Thanks to all of you who offered your thoughts on what you'd like to see from Kaname's courtship. I always appreciate the feedback, and I hope you enjoy the newest chapter.
Blem-chan over on deviantart has created incredible fanart for TWOFT: blemm-chan/art/A-Week-of-Four-Thursdays-Zero-756983751. Please go take a look!
XXXVI. A Hostage to Kindness
Yuuki drags Kaname aside as soon as he sets foot over the threshold.
"I need a favor," Yuuki begins immediately, capturing his gaze and foregoing small talk. Kaname's abrupt flight has rattled her; she carries a touch of manic energy and tension in her frame that Kaname mistrusts. "Zero trains with me twice a week. Can you take my place during one of those weekly sessions from now on?"
Kaname strokes her cheek gently, his wife's warmth chasing away thoughts of city smog and dirty, frozen slush. Disguised as a favor, Yuuki is offering him both a priceless gift and an opportunity. Her generosity should not be wasted. "It would give me great pleasure. And what will you be doing?" he asks, more out of habit than curiosity.
"Secret," Yuuki insists. "I'll be at Cross' if you need me."
"Using the training rooms there, are we?" Kaname teases, his spirits lifting after his meeting with Yagari. "Working on your butterfly travel so you can take Zero somewhere alone?" he continues, making a shrewd guess.
Yuuki feigns ignorance, looking away pointedly with her nose in the air. "Secret. I just need you to distract Zero for a few hours a week."
"It will be no trouble," he assures her, a contemplative cast to his thoughts. With hindsight comes clarity. Excluding Yuuki from his courtship was Kaname's first mistake. Yuuki is half of both Zero and Kaname, and has ever been their bridge and middle ground. Their beloved wife has supported them all this time, and it only brings things full circle that she remain their companion as Kaname pursues the final transfiguration he desires. But Kaname's realization comes late, and he knows that Yuuki has suffered as she's watched Kaname yearn.
"All will be as you wish," Kaname promises, leaning down to kiss her forehead, smoothing her bangs down.
She squints up at him, and gives him a lopsided smile. "You worked really hard on the anniversary ball. I have a special surprise for you if you're free at sundown tomorrow?"
"For you, always," he promises, soaking in her affection and appreciating anew her support.
"I'll send you the details," Yuuki promises, spinning away and crinkling her nose. "Why do you smell like a bar, anyway? Your jacket reeks of smoke."
Kaname winces. "An unavoidable hazard, I'm afraid."
Yuuki shoots him a dubious look, crossing her arms suspiciously.
He sighs. "Please excuse me. I believe I need a change of clothes."
Watching Kuran's face as the blindfold falls provides Zero with an unexpected sense of gratification.
The pureblood is speechless, his throat working as he looks up at the pink, red and white plum blossoms with their strong, sweet fragrance drifting on the breeze. Inviting rest and refreshment, a picnic basket and a blanket are laid out beneath the flowering plum trees, whose dark branches drip with flowers, petals scattering down to alight on the melting winter snow. The garden paths are scattered with more blooms, crushed underfoot by admiring feet. Under a full moon, the plum tree gardens are lit up bright as day, a cool white radiance chasing away the shadows, giving the three vampires plenty of light.
"You said that you've never gone flower viewing before," Yuuki says, taking their husband's hand and leading him forward.
Kuran is drawn meekly behind, head tipped back to take in the blossoms. There are thousands of plum trees in this garden, and each one of them is in full flower, blooms spreading out as far as the eye can see.
Zero hesitates, then slips his fingers into the curl of Kuran's free hand, not quite leading or tugging, but making his presence felt.
"No," Kuran says with a crackle in his voice. "I haven't. I'm surprised you remembered." His hand tightens convulsively around Zero's fingers. "Putting aside time to do nothing but admire flowers…I remember years when there were no flowers, and winter never lifted."
Zero watches Kuran from the corner of his eye as they slip off their shoes and sink down onto the blanket, trying to imagine the paucity of the pureblood's early life, this man who has everything money can buy and yet lacks so many of the simple things Zero takes for granted. His intuition makes Kuran's emotions all the more tangible, and the Hunter's empathy trembles like a live bird in his chest
Settling his hand more firmly in Kuran's grasp, Zero patiently bears his alphas fussing over him, keeping still as they pull his skirts straight and arrange his limbs. It gives Kuran a retreat, time to settle himself back into his normal equanimity, and it doesn't hurt that Zero likes their gentleness, the feeling still so foreign at times.
Zero finds himself with his head resting on Kuran's shoulder, curled up in the man's lap while Yuuki places a possessive hand on his thigh. Watching the wind shake the petals free, it's easy to unspool the tension in his shoulders, loosen his joints and breathe. "I'm not blocking your view, am I?" Zero asks, feeling heavy and content.
"My view is exquisite," Kuran says, a rich timbre to his voice. It's filled with layers upon layers underneath; Zero could unpick their meaning if he reached out with his power. He doesn't, too comfortable and lazy to care.
They drink umeshu and eat the snacks Zero has prepared - nothing fancy, simple temari sushi and hanami dango. His alphas feed him by hand, their favorite way of taking a meal, watching each bite disappear between his lips as though they were tasting it themselves.
Zero savors the sharp tang of pickled plum and the heaviness of his full belly; the lassitude coating his limbs deepens. He yawns, catching the scent of Kuran's cologne and tantalizing pure blood rising up from his husband's skin.
His eyes drift shut. Being held like this is comfortable, and he can feel Yuuki's hand resting reassuringly on his leg. He can let go, his omega murmurs; his strong, kind alphas are here to watch over him.
Zero sleeps. As always, he dreams.
"This was extraordinarily thoughtful of you," Kaname murmurs, keeping his voice below the edge of human hearing. There are pink petals scattered in his hair; Yuuki has refrained from telling her husband, lest he brush them away.
With Zero sleeping on his shoulder and flowers in his hair, Kaname looks as young as he pretends to be - like a youth with his sweetheart from some charming romance, Zero looking innocent as a maiden in his lace and pastel tea gown, Kaname boyish with his sleeves rolled to his elbows and coat abandoned.
As he pours himself another splash of umeshu, Kaname eases the stopper out silently and keeps his movements restrained and slow.
Yuuki appreciates Kaname's own thoughtfulness. Zero is a sensitive sleeper; any loud sound or sudden movement will jerk him out of sleep. "You've been working hard," she explains, matching Kaname's quiet tone. "I want to take care of too, Kaname."
His hand shivers, nearly overfilling the cup, and Kaname's eyes flick to Yuuki's face - a startled flash of childish wonder - before hastily turning back down.
Feeling the bite of guilt, Yuuki settles for touching his shoulder, trying to convey her tenderness without upsetting his glass or waking Zero.
Kaname covers her hand with his own, tipping his head to rest his cheek atop them. Never taking his eyes off her, he drinks in the sight of her face, as enthralled now as he'd been with the blossoms.
"Did you ever see the original garden this one is based on? Kairakuen garden?" Yuuki asks, curiosity overcoming her as she gestures around them at the trees.
"No," he says, closing his eyes. "The plum trees of Kairakuen perished long before I was made. When the gardeners fled, the trees were left to nature. Drought followed flood, and flood followed drought. Little endured."
She bites into another snack, avoiding the necessity of speech, torn between the desire to avoid old wounds and the wish to understand Kaname more.
"There is somewhere I would like to take the two of you," Kaname says suddenly, a deliberate air to his words. He bows his head, looking down at Zero, who shifts restlessly in his sleep. "A place connected to my history. It will take me a few weeks to arrange."
Swallowing hastily, Yuuki nearly chokes in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes," he replies easily, putting aside his glass. "It is time. I know there are things you want to know about me. I cannot promise you answers - there are many memories I avoid. Some things I wish to keep private. But I want to offer you what I can. Will you come?"
"I will," Yuuki promises, breathless with the understanding she is being offered a rare, precious act of trust. She scatters kisses on his cheeks, tastes the wine of his mouth as she entices him with a deeper kiss.
