"Please, Zero," The girl called out. "Please. Yuuki... She didn't do anything wrong..."
So could you spare her life? The unspoken words hung like frozen icicles.
I looked back and caught her watching me, eyes strengthened from a hope I didn't understand...and filled with such overwhelming trust. Which was worse, her trusting me, or the pureblood...I did not know.
I walked away.
Her being a vampire...is already the greatest sin.
Before the door opened, she was already standing to greet him.
"Onii-sama...Welcome home." She lightly kissed him on the lips. It was the same every time he returned. He would come and sit with her, talk with her, her legs folded across his lap and head on his shoulder, as he ran fingers through her locks. The fact was reassuring for Yuuki, and it was a moment together she always looked forward to.
He was her constant. Sometimes, when Kaname was away on his trips, she'd miss him terribly. Fears often clouded her nights, that she was relying on him too much, that he wouldn't be back soon enough to save her from the engulfing darkness, that he would not come back at all-
"Yuuki...what are you doing?" His voice calmed her frenzied thoughts. She looked up to see the corners of his mouth curling upwards.
Mind now freshly aware, her face warmed from embarrassment. Closing her eyes and sighing contently, she rested her head against his neck.
"Breathing together." Yuuki admitted softly. She heard him chuckle, and marveled at the way she could feel the sound on her forehead as he did so.
"Silly girl." The hand stroking her hair rested on her cheek. "How have you been doing, Yuuki?"
She reached up to brush her fingertips across the material of Kaname's shirt collar. "Mm...Aidou-sempai's teaching me about the history of vampires."
"Oh? So what did you learn?"
"I...fell asleep." He began to laugh, but stopped rather abruptly, as if her words reminded him of something unpleasant.
Her heart almost skipped a beat.
There were moments, little things, which frightened her more than the nightmares. The images from troubled slumber were but dreams. Kaname, however, was reality. Every crease in his brow left her frozen.
Yuuki sat up worriedly, uncertain of the look in his eyes, sad and dark. "Onii-sama...?"
"Nothing," He finally said, hesitant and averse to disappointing her. "I'm leaving in the morning, Yuuki." Her stance relaxed and she exhaled, touching her forehead to his. Fatigued yet well rested in her presence, Kaname's lids slid shut.
As she gazed at his eyelashes, his wandering hands intertwined in her hair once again.
Aidou stared very hard at the dusty gray floor when he felt her approaching presence. The pureblood princess, a prisoner, previously even handcuffed and jailed in the same cell as him.
The wonders.
She was free, now, to walk and move as she wished within the hunter's compound.
He didn't want to speak with her anymore.
Yuuki Kuran's bare knees touched the ground before him. "Aidou-senpai..." Her voice cracked.
He didn't want to look at her anymore.
He was prepared for her to leave when she rose, when warm hands cradled the back of his head. He froze, afraid that moving was offensive. Their proximity was such that the stray lock of hair between his eyes was pressed against the girl's coat.
Aidou frowned and squinted angrily, confusing emotions warring inside his body.
"...What are you doing?" He managed to say, a tone the opposite of his usual berating one.
"Nothing." She replied, and her voice was indeed silken and un-betraying.
They stayed there for a while, each listening to the other's breathing...and though he was angry with himself, her warmth gave him no reason to resist.
Before the door opened, she was already running to greet him.
"Onii-sama...Welcome home!" She obediently kissed him on the cheek. It was the same every time he returned. He would come and sit with her, talk with her, as she sat safe in his lap, her hands twiddling with his long slender fingers. The fact was reassuring for Yuuki, and it was a moment together she always looked forward to.
He was what she imagined sunlight to be; something warm and friendly, through the eyes that have never been seared by fiery rays. Sometimes, when her brother was away on his trips, she'd miss him terribly. Fears clouded her nights, and she cried often while sleeping during the day.
She pulled at a few stray strands of his hair and studied the brown tips curiously.
"Yuuki...what are you doing?" His voice was her favorite sound in the world. She looked up to see the corners of his mouth curling upwards.
The small girl reddened bashfully. She pressed both palms on either sides of his face.
"Onii-sama's hair is soft." She giggled. He chuckled softly, grabbing her hand and lightly dragging his lips across her slight knuckles.
"Hm...My princess." He observed the child before him adoringly, warmed by her blushes as much as she. "Are you hungry, Yuuki?"
