Flower

KXZ. Broken by love, tied by death. If the only form of peace rested in your enemy's hand, would still still hold onto it?

Hi guys :D Yes, I'm back for good! This is just another short story I intend to do for approximately 5 chapters, similar to that of Burning Lantern Bright. It won't be a highly in-depth story, but it's not PWP I can ensure you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing for all you people who have been supporting me for -gaspage- the past two/three years or so. Hence, this is a story very dedicated to you guys. KanameXZero loves forever!

I

Three years.

It took her three years to realise that she could no longer bear the pain. She could not take the loss of one, if it meant the other. In the end, she took the easiest way out. She decided to leave. From him, and the both of them. She would rather not endure the pains to be with only one.

"I know it's selfish of me, but I must do this."

Those were her final words before she walked away from him.

Could he have stopped her? Yes. Would it have changed anything? Definitely. One of such would be that she would still be alive.

He thought of her as an adult, capable of making her own decisions. He let her go, only to find that it would be forever. Even he as a pureblood, strongest of the strong, was no match for a death god.

If only he had kept her with him. If only he had exerted the usual stuborness and forced her to remain by his side as queen. If only his god-forsaken life was taken instead of her pure-hearted one. Why had another he loved have to be taken from him? Was this punishment? Had it been more amusing to watch him suffer in silence?

Damn it. Damn it all to hell. He would have made this place -this world- a living hell if it was not for the fact the women he had ever loved treasured it. All beings, the vampires and humans, held places in their hearts. The last thing he would ever want to do was to crush it. They wanted both races to co-exist mutually. He could only uphold that unspoken wish. Not as a vampire pureblood, but as Kuran Kaname.

"Kaname-sama, the car is ready."

Giving a brief glance of acknowledgement, Kaname reached out and brushed his fingers across the tombstone. They dipped whenever they slid across the carving of the epitaph.

Heart of purity
Loved by all

Cherished in memories

Never to be forgotten

Kuran Yuuki Cross

Up til the end, Yuuki was never the one to pick sides. Her heart could never truly belong to one, and even in name, she held both pasts as her own regardless of which came first. She insisted she was both a Kuran and a Cross. That was the Yuuki he loved.

"Let's go," Kaname uttered out solemly, standing from where he had been kneeling for the past fifteen minutes. Both Seiren and him began to make their way to the exit of the graveyard where the car waited.

It was ten at night - a time when most vampire rose from their sleep. Kaname had also decided to drop by as part of his weekly visit before work. Yuuki's funeral was held over two weeks ago - ample time for tears to be shed, even though he had done none of it.

Just as he stepped out of the gates, a very familiar scent drifted through the winds. An unforgetful, almost hateful scent that reminded him all Yuuki was.

Peering in the distance at a hill, Kaname narrowed his gaze in the direction of approaching footsteps. With the arrival of another person in view, Kaname watched as the person's face turned scornful as their eyes met.

However, for a brief moment, Kaname had let his eyes observe the person. If it was not because he knew that Kiryuu Ichiru was dead, he might have thought it was the younger twin. This older brother had let his hair grown out, forming a splitting image. As usual, the sealing tattoo on the left side of his neck gave it away that it was Zero. The black overcoat he wore did shield the lower half of the tattoo, though. Beside him was a long apparatus, in which Kaname identified to be a sword sheath.

Kaname had not seen Zero the moment they had parted three years ago in the school grounds. Even his presence at Yuuki's funeral was absent.

Why?

That question alone made his blood boil. Had he loved her so little that he would not even say a proper goodbye? To think that he -Kaname- was the heartless one. Surely, Cross would have informed this hunter of the unfortunate event.

Even after lilac eyes met brown ones that seem to possess a red hue, they did not blink. Zero, who would usually give his infamous death glare, simpled overlooked the gaze. He continued walking as if Kaname had not even existed. That, was a first.

The pureblood watched the man disappear in the shadows of the graveyard, since there was no form of lighting available. Once he was out of earshot, Kaname looked over at Seiren.

"I'll find my own way back. I have a score to settle," he said, voice coming out a lot rougher than intended. Without even waiting for a response, he stormed through the gates again, re-entering the graveyard for a second time.

Every step he took made his aura grow. He swore it was probably disturbing enough to wake people from their graves. However, it was something he could not control very well at that present time. Over two weeks of anger and pain was starting to hit its peak, and the hunter was a catalyst behind it.

