[06] Judgment

By Fahiru

You would think, after all he had been through, that Kiryuu Zero could seize an opportunity when he had it. After all, he had a good arm and top notch training, his senses were heightened due to his unfortunate circumstances, and he had already had his almost alright life ruined twice through inability to react hastily, so it would be rather ridiculous to miss this golden opportunity.

Exterminating Kuran Kaname. It wasn't the sort of thing that he stayed awake late at night plotting; in fact he would have probably forgotten about the guy if he hadn't kept making his existence so painfully obvious. They weren't mildly annoying actions, either. Stealing his revenge, plotting an impure and insincere relationship with his technically-not-really adoptive sister, driving said not-sister insane and causing her to somehow awaken as a (not actually functioning, or rather, puncturing) pure-blooded vampire despite her previously verified pure-blooded humanness, murdering people and vampires on a whim, provoking that stupid Aido to pester him with death threats, and then having the ******* ***** to demand that he kill someone he was going to kill anyway for murdering his last family member. Of course, said family member would still be alive if the ******* hadn't been so driven by his secret agenda that so far was benefiting no one but the pure-blood himself.

So after everything, having both his brother's killer and the man who had ruined everything else in his life lined up for a few valuable moments was almost too good to be true.

Of course, having a giant rose-bush growing out of your arm and basically sucking up your life energy for an all-purpose-vampire-killing shot is going to have some consequences. Most people would pay with death from exhaustion. Zero payed by blinking.

In that one, stinking, perfect moment when Kaname was right next to Rido. The narcissist even had time to whisper a nonchalant "Sayonara" to the target even though he couldn't be bothered to do the dirty work himself.

So did Zero choose to shoot the crazy, ancient pure-blood who wanted to eat everybody in sight? Or did he finally destroy the even more ancient pure-blood possessing a much younger body who was just as bad for the health of everyone concerned but still managed to have a flawless reputation despite his disregard for life?

He didn't know. He blinked again when he fired and then passed out before he could check to see whether his aim had stayed steady.

Waking up from a near-death induced loss of consciousness can either be a very good or very bad experience, depending on whether or not the near-death was worth it. Zero did not know yet how to feel about it, as he still didn't know who he had hit, or if the shot even landed for that matter. Heck, he wasn't even sure whether or not it really was a near-death induced unconsciousness as opposed to an actual death induced one.

He was slightly comforted, however, to find himself in the home of his teacher. Yagari Toga wasn't a cozy person, but he lived practically and, more importantly, obscurely in the woods near the school. Of course, he would probably move soon seeing as Cross Academy had gotten ahead of itself and become crumbling ruins at a relatively young age. Yagari had never thought much of early retirement, and no longer needed the cover anyway.

He didn't say much about where they would be relocating, but he gave Zero some time to recuperate before he would be sent off to salvage what he could from the demolished school. During the small respite, the young Kiryuu did enjoy the rare opportunity of having a conversation with his teacher that was...less tense than usual.

Yagari made them coffee and ignored his own portion in favor of a cigarette.

"You sure there was no evidence of the body?" Zero took a moment to curse, "Why do pure-bloods have to be in such a hurry to decompose? The least they could do is let their shards retain DNA."

"There was nobody at the site when I found you. Either they were otherwise occupied or didn't think you worth the trouble after you lost consciousness. Had to carry you back myself." He began muttering a rather profane rant about how being a fit adolescent was bad news for whoever had to haul you around.

Zero, feeling as down as usual, just apologized and sipped at the bitter and slightly grainy coffee that he had been given. It was enough to make Yagari swallow his pride.

"Zero." his voice was gruff and not at all comforting. "You're a tough kid. You've been through some crap before, and you'll go through a lot more of it before this life is done with you, but you're still the type of kid who doesn't need encouragement to succeed; you can survive on just motivation and practicality alone. It's definitely made my job a heck of a lot easier, not having to coddle you all the time like some apprentices I could mention, and I figured it was better for you if you didn't expect justice from anywhere but your own hands. I also know that you hate yourself. Well, that's rough, but it wouldn't make you feel better if I pretended not to notice your convictions. I wasn't about to start denying your problems for you, that's what that nosy Cross's nosy daughter is for."

Yagari ground the butt of his cigarette into the table. Figured it wasn't worth preserving the furniture if he wasn't taking it with him. "But in my own way, I've tried to look out for you.

"I guess you could say that if I didn't care I wouldn't go out of my way to confront you like you wanted me to. Heck, if I hadn't shot you that time at the pool you would have surely shot yourself, and been more thorough, too. As it is, Zero, I do these things with you in mind."

He stood to pat his former apprentice on the back. "It may have hurt, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't lift a finger for you if I didn't love you like my own kid."

"...Thank you."

And Zero set off to pack what few personal items may have survived the battle.

And stopped dead in his tracks when he heard suspicious noises coming from under Yagari's porch.

Carefully drawing the Bloody Rose from his jacket, he crouched and aimed underneath the deck. He was confronted with the sheepish grin and slouch of none other than Cross Kaien, the legendary hunter himself.

