So your probably thinking 'What the F*ck is she thinking! Kaname and Zero for life or Yuuki and Zero for life. But I think Zero is a much more complicated character who probably gets pissed when Yuuki choose Kaname. And yes you are probably saying that HEY AUTHOR YOU DUMB OR WHAT! Zero was hostile and mean to Yuuki why would she stay and they love each other? Well readers in my life I have read many love stories and trust me when I say romance is more complicated than that SO! here is my take on the story.
A short lithe woman stood, shivering to the bone even when wearing a thick earthy brown fur jacket, recalling memories still freshly printed in her mind. She shook nervously, not being able to comprehend the future, as a taller more delicate man swiftly joined her side. His body standing intimately close, his gently fingers spread across her back, tracing invisible circles to calm her nerves. A cold breeze carded through the woman's silken rich auburn hair, reaching her lower waist, she loosened her shoulders giving a thankful smile to the male.
"Kan I'm scared…" The man simply pulled her waist and placed a careful kiss onto her forehead as if to console her. The taller man had a regal aura which matched with the woman's but his demanded respect from others, oozing hidden power and a distinguishable prim and proper posture. His icy cold hands moving upwards to massage her lower scalp. The woman's voice was light and airy with an undertone of kindness, a feature one would only find in a mother.
"I'm sure he will be nicer. If not I'll talk to him." His voice smoky in her ears making her chuckle, looking up to meet the man's eyes she saw the opulent deep cherry red orbs smile back at her while his lips twitched up.
"That's not the point of meeting him Kaname! Threatening him will not make him forgive me." Her mood now sullen with disappointment in herself she boldly wrapped her arms around the man's waist, breaking his conserved posture slightly.
"So are you guys gonna cuddle all day or are we gonna go in?" A loud voice spoke out only to receive a sharp glower, "or you guys can carry on. Yeah carry on." With nervous laugh the boy carded through his well-kept hair- they shimmered golden like the sands in the distant dunes of the Sahara. His eyes a brilliant blue like the clear Caribbean waters. By his feet where a few pieces of luggage, heavy as trucks but innocently small and deceiving.
"Aido has a point, let's go. I can't wait to meet father again!" The woman's now trembling with childish excitement, a trait Kaname loved her for, and she ran towards Aido and grabbed a two bags- trying very hard not to accidently fling the bags away amidst her eagerness- all while the two men protested with her carrying the bags.
"I'm not a kid! Right Akatsuki! Ruka?" The woman turned to the pair who were making their leisurely time to reach them. A taller man with ruffled pale citrus orange hair and steady syrupy honey eyes evaluating the situation- this was Akatsuki. Next to him was a shorter more petite woman with a small smile gracing her lips. Her beauty blessed by angels as her soft features charmed anyone. Her slightly wavy mid waist length hair was a light mahogany while her eyes glowed a delectable chocolatey brown- this was Ruka.
"A lady should not lose posture Yuuki-sama." Ruka reprimanded but a fleeting smile betrayed her advice. Yuuki would not have compared against Ruka with beauty but Yuuki's easy smiles and cheery attitude was what made everyone warm up to her.
"Let's go!" Aido groaned at the scene. "If we continue to argue we will never even place a foot into the school premises." Akatsuki's transparent honey eyes looked playfully at Aido and then their leader- Kaname Kuran.
"We seem to have an imposter. Aido just said something clever." An explosive complaint from Aido set everyone into a light chuckle- except for Yuuki who full heartedly laughed.
With all the laughs dying down the five made their way to the central building. A towering structure which would have sent tingles down everyone's spines at its juvenile age but now the chipped and dull stoney structure gave an eerie ambiance which complimented the shrivelled naked trees which had shed their leaves for autumn. A truly haunting sight.
