The Vampire Knight

Rating: T (coarse language, profanity, ideas generally unsuitable for those not open-minded enough to accept them)

Genre: Romance/Adventure

Plot Summary: Zero retired from being a Vampire Knight because of his agonizing, headache-causing visions. And now, he's being blackmailed into guarding the heir of the Kuran family, Kuran Kaname.

Thanks to all who are reading, reviewed, alerted, and favorited. Congratulations to the people who figured out the Harry Potter reference. Sorry for a late update too. The fourth chapter may take a bit longer to write, as I do need plot development with Zero and Kaname. Also, after you've finished reading, do tell me if it was good or bad! This was my first attempt at...making them tease each other.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.


~~o~~

'Change is the only constant. Hanging on is the only sin.' - Denise McCluggage

~~o~~


By a silent departure, Kaname was pretty serious. He wasn't sure he wanted Zero as his companion, but he had already requested his Knight's presence and couldn't go back on his word to take Zero with him. Either way, he was hoping that they could put what happened yesterday behind them. Kaname was undoubtedly still slightly discomfited at Zero's blunt statement of him 'coming first before everything else.' It sounded like the silver-headed vampire had been declaring his love for Kaname. Afterwards, Zero also recognized the implications of his words and quietly said that he had not meant for it to sound that way. The words sounded unconvincing to the both of them.

"Zero, are you prepared?" he asked, rousing Zero from his sleep by shaking his shoulder.

Zero was splayed across the couch, his eyes closed as he breathed in through his nose quietly, his bangs hiding part of his face. He yawned as he was woken from his sleep and opened an eye in a weary fashion. "Why did you wake me so early? Am I prepared for what?"

Kaname wanted to roll his eyes, but he was beyond that now.

Zero's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, okay, it's morning already?"

"I would not have roused you from sleep if it had not been morning," Kaname replied.

The silver-headed Knight rose from his relaxed position and stretched, his muscles stiff as hell. "Finished packing?"

Gesturing to the bag on the table, Kaname gave him a look that said, 'Do you honestly think I wouldn't have prepared for this?' "Have you finished packing?"

Zero laughed. "Of course not. I didn't bother to."

"And why not?"

Mimicking Kaname's actions from earlier, Zero gestured to himself and said to Kaname, with the same look of 'Do you honestly think I would have prepared for this?', "I lived three hundred years in the wild. In the forest. With no change of clothes and a stolen gun to keep myself safe. I doubt it's going to take more than one hundred to find your uncle. And I hope your uncle isn't as powerful as two starving, raving mountain lions chasing you while you've just woken up."

Kaname sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "At least pack another change of clothes. I'm not looking forward to waiting for you to wash your clothes while being stark-naked."

Zero smirked. "Why not?"

The Pureblood stared at him with a cold gaze. "Because I was raised as a modest being."

"Modest doesn't even modify you, Kaname." Zero took Kaname's wrists in hand. "Try imperious."

"When have I ever demonstrated that I am not modest to you?" he replied.

"The way you carry yourself, Kaname," Zero said, pulling Kaname closer by his wrists, "is anything but modest."

The door to the office opened just as Kaname prepared to step back and shove Zero aside, and Yuki stepped into the room. She stopped short, however, when she saw her brother and his Knight. Zero turned around at the sound of a door opening, and Kaname looked at her from standing behind Zero, successfully attempting to mask the horror in his eyes at her finding them standing like this. She looked ready to bolt, her face a deep blush as she saw the two.

Zero stepped back silently, with as much dignity as he could muster, and turned around to smile at her. He bowed politely. Then he turned to Kaname.

"I think I'll go speak with my brother," he said quietly, and left the room.

~~o~~

When they left, Kaname was in a silent, brooding mode, and Zero was entertaining a freaking bruise on his jaw. Ichiru hadn't taken it well, the fact that Zero would be leaving again, five days after coming back to him, but Zero reassured his twin that he'd be back, because no one could kill freaking Zero Kiryu. And then that's where Ichiru punched him in the face on instinct for him being so proud, leaving a pretty giant bruise that successfully injured Zero's pride too, but he wasn't really going to get up hyped up because of a small little bruise…that turned out to be a giant bruise that hurt like hell fifty minutes after leaving the Kuran Manor.

