Matsuri Hino © Vampire Knight

Pairing: Kaname/Zero

[ Alternate Universe ]

A Sweet Taste of Love

[ Chapter 1: Reunions ]

Life may be tough but hard work pays up.

What felt like years– which really was the case –had finally come to an end. After eight years of being away from his beloved sister, all for the sake of fulfilling a promise, finally, he could return– with flying colors, even– to his home; to her.

Putting down his book and following as the flight attendants instructed, Kaname could feel excitement running through his veins. Eight goddamn years and finally, it came down to this. He's finally going to see her again. And what makes him even more excited is the fact that he's not just going to see her, but she's also going to see him all accomplished.

Damn.

A small smile crossed his lips.

He's pretty excited.

Descending from the plane, to the ground, the brunette could not possibly get any happier. After he had collected his hand-carried baggage from the compartment on top of his seat in the aircraft, immediately, he headed off to collect his luggage then to waiting area. From there, nothing else entered his mind other than his most precious thing in the world.

His little sister, "Yuuki." he muttered.

Arriving at the waiting area, his eyes instantly scanned the crowd. Brunette, shoulder-length haired, brown eyed, reeks of chocolate...

Where could she possibly be?

As he continued looking for her, suddenly, a pair of familiar arms wrapped itself around him. Soon, everything made sense when the owner of the arms had spoken, "Big brother! Oh my god, look at you! You've become so gorgeous! Handsome! Hottie! Ohmygod! Wait, are you really my big brother though? Oh my go–"

Before she could even let go, Kaname caught her arms and untangled himself from it. With a gentle look on his face, he turned to her. Yep. There's no mistaking it. Confirming his assumptions with his own eyes, he pat her head just like how he used to when they were younger.

"Yuuki, I'm home. And as promised," he paused and pulled a certificate out of one of his hand-carries thus handed it to the female brunette.

Opening it, her eyes widened in bliss.

"You did it!" she squealed.

"Yes. I'm a pâtissier, now. A pastry chef– a professional chocolatier, actually. We can reopen father's pastry shop now." he continued and proceeded back to patting her head.

Yuuki could only launch him a hug. A bit teary-eyed, she sniffles, "I'm so happy about all of these, big brother! Ahh– oh yeah, I have some news for you too!"

Detaching herself from her brother, she stuck up her right ring finger proudly, and let her left hand rest on her waist, looking quite victorious. Grinning, she announced, "I just got engaged!"

From relieved, Kaname's mood changed dramatically. With expression darkening, jaw slightly dropping and stomach flipping, he found himself forcing a smile and going by the phrase, "I beg your pardon?"

Not feeling the intensity of the impact her news had on Kaname, but at least guessing that he would feel worried, Yuuki only pushed through with her news casually, "Don't worry! He's a good person! In fact, he's waiting for us in the car! He's such a sweetie that he wanted to drive for us today, big brother."

He could only flinch, with his smile frozen on his lips due to too much shock.

His baby girl, is getting married. He's gone for eight years and the next thing he knows... this.

Holy shit.

Well...

Riding with his future brother-in-law, he was sort of starting to get how Yuuki ended up liking him. He was nice, polite and– despite the carefree aura –was very responsible. He hadn't even known him for a day and yet he could already tell that he was a good match for his sister.

That doesn't mean he's going to stop being a big brother/father though, if you catch what he's trying to imply there.

Anyway, he was a good guy, that blondie Hanabusa Aido.

As the conversation went on, suddenly, the reopening of their passed parents' business became the subject.

"Oh yeah, Hanabusa-senpai promised to help us with the opening, big brother! He also promise that he'd still let me help and will help himself even after we get married~, cute, isn't he?" Yuuki jumped to the subject.

Aido, who was driving, supported her statement, "Indeed. And this, I promise you, Kaname-san. I will take care of your sister as you have valued your promise to her– with love, passion, seriousness and, of course, humor. I won't hurt her." he decided to work on selling himself to the family, by the way.

Yuuki laughed heartily resulting for Kaname to end up chuckling, "You better, Hanabusa-kun." there was familiarity in the tone he chose, but enough seriousness to somewhat petrify Aido for a second.

Meanwhile, Yuuki, who wasn't at all affected by Kaname's 'brotherly magic', decided to push through with the topic of her choice, "Us aside though, since the place hasn't been used for quite some time, I was thinking of asking Zero to take care of the designing and decorating. Of course we'll help too but since he moved to Fine Arts, I thought he'd be our best bet on that."

Aido agreed.

Kaname, on the other hand, couldn't help but to arch a brow at the mention of an unfamiliar name.

"Who is this Zero, you speak of?" he decided to ask.

Yuuki blinked a couple of times. Remembering that Kaname doesn't know Zero as he wasn't with them for the past eight years, she immediately gave him a short introduction, "Ahh! Well, he's one of my best friends! He used to be taking a confectionery course along with me, but somehow, after finishing the two-months study program in France, he just– he quit and moved to Fine Arts all of a sudden."

"Hmm... which reminds me, Fine Arts classes should be done by the time we get home. I'll leave him a message to drop by. It's good to start early and I want all my friends to meet big brother! Starting with Zero wouldn't probably be a bad idea, now, is it?"

Kaname nodded at this. But somehow, he still couldn't shrug of the feeling that built up in his chest.

Zero...

Why does he get the feeling of familiarity from that name?

Reaching the Kuran Residence, the trio grabbed a luggage for them to carry. Entering the house, rather than being welcomed by an empty place, they are welcomed by a silverette with lilac eyes.

"For god's sake Yuuki! How many fucking times do I have to tell you not to leave me text messages during my classes every Thursdays!?" the young stud snapped at the brunette comically.

Yuuki pouted, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Anyway, I just really needed to see you! You see, my brother just returned and– oh yeah, my brother! That's right! Big brother, c'mere for a second, I'll introduce you to Zero!"

Hearing Yuuki call upon him, Kaname parked the bag somewhere out of the way but within the vicinity, inside the perimeters of the house. Doing so, he got back to Yuuki and readied himself to be introduced to this 'Zero' only to get there and realized...

"You." he muttered upon meeting those lilac eyes, again.

There's no need for introductions as he already know him.

How can he forget after all...

The only love he had in his eight years of stay in France.

[ End of Chapter 1 ]

[ chocolatier - (I think) it's a French word and if I'm not mistaking, it pertains to a pastry chef who specializes at making confectioneries out of chocolates. ]

Author's Note: So, to start off, feel free to correct my definition if it's wrong. Anyway, I'm getting pretty indecisive lately– putting up then taking down stories a lot (twice for yesterday). I'm guessing it's probably because I'm really bored or 'The Fault in Our Stars' seriously got to me. (LOL) Anyway, sorry about that. Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Please stay in tune.

Till next time.