And Renalin's other birthday gift. Happy birthday, babe.
Diclaimer: I own nothing.
My first VK fic. Be gentle, yes? Especially since it's so random.
Neophobia
"You know, if you smiled more, people wouldn't be so scared of you."
Zero looked up from his notebook, peering through the bangs hanging in front of his eyes. Yuuki was looking thoughtfully at him, her math problems abandoned, as usual.
"Do your work," he told her.
But Yuuki ignored him, as she did whenever he told her to quit slacking. Turning around more fully in her seat to face him, she asked, "Do you even know how to smile, Zero?"
He bristled. "Yes," he replied testily. "I smile at you, don't I?"
Immediately he regretted his words, but Yuuki seemed to not notice. She tapped her nose, thinking back, and then she brightened.
"You're right! You really should do it more often," she said.
Then she turned around and pretended to be immersed in algebra, since the teacher had just returned to the classroom.
Zero stared at the back of her head. She was tossing it about as she laughed at what her friend Yori was saying to her, and peering down in apparently intense concentration at her math worksheet whenever the teacher glanced up at her.
Her sheet remained blank until the end of the period. Zero's was successfully completed, with time to spare. It looked like he would be tutoring tonight.
-o-
"I bet you'd look good in an apron," Yuuki said. Zero glared at her where she was perched on the counter, swinging her legs and leaning back on her palms to stare at the ceiling. She didn't notice. "Yeah, something frilly and pink."
"Yuuki," he began warningly.
"You wouldn't be so scary then," she went on. "And then maybe you could wear one of those 'Kiss the Chef' aprons and get a girlfriend.
Zero turned back to the sandwiches he was making for them, trying very hard not to think about the girl behind him, who was really the only one he could see as a potential girlfriend. Not that she would ever be one, because she liked the other vampire, Kuran Kaname, and Zero couldn't be around her for too long without robbing her of her blood, besides.
He lifted the plates from the countertop and carried them into the next room. "Get some drinks," he called back to Yuuki. She did as he said, following him and seating herself at the table, where she picked up one of the sandwiches and dug in.
"Mmm. This is really good, Zero," she complimented around a big chunk of bread.
"Don't eat with your mouth full," he said.
Yuuki laughed, and if the sight wasn't so gross, Zero might have smiled. "Yes, Mom."
They ate in silence for a moment, Zero studying Yuuki out of the corner of his eyes. She was so sweet, so carefree, he sometimes found it hard to believe he had taken all her innocence away so easily. All because he couldn't control himself, because he had opened his mouth and sunk his teeth into the creamy skin of her neck…
It disgusted him. And she was trying to tell him how not to be scary? Impossible. After all, how did one turn back from a monster into a man?
"Hurry up and eat," he muttered stiffly, letting none of his inner feelings show in his expression or tone. "Then we'll get to your math homework."
"Ew. Not fun." She pouted.
-o-
"Yuuki," Zero sighed. "Focus."
"I'm trying," she said indignantly.
He shook his head, scowled at her, and reached across the table to pluck the pen from her fingers. She had been twirling it for the past five minutes, not listening to a word he said about binomials.
"Zero!" she whined. When he just gave her a Look, she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "It's not my fault math is so boring! What kind of weirdo likes to torment themselves with this stuff?"
Zero just looked at her. "Math is my favorite subject," he pointed out quietly.
Yuuki opened and closed her mouth several times, looking for something to say and looking quite like a fish out of water. Finally she settled with a sheepish smile.
He ducked his head so she wouldn't see the amused grin tugging at his lips, and continued to guide her through the steps to complete her homework. Of course, in the end, he ended up basically doing her homework for her, as usual, out of sheer frustration.
She grinned cheekily at him, standing up and excusing herself to take a shower, and he strongly suspected that that had been her plan all along. Sneaky girl.
-o-
"Zero!"
Zero sighed deeply. When did Yuuki not need him?
Nevertheless, he got to his feet and walked through the hallways to the bathroom. From behind it, he could hear Yuuki mumbling something incomprehensible. He knocked on the door and called through the wood, "Yuuki?"
"Zero!" There was the patter of her feet on the tiles and the click of the lock, and the door swung open to reveal Yuuki's relieved face.
"What's wrong?" he asked her, wondering inwardly just why she seemed to want to torment him. She stood in front of him, wrapped up in her fluffy purple towel. She was fully covered, of course, and it would have been alright if he wasn't what he was and his eyes weren't drawn to a specific spot…
Disgusting, he reminded himself, tearing his eyes away from the spot on Yuuki's neck where he could see faint traces of the bite marks he had created.