Surprises, to Zero, were almost never pleasant.

They walked side-by-side, awkwardly. Zero wasn't sure whether or not to walk ahead of Kaname—which probably wouldn't have been wise—or stand abreast with him, but he certainly wasn't going to stand behind him like a servant.

"Hey, Kuran."

Kaname glanced to him. "So it's Kuran now?"

"What do you mean?"

The Pureblood looked back to the path with a blasé expression. "At the Square, you called me Kaname. Now you've decided to be formal?"

Zero sighed. "Well, I'm sorry if you wanted me to be formal before. But I just thought it would have been a bad idea to call you Kuran in case it might have given you the impression that I was some sort of arrogant bastard…"

"You care for first impressions?"

For a moment, Zero stopped in his tracks as he realized what they both just exchanged to each other. "Do I?" He never thought much of first impressions. If someone though he was an asshole, then that was fine with him. If someone thought him a sweetheart, then…he'd just reluctantly let it slide. But… "Wait." He held up his hand to the light and blinked. "Hey, Kura—Kaname, are you sure it's alright for you to be walking out in daylight? We could wait until night, so we could run."

He noted that Kaname's pace was really slow. As in, a pained slow, as if some sort of little minor injury was hindering him from walking in his long strides.

"No, I am all right. I simply thought that your injuries would impede your mobility." Kaname didn't even look up once as he kept moving. "Thusly, I have maintained this slow gait to ensure that you are not bothered by your marks."

Zero stared at him and continued walking, catching up to him. He hadn't been expecting that sort of answer. "You… You… None of my injuries were anywhere beneath my abdomen. Let's run."

Kaname finally turned to him look at him, and by 'look at him', Zero meant analyze. "You were limping though."

"Because I was carrying my twin."

Garnet-colored eyes narrowed. "Are you positively sure that you have not suffered any wound to your lower body?"

"Absolutely sure."

A playful, teasing—or mocking; Zero wasn't sure how to interpret it—light appeared in those eyes, but Kaname's face remained emotionless. "Well then. Let us run."

Zero wasn't even sure how they ended up like this, competing against each other like little children, seeing who could run the fastest. In the end, Kaname beat him by two inches as they reached some nearby heavily populated town. Zero skidded to a halt, regaining his balance as he stared out from behind a tree. Kaname leaned against another one, relaxed and glancing at the town uncaringly as if he would have preferred not to enter it.

So, naturally, Zero said, "Let's go in the town."

To which Kaname replied, "No."

"Why not?"

Kaname fixed him with a serious gaze. "I did not bring you along, Zero, so we could go touring every single town and city in the land."

"And I didn't come along, Kaname, so I'd get stuck in the woods with you forever, because you know that I've been living in several places that are the identical siblings of the spot we are currently standing in right now, and I've been living there for three hundred years."

Both were strong-willed individuals; it was just a matter of whose intimidation won out.

But Kaname was a bit too lenient. Years of having Yuki beg him to take her to festivals out in the smaller towns caused him to develop a tolerance for these sort of things. He honestly wished that Zero was like Aido; at least the blond-haired vampire would actually heed his every command and even ask for another task. And also, it would have been easier to order Aido around. With Zero, he was quite sure that if he tried that, there would be Bloody Rose, one of the instruments of her heart, pointed at his temple.

"Kiryu," Kaname said firmly, resorting to last names so he wouldn't relent. "What is so good about that town that you wish to visit it?"

Zero looked faraway, in his own little world, with his eyes lost in nostalgia. "I used to take Ichiru to this place after I finished one of the tasks that every Vampire Knight has to complete."

"Thirty-three tasks."

The silver-headed Knight nodded. "However, I took on the family-brunt package deal and took on sixty-six tasks, along with another one because the Association thought I was giving them cheek."

"You probably were," replied Kaname, fighting a smile.

