Chapter 3: Destiny and Wishes

Subaru walked down the massive corridors of the castle solemnly. For a while now he had been in denial, sure that his Mother would live for another few hundred years before he would need to think about taking her place as Parent of all Vampires. Despite her cold and proper behaviour, he knew she cared for him, and saw him as more than just an heir, and Subaru loved her with all her heart too. The thought of her death made his heart clench painfully. But he knew…he knew that he couldn't just voice out his pain. He had to be strong for the sake of His People…Race, and for the sake of both Hokuto and Kamui. He knew they worried for him, and knew they cared about him more than anything else in this world. Subaru wanted to tell them they need not be so, and that he could protect himself. Somehow though, he knew they wouldn't listen.

However, when he saw Kamui near the Castle Entrance, his Vampire claws protruding and his eyes turning Vampiric, seemingly about to attack one of the guards who already looked injured and Hokuto begging him to stop, Subaru ran towards him.

"Kamui! What are you doing?!"

Kamui, having heard his precious brother call him, relaxed his fighting position slightly, but didn't bother to turn towards Subaru.

"Subaru, these Barbarians need to understand that it is imperative for them to carry out their duties properly as guards of the Castle. If they can't even do a simple task of protecting the gates, and make sure NO threats could even come close to you, then they are not worthy of the position at all!" Kamui said, his voice calm and yet the threat was real.

Hokuto held onto Kamui's shoulders "Kamui calm down! They had done nothing wrong!" Of course Kamui didn't listen, his eyes fixed on his E who were all currently kneeling in front of him with their heads bowed as if agreeing with Kamui and ready to accept whatever punishment that would come to them.

Subaru reached out for his brother, placing his small hand on his cheek causing crazed, Vampiric eyes to turn towards a kind, and gentle gaze. Subaru had a small, affectionate smile on his face, one that unfailingly melts anyone's hearts should they see it. It worked with Kamui, his eyes turning back to normal and his claws retracting.

"Please wait, Kamui," Subaru said, his gaze then turned to the guards who finally looked up at Subaru in awe and admiration. They rarely saw the beautiful prince up close, and he truly was a sight to behold. And they couldn't believe this beautiful creature had saved them.

"What had happened?" the beautiful prince inquired upon seeing their wounds. It was Hokuto who answered.

"Apparently some guys attacked them near the Castle gates."

Subaru frowned, bending down to inspect their wounds carefully. They were in bad shape. Their faces were covered with bruises and dried blood, their clothes shredded at places to reveal deep gashes, and all of them clutched their abdomen only indicating that each of them might have a broken rib or two. "Hokuto-chan, please bring them to the human infirmary. They look badly wounded, and they need to be attended to immediately."

"Your highness, there is no need…," one of the guards began, only to be stopped by Kamui, "SUBARU! They had failed their duties to protect the castle! They hadn't managed to stop whoever that tried to enter, and now they might be somewhere at the Sakura fields waiting to attack you!"

Subaru stared at Kamui…so you knew about the tournament…when Kamui heard his thoughts, his head bowed slightly in shame.

Yes, I knew you were to be assigned a personal guard but that is besides the point…

"Kamui…they had tried to protect the castle to the best of their abilities. They had done their duties perfectly well," Subaru said, earning another gaze of admiration from the wounded guards. The young prince nevertheless, felt betrayed that his brother had not informed him earlier of Mother's plans.

"Yes, but-OW!" It was then that Hokuto cut in, pinching Kamui's ear.

"Kamui! Listen to Subaru, he'll be our Father soon afterall!" Hokuto exclaimed loudly, close to his ear that she was still currently pinching. "Besides, we're wasting time! Subaru needs to prepare himself to attend this tournament thing that would ensure him the personal bodyguard so to make sure no one could hurt our precious little brother," Hokuto had made the words 'personal body guard' sound as sensuous as she could. Subaru felt like sighing…so she knew too…

"BUT HE MIGHT BE IN DANGER IF HE GOES-OWWW HOKUTO-CHAN LET GO OF MY EAR!" Hokuto did so only when she saw the look of betrayal on Subaru's face. She walked over to him to hug that brother of hers who looked so much like her…

"I'm sorry for not telling you Subaru…you know I don't like keeping secrets from you."

Subaru let his head rest on her shoulder as her hug tightened, "I know Hokuto-chan." She let go of him only to give Kamui a very stern gaze.

"If you want to protect Subaru, you better calm down and think straight instead of constantly going into blind rages! How are you going to protect Subaru if you are too busy locked up in the castle slicing these guards up to bits, leaving him to fend for himself should anyone really attack him at the Sakura fields later?"

The guards simultaneously shivered, knowing full well that prince Kamui would have done it, and with great ease as well.

"Besides, we need their minds to be able to identify who had attacked them and we can't have that if you kill them, right Kamui?"

Kamui opened his mouth to reply but upon realizing that Hokuto was right, he looked away ashamed of himself. However, Subaru felt guilty at the idea of intruding their minds to get a mental picture of a few attackers…

"Hokuto-chan please let them rest first, we can do THAT later. For now their wounds need attending to and-"

"Your highness it would be our honour to be of service to the royal family," one of the guards said while the others bowed in agreement. "Please, we offer our minds to you …"

They bowed obediently, and then slowly, mindful of their wounds kneeled down on the floor again ready to have their minds open to the royal vampires.

