Prologue
2 years ago
Rain poured down from the skies, soaking the ground endlessly. Thunder boomed with all its fury, nearly shaking the earth with it. Lightening crackled, the dark clouds rolled… But none of it affected the man that walked silently through the drenching rain.
His white hair was plastered down to his head, and the long overcoat he had been wearing proved as little resistance to the rain as the water drained down its soaked fabric. Another stroke of lightening flashed across the sky, shattering the calmness that the rain had nearly brought.
But the turmoil outside the young man was nothing compared to what he felt like on the inside…
Balanced gently in his arms was a body. The face was the mirror image of his own, but the eyes were closed. The skin was turning into a sickly gray and the rain was soon washing away the blood that had covered his neck.
"…Ichiru…"
The dead man's name was nearly lost in the howling wind and the crackling thunder as his brother, Zero, moaned his name aloud. Grief tore its way into his strained voice, even as he could still taste his brother's blood in his mouth, stinging him like acid straight into his heart.
He was gone… And he was gone forever…
All because of him.
The living twin's feet slid in the growing mud as he tried to force his trembling feet to walk, but they may not obey him for much longer. But he had to keep going… He was nearly there.
"Take what remains of my life…"
"Do what I cannot…"
The words echoed in Zero's head like a sick chorus that refused to give him a moment of silence. They poured over and over in his head… They had been some of the last words that his brother had spoken to him while his warm blood had soaked into his clothing.
The twin that had always held Ichiru so closely against his own body had felt the life slowly seep out of him. He had stolen his brother's life…
And for what?
Nothing… Nothing but to grant Ichiru's final wish to finally be whole with his brother.
Amethyst eyes dulled from pain eventually gazed through the sheets of rain to the gates ahead. Large iron gates stood solemnly before him, nearly hovering over the man that stood before them. This was where Ichiru's final resting place would be… Right beside their parents in the cemetery of the hunters.
The chain that linked the gates together snapped underneath the strong hunter's hand, posing as little restraint to him and his goal. Ichiru's cooling body barely stirred, still laying limp against his chest and soaking his body with blood.
The wound Rido had dealt him barely bled… It was because there was nearly no blood left in Ichiru's body to bleed out any longer. The fang wounds in Ichiru's neck were still open, yet there would be no blood to leak out.
There was nothing left of his brother but a body… and the faintest smile on his corpse. It was a look of peace of finally receiving what his body had ached for him to do ever since their conception. They were finally together…
But as Zero's steps began to lead him through the cemetery as he walked the now-familiar trek back to his family's plot, the ache in his heart wasn't solved by that thought…
He wanted his brother back by his side, not lying dead in his arms. It wasn't worth the pain… the agony of what he had to go through to give Ichiru his final wish…
The peace on his brother's face mocked him… He would never know that peace. Not when Ichiru's stolen life flowed through his veins. Not when his heart ached with the fact that he was now his brother's murderer.
Eventually Zero pushed his way through the pouring rain and managed to find his family plot. 'Kiryuu' was etched onto a large memorial stone that stood over three separate graves.
One of the headstones was marked with a few letters. 'Sakura Izumi Kiryuu. Mother and Loving Wife.' The other was marked as well, with just as many words. 'Kyoko Xavier Kiryuu. Father and Protector.'
Underneath those two graves was an unused grave, with nothing left on the headstone. This was one that had been intended to hold Ichiru's body seventeen years ago, when he was born… He had not been intended to live past birth, if he would even be able to take his first breath in the first place. But Ichiru had defied the odds… until now.
Now, the stone coffin was waiting for Ichiru's body like it had all of those years ago…
Carefully, gently, Zero shifted Ichiru's body down onto the ground. The living hunter slipped his jacket off of his shoulders and laid it down onto his brother's body in a vain attempt to keep the water off of him. Ichiru's head rolled lifelessly to the side, the fang marks open and revealed for all to see…
The guilt bit into Zero just as savagely as before, but he forced himself to resume his work. He could only do one more thing for Ichiru… he was going to make sure that nothing distracted him from his work.
