A/N : This story will stray off very much from its original plot in the manga. I'd like to think that in my fanfiction, anything goes. So be prepared to absorb new facts and scenes.
Zero was in the process of folding a paper crane after numerous others laid scattered on the sheets. The words 'a thousand, and you'll be granted a wish' kept chanting on and on in his head. He was down to only twenty more. Just twenty more.
Ichiru was in a deep sleep beside him. Zero glanced at his sleeping face once in a while, knowing that the innocent face can motivate him to keep going. His eyelids were almost on the verge of shutting themselves, and he found himself huffing resolutely before he straightened his back again, hands back to folding the paper furiously.
Wishing is the only way to make Ichiru happy again. If Ichiru is happy, then he'll be happy too.
"You're a kind brother."
Zero was startled from his concentration. However, only briefly. When he registered who it was, he hurriedly went back to his task, hiding his face under his long bangs in embarrassment.
Shizuka. She was watching him with those soft eyes of hers, looking utterly beautiful under the glimmer of the moonlight that shone upon her form. Zero had intentionally let the window open that night, knowing she would come and perch herself on the windowsill as she silently watched him. It had gradually become a routine, and Zero had fallen into that routine far too fast for him to be able to comprehend why.
The first time they had met, she had done nothing but to simply soak in his presence.
"I'm a lonely soul who seeks for my destined one."
It was weird, he thought. It was weird how the world works. Someone as enchanting as her, people would normally found it hard to deny her. He wanted to ask her, but couldn't bring himself to. He wouldn't want her to disappear anytime soon, not after he had gotten used to her calming presence, not after he had come to like her through the period they had spent together despite the silence.
Yes. He liked Shizuka. Because she was the one who had kept him and his brother company on lonely nights like this. Nights when their parents had left them to be all alone by themselves. He never came to understand why his parents did that to them. Ichiru sometimes cried because he felt that his parents were purposely ignoring him. These days, it had become more and more frequent, and it broke Zero's heart to see his twin yearning desperately for their parents' love.
"Why don't you try asking them? You'll learn the truth. That way, you wouldn't hurt so much."
She said that all too easily. Zero had flinched at the simplicity of the idea. That thought had crossed his mind more than a hundred times already. He didn't think she would understand why it would be such a hard task for him to do, so he didn't bother himself to answer her. Even if she did understand, he wouldn't want anything from her in return, not pity, not sympathy. And he was afraid to confront the fact that knowing the truth might actually impaled a complete opposite effect on him.
She probably noticed the stiffness of his shoulders, and her hands went to wound themselves around him as she pulled him close.
"Aren't you lovely? Being scared like that." He felt her smiling into his neck. "Do not fear, dear child. If they can't protect you, allow me to protect you instead."
He was jolted at the sudden sharp graze on his skin. Feeling slightly alarmed, he pulled himself away a little to look at her with wide eyes, heart pounding rapidly against his ribcage. She merely smiled in reply. He had to wonder if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.
He went back to folding the papers, wanting to disregard her presence because he was suddenly feeling a bit troubled at the feel of her intense gaze on him. He shifted and squirmed uncomfortably throughout the whole time until her hand landed onto his fumbling ones.
"You got it all wrong." She pointed out.
He noticed that far earlier than she did. But his mind was in a mess. His eyes were feeling somewhat dry and the skin there seemed to have tightened from the lack of sleep. He realized he couldn't quite arrange his mental process properly anymore.
He heard her laugh before she disentangled his fingers from the ruined paper and took it into her hand instead.
"Let me help you."
With that, he watched how her dainty fingers performed miracle in such a graceful manner. The twenty paper cranes now lied on his bed, folded neatly and finished. Finished.
"Don't you want to put them together with the others in the jar?"
Her question made his eyes widen. Oh-
As if being filled with adrenaline again, he fetched the jar from the table and brought it to the bed. He stuffed all the twenty cranes into the jar. As he closed the lid, he found himself unable to think of what to do next.
"Well?" She asked again, this time her head was tilted in honest confusion, and that very act made her long silvery white hair cascaded down her shoulders like gentle waves. Zero blinked his eyes several times, exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding. He had finally snapped out from his daze. Now all that's left was the finishing touch to his three days' continuous effort, and then everything will be altered to how he wished for it to be. How Ichiru wished for it to be.
He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, bringing them close to his heart. He had faith. He believed everything will fall back into pieces again. His wish will be granted, and then…
Things will be alright again.
