(Authors Note: Hello readers, welcome my first Vampire Knight fanfic. This is meant to be a continuation of the story from the end of the anime, though I do add some non-cannon retrospective events. I hope you enjoy.)
x*x*x The Rose's Beast
By: Adorima
Chapter 1.
Possession
If all this love is real
How will we know?
If we're only scared of losing it
How will it last?
~ Ryan Adams, If I am a Stranger
Living with him was like living in a fairytale, but Kaname's world, absolute as it seemed, did not reach as far as he would like.
That was why they came here to this hidden place. Kaname had said that even if anyone happened to be traveling through the wasteland that characterized this corner of the world, and if they still had the inclination to scale the cliffs jutting into the sky, that they would still have to contend with the barrier he had raised around their new home before even starting the climb. She understood this as Kaname-speak for their discovery being virtually impossible, if only as long as they remained hidden.
He was ever cautious, always doing errands in order to protect her, still making trips to the neighboring towns to meet with his eyes and ears from abroad to ensure the valley remained a home for him and his beloved.
For more than a few years, the days and nights that passed over their humble abode came and went without incident. Kaname said that he hoped someday that the world would forget all about them, and leave them behind to live in peace in this place.
She snuggled between the limbs of a tree, watching the blossoming flowers of the field and the water falling in the western end of Lake Iblis, and thought to herself that the jagged outcroppings framing her vision would be her horizon for as long as she might live. The dawn blossomed from them and the dusk settled from them. It was beautiful not because of these things, but because her brother kept them for her. And she marveled at his devotion.
Whenever Kaname permitted her to go outdoors unaccompanied, Yuki was to venture no farther than the haven of the valley. Because her face was still soft, her skin's pallor untouched, and not one ounce had been added to her build, at first glance Yuki was still the same Yuki.
No one ever told her she changed. But she knew better than to believe that and as she readied herself each morning, she tried not to spend too much time primping her appearance in the mirror.
She dropped from the tree and passed through the sparse woods, a wicker basket in the crook of her arm, having collected quite a bit of vegetable and berries from the bushes that grew wild and sweet on the path home. Her hood had fallen back just enough for her to see the alcove in the valley where a small log cottage sheltered her and her brother.
"Good morning Kaname-sama," She said.
"Yuki." Kaname said, his mouth relaxing into a smile.
"Did you enjoy getting up before I could see you go?"
Yuki plopped on the wooden bench at the table.
"Yeah." She picked through the assortment of beets in her basket.
Kaname opened a kitchen drawer, and drew out a knife. He approached her slowly, the blade in hand, and set it down before her on the table.
"For your beets."
"Thankyou," She said.
He simply stood there for a moment.
"How do I look?" Kaname asked. A worn mauve coat over an off-white chemise did not fall against the contours of his shoulders well; his dark slacks more rugged than something he would usually wear.
"You look great Kaname." Yuki almost sang, stabbing another bleeding beet with her knife. "Just like one of the locals. They'll never guess you're really vampire royalty."
"It pains me to leave you, even for a little while Yuki, but if I don't meet with my contact, we'll just be waiting for someone find us. Hanabusa and Akatsuki will be over soon. "
"I know that well enough."
"Be good while I'm gone."
"You never stop talking like that, Kaname. I'm not mad at you." Yuki fumbled with the beet in her hands. She had almost smashed it. Glancing side-long at him, Kaname had not moved to leave. Yuki realized her mouth hung open in a faint scowl. She closed it, fixing her dark eyes back on the mutilated beet in her stained hands.
"Yuki," he intoned, gently. "Please don't go anywhere."
Yuki turned towards Kaname, quick to smile at him. Her brother only stood there, sending her a deep benevolent gaze.
"If I had a choice, where else would I go?"
His gaze was tender. "That's a good girl." And she regretted her words at the slight tremor in his voice. He bent down to place a kiss on her forehead. The hand that stroked her cheek withdrew. The closing door shut, and she was left alone.
For a fleeting moment Yuki stared where he had stood moments before, her smile waning.
She remembered happiness in her brother's arms. He would give everything to her, in the palm of her hand, to do whatever she pleased with it. And she took it, and promised to cherish it.
She made that vow. But even now with many years distance between her and Zero, she still fought to forget the day she began to care for someone other than herself.
What drew her to him in the first place? What power he had in the vacuum of his eyes. Could it have been the time when she guided him to wash himself of blood and feeling through a warm bath? Or was it the times when his eyes and words, piercing and accusatory, lost their edge when he spoke to her alone? Was it when she found out his walls were erected to keep her at a safe distance.
She turned another beet over in her hand her eyes caught by the red, rich and silken like blood. She squeezed the beet and red ran through her fingers and stained her skin. She loved red these days. It was something like Kaname or like Zero. Or did she only think so because she couldn't will herself to forget his scent, his taste.
Ruka would often try to perpetuate the possibility of his death. But Yuki knew that was just one of her placating tactics. How could he be dead when his scent haunted her at the most unlikely times, the times she was certain that she had willed herself to have forgotten and forsaken him?
Lately, she had been such a spoiled brat.
A small smile appeared once more on Yuki's face and her hand came to the frail silver amulet on her neck. She wondered if this amulet still worked, if she could still pin this new and older Zero down with a gesture, or if she could lower his gun away with a word. Perhaps their love was another lie she told herself since she knew she had always been spoiled. It was only that part of it had been spent in ignorance and the other in denial.