Zero's hands soon clenched into the stone cover, his muscles straining to lift the stone. At first, it barely budged. Dread poured over his body as he tried to force the stone again. What if he couldn't move the stone? What if he had to dump Ichiru's body somewhere and leave him for the animals to pick off of his bones?
…He wouldn't allow it.
His teeth gritted together as he tried one last time to push the stone off of his brother's empty grave, using every ounce of strength his body could hold, before it creaked its way away from the opening. It was a small opening… but it would be just enough for Ichiru to slide through.
The amethyst eyes stared into the open hole, staring into the cobwebs that had gathered in the corners… This would be Ichiru's new home. This would be the place that he had sent him to.
A sickness crawled up his throat at the thought of his brother's body decaying in this dank and dark hole, but he pushed it away. He looked back to the body that rested silently, the rain beating into his skin, before he soon began to pull him back over.
Ichiru's gray skin glistened with the rainwater that was mixed with the blood that was still plastered onto his neck. That blood soon started to drain down into the soil, sending a soft array of reds to soak into the earth. But he pulled his brother's body over to the grave, and once again looked down into the hole.
He quietly brushed away a few sticky cobwebs and pushed the stone cover just a little farther to give himself some more room and looked back to his brother's body, the amethyst eyes lingering on his face. …How could he be so peaceful, while knowing that his brother was his murder…
A hollow emptiness sucked up his emotions like a black hole, leaving numbness in its place. He stared at his brother before slowly pulling him one last time into his arms, feeling his body rest limply against his chest. Zero nearly begged to feel the warmth of his brother's body… to hear his voice, to see his amethyst eyes, even if he would hate him for wanting such a thing…
But his eyes would remain closed.
His chest will never again rise with breath, his lips will never move to form words. His fingers clenched into the coat he had draped over the cold body as grief ate into his soul as he tightly pulled Ichiru to his chest, a tear soon sliding down his cheek, easily concealed through the rain.
Zero didn't know how long he sat there… Pouring rain pounded into his body, but it barely made a difference as he protected his dear brother's body from the onslaught. His hand slowly touched the soaked silver hairs, running his fingertips through the strands just like when they were little…
But those days… were long over.
It took every single ounce of will in his body to untuck his cold brother from his body, and began to slide him down into that horrid hole in the ground. He carefully slid his legs in first, then his torso, then the rest of him. His brother crossed his arms over his chest, and wiped away a few stray strands of hair from his face.
The eyes were closed, and would never open again… Zero took one last look at Ichiru's look of peace on his face, then quietly pulled the lid over the sunken grave. Shadows soon overcame the body until it was soon sealed away from sight, and from ever being seen again.
…He was gone. Gone for eternity. Never again would Zero be able to see his brother, even if he had begun to hate him to the very end… But also… never again was he going to suffer through sickness and wishing to finally be joined with Zero like they had been supposed to be at conception. He would never have to suffer the slow descent through his poor health, to suffer a slow and painful death… Zero refused to let his brother suffer…
And he refused… to let Ichiru, his other half, die in vain, and to die without vengeance over his life.
A slight prick to his finger was all it took to let blood dribble down from the small hole. He knelt down beside the grave and began to write the name of the deceased on the stone… A final reminder of the life that had tried so desperately to live.
'Ichiru Riku Kiryuu
October 24, 1992 – October 24, 2010
Beloved Brother, Companion, and the Perfect Half'
"…Happy birthday, Ichiru. …I finally gave you what you wanted your entire life," the hunter spoke softly, nearly drowned out through the rain as the lettering was already starting to smear, but it made no difference. No matter how hard the rain fell, nothing will make him forget… And now was the time for revenge.
With taking one last look at the blood-spotted grave, Zero calmly turned on his heels and started the long walk back towards Cross Academy. Held tightly in his hand was his Bloody Rose…
This… was the beginning of the fight to the death.