Shizuka continued to visit him every night. And he found solace in her calming presence. They didn't talk much, but Zero was contented in just watching her staring at the moon from her position on the windowsill. Sometimes, when they did talk, Zero found himself understanding her enigmatic self just a little more.
"I'm a lonely soul who adores the silence of the moonlit night."
He had smiled when she turned her head to look at him then. It was a genuine smile, and he couldn't remember how long it had been since he could actually smile that way. Throughout this whole time, he could only remember burdening the weight of his brother's sadness and subjecting himself as the comfort to the other's spilled tears.
Around Shizuka, he realized that the burden was non-existent. She was the epitome of serenity. Everything about her. And Zero had never felt more at ease when she enveloped her arms around him.
Was it a lie? Was it all merely a lie concocted to play with him?
Zero's knees unbuckled and his hands made a weak attempt of clutching onto the knob of the door in his desperation to not be beaten down by the fear that was gradually creeping into his heart. But he knew he was not strong enough. Never strong enough to face the devastating scene in front of him at the moment.
The longer his eyes stayed on the stained crimson wall, the faster the bile seemed to rush into his mouth. He lurched forward in a harsh response, coughing out the sickening feeling in his stomach. This was too much.
He felt the tears starting to leak out from his eyes.
"Shizuka." He managed to whisper brokenly. He reached out for her because she was the only one who was left standing amidst the blood.
She stared at him only for a moment before a smile automatically made its way on her face. Just like how it would've been with her. But the beauty of her smile seemed to have been distorted terribly because of the blood on her lips. Her smile wasn't the same in his eyes any longer.
"Zero, you came back. I was wondering where you are. I thought you would never come back anymore." She sounded almost sad.
"Why?" He breathed out, chest heaving from the turbulence that drained him from inside. He couldn't understand why Shizuka could still smile at him like that. And why had she detached herself from the windowsill of his room? They were supposed to meet in the room like they usually would, not anywhere and especially not here. Why had she threaded upon this area? She was not supposed to. She was being told not to by him the other day. It was forbidden.
Hearing his question, her calm face visibly lit up. "I realized I've found my destined one. And I've decided to bring him away with me. But these people-" She gestured towards his parents' motionless form lying beside her feet. "-doesn't allow me to. They even tried to kill me, Zero. I can't simply forgive that."
Zero could hardly believe what he was hearing. Perhaps, everything was just an illusion… Just a few days ago, he remembered wishing with her eyes watching him. Knowing this, she couldn't simply betray him.
He closed his eyes and breathed hard. When he opened his eyes again, Shizuka was already crouching in front of him, staring at him with those soft eyes of hers again. Except this time, the softness seemed to have been mixed with an unfathomable fascination in the swirls of her rich orbs.
Zero had always been entranced by her eyes because they soothed him more than anything could. The soft colour of sakura petals that shaded her eyes was unnaturally exquisite, and they drowned him in helplessly. He used to imagine looking at it closer, maybe even brushing away the silky strands of hair that fell delicately into her eyes, but now-
"You're free from them now, Zero. You don't have to be sad anymore. I can protect you from now onwards." She lifted a hand to caress his cheek.
He recoiled from the touch, as if burnt. His eyes no longer held the same warmth towards her. They were now cold and jaded from any affection he felt towards her previously. All was gone, all memories of her had been burnt into ashes the moment realization dawned on him.
Shizuka frowned before reaching out towards him again. All he did was to swat her hand away as his expression darkened intensely. Shizuka halted her every movement as she watched him crawling away from her.
It was now clear to Zero that she was the one who had killed his parents. Inside, he repressed the need to scream and cry upon meeting the sight of his parents' bloodied corpse once again.
As he crawled to the other side, he noticed a movement from the corner of his eyes. When he saw that it was Ichiru, he panicked instantly. Shizuka seemed to have notice the other's presence too, and she turned her head slowly to look at the boy who was standing near the stairs with his eyes wide and frightened.
Zero shouted in warning, legs launching themselves towards Ichiru. Before Shizuka could reach him, Zero had already pulled his twin into his arms and carried him back upstairs. He had no choice. Shizuka was blocking the door. As he trudged upstairs, he started to despair at the thought of being trapped in their own house, with danger still lurking and ready to attack them at any open chance.
Please, he needs to keep Ichiru safe. Ichiru is the only one left for him in this world.
He locked the door and barricaded it with anything he could move once they were inside the room. The table, chairs, and even the cupboard. Anything to shield them from the murderer downstairs. When he was done, he gathered the crying Ichiru in his arms again despite the fact that he too, was starting to cry out of fear.
