Zero waited anxiously in Kaname's room. Ruka had unceremoniously shoved him in and forced him to stay there, saying that he'd probably get lost in the Castle looking for Kaname, so she would find him and bring him to him. The room was made of fine materials, Zero could tell, but it was sparingly furnished and quite Spartan. Only a bed, wardrobe, desk and chair were the main furniture in the room. Kaname's personal lounge was connected to the room, and it was also simple, with only a sofa, an armchair and bookshelf.

Since he was already in the room and had broken whatever trespassing rules may lie there, Zero had decided to investigate Kaname's rooms. They were quite boring though. Impersonal.

Then the door opened quietly, and footsteps approached him.

Zero glanced up to see Kaname's emotionless face.

He could see beyond the stoic mask Kaname was wearing. He could see the little quiver in Kaname's wrist as he flicked it minutely in impatience, the tightness in his lips probably meaning he was trying either not to talk or not to bite his lip, and the… the pain in his eyes.

Ruka's silhouette was just visible on the edge of the hallway light, seeping through the open doorway. She shut the door silently, and they both heard a lock click.

It was rather stupid. Kaname could easily unlock that door, but the message was clear: don't leave until you've both sorted this out.

"Kiryuu-san."

Zero flinched, shaking his head, "Don't call me that. I was being stupid, Kaname. I didn't mean it."

Kaname's eyes seemed to flood with relief, chasing the pain from them, and he even let out a deep sigh. Zero wondered if he had been bothered by the fight that much. It felt like such a long time ago since it happened.

"Ruka said you wanted to talk to me," Kaname said, taking a seat on his bed. Zero wordlessly joined him, trying to arrange his thoughts into some semblance of order. "Did you get the blood?"

Zero nodded. He still felt rather hot still from the blood's power working through him. It was a strange heat that was also sleepily soothing, a paradoxical mixture.

"Good," Kaname said, pulling a tight smile on his face. Zero wondered if he was overdoing the blood bag thing, draining himself too much.

It was something he would do...

"You shouldn't overdo it, Kaname," he said quietly.

Kaname laughed, "Most people would say 'thank you' or something."

"Thank you," Zero rolled his eyes.

Kaname nodded, "It's fine. I'm only giving a pint every other day. Hopefully you'll have a good stock of blood there for whenever you need it. I'll even freeze some, to keep it fresh for longer-"

"Why are you doing this, Kaname?"

Kaname quirked his head in confusion causing Zero to flush. Was the King trying to act cute? Zero tried to ignore Kaname's odd, kitten-like expression.

"What - you mean giving you blood? That's because you need it still, Ki- Zero," Kaname stated, smiling a little, "Zero," he repeated.

"Yes, but these blood bags, are they necessary? That fight's over now. I understand what you were trying to say, and I'll stay safe in the castle I guess or whatever. So… are you still mad at me?"

"I don't understand, Zero."

Zero sighed. He would have to share his feelings with Kaname. How embarrassing. He glanced at Kaname's still curious expression from the corner of his eye. It looked genuine. How could the genius Pureblood not understand these things?

"I was thinking, that you might hate me after the way I treated you. So these blood bags are a way of avoiding me," Zero admitted, slowly and painfully, as his cheeks filled with red.

Kaname blinked, and then shook his head little by little, "No, that was not my reasoning. I've thought of this plan as a back-up for our convenience. This war is picking up pace, Zero, and you might not be able to feed if I'm not around. At least you'll have these blood bags as back-up."

Oh. That made sense.

Zero's red face flushed more in mortification at the misunderstanding.

Kaname was being logical. He was being tactical, not scurrying around because of his feelings like Zero was.

"I'm pleased the blood bags have worked then," Kaname said smugly, "It's not really been done before in terms of feeding. I was worried the power properties of the blood would disintegrate from the cold."

"It tastes weird cold."

Kaname raised an eyebrow, smirking, "My goodness, Zero, someone's getting picky with his blood. He wants it at body temperature, fresh, shaken not stirred-"

"Oh shut up," Zero snapped, "I'm just telling you your plan isn't perfecto, genius. It tastes like shit when it's cold, and it gave me a frickin brain-freeze."

"Don't drink it too fast then," Kaname suggested, reaching over and placing his hand on Zero's face. He frowned lightly, "You're awfully red."

"Whatever," Zero scoffed, smacking away his hand.

"And you feel quite hot."

"I guess it's me absorbing your powerful blood," Zero sneered, ignoring Kaname's concerned expression.

"Hmm, maybe. I've never fed anyone before, so I don't know how this stuff is meant to work first-hand."