"The shower's not working," she was saying, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt (since his collar was really too high for her) to lead him towards it. "The water won't come out."
Zero sighed again. What was he, a plumber? Then again, when it came to Yuuki he was a bodyguard, teacher, cook, maid…
He shoved her gently to the side so he could stand under the showerhead and see what was wrong. He reached up slowly to twist the showerhead slightly…
…And of course, the shower would choose this time to let loose all its water at full blast.
Sputtering at the cold water, Zero reached blindly to turn it off, and when he finally did, he blinked water out of his eyes. Well. That was certainly dignified. "Yuuki."
Yuuki was looking quite shocked, her hands over her mouth and eyes wide. But if he wasn't mistaken, Zero could swear he heard a giggle. "Yes, Zero?"
He didn't quite know what to say, so he settled with, "Showering with cold water could make you sick."
And yes, Zero was also unofficial caretaker to one Yuuki Cross.
Now she laughed. Her shoulders shook and she gasped for breath, trying in vain to stifle her snickers. Zero glared irritably at her, but it only made her laugh harder.
Finally, finally, she got her laughter under control and stepped forward to pull him out of the shower. Then she turned to retrieve another towel for Zero to dry himself off with.
Zero looked down at his shirt. It was soaked right through. With a weary sigh, he pulled it off, just as Yuuki turned back to him, holding a towel.
Her eyes grew very wide, as she was looking straight at his chest. Not that it wasn't a nice view, but it was… unexpected.
She hurriedly pressed the towel into his hands. "Here," she mumbled.
"Thanks." Zero looked at her. She was very red. Why should she be? She was the one in nothing but a towel.
But then she looked up at him with a bright smile, still blushing, but not so severely. "You know, Zero, you wouldn't be so scary if you went around with wet hair more often—"
And then she stopped, eyes nearly popping out of the sockets as she was roughly pushed back by Zero. He pressed into her, his lips so close to her neck she could feel them when he exhaled. And his body was so warm against hers, though she shivered when his bare chest touched the skin exposed by her towel. The cold counter behind her bore painfully into her back, but she couldn't protest, because she was frozen, rooted to the spot.
"Z-Zero, what…?" She drew in a sharp breath as the cool sharpness of his teeth grazed the skin of her still-tender neck.
He drew back slightly, chuckling bitterly. "Scared now?"
Yuuki didn't respond; her eyebrows knit together in confusion as he went on.
"I can smile and wear stupid clothes and do my hair a certain way," he said, his breath ghosting over her skin. "But that doesn't change what I am. And what I am, Yuuki, is dangerous."
Finally he pulled back, not looking her in the eye. "And if this isn't scary, I don't know what is."
He turned to leave the bathroom. "The shower's fixed. Hurry up and take one so I can go."
Yuuki reached out and grabbed his hand.
Zero stopped. But he wouldn't look back. "Yuuki—"
"Quiet, Zero."
He shut up.
"Turn around. Look at me."
After a moment's hesitation, he did so, shuffling around to look reluctantly into her eyes. She looked angry as she stepped closer to him. Then she cocked her head to the side, pushing her hair behind one ear to give him easier access.
He tried to jerk back, but Yuuki had his wrist in an iron grip. "Yuuki, what are you—"
"Do it!" she cut him off again. "Bite me! And this time," she added, voice and gaze suddenly turning soft, "Look at me when you do."
He wouldn't do it; he refused. He tried to step back, shaking his head, but Yuuki reached around him to place a hand on the small of his back and press him closer to her.
"Zero," she said, distracting him long enough to reach up and pull his head down. "Please."
Zero took a breath. It was very hard to refuse Yuuki… and her blood.
Filthy, hissed the voice in his head, but it was too late.
He heard her breath hitch as he sunk his teeth into her flesh, and he refused to look at her. But then she reached out a trembling hand to angle his head so he could see her face.
And there was not a trace of fear. But there was most definitely something else.
Her heavily lidded eyes and intense gaze were like a slap in the face, and Zero pulled away, shocked and unaware of what he was doing.
Yuuki's lips were trembling as she whispered out, "Still think I'm scared?"
"Yuuki…"
Zero was at a loss. He had no idea Yuuki felt… the way he did. And, he realized with a jolt, she was offering him her blood not only out of a sense of duty to her friend, but from a need for intimacy. Intimacy she thought she couldn't find anywhere else…
Zero hated himself then. Taking Yuuki's blood to keep himself sane was one thing. Biting her – tainting her – only so he could fulfill his more human desires was another thing entirely.
"I can't do this," he told her.
"Then let me," she murmured. And with that, she stood on the tips of her toes to meet his lips.
And for the first time, Zero let Yuuki be the one in charge.