.10

Zero was sure he would not find or remember a quieter house than the Kuran manor. The upper floor and the attic was shut off (meaning there was no electricity there), because his and Seiren's rooms were in the ground floor. All ten rooms in the second floor were either locked, vacant or the furniture within were covered with white cloth. Kaname spent most of his time in the library, and Seiren said he retired mostly in one of the basements. Nobody bothered to go up the attic.

The house was old and full of memories; Zero could not shake off that feeling whenever he sat alone by the couch staring at the fireplace, or every time he arrived from work. He rarely saw Kaname moving about, too. Kaname would usually lock himself up in the library, or he was off running the vampire society someplace. The few moments they would meet almost always passed in silence. Zero would be sitting beside his master, who would be busy reading a book or playing chess with himself, and would not bother to talk. For the life of him Zero did not know what to talk about, either. He wasn't sure Kaname would be happy if he revealed that his blood showed his intimate memories.

In those moments of quiet and silence, Zero took to just watching his master, whatever it was he was doing. He had never thought that he would manage to sit down quietly beside the man who changed his life forever, yet here he was, oddly peaceful with the pureblood vampire. In his mind Zero wondered, what would Ichiru say if he were alive? What would his parents say? What would Yagari Toga and Kaito Takamiya say? Kaien Cross would probably be happy with him for being civilized.

Tonight Kaname was writing when he'd arrived. Zero hung his coat and went straight to the kitchen; he found food waiting and he understood that Seiren was around somewhere. A manor was too big for three vampires. Picking up the food, Zero made his way back to the hall and sat down beside his master. Kaname did not look up or greet him or ask him about his day at work, and Zero contented himself with eating his dinner in silence. The logs in the fireplace crackled softly against the flames.

When Zero rose to take his plate back to the kitchen for cleaning, he sensed his master shift, and by instinct, Zero stopped on his tracks and waited. Kaname was looking up at him with a calm expression on his ageless face, as if suddenly realizing he'd arrived.

"Ah, you're home," Kaname murmured.

"Been here for thirty minutes," Zero replied. "I finished dinner beside you."

"Did you? I didn't notice."

"You were busy."

"Was I?" Kaname allowed himself a soft laugh. "Is dinner good?"

"Seiren cooks great. Unlike someone I know who can't even open a can of sardines the human way."

Kaname smiled up at him. It was a smile Zero had never seen on a pureblood before – it was a smile of genuine amusement at his jab. In his mind Zero struggled to accept the fact that even purebloods could smile like that.

"Is that supposed to be an insult? You have to do better than that, Zero."

He did not bother replying and went to the kitchen and washed his plate. The house was so very quiet. For some reason, Zero wondered if a part of Yuuki Nakagawa ever remembered living in this house, with her biological vampire parents.

His day-off dawned without much of a promise. He woke up, fumbled for his phone and took a moment to call his parents and wish them good morning and told them he was doing fine. Zero sat up in bed, wondering what he could do. Then he decided to help Seiren with any chores she might have, and then remembered she was probably asleep for the day. This meant he could have all the work to himself, and that suited him just fine. Zero got out of bed and went out into the silent expanse of the Kuran manor.

Sunrises at this northern part of the world tended to be softer than anywhere else, and Zero went out onto the porch to actually watch one. His eyes stung briefly, but he blinked it away, and realized that it had been a while since he had watched an actual sunset. The clouds were a bit thick and low, but he thought they did not bring rain or snow. It was a cold and pale morning. Tiny drops of water clinging onto dead pine needles sparked with the morning light.

Zero pulled his jacket closer and decided to explore the manor grounds. His boots crunched against the pine needles on the earth, and the air was cold and a bit sharp as he inhaled. He rounded the manor and discovered several glass greenhouses way back, near the edge of the frozen lake. He had not seen the greenhouses when he'd first moved in, and he noticed them late. Hands in his pockets Zero walked toward the nearest one and finding it open, went inside.

The first greenhouse was mostly empty and was apparently used as a storeroom for gardening equipment and a myriad of earthen pots. There were several sacks of garden soil by the far end, all neatly piled on top of each other. Several huge cans of fertilizer were stacked neatly also, under several long wooden tables where trowels, shears and shovels were set as a haphazard lump.

The second greenhouse used to provide shelter for several ornamental plants and orchids, but when Zero got there, all that greeted him were wilted branches and decaying leaves in filthy pots. Untrimmed vines hung from the ceiling and they were dead too. It smelled like death in there, and Zero did not see it fit to linger.

