Misery Loves Company Chapter 10: According To Plan, a vampire knight fanfic

Misery Loves Company - A Vampire Knight Fanfiction

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone or anything from Vampire Knight as made by Matsuri Hino.

Author's Notes: Hey! I think this story will be a bit long in terms of chappies! I'm very excited! I have like... more than one problem for our heroes to deal with! One of them was revealed last chappie at the end- Zero is dying! o.o

Chappie Warning: Confusion on your part. (I hope not, though!)

Enjoy!

Chapter 10- According To Plan

"Aido, what do you make of this?" Kaname asked the blonde noble, his voice laden with worry and anxiety.

Hanabusa Aido was very smart and knowledgable of the sciences, so Kaname had him examining Zero every second until they returned to a hotel room somewhere near here. Zero's condition had plateaued for whatever reason, but it was still bad. The silver-haired vampire was dying... and painfully it looked like.

Aido shook his head and said quietly, "I'm not sure exactly, but it reminds me of a blood poisoning called septicemia... but it's a little bit different. All I can be sure of is he has some kind of rapidly spreading poison with trachycardia and trachypnea. His blood pressure is low though... It's not good. I'm sorry, Kaname..."

Kaname grimaced at the negative report and he sunk a hand into his dark coffee-colored hair. He wanted to pull at it in his current state, but instead he took a deep breath and raked the hand back through it.

He had to stay calm... Septicemia was treatable with antibiotics, but Zero looked like he was suffering from more than that. There were probably other poisons in his bloodstream, too, making it difficult to figure out the right course of action.

What's worse, Aido strongly advised Kaname not to give Zero any of his blood lest he wanted to speed up the poison. Sometimes that happened. It wasn't known why, but it has been done- long ago. A pureblood husband's wife was suffering from a strange and rare illness so he tried to give her his blood to fight it off. However, she was said to have gone into violent convulsions not unlike a seizure, and died immediately after her body stilled. Of course, the pureblood went insane with guilt and grief and killed himself soon after.

When they all got back to the hotel and laid Zero down, Kaname explained what was going on. He told the others of how Zero feeds off of his blood and how he was in love with Zero. They had a blood bond, obviously, and because of Zero's condition at the moment, he was very upset. Now that they knew, they also knew why he had told them; if Zero died then they might as well kiss Kaname goodbye, too. They had to help Zero, if only for Kaname.

But Kaname didn't know what to do... Zero was lying on that bed right in front of him, sweating from a fever of forty-three degrees Celsius (one hundred and ten degrees Fehrenheit) and shivering at the same time. The sight of Zero's knitted eyebrows and slightly open mouth, panting was enough to make Kaname's blood run cold. He was afraid Zero would die.

"Hanabusa..." Kaname said sadly, looking at Zero's paled form. He didn't call Aido by his first name very often and it made Aido frown.

"Yes, Kaname-sama...?"

"I am going to let you try and figure out what this is and get an antidote by the end of the day..."

Aido nodded and smiled a little, glad Kaname would trust him to find a cure.

"It might take a little longer..."

Kaname's aura darkened a bit more and he growled, "If you don't bring me something to save Zero today, I will give him my blood and hope for the best."

"B-But, Kaname-sama... if the poison accelerates and he dies, you might--"

"I know!" Kaname snarled, rounding on Aido. His eyes flared tempermentally and his shoulders tensed. He was trying his best to stay calm and stay in control, but he could feel Zero slipping away and it was practically killing him already.

Aido flinched and lowered his eyes.

"I...I am sorry, Aido. Please, just try and find an antidote. Have the others help you. If I have to give Zero my blood and he does not recover..." he closed his eyes and gulped down his tears- there was no time for that. "Well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it."

"...Okay."

"Yuuki, where is Zero? I haven't seen him in almost a week." Headmaster Kaien Cross asked, poking his head into her room. She was louging about on her bed and trying to do some math assignment. She chewed on the top of her pencil and said, "I went to the Moon Dorms earlier and Shiki was there. He said that Zero, Kaname-sama, Ichijo, Aido and Kain all went off to attend a business meeting or something in America..."

"What?" her adopted-father asked. "I suppose Kaname and his friends would have something to do with business considering Kaname's enterprises, but why did Zero go?"

Yuuki glanced up at him and shrugged.

"I'm not sure... Maybe it was to make sure Aido didn't act up over there."

"Good point," he conceded, a hand to his chin. He walked away mumbling, "They could have invited me..."