"Careful," Kaname cautions her, smiling against her lips. "You'll wake Zero."
As though he can hear his name, Zero groans, then startles bolt upright, his eyes darting back and forth like a frightened horse until his memory returns.
"Are you alright?" Yuuki asks, concerned and not sure if touch will make the situation worse.
Zero's teeth grind, the sound full of bitter anger mixed with sorrow. "Something bad has happened at Association headquarters. I think Hunter Petrovna - Shirabuki's assassin - is dead. She's been trying for weeks to carry out Shirabuki's final order. My gut tells me one of her suicide attempts finally succeeded."
Yuuki doesn't doubt him. At first Zero only experienced deja vu and flashes of recognition, but with Kaname's tutelage Zero has begun remembering scraps of his dreams. They've tested his information, and thoroughly verified its accuracy on every count. So far his ability seems limited to places and people he knows, and only concerns large, significant events, but Yuuki suspects Kaname must be calculating the advantage it will give them in the future if Zero can hone his sight.
"Oh, Zero, I'm so sorry," Yuuki says, taking his hand.
Shaking his head, Zero replies, "Natalya was one of us. Every active Hunter, even a green rookie like her, accepts the risks of our work. We all know someday we'll go on our last Hunt and meet the vampire that kills us. I just hate what Shirabuki did to enslave her."
Yuuki's grip on his hand tightens hearing him talk like that. Steal him, presses her alpha. Steal him and hide him away forever. "No, you won't. There will be no last hunt for you. I will break the world if I must to make it so."
Zero cannot see it behind him, but Kaname's eyes hold a hint of blood red, and the promise of murder.
The Hunter doesn't seem to hear her. "I don't want this to go on any longer. Kaname, when we establish the other Ds' identities, will you use your network to help us find them? If we locate them first, before they act, there might be a few we can save."
Yuuki might laugh or cry. Kaname would sell his soul to please Zero, to coax the slightest smile from his lips. And Zero hasn't the faintest inkling - he still believes Kaname might refuse.
Kaname buries his face in Zero's hair, kissing the Hunter's temple and trapping him firmly against his chest. "For you, of course I will."
"Thank you," Zero breathes, and hits Kaname with a slight, honest smile.
Yuuki can almost touch the lust in the air. She's hard too - Zero's rare smiles are the most beautiful, pure, precious thing.
"Such a tease, kitten," Kaname purrs, and Zero squirms, recognizing the heat in their husband's voice.
Yuuki's alpha growls, jealous because their alpha-mate already has their silver omega in his arms. Alpha-mate never shares!
"I wonder," Kaname continues, "if you would let me have you right here, where anyone could see us. Just let me hitch up your skirt and sink inside you."
Yuuki drools just thinking about it, rubbing Zero's thighs and giving him the sad begging eyes.
"No!" Zero denies furiously, waving his hands as his face flames. "Pervert! We're in public, haven't you any shame!"
Chuckling, Kaname catches Zero's wrists, bending down to whisper right in his ear. "But you would do it, wouldn't you? Because you're my good boy, and you want to please us."
"No!" Zero denies hotly, petulant and sulky because he's been found out.
Kaname tsks, nipping Zero's ear as punishment. "Don't tell lies, my Consort. You want to be so very good for us, don't you?"
Zero is shaking his head sharply, utterly flustered, but he isn't struggling. "Don't say it that way! We're not doing that here, it's illegal. Someone might see us!"
"You're wearing pants under your dress," Yuuki chimes in. "We just need to pull them down a bit, and your skirt will hide the rest. Don't you think making love beneath the flowers would be very pretty?" Yuuki adds, playing with the hems of Zero's gown.
If anyone sees mate naked, we'll just kill them! her alpha chimes in cheerfully.
Zero's jaw drops, and he simply stares at her for a moment. Then his head bows, and grimacing as if he has a headache, he croaks, like he can't believe what he's saying, "Fine. Go ahead."
Zero's underwear don't survive her eager claws, but it's the work of a moment to sneak her hand up his skirt and tug his pants down below the curve of his ass. And it only takes one more second to free Kaname's erection, as Yuuki grins at their eldest over Zero's shoulder.
"Tonight is Kaname's special surprise," she explains to Zero, who seems rather betrayed not to have Yuuki first. "So please treat him well." Their husband's familiar thick length is in her hand, throbbing and hot with blood, and she squeezes just to see Kaname's composure crack a little. The catch in his breath satisfies her enough to guide his tip inside the wet, snug cavern they both love.
Zero whines as Kaname sinks home, rising up a little as if to escape, but Kaname still has him trapped by the wrists in his lap. Beneath the fabric, it's difficult to tell, but Zero is hard now too, and she can smell how his slick melds with the sweet scent of plum blossom.
Kaname begins to move, slow, rolling thrusts that grind every bit of his length and girth inside Zero's full pussy. Yuuki thinks about the way it must look, flushed and used red, hidden under Zero's skirt, and hastily takes out her own cock.
With one hand around herself, and the other wrapped around Zero's length, her strokes are sloppy and rough without slick to ease the way. Her eyes stay glued to her husbands' faces as they rock together, absorbing every sign of pleasure, every trace of satisfaction. Zero is biting his lips, trying to keep quiet, and his cheeks remain red with embarrassment, while Kaname has a focused euphoria shining through.
"You really do want to be our good boy, don't you Zero?" Kaname prods, never one to accept a victory quietly, especially not when victory means cramming Zero full of cock. "I can't believe you're letting us fuck you in public."
"Shut up," Zero growls, yelping when his sensitive channel is jabbed sharply as punishment.
"Though I know you only allowed it because we desired it - desired you, just like this. What a generous gift," he continues, voice going rough with effort as he fucks up into Zero hard with nothing but the strength in his hips.
"What a perfect omega," Kaname praises, and Yuuki doesn't miss how Zero stiffens and his eyes glaze as he bounces with Kaname's thrusts. "Our precious mate, our sweet boy. We're going to take such good care of you."
Zero cries out, his back arching as he comes, forgetting to stay quiet. Kaname bares his teeth and stiffens, the tendons in his neck straining, and Yuuki knows he's claiming Zero with his seed.
Yuuki allows herself to peak too, muffling her own cry in her shoulder and imagining Zero's hand instead of her own. No matter. Tonight was for Kaname, but she'll have her turn.
Kaname should have realized that Zero would require an unconventional courtship. How foolish of him, to employ the same tactics he used for his sexual conquests and expect Zero to also be won. A willing body could be convinced with a smile and a few words, but his charisma slides off Zero like rain. For his trouble, Kaname is more likely to receive sarcasm than a smile.
So Kaname sets out to lay a new path, one he hopes will lead to Zero's heart. Zero has always appreciated smaller gestures more than large ones, so Kaname tries to provide them - a book he knows Zero wanted to read, extra time taken out of a busy day, space when Zero needs to be alone. He doesn't stop the romantic dinners, but Yuuki stays beside them this time. Kaname knows that Zero still doesn't feel completely comfortable when the two of them are alone, and Yuuki is a buffer to ease the distance.
An offering of Kaname's trust is also necessary, but that must wait until the trip Kaname has planned. He dreads the very thought of it. It is a gamble, one that requires he expose himself. It had been a split-second choice to even offer, and it still feels as though he may have made a mistake. But once set, the course cannot be altered; backing out now would prove his distrust.
The power of touch is Kaname's final card. Intimacy of the body leads to intimacy of the mind - touch promotes nearness and strengthens trust. People feel that if they can trust someone with their body, affection must naturally follow. And Kaname desires for Zero to feel comforted by his touch, to relax whenever he is near.
Zero's omega instincts give Kaname a natural advantage now that he's been accepted as a potential mate, but Kaname wants Zero's conscious, human mind to agree. So Kaname backs away from physical displays, paying careful attention to only offer them when Zero's body language signals he wants to be touched. Kaname burns every time he denies himself, but the cautious welcome he receives in return is precious.
