Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 124: Kaname and Company
by lightpathetic
"NURZHAMAL?"
The nurse leaned to stroke the patient's face, causing her rose-pink sweater to open and expose a green name tag with "Suyuna". He pulled away from her touch and moaned, rolling to a side in the bed. She straightened, taking no offense and fixed his sheets. She was on her second night shift for the week after eight years of nursing. She'd pretty much seen it all. She knew this particular patient hated to be touched. But he was so beautiful, young yet perpetually troubled, his brow constantly furrowed as his eyes darted about as if to catch whatever vigorous activity shot through his mind. He had quite a fan club among the nurses, even as he'd yet to say a coherent thing since he'd arrived. They weren't sure what was wrong with him. He sometimes seemed catatonic but responded to touch by actively avoiding it.
She also knew not stand so close as he was a strong brute. He'd clipped one of the male nurses and sent him skidding along the vinyl floor and restraints… didn't last too long. They soon learned – especially as it was becoming expensive – he cooperated better when he wasn't tied to the bed and when lights weren't being spotted into his eyes. So very muscular yet such flawless pale skin, long, thick, curly blonde hair they took turns to brush and secure into a plait, his eyes a gorgeous blue and clear when he bothered to open them. The only item of reserve, which they had briefly debated on whether or not it made him more attractive, was the curious choice of these pointy caps on his canines that made him look positively feral. The things people did for fashion, she lamented…
No word on family. They joked about who would get to take him home instead. Yes, including the nurse he'd flattened.
He'd come in last week in an ambulance undergoing some sort of seizure but there was nothing physically wrong with him. The testing was inconclusive. In the meantime, he was responding well to sedation and not being handled too much. He'd had no identification. At least, that's what the paramedics had reported the old lady had said about him when she'd found him cowering in her yard, refusing help. How had he gotten there? Where had he come from? Why was no-one looking for him…?
Suyuna turned from checking her patient's direct medication and saw him staring right at her. She actually backed away she was so startled by this.
"You need to leave. Now. He's coming."
Suyuna smiled reassuringly and rounded the bed.
"Are you expecting someone for tea? I'm afraid the cafeteria is closed," she replied, also in English. She thought his accent was cute. He sounded like a star in her favourite Australian soap opera. Aside from her initial fright, she was all calm and professionalism. Next door was a man that spoke to his deceased pet parrot through his pillow.
The man shook his head and threw his legs over the side of the bed. She was soon in his way, even as he pulled at his gown and went to check the cupboard for clothes.
"Nurz…" She paused as she caught herself. He was awake now so they could stop with the nickname based on his beauty and colouring… "What is your name?"
"Please, let me pass. I need to leave. Where are my clothes?"
"They were filthy and torn. We threw them out. We didn't think you would recover this soon… Where are you going? Let me call a doctor!"
Suyuna ran after him to find him standing in the corridor facing three individuals. There was nothing really unusual about them. If you saw them in a group spread in an haute couture magazine. They were all lean, tall and stunningly beautiful. Maybe they were his family members? Still, they should not be here. And, she opened her mouth to say so…
"Will you stay out of my head? I don't care what you think you have a right to do to me…!"
Suyuna gasped as the magazine models spoke. In complete unison.
"You need to show more respect to me or…"
"What!? WHAT!? You need me more. Don't think I don't know it! And as soon as he is found…!"
"Perhaps you need more time to think about it…"
"NO! No… Please…" Claude pleaded as he felt the cloud of human suffering touch his brain. Blissfully it receded as tears of relief pricked his eyelids. He'd been so sure he had been cured. Instead, he was still "ill", still his damaged self. This… creature had showed him that.
"Come on! You have wasted enough of my time! They will escort you to the plane. You'll understand why I will decline to be present to do the honours."
Suyuna covered her mouth where she hid in the room. She sensed she shouldn't interrupt. It was too creepy how they spoke like that. But when he began to leave with them, she spoke up.
"No! You must be discharged properly! You have been very ill!"
They all turned to her. She saw now the red tinged to their eyes. Including her patient's.
"Wait… You aren't…"
Claude heard the others react to her presence but he was quicker. He turned and snarled, her dreamy patient's face changing to all the stuff of nightmares as he pounced, knocking her back into the room. She only felt his teeth on her neck before it all went to nothing.
"AREN'T YOU COMING TO BED?"
Kaname barely looked up from his epad to acknowledge his presence before returning his gaze to the screen, perhaps hoping his ex-human partner would go away. Zero remained undaunted, however.
"Arundhati is falling asleep out there. What if she accidentally puts you through to Baroness Gordon?" Zero queried, tongue-in-cheek, calling to mind the crushingly boring foreign minister who was expert at her job but who unfailingly made all their interactions awkward by throwing herself at him. For him to call her without excellent cause would invite the resumption of certain… stalkerish attentions even Zero had found highly amusing and of which Kaname would not be caught dead describing to another soul farthest her superiors. It only made him long for the old days when he didn't have to worry about scuttling complex international trading relationships before snapping someone's throat…
Kaname thought of giving his usual response – that his secretary was used to his hours and knew to perform hara-kiri as soon as she'd made that mistake – but surprised himself by "pressing" the intercom.
"You can go, Arundhati."
"Sir! Was it what Zero-san'd said about Gordon? I would never…"
"He wasn't serious, were you, Zero?"
"Of course, I was. Her nose was hovering right over Gordon's name on her epad as she