Kaname looked at Zero's limp hand in his. The skin was heated, but still soft. He frowned, but it wasn't a deep scowl. It was more of a gentle, sorrowful frown as he ran his thumb over the top of the sick hunter's hand. He remembered the feel of it under his lips and taste on his tongue when he took the pain away from the cuts Ichiru had inflicted upon it.

The pureblood sighed and sat forward in his bedside chair, trying to get comfortable. How many times had he sat in a chair like this for more than two hours? Never. No one he knew had ever been laid up in a bed for this long. A few times he got up to get blood tablets and use the facilities, but otherwise he would not leave Zero's side. Ichijo had popped in for a moment to offer him some food, but Kaname refused politely.

His friends seemed more worried about Kaname, but continued to try and concoct an antidote for Zero. They had took a blood sample and recorded some numbers and were off.

So now the pureblood writhed about in his chair. Half of him wanted to go out there and help, but the other half refused to leave Zero alone. With good reason, he supposed- whenever he left the boy on the bed to do something, he would feel the bond "whimper" slightly. Upon his return, it would continue to give him dying static. But it was appeased dying static. Perhaps Zero could still feel his presence in this state...

"Zero, you will be all right. I will not let you die," Kaname quietly promised a feverish Zero, leaning down and kissing the silver-haired teen's torrid face, near his unopening eyes. He could just imagine Zero's smart remark at how Kaname thought he could hold death at bay just because the pureblood said so.

After a moment, Kaname carefully moved Zero over on the queen-sized bed and slid onto it himself, laying down, facing Zero. Maybe being closer would ease Zero's condition. The blood bond was a powerful thing and, as expected, Zero's breathing slowed a tiny bit with his heartrate. His eyebrows untensed as well. Kaname sighed again in relief and reached out to flip the cool rag they had laid on Zero's forehead to counter the heat of the fever.

His fingers strayed up to brush stray silver locks back in their place. Unable to stop himself, those same fingers traced down Zero's flushed cheek and lower, across his prespiration-sticky jawbone. Kaname stopped there.

He moved closer to Zero's body, covered with a thin white sheet, and draped his arm around Zero's middle. He wanted to lay his head on his chest, but he was worried it might make breathing harder for the ex-human. So instead, he nestled his head on the spot between Zero's shoulder and head. It was just as comfy there as anywhere and Zero's scent filled his nostrils even more. The brunette's whole body was almost flush against Zero and suddenly, Zero's vitals once again dropped towards their normal levels.

Kaname couldn't help the small smile and his eyelids slid over his darkened auburn eyes with fatigue. He was very stressed right now, but laying here so close to Zero was extremely relaxing and soothing to his shot nerves.

"How has this happened..." he asked a now less-fitful, sleeping Zero quietly.

Ichiru must have done something to Zero. He had to have poisoned his brother somehow, but when...? The pureblood searched his mind and thought of anything that Ichiru may have done to get something into Zero's bloodstream... It could have been anything! When Kaname got there, Zero was carved up. Even now the wounds were still open. If Zero's vampire abilities came back in time, maybe the poison would be taken care of on its own, but it didn't seem likely. Not with all the blood he had lost. So "Ichiru" was still pink on Zero's chest and the stab in his shoulder was bandaged up.

However...

Zero had drank from Ichiru earlier so any silver then would have quickly been removed from the bloodstream... Kaname figured. So if he had poison in his body during that time and anytime after until Ichiru hurt him with silver, it would not have affected him. Ichiru said that Zero had bitten him and then they went and... had intercourse, Kaname made a face unconsciously and didn't dwell on that... And he probably would have told me more unless they didn't do more and since the only wounds Zero have that are unhealed are his shoulder and chest...

Kaname sat up swiftly and said aloud, "The kitchen knife Ichiru used might have the poison on it."

He got up and went to the door. If Aido had a core sample of the poison, he could find out how to make an antidote much quicker. It was probably some substance Ichiru made up from mixing all kinds of bacteria and other poisons... Very dangerous if it got into your body like how it was in Zero's body.

"Which one do you think it was?" Kain questioned as he stepped into the doorframe of Ichiru's house. It was odd that no one had thought to call the cops by now- the door was still blown off and obviously there was gunfire heard. After they all had left, the home was unguarded for people to get closer and see the bloodstained living room with a body in it.

Well... that used to have a body in it.