"What are we going to do, brother?" Ichiru asked with a trembling voice. Zero couldn't answer him, only could hold him tighter than he ever did. Because he knew, he knew there was no escape route. Jumping through the window from the second floor was not in his option either.
He noticed that the floor seemed to be shaking a little, and it was only after a while of dreading that he heard the slow padding of footsteps on the other side. The footsteps became gradually louder as they came nearer and nearer. There was silence before the door suddenly burst open at a sudden powerful force. The layers of barricade that had been put up was completely pointless as they too, were destroyed in an instant.
The two brothers were cowering at the corner of the room when Shizuka stepped through the debris, eyes now the colour of blood red. She smiled delightfully at the sight of their faces, the pleasure coursing through her veins at the delectable scent of fear in the air suddenly grew overwhelming. However, her smile dissipated in an instant when he realized the tight hold Zero had on his brother.
Really, she had initially planned on taking Zero away quietly. But humans were always troublesome creatures due to the attachments they had. It was inevitable that she had to taint her hands whenever humans were involved. Although she hated all the hassle she had to go through, but she reminded himself that it was worth it. Zero was worth it.
Zero had proved himself worthy of her attention. It had only been a short period since their first meeting, but she had thought that the boy was amazing.
"You can kill me. But you have to let go of Ichiru first."
This was exactly why she wanted Zero. And she could almost hear the blood rushing frantically under those skin as he braved himself to say that through quivering lips. There was no doubt that the boy was scared. The trembles that wracked through his body was visibly obvious, but those amethyst eyes that glared at him resolutely almost fooled her.
Ichiru was whimpering in Zero's arms. A tear slipped from Zero's eyes. As she advanced closer, the rushing of blood underneath their skin just sounded so much louder than before and she had to bare her fangs at the desire that suddenly hit her.
She could see how Zero's eyes widened in horror and she traced her tongue on her fangs amusedly.
"You- You're a vampire…"
What? Hadn't he known? She had expected him to know after he had witnessed the corpses downstairs. Her lips lifted into an approving smile at his statement.
Zero looked as if he had been beaten and trampled on if the contorted expression on his face was of any indication. The boy now had his head hung low as he sunk in the weight of the truth. So he wasn't merely imagining things. Throughout this whole time, he had simply deemed it to be his fault for hallucinating such ludicrous thoughts.
The graze he felt on his neck had happened more than twice, and he could only think of how he had been tricked, been betrayed by her all these while as she took her sweet time to play around with him whenever she wanted to, like he was some toy meant to be made fun of.
"Ah, it's been such a long time since someone could tug my heart the way you do. Zero, you have to be proud that only you could do this to me." She lowered herself to her knees with the grace she was known of, her long hair reaching the floor and splaying all around them like webs, cocooning them inside.
Zero's breath hitched as her face began to magnify in his view. He grasped onto Ichiru's hand instinctively, narrowing his eyes into dangerous slits when she raised a hand towards him.
In a blink of an eye, he witnessed how her hand flew across his eyes and threw Ichiru to collide against the wall across from them. Zero glanced at his hand briefly before shifting his eyes back to her in shock. His mind cried for Ichiru.
"You're simply mesmerizing. The more I looked into your eyes, the more I'm fascinated by them."
"Go away." Zero heard himself say quietly, the nervous edge in his voice apparent. His eyes had grown wide and scared as he tried not to look at the monster in front of him.
Shizuka simply smiled again before she slowly leaned forward, burying her face into the other's neck and inhaling the intoxicating smell of his blood underneath that patch of pale skin. Her tongue flicked out to lick that spot where his pulse was quickening rapidly.
"No." She caught the tremors in his voice before feeling his grip on her shoulders that were struggling to push her away. But the boy was already weak in his current state, and even weaker after being infested by fear. She took that moment's opportunity to sink her fangs into his skin.
It was heaven when his sweet blood filled her mouth, and she didn't hesitate even the slightest to draw as much as she could until her hunger for him was satisfied. Zero slumped onto her shoulder when she had finished, breath ragged and heavy. His eyes were in half-slits as he looked helplessly at Ichiru who was lying on the floor now, unconscious.
"Ichiru."
He managed to murmur before his vision swam. Head feeling impossibly heavy, he felt himself bordering on the line of consciousness himself.
"I'll be waiting for you, Zero."
They were the last words he heard before oblivion darkened his senses to nothingness.