"Zeeeeero-kyuuuuun," he whined, squirming uncomfortably, "I wasn't really hiding from you or Yagari-kun or the consequences of my actions~~~ I definitely didn't overhear that..." he seemed to sob a bit. " Beautiful, sincere speech just now." He clenched his fist, a gleam lighting up his eyes. "No, Zero-kun! I have come to inform you that I too feel the responsibility of a father! I was really only hiding under Yagari-kun's house because..." he seemed to lose confidence, "I...love...you...?"

Before Zero could give him a back hand, he noticed that, sitting behind the former Academy Chairman was the one person he would have liked to see less than anyone else, including Kuran.

"Zero," Yuuki piped up.

She was a bit battered and seemed to be having difficulty keeping her newly long hair in control, but there was something in her manner that was different, or rather, nostalgic. This was not the Yuuki he had patrolled the grounds with, nor was she the eerily proud Yuuki putting on pure-blood airs. She had a clarity to her that he had not seen in a very long time, like she had become reacquainted with her own mind rather than the previous conformity to the ideals of the Chairman and Kaname.

"Zero," She said again, crawling out from under the porch. "Are you okay? Yagari-san wouldn't let us in the house."

He snorted. "Probably because you weren't around to help him clean up after the showdown. Not to mention the fact that having a pure-blood," he nearly spat the name, "enter his home would be a betrayal of practically everything he stands for."

"What about me?" Chairman Cross whined.

Zero raised an eyebrow.

"I know it looks bad," Yuuki pleaded, "but we only did these things for the same reasons we did everything else. We had to get him away from you. I don't know what we would have done if Kaname-sa – if Kuran Kaname got a hold of you. He'll kill you, Zero!"

Zero realized, with a sinking feeling, that he had missed his target.

"He won't kill me. He still needs me to carry out his stupid will for his own stupid gain. He's been using all of us, you know."

"...I know." She whispered. Zero blinked.

"How? You've worshiped him for ten years, how could you have known what was going on?"

She shrugged uncomfortably and was quiet for a few moments before answering.

"At first I didn't see enough of him to catch on to much. And when high school started...did you really think I was thinking clearly when I was getting less than three hours of sleep on a good night? Could you really trust the judgment of someone half conscious?"

Cross nodded enthusiastically. "Yuki-chan is only thinking more clearly now because of recent developments causing her to break down and sleep most of the day. She sure has gotten brighter since her sleep deprivation is a little less severe!"

"I did some really stupid things this year." Yuuki agreed. "But a lot of them were well intentioned. Zero, I realized that, for the most part, I did what I did –"

" –Breaking Zero-kun's heart–"

" –Because I lo– wait, what?"

"You know," the headmaster giggled, "flashing your neck, cutting off his options until you were his only ally, seducing him with your blood, and then turning on him and leaving him in the dust so that you could go be a vampire – the creature Zero-kun hates the most – with someone who still qualifies as a stranger to you. In fact, the very man who orchestrated most of the pain Zero has now – aside from Shizuka Hio and Kuran Rido. Yuuki-chan, you're so cunning!"

Yuuki, although slightly more alert than usual, had apparently not yet considered this take on her actions. She slumped, dumbfounded.

Zero, also a bit taken aback by the almost confession and restatement of things he would rather forget, did not get a chance to recover before a deep, smooth voice chased a shiver up his spine.

"Well, well. Looks like everyone is trying to get on your good side, Kiryuu."

The vampire hunter swung his gun around to point at Kuran Kaname's heart. At least, where it anatomically would be if he had one. Kaname, amused, took a few strides forward until he was only a few feet from Zero.

"Unlike this disloyal crew, I'm going to be honest with you. There isn't a day that doesn't pass without my wishing that it had been the day you were destroyed. I hate you more than words could say –"

"Good to know." Zero stated, and shot Kuran Kaname.

Everyone gasped; except for Kaname, because Zero was unloading the rest of his round through the pure-blood's head.

Taking no chances, he licked some of the spattered blood off of his hand and allowed himself to once again be drained of a good deal of energy to fire another super-shot-thing for good measure. This time he didn't miss.

But he did pass out again.

(A/N; [Twelve Shots of Summer]Week 6; Prompt: How it Should Have Ended

I was just going to have an entire downward spiral, but decided to be slightly more realistic. But only slightly.

In fact, I almost had a:

Yagari- "Zero, I only shot you and was mean and stuff because I love you."

Kaien- "I was only hiding under your porch because I love you!"

Yuuki- "I only broke your heart because I love you!"

Kaname- "I'm evil but honest(sort of). I hate your guts."

Zero- "Hey, me too." Shoots everyone then goes on adventures with Yagari

Even so, this is still a better ending than...Well. I was actually too scared of the author's judgment to watch the last episode. Or to finish the manga for that matter. I can't even remember half the stuff that happened.

So I'm not really qualified to write this, but it's totally what should happen in case the ending was as terrible as I feared.

Check out the rest of the stories on the Forum Billboard or at the Community!)