Author Notes: Hello again! Thank you for the alerts and favs and a huge Thank You for the reviews *bows* I meant to write and finish this story much earlier, but my muse refused to oblige. I finally had to catch her, tie her down and beg her on bended knees. There will be a 3rd part coming... when it comes. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter :)
- Chapter Start -
"Onii-san? You're not eating."
Drawn from his resigned thoughts, Kaname looked up to find Yuuki's curious gaze on him. He smiled at her, but it felt more like a grimace.
"I'm not very hungry," he admitted.
"Neither am I," she replied. She glanced from his plate to her own, both equally untouched.
A loud sigh made them both turn to Kiryuu who had stopped eating and was watching them, head propped on one fist.
"Should I ask if the food is poisoned?" he asked in a dry tone.
"Oh, of course it isn't, Zero!" Yuuki assured him, not seeming to take umbrage at his words. She quickly ate a forkful of mash potatoes and then smiled at him. "See? It's good."
"Only you two aren't eating."
Kaname decided this conversation was getting nowhere.
"Kiryuu, Yuuki has told you her reason for inviting you here," he began, "but I haven't told you mine."
The hunter straightened up at once, amethyst eyes narrowing at Kaname in suspicion.
"What reason is that?"
"Onii-san?"
Kaname kept his gaze on Kiryuu even though he could feel Yuuki's puzzled gaze on him.
"For the past two years, I have done everything in my power to help Yuuki adapt to her new life." He paused, fighting against an inbuilt instinct that refused to admit failure. "She has done well, very well, but she isn't as... happy... as she could be. As she should be."
There was a pause as Kiryuu's eyes flicked to Yuuki and then they were back to Kaname, sharp and accusing.
"And why is that?" he asked, his voice tight.
"Onii-san, I am happy," Yuuki protested.
Breaking his stare with Kiryuu, Kaname turned to her and smiled again, feeling that same sharp pang in his heart. He had thought - hoped, rather - that her earnest, childlike desire to do what she felt was right would be more than enough, but it wasn't. He wasn't.
"Not as content as I had hoped, dear one," he replied, holding her gaze. "Did you think I didn't know? Zero didn't come with us the day we left Cross Academy, but he never left your heart."
A bloom of guilty colour swept into Yuuki's pale cheeks at once. She darted a quick glance at Kiryuu who looked like he had suddenly turned to stone before turning back to Kaname.
"How - how long have you known?" she whispered.
"For some time now."
"I am so sorry," Yuuki apologised, her eyes welling up with tears. "I thought I could-"
"Don't, Yuuki," Kaname interrupted, his voice steady despite the knife digging into his chest. "You have known Zero for longer than you know me. He was your classmate and fellow School Prefect. He was by your side when I couldn't be, he protected you when I had to keep my distance."
Perhaps he was once again making excuses for Yuuki, but what he had said was true. it was inevitable his gentle sister would care deeply for Kiryuu; he just hadn't realised it was more than that until it was too late.
Looking at Kiryuu, Kaname noted he hadn't moved at all.
"That is why I invited you here tonight," he revealed. "If Yuuki would rather be with you, she has only to say so. I won't stand in her way since I know you have always loved her."
The words 'and would never hurt her' were left unsaid, but implied nonetheless.
Stunned amethyst eyes blinked and then Kiryuu's lips drew back in a snarl, a dull flush creeping up his neck. "You don't know anything about me, Kuran!"
"Then tell me I'm wrong," Kaname challenged, but the hunter only glared at him before looking away, lips pressed tight in a mutinous line.
"Zero, it it true?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does. Is it true?"
"What the hell does it matter! You made your choice two years ago!"
"I know," Yuuki whispered, her eyes now welling with tears. "And I don't-" she faltered.
"And you don't regret it," Kiryuu finished for her, his voice hard.
"No! I mean yes... I mean, oh God." Yuuki covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head.
"You left with Kuran because you love him," Kiryuu growled, fingers clenched tight around his utensils as if those words were causing him pain.
Yuuki blinked. Then her hand came down and she stamped her foot hard under the table, a habit Kaname thought she had finally outgrown.
"Of course I love him! He's my onii-san, Zero, but I love you too!"
A look of uncertainty crossed Kiryuu's face as if he didn't quite know whether to believe her or not, but that look vanished in an instant and he snorted.
"Not as much apparently since you still followed him," he bit out before turning to Kaname. "I don't know what sort of sick game you're playing, Kuran, but I've had enough."
Pushing his chair back, he stood abruptly, tossing down his knife and fork before swinging on his heel.
Before Kaname could do anything, Yuuki was out of her chair and facing Kiryuu, arms held wide as if to block his exit, long hair fanning out about her.
"No - wait, Zero! Please!" She took a step forward and grabbed his arm, but he flung it upward, yanking his wrist from her grasp as he glared down at her.
Kaname was on his feet before he knew it. Kiryuu looked a hairsbreadth from backhanding Yuuki right across the face, and Kaname swore he would kill the boy if he dared to strike his precious girl... only Kiryuu's fierce mask crumpled, and uttering a groan, his arm came down and Yuuki was suddenly crushed in his embrace, his face buried in her hair and hers in his chest.
Kaname found himself staring at them, the pain in his chest now mixed with bittersweet triumph. He had been right, Kiryuu's bluster was just that - bluster. He was doing the right thing, Kaname insisted to himself as Yuuki's slender arms went about Kiryuu's waist, a sight that made him curl his hands into tight fists.
"This doesn't change a thing, Yuuki," Kiryuu warned, his voice shaking and half muffled in her hair.
... and Kiryuu was still in denial. Kaname was still trying to decide if he should laugh or cry over that when Yuuki tipped her head back to look up at the hunter.