"Tell me your favorite fantasy, Yuuki," he prompts one morning after sex, when the three of them are still awake and warm, but easing toward sleep.
Their wife raises her head, propping her chin on Zero's shoulder to look over at Kaname. "Hhhhm? What kind of fantasy?"
Kaname raises an eyebrow, and gestures between them at the rumpled sheets and fucked out omega glaring grumpily - Zero already suspects his intentions. "Sexual fantasy, of course. You must have some."
"Well, yes." Yuuki thinks for a moment, then glances at him with a familiar wicked gleam in her eyes. "I can't just pick one favorite. After all, I've got two husbands. For Zero, it's him in sexy outfits or chained to my bed. Or getting him pregnant, that's a really good one. But I've got one involving you, Kaname, I've been thinking about for a while."
"What is it?" Zero asks, catching on to Yuuki's mood and always willing to drag Kaname over the coals.
She grins. "Wouldn't Kaname look divine being fucked? He wouldn't be able to keep his cool if we kept him from coming as we opened him up and then both had his ass. He'd get all squirmy and red - I bet he's never even let someone else touch his prostate."
Kaname feels both eyebrows rise. She's not wrong - he'd never felt comfortable with allowing someone else so much control. But for Yuuki...perhaps. "Think again, my dear. Neither of you have the faintest idea how anal sex works, and I'm hardly going to let you experiment with me."
"We can fix that. I was promised Zero's ass too," she points out. "You'll teach us, and then we'll return the favor."
"Something to discuss another time," Kaname dodges. "And what about you, Zero?"
"Me?" Zero repeats, hunkering down as though he's trying to hide.
"Please?" Yuuki wheedles, drawing the word out.
Zero sighs. "I didn't really allow myself to have fantasies. I thought I was going to die young and mad. The few times I indulged, I always thought about Yuuki. They weren't even about sex, just ordinary romantic things. Kissing, holding hands. After Cross Academy I just stopped letting myself imagine."
"Oh." Yuuki's face falls. "But you must have more ideas now, right?"
Burying his face in a pillow, Zero makes a garbled reply.
"Hmmm?" Kaname coaxes, stroking his shoulder. The pureblood's true objective is at stake; he hopes to learn what pleases Zero in bed and utilize the knowledge in his courtship.
Zero raises his flushing face enough to mumble, "It's really messed up. Something is wrong with my head to even think about it."
"Nothing is wrong with you," Kaname assures him. "What we enjoy during sex doesn't make us bad people, so long as our partner is willing too."
Even the tips of Zero's ears are red. "Hunters have some peculiar ideas about sexy scenarios, and mine are even weirder since my vampire instincts get mixed up in it."
"It's okay Zero, you can tell us. We just want you to enjoy it when we have sex," Yuuki reminds him.
So Zero, utterly embarrassed and barely able to get the words out, does.
Really, Zero has nothing to be ashamed of. Kaname's heard and participated in far wilder trysts. It's sweet that their consort is still so innocent, and Kaname will reward him later for being so brave.
"We'll try them sometime," Kaname promises, petting Zero's soft hair, which is starting to get long again after three months since his last haircut. Kaname has gained good material for his continuing physical courtship, though using it will probably have to wait until after their trip.
"Thank you for not thinking I'm screwed up," Zero says with a quiet relief.
"Never," Yuuki promises, settling the blankets around them.
Kaname finds Zero's hand under the duvet, a silent offer of support as they fall asleep together.
Zero arrives late to their meeting point, his single duffel bag with three days' worth of supplies bumping against his hip. Saya was distraught to see her stablemates loaded into horseboxes this morning, both off to the stud farm for spring foals next year, and Zero needed to assure himself his youngest mare would be fine while they're gone.
He feels even guiltier for leaving Shoshana. The elder omega's health has stabilized but not improved; she's still bedridden and frequently asleep. She must also do without his regular visits until his return.
Kuran makes no comment when Zero comes into sight, giving him a once-over in silence as the pureblood's fingers tighten on his crossed arms. Zero would think the vampire is angry with him if his power didn't whisper the truth in his ear - Kuran is wound tight with self-doubt and trepidation.
Zero still doesn't know where they're going - Kuran has refused to divulge a single detail - but he knows it must be far away. Zero's maids are beginning to air the spring kimono now that the weather is warming, yet Kuran advised Yuuki and Zero to bring their heaviest winter clothing for their journey. That means either somewhere far north, or far south.
Without a word, Kuran offers both of them a black-gloved hand. Yuuki places her hand in their husband's immediately. Zero hesitates, feeling as though he is being offered a choice, one much larger than whether to go or stay.
Kuran's redwood eyes offer no clues, watching Zero evenly, the tremor in the muscles of his handsome face visible only for a nanosecond to Zero's power.
Finally, Zero reaches out to bridge the gap, grasp tentative and light. Kuran wraps his fingers around Zero's palm, his eyes never leaving Zero's face as he holds tightly. And then Kuran whisks them away on the breeze with a phantom sensation of disconnection.
Zero recognizes the taiga spreading out around him, though he has never been this far north. The larch trees are stunted, and scattered widely apart, and the rest of the frozen ground is covered with lichen. Winter reigns here even in March, and he shivers and huddles in his fur-lined coat as a blast of north wind catches his hood and snatches it back.
Yuuki shivers too, mostly out of old human habit, but Kuran does not so much as flinch. He has his eyes on the horizon - he'd released their hands as soon as their feet reformed - and appears lost in his own thoughts. "Come," he tells them. "The cabin is close."
Cabin is a generous description. At odds with Kuran's usual taste in luxury, the building is a squat, concrete rectangle with scarred steel doors. Inside it's slightly more appealing; the air is warm, with the hum of a generator always in the background. There's a small bedroom, a postage-stamp sized kitchen, a single bathroom, and an empty room Zero might call a sitting area if not for the steel door built into the floor.
Zero examines that door as Kuran and Yuuki settle into the bedroom, measuring the thickness of the steel. "This is a bunker, isn't it?" he calls out.
"Please put on your coat. We're going back outdoors for a moment," Kuran replies instead from the doorway.
They trek back out into the cold and walk until Zero's bones feel like ice.
"There," Kuran says, stopping them short. "Do you see it on the horizon?"
Zero squints. There's a small ridge up ahead, curving in the distance and cutting straight across the landscape.
"Ten thousand years ago most of this area was vaporized after a hydrogen bomb exploded," Kuran explains, pointing at the ridge. "That's the edge of the blast crater, or what little is left after millenia of wind and water."
Making a few calculations, Zero swallows. The explosion must have been gigantic to leave such an impressive scar.
"Do you mean...?" Yuuki ventures, mouth dropping open.
"Welcome to the cradle of the vampire race." Kuran gestures around them at the barren, frozen land, irony weighing his tone. His voice lowers, turns quiet. "The place I was created, though nothing is left now. I doubt even a single pebble of the original landscape remains."
Kuran's back is turned away, distant and untouchable. Yuuki and Zero exchange a glance, deciding who will approach first, but Kuran spins and begins trekking back to the bunker without another word. Zero and Yuuki have to hurry to catch up, and Kuran maintains the punishing pace all the way to the steel door in the living room floor.
Only now does Kuran pause, staring downward with an intensity that the featureless, scuffed metal door does not earn. His expression is so empty, like he's been hollowed out.
Yuuki and Zero glance at one another again. Zero's gut is shrieking at him to act, sensing Kuran's conflict roil and peak. Yuuki has her hand outstretched, about to touch Kuran's shoulder when the vampire stirs, stepping away to open the door with an ugly screech.
Yuuki's hand falls back to her side, curling into a fist.
Kuran doesn't appear to notice as he descends a staircase into a concrete hallway. Lights flicker on as his movement triggers an unseen sensor. "Records of the time before the Cataclysm are prized relics of humanity's golden age. Less valuable artifacts from the Cataclysm period itself are comparatively rare."