Grinning, Zero placed his index finger to his lips. "Don't tell anyone!" he mock-whispered. "My secret will be out then." He rolled his eyes to show he was kidding. "The Association council members are assholes. Kaien is just head of the Court, but he's not anywhere as bad as the actual council members. The tasks fluctuated in level, I guess. There were so many different tasks to do, like gather a scroll from this old pawn-shop owner, or kill seventy level E's. I completed all of them."

Kaname inspected Zero's expression closely. "And how many years did it take you?"

Zero shrugged. "I didn't do them in order, so it must have been somewhere near seventeen years to all of them."

"Impressive," remarked Kaname. "But if it takes us seventeen years to find Rido, I'm not sure I'll be saying that again."

Sighing, Zero held Kaname's gaze. "Where is this uncle of yours anyway? Do you even have a lead on where he is, or where he's going?"

Kaname glanced to the sky. "I have my suspicions that he may or may not have gone to the Mound of Izien or the Cave of Unpleasant Truths."

"That cave sounds unpleasant," Zero said jokingly.

Kaname didn't look to amused; in fact, he nodded solemnly. "It is unpleasant. My father once went to the cave, and he found it stifling and inducing claustrophobia. Perhaps we will have to go there, if he is not at the Mound of Izien."

"Kaname, I think we may have to go to the cave."

"Why?" There was no contempt or suspicion in Kaname's voice; just curiosity.

"Because the vision I had… It was in a cave," Zero replied.

And then, before either of them could do anything, a particularly painful vision struck Zero, and he collapsed against the tree, sliding down the front of it until he finally sat there, splayed slightly on the ground, his hands shaking with the effort to restrain his agony. His mind was broken down as Kaname knelt down next to him and placed two fingers to his left temple. Zero started to cough and forced himself to stay still as his body shook and hit the tree several times.

"Zero," Kaname said. "Can you hear me?"

They were in a dark cave—or tunnel—with flickering lamp lights at the ceiling. This was not a mine, but a cave created by the vampires who used to inhabit the place. Someone—Kaname—stepped forward into the blinking light and said back to the shadow, "I believe it is safe."

"Kaname?" It was Zero's voice.

"Yes?"

"I…"

"What?" Kaname looked only slightly annoyed, but more concerned than worried.

Zero stepped forward into the light, his shirt torn, and the skin beneath laced with bruises and cuts, and a particularly large gash on the left of his abdomen. His jaw had one bruise, and a thin, faded trail of blood started at the corner of his mouth. He looked exhausted, but his lavender eyes were filled with silent determination as he took Kaname's hand and he pulled him back into the shadows. Then, a quiet voice spoke out, and it could not be identified as whose it was.

"I love you."

Zero choked and stopped coughing, staring in disbelief at Kaname, who now looked sufficiently worried for Zero's health. He removed his palm from his mouth and shook his head, trying to clear his head of the images. "No way," he said to himself, almost in awe. "How the hell is that even possible?"

"What, Zero?" asked Kaname, unsettled by Zero's staring. "What's wrong?"

"How do I—never mind. Never mind," said Zero, wiping his forehead of sweat that had beaded there. "Just forget it." He coughed once more and attempted to stand. "Let's just keep moving."

"No, we'll go into the town."

"What?"

Kaname wasn't as much concerned as he was now irritated by Zero's uncomprehending expression. "We will go into the town, you will get rest, and we will set out at night." He pulled Zero up to his feet. "What was your vision about?"

Zero looked to the ground, biting his lip. "It was nothing of importance."

"Zero." Kaname's voice was a no-nonsense voice that reminded him a lot of Yagari when he was sober. "Tell me; otherwise, I will force it out of you."

"And how would you do that?"

Zero's secret challenge—his competitive tone and gaze—did not go unnoticed, and Kaname's eyes flashed darker with a grin.

"I'll drink your blood."

"Asshole," Zero growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to tell you, even if you threaten to drink my blood."

Kaname laughed at him. "You will be telling me if I drink your blood, because your memories will come from your blood system to mine. Now tell me, Kiryu, before I sink my fangs into your neck; what was your vision about?"