At this time the sun dorm would be in their classes, and studiously concentrating on their professor, so the group made haste- not wanting to seen by chance from the windows- in reaching the main building and climbing some stairs overlooking the sturdy old bridge towards the Sun dormitories. Yuuki's eyes dilated as she unconsciously sieved through memories; some making her cry with happiness, some making her guilty and some made her fill with pride.
Reaching a pair of large doors Yuuki moved forward to be the one to knock. She lifted her hand ready to knock but hesitated, steeling herself for the coming events and reunions, she knocks quietly but it felt like the sound had echoed through the whole corridor- a chilling feeling washed over her.
"Come in." A tired voice replied and as she opened the door her 'father'- Kaien Cross- was looking through an avalanche of white papers haphazardly laying over his desk- a single shift in the air could have submerged the room in blinding whiteness.
"Zero Kiryuu if this is another prank I do-", the man stopped mid-sentence as he flicked his dim weary bleached yellow eyes up to his guest. Freezing up instantaneously his mouth opened and closed repeatedly in shock as his idle gears started to crank in his head.
"Yuuki?" The man tilted his head almost questioning his sanity, something with made Yuuki cringe.
"Yuuki!" He exclaimed coming to his senses. The man smiled gleefully jumping up from his seat and waving his hands and welcoming them into the room and guided them to three sofas.
"Father…" Yuuki looked guilty as her eyes shifted to Kaname who sat next to her. He was relaxed and was content in watching the reunion.
"Why didn't you give me a heads up!?" The man immediately turned on the faucets in his eyes as tears the size of waterfalls started to fall to the ground in abundance. Yuuki laughed with nostalgia, the way the chairman- Kaien Cross- reacted to her was the usual and warmth permitted through her chest allowing the bigger man to tackle her and engulf her into an enormous hug. His untidy cloudy ashen grey hair leaking out his ponytail tickled her cheeks making her chuckle out louder as she pushed him away lightly. Ruka and Akatsuki entered a quiet conversation of their own, not wanting to disturb the happenings around them, Aido however, who had settled himself on the right of Kaname and Yuuki on the left of Kaname, watched the interaction with a large grin.
"Where is Zero? My daughter is back home!" He leaped away from the hug and ran around the room, trying desperately to find his bearings. But instead of yelling into the intercom to call Zero he shrugged and mutter 'he'll come' and settled into a sofa in front of the group.
"You aren't going to call him?" Yuuki asked quietly looking at the floor almost cursing her open mouth for speaking her mind.
"Well, he should be here about this ti-", like an intricately arranged entrance the double doors of the office opened abruptly as two bodies entered and the chairman continued, "-me." The chairman threw his thumb behind him and everyone's eyes followed his gesture only to hold their breath at the sight.
One man panted heavily and the other smugly looked at the other while both pushed their palms to block the door they had just slammed open, their backs to the other beings in the room with them.
"You think he will kill us?" The voice deep and gruff as he spat out the words in the middle of his grasps. The other man turned with an over-confident smirk reigning his visage as he leaned against the door not winded like the other man. Coolly he grazed at his watch on his wrist as let out a snort.
"Darling he'll have to walk over my dead body to even breathe the same air as you." The man flirtatious winked at the other. When everyone looked at him they let in an inconspicuous lungful of heavy air. He had velvety silver hair like it had been bathed in the untouchable silvery rays of the moon. He turned with his stern amethyst eyes on the other male- it was Zero.
"Fuck you." Zero mutters under his breath, turning and leaning similarly against the door, as the others smirk widened.
"Why Zero, I thought you would never ask. Is tonight okay?" The man innocently looks, his smirk turning into a jovial grin towards Zero who bared his teeth like a ferocious lion displaying it's shelve of knives with pride.
"Bite me. When do you think Yagari will notice?" The other man tilted his watch nearer to Zero's vision to show him the time.
"Yagari will enter his room with his guest at exactly ten forty-four. We finished putting up the pictures in his room at ten twenty-two. It took us exactly six minutes and twenty-nine seconds to reach the office. We have talked for two minutes so we need to wait for twelve and a half for a reaction. And I'm never wrong am I?" Zero look up, eyes glimmering mischievously, his lips quivering with thrill coursing through his veins.