Following behind him, Zero perks up, his scholar's interest piqued, finally getting something resembling an explanation of why they're here.
"For the next three days, you two are free to examine anything in this building," Kuran continues. "If you need something translated or explained, come to me. Otherwise I will not be joining you down here."
"What will you be doing?" Yuuki dares ask as they pass door after door.
"Making your meals," Kuran replies in a clipped tone. "When you're tired come sleep upstairs. Do not expect me to join you."
"Where are you sleeping?" Zero asks, guessing Kuran's answer when the pureblood does not respond. Kuran isn't going to sleep until they go home, relying on his immortal body's endurance to deny his own rest. Zero can guess why - he knows what it's like to have bad dreams.
"That is the main room," Kuran says, halting without warning and gesturing at one of the doors. "You'll find the collection's catalog in there if you need to find something specific. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Yuuki and Zero stare after their husband as he edges past them and retreats without a single look their way, face still more like a carved mask than flesh.
Yuuki will wear this exact worried expression for the next three days. "I don't think being here is good for Kaname."
That is an understatement. Whatever memories this bunker is stirring in Kuran, it feels as though the pureblood is shutting himself away to escape. "We'll be gone soon," Zero reminds her, pushing the door open and settling into research mode. It was Kuran's choice to bring them here, and there are answers waiting at their fingertips.
When Yuuki and Zero stumble upstairs, Kuran is gone. On the kerosene stove are two plates with unsweetened, flat meal cakes, pickled canned beets, and boiled, bitter greens. The food is dismal. Kuran may have picked up a few skills from Zero's tutelage, but his knowledge is rudimentary and there's nothing in the bunker's pantry that doesn't come from a sack or a can.
Going to bed curled around Yuuki alone feels unsettling - Zero blames his latent omega instincts expecting three instead of two. Only the steady burn of Kuran's aura assures the Hunter that Kuran is nearby and alive; Zero monitors that aura like a pulse, keeping track for Yuuki's peace of mind.
Breakfast is tasteless rice porridge with a sprinkle of dried fruit. Kuran is absent again.
Zero lasts an hour flipping through documents in the bunker's archives before he hisses in frustration and stomps upstairs to go search for Kuran. The pureblood is stupidly easy to find, seated on a rock a half-kilometer from the bunker and staring off into the distance. There's a thick layer of snow on the vampire's shoulders and head, which means Kuran has been absolutely still for hours. Zero's frown deepens and his glare turns icy.
Kuran does not react to Zero's approach, though he must be aware of it.
Zero, true to his profession, goes for the throat. "I spent nearly fifty years waiting to die. It was a lot longer for you, wasn't it?"
Moving stiffly - Zero can hear the joints crack from disuse - Kuran twists at the waist far enough to watch Zero out of the corner of his eye. A fragment of awareness surfaces through the fog of Kuran's distance.
"Why did you come here if you weren't ready?" Zero continues.
Kuran's eyelids flicker. "It's been ten thousand years, Zero. I've had plenty of time to forget. It's all in the past now."
"But that's not true," Zero insists, his instincts screaming lie lie lie. "It still hurts you, no matter how long ago it was."
Kuran turns his face toward the horizon again.
"Yuuki's going to be mad when she knows you left without your coat," Zero tells him, looking pointedly at the pureblood's bare arms.
The corners of Kuran's mouth twist down.
"She's going to fuss, and you're going to hate it because that means you made her worry." Zero keeps talking, the words spilling out at the urging of his intuition, "But you're also going to enjoy it because you know it means she loves you and not many people in your life have ever done that."
Kuran is finally facing him, all the snow knocked off his shoulders. The sudden, exclusive attention is unnerving.
Zero kicks the hardened soil, tucking his cold fingers in his pockets. His hands feel nakedly vulnerable without the wide omega sleeves he wears constantly, and perhaps that distress is what leads Kuran to stagger up, his normal grace absent.
"Will you fuss over me too?" Kuran asks, and something is strange because this isn't a joke. Kuran means the question honestly.
A frisson ghosts over the back of Zero's neck, and he ducks his head, feeling a blush crawl over his cheeks. Why is he feeling embarrassed? He shoves down his senses and replies, "I'm your Consort, of course I will."
If Zero didn't know better, he'd say Kuran is disappointed. But that would be silly.
Once Kaname is warm - Zero and Yuuki sit on him until his hands feel proper room temperature again - they traipse back down to the basement and start over. Kaname guides them to the best exhibits, far more relaxed than before, and Zero looks like he might be considering absconding with several Hunter journals he found written in an outdated cipher.
Yuuki knows why Kaname is doing this. Completely paranoid and addicted to his secrecy, Kaname feels more comfortable letting his personal history slip out in pieces rather than all at once. Bringing Zero and Yuuki here is a starting point, opening a door into his past without forcing him to confess the bared whole. Little by little it trickles out; the more questions Zero and Yuuki ask the easier his stories flow.
"The date is wrong - I remember the battle actually happened two days afterward - and the whole thing was an incompetent mess."
"Don't trust anything he wrote - he had a flair for exaggeration. I had the misfortune of meeting him twice..."
"I was lucky enough to see those ruins before the earthquake that destroyed them, and they were well worth the praise..."
"Oh yes, I knew her. Let me tell you about the time one of my lieutenants accidentally proposed marriage to her…"
Kaname remains stubbornly mute when it comes to his childhood and early years, but he gives freely tales of his travels and rise to power and kingship, withholding only those last centuries when despair lay heavier than responsibility on his shoulders.
But it's more than just his own past Kaname wants to unveil. He's trying to show them the world he knew through whatever scraps remain, to help his spouses observe a vanished world through his eyes. To feel the shape of the mold that formed him.
Yuuki was never much of a student, and finds her attention wandering after the fifth hour. Digging through the replicated volumes, she gives a cry when she finds a book full of hand-drawn sketches. They're all kinds of plants and animals, and she thumbs through them, admiring the animated poses, before she pauses on a particularly impressive illustration. "Kaname? Is this one real? Bears don't come in this color."
"It's quite real, I assure you," their husband chuckles, forefinger pointing to a foreign word in the caption underneath. "Hokkyokuguma. Polar bear. I met one of the last living animals - it had paws larger than your head, and was twice my height when it stood on its back legs. They lived in the north when the arctic was colder."
"I wish I could've seen one. That sounds incredible!" Yuuki enthuses. "Kaname?"
"Yes?" he replies, studying her book.
"I've never seen you look at the translations. Are there any languages here you don't read?"
Kaname shrugs. "A few. People are easier to convince when you know their language. I mistrust interpreters and I like to know what people are saying when they think I can't understand." He pauses, long pale fingers touching the picture of the great extinct bear. "And I...I was not taught to read until I was nearly twenty. I value the privilege."
Another piece of Kaname's puzzle slots into place. "Oh," Yuuki replies, remembering his insistence she continue her studies, and covers Kaname's hand with her own, looking down at the white bear snarling between their fingers.
A whole world, gone like it never existed except for a few rooms full of stone and metal and recopied texts, originals long rotted away to dust. Only Kaname and his memories left behind, Kaname and his ghosts, Kaname and his mouth full of dead words no one but him understood anymore.
Yuuki swallows, seeing her future stretched out in front of her.
"Tell me about the first Kiryuu," Zero says when he cannot stand reading any more death tolls and accounts of burned cities. War was endemic during the Cataclysm period, conflicts blurring into each other without any real end - the only change was human-human conflicts turning to human-vampire - but he hadn't realized the true scope. The Hunters prioritized saving the records of their own history, while the archives here contain far more expansive and wide-ranging sources. Archivist Fong would thrilled to peruse it.
Leaning against the wall, Kuran chuckles. "A singular individual with a peculiar way of explaining his worldview. Possibly a little mad. More bloodthirsty than would be acceptable in a modern Hunter, yet also the loudest opponent of completely exterminating the vampire race. As he put it, he was content to leave the wolf alive so long as it avoided the sheep. I wouldn't believe he was your ancestor if I couldn't see the Kiryuu coloring you share."
