So this was a prompt by xSonya at my VKY Prompts Forum. Her prompt was: Zero has been wanting to kill Kaname for a long time... he could just never bring himself to pull the trigger.

Thanks to KkChibiChop for reading this over for me.

Madness

by: TheseScarletDropsofINK

There were times when Zero swore he was on the edge of madness; where he could feel the wisps of something dark creeping in around the edges of his mind and taking hold of any reasonable thought. Like at any moment, at any random draw of breath, he would suddenly snap and find himself put down like a common animal by the bullet of a friend or of a mentor. Or a guardian. They would have no body to put into the grave beside his parents; beside Ichiru. It was probably best that way. Zero had no right to lie in the ground with them for eternity. No, when Zero died he would simply vanish into the air, poisoning the world around him, but making it safer all the same.

He was okay with that.

Sort of yearned for it (for death) whenever he let his guard down and found himself drowning in the sea they called emotions. But...

"Do you intent to shoot me, Kiryu?"

...there was just one thing he needed to do before then; otherwise, he'd never find peace beyond the grave. And there was nothing stopping him. Kaname Kuran stood alone before him, even wounded and on the run as he was, he was still so fucken proud. Arrogant. Beguiling. The very look on his face pissed Zero off.

The Bloody Rose had her sights fixed on him in the moonlight- Zero's fingers a twitch away from firing. There was no one around to stop him. No big brown eyes that would plead with him on behalf of a monster who wore the mask of a kind man. Nor a lithe body that would recklessly throw itself before a big brother. There were no lackeys who moved like pawns, ready to die for someone they barely even knew.

He could pull the trigger.

No one would stop him.

The thought made him swallow against a lump in his throat, his hard eyes boring into the decimated sanity of a pompous pureblood. No one would blame him. After all, it had been his orders. Kaname Kuran's name was written in their execution list. Capture and detain wasn't even an option for the rogue vampire at this point. His master had relayed the associations orders to him with a no-nonsense voice. Yagari-sensei had patted his shoulder, like he knew this would happen, and warned him not to hesitate. It was his duty not to hesitate. Don't hesitate.

But he was hesitating.

Why was he hesitating?

Zero had burned for the moment he'd be staring down the rear sight of his gun at the vampire, ready to take his life at any second. To pull back the steel trigger and rid this world of one more filthy pureblood who believed it was his birthright to toy with the lives of others for his own sake. The desire for this moment had ate away at Zero especially during this past year when he'd been bereft of everything by the beast in front of him.

This wasn't the first time Zero had the pleasure of threatening Kaname with the Bloody Rose. Back then, however, he'd been held back from killing the pureblood by a myriad of reasons. His sense of keeping the peace as a hunter and trying to prevent a certain someone from hating him-but now he had no reasons. No excuses to keep from pulling the trigger as fast as he could. So then, why-

"Are you hesitating?"

Zero hated his voice. The utter calm and almost non-caring way he spoke- as though Kaname's life was in no way in danger in Zero's presence. As if he was above everything and there was no reason for him to be unhinged like Zero, who was feeling that madness creeping in again.

"No." Of course it was a lie. Even answering had aided his hesitation by prolonging the moment for whatever his mind was trying to make itself certain of. Kaname and his damn eyes seemed to know this as well. He smiled. It reeked of venom, but it was wrapped in that flowery lace of sweet that had had everyone fooled. Everyone but Zero, who knew Kaname best.

"Then what is it that you are waiting for? An invitation perhaps?"

"You..."

Kaname stepped forward, a brow arching with his movement. "Me?"

Zero hated himself for taking a step back- he should be firing instead of retreating. Instead of talking. Don't let him get too close, he warned himself. Even as he allowed Kaname to step close enough to grab at his wrist with a violent twist, hoping to get the hunter to release his weapon. Zero held the Bloody Rose tightly. He was trembling- with hate and rage; with the struggle between his duty and the mystery of the thing that kept holding him back.

"I should have killed you," Zero hissed under his breath, his words nearly whispers as he thought back to those few moments when he'd had chances, just like this, to shoot him. In the woods of Cross Academy, after Zero had killed Rido. He could have pulled the trigger on Kaname then, too.

"I should have killed you," he reiterated, his voice stronger, but leadened with emotions so his words came out heavy and fell like large stones as they left his mouth. But he kept his eyes trained on Kaname's, watching the cold steel of his gaze carefully for any cracks. There were none. Zero had never seen any.

"You should have," the pureblood agreed. And then his lips were crashing into Zero's in a hungry kiss. It devoured Zero, pouring into him a liquid fire that went down his throat and burned in the pit of his stomach. Till Zero was left digging his fingers into Kaname's hair and kissing back with a desperation that made him feel insane. Till the hunter was pressing his body tightly against one he knew so intimately before he'd been left behind. It's only then that Zero is suddenly very much aware of why he can't do it. Of why, no matter how much he wants to, he can never pull the trigger.

.

.

.

He truly had gone mad.

So there it is Sonya, whatever IT is. Its short, but not as short as that last one. I hope you like it regardless. That's just one less story that I owe you now lol.

So I'm still alive, although I did get really sick. Um, the link to the prompt forum is on my profile in case any of you want to leave a prompt or, even better, answer one of the few already there. Review and stuff and awkward, awkward. I'm always awkward...*runs away*