"Nope," Yuuki and everyone else- except of course the chairman- blinked rapidly trying to regain their posture. 'Did Zero just admit that guy is never wrong?! What is going on with the world?' was the general thought clogging up all the vampires brains. A feat in itself.
"Zero! What have you done now?" The chairman asked with a light scolding tone in voice, even if he had come out to be bubbling with excitement, but he couldn't hide the curiosity in his voice. Zero had opened his mouth to answer but seeing the others he lost his voice momentarily.
"I didn't know we had guests?" Everyone jolted out their trance as Zero pointed out their presence. He made his way to side beside the chairman only to have his 'friend' elegantly take his place beside him. His right leg over his left to cross protectively in front of Zero's legs. His left arm audaciously hung lazily on the head rest of the couch so the nape of Zero's neck could feel the reassuring heat from his arm eat away at Zero's worries. Only this man had heard the uneasiness in his voice when he addressed the guests.
"So Chairman, what band of idiots have you pulled together?" The mystery man questioned. Ruka let out a low growl as a warning but it seemed to have an opposite effect on the man as his clicked his tongue and widened his smirk- quite an imprudent man.
"So these are the vampires which left. Am I correct Zero?" The man had to only turn his head and move forward a few centimeters to get a face full of Zero's disheveled hair- they were sitting close. A little too close for Yuuki's liking. Zero did not turn to answer but locked eyes with Kaname and nodded to answer. Kaname looked up and down discretely to evaluate the changes to Zero. Kaname could remember how tense Zero would get with the simple utter of the word 'vampire' but here his shoulders were relaxed. His skin once an unhealthy ghostly pale now was a well porcelain ivory- like vanilla. A startling discovery was that Zero Kiryu was wearing the Night Dormitory uniform. Yuuki, Akatsuki, and Ruka could only stare but Aido was more open with his shock.
"Kiryu you're in the Night dorm?" The man screamed while pointing accusingly at the man. Zero glared, more sharply than ever before releasing a suffocating aura, Aido could only shiver slightly as stern eyes looked straight through him.
"Someone has to keep this fucker in check." Zero's voice coldly identical to the Zero from their memory as he rudely poked his finger into the chest of the man next to him, who simply pouted at the revelation. They look at the other man to see one a traitorous deep pacific blue orb and other scarlet red eye glinting with menace. His jet black hair swept back was slightly wavy while a lone strand hanging down to frame his face.
"You wound me but then again," His eyes sparking mischievously as Zero's eyes widened with gapping shock, "I have that picture of you buying that 'book'" Zero growled once again proving his bad temper has no bounds as he swung right elbow into the man's stomach. Aido was mentally rooting for Zero to land a punch after all Aido did not like the look in the man's eyes. But within the time, it takes to blink the man's left palm spreads in front of his stomach to catch the assault mid-air.
"You've become soft darling…" The man smirks liking the reaction from Zero who sneers. A sneer void of hostility.
"How have you been Zero?" Yuuki shudders at the snap of Zero's neck but gulps at his judgemental gaze.
"I've been better." Zero replies dryly not bothering to look into her eyes.
"Chairman you did not tell me we had new students in the Night class?" Kaname steered the conversation. Not giving the Chairman time to answer, Zero growled irritated.
"Maybe because some asshole left with his tail between his legs straight after the war without even giving a phone number. I had to deal with the Chairman brawling his fucking eyes out for a month straight." Zero spilled with an actual sneer marring his visage. He turned to Yuuki with a glare.
"And maybe because some girl left him without even saying goodbye to Yori. She left saying the school reminded her of you too much," Zero spat out in disgust not caring about the silent tears spilling out Yuuki's eyes, he stood and pointed his finger accusingly "and she keeps calling me every month wondering if you returned. The Chairman went into depression, not acting like his hyper fucking annoying self because the girl he raised left just because she got new memories about being a princess and shit." Profanity being spewed everywhere one heart was being shanked multiple times with a blunt knife and twisted. The Chairman shook his head and got up from the sofa towards his littered table.