"This changes everything and you know it," she insisted. Her face was wet with tears, but she was smiling, her eyes sparkling in a way Kaname hadn't seen in months.
Kiryuu just glowered at her right before he swooped down and kissed her.
Desperately... as if he had been longing to do this one thing for all his life.
Roughly... as if he had never kissed before and wasn't quite sure how to go about it.
But oh-so-thoroughly as if this was his one and only chance to kiss the girl he loved.
It was their first kiss together, Kaname realised as he stared at them, the ache in his chest now morphing into something almost like envy. It had to be. This kiss looked like everything his own kisses with Yuuki had never been. He had never, ever kissed her like that... but then, he had never treated her the same way Kiryuu did either.
A few moments passed before Kaname remembered he should be making his exit before he changed his mind. Neither of them would notice anyway.
Certainly not Kiryuu who was framing Yuuki's heart shaped face with his hands and muttering incoherent, scolding words in between more kisses.
Certainly not Yuuki who was standing on tiptoes, her arms now around Kiryuu's neck as she leaned into him, ignored his words and returned kiss for kiss.
Two halves of a puzzle that had just locked into place with not a sliver of space left for anyone else.
Dragging his gaze away, Kaname forced his legs to move, walking away from the table and out of the dining room. There were arrangements to be made, discussions to be held, but all of that could come later, he thought wearily. Right now, he just wanted to hide somewhere and lick his wounds while Kiryuu savoured his victory - he had gotten the girl after all, the girl they both loved. And Yuuki... she would want some time with Zero now that they were together.
Kaname stopped when the pain in his chest intensified, almost forcing a gasp from him. He closed his burning eyes, but images rushed through his mind anyway, unstoppable images of what would arise from those passionate kisses. Kiryuu might look like he was a novice at physical intimacy, but that was so very easily rectified.
"Onii-san? Onii-san, wait... wait!"
This time, it was Kaname's arm that was grabbed with enough force to swing him around. He found himself staring down at a Yuuki who was breathless with pink cheeks and red lips. His gaze shifted to take in Kiryuu standing behind her, looking just as flushed and a bit half dazed as well.
"Where are you going?" Yuuki demanded.
"Somewhere," Kaname replied and when she frowned, "Yuuki, surely you aren't so cruel as to want me to remain now that you have Zero."
She stared at him, the sparkle in her eyes dimming as if she had only just realised what her actions meant.
"But I..." Pausing, she looked over her shoulder at Kiryuu who just raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. Licking her lips, she turned back at Kaname.
"I thought," she began, but a derisive laugh interrupted her, Kiryuu taking a couple of steps closer and glaring at her.
"You thought what, Yuuki? That you could have us both?" he demanded. "This isn't a game, damnit! So who is it going to be - him or me?"
- o -
Yuuki's heart was still beating fast as she stared up into Zero's angry face. She couldn't think. Granted, her brain was mush and her lips still tingling from Zero's passionate kisses - where on earth had he learned to kiss like that? - but there was something missing right here, if she could only put her finger on it.
She turned to look at Kaname; he looked implacable. She turned to Zero; he looked annoyed.
Huffing, she turned back to Kaname with her usual imploring expression in place, but for once, he only shook his head at her.
"Zero is right, dear one. You have to choose between us."
Yuuki stared at him. Was that why he had agreed to invite Zero over, so she could choose between them?
But she had already done that two years ago, hadn't she?
She had chosen Kaname. He was a part of her real family, her newly discovered brother and fiance. She had just had a new world open up for her, fraught with dangers, full of possibilities and opportunities and new powers that were fascinating and powerful... she just hadn't realised how much Zero was a part of her life until she had to live without him for two years.
But now that he was here and Kaname was allowing her to choose again, would she choose Zero instead?
Could she?
Oh, of course she couldn't! The part of her heart that had always ached with emptiness would now be filled, but the other half wouldn't be instead. How vexing! She felt like stamping her foot again, her gaze swinging from one male to the other.
"But that's just it - I can't choose between you two," she protested, taking a couple of steps back so she could face them at the same time.
And still, they stayed silent, stubbornly and infuriatingly silent. Seeing them like this, literally standing on the same side and - for once - agreeing with each other, would be almost amusing if she weren't so exasperated at them both right now. She knew they both loved her even if one showed it openly and the other only when forced. She knew she loved them just as much, which made it impossible to choose.
Wait - didn't that mean she couldn't choose between them?
Yuuki felt her heart start to beat even faster as she stared from Kaname to Zero and then back to Kaname. So what would happen if she didn't choose?
Or if her choice was not one, but both of them?
She looked at Kaname. The young Kuran prince of purest bloodline with unmatched power and strength, revered in the vampire world. Then she turned to Zero, the young and capable hunter of untold power and strength, respected in the hunter world. Two strong and proud individuals who had always heartily disliked, if not hated, one another.
And here she was, the girl they both wanted, about to ask the impossible of them. But really, she found herself thinking irreverently, was there any better test of their love and devotion to her?
That last thought - one part primal and one part feminine - almost made her smile. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
"Very well," she said at last. "Since it is my choice to make, I choose... both of you."
As expected, both males blinked at her before giving each other shocked glances and then turning to stare at her again.
"Yuuki," Kaname began, a frown drawing his eyebrows together, but Zero cut in.
"Don't be silly! You can't have us both, you know," he scolded her.
Annoyed, Yuuki straightened to her full five feet in height and folded her arms across her chest. She tipped her chin up, eyes flashing.
"I'll tell you what is silly, Zero Kiryuu," she retorted. "Forcing me to choose between the two men I love, that's what! Onii-san is right. I love you, but I also love him."
When they continued to just stare at her, she huffed and rolled her eyes.
"I want you both in my life!" she exclaimed. "Don't you see? It's the most obvious answer!"
To be continued...
