Yuuki sighed as she walked into the house. Even though she was glad to be away from the others, being here meant that she would have to face Kaname again. She hoped that he was at least a little better after being left alone to cry it out. She didn't know how she could deal with it if he wasn't. She was feeling too fragile to be able to handle his fragility well.
She was worried that she would wind up venting her frustrations on him. She decided then that no matter how she found him, she wouldn't do that since it might make him feel worse about himself and delay his return to normal even more. For once, he needed her to be there for him. And she was determined to be there for him, no matter how hard it was for her.
While she was thinking through this, she heard a noise—or rather noises—coming from Zero's room. It only took a second for her to recognize the noises and realize their cause. Despite her current hopeless state, or perhaps because of it, the fact that Zero and Seiren were in his room having sex made her burst out in laughter. She put her hand over her mouth trying to stifle the sounds coming from her mouth, but it wasn't doing much to mute the sound. Thankfully, they were too absorbed in each other to hear her. She knew that they would never forgive her for eavesdropping on their first time.
Eventually she regained enough control of herself to at least leave. Soon, her amusement faded as she realized that neither of them would have done it so quickly if they didn't think that this might be their last chance. She hoped that the situation that she and Kaname had landed everyone in didn't make the other two vampires do something that they would regret later. With this sobering thought in mind, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she opened the door to her own room.
Kaname was lying just as she had left him. He was still curled up on his side, almost in the fetal position. Only this time, his eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping. As she looked at him, the thought that he looked younger and more vulnerable in sleep crossed her mind again. A sad smile crossed her face as she sat down beside him on the bed and gently brushed his bangs out of his eyes.
At her touch, his eyes flew open. Panic was evident in the burgundy depths until he focused on her face then it faded to be replaced by the sadness that had been there before. She smiled warmly at him before she bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead. He closed his eyes at the gesture but said nothing.
"Are you feeling any better?" she asked her tone forcibly cheery. In reply he just looked at her. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. The answer was there in his eyes.
"Don't worry," she said, trying to think of something to say that might make him happy. "So I met with the magic users today. They're making great progress. I'm out of things to teach them, and they're out of things to teach each other. I think tomorrow we will try to think up new ways to use magic. Ways that might stop anti-vampire weapons."
She was disappointed when he didn't react to her words. She had figured that a puzzle like that one would rouse him. She knew how much he liked puzzles.
"Do you have any ideas that might help us?" she asked, hoping that a direct question would at least get an answer.
"I have one idea," he said quietly.
"Really?" she asked perking up instantly at the fact that he had at least answered her. "What's that?"
"I will turn myself over to the hunters and end the war," he replied. "That way there is no need to fight them and the anti-vampire weapon problem ceases to exist."
"You're going to do what?" Yuuki breathed. She couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"The only thing I can do to end this war," Kaname replied simply. "I am going to give myself to the hunters."
Yuuki opened and closed her mouth for a few times as she tried to think of any kind of a coherent reply to that idiotic statement. She then took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself before she yelled at him. She had promised herself that she wasn't going to yell at him.
"What even makes you think that is a good idea?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she fought against her anger. She couldn't believe that he could be so stupid! This was the solution that the great strategic mind of Kaname Kuran had come up with!? All of his millennia of experience had lead to this? She couldn't believe he had actually meant it. It had to be some kind of a test. He was testing her to see what she would do.
"It's the only way," he said as though this was the solution any logical person would come up with. "If I give myself to them then they will have no reason to continue the war since their blood debt will be settled." His reasoning was so clear to him that he couldn't understand why she was having difficulty understanding why he had come to this decision. He was confused as she closed her eyes and clinched her hands into fists before she opened them and glared at him with tears coursing down her face.
"And you really think that's how it'll work, huh?" she yelled. She had been intending to be gentle with him but this self-sacrificial attitude of his was too much. "You honestly think that once they have killed you they'll just leave the rest of us alone?"
"They would have no reason to do otherwise," he said calmly. "Their feud is with me."
"Damn it, Kaname!" Yuuki screamed grabbing him by the shoulders and giving into her urge to shake him instead of her urge to slap him. "That is the stupidest thing you have ever said! We've been through this already! The hunters want war. Even if you sacrifice yourself they will still wage this war and then we will all die. We don't stand a chance without you! And you know it!"
Kaname was shocked at her actions. He had never expected that she would react so angrily to his proposal. "How do you know?" he asked emotion entering his voice for the first time. "How do you know that you would not all be better off without me? Everything I try to do goes badly. Everything I touch fails. What makes you think that the world wouldn't be a better place without me in it? Everything I care about eventually comes to hate me."
"How can you say that?" Yuuki breathed, pulling away from him. "I need you, Kaname. I love you. I don't hate you. And everything you touch doesn't go bad. You saved me when I was a child. That went well. Or at least I think it did. Do you regret it?"
"No," he cried reaching for her despite the fact that he thought she would be better off without him. "I don't regret it. Saving you may be the one thing that I have done right in my entire existence." He paused as he realized that now was the time to say what he had never wanted to tell her.