"The Ancestor of the Hunters said much the same thing," Zero agrees, watching Kuran stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He knows he's treading on shaky ground, but Kuran confessed to knowing her and she obviously meant a great deal to him. Tonight they are leaving the bunker, and Zero has no more chances. "How did you know the Ancestress?"
"She was a friend." A careful, non committal answer meant to seem casual.
"She was more than that, wasn't she?," Zero presses, seeing right through the deflection. Yuuki has put down her book and watches silently. "You told us you created the world she desired after she died. You don't do that for people you're just friends with."
Kuran's eyes narrow. "Why do you want to know."
"I've met her, and I know you." Zero keeps his tone light. "I'm trying to figure out how two such different people connected."
Turning away, Kuran begins to pace. "I met her at the lowest point in my early life, after the last attempt I made at pretending be be human failed miserably. She is the only living being I have ever felt understood me. And the last words I ever spoke to her were in anger, and she died because I was not fast enough to stop her. Is that enough?"
Zero opens his mouth to apologize, bowled over by the sucker punch of Kuran's agony, but Kuran doesn't give him a chance to reply.
"I'll be upstairs waiting when the two of you are ready to go." Kuran , leaving Zero and Yuuki staring at one another.
"I'm sorry," is the first thing Zero says, empathy shining clearly in his eyes. Kaname wonders if he's sorry for asking, sorry Kaname left, or sorry Kaname's past happened. Perhaps all three, the sweet, foolish boy.
Seated in the kitchen, Kaname runs a hand over his face. His ironclad control has strained under the weight of returning to a place he never wanted to set foot near again. This was supposed to be just another tactic in his courtship. Now everything has spun out of his hands until he's here, wondering how he ever thought he could return and not splinter into pieces.
The world of the Cataclysm feels so close here, the line between past and present thin. The Ancestor of the Kuran imagines he would only need look down to see the three-headed bane curled at his feet named despair and madness and loneliness.
Shaking away memory's shroud, Kaname says wearily, "If I wished to keep silent, I should not have brought you here."
"Did you love her?" Yuuki asks, not unkindly but with more than a little jealousy underlying her words. Such is the nature of a pureblood's heart, to envy even those thousands of years gone. Kaname is the same with those he loves, and bears no animosity for Yuuki's question.
"We were never lovers," Kaname answers instead. "She loved me as a brother and a friend and a comrade. She was devoted to her work and her ideals, and chose to sacrifice herself to achieve them."
Kaname looks down at his hands. "I told myself for a long time I didn't love her, but I could have if I allowed myself. I was lying - I loved her even knowing it was hopeless."
"We won't ask anymore questions," Zero promises. "We can tell it hurts you."
Shaking his head, Kaname pulls a docile, pliable Zero into his lap, scenting his Consort's throat to anchor himself. "I loved her the way you love a star - distant and unattainable."
He smiles at Yuuki, and draws her in until she's balanced beside Zero, both of them held in his arms. "But I have loved you as yourself, my dear girl, and all the greater for it."
And Zero he loves yet a third way - Yuuki's love drew him back from the brink, but Zero is the love that lured him in until he could no more deny it than he could renounce himself. The words are on Kaname's tongue, crowding out the bland affection he'd intended to offer.
Kaname swallows them down. "Are you two finished? I've put the luggage together."
"I'm done," Yuuki says. "I want to sleep in our own bed."
"Go get those Hunter journals you've been fondling," Kaname tells Zero. "I can't read the ciphers anyway. Perhaps the Association will get some use from them."
Springing up, Zero hastily complies, pleasure hiding behind his stoicism. The boy probably remembers exactly where they are, and shouldn't be gone long.
In the meantime, Kaname tilts his wife's chin so she looks him in the eye. "You needn't hide your jealousy. I've never concealed my own. It is simply your nature, as ingrained in your blood as it is in mine."
Her hands form a ring around his throat, gently pressing against his windpipe. Yuuki smiles, leaning in to nuzzle his hair. "I'm not hiding anything. I don't need to feel jealous. I'm the one you're blood-bonded to, and that's something no one else can claim. You've shut me out ever since we set foot here, but I can feel you now. You're mine, Kaname."
They both hear Zero's footsteps in the living room, and Yuuki's hands loosen around his throat, slipping down to his shoulders.
Zero squints suspiciously at them, books tucked under his arm. From his angle, it probably looks like the two purebloods have been kissing. "I should've known. We haven't had sex in three days, and you're an incurable pervert."
"We'll fix that as soon as we find a nice bed," Yuuki trills. "Or carpet. Or wall."
"A bed would be best," Kaname disagrees. "His little cunt will be so sweet and tight after staying empty. We'll need to open him up again if we want him to take a nice thick alpha cock."
Zero has an exquisite look of pent-up rage. The Kurans pause to admire.
"Just shut up and let's go," Zero mutters, stomping out and leaving the luggage behind. Kaname and Yuuki are more than happy to follow, making plans the whole way.
None of those plans happen.
His lovers spend hours kindling a slow, purring heat in Kaname's bones to chase away the ice. Kaname's fingers nestle beside Yuuki's as they prepare Zero together, his slick leaking out for a perfect, easy slide and Kaname thinks he might break if they keep this gentle sacred air.
His spouses lay Kaname out on his back and take turns making love to him, the slow rise-and fall of their hips keeping his length securely cradled inside their bodies as they embrace him and exchange lazy kisses.
Later, Kaname lies awake with Yuuki muttering in her sleep on his right, and Zero slumbering quietly on his left, and wonders if this is what expiation feels like.
It's going to be an ugly summer.
Zero understands this with grim certainty as he packs his Hunting gear. It's only April, and the death toll for the year has already outstripped last year's entire casualty count. Born vampires are more active in the winter while the nights draw long, but Level Es attain a particular insanity when the temperature rises and the nightly hunting period shortens.
Zero remembers that fever in his own body with a clarity that makes want to starve himself until he can pretend he's human and then claw out whatever's not.
Click-click-click go nails on the wood floor, and when Zero doesn't react Nightshade butts against his hip. Reminded again just how enormous Kuran's familiar really is, Zero squats down and scritches Nightshade's thick ruff until the wolf's eyes are half-closed and his tongue lolls happily.
"Would you like to come Hunting with me?" Zero asks, intending the question for the pureblood he knows is watching.
The keen intelligence dwelling in Nightshade's gaze brightens, and the dark wolf dips his muzzle. Zero catches displeasure alongside the acquiescence, which his gut tells him is not focussed toward him. Kuran's concern is puzzling, but it's probably an alpha thing.
"It's not Cross' fault," Zero argues. "We're still dealing with Shirabuki's leftovers and what might be a new organized wave of Level E attacks. It's getting harder to hide the traces, and the deaths are starting to add up. The human governments are being pressured by their people, which means Cross is being pressured twice as hard to fix the problem."
Nightshade yawns, communicating an utter disdain for Cross' problems.
The corner of Zero's mouth twitches upward, and he scratches under the wolf's chin. "Besides, the Level E is a secondary target. We're after something far more dangerous."
Shoving his head into Zero's hands, and cocking his ears, Kuran silently demands an explanation.
Zero obliges. "Under Shirabuki's orders, the Lin brothers have been Hunting their way up the mainland coast assassinating important vampires. We don't know their next target, but we have a lead on where they might be hiding. I've been ordered to attempt their capture."
Nightshade's ears flatten against his head and his fur bristles, making him look extra fluffy.
"Who else is capable of fighting a Hunter with vampire abilities?" Zero reminds him, turning back to his packing.
The wolf lets out a whining howl.
"I'm not going to abandon them," Zero disagrees, bemused by this odd one-sided conversation where his intuition leaps to fill the blanks. "We've confirmed that Shirabuki gave her Hunter assassins her blood - probably so they'd stay useful to her. Since they won't become Level Es, we can free them once we have an antidote to her drug. But we have to find them first."