The last greenhouse offered him something different – bushes upon bushes of blue roses were inside, all the plants in full health and thriving. The blooms were big and of a deep and vibrant hue of blue, and Zero understood the work and effort put to these plants. One rose was as big as his hands brought together. Their stalks were decorated with inch-long sharp thorns. A pair of abandoned working gloves was on the ground, beside some trowels and a garden shear.

He reached out a hand toward the nearest blue rose he could find and plucked it, but in the process got one of the nasty thorns embedding itself in his index finger. The drop of his blood welled up and dripped onto the earth, but Zero paid it no heed. He brought the rose close to his nose and lips, and it had a scent he knew so well and loved.

All these roses are his, then, Zero thought as his eyelids lowered. What he knew of Kaname didn't permit him to imagine the pureblood spending hours in this greenhouse, wearing gloves, crouching down, putting fertilizer onto the earth and trimming the rosebushes. But there was no mistaking that the scent of all the roses in this place clung to Kaname, on his skin, on his hair, on his clothes – the scent stuck to him enough to mask the faint whiff of blood he always seemed to have. And Zero knew Kaname must spend hours, or even days, just inside this greenhouse.

Blue roses symbolize impossible love.

The bit of information was something he remembered from his school days, when the boys of the Day Class would prepare their presents for their crushes and girlfriends come White Day. Ichiru always loved to give roses to girls he courted and dated, and he knew what each color meant and symbolized. Zero had never bothered with White Day; he had been too busy looking inward at his own private hell to care.

He put the rose he plucked down on a wooden table nearby, and picked up the abandoned gloves and trowel. He put the gloves on and looked about, and didn't take long to spot the sack of fertilizer. It had been used before, but was just carefully sealed. Zero went to it, and decided to begin working.

After tending to the blue roses, Zero decided to explore the Kuran manor next. Still holding the blue rose he'd picked, Zero went up to the second floor and checked out the rooms that weren't locked. Many were simply unused guest rooms, and store rooms. Every single one smelled musty and was dusty like hell, showing years of being unoccupied and unused. One room was clearly intended to be a baby's chambers. There was an old, antique crib there, but the sheets and pillows were stained and moth-eaten. There was a black pram by the corner, also dirty but looked unused. In the drawers there were baby clothes too, everything unused and neglected. By the nightstand Zero came upon a photo of a smiling Juuri Kuran sitting outside by a swing, and she was holding a parasol, while her free hand rested on her very pregnant belly.

Zero remembered the spiral of memory in his dream. Of him being stuck in a coffin, and a mismatched-eyed vampire pureblood opening his coffin. He remembered the bleeding bundle. He remembered the baby within it, helpless and beyond recovery, torn to pieces just to…

He looked around at the room with renewed perception. Whose room was this? Clearly Yuuki was not the only child of Haruka and Juuri. There was one other. That other one Rido Kuran had killed.

He decided then, that it was time to go to the basements.

The bulk of the Kuran manor lay underground. There was a network of mazes and passageways that Zero was sure extended for miles, even well into the human town down by the mountains. Most of the passages and corridors were well-made and well-lit with electric lamps, but after some hours of walking the walls and floors gave way to rough stonework, and Zero understood that these passages would lead somewhere either into the mountains, or to the human town. Some roughly-made passages were of damp earth, and it was a wonder they didn't cave in. Zero guessed these went under the great frozen lake, but he was not sure. The air underground was a bit pressed, but breathing was not a problem. Zero supposed it was an ancient charm woven around the place.

There were many rooms still here by the underground basements. All were as ornate and finely-built as the ones in the house itself, though by the look of things, Zero supposed that the underground rooms had seen occupation at least, unlike the chambers in the manor itself. One room had a particularly detailed ceiling, and on the floor were old children's books, and faint scents lingered in it. There was even some bit of ash in the fireplace.

Zero lingered briefly by the underground room, and went on to follow the hallway. He wondered how deep underground he was now, until he came to a flight of steps that descended further. He followed the steps, and came upon a narrower hallway lit with old-fashioned torches. The path extended forward, quite far, and he followed it silently, until he came to a massive set of double doors, emblazoned with the Kuran family crest of an orchid.

