Vampire Knight: Genesis » Places

         

The mark on his little half-sister’s neck had been obvious to see, and unless Takahiro had done it for some reason, which he surely wouldn’t, then the snowflake shape could only indicate that for whatever reason, Naoya had finally taken it upon himself to do what Goro had wanted him to do in the first place. It had always only been a matter of time, but the danger to her life could not have been better-placed. He did not doubt that it had spurred the protective instincts of their eldest sibling, and so this move in the game belonged, by whatever combination of luck and strategy, to Goro. That interfering seer would have a hard time overcoming this obstacle.

The second of Ichirou’s sons knew far more about Aram and Ayla than he let on. The woman, he didn’t care about much one way or another. She was violent, and direct confrontation with her was to be avoided if possible, but he did not fear her. Violent people, he was quite accustomed to dealing with. Aram, on the other hand, actually scared him, just a bit, though this was something he would never go so far as to admit. Perhaps other would find him strange for fearing such a mild-mannered man, but others were ignorant fools, one and all. Goro knew better than any of them what those two people were capable of. Better even than Reiko, with all of her blood-knowledge from their father.

The silver-haired vampire frowned at the thought of the girl. Why their father had favored such a useless chit, he would never understand. He blamed sentiment, and the most piteous of emotions. He had cherished the creature, and she had adored him in return. It was still vaguely unsettling to him that even a man as great as his father had fallen victim to such tender emotion, the emotion of a weak mind. But then, he’d had a history of it, changing and wedding that hunter. Better to have bedded her and had done with it. Instead, he’d produced two perfectly odious offspring, the better to trouble all of the plans that Goro had been making since his youth. His intellect far outstripped those of his brothers—this was simply a fact. And it hadn’t just come to him; he’d been nurturing it since his childhood.

Writing the characters for his name at the bottom of yet another document, he did not bother glancing up at the servants who appeared to cart away the desiccated corpse of his last meal. Some of his brothers preferred to kill away from the estate, but if one was discreet enough in acquiring the food sources, they could really be consumed anywhere. Still—perhaps he should consider acquiring himself a wife. Humans were unclean by comparison, and he did not like overmuch the futile struggles they put up. Their taste was subpar as well. Shaking his head faintly, he went back to his paperwork.

It left a bad taste in his mouth, to actually have to talk to his brother. Naoya was not a very patient man, nor was he prone to the best of moods when around his siblings. None of his brothers were particularly fond of him, just as he was not fond of any of them, Goro especially.

But, with the recent turn of events, there were perhaps, some things that needed saying. And so, he found himself at his brother's door. He did not knock, nor bow, or even give any sign that he was entering. He never did, as he had little to no respect for the man at the desk in front of him, and therefore he saw no reason to put up any sort of a farce. He never had before, so why start now?

So he stood, the haori hanging loosely around his torso as he crossed his arms, crimson eyes lighting on his silver-haired younger brother. "Goro."

The lack of respect really went both ways. While Goro recognized that Naoya was the older brother and therefore the rightful inheritor of their father’s estate, he had no personal regard for the man at all. And why should he? Naoya was a fool, too interested in his own hedonistic pleasure to think about anything else. Such shortsightedness ill-became one of their line, but of course a fool of such a stripe would not care about that either. He didn’t look up from what he was doing when he was addressed, merely moved the paper he’d just signed to a pile of them that were already done. Then he took the next one off the stack and glanced it over—it wasn’t like splitting his attention in this way was at all taxing on his mental reserves.

“Naoya. It is rare that you seek me out.” It was rare that he sought out anyone who wasn’t one of the harlots he slept with, or one of the other women he desired to. Their eldest was not known for keeping male company, really. This was neither here nor there was far as Goro was concerned—his brother’s personal life was of the utmost irrelevance. “I take it you are not here to inform me that you’ve Marked her, as that was rather obvious to anyone with eyes.” He left the actual question unasked, however, affixing his signature to the next document after satisfying himself of its accuracy.

