A/N: Hey, hey! Long time, no see! Here I am with the last chapter, finally! I promise I didn't forget about all my wonderful supporters, or this fic. Times just have been really hard lately; I recently lost my job and last year I bought my first horse but had to sell her in July due to some physical things that kept her from doing anything but walking under saddle. So in September I bought a new horse, Lila, who is my very first project; she wasn't broke to ride and now I'm training her myself. FYI, Lila is short for Delilah—where she was before she had three boyfriends, and now she has a whole herd of them. I'm thinking about putting videos of her training progress on YouTube, so if anyone is interested in that I'll upload them and put the link to my channel in my profile.
Of course, my usual comments about the chapter and the series: I am very truly and sincerely sorry that it's taken me this long to get this far. I think this chapter will nicely wrap up the whole story and satisfy a lot of my readers, from what I'm reading in the comments. Thank you to everyone who has commented, and I'm very sorry that I don't get around to replying to all of them. I don't have internet at home or I would make it more of a priority to respond and finish chapters.
I am in the process of planning out my next series, which will be another Kaname/Zero AU fic; the first chapter is almost finished, and I'm going to try to get it up to around chapter three before I start posting it. Basically you get to see Kaname as a human with a family and Zero with a hate on for the Yakuza; of course, only drama and suspense can ensue. Hopefully. So keep a look out for that after the epilogue of ATWK; this is the last chapter before the epilogue, so we're almost there. Yay!
And as always, thank you all for reading, and please enjoy this chapter!
xXXx
And Then We Kiss
Chapter Nine
His lips were on mine, softly, while his thumb caressed the side of my neck and for a moment I considered relaxing; but this was Kaname Kuran. Without a second thought he had killed both Ichiru and Shizuka, and I was most undoubtedly next. There was no way I could relax in this situation. But his warmth, so close to me... it was so cathartic. I felt his Will retreat from its constrictive hold around me and suddenly I could breathe again. I sighed against him, pressing back into the kiss as the hand on my neck came around to stroke my hair, the other wrapping around my waist and pulling me closer. He tilted his head a little more, pressing in closer and deepening the kiss. It seemed to last forever, the heat growing between us, and I couldn't believe myself when I allowed my arms to gently encircle his waist. This was wrong and I knew it.
He was supposed to be trying to kill me.
Instead he pulled away and took my hands in his, lacing our fingers as his forehead touched mine, eyes fluttering shut. I couldn't look away from his perfect face, cemented in place with a newfound fear. There was no doubt about what he was trying to do. "I know, Zero. Aidou, Ichiru, Shizuka... I know now. I understand." His deep, husky voice made my heart hammer into my ribcage and my stomach twisted, coiling up into my throat.
"You do?" My voice mimicked my feelings, weak and strained, barely a whisper. This made Kaname smile, his lips claiming mine again, briefly.
"Of course. Jealousy can be a horrid, ugly monster, can't it?"
I tried to swallow, but everything had gone dry. "Yes. It can."
When Kaname opened his eyes, staring straight into mine, I felt as if I'd been stabbed through the chest with a harpoon of pure terror. I couldn't tell if the look he was giving was lust or rage with the way his eyes burned, but the corners of his mouth turned up when he examined my expression. I supposed my fear tasted sweet to his senses as he took my lips again with an almost desperate hunger, and he purposely wiped the remainder of Shizuka's blood down the side of my face and through my hair, laughing quietly as I trembled. With that, it was plain to see what it was in his eyes. His hand cupped the side of my face, cradling it with fingers just barely touching my skin; I watched his eyes as he watched mine, and my body shook uncontrollably.
"You're shaking. Is something the matter, Zero? You have what you've always wanted." Kaname paused to lean in, dragging his razor-sharp fangs along the shell of my left ear. "I'm yours, exclusively."
I couldn't breathe. The air was stuck in my throat and it gave me a thick, heady feeling like I was going to pass out soon. My eyes burned, watered, spilled over, and finally I heaved in a breath as my chest convulsed and my jaw clenched. What was this whitewash that rushed through my nerves and set everything on blistering cold fire? I was scared. Terrified. Petrified, even. He reached up, cupped my face with his hands and brushed my tears away with his thumbs, kissing each of my eyes gently. It was when he pulled me into his chest and cradled my head, nuzzling into my hair that I felt stupid. Not for being a coward and crying, but for believing that everything would just fall into place if I eliminated all the competition. Kaname was the worst kind of landmine to step on—he might go off, and he might not. At this point it was stupid of me not to know that. It was stupid of me not to realise that this was exactly why I was escaping with Ichiru, even though I would have killed to have Kaname to myself before.