The doors gave way with an easy creak, and Zero found himself standing in a spacious, all white-marble underground mausoleum. The place was octagonal, the structure supported by the corners by massive Ionian pillars. There was a dais in the center of the place, and a cracked, gray marble sarcophagus with the Kuran crest on the side. The huge crack cut through the crest, as if splitting it into two from right to left.

The room carried the scent of blood and roses. Zero wondered if he had by chance come to the right place, and he walked toward the sarcophagus, ascending up at the steps of the dais.

His guess was correct. Kaname was inside, lying on his side, and asleep. It was odd, to say the least. If Zero remembered correctly Kaname had his own room by the first floor of the manor. Why would he choose to rest here in a stone box, with not even a pillow with him? Zero stood there in silence, watching his master sleep. This was the most vulnerable Zero had ever seen the pureblood; though his hunter training told him even the calmest scenarios could be unpredictable with vampires. Kaname was asleep all right, but he would have sharp senses, keen instincts and lightning reflexes.

The minutes trailed by in silence. Zero slowly raised a hand into his jacket, and drew Bloody Rose. After everything, this was the opportunity he had been waiting for. Chances like this would never come his way again, he was sure. He took another step closer to the marble sarcophagus, and lowered his hand; Bloody Rose's muzzle rested squarely against Kaname Kuran's left temple. Zero's finger was on the trigger.

Just one shot to the head, like Shizuka Hiou. And another one to the heart. He wouldn't stand a chance, would he?

Never mind if he wanted this man's blood. Never mind that he had been spending his last few days half-starved because he wanted Kaname's blood but could not have it. Never mind that they had been intimate several times already. Just one shot. And this bloody daze Zero got trapped into would be over. He would be himself again completely, with no tiny presence of Kaname inside his mind. His senses would stop tingling every time the pureblood was near. He would be free.

Shoot him. Shoot him now.

His finger tightened on the trigger, but the pull didn't come. His arm shook. He gripped Bloody Rose so tightly his knuckles went white. But no shot was ever fired. Not a drop of Kaname's blood was spilled.

Slowly, Kaname Kuran cracked an eye open.

"You can't kill me, Zero."

I can't.

Zero withdrew his gun and took a step back. Kaname stirred himself completely and sat up inside the sarcophagus, taking a moment to rub his eyes. Then he looked at Zero, who stared back, gun still in his hand.

"You know how the Blood Bond works," Kaname spoke in a hushed voice. "You can't kill your master. Even if you do, your death will follow soon afterward." A pause. "Would you like another shot then?" His hands reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, so that his chest was exposed. "Right here, by the heart. And another by the head, for good measure. I have a hunter sword beside me, and if you do succeed, you might also want to decapitate me with it before you go."

But Zero never raised his gun again. Kaname shook his head and buttoned up his shirt.

The silence between them extended, but Zero did not break it. Kaname heaved himself up from his marble box and sat by the edge.

"What brings you here?" he'd asked.

"There was another child," Zero answered. "Who was it?"

"Haruka and Juuri's son, named after me," Kaname replied just as nonchalantly. "Rido sacrificed him to revive me from this stone box." He tapped the edge of the sarcophagus lightly. "I was asleep here for such a long time. And yet, I remained a dry husk, dead and yet not. Rido brought me back, and so here I am, on a life stolen from an infant."

He wondered how Kaname could say it so calmly. Like he was just talking about the weather outside. There was no remorse at all, nor sadness.

"Yuuki's brother," Zero said without thinking.

A nod from Kaname. "Yes. Yuuki's brother."

"Did you mourn him?" Zero had to ask.

"Why would I mourn someone I did not even know?" was Kaname's reply.

"But you're alive because of that child."

"Do you honestly think I enjoy being alive?"

"…You don't?"

"I don't. I retreated into the coffin precisely because I got sick of living."

Zero did not know what to make of the apparent heartlessness from Kaname. He supposed…

"Why did you turn me then?" Zero shifted the topic, remembering Sara Shirabuki's words. "Am I like this child, this descendant of yours? Am I for nothing?"

Kaname studied him closely. "I thought you would have made a fine weapon. You had Bloody Rose, and I thought that maybe…but no. In the end, I guess like everyone else of my kind, I just wanted someone to talk to."

"You could have talked to me," Zero said, hand clenching around Bloody Rose again. "Just talked to me."

Kaname chuckled and shook his head. "I gave rise to the hunters, Zero. Back then, even if I stood on my head, you would not have talked to me. I know how hunters detest and distrust a pureblood. I gave them the reason to."

