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Anathema: a person or thing detested or loathed.

Chapter 2

"Why didn't you say this before?" Ruka broke away from her grasp on him. She had needed it more than Akatsuki. She looked up to find she must have pulled him forward, and found his burnt orange eyes hard to divert from.

"I had no intention of getting in the way... but I have always had feelings for you. Since we were young..."

"And- I've been rather rotten, haven't I?"

"You wished to support Lord Kaname, I don't quite see the problem."

"Would you just be open with me, already? You act as if I couldn't taste it..." Ruka felt her temper rising.

"Taste my love for you Ruka?" Akatsuki looked her dead on. "I warned him once, if he let you down I would leave his side instantly."

"He didn't let me down...I know now I am not meant for him."

"And if Lady Yuki was never awakened?"

"I still would not be meant for him." Ruka lifted her hand to his face. "Let me, please just-"

"Hey! So, have you two noticed anything strange about our front door?" Hanabusa barged into the room. His eyes widened a bit, soaking in the view of Akatsuki, now hovering over Ruka who was reclined on the couch, the smell of blood mixing into the air.

"No. What is it?" Akatsuki said flatly.

Hanabusa coughed. " Ahem...Well while I expected to see my driver approaching I instead found a particularly E ranked silver haired man approaching our home..." Hanabusa crossed his arms.

"And you didn't report this to me first?"

Hanabusa swallowed and turned to see Kaname standing behind him.

"Oh, but I was, I just thought it was a little strange considering I was quite near positive you were done with him...or something like that... I thought perhaps I had missed a memo?" Hanabusa mildly attempted to redeem himself.

Kaname's eyes went to Akatsuki and Ruka, whose position on the couch hadn't yet changed. Ruka twitched for a moment, but Akatsuki had her wrist pinned to the soft velvet of the fainting couch.

"While I never quite consider anyone completely useless, I suppose, one, he could be here to kill us all, or, the more likely, is perhaps is acting as a messenger for Kaien Cross? Please respectably find out which one." Kaname looked rather coldly to Aido. He nodded, quickly departed, biting his tongue.

Kaname turned to leave. He had known that the time would come for Zero's return. There was no way, after what he had left for Zero at that school, that he would be satisfied there alone.

No, the only other man who had ever managed to make him jealous would never quite leave their lives would he? At least not until he died off.

All the same it was overdue for the Association to bring in cavalry. This was Headmaster Cross' hand. Cross knew no other hunter would be as sympathetic...or rather involved as Zero was. This was a check-up. For Yuki and likely to try to establish some kind of order again.

Yuki chose him first. Before dear Zero was even in the picture. He took a chess piece out of his jacket pocket and placed it back on the board. He did not expect to have to put pawns back onto the board so soon, but things were beginning to build again. Suspicions rising. Considerations to make.

Zero approached the house. He'd made sure nobody had followed him. It had nearly been a week's time, taking the long way up the hills, off road.

He had sufficed his hunger with some blood bags he packed; a new method that Headmaster Cross had given to him, a donation given by an inside source he had at a nearby hospital.

Just enough for the trip.

He had not gotten much farther than the approaching steps, a long walkway etched into the hill, when he nearly stepped into one of Kaname's minions.

"What pray tell are you doing here? Uninvited? This place is supposed to be secret." Hanabusa crossed his arms, looking nearly as devious as when he had first interrogated Yuki.

"It's a mansion in the hills, this is not covert. Thanks for the welcome."

"Hidden in trees. Trees higher than the mansion. With every soul either forgetting or under Lord Kaname's hand. If you think Lord Kaname is going to let you in, you-"

"He doesn't have to let me. I'm here by means of the Hunter Association. Leave me alone, and let me by." Zero went to move past him.

"And if I don't let you?" Hanabusa froze Zero's foot to the ground.

"I'll kill you." Zero, sick of playing games, took out the bloody rose and aimed it at Hanabusa. "And you can thank your lovely Lord Kaname for giving me the ability to do so."