Before anyone could say anything, Kamui stepped forward and inspected their memories himself. Pictures flashed before him, as it did with Subaru and Hokuto as well. Their minds were connected afterall, and what Kamui saw, they saw as well.

Two men who wore foreign clothing came on their horses, had inquired about the tournament, the guards began to fight them only to be defeated minutes later. Subaru…he…caught a glimpse of one of the attackers' face. Golden eyes seemed to look straight at him. He noticed the man wore a friendly smile on his face, and he had strong broad, strong shoulders…and he…

Subaru blushed as the images ceased, even if he had no idea why. Something about that man…his intense golden eyes …Hokuto blinked as she felt something from Subaru…something different…

"So…they think they can win that tournament? We will see about that! I will NEVER let them get near Subaru!" Kamui spat.

Hokuto continued to look at Subaru suspiciously when suddenly her face turned back to her normal cheerful self. "Hmmm…it's too bad we didn't really get to see the face of the taller one…but I've got to admit the one we did see was pretty good looking, right Subaru?!" Hokuto said, nudging her brother. Subaru's blush only increased 10 folds. Kamui being too angry and hell-bent on killing the attackers had completely ignored the scene.

"And what pretty golden eyes he had!" she continued to gush, much to her brother's embarrassment.

"Ho-ho-hokuto-chan! You need to bring these guards to the infirmary now!" Subaru spluttered, his green eyes as large as saucers. Hokuto laughed that shrill, high pitch laugh she's so used to doing these days but did as she was told. The guards looked tired, as if they had just went through a vigorous exercise a few minutes ago. But it was always liked that when memories were literally picked apart from the human mind. It was different than just reading their memories…reading them required no real effort, but to get every bit of details, details that normal humans would tend to forget, took a lot of effort for the human brain as every corner of their memories were inspected. Subaru knew all of that and felt so horrendous they had to go through that all the time.

Kamui let Hokuto and the guards go, knowing quite well that his sister would continue to lecture him about losing his temper if she stayed longer. His gaze fell upon his brother again and slowly he placed both his hands on Subaru's shoulders.

"Don't worry Subaru, no one will harm you, I WILL make sure of that." Kamui swore, his hands curled into fists. "I will enter the tournament myself and…"

"Kamui, no! It's too dangerous, you could get hurt and…"

"You need not worry brother…I will protect you even if I have to give my own life to do so…"

"Kamui…"

xXx

Hokuto gazed distractedly at the guards as the nurses (they too were humans, only allowed to stay within the castle for their usefulness, should any of the guards get wounded in service) attended to their wounds. Her mind went to her brother…she hadn't missed the…interest…Subaru had shown towards images presented to them. The attacker they had seen…she's convinced that he's dangerous. Not only had he managed to take down the guards within seconds, but she saw how…emotionless he had looked like while he did it. Oh, he had a smile on him throughout the entire time but his eyes gave away to his true feelings. He hadn't cared, he wouldn't have cared if he ended up killing those guards.

And yet, her baby brother had shown an interest in that…psychopath.

She felt it…even if it was fleeting, something inside Subaru in that moment yearned for that man. She…she knew this was supposed to be a bad thing, but…but she couldn't help but be hopeful.

Throughout her time with Subaru, her baby brother had never once placed his needs before others. He will always try his best to please others, and have so little regard for himself. It hurt…seeing him not care about himself at all.

She Wished more than anything in the world for Subaru to fight for his Wishes. To tell Mother that he didn't WANT to be heir to her throne, that all he wanted was to live being surrounded with animals…

Secretly, she hoped that…if the attacker survived to the Tournament…and Kamui…he would be Special to Subaru. Someone that Subaru would fight for…someone to live for.

She knew what she Wished for was insane…to leave her precious brother at the hands of someone so dangerous…and yet, as she remembered her brother's blush at seeing images of the man, and feeling the longing in her brother's soul…she knew Destiny would bring him down this path whether she Wished for it or not…

xXx

Fuma gazed upon the majestic castle, feeling pleased with himself. He had drank a cloaking potion before the trip, one that would ensure his identity would not be known even in memories, knowing quite well of the vampires' abilities to capture images from another's mind. He figured he should let his brother have this one all to himself.

Quietly he drank some sake, remembering a friend of his who shares his love for sake.

"From the looks of it, your brother seems like a pain. I'm glad I don't have to deal with him…yet…but I fear Destiny will bring him to my shop soon…," she had said enigmatically.

"Oh, and why is that?" Fuma had asked back then. The woman, who was quite beautiful, stared at the skies for a long time. It seems that she wasn't going to reply, but then she took another sip of her sake, her gaze finally meeting his.

"I once met an Onmyouji who had such a stubborn Wish. It was a Wish that I couldn't grant."

"Oh?"

"He Wished to be killed by the one he loved the most."

"And let me guess, you weren't the one he was referring to?" Fuma inquired playfully. He had no idea why she was telling him this but he knew whatever she said had a meaning behind it.

"He, too, had been convinced he couldn't love. But once he did, he was convinced he couldn't be loved."

At that, Fuma looked at her with a serious expression on his face that was usually so cheerful.

"Happiness is different for different people just as Wishes are. If only he had understood that happiness for him meant despair to the one he loved the most."

Fuuma set the sake aside, as a large portal seem to open and engulf him. He had another 'item' he needed to retrieve for that friend of his. He looked at the castle one more time, knowing quite well that Destiny as his friend had put it, was about to unfold itself.