Such a simple reason. He wanted company. He wanted someone to share the long road with, even if briefly. Even if he knew that even if Zero had his blood, Zero would still eventually fade away along the journey. It was the same reason that compelled him to create Seiren. Just to have people to actually talk to.

"You still did not have the right to turn me into this," Zero said, trembling. "You did not have the right. You did not."

"I am pureblood. I am selfish. Do you think I give a damn? I will get what I want because I can. That is my nature as a vampire."

With an anguished cry Zero raised Bloody Rose with both hands. The silver vines came as a rush, from the gun itself and then burying deep in Zero's arms, partaking of his blood and writhing all around him. Kaname was unfazed where he sat. He did not even move a finger when Bloody Rose started to wrap him in her thorny grasp. A gash appeared on Kaname's cheek made by one of Bloody Rose's thorns, and thick blood dripped down his cheek.

"Go on then," Kaname whispered. "Kill me if you can."

I can't kill him. I can't.

The vines retracted first, when Zero calmed down. When they were gone he put Bloody Rose back into his jacket. The gash on Kaname's cheek hadn't healed, and Zero knew it would take half a day to.

He took a hesitant step forward, and when Kaname did not show any objection, Zero dropped onto his knees and reached up, and licked the blood off his master's cheek. Kaname tensed, and it was the observant kind of tense; he waited if Zero would lose himself again in his bloodlust. Down Zero's end it was difficult to get a hold of himself, having been faced with blood after weeks of no feeding.

Purple made way for red in Zero's eyes as he nuzzled Kaname's ear for permission, his breath hot against the pureblood's pale skin.

Kaname tipped his head as answer, and Zero's mouth closed over his pulse. He'd licked the skin and carefully bit down, and blood flowed. He still fed clumsily, and blood tainted Kaname's dress shirt. With great effort Zero stopped himself after having three mouthfuls of pure blood, and drew back. Kaname had a hand on his cheek.

"Very good," Kaname spoke softly, looking at him. "Control yourself."

His hand then moved to Zero's nape, and he swooped down and bit into the brand burned onto Zero's neck. The pain flashed deep but briefly, making Zero cry out. He relaxed into it even though his heart beat furiously, as Kaname drew three mouthfuls of blood from him. Mouth bloody, Kaname finished his feeding and kissed him afterward. Their tongues touched as Zero eagerly tried to lap up his blood as well, caught up in the haze of bloodlust.

Kaname's hands found fistfuls of Zero's jacket, and the pureblood easily yanked it off, and let it fall to the floor. Grabbing Zero's shirt next, Kaname let himself fall back into the sarcophagus, taking Zero along with him, their mouths still locked in a bloody kiss.

If Zero found love-making inside a sarcophagus off-putting, his mind did not have enough willpower to question the oddity of their venue at that moment. The two of them only bothered to remove their lower garments at that time. Zero grasped both sides of the marble box as he sought to keep his balance on his master, straddled as he was, following his thrumming instinct and need with every vicious push downward onto Kaname's center.

Cant—stop—

"Ah-!"

Move—keep moving—

"D-damn-!"

I can't—

"Zero…!"

Down—

A half-strangled cry escaped Kaname's lips as his hands grasped Zero by the waist and pulled him down just as he'd arched. Climax overtook his master then, as Zero watched. Kaname's eyes were inhumanly red and aglow from within, his fangs at their full length. The silver-haired hunter thought he had never encountered another sight more frightening yet desirable in his life.

With a low growl Kaname half-sat up and bit into his neck again, and screaming with the pain, Zero reached his heated climax too, his mind muddled with pleasure. The orgasm left him shaking, with Kaname still by his neck. Slowly, Kaname withdrew and lay back down panting, and Zero knew he wouldn't be able to stand in the next hour.

He slumped over his master, their foreheads touching, their breaths mingling.

"Orgasm in a jar," Kaname murmured thickly. "I think I need…somehow…"

"Hurts…" Zero said softly. He had never let anyone take him like this. It hurt, and yet, it felt a hundred ways good, too.

"With the way you were in a hurry, I really think you deserve the pain, you know…"

He opened his eyes and found Kaname looking at him. Their noses touched. Zero didn't know where the blush came from, but it came on, and he didn't know whether to be startled or embarrassed that he blushed at all. Even Kaname looked surprised.

