snapped himself out of it and reached for his soaps. There were some perks to being a vampire, but Guren was almost obsessed with cleanliness. Especially his body. He did scrub his skin. Scrubbing it until it had changed color. Even though he couldn’t see it, he could still feel the blood on him. Smell it. He spent a while on his thighs and stomach. Any place that he touched him at. Once he was satisfied – well as much as he could be – with his body, he had moved onto his hair. That’s when he really saw the red bleeding out. Turning the water a shade of pink as he washed the grime from his hair. He had made sure to get any spot that he knew no one else had touched. Just from the feel of his own skin, he could tell.
He washed his hair three times before he was satisfied that he had gotten everything out despite by the second time all the pink was gone from the water.
With his shower done, he turned it off, reaching out for one of his towels. He rung out his hair. Staying in the shower as he did so. He toweled off. Drying himself with the soft fabric before wrapping it around himself. Once he stepped out completely, he caught sight of Kureto again. The Alpha wasn’t looking at him. Still just gazing around his room. Guren had collected quite a bit over the last few years. It didn’t have the personal touch that his home in Shibuya had. Such as his gifts from his friends or pictures, but it was still to his liking.
He kept the towel up by holding it. It was strangely comforting having the Alpha there. He didn’t know why, but his mind was pleased with it. He walked out of the bathroom, almost awkwardly stepping around where Kureto had been standing to go to his closest. He knew that Mika and Yuu had been in here from the fact that some of his belongings were missing from their places. He’d just put them back. In his closest, he grabbed a new black button up and a pair of his white pants. For the fact that vampires drank human blood, he was surprised that all of them wore white. It felt like a twisted play on purity.
Guren went to his dresser next and grabbed out a fresh set of boxers and socks. Kureto was still diverting his gaze. Despite being in the room – and having seen him completely exposed before – he was giving him a sense of privacy. He dropped his clothes down onto his bed, turning to look over his shoulder for a second. Why did Kureto really come in here? Guren shook it off, slipping into his clothes quickly. He had slipped his arm into the sleeve of his shirt as he crossed the room again to deposit the towel into his basket.
As he was doing the buttons, he finally did completely look at Kureto. “What are you really doing here, Kureto?”
Kureto finally looked to him and for a split second Guren was sure he had seen guilt in his eyes. As quickly as it was there, it was gone again. “You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
Guren just shrugged, “Kureto, I’ve basically been alone for five years.” The Omega looked down for a second, crossing his arms over his chest. It felt good to be back in his own clothes. They fit properly. He shifted his weight, leaning back against his dresser. He could practically feel Kureto’s gaze burning into him. His throat burned for a moment. His stomach twisting the scent of Kureto’s blood reached his nose. He was able to shake it off for the time being. It was just that thirst. At least, it wasn’t as intense as before. He was being able to control that desire even more now. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“You do?” Kureto drawled out, almost testing to see what he would say.
Guren hummed in response. The Omega walked forward, stopping right in front of the Alpha as he met his eye. “None of this was ever your fault.” Guren just gave him a gentle smile whenever Kureto did look at him. With that, the Omega was starting out of the room, “I want to go see my son.”
He never thought he’d be able to say that.
His son.
As he got to the door, he stopped whenever he heard Kureto say, “I think we both are feeling something.” Guren turned his head, eyeing the Alpha as Kureto stared at the various things that Guren had in his room. “And both of them still stand.”
Guren just smiled, shaking his head as he left the room. Kureto had followed him, falling in step beside him as they made their way down the hall. Guren never thought this would happen. All of his friends, his family, being here in Sanguinem in his home. Hell, there was a lot that happened within the last week that he never thought would happen.
As they walked the halls, Guren had damn near jumped out of his skin the second that Kureto’s hand slipped into his. Guren looked to the Alpha. Kureto wasn’t looking at him. Instead, his attention was straight ahead as they headed back in the direction of the stairs that would lead to the foyer. Guren found a smile coming to his face as he moved and leaned a bit closer to the Alpha.
Shouto was in absolute awe. This place was huge. Rivaling even Tenri’s home in size. Guren was not only a vampire but apparently a Noble. Which told him everything that he needed to know. Shouto was sticking close to Shinya. He didn’t know where Kureto went, and he knew that Guren wanted to shower. Something bad happened to Guren. That’s all he knew. He had been hurt and just needed a moment to himself. Shouto could understand. He liked to be alone after things happened to him.
Shouto stepped a bit closer to Shinya, keeping ahold of his hand as they came to a stop. The blonde, Mika – which Shouto learned was a vampire who lived here – had turned to them, “The kitchen is through there. I guess you can have free reign there. Though, Lord Guren only keeps enough for Yuu.” Mika stated, “More food will arrive.” Mika was very cold. Though, towards him he wasn’t. He didn’t really get it.
Shouto could feel his stomach rumble, but he didn’t care about it in the slightest. He kept looking over his shoulder from the direction that they had came. Everyone had been assigned a room. Aside from him. He thought about asking, but he figured that he would be shown to one later. He just didn’t know. Right now, all he wanted to see was Guren.
This was really happening. Guren Ichinose. His mother. The person that he believed for so long to be dead. Because of him. That wasn’t what happened. It never was. It made him feel great. He wanted to know more. He wanted to get to know him better. Now, he felt like he had the best chance to do so.
Once they had seen everything, they were being led back down the hall and back towards the large entrance area. A foyer if he remembered what they were called correctly. They hadn’t been through much of the home yet. By the time that they got back, Shouto felt the smile pull on his face as he saw his parents descending the stairs. Guren’s scarlet eyes fell on him as he saw the gentle smile coming to the Omega’s face.
Shouto didn’t hesitate to let go of Shinya’s hand before he took off ahead of everyone else. He had wrapped his arms around Guren the second that he had gotten up to him. Guren’s temperature was cool. It wasn’t like the normal body heat of a human. That was what it was supposed to be, right? Vampires didn’t have heartbeats, so blood couldn’t circulate and warm the body. At least, that’s what he was learning. That had to be right. He wondered what Guren’s embrace would be like if he was warm. It didn’t matter if his skin was cold. Guren was warmth to him. Cloaking over him and turning on the light that was once off. Bringing the warmth that he wanted.
“Hi, Momma.” Shouto whispered.
“Hi, Shouto.” Guren said back to him in an equally soft voice.
Shouto tilted his head up, hopeful eyes locked to the Omega as he said, “So, this is home now?”
Guren kneeled down right in front of him, leaning back on his legs as that same gentle smile stayed on him. The Omega nodded. “Yeah, this is home now.”
“I don’t have to go back.” Shouto continued.
“You don’t have to go back.” Guren confirmed. The boy felt the smile break out onto his face as he felt the sting in his eyes. He told himself that he wasn’t going to cry again. That he’d stay strong. He sniffled, trying to blink away the tears and failing to do so as he reached up to wipe them away. He was stopped as he felt Guren’s thumb swiping over his face. “Don’t cry, Shouto.”
“I can’t help it.” Shouto sniffled, “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Guren said back to him.
Shouto nodded, inhaling sharply as he sucked in a deep breath. He could do this. He could be strong. This was home now. He was going to be here with Guren. He was going to have his family. Guren was his family. All Shouto could do was lean forward and wrap his arms around Guren’s neck. A smile was coming to his face.
He was home.