She nodded, faltering to peek at his expression guiltily through her lashes. "Can I, Kaname onii-sama?"
He hummed reassuringly, tilting his head against the hand on his cheek.
Yuuki touched her mouth to his, a sign of endearment or even familial affection, but also an exchange of life energy to feed the vampire child.
Fatigued yet well rested in her presence, Kaname's lids slid shut.
Aidou was used to people informing him of his extraordinary intelligence. As he grew, however, anxiety also mounted quite heavily on his life. He was a youth, and numbered with his age were few responsibilities, but as a prodigy his days loom with heavy expectations. He felt like a fruit ripened too early.
The blonde haired, blue eyed noble was exceptionally confident in his looks, but his one insecurity, the root of doubts that drew permanent wrinkles in his brow...the most prized part of his existence, was his mind.
Though home schooled like all the other noble family children, he took almost double the amount of courses and aced classes as much advanced. He merely needed to flip through a textbook to master the coming week's worth of lessons.
Now, hiding his fears behind a playful personality, studying became a drug that alleviated his stress. Withdrawal always left him moody.
But with all these years spent pampering his brain, feeding it, nurturing it, it did not do one bit of good for controlling emotions, bloody urges, and the thirst to kill.
And right at that moment, Aidou silently berated himself for leaving the storeroom unlocked. The place was completely dark, and his eyes shone like rusted beacons of light in the blackness. He imagined splintering the frail wooden door, tracking down the Kuran, the pureblood, and wrapping his hands in a chokehold around the murderer's pale neck.
He could almost hear the bones cracking and splintering, like music to his ears...
Aidou's eyes flew open, unaware they were even closed. Even in the impenetrable darkness, his heightened sight let him see everything in full clarity.
Ice was crawling on the floor.
No, not just the floor. The crystals ran across the room, halted, travelling halfway up the door. In a moment, it shattered into a million fragments that melted into the air.
The redness faded from his irises, from purple to blue. The trembling vampire put his head in his hands.
To his horror, it didn't end.
He saw Yuuki Cross, a dancing image imprinted on the inside of his eyelids, holding Kaname Kuran's hands, smiling at him, whispering gory secrets like sweet nothings. He nearly screamed in frustration as he saw himself light the fire to their stakes, their pupils hollow and bodies entirely covered in crimson.
Even the mind that he had most treasured could not save him now.
He was trekking through a desert of his father's sandy remains, thirsty and dying only to be dropped into a bottomless bloody oasis, over and over again.
If the door had not opened right then, Aidou might have fallen into madness.
The train clattered, swaying side to side. Further down the car, the two companions could hear the faint clunking of suitcases and children fighting over seats. Their compartment was empty, and they faced each other on opposite spacious benches.
The violent raindrops sung dark melodies in their ears. They were appreciative of the distraction. It was as if their deepest suspicions had become reality, the monster of truth released, bare and nude for all to see. Neither wanted the confrontation.
So they locked gazes, and instead of looking at each other, they played blind and unseeing.
He took it, Was her feeble, soundless voice.
He dashed, and tortured, and cut it to pieces, His mind began.
I have nothing left, The girl grieved.
And I have nothing left to give... Said he, despairingly.
Someone end this horrible dream, She cried, in denial.
Someone take this hatred away, He countered, desperate.
Bring him back to my side, my brother, my Kaname...
My master and lord...
They continued in a daze unblinking, one lost in the blue sky, the other drowning in mud. For once, her face was dry and tearless. His mouth twitched like a crack in chilled porcelain.
Why do you not weep? If it is something you can only cry about in your heart, it is almost like a sin.
Why should I? Purebloods do not cry in front of others...it is something unheard of.
Inside, then. Let us drain the pus of goodwill and honesty. Let us drink the bitter iniquity in our souls.He unsaid, to the silent, oozing earth.
She agreed, mourning guiltily in the blue, blue heavens. Cheers.
A/N: The random Zero scene up there.. yeah :| idk. but it felt wrong without it, and i wanted it to express yuuki's detachment from the world during the time she was with kaname. that one scene with Aidou and the door opening is in the manga - i just wrote out what i thought happened. in the actual story it is only depicted that zero opens a door to find aidou, and that's it.
also, why romance when you can have friendship? ; u ;