"…What the hell are you talking about…?" Zero rasped once the shock ebbed from his body. How could he have saved Kaname's life? His, a pureblood, of all people? He murdered his fiancé as well as his sister. His amethyst eyes stayed on Kaname as he looked down at him, his lips parting to speak…
But then the blood began to bubble down the corners of his lips, choking off the air that had momentarily been able to flood into his lungs without too much effort. That bullet cut something it wasn't supposed to… and now Zero was literally drowning in his own blood. A pale look came across Kaname's as the pureblood lowered him back down onto the ground and plucked Zero's claws from his chest.
"Zero, you have to drink my blood… If you do not, then you will perish," Kaname commanded him as he rested the hunter down onto his lap, shifting him to sit up just slightly. A retort tried to choke its way through the blood, but all that came up were a few soft bubbles.
The hunter's body shivered in his arms, and he could feel the coldness starting to grip him. He was dying… He knew that he was, and there was nothing that Kaname could do about it. His eyes remained on Kaname's face for just a moment before he closed them…
A quick shake of his shoulders revived him and pulled him away from the darkness. "Zero, listen to me! If Ichiru saw you like this, how would he react?" The calmness in Kaname's voice cracked just slightly, revealing just a twinge of fear… But… what would Ichiru think about him? The amethyst eyes, already partially glazed over, opened and looked back at Kaname's face. The pureblood was tilting his head to the side, trying to drain the blood from his throat before it suffocated him.
"Are you sure this is what Ichiru would want to see? Desperately seeking to die while your brother had given his life to you just for you to live?" Kaname very nearly pleaded as he tilted Zero's head back farther, and the blood eventually lessened enough to let Zero suck a breath into his aching, deprived lungs.
There was a faint glimmer of realization that passed through Kaname's face, as if he had now finally realized that Zero would die in moments if he didn't do something to stop it. But with that anti-vampire bullet still lodged in his chest, there was no possibility of the pureblood healing his wounds.
He just wanted the suffering to end… His eyes remained on Kaname's face, wishing that he could breathe in the air long enough to let out the words to beg for him to kill the hunter… Yet the pureblood only forced a slight smile to cross his face and a soft murmur, "Now, you know I could not kill you like this…"
'…Why the hell not…!' Zero nearly groaned in exasperation. All he wanted was to die… The pureblood intended to make him suffer, instead.
But Zero was already weakening fast… The pants that gurgled through the blood had turned into weak, shallow breaths. He didn't have the strength to clear his throat any longer, and the blood that poured through his lips only multiplied as time passed. The vampire hunter needed blood…
Pureblood blood.
…Kaname's blood.
Zero felt Kaname's hands touch his back, slowly lifting him up to let his shoulder rest against his, and felt his hand slowly intertwine into his wet silver hair. Then he watched as Kaname raised his own claws, before he pierced each of them down into his neck, leaving long scratches behind to tempt the hunter.
He gulped, forcing himself to swallow the blood that had begun to rise up his throat again, and refused to show his fangs. "Come now, Zero…" Kaname prompted as he eased the hunter's head closer to his neck. The hunter's eyes stared at the small droplets of blood that slipped down from each cut, and felt the familiar burning that had eaten away at him ever since Shizuka had first bitten into his neck…
Zero wished to fight the thirst, and he tried in vain to shift his way out of Kaname's grip, but it only tightened around his body. The blood was calling to him, though… It begged for him to drink… His mouth opened slowly, revealing the milky white fangs now stained with his own blood, before they sank into Kaname's throat.
A rush of blood entered his mouth like a stream, and it made his body tremble at the ecstasy. Pureblood blood to a hunter should be poison… But after that first bite, he found himself losing the will to refuse his blood every time that it had been offered. It tasted sweet… almost heavenly. The reason to why escaped him, yet he refused to think of an explanation now.
His hand clung into Kaname's wet shirt, the fingers clutching hard into the fabric for support while he bit down deeper to force out more of the blood. Kaname winced just slightly underneath his grip but didn't force the hunter away. Instead, the pureblood let the man drink his blood, his fingertips sometimes stroking the soft silver hair in his hands…
"…Yuuki had lied to us all," Kaname murmured as Zero consumed his crimson blood. How did she lie…? Zero nearly pried his fangs out from Kaname's neck, but the hand that held his head tightened and forced his fangs to sink deeper into his neck. "I'll explain, just drink…" Kaname soothed his worries with a voice that was surprisingly calm.
Soon Zero fell silent and let his amethyst eyes close and listened to Kaname. "The pureblood that had been slaughtering the others had not been me. After she had taken control of my body, she searched to become the most powerful pureblood and would take their blood, then destroy them. She lusted for power… And she would go to any extent to gain what she wanted."
The pureblood took in a heavy breath to gather his thoughts, and then he began to speak again. "…The madness was starting to consume her. Vampire population has been dropping for the past two years, and she has been the explanation. I received an order from the vampire association… I was to kill Yuuki."
…So Yuuki had been driven into madness for her own search for power. The wound had already began to heal underneath Zero's fangs and hesitantly removed them, but Kaname was too deep in his thoughts to force him back.
"But how could I… Even if the love I had for her was destroyed by her betrayal, I could not destroy my fiancé… But I knew that there was one person that would soon come to kill her, and that person was you. …And so I waited. And soon enough, you came and rid us of her existence."
Him killing Yuuki… Saved them. …Wasn't that just a kick in the ass for the hunter. He ended up helping the race that he sought to destroy…
Slowly, Zero's grasp loosened on Kaname's shirt just as he finished his story, and his fingers soon fell away. The calls of rest was already pouring into his head, and the blood worked better than a mother's lullaby to lull him to sleep…
"But Zero… I cannot afford to let you die just yet. Your life is not over, and… you will soon have a reason to live on with your life." …Zero didn't care any longer… All he wanted was to rest and hopefully not wake up any longer. All he wanted… was to be with Ichiru again…
"Rest now, Zero…" a murmur echoed in his head as his thoughts slowly slipped out of his grasp. The murmur made his hearth ache… His amethyst eyes opened to see the blurred form of Kaname kneeling beside him as the vampire laid him back down on the ground. He could see the soft forms of the rain continually dripping down from the skies, wetting the ground and the pureblood that moved his body so that it shielded him from the rain…
But right beside Kaname was a white for…
His eyes tried to focus on the white form before he managed to catch amethyst eyes
…Ichiru.
He felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight, but the form was barely there, fading in and out with the rest of the world… He tried to focus his eyes on the form, but the tiredness pulled on his body. The amethyst eyes closed, his breathing shallowed as the same voice murmured through his head. The voice was so achingly familiar…
"Happy birthday, big brother… Don't forget me, okay?" the voice began, the voice soft and nearly the same as his own. "I'm still here with you, even if you don't see me all the time…"
Ichiru was here… He wasn't gone… His heart swelled with join in his chest, but even the joy couldn't fight away the tiredness that forced the darkness back in.
'I… won't forget, Ichiru…'
His brother's words echoed in his head while his body gave way to the blackness to allow him to finally slip into peaceful and silent sleep…
I will update a few times today! Just a treat for everyone who waited so long for this!
-J