Ignoring Kuran as he sulks in the corner like a cranky fur rug, Zero continues folding his clothes, the repetitive action and familiar pre-Hunt ritual settling him into the right mind space. He's stronger than he's ever been. At his sharpest, at his best, he has no doubt he'll prevail no matter how long the trail runs.
That does not mean this will be easy.
"Can't you make yourself smaller or something?" Zero mutters in an undertone, pulling down the hood of his ragged sweatshirt to hide his hair. "You're attracting too much attention."
Kaname tries to make Nightshade's body hunch down, rather offended but ceding the point. Well-fed and impressive, his wolf familiar draws eyes when Zero needs to remain unnoticeable, just one more Level D in a crowd.
It's been decades since the pureblood had cause to visit a Level D slum, but the poverty and squalor haven't changed. The Hunters call them blood colonies, while vampires dismiss them as thrall pits. Either way, as the pureblood families shrink so do the number of ex-human slums, but enough of the families still deal in blood slaves to supply the slums with cast-offs.
Crumbling apartment buildings, gambling dens, brothels and bars betray the desperate situation of its inhabitants. Many are unstable Level Ds waiting to die, former feeders or prostitutes sold as disposable merchandise whose owners abandoned them as their bodies broke down. Very weak vampires sometimes ended up in the slums as well, eking out a living beside the ex-humans. Vampire society prizes purity and strength, and despises those vampires who dilute their blood until they're barely different from humans. The slum's remaining residents are its core members, the caste of stable Level Ds most vampires call ferals.
Ferals - Level Ds with no master - existed in a grey area. Subject to vampire laws the moment they were Turned, after being rejected by or escaping from their master they became invisible to the Senate unless being punished. Without a master, few opportunities were available to a stable Level D in vampire society. They could turn to the human world, but the Senate policed the secret of vampire existence mercilessly, and most Level Ds could not afford to keep purchasing new identities in the human world to hide their unnatural lifespans. That left only low-paying or illegal trades open to them in either world. The Level D slums exist as a natural consequence of that condition.
To Nightshade's sensitive nose, the air reeks of sewage and rotting garbage and fouled blood, rust and mildew and mortar dust. He pushes against Zero's thigh, fruitlessly seeking the imperceptible trace of omega perfume hidden beneath scent masking charms.
"You can always tell when you're in an ex-human colony," Zero mutters, patting his head, distracted as his Hunter senses search out his target. "You never see children, and everything smells like blood."
Human and vampires push past each other, the humans unaware how close they come to death as they seek whatever desire brought them to a place where anything can be bought for the right price. Zero frowns, clenches the fraying rope serving as Nightshade's leash, and ducks to the right, hurrying down an alley and emerging on a less busy street lined with tenement blocks.
Kaname dislikes the slums. They remind him of the refugee camps of his childhood - the taste of desperation coating the air, the look in everyone's eyes. As Nightshade pads through the filthy streets, Kaname allows his consciousness to ease back into his real body - which unbeknownst to Zero is not in Rosehill, but at the five-star hotel room he's booked for his boy. With such high level targets, neither Kaname nor Yuuki could rest unless at least one of them was close enough to protect Zero, even if it angered him.
Kaname's memories blur until he's imagining how Zero could have ended up on these streets if Cross had not managed to convince the Association to harbor him. Zero is, after all, technically a masterless Level D. Diving back through his connection with his familiar, Kaname growls low in his throat, unaccustomed to unwanted empathy, and gives a whole body shake as if to cast it off.
"Hey you, with the dog," a voice drawls at them.
Zero stops, looking over his shoulder at the gang of Level Ds beginning to surround them. "Yeah?" he replies with a casual air.
Kaname shows his teeth, but otherwise doesn't interfere. Zero's awareness of his surroundings is excruciatingly precise - better than his own by far - and even distracted by his search the Hunter would have sensed ill-intent. The fact Zero didn't simply avoid the ambush means they must be close to their target.
"That dog looks pretty expensive," the thugs' leader says, "No way you could afford a purebred like that. Why don't you give him to us and we'll let you go."
Zero's grasp of the local language is poor, but the intent of the Ds is clear from their threatening posture and the way they stare greedily at Kaname's familiar. Looking completely unaffected, the Hunter shrugs, the threadbare clothes of his disguise hiding the weapons underneath. "Okay."
Kaname starts, a little offended by his Consort's ready willingness to abandon him, but Zero just kneels down beside him on the dirty street and begins removing the wolf's makeshift rope leash.
"I found what I need, but we should stay out of sight," Zero murmurs in their own language so the thugs won't understand. "Follow my lead, okay?"
Kaname licks his hand, and Zero smiles, running a hand through Nightshade's fur before rising and facing the leader. "Husband's gift," he says as if he doesn't understand what's happening. "Good dog choose where he go."
Some of the ex-humans look uneasy with Zero's strange relaxed behavior, perhaps close enough to sense the Hunter's aura underlying the signature of a Level D. But Zero just leads Nightshade toward the leader, smiling like a fool the whole way.
The thug's eyebrows are furrowed, but he seems to lack suspicion since Zero isn't resisting. That is the precise moment Zero decks him right in the solar plexus and bolts, dodging shocked gang members with insulting ease. The Hunter is halfway down the street before any of them even recover enough to shout.
Kaname is only a moment behind him - he'd used the leader's body as a springboard, knocking him to the ground with one jump and using the D's stomach to launch himself after his boy. The thugs are torn between aiding their leader and chasing the escaping wolf; chaos reigns, exactly as Zero intended. Back in his human body, Kaname laughs, and pushes his familiar to take longer and faster strides until he's side-by-side with Zero again.
Zero shares a look with Kaname-as-Nightshade, eyes bright with pleasure and exhilaration, not even winded as they dodge pedestrians and leave the angry bellowing behind them.
Kaname is struck by the knowledge that Zero knows exactly who he is now, that Zero knows it's Kaname and yet he still wants to share his Hunt like this, and Kaname can barely contain the surge of love.
They hide in an alleyway until their heartbeats slow, and if the wolf becomes a man who desperately pulls his husband into his arms to kiss him, well, there's no one else there to see it.
This Hunt ought to be magnificent, a true challenge Zero can savor. Freed from the heavy necessity of an execution, against opponents who know the same tricks and carry a resistance to Hunter charms, Zero will be able to really test himself. Zero anticipates being pushed beyond his usual methods into improvisation and a clash of technique where mastery is the key to victory.
The Lin brothers deserve the reputation they built before their disappearance. Individually middle-strength, when paired together their mesmerizing coordination verges on telepathy, allowing them to successfully Hunt far stronger opponents. When he returns to the colony with backup, Zero's ambush falls through as soon as Lin Xingjian spots his watcher and warns his elder brother. Both of them bolt into the warren, Zero in close pursuit and the other Hunters fanning out behind them, tightening the net.
What follows is a contest of stamina peppered with short spurts of combat. The Lin brothers attempt with every move to escape capture, while Zero and his fellows seek non-lethal resolution, armed with tranquilizer darts instead of bullets and as many low damage weapons as possible.
Both men are resisting Shirabuki's orders - Zero can tell every time they clash that the brothers are battling to stop from spilling a fellow Hunter's blood. Though still dangerous, their legendary coordination is a half-second off. Lin Xingjian's hand jerks and shakes every time he aims, while Lin Juyi's dao falters sometimes when he strikes. Both of them are sweating too heavily and their faces are twisted with pain as they fight the compulsions laid on them.
All those signs only build Zero's determination to give them a chance. He trusts Aido to succeed with the antidote, and as stable Ds they don't have to fear madness and execution. Zero won't let what Shirabuki did to them end their lives.
They catch Lin Juyi at the border, immobilizing him with a leg wound and surrounding him, only to watch the Hunter put a bullet through his own heart as Shirabuki's order to avoid capture forces his hand.