Kaname could almost predict what would happen. The moment Zero sensed his killer intent, he would have Bloody Rose pointed in his direction. But before the boy could make a proper aim, Kaname would have him by the throat. It was not something new for them. All of the rivalry and hate, despise and resent... Now was a perfect reason to release his fury to the cause.

With the inhuman night vision, he finally found Zero where he expected him to be, back facing him. The silver hair stood out like a sore thumb, anyway. Zero had yet to turn around, maybe due to the fair distance between them that went unnoticed. Kaname did not intend to stop on his advance. He could not wait to get his claws around the other's throat. Yes, claws. His nails by then were elongated and blackened, ready to cut through flesh. They itched to pierce skin. If Kaname could see himself then, he would notice his own eyes turning bloodred even without meaning to.

"I'm sorry, Ichiru," Kaname barely heard through the wind. It was Zero's voice, albeit a whisper. The tone of it had the brunette a little startled, pausing in his steps. The usual, strong and heated tone was reduced to a dejected one. His hands by his sides twitched, as if thinking twice about spilling blood.

"To you too, Yuuki."

There was a hiss of metal. Under very limited amount of moonlight, the reflection of something shiny was directed Kaname's way for a very brief second. Narrowing his gaze, he saw Zero wielding a katana with a blue hilt. Two yellow bells were attached to the end of the hilt by red strings. They tinkled gently, but in such a quiet environment, the bells sounded like simultaneous thunderclaps.

Then, as if in slow motion, Kaname's eyes widened at the sight of Zero raising the katana in level with his shoulder single-handedly. In a fraction of a second, the pureblood could feel the blood rushing to his head in anger.

How dare he? As if her death was not enough, he came to her grave, just to destroy what was left? Had he no shame?

Just as Zero moved the sword, his actions were interrupted by a force which slammed right into his back. It felt like someone had just used a demolisher ball to ram right into him. He could hear bones snapping like twigs under the force. Thrown against Yuuki's tombstone which stood about half his height, he felt the wind being knocked out of him as the edge of the stone crushed him at the level of his abdomen. Slumped over the slab of rock, Zero started hacking out blood, choking.

It took half a second for Zero to recognise such form of power, accompanied by a sudden chill that had just made itself known. It made his blood freeze and boil at the same time, the hair on the back of his neck standing on ends. The air pressure around him started to become heavier, gravity exerted more than necessary.

Unable to keep himself supported, Zero slipped off the smooth, rounded corner of the tombstone, landing adjacent to it. His brother's weapon clattered to the ground beside him before remaining silent on soil and grass. His vision swam as his mind made futile attempts to read the words before him. The closest word to him was 'Kuran'... and speaking of Kuran... He averted his gaze to sideglance at the shadow which towered over him.

Zero could see the crimson eyes that were so red they looked like they were bleeding. The expression on Kuran's face was the darkest he had seen as of yet. Apart from his wounds, the gaze of the pureblood had him paralyzed unconsciously. It felt like a deer staring right into the eyes of a tiger.

Even then, Zero being Zero, simply glared back the best he could. He knew his own threatening gaze faltered, because Kaname's silhouette started to turn hazy. He could feel his body telling his mind to shut down merely to escape the pain. But pain was not the thing he truly wanted to flee from. It was reality.

Kaname watched as the boy put up a final front, throwing one last glare before his lilac eyes closed. Zero was not dying yet. The brunette could hear the boy's heartbeat as loudly as his own that was ringing in his ears. It was slow, but by no means at a rate that was life-threatening. As expected of Zero, to have survived one of his attacks which was delivered almost at full force. However, he was not finished.

Without a care for the other man's injuries or well-being, he knelt and grabbed the silver locks behind Zero's head. Blood was trailing down both corner of his lips. The more he stared at the blood, the more his chest started to ache. It was not alike the sensation of pain, but more like an urge. His own heart started to race. Back then, he had a brief taste of what Zero's blood was like on the day he forced the hunter to take his blood. By no means was it unusually delicious, but it had not been disgusting especially since it ran with hate. It had been forever that he wanted to rip the neck open again.

