DISCLAIMER: Hino-san owns. I play!
SUMMARY: Three vignettes set shortly before the series start.
WARNINGS: Small spoilers to background seen in the manga and not in the anime.
WORDCOUNT: ~3x300

Written at vk_guardians. Prompt: 'fierce'.
X-posted at fanfic_bakeoff

FOR HER
by Leni

Zero

When he accepted to enroll back into school to be Yuuki's fellow guardian, Zero hadn't planned on spending Saturday afternoons sitting across her at the Headmaster's kitchen table. Geometry homework - followed by Algebra, Trigonometry and Arithmetic - has become his penance until dinner and sometimes long after it.

Except it's no penance at all.

Yuuki's pencil has a chewed end that her teeth deform further as she glares at the long equation with fierce determination. She mutters to herself, "Do I subtract or divide first?"

Zero knows to wait until she seeks his help. Yuuki may struggle, twist herself in a string of numbers until the eraser breaks through paper and she starts a new page.

But he waits.

The first time he tutored her, Zero had (eagerly, helpfully - their opinions still diverge) dictated the solved homework until Yuuki sighed and set her pencil aside. "I have to learn this for myself." Then, a sadder sigh, "Even when there's no point to it."

So he lets her to her mistakes, offering no more than a deep cough when she starts down the wrong path or small unconscious nods when she grasps the procedure.

"You're doing it on purpose," Yuuki accused him once, catching his eye after a particularly strong fit of coughing (she'd abandoned a variable, just abandoned it). Zero denied it, of course, and cringed for the next five minutes until she turned to him askance.

In the end, she always turns to him.

"Division, always," Zero answers.

Yuuki smiles gratefully, finishing the rest of the exercise on her own. "I'm starving," she declares as she closes her book, and on her the statement sounds less like a ploy to keep him around than it does on Headmaster Cross. "Wanna grab a bite?"

For her, he smiles back. "Why not?"

Kaname

A closed door is a silent order at the Night Dormitory. Vampire survival instincts are well-developed, and they warn the others not to trespass. Kaname imagines the invisible layer of danger surrounding his rooms, fed by his dark musings and the powerless frustration that grows with every year.

If other students have noticed the cycle to these occurrences, that the threat grows thicker as a particular date approaches, they don't tell. It's unlikely, though; most would consider it a coincidence, since a Kuran pureblood must be above pedestrian feelings such as bitterness.

Bitterness.

What a tame word for the fierce thirst inside him.

It will soon be Yuuki's 'birthday' again, a lonely remembrance of the truth while he forces himself to smile through the requisite visit.

Bitterness!

Try utter despair.

Because of her, Kaname stands on the brink of madness. For her, he shuts himself in his study until the beast is leashed, and he knows he won't tear into her throat at the dormitory gate. Until he leaves this room, a man in control again, no one would dare approach.

Except for one.

"But it's important," Aidou whines in the corridor.

Takuma's sigh is so loud that even a human would have caught it. "Then I'll take care of it." Silence. Then, impatient and commanding, "I will take care, Hanabusa."

Kaname can picture Aidou's stubborn features. He waits, but there's neither a word nor movement on the other side of the door.

Then… "That Cross girl's been spying again. I caught her last night." A huff. "Don't you think we should appoint new guardians?"

"No."

His presence startles them enough that their greeting bows are stiff and awkward.

"But, Kaname-sama…." Kaname focuses on Aidou, inviting him to contradict his order. The other vampire draws back. "As you wish, Kaname-sama."

Cross

"Come in," Cross calls, more high-spirited at the recognizable knock. It's grown less timid as years passed, but the rhythm reminds him of the six-year-old who asked to sit in on his meetings with Kaname.

So much has changed since those days.

Now Yuuki makes her excuses whenever she and Kaname cross paths in his office. Sweet, transparent child; she'll flee the room unable to meet anyone's eyes or hide a telling blush.

Blood is thicker than water, Cross remembers.

Blood has brought them all together, and shall run its course to the bitter end.

He often wishes he could send Kaname-sama away; but mostly he remembers the mute disengaged girl that'd waited at the window until he called Kaname back.

They are blood. It is thicker than water - or in this case, stronger than Juri's spell.

Gods help whoever stands in their way.

Cross crushes down his worry about Zero when the door opens. "Yes, Yuuki?"

"Good morning, Headmaster Cross."

His eyes widen in silent plea. "Call me father?"

Yuuki shifts the dirty bundle she carries from one hand to the other.

"Please."

An impatient look.

"Papa?" he tries last. For her, he'll be a fool. Yuuki needs to know a father's love is hers.

"Headmaster Cross," she repeats firmly. "I need a new uniform."

The wheedling routine stops there. Yuuki only asks for new clothes when…. He glances at her bundle, recognizing the school colors. In a flash, he goes to her, unable to restrict a hunter's speed in his haste to check the damage. Long scratches cluster along her arm, thin and shallow like the branch of a thorny bush scraping against her. He moves to catch her in a fierce hug, "Tough patrol, huh?"

"Something like that," she mutters, and deftly sidesteps away from his grasp.

The End
17/02/10

p.s. New set of prompts at vk_guardians every Saturday ar 19:00.

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