Zero grumbled, glaring at the grass and wishing that it would just burn or wilt away under the intensity of his gaze. "We're going to the cave. I had a vision about the cave and ended up seeing the two of us inside the cave, looking for Rido." Believe that's it, Zero thought. Believe that's all there is, believe that's it, believe that's it, believe that's it…

"And you thought there was nothing of importance in that?" asked Kaname, looking at him sternly.

Zero rolled his eyes. "Well, I already told you we were going to the cave."

"So that means you're withholding something from me," Kaname mused, sitting back on his heels and contemplating Zero's expression as he gazed at him. Zero looked at him as if annoyed and shocked at the same time. "Why must you hide things from me, Zero? This could be the difference in life or death for us."

"There's nothing left to say," Zero replied, standing. "I'm going into the town now; you can just wait in the woods, if you're planning to mull over what I'm hiding from you. I'm not hiding anything."

Believe it, believe it, believe it…

Kaname sighed and rose to his feet as well. "Very well. Since you are not well, I will not press matters."

"No matters to press." Zero glowered at him.

Kaname only gave him a knowing look and led him towards the town.

~~o~~

When Kaname and Zero checked into a tavern, they honestly did not expect to find that it was the only one in town, and there was only room available. And guess what? There was only one bed in that one room, only one pillow in that one room, only one blanket in that one room, only one table in that one room, and no chair. Zero would have much rather continued trekking out in the wild until the next day, but Kaname didn't seem to look forward to meeting daylight face-to-face. Note: they didn't know beforehand, and the tavern owner didn't really seem to care about telling them either.

With a sigh, Zero unlocked the door to their room and tossed his jacket onto the only table.

Then, he turned to survey the room, and his expression turned to disbelief as he stood in front of the door, successfully blocking the view from Kaname who stood behind him.

"What. The. Hell" were the only three words he could muster to express his incredulity.

"What is it?" Kaname asked, and when Zero did not reply, but continued to stand there, he felt a growing irritation and impatience and snapped, "Zero. Move aside."

"I'm going to complain to the owner," Zero answered, and strode away from the door, down the window-lighted hallway and faded green carpet, his face murderous.

Once Kaname turned to look at the room, he could understand why Zero suddenly froze. There was only one bed, and it was small enough to fit only one person—two, if they pressed up close together. Kaname had experience with these types of beds; once, he shared a small one with Yuki, and it was the biggest mistake of his life. She thrashed and turned in her sleep and kicked him off of the bed, making him stay far away from small beds forever. There was only one pillow too, and only one blanket, which meant sharing unless one of them opted to stay awake. But at least there was a table. But it was just one table too.

"Zero!" Kaname called down the hallway. "There's no point! The man said this was the only room!"

Not but a second after, Zero's shout replied to his statement. "Like hell! I know there's more than one room available; I was just humoring him, but if he wants to play it this way, he should be prepared to lose!"

Exasperated, Kaname stepped into the room and placed his bag onto the table, removing his glasses from the bag and placing them on the bridge of his nose. Then, he pulled a map from the bag as well and sat down on the edge of the bed, setting it over his lap and examining it.

A moment later, Zero came back, positively fuming with his eyes burning in annoyance. Kaname noted that there was no blood on his hands, so Zero must have lost 'the game.'

"What did the man say?" Kaname asked calmly.

"He's a fucking bastard."

Amused, Kaname crossed his arms over his chest. "He said that?"

"No, but he knows he is," Zero replied stiffly, seating himself on the desk. "Not even a chair. Just a table."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled, attempting to calm himself down, with visible effort as he ran a hand through his messy silver hair.

"We'll just have to make do with it," Zero finally said. "Maybe, tomorrow, we could leave so early that I could just sneak up to the front desk and punch him in the face." He carefully lifted the bag from the table and placed it on the bed, next to Kaname. "You can sleep on the bed; I'll just sleep on the table."

Kaname gave him an 'are you serious' look and started to laugh again.

"What the hell is it now?" Zero asked petulantly. "Why are you laughing?"

"It's common for a Knight to sleep with the one he is protecting," Kaname responded, smirking.