Naoya bared the very edge of a fang. Of all of his brothers, Goro got underneath his skin like no one else could, and even he couldn't understand exactly why. There was simply something about him that he could not stand, and he didn't try to. "You assume correctly. But I am here to warn you."

There was a long pause where he did not speak, though the air in the room did grow considerably cooler. It was not, as some might have taken it, as a display of power, but rather merely a display of his own annoyance. He rarely ever tried to intimidate others; that came, for the most part naturally, and towards his brothers there was such a lack of repect and indifference that he felt no need to intimidate them.

"I will not allow harm to come to her, least of all from you."

Goro sighed through his nose, blinking lazily up at his brother in the manner of something reptilian. His eyes were just as silver as his hair. “This whole display is highly unnecessary, Naoya. What reason do I have to harm the creature? In Marking her, you removed her rights to inherit, and I am certainly not concerned with her beyond the obstacle she posed to the rightful dispersal of father’s holdings. Now that this matter is taken care of, she concerns me not at all.” Really, there would be no point in going out of his way to do anything to the girl—and he was not so inefficient as to waste the effort.

“So sentimental you’ve become,” he said, his tone something like dry amusement. “Really, you’re almost like him, given over to such things.” He raised a brow ever-so-slightly, well aware that Naoya did not generally take kindly to being compared to their father. Still, it was the truth, and that tended to override preference in Goro’s estimation of things. “If you’re going to threaten someone about her safety, there are wiser selections to be made, both within the family and without.” He shrugged with all the air of carelessness, though of course Goro was never truly careless. Nevertheless, he didn’t really care for the topic of the discussion, finding it somewhat useless, and so he looked back down at his work thereafter.

He did, after all, have a transfer of estate inheritance to oversee.

This time Naoya did bare teeth. It was one thing to disrespect himself, but she was another matter. Though he did not understand why it should even matter; but it did. "I do not care how you refer to me or anyone else, but she is Reiko. Not creature. If anyone deserves that title, it would be me." His tone held a bite to it that was unmistakable. He did however, give more thought to what Goro had said. Outside forces he could understand, but inside forces?

Most of his brothers were ruthless, but mindless. The only one who had enough sense to actually manipulate the world around them was sitting in front of him. "Perhaps it is, but I feel the need nonetheless. I am curious, however, what you mean by inside the family,"

Sentiment, indeed. It seemed to have infected his brother rather seriously. He was becoming blind to the reality around him. “We are all creatures, Naoya. She included.” It was not the most polite turn of phrase, but it was accurate in the sense he had meant it. He tilted his head slightly to the side, a wisp of silver falling over one shoulder, and patiently folded his hands into his sleeves. “Come now, brother. Why would I ever waste the effort to be as I am unless I had a reason?” Was he really so out-of-touch with the rest of the family? Given how little he was concerned with anyone but himself—and apparently their sister—it wasn’t really all that surprising.

“My intentions are obvious because I see no use in hiding them. There are others for whom this may not be so true. Look closer, and you might be able to discern them yourself. I, however, have no particular reason to give you any more answer than that.” He paused slightly, and something in his eyes became thoughtful. “I will, however, give you one free piece of advice: be a little more wary of the soothsayer. That one sees a future and then manipulates until it comes to be. You are not as free of that manipulation as you would like to believe you are.” Was that brotherly concern he heard in his own thoughts? No, surely not. He did not appreciate sentiment, after all.

Nao's eyes narrowed. Aram? Being a soothsayer was one thing; manipulating those around him to ensure a certain outcome was quite another. Even so, it was unlike Goro to offer advice to anyone, least of all to him. "I shall take the matter under consideration. But none of us are as removed from manipulation as we would prefer to believe." At that point, he simply turned and left.

He'd had quite enough of Goro to last him the rest of the century.