Zero was surprised. Had Kaname never even fed Yuuki? He must have to have awakened her. It made him feel strangely privileged, special even, to have received this supposed 'honour'. But it also made him feel edgy. This meant that Kaname was new to this as well. Did he really know what he was doing?

It reminded him of what Ruka had told him to talk to Kaname about.

"Kaname," he said, catching the Pureblood's attention instantly, "Ruka told me about Bonds."

This made Kaname's relaxed demeanour turn serious once more, and Zero almost immediately regretted bringing it up. It was nice to know they were back to normal. The pain flashed in Kaname's eyes again, urging Zero to speak.

"What she said has made me want to tell you to stop doing this blood bag thing. She said that by not letting me feed directly from you, you're harming the Bond or something, and we have to satisfy the Bond, otherwise it will cause you pain." Zero poked Kaname in the knee, "Are you in pain? She told me about the distance thing, how staying far apart hurts you. Why didn't you tell me?"

Kaname sighed, "You weren't meant to know."

"Are you in pain?" Zero repeated, poking him again.

Kaname shot him an annoyed glare, but swivelled round to face him more directly, his expression troubled.

"Right now, the Bond is happy," Kaname said, "You have to think of the Bond almost like a person. It's grown stronger and keeps me bound close to you. Whenever we're more than… twenty yards or so apart, I feel it strain around me, here," he pointed around his throat, "Like a dog collar on a leash."

"…But we've been far away from each other for a while now."

Kaname gave him a grim smile, "Yes. I won't lie to you, it felt like I was being strangled when I 'broke out' of the leash. From then on, I've been feeling quite detached from everything, maybe because I've technically "beheaded myself" with it, or something. But as soon as I came within range of you again, it was like a whip, here."

Zero chewed on his lip. It sounded like the Bond was agony. Why would Vampires ever invent something like this?

"I'll admit, I thought up the blood bag idea so that I wouldn't have to be around you all the time. It was during our fight. I knew that you would hate for me to be hanging around you all the time, so I broke away as fast as I could. It's bearable once you get used to the distance."

Kaname was right, Zero realised. He hadn't wanted to be around Kaname at all during the fight. Maybe it was because they had had time apart, for Zero to cool down, that they were alright again.

"Ruka told me that you'll go mad without me feeding from you. Feeding soothes the Bond," he told Kaname, wondering if he knew what Ruka had told him. Kaname nodded.

"Yes, but if I feed you, the Bond will strengthen and tighten too. We'll be leashed closer than before. It's a double-edged knife."

"How does this work? Are we gonna end up stuck together like magnets?" Zero asked in disbelief, "This bloody Bond doesn't make sense at all! How are you meant to function like this?"

"The incomplete Bond is meant to be temporary. Usually vampires will quickly sate it with the second Bite, forming the complete Bond."

Zero wanted to hit the wall. Or shoot something. He desperately missed Bloody Rose, having left it behind in his room at the Academy when Takuma had convinced him that weapons would not be permitted into the Castle.

Forming a complete Bond between them would mean Kaname Biting him.

It made his heartbeat accelerate in fear, not excitement. The memories, however blurry and vague of his transformation night, were filled with unimaginable fear, and the feeling of pain shaking every cell in his body.

And the darkness. It had been overwhelming. A crushing darkness that pressed down on him, as he realised he was really dying, his heartbeat slowing down, the cold, the blood being drained from his body-

It was his greatest weakness, his biggest fear, he realised - being Bitten.

But Kaname coped with being Bitten on a regular basis by him without much fuss. The competitive streak in Zero challenged him to match Kaname. If he could stand the pain, so could Zero! It was only pain, after all. There was nothing to fear but pain…

"Complete it then."

He actually heard the breath being sucked into Kaname's lungs, and the whiplash sound of his head turning to face him, ruby eyes wide. Were they filled with disbelief, dismay or anticipation?

"No…" he breathed, "Don't tempt me, Zero. This isn't something you want to do-"

"The Bond we have is already permanent, isn't it? What worse could happen-"

"You don't understand. This is complete commitment. It's not something a teenager would like to agree to-"

"I'm not talking about what I'd like! I'm talking about you. I want to stop your suffering!"

Kaname groaned loudly, standing to tower over Zero. Zero scoffed at his attempt to intimidate him.

But Kaname wasn't trying to intimidate him. He was trying to hold eye-contact with him, to force him to understand the severity of what he was offering Kaname.

