Intrigue
|…I want to do something really cruel to him.| Zero and an old vampire's unlikely, short, reluctant, silent, hostile friendship. What it takes to build up trust, and what it takes to besiege a wall of adamant stone.
main genres - friendship::angst::drama::hurt/comfort::tragedy
disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.
…0…
-the journal-
It was raining.
The streets were lined with people in flamboyant yellow coats or dark purple umbrellas in hand. However, one person in the crowd was devoid of both and had arrived on the steps of a grand three-story house, his trench coat billowing out behind him gently. He knocked on the door and was welcomed within immediately, led to another room deep within the house. The man who called him here sat in the parlor quietly, gazing at a leather bound journal of yellowed, fading paper.
Or, rather, the vampire.
"You called, Kuran?"
Kaname looked up blankly. Then, slowly, mechanically, he smiled. "Hello, Zero. Please have a seat."
Zero warily sat down, his clothes still wet from walking outside in the rain. "Yuuki?"
He dismissed the incomplete question, looking faintly uncomfortable. "Sleeping. However, I called you here to give you something."
"Parting words? A wedding invitation?" Zero asked flatly.
Kaname shook his head and gestured to the journal on the table before him. "She left this to you."
"She."
"I think you will finally understand her motives and why she couldn't stay." Kaname sighed. "Though I am somewhat apologetic that you came to knowledge of her death by gossip from the Night Class, you did not, thankfully, know of why she died."
"She was killed."
"I assume from this statement that she informed you of the truth?"
Zero scoffed. "No."
"Well, here contains it. Please, feel free to rest here in one of the guest rooms—as I doubt you would want to take the journal back in the pouring rain."
Though Zero was bitter to admit it, Kaname was right. For once, he didn't argue as he was led to the nearest guest room with a chair and desk. There he sat, without taking time to even think about the mansion he was in. He flipped open the tattered thing to the first page, when Kaname's voice floated in.
"She asked me to give it to you…before."
And then the door clicked shut.
But Zero's eyes narrowed at the only line on the first weathered page.
'I will bide my time in hell. Read this only when your hatred for me has grown to its fullest.'
This was undoubtedly her handwriting, the same slanted, curved, and messy scrawl that he should not have seen on the transfer form in the Headmaster's office. He felt as if that if he had looked up in that moment, holding the tattered journal in his hands, he would have seen her staring back down at him, eyes unfathomable and blank.
September 8th.
The first day she had transferred.
I requested for Kaname to allow me to transfer to the Day Class to study what has intrigued me. My first day in the Day Class was tedious. Humans learn so many worthless things. Who requires to be taught an appreciation for literature?
It's as many say—he absolutely detests vampires. I can see the scowl in his eyes when he dispassionately stares back at me. Also, he is prideful. When he caught me staring, he continued to hold my gaze defiantly. If anything, he looked even more hostile. My presence has disturbed him, and he has not fed for precisely seven days. He is an obstinate person, I suppose. He almost reminds me of Kaname.
Though I do not long to feed, my thirst having been satisfied a long time ago, I am still required to drink those blasted blood tablets. They taste horrible, and they simply come right back up. Zero seems to have an even worse reaction. I noticed that he couldn't seem to keep them down. I followed him into the bathroom to see for myself. He didn't notice. By the end of the day, I didn't really understand his true character. More than seventy thousand years of being alive aren't very helpful when trying to decipher someone's personality. If only I had time to build up on this skill. All I have been given is six months.
Since this is my first time writing in a journal again, I suppose I should elaborate, should the Council revoke their decision and I survive to read this when another seventy thousand years pass by.
It feels ominous, the impending, final judgment.
Perhaps it would be a lot swifter if I provoked Kiryuu into shooting me.
Zero drew in a shuddering breath and flipped to the next page perfunctorily.
Read this only when your hatred for me has grown to its fullest, he thought, remembering the words on the first page. Her handwriting emblazoned itself into his mind, the forefront of his thoughts, and he stared down at the journal. For a while, it was all he did.
Then, it came to him, and he inhaled deeply.
"Because I cannot possibly hate you more," he muttered and detested the fact that he understood why—that he understood her thoughts and motives behind a single sentence. For some reason, his heart ached, as if she had somehow, in deceased form, placed Bloody Rose against his chest, aimed at his heart, and pulled the trigger.
He swallowed bitterness and read the next date.
September 9th.
Zero was back at his own place again, the journal in hand. He had looked out the window after reading the second diary entry and found that the rain had stopped. Though he would have rather bitten off his tongue than thank Kaname for his hospitality, he acknowledged it somewhat by a simple, stiff nod.
He settled down against the couch, flipping the journal over.
It didn't even have her name on it.
He fought the urge to scowl. Why would she even request for Kaname to give something like this to him? This was far beyond his comprehension. Did she expect him to read all of this to feel forgiveness for her? Or maybe just confess her sins so she could feel a little less troubled as they chopped her head off?