"Well, news to you, Pureblood, but I'm not going to sleep with you." Zero looked at him pointedly, sitting with his legs crossed underneath him. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, watching Kaname intently, waiting for his next reply.

"I didn't mean that type of sleep, you nincompoop."

Zero glowered at him. "I didn't mean that type of sleep either, bastard. I'm not going to sleep with you or sleep with you."

Kaname shrugged and looked back down at the map. "Fine with me, Kiryu." Faintly, Zero noted that the two of them used surnames with each other when they disagreed with each other, or teased each other. "If you prefer the table to a bed, have fun waking up with sore tonight." Kaname's eyes then lit up, and he looked delighted as he chuckled to himself, discovering his private little joke. "Either way, if you sleep with me or not, you'll be sore all over."

Appalled, Zero threw the nearest thing he could find at Kaname. "You dirty-minded bastard!" Under his breath, he muttered, "And I thought I was the wicked one, Kuran…"

Without even blinking, Kaname sent it flying to the other side of the room. It had been an inkwell; now it shattered all over the paint-chipped beige wall and trickled black ink down the surface. Zero's gaze was fast; he saw that Kaname hadn't even raised a finger.

"Hmm." Zero tapped his chin with his own finger, musing over what he just saw. So Kaname was telekinetic. "If you can send it flying against a wall, can you send it flying back?"

As soon as he saw Kaname's mischievous face, he knew that he'd regret his words. Ink went splashing onto his shirt, and some of it flecked his cheek with black as well. With a set scowl, he took the hem of his shirt, lifted it, and wiped his face off, ignoring the fact that he had just bared his abdomen to Kaname. After all, the bastard had said some suggestive things; this wasn't nearly as bad as that.

"You didn't have to provide a hands-on demonstration," Zero muttered. "Does this room even have a washroom? Or a bathroom? Or a toilet?"

Kaname pointed to the door next to the table. "That may be it. But if it leads into the next room, I suggest you not check. Maybe you should listen at the door first." He still looked extremely entertained at the fact that he had splattered Zero with ink.

Zero noted that his hand was slick with black ink. Nonchalantly, he got off of the table, and as he walked past Kaname, he smeared Kaname's neck with ink as well, quickly leaping aside when Kaname flung the maps away, threw his glasses onto the bed, and tackled Zero, growling. His eyes glowed red, but with more of an excitement for games, like a boy who had just been told that someone would play a game of tag with him.

Of course, Zero was the one who ended up hitting the floor, right next to the door.

And as he got up, he knocked heads with Kaname, who had landed on him and tried to catch his balance.

"What the hell?" Zero asked, grimacing as he held his forehead.

Kaname grinned and grasped Zero's collar, pulling him up so they were nose-to-nose. He sat on Zero's torso and used his other hand to point at his neck. "If you didn't notice, Kiryu, you marked my neck with ink."

Zero coughed, and the cough suspiciously sounded like 'bastard.' "If you didn't notice, Kuran, my entire shirt is marked with ink because you splattered it all over me!"

Kaname feigned an innocent look. "Did you see me throw any ink at you, Zero?"

"With your eyes," Zero replied. "I simply repaid your efforts."

Then, they found out exactly what the door next to the table was for. An annoyed woman stepped out, and Kaname and Zero both realized it was a door adjoining the two rooms together. She glared at the both of them.

"You two are so fucking loud!" she exclaimed, brushing back her fiery hair with a hand and snaring the curls with her fingers. "Tone it down—"

She stopped short when her mind registered the two of them in their…position.

"Damn, it's always the good-looking ones," she muttered, and turned back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Zero gave Kaname a confused look, but Kaname, understanding, got off of Zero with slight embarrassment.

"What the hell was with that lady?" Zero asked, rising up from the floor and leaning against the table.

Kaname shook his head. "It's nothing." He pretended to yawn and grimaced when he felt the uncomfortable ink on his neck again. "I'm going to sleep right after I wash this ink off of my neck." He glared at Zero. "Now you know it's not a bathroom."

Zero laughed. "Yeah, now I know."