"Why are you here Kuran?" Zero addressed Kaname immediately.
"Zero I think your pushing it too much. If I remember correctly you are in no place to speak like this. You're the one slumbering to a Level-E and Yuuki is the one who gave you blood." Zero smiled and it grew into a full grown laugh as he slapped his knee to try and control his laugh. Akatsuki and Ruka could only watch silently, not wanting to interfere between their leader and Zero, while Aido grimaced.
"I would rather be a Level-E than leave behind my only true family, which stood beside me in my darkest days, because my brother decided to bite me." The man next to Zero shot his hand put and clasped Zero's wrist harshly. A low hiss 'Zero' forced Zero to sit down and look anywhere but at the vampires in the room.
"Mikhail take Zero away." The Chairman pleaded as the man- Mikhail- who had Zero's wrist trapped in his hand stood and dragged Zero behind him to leave.
"No, she expects us to open our arms like we don't have fucking feelings so she can sit on our heads and she will act like she is the victim and cry like a fucking five-year-old." Mikhail pulled harder and got Zero away only for everyone to raise eyebrows at the sudden racket outside the office. There was a slamming of the door, shuffle of feet, a painful stifle of a growl and a loud painful crash.
"Mikhail what the fu-" Then the hall went pin-drop silent. Sniffles from Yuuki attracted everyone as Kaname placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Aido muttered only for the Chairman to sigh.
"Sounen, Kain please that a seat. This might take a while." Ruka sat next to Akatsuki on the sofa where Mikhail and Zero once sat.
"When you left something happened to Zero- after about two months. He would disappear for days and then returns without a word. He asks for money from his account but when I ask why he wants it he just leaves. Once he had returned and I searched his clothes and found a train ticket. He had gone home where his parents were murdered." Yuuki shuddered.
"He remembers where it was?"
"I can only guess that because you were here he did not leave but when you left him he immediately banded together the things in the house. On one occasion he found his father's journal where there was an entry for Zero and Ichiru specifically."
"Does he still have the journal?" Kaname prodded.
"No, he burnt it." Yuuki looked up in horror. Zero burned something which reminded him of his family? Impossible.
"Why?" Kaname asked seeing as Yuuki had gone into shock. The Chairman's usual merry visage turned grim as he thought back.
"He said something about 'the horrors of humanity' apparently he had an address and that is when I knew he wasn't going to return until a long time," the Chairman scratched his forehead thinking back, "he asked me for money but I tried to make him reconsider and take Yagari with him but he left before Yagari came back from a mission. It had been a year and a half and suddenly he came back. His demeanor calmer than ever before."
"And that man? Mikhail?" Kaname not wanting to leave any stone unturned.
"Zero said he met someone on his journey and was wondering if the man could stay with him. And just like that Zero had taken up a job and brought in money for the school. No matter how much I told Zero I was getting money from Kuran and other families he renovated every classroom and upgraded the Sun dormitory to house more students and now pays the salary for new teachers which teach the Night and Day classes. Where he got these contacts I have no idea. Mikhail and Zero both don't stay for classes much even if they are students." Yuuki breathed out a sigh of relief thinking that nothing bad had happened to Zero.
"I'm guessing you forced him to enter the Night class?" The Chairman chuckled to Kaname's surprise- not that the man showed it as he wore his mask of indifference.
"No, he came to me one day and asked to be transferred to the Night class. The Day class were quite 'distort' but one glare of Zero shut them up. Mikhail is also in the Night class but since he isn't officially registered he doesn't wear the uniform. But he does attend some of the classes."
"But how does Zero know him?" Yuuki couldn't help but ask again.