No, that probably wasn't it. After all, if there even was a hell, she had already stated that there was a reservation specifically for her, and to refuse would be an insult to Hell's hospitality. Again, with that bland humor of hers.
He pressed his unoccupied hand into his face and sighed.
All of those times that she had said the most depressing things, those damn double entendres… All of those times. Maybe she never intended for him to find out until now. But he had found out exactly three days after it had happened—at Cross Academy of all places.
He recalled that memory perfectly.
"I cannot believe the Council executed her."
"Yes, exactly! Have they lost their mind? She was one of the oldest links to the ancient vampire society." The vampire sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it, huh, Nakatsu? Maybe this is their way of saying that they'll kill anyone."
Zero had been standing in the shadows all this time, and they had definitely been aware of his presence. Silently, he cocked his gun, stepped out of the shade, and said, dangerously low, "Get out of my sight."
The vampire called Nakatsu turned to Zero and snorted derisively. "Oh, and here comes her little Level E lover."
Without a word, Zero cut off the gun safety switch and stared back at the two vampires. "Before I shoot you, get the hell out of my sight," he repeated dispassionately.
"Ah, you didn't deny it! And if we don't?" the other male retorted. "You don't have her to protect you now."
"It would befit you to return to the Moon Dorms immediately," another voice interjected calmly, "as there is a lesser penalty waiting for you there." Zero tensed. Kuran Kaname. "I would not taunt Kiryuu-kun here, in case he really decides to fire at you." Kaname gave the two vampires a small smile. "It would not do to spread rumors of a deceased vampire when she is not here to defend her honor."
The two male vampires bristled, bowed at Kaname, and turned on their heels, hurrying away, almost like they had their tails between their legs.
"Kuran."
"It is extremely deplorable that you had to find out this way…" Kaname said to Zero, pressing his palm into the base of the tree. "I do not think she intended for you to find out at all, since her intention was for you to despise when she left that…rather remarkable impression on you."
"I despise her enough."
"You two had grown so close."
Though Zero wouldn't acknowledge Kaname's statement, his mind thought for himself, as if I need you to tell me that. "Don't think this changes anything between us."
"Because you have finally made one vampire friend?"
Zero gritted his teeth. "Shut up."
Kaname smiled sadly. "I hope you did not view her in a romantic light."
"No way in hell!"
"I am relieved then. In the short time that you knew her, did you care for her?"
"Why the hell do you care, Kuran? It's not like she can even pass judgment on my response, now that she's dead."
"You don't believe that. Not truly."
"I think she is very much dead."
"No, not that her state of being, Kiryuu. I mean your nonchalant, uncaring mindset. You really did care for her. Especially when you saw sides of her that you should have never seen…"
She had finally gained his trust—he had finally opened up, admitted things that he would have never admitted to any vampire, only for her to leave, and throw it all back in his face. The day that she left, the day that she told him the reason behind her transfer to the Day Class… He slammed his fist into the couch and leaned back, groaning. The last thing he wanted to do was remember that damn day.
February 18th, just four days after St. Xocolatl's Day.
"Kiryuu-kun, I hope you did not think of me as your friend."
He remained silent for a while, sensing the cold atmosphere between them. Her eyes were utterly blank, icy within a simple glimpse. Then he finally responded, "What should I have thought of you as?"
"Things should go back to the way they were. I am departing from this school to find a better beginning."
When there was no reply from him, she turned around and began to walk away, but his fingers wrapped around her wrist and yanked her back. She turned back to face him, eyes imperceptibly widened in shock. Millions of synonymous emotions to surprise flickered through her grey eyes, but she forced her eyes to lose all of it.
"Tell me why you're really leaving."
It was her turn to play the quiet game. And then, she smiled, almost desperately, crazily, as she stared straight into his eyes.
"I have accomplished my goal here. There is nothing left for me to do but leave."
"Your goal," he repeated flatly.
"The reason why I came over to the Day Class…was because of you." She chuckled to herself. "I wanted to do something…very cruel to you." Her wrist slipped out of his grasp. "The deed is done—and I must depart."
A long limousine pulled up at the gates.
Zero stood there stoically, staring after her as she walked away from him, eyes trained on her receding figure. She ducked into the car compartment and seated herself as far away from his sight as possible.
For once, he had felt some semblance of betrayal. Zero didn't think it could have been possible to feel anymore betrayed than when he thought of his childhood memories. Even when Yuuki had been revealed as a Pureblood vampire, it still didn't sting as much as when she had built up trust between them and then shattered it as easily as a glass pane.
He almost threw the journal to the other side of the room, imagining the bound thing fluttering to the ground in millions of unkempt, disorganized papers. Then he flipped it open to the page he had stopped on and rubbed his eyes.
I really do hate you…
A/N: Well, that concludes the prologue.