"Don't tempt me," Kaname said sternly, holding his hand up to stop Zero from interrupting, "Yes, I'm ordering you, because this is a time where you must listen to me. Look, Zero, we're friends, yes, but we've only been so for a short time so far. How much do you really trust me? Are you willing to give your life to me? That's what you'd be doing if we complete it. You'd have my life and I'd have yours."

Zero rolled his eyes, suddenly shooting his arms out to shove Kaname out of his face. The melodramatic fool.

"You're missing the fact that you've trusted me with your life already," he pointed out, "With that type of trust placed on me already, how can I not trust you?"

Kaname shook his head, "It's not a two-way thing. You have to really mean it."

Ridiculous. Kaname was an idiot.

Zero shrugged, what could he do? Kaname was a stubborn fool, he was beginning to recognize, just like him, ironically enough. He couldn't force Kaname to Bite him. In all honesty, he didn't really want him to.

He decided their talk was over, and made his way to the door, where he paused to sort out his thoughts once more.

"So, getting this all straight, you're gonna give me blood bags from now on and stay far, far away from me, because you think it will help the Bond?"

"It will help my control," Kaname argued.

"And you're willing to go through all that pain because you think I can't handle a little commitment, due to your trust issues?"

"Your trust issues," he muttered.

Zero ignored him, yanking open the door.

"You're a frickin masochist, Kaname."

Zero tried to ignore the idea of Kaname in pain as he left the room, reasoning that he was only doing what he had wanted.

He left Kaname in his room, stomaching the pain by focusing his thoughts on what exactly an 'masochist' was…

Although Zero had left the room quite chipper, pleased with the fact that he and Kaname were alright again, he eventually began to notice something he could not quite ignore.

His forehead was sticky, covered in a film of cold sweat, though his face felt hot to him, and he felt like he was wearing several blankets and duvets when he was only wearing a thin-cloth shirt and jeans.

Was he getting a cold? The signs were pointing that way. But the way the heat was radiating through his body wasn't similar to colds. He could feel the heat in his face right now, but there was also a patch of skin on his lower thigh, near to the inner part of his knee, that was feeling uncomfortably hot.

And there was this achy feeling, not like flu-aches, but like his bones were wearing away. He knew he was only imagining the pain this way, but that was how it felt like. Also, his blood felt like hot acid in some places - what on earth was happening?

Was there something strange with the blood he had drunk?

Maybe chilled Pure blood had strange side-effects.

Nah, he knew it couldn't be that. Maybe it was a cold. It was probably just a cold.

Zero decided to pick up the pace, go to his room quickly and lie down for a bit.

But his legs wouldn't cooperate. They had dissolved into jelly-like legs that wouldn't move when he told them to. Oh shit, Zero thought as his unstable legs failed him and he tumbled straight out onto his belly, spread-eagled.

What was going on? Mere minutes ago he had been completely fine.

Now he was shivering on the floor, fluctuating between heat and cold with sharp pains erupting in random places in his body. Did he have a fever?

Zero managed to utter a rather feeble whimper, wondering if anyone would hear him or pass him by on the corridor. It was madness. One minute he was fine, the next he was spiralling into a crazy sickness. He lay there for a while, face pressed against the thick carpet. It felt rough on his sensitive skin, which made him groan again. "Zero?"

Zero grunted. He recognised that voice.

There were the small vibrations of light padding footsteps and then a thud as a small body knelt down beside him. A delicate hand rested on his shoulder.

"Oh my god, Zero! What's happened? Zero…"

Yuuki, he wanted to say, but all he managed to do was grunt before he blacked out.

He woke up suddenly, eyes snapping open and gasping like a fish out of water.

He was back in the Infirmary, with the Kuran siblings both hovering over him, and a doctor talking quietly to Takuma at the side of the bed. His Hunter senses picked out Ruka hanging out somewhere at the bottom of the bed. He moaned.

"You're in the-"

"I know where I bloody am. It's not that difficult to guess when there's a doctor standing beside you," he shot at Takuma, immediately feeling bad for snapping at the friendly Vampire.

He was feeling inexplicably grumpier than usual. It was probably because his lungs felt like they were on fire, making breathing difficult.

"You fainted," Yuuki supplied. He sighed. He hated it when everyone started pointing out the obvious, "I carried you here," she giggled.

There was something quite mortifying about that image. He was almost three quarters of a foot taller than Yuuki, and she was so delicate and tiny. The image of her carrying him was absolutely ridiculous.

"So what's the deal?" he growled, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"The doctor has a theory," Kaname said, "But it isn't good."

"I'm suddenly sick and there's no reason for it?" Zero supplied.

"There's a possible reason for it. The problem is, if his theory is correct, then there may not be a cure."