"I don't know." The Chairman huffed in fatigue. "Why don't you ask him? He'll warm up to you like he Night class has. He takes his Guardian duties seriously and has been guarding the remaining Night class while you were gone and has earned some respect. Just ask him nicely and don't push him, okay?" Yuuki nodded.
"We better get going and get some rest before classes tonight," Akatsuki concluded the meeting. Ruka raising a delicate eyebrow wondered 'Zero? Respected? This I have to see.'
"Kaname-sama at your order…" Kaname nodded and the group bid their farewell to the Chairman who engulfed Yuuki into a warming hug before letting her go.
The group was quiet on their way to the Night dormitories with a lot on their mind but Aido was the one who broke the silence.
"That was weird…" Yuuki agreed with a nod.
"If any of you see Takuma before me send him to my room." As the group reached the clearing in front of the dorm they all stiffened quickly when a loud gunshot echoed through the forest around them.
"Zero!" It was Yagari with his shotgun pointing frantically around seeing that he lost sight of his target.
"Toga are you meant to wave around a gun?" The man sneered in Kaname's direction while pointing the gun at him.
"When someone swaps all the papers in your file with pornography then yes." Behind him, Zero sprinted out the shrubbery while sporting an animalistic grin.
"God help you Zero because I'm going to dash out your brain." Yagari pointed the guns towards Zero's head who froze with his hands up in surrender.
"It wasn't my idea…" Zero pathetically answered but Yagari simply walked to him and nudged the tip of the gun to the back of Zero's head.
"I don't care but if you're here then Mikhail must be close." Yagari sneered lightly but a chuckle through everyone off as Yagari asked what was so funny Zero replied with a ghostly smile playing at his lips.
"You shouldn't turn your back to the enemy Yagari-sempai…" With the sentence finished a swift kick to his back made Yagari fall down in an unconscious heap.
"He went out quickly…" Zero turned and threw the anti-vampire gun into the forest with ease. Not caring but the burns he now donned on his hands.
"Well he was probably just alive because his guest probably gave him a piece of her mind." Mikhail stood hands to his chest and slight crouched from having just kicked the man- a defensive position. Easing out the stature Mikhail nudged the fallen man with his shoe. "Just imagine wanting to discuss something important with your student but when both of you open the file you see pictures of naked women and men. I think the student did quite a number on him." Zero snickered and playfully punched Mikhail's shoulder.
"That's for making me look like an idiot." Zero smiled and looked down at his teacher. "He deserves it. But what did he do wrong again?" Zero asks with puzzle.
"Uhh…" Mikhail wondered. 'They don't have a reason!' Aido snapped in his brain.
"We did it because you can't resist my charm." Wearing an over-confident smirk the man ran his fingers through his hair and winked.
"Mikhail?!" Zero growled while the other man shrugged.
"He purposely kicked you out the class because you were late. Guardian duties remember!" Mikhail answered while looking downwards so no one could read his facial expressions.
"Hey," Zero defiantly pushed his fingers against the others forehead to show Mikhail's puzzled face, "thanks." Zero whispered under his breath. Something only Mikhail should have heard but unfortunately Kaname and Yuuki barely heard. "Come on we got work to do. I heard that Camella spotted a member by the town centre today." Mikhail muttered a quick curse and walked towards the Night class dormitory.
"Suit up we're investigating." Mikhail commanded and ran into the building while Zero nodded and grabbed Yagari's leg and started to drag the man into the building.
"Where are you going Zero?" Yuuki shouted much to Zero's displeasure.
"Unlike you Yuuki I actually have a job to complete and don't have time to waste living secluded on my parent's or brother's money. My job expects me to be on the top of my game. I don't see why you should have a problem." Zero left the group in silence.
"Woah Zero didn't insult anyone. Is that the real Zero, Kaname-sama?" Aido asked Kaname.
"They smell slightly similar…" Kaname replied, not bothering to hide his curiosity from his voice. "Get me Takuma immediately. We need to talk."