Tilting Zero's head back, Kaname nuzzled the collar of the coat away, taking in his scent. Even if he had not wanted to, breathing in the other's smell was unavoidable at such close contact. For some reason though, Zero's scent mixed with blood was driving his senses wild. He blamed it on the fact that he had not consumed the essence of life for an abnormally long amount of time. He had not even depended on the successfully manufactured blood tablets. And here, laying before him was the satisfaction he could obtain. Zero was presented in a mnner that was simply unresistable.

Long fangs brushed against his lower lip as he opened his mouth. Kaname could tell they were eager to bite down. They tingled and itched, and the only way he knew how to get rid of such annoying sensation was to repeatedly thrust them through a medium, namely skin and flesh. His tongue extened out, licking the side of the neck that had not borne the tattoo. He could taste a tinge of salty sweat despite it being winter, but it was not nasty at all.

Licking as if to clean, Kaname worked on the skin slowly, savouring it as his prey would not be running anywhere anytime soon. The one thing he was hoping for at that point in time was Zero to be awake – what a sight it would have been to see the hunter's face as he bit and drank him dry.

Giving one last lick, Kaname extended his jaw to the fullest, letting out an almost snake-like hiss as his plunged both fangs into the delicate neck. Zero showed no response, clearly out like a candle flame. Clamping his mouth over the neck, Kaname felt the liquid collect in his mouth quickly. He drank without remorse. Zero deserved this. He tried to ruin Yuuki even in her death bed. It was more than he could take, and tolerance was out of the question.

Drinking in deep, rapid gulps, Kaname could hear Zero's heartbeat start to waver. However, he could not care less. Zero's blood was only beginning to sate him. He wanted -needed- so much more...

A soft clattering noise caught Kaname's attention and he glanced up from he was, fangs never leaving the neck. His bloodred eyes widened at the sight of a small crystal case. It had rolled out of Zero's other hand, knocking against the stone slab before coming to a halt. Eyes fixated on the bottle's content, Kaname felt his heart stop when he found himself staring at a rose bud suspended in colorless resin.

It was the present he had given Yuuki after one of the summer breaks back when they were still in Cross Academy. What had the pureblood feeling even more troubled was the bottle rocking very minutely right under Yuuki's name. His blood turned to ice.

Why was Kiryuu holding onto this? How did he get it?

The very first thing which came to Kaname's mind was that Zero was involved in Yuuki's death. There were only three things which could kill a pureblood: a strong vampire, a powerful hunter, or suicide. The last option was out of the equation, which left the first two. By no means was Zero weak – he knew what the boy was capable of. What had him gritting his teeth in anger was Zero's vow before he parted with Yuuki.

"I will hunt you down and kill you."

Those were the words repeating in his head dreadfully. Had Zero lost his mind to kill the person he loved, and had ever only loved him? This was preposterous. It was unforgivable, no matter what the reason was. Killing a pureblood was a crime of all crimes, and by law it was acceptable to kill the murderer upon sight.

Black talons raised, Kaname pulled back with his teeth tightly clenched. His eyes were raging crimson like a wildfire ablaze, while his heart turned to ice, frozen to any form of remorse and pity. Nails aligned side-by-side to form the end similar to that of a sword, Kaname brought his hand down, aiming straight for Zero's heart.

"Kana... sorry..."

The brunette's hand immediately froze. The sharp tip of his longest nail had already broken through Zero's shirt and skin, causing blood to swell under it.

It sounded as if Kiryuu had just mentioned his name. It was unlikely though, since there was not a chance that the hunter would address him by his name, be it out of intimacy or resent. And the way Zero's tone had just sincerely apologised made his heart waver.

His inner demon started to rage war with his mind, telling him to just rip the heart out while it still beats. That there was no reason to let this murderer live as a life for a life. Still, his hand was hesitant. His mind and body were working in two very seperate directions, and his heart was the last to make a decision. To kill or not to kill. It would not be killing such a talented hunter that he might regret. It was the truth behind Yuuki's death that no one knew of.

His hand retreated, the black talons shrinking and fading to a normal color. He picked Zero up, albeit roughly, throwing the boy over his shoulder like a potato sack. Before he stood up, he retrieved the resin rose, glancing to the other side where the katana laid. It was a hassle to carry the sword back, but he did so anyway. It was an important momento, afterall.

PS. Yes, my avatar is a cosplay between a friend and I. I being Kaname.