"Zero Kiryuu knows how to blush…?" the pureblood smiled.

"Shut the fuck up," Zero snarled faintly as he buried his face by Kaname's neck.

He felt Kaname wrap arms around his waist.

"I don't know if this is awkward or amusing, or adorable."

"Just shut up. Shut up."

"As you wish."

Zero kept his eyes shut.

I think I'm…

Everyone in the headquarters noticed the calm that surrounded him in the next few weeks he came in for work. Even Kaito Takamiya wondered what he ate, and pegged it that he was finally allowing himself to have a proper relationship with a girl. His parents never voiced their questions, but his mother looked relieved most of all, though she didn't say anything.

The order instructing all Kiryuu hunters to refrain from field work was lifted by the time summer had come to an end. But the good news did not last long; the hunters received information that the master of the Hanadagi family had been murdered in his own castle. When investigations were had, it was discovered that the murder had taken place months ago, and the hunters were thrown a-flurry at the time gap.

Zero knew the vampire end was having trouble too; Kaname was rarely home and when he came in it was really late, and he did not have time to talk about anything at all. He would just hang his coat and withdraw into the library or the mausoleum, and keep himself shut up for hours on end. Zero let his master do as he pleased; he had his own job to take care of. He was made part of the investigation team alongside Kaito and Kaien Cross.

The one point everyone agreed on was that whoever broke into Castle Hanadagi had to be Ouri's murderer. The Ouri family was known for their nullifying skills and abilities, unmatched by other vampire clans, even the Kuran family. But the question remained – who actually dealt the killing blow?

That cloudy afternoon Zero trailed after Kaien Cross and Kaito Takamiya as they visited Izaya Shoutou's manor. Izaya was an old friend of Kaien's, and he had just recently woken up from a 50-year nap. Kaien thought it wise to forewarn his friend of the current events.

They were met by a servant, a woman in a French maid uniform, by the gates. She conducted them to her master's receiving area and served them tea and waffles. It was an entire hour before Izaya Shoutou joined them. Izaya was tall and thin, with pale blonde hair that reached his nape. He particularly had a sleepy look about him, and even his voice sounded sleepy.

Zero was happy to let Kaien and Kaito do the talking, content as he was with his tea.

"So that's all really, I just thought I'd drop by and tell you to keep your nose clean," Kaien was laughing pleasantly as their visit came to an end.

Izaya Shoutou nodded and bowed. "Thank you for the warning. I'll keep my hair free from nettles, of course. I just woke up, for god's sakes. I don't need trouble right now."

Kaien clapped his vampire friend by the shoulder, and they soon filed out of the Shoutou mansion.

Zero was just about to step into the vehicle they'd taken along when his senses felt the tell-tale tingle. He froze one leg already in the truck. He only had a few seconds' reaction time before the balcony of Shoutou mansion exploded in a rain of glass and flames.

Kaien was already out of the truck, and so was Kaito. The three of them had their hunter weapons out as they ran back to the now flaming mansion. A huge gout of flame shot up from the burning balcony, followed by Izaya Shoutou falling. Another pureblood was there, clutching Izaya Shoutou by the neck with one hand. With his other hand the attacker held a scythe that Zero would recognize anywhere in the world.

There was a tremendous crash as both purebloods touched ground. There was a scream and Izaya's maid, wielding an axe, dashed out the front door to aid her master. But Izaya's attacker was a hundred times faster. Spinning the Artemis in a wide arc, Kaname attacked, and in one blink of the eye, the head separated itself from the body of the maid, and she was ashes before she hit the ground.

He lowered his scythe blade now, dangerously close to the sputtering Izaya's neck. One swing, and Kaname also decapitated Kaien Cross's old friend.

Zero's mind went blank at that moment.

With a furious shout Kaien Cross hurled his hunter sword toward his friend's murderer. The sword impaled Kaname Kuran by the chest, but there was not even a hint of surprise on his face. And then like a gruesome nightmare he dissolved into shrieking bats, revealing himself as an alter…and the fact that Kaien Cross's sword now resided in the chest of one of the Touma children.

The pureblood boy dropped to his knees, and in vain tried to pull the hunter sword out of his body.

"He….used…me…" he fell down, and by the time they got there, the cracks had spread all around his body.

It was Kaien Cross who extended a hand. But the lightest brush against Touma's cheek was enough, and he shattered and scattered to the wind.

The bats were gone.