"Don't cry. Or is it that you're too elated to keep it all contained?"
No. This was never how I wanted it to happen. I didn't want Ichiru to die, or Shizuka; and I really didn't want to be here. I wanted to say it, but it wouldn't leave my throat. My heart pounded and my nerves felt fuzzy, standing in this moment as my tears soaked into his shirt and he held me close, kissing my hair. These were like the times he'd held Ichiru, that I'd been jealous enough of to tell Kaname that he'd been making plans to leave and had told me about them. As a punishment Ichiru was locked up in the tower—that hadn't been my intention either. I had just wanted Kaname to stop sleeping with him. And Aidou... when Hanabusa's head rolled, when that sickeningly sweet sound filled the air, when his body rolled down the staircase, spewing blood in every direction, and the rest of the staff got down on their knees to clean it up... I couldn't help but grin sadistically as the purest of happiness bubbled inside me. And then Kaname took my hand, laced our fingers and squeezed gently, whispering those words to me before he led me away to the bedroom and he treated me like his Prince.
I wondered if I was really any better than Kaname was. I wondered if what I was feeling was really fear... if it wasn't some kind of pure joy that radiated through my body and forced the tears, paralyzing me with beauteous elation. He was mine now, wasn't he? What did it matter who had to die for me to get what I wanted? Hadn't I been kicked down enough? And if I could be the same landmine as Kaname was, then wouldn't the effect be diminished or even cancelled out? If we were the same, then what would I have to worry about?
The answer to all these questions was plain and simple. This was exactly what I'd wanted.
I took his hands decisively in my own, laced our fingers, kissed each of his knuckles, and when I looked up through my long lashes and into his eyes, he was smiling. His eyes were illuminated by the sun where it slept soundly on the horizon, slowly giving way to the moon's mysterious and black domain; and I leaned in to catch his lips.
"Ah. There you are," he said quietly, his eyes softening, and his arm encircled my waist, turning to let us back into the mansion. I stepped in ahead of him with confidence and eyed the staff members who had gathered in the entrance hall at the foot of the grand staircase. They eyed me back with uncertainty.
Yagari stood front and center, his look almost mournful; then he huffed and looked away, leaving me there with Kaname while the rest of the staff began to disperse. Kaname and I walked forward into the parting crowd and I heard Takuma's voice as he went to comfort Yagari, but was obviously rejected. He was pissed off that I had resumed my proper place at Kaname's side as his Queen. I was the one that Kaname needed, and no one else; maybe Yagari was jealous, or maybe he'd liked me better before he knew the truth. That remains to be seen.
At the top of the stairs, Kaname turned and addressed his staff with a cold lexus, his face devoid of any emotion. "Let this be a lesson to all of you. You are expendable. Anyone who double crosses me or betrays me, or who speaks of me in less than exhalted terms will be executed." There was a moment of silence. I watched them for a reaction besides fear, which I could almost taste in the thickness of the air. "Have the mess cleaned spotless before midnight or heads will roll."
We turned back to walk away and had made it only a few steps before the sound of heavy footfall had us glancing back. Yagari stood at the base of the stairs. "Master." He choked the word out. "What about Zero?"
"What about Zero...?"
"He's the one who's had it out for you since the beginning; the rest of us have been trying to please you while he plans his escape, using us as pawns in his little game." Yagari's eyes locked onto mine and my eyebrows came down. Maybe he really was jealous. I didn't see how; I knew how Yagari would truly feel if he were in his right mind. Cage life was getting to him, not to me.
"You know nothing of the situation. I have my own idea of how to deal with Zero. Now get back to work, filthy mutt."
We turned around once again and kept walking despite him calling after us. I felt a little less sure of myself than before, but I kept my body close to his with his arm around me as we headed for his suite in quiet companionship. Once there, he sat with me on the bed, turned my body toward him and began to undress me like a little porcelain doll, revealing smooth white skin that was marred only by the stitched cut in my side which burned bright red. .
He pulled me closer to him then, brought our lips together once more, much more passionately that he ever had before this. "I see now. If I had known from the beginning this never would have had to happen." He resumed the kiss, resting me down on his silk sheets and brushing silver strands of hair out of my eyes. Gently his fingers feathered over my body, his lips moving from mine down to my neck where they massaged in an act almost mimicking the drawing of blood; I moaned quietly for him, fingers winding into his hair and legs parting to accept his body closer. One of his hands found the button on my pants, unfastened it and slipped inside. Before long I was panting and rocking into him ferverously.
"Zero..." His voice was husky and breathy. "Do you really want to be with me forever?"
I took a breath in, opened my mouth to answer. "..."