His younger brother circles nearby, weeping and fighting Shirabuki's command until Lin Xingjian can only scream and claw at his head, before finally submitting and turning to run.
Zero follows with a heavy heart, stoic mask hiding his grief and regret. Nightshade howls, reminding him to keep his eyes on the target in front of him. Knowing Kuran is right, Zero sets his jaw and pours his frustration into body, lengthening his stride and giving extra force to his jumps.
The Hunting party is more cautious the second time, learning from their first failure to lighten the pressure on their target and give Shirabuki's command the impression escape is possible. Lin Xingjian doesn't fight at all, wearing himself out as they drive him forward like wolves with a deer. The intent is simple: to exhaust him and slow his reactions enough that a single successful strike can immobilize him before Shirabuki's command activates.
Zero finally brings the Hunt to a close in a small courtyard, drawing close and tackling the diminutive man from behind to pin him against the brick. Lin Xingjian bucks and fights until Nightshade lays down on his legs, giving one of the supporting Hunters the chance to inject him with the heaviest sedative they have.
Zero stumbles back as the surviving Lin brother goes limp, and the other Hunters swarm in to secure their target. He startles when his back hits the wall, then starts again when he feels Nightshade's nose touch the back of his hand.
Feeling dazed, a knot formed in the pit of his stomach, Zero can't stop watching until Lin is taken away for transport to the branch headquarters. The other Hunters give Zero space - perhaps understanding his mental state, or perhaps uneasy around a pureblood's Consort.
Zero's not distracted enough to miss the sudden surge of power beside him, or the pureblood aura that appears afterwards. The entire courtyard freezes, every head snapping toward them as sound abruptly cuts out.
"Don't mind me," Kuran announces in that irritatingly unruffled, elegant way of his.
With some hesitation, and a few hissed conversations, the remaining Hunters go back to work, though many a wary eye falls on Zero and his husband.
Tipping his head back, Zero searches for stars he cannot see past the city lights. "I knew it wasn't likely we would succeed," he says to anyone listening, "but I really wanted…"
"I know," Kuran murmurs in an undertone. "Are you finished here? You keep insisting we'll Hunt that Level E tomorrow night. You'll need rest."
Zero checks in with the Lead Hunter, who releases him after a long stare at Kuran. His husband is waiting at a polite distance from any activity, hands in his pockets and his aura still and quiet. Zero appreciates how Kuran's not being a jerk about this and is avoiding any trouble, because Zero's really not ready to deal with smoothing over any tempers right now.
As Kuran reaches out to take Zero's arm - probably to whisk them back to their hotel - Zero shies away, pretending he doesn't notice the flicker in Kuran's expression as he does. "Can we take the long way?" the Hunter asks.
"As you wish," Kuran tells him, offering his arm for Zero the way a gentleman would escort a lady.
Zero blinks at him for a moment, because only Kuran would do that in a dirty city courtyard when Zero is filthy and exhausted, then sighs and takes it. Just like Kuran promised, they walk the whole way back.
The universe takes with one hand, and gives with the other. Zero's Hunt the next night is nearly flawless. No casualties, no injuries, no witnesses, no complications he can't resolve. The E evades just well enough to give Zero a challenge, but it isn't inventive enough or blood-crazed enough to present a true danger now that Zero's intuition is mostly under control and sharper than his knives. Even the weather cooperates; though the sky threatens rain, a cool breeze keeps the humid air moving.
Zero will never admit it, but Kuran is a good Hunting partner and Zero prefers his company to Hunting alone. As their fight against Shirabuki proved, when Zero and Kuran are pointed at the same target they do pretty well together. Too bad the same can't be said for the rest of their shared time.
The main reason Zero will never, ever, ever admit this fact is because Kaito will give him shit about it until he dies. Hunting together is the most romantic act possible between Hunter couples - it's practically a rite of passage, a vital test of compatibility and their ideal act of courtship. Humans date, vampires drink blood, Hunters kill things together. The fact that Zero is Hunting with Kuran-as-Nightshade is not an opening for ridicule Kaito will let slide.
Zero is almost disappointed when his last bullet fells the E and his work is finished. His blood thrums hotly in his ears; he's warm but not tired - maybe he'll go for a long run to work the adrenaline high off.
That is, until Kuran slides behind him and curls a hand around the nape of his neck, a familiar gesture that sends a rush of heat down Zero's spine. "Would you like to play, my Hunter?"
Zero swallows, the humidity suddenly stifling. He suddenly recalls the fantasies he'd confessed in front of Kuran, and his knees almost buckle under the white-hot flash of arousal. "Depends. What'd you have in mind."
Kuran chuckles, seeing straight through Zero's faux casualness, and licks a stripe up the Hunter's throat, the damp mark chilly on his skin. Thunder echos in the distance. "I thought we'd test the waters and pick the tamest one."
Zero forces himself to breathe through his nose, heartbeat accelerating. His skin tingles, post-Hunt hyperawareness making every brush of clothing feel like a stroke against his cock. He's experienced enough now to recognize his own want. And oh, how he wants - Kuran is a very, very satisfying lover and undoubtedly the handsomest man Zero has ever met by virtue of his pure blood.
The thunder booms again, and Zero teeters on the edge of temptation. They're in a large park, and his extra sense tells him they are alone. Lightning cracks the sky, and before the afterimage fades Zero is shrugging out of his coat, shedding any equipment he doesn't want ruined.
Kuran has a stupid smug smile on his face, which irritates Zero. So Zero elbows him in the nose, and streaks for the treeline.
He can hear the pureblood grunt in outrage before giving chase, igniting the familiar thrill of the Hunt, but Zero has no intention of playing prey. He turns sharply - Kuran is faster but that means the pureblood overshoots - and draws Artemis rod, extending the weapon.
Kuran is there in an instant, and Zero's intuition blares warnings as Kuran sweeps his claws through the place Zero was standing a millisecond ago, the pureblood's deadly force restrained just short of mortal danger.
Exhilarated by the counterattack, Zero aims for the place he knows Kuran will be, and is rewarded when his husband snarls, drawing back as Artemis Rod sparks.
Never one to take an insult, Kuran's next move drives his fist through an entire tree trunk as Zero throws himself to the side to evade.
Zero pants, aroused by the show of strength. Ancestress, he's already getting hard, and the first heavy blow Zero takes to the jaw, a sharp bright shock that blooms over his nerves, only makes it worse.
This is a Hunter game, blurring the edges between fighting and fucking, between pain and pleasure. Zero likes being taken care of - guiltily. But he's a Hunter, a people who don't even treat their own bodies with gentleness, not when so many lives depend on their abilities. They build themselves up so they don't break, and the dull aches of bruises and sharp slice of training wounds are a daily companion. They learn to appreciate that kind of pain, to savor it as proof they can endure, a badge of honest strength. And fighting - they were good at it, and it got the blood hot, and that led to wanting other things.
Zero won't lay a hand on Yuuki in violence, but Kuran - with Kuran violence is their native coexistence.
So Zero meets his husband strike for strike, each movement seeking to wound, both kept only by shared martial skill from risking true injury. Excitement ratchets higher in Zero's belly with every rough touch. Kuran is hard too - Zero can see the shape in his slacks, and the wind blankets him in alpha pheromones when it shifts just right. This isn't vampiric animal violence, but a tightly choreographed battle with a side of heavy lust.
Zero is thrown into trees, dragged through the dirt, punched, kicked, clawed, has his lip split open. He goes back for more every time, pain a white curtain in his brain silencing thought, the world wiped clean of everything except their battle. Every near miss is exhilarating, the greatest rush, better than any drug.
Kuran is covered in burns and fading bruises from Artemis Rod, but his eyes have a hot sheen to them, feral smile slipping out from behind his gentlemanly persona.
Zero can feel a matching smile split his own face, then his ankle gives out from under him and Kuran has him pinned to a tree before he can blink. Their teeth clack together as they kiss; Zero feels himself get wetter when Kuran licks the blood out of his mouth from his split lip.