"But it never should have been necessary," he said looking straight into her eyes and willing her to understand. "Your parents should never have died. I should have faced Rido myself and destroyed him, even if I couldn't kill him. You should never have been orphaned or placed in the position that you needed saving. And for that, I am so very sorry. I failed you."
She looked away from him, tears forming in her eyes once more. He sighed, knowing that she would hate him now. He stood, preparing to leave. He couldn't stand to see the hatred in her eyes.
"I just go now," he said sadly. "Again, though I know it means nothing, I apologize." He almost sobbed when he felt her hand grasp his arm. Even though he knew he deserved anything she said, he had hoped that she would be merciful and allow him to leave without saying anything. He hated the idea that one of his last memories on this earth would be her angry words. Knowing that he had no alternative, he turned to face her.
She looked up at him, her burgundy eyes awash in anger. He closed his eyes and clinched his hands into fists against the onslaught that he knew was to come. What happened next was so fast that neither of them really knew what was happening before it did. Yuuki had slapped Kaname. In the aftermath of her action, they both stood there in shock.
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Kaien sighed as he watched the vampires leave. They were joking with one another and laughing. They had no idea that they stood no chance of winning this war. Despite what Yuuki had said, he knew that she was not capable of stopping the anti-vampire weapons. She didn't know enough about magic. Kaname stood a chance of doing it because he was older and had been there when the weapons had first been forged.
Kaien didn't know if even Yuuki knew the truth about Kaname, and it wasn't Kaien's place to tell her, but he knew. He had known since Yuuki was born. Juuri and Haruka had told him about what had happened to their first child. He had initially been shocked, but after he had spent more time with the family—minus Yuuki—he had gotten used to the idea since Kaname had shown few signs of being more than he appeared. And by the time he started behaving strangely for his age, he was so dedicated to Yuuki and the other Kurans that no one cared.
Kaien had never forgotten what he knew, but it had been easy to pretend that Kaname was nothing more than Yuuki's older brother. But now, it wasn't just that Kaname they needed, it was the Ancestor Kaname and all the knowledge that he possessed. And now that both of them were needed, neither of them was available. And Kaien wasn't sure that he could be brought back. He had seen men and women who had been destroyed before and recognized the signs. Even though he would never tell his daughter that it was hopeless, he knew that she was fighting a losing battle.
Kaien was surprised when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned, expecting to see one of the vampires or perhaps Zero, and was surprised to see Yagari standing there with a smug yet worried look on his face.
"Little bit distracted, are we?" he asked. He was a little surprised. Even before all this had happened, he had never been able to sneak up on Kaien. The older man had always known that he was there. For him to be able to sneak up on him in the middle of a war something bad must have happened.
Kaien made a noise of agreement, but his eyes never actually focused on Yagari. "Are the kids alright?" Yagari asked, dropping his disinterested tone. For Kaien to be this distracted something must have happened to one of them.
"Oh," Kaien said, shaking himself out of his dark thoughts. "They're fine. For now."
"Then what happened?" Yagari asked.
"You know," Kaien replied. "I'm surprised to see you back here. I figured that you would have left. This really isn't your fight."
"Didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Yagari asked going for bravado despite the worry that was still flooding his veins. "So what's got you so depressed?"
"Kaname," Kaien answered.
"What about him?" Yagari demanded. "He didn't break the little prefect's heart did her?"
"Not yet," Kaien said. "But he's broken."
"What do you mean broken?" Yagari asked confused. Even if he had been injured, purebloods heal so fast that it should be a non-issue.
Kaien just leveled a glance at the younger hunter. In that look Yagari saw Kaien's desolation and realized that it wasn't a physical break that Kaien was talking about. He also realized that this meant that they were well and truly screwed.
"Well, shit," Yagari said. Even though Kaien disapproved of the use of vulgarities, the sentiment was echoed in his own mind. And he replied with nothing more than a nod.
Unbeknownst to the older men, their private conversation had not been that private. Takuma had been finishing putting things up in the closet and had heard every word that had been said. He waited until the ex-hunters had left the room before he emerged with one thought on his mind: the night class needed to know.
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So what do you think? Was this a decent chapter for now? There will be more to come, I promise.
And thank you to everyone who read this chapter.
A special thank you to:
Akira 91: Thank you! I was worried that I had his being too cautious and her too forward, but I'm glad that you enjoyed it. And we'll try to work in a scolding, I'll bet that it will be written all over his face for anyone paying any kind of attention :)
Elliot Rose: She'll figure it out, don't worry. And yep, impending death is quite the motivator for speeding a relationship along, eh? Thank you! Once I get it done I will go back and fix the typos but I figure that if I stop writing to fix typos I will get murdered. I thought that was a good touch. And yep practice makes perfect ;). And I will keep writing :) I hope you liked this latest chapter.
Leafstone: thank you! I hope you like the rest of it as well.