"Hey, hey, relax. Look I'm off to a gig, and frankly I'm an idol, so I can't not show up. Someone like me dies off and I just don't end up some unmarked E-rank grave." Hanabusa let the ice shatter near Zero's feet. "But...if you think we're just going to let you near Lady Yuki and screw this up-"

"Why don't you leave what she does or doesn't allow up to her?" Zero scoffed.

"You don't get it to you? They are Pure-bloods. They are not on your level. You're a vampire-vampire hunter. You have nothing to offer but betrayal: A lowlife killing the uppers. Pure-bloods are the reason you can even kill-"

"Say it again." Zero put his gun up to the centre of Hanabusa's forehead. "Say I am an E level. Do I look like one to you?"

"I'm simply leaving for my photo shoot. If you are here as you say you are from Headmaster Cross, I suggest you speak to Lord Kaname first." Hanabusa turned his head away and walked down the stairs past Zero.

He didn't know why he didn't just kill them all.

Yuki. That was why.

He looked up at the mansion. That blonde aristocrat had been right. It was snugged into so many trees one couldn't find the home unless they were looking for it. Stone steps were rocks carved into the hillside until the large stairs of the house came to join it.

She had been living here, like a married couple with him. After being stuck at that school by himself for so long, it was simple: they had been supposed to graduate like regular students. Yuki, only two years ago, was supposed to just be a normal girl. He was supposed to have found a way to suppress this damn disease and graduate too.

He winced. It wasn't a disease.

Yuki was anything but diseased.

This was what was left of it. Nothing was irreversible now.

Zero put his hand up to the door, ignoring the knocker and knocked.

He was half surprised to see Kaname standing there. He expected a butler or something.

"So, sent by Cross I suppose?"

"Yea. Can I come in?"

"Of course." Kaname backed out of the doorway into the hallway entrance of the house. "So, I'm supposing also that the Association wants something?"

"They want order. They also want to know what you're planning. You have your rights as purebloods but-"

"We don't plan on ruling with an iron fist. Yuki is not that kind of girl either."

"And yourself? Iron or not, you sure play innocent until all of the cards are revealed." Zero was still standing not far from the entry way, his hands in his pockets, but also severely aware of the gun hanging from his belt.

"I trust Cross and I am thankful he is the one associated as the lead of the Hunters...I will keep him in the loop."

"Then here. A letter. He wants direct contact." Zero passed it on.

Kaname took it and slipped it into his jacket pocket. "As do we. Hiding is causing us some issues as to our number of blood pills...blood bags are sparce, and Yuki also hates the idea of stealing blood bags from humans. I don't want her to grow weak – while I'm sure she'd take mine, I need to contact him to address our issue. Perhaps a trade is in order."

Zero watched him turn to walk away. Yuki had always wanted his blood. A tinge of fury passed him. However, it was funny... after all of this pent up anger, and to see his face somehow in this room the air simply remained stale and cold. It was all too calm. "No blood reserves?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Kaname stayed looking towards the main door. "Will that be a problem?"

"No." Zero said bluntly.

"As for a room, Ataksuki will be down soon to show you it. I suppose this was not all your visit entailed?"

"No, unfortunately I will be here for a while longer."

"In that case, I will need Ruka to disguise the area with an illusion for a short while...I must be sure nobody followed you."

"Nobody followed me."

"I wish to trust you, but in honesty I cannot."

"I suppose I could say the same." Zero crossed his arms.

Kaname simply nodded and left.

He entered their room again and found Yui brushing her hair. It was early in the evening, but all the same, he didn't question her sleeping patterns. It allowed him to work and see her between.

"What is going on Kaname?"

"We have a visitor. But first, allow me to rest for a minute with you. I had to attend to some business before you woke." He took the brush from her hand and took a strand of hair into his hand, feeling against the smooth silk of her brunette locks.

"A visitor?"

"Yes. Yuki, did you ever regret leaving that school?"

"No... although I'd love to help them re-establish themselves with dear Headmaster Cross, I chose to leave with you."

Kaname smiled a bit. "You are not deprived, are you?"

"Of what?" She blushed a bit.

"Blood of course."

"Well, no but-"

Soon Kaname had put her gently back onto the bed, after opening his shirt wider than needed. "Don't deny yourself again. I'll let you have me whenever need be."