When Kaname entered the home, Ichiru's body was gone and only the blood remained. The others weren't inside when Ichiru was shot and didn't know why Kaname stopped to stare at the large bloodstain. Kaname only snarled and stormed over to the kitchen which also had blood speckling the white tiles.

"It is probably this one..." he said, sounding reeeaaallllly ticked about something underneath that cool exterior. Even Kain seemed put off by the underlying rage. Ichijo pulled himself together and said, "Kaname... what's wrong?"

"...Ichiru was lying there when we left. He was shot in the side and was bleeding to death. He is gone, now. He must have gotten away and did something to assure cops wouldn't come here to investigate."

The others looked at each other for a moment before Kaname knelt to pick up the silver kitchen knife and examined the dried blood. He sniffed it...

"...This is Zero's blood, but there's no poison on it," he murmured, puzzled. "...You three go check the house for Ichiru and weapons and I'll look in here for the poison."

They all complied quickly and as soon as they left Kaname alone, the pureblood unleashed a punch into the wall. It went straight through and it crumbled away enough to fit three babies into the hole. Kaname let out a low growl that melted into a sigh and he pulled his arm out of the wall. Traces of blood spattered his hand, but the cuts were already healed.

"Was there something I forgot...?" Kaname asked himself, wiping the dust and blood from his knuckles with a handkerchief from his pocket. He scanned the reddened floor where Zero had stood when he walked in the first time... Ichiru said some things and a surprise attack from Kaname had failed when Ichiru pressed a combat knife to Zero's throat.

"The combat knife!" Kaname said, looking over to the hallway. After Zero had run down the hall, Kaname had stood there to keep Ichiru out. And Ichiru had thrown the knife after Zero, but the pureblood hit it away harmlessly with the back of his hand.

The brunette looked behind the couch where the knife had flipped off to. There was nothing there, but as soon as he began to go over to search for it, Ichijo called from the bedroom, "Kaname! I found something!"

By the time Kaname got there, everyone was crowded around the VP and was reading something. Kaname joined in and it was a note written in English. All of them could read and speak it easily:

Oh dear, I hadn't meant to poison my dear big brother, but I also didn't expect you to take him from me. The antidote is indeed in the house somewhere. I won't tell you where, though. That would be no fun at all. The knife with the poison is here- poison and all. So you have a few choices: look for the antidote in this house, which could take hours; make the antidote from the base poison which could take just as long if not done right...

Or you can get back to Zero immediately. He is alone right now, is he not?

The last line of the letter had its own air of danger about it as it sat on that paper in Ichiru's neat English script. They had left Zero alone in the hotel and now that Kaname thought about it, it was foolish to do such a thing.

He was gone before the other three even turned to look at him after reading that messege.

Ichiru held his brother's arm in his hand and slid the needle into Zero's vein on the underside of his forearm. He slowly injected the liquid inside of the chamber and watched as Zero's pained expression melted into a placid one. Zero would not die tonight.

The liquid was actually the antidote mixed in with a less harmful poison. This poison was sort of a prototype of the initial one and while it was not lethal, Zero would slip into a temporary coma. But his breathing would slow to about one breath per minute and his heartrate would slow to almost zero. Ichiru had even taken some of his own blood, which has pure vampire blood in it, and experimented. He made a solution that would take out the blood bond completely from the senses. It would go to Zero's brain and circulatory system and tell it to relay nothing at all to Kaname. So one of the first things he did when he returned was release the seal on Zero's wrist since it was unneeded at the moment. Keeping it on through Zero's "death" would not only render the bond terminator useless, but take more energy from Ichiru.

Zero would appear dead and that was the plan.

The plan... Ichiru had had to come up with one as fast as he could if he wanted to get the poison in Zero stopped. After they left him for dead, he had managed to get to his hands and knees. It took about thirty minutes to get to the baggage in the back rooms, but when he did, he knew he would live to get his revenge.

He had an elixir that would heal his wounds immediately. He had to mentally thank his foolishly kind-hearted brother for stopping the pureblood when he came to presumably rip his head off.

Ichiru pocketed the syringe and observed a "dying" Zero. There was only one thing that Kaname could do to bring Zero out of the coma and the blood bond's blockage and that was something the pureblood was not likely to do. Why would he give a corpse his blood? Well, it was either that or another antidote, but Ichiru himself had not even fashioned that one yet. Anyway, once everyone figured Zero was dead, he could take the body and revive it and his brother would once again be his.