"Is this what you wanted, boy," Kuran growls, the points of his teeth sharp. "To affirm your existence by fucking in the ashes of your enemies?"
Zero can't answer, both hard and wet between his thighs, the duel sensation making head spin. He groans instead, and tries to headbut Kuran.
The pureblood slams him against the tree again; Zero's head knocks against the wood, leaving stars in his vision. He gasps for breath, and Kuran steals it again with a kiss.
"What do you want?" Kuran lilts, sounding pleased. "Fingers or cock, little Hunter?"
"Quick talking you bloodsucking bastard and fuck me," Zero hisses, rising up on his toes to align their cocks and finally slide together for sweet friction.
Kaname's fingers are rough as he yanks at Zero's belt, snapping the leather and popping the button off. Zero scowls, pushing Kaname's hands away and kicking off yet another pair of ruined pants. Bloody pureblood always makes sure his clothes are perfect, he just likes ruining Zero's.
The first thrust feels like being punched in the gut, a cacophonous rush of pleasure-pain. Zero's more used to sex now, but his body still gives token resistance before yielding to the assault and then he's full full full, split open wide.
Kaname doesn't pause, just pummels Zero's insides as he keeps a bruising grip on Zero's hips.
Thoughts in shreds, Zero clings to bloody stubbornness and slams his hips down, squeezing his inner muscles vengefully. This is no different than fighting - give and take, ebb and flow. A raw, violent rhythm Zero can anchor himself within.
The rough tree bark raises welts on Zero's back, and he tightens his grip on Kaname's shoulders, grimacing and concentrating on the waves of ecstasy inside him and the way his cock rubs against Kaname's belly. There must be crescent marks on the pureblood's shoulders from Zero's nails, but Kaname doesn't react, continuing his relentless assault. His face is a picture of concentration, intent on their contest, but he never takes his eyes off Zero.
As Zero clamps down and soars through his orgasm, familiar wet heat fills him, and he sighs, going nearly boneless in his husband's arms. He's learned to savor this part - he likes knowing he's satisfied his partner, that he's done well, and the omega loves being rewarded with its partner's seed.
The satisfaction doesn't last long. "Kaname…" he groans, hiding his face in his husband's neck and feeling the aches of their battle flooding back in. He likes the fighting, but doesn't enjoy the aftermath. What did he even do to sprain his ankle?
"Hush," his husband croons, taking Zero's weight and laying him against the pureblood's chest. "Drink from me. I can smell you're in pain, and I can't stand it."
"Only if you do," Zero counters, knowing he scored more than a few good blows.
Kissing the crown of Zero's head, his husband chuckles. "You first."
Zero's fangs are already extended, and he admires porcelain skin and the web of veins underneath, using the pureblood's lessons to choose a prime spot. Sinking his teeth in feels like sex all over again, and Zero swallows until his pains begin to fade, sighing in relief.
"Now you," the Hunter insists, tongue flicking out to catch the last drop. "Was using Artemis Rod too much?"
Kuran shakes his head, leaning in to admire Zero's throat. "A Hunter weapon knows the will of its master. I am hardly even singed - Yuuki won't even notice when we return tomorrow night."
Zero's response is drowned beneath a crackle of thunder, and he follows Kuran's touch, tilting his head to the side and holding still for the slow slide of fangs. Flush with pure blood, he hardly even notices the gentle drain. What a difference from those first few times Kuran drank from him, when the pureblood ripped and tore and threw Zero away like trash afterwards.
Another lightning flash, and nipping at its heels the sound of thunder. Zero squints distrustfully at the sky through the trees, and is proved right when rain begins to drip through the branches. He taps Kuran's shoulder; the pureblood withdraws. "Let's find shelter and you can finish, I need to rescue my gear."
"No need," Kuran says, sly smile touching his lips, and the pureblood goes back to burying his fangs in Zero's throat.
Zero blinks, irritated that Kuran would treat his most important possessions so lightly. Then he realizes the sound of rain has gone quiet, and he's entirely dry.
"Oh." Awe chokes his throat. The raindrops in the clearing are floating, suspended in the air, blown glass droplets defying the sway of gravity. Beneath the lighting they flash white-yellow, earthbound constellations constructed by the man nestled against Zero's throat.
The Hunter part of him shivers. What a terrifying display of power - the sheer control required to grasp each individual raindrop and hold it in place - a true marvel worthy of the Ancestor of the Kuran, the Original King. Zero is reminded again that he lives only because Yuuki's affection spared him Kuran's fury. Unleashed, Kuran could have torn him apart with a no more than a thought.
The vampire part of him wants to grovel and show its belly and then fuck Kuran again.
But the fragment of Zero's human self finds the sight very beautiful, and for some reason Zero does not feel afraid.
Kaname can taste the wonder in his Consort's blood, light and airy and bright, tinged with wariness but not a hint of distrust. Utterly splendid.
Licking the taste of Zero's wonder off his lips, blood euphoria is perhaps the reason why Kaname makes such a grievous mistake.
"What did you say." The words are flat, the tone cold. Zero's body has stiffened, and his expression closes off.
Kaname feels something in his chest crunch, like china ground under your heel. "I love you," he repeats.
"You love me," Zero parrots, face frozen in a mask. With a single, hard push Zero shoves Kaname away, his cock slipping out of the warm haven of Zero's body into the unforgiving night air.
Refusing to come within arm's reach, Zero circles around Kaname and goes straight to the pile of his Hunter equipment.
Kaname follows helplessly. "I'm not lying. Your power makes me incapable of lying to you."
"I KNOW THAT!" Zero screams, glacial calm flash-boiling away in an instant, replaced by fury. He begins angrily dressing himself, trying to salvage his clothing.
(This is the scene Kaname imagines: a butterfly lands on an ice-rimmed, cracked branch. The branch breaks. Black roses bloom inside his skull.)
"I love you," Kaname begins, somehow keeping his voice light and even, "but you don't love me."
Zero looks over his shoulder, calm and impassive. "No, I don't. I love Yuuki."
Kaname thinks about cracking open the rotten chrysalis of his ribs, and tearing out the blackened, cancerous heart inside to offer up to Zero. The monster inside him writhes and convulses, the shrieking of a pureblood's obsessive love spurned. His next words have an eerie, echoing disharmony. "Why not?"
Zero's nostrils flare, and he sets his jaw. "I don't need a reason. I am not obligated to love anyone, Kuran Kaname. Not even if they already love me."
Moving brusquely, the Hunter resumes his redressing. "A year ago you thought less of me than a stray dog. You would have happily killed me in the most horrible ways you knew how. And now you've changed your mind and you expect me to just fall into line and obediently love you back?"
Buckling on his weapons, Zero turns away, cutting off Kaname's response. "This is insane. I don't even understand how this happened. You've always hated me. You told me you didn't regret what you did to me. You took pleasure in the idea of my humiliation."
I never wish to see you hurt again, Kaname wants to say, but that's not a denial.
"Don't let me see you until I get home," Zero orders, still with his back turned. "I'm going back to the hotel. Sleep somewhere else if you don't want to fly home yet."
Kaname's eyes burn. Everything is red, red, red. The beast is bursting through its cage. He wants to consume, to crush, to entrap, to eat until he is never denied again.
In the struggle, Zero leaves. Kaname is alone.
(He follows Zero the entire way back just to make sure he's safe, fighting the pureblood part of him, starving and crazed with rejection.)
Well that went poorly.
Hanami 'flower-viewing' is a traditional Japanese activity in the spring, though it is usually done with sakura flowers. Given Zero's history with sakura I thought he might prefer the more ancient tradition of plum blossom viewing instead.
Since polar bears might very well go extinct in my lifetime due to climate change, I figure they probably wouldn't survive the cataclysm either.
Next chapter: 'As your nature demands.' Kaname loses his mind, Yuuki just wants a little peace in her home, and Zero can't escape the Jeweled Court any longer