The vampires would be back soon, assuming they found his letter, so Ichiru placed a pre-made letter on Zero's chest and leaned down to place a soft kiss on his blueing lips. The warmth was leaving his body fairly quick and Ichiru said softly as if he would wake Zero with his voice on accident, "I will soon have you for my own, big brother... For sure this time."

Kaname fell to his knees at the side of Zero's bed and buried his head in his hands. His tears leaked in between his fingers.

Zero was dead... he was gone... He didn't even feel the blood bond go- it just... went. It blinked out when he stepped into the hotel room Zero lie in. He approached Zero and ignored the paper on his chest, listening for his heart or breathing... and heard nothing.

"Zero... Oh, God, no..." he moaned quietly, his voice deep and constricted with anguish. He could practically feel his heart ripping in two slowly.

The other three came in and the sight before them was astonishing- Kaname Kuran on his knees, crying...

Takuma and Hanabusa quickly went to his side and began consoling, both trying to make him calm down as a friend and as a pureblood follower. Kaname would soon feel the uncontrollable urge to kill himself. However, they had a feeling Kaname would only go into a deep depression- maybe he would have a stronger will than wanting to kill himself. Then again, he really felt that he was in love with the hunter...

"Um, guys..." Kain alerted softly, trying not to seem insensitive, but this note Ichiru left was important. When the two nobles looked up, Kain continued, "I think we should get back to the academy as soon as possible."

Ichijo's eyes widened and he said, "Oh, no... What does it say?"

"I regret to inform you that Zero Kiryuu is now dead...'" he paused uncomfortably, but it was more uncomfortable to hear Kaname's small sob at the sentence, so he continued, "I ended his suffering for you, as you can tell by the small injection site on his forearm. But while I'm sure you want to lament a little longer, I am sure that you'll want to save as many more as possible, am I right? And I'll bet that little Cross girl will be easy enough to lure away. Good luck."

He lowered the paper and everyone looked at Kaname. His face was still in his hands, but his crying had stopped halfway through the letter. At first, they thought he went into some kind of shock, but suddenly he stood up. There was some unreadable emotion on his face, but no trace of tears. It was determination and rage mixed with heavy grief and fear. Quite a combination on a pretty face.

Kaname was in vampire leader mode and when he began speaking, the others dare thought that they liked it.

"Kain, carry Zero and follow me, but make it look like he's only sleeping, so no throwing him over your shoulder. Takuma, call Shiki and find out if Seiren is ready for recon; tell me once you find out. Aido, get the car and pull it around front while I check us out properly to avoid suspicion. Then once we are all in the car, Aido will drive us to the airport and I think we will "speed up" the plane..."

With Kaname and the other main vampires gone, the escort was a little easier to control, which Yuuki was thankful for since Zero was gone as well. But still... those very things also made her feel a bit left out. She bet Zero was having a good time even though he was probably angry-looking the whole time. ...He usually looked angry no matter what he was doing. ;

Once the Night Class had gone into the building safely, she smiled, satified of a job well done. But when she turned around, she saw someone in a boy's Day Class uniform moving back behind a wall and she thought she saw a flash of silver hair...

"Zero...?" she called.

Curious, she ran over to the wall. Something wierd was going on, so she carefully approached the corner and peeked around. There he was! It was Zero leaning with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, looking into the forest. She smiled and ran up to him.

"Zero! What are you doing over here? Why didn't you tell me you were back? Where's Kaname-sama and the others?" she asked, happy to see him after the long while. But when he turned to look down at her, his eyes seemed colder than she remembered and the smile he offered was even icier.

Her brown eyes widened as she recognized that cold disposition and realized how his hair was actually longer than Zero's.

"Ichiru!" she cried, taking a step back.

"You remember me. I'm so happy..." he purred before shoving a cloth to her mouth- his other hand holding her head still from behind- seeming to barely move with the action. The prefect struggled a few moments, but her movements ceased quickly and she fell limp. Ichiru hoisted her light body into his arms and was pleased that this had all gone quite according to plan.

Author's Notes: Trachycardia and trachypnea mean rapid heartrate and rapid breathing, respectively. And I'm not sure if life can be sustained with a breath per minute or such a slow heartrate, but pretend it can. And don't even ask about the elixir. I have no idea what I'm doing, so if I needed Ichiru to have an elixir he will damn have one! ;

Listened to... What Is Love? by Haddaway during the bed scene when Kaname was cuddled against Zero. Then as I finished typing the last lines of the chappie, Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry came on... but the lyrics have nothing to do with the acutal scene. I was just thinking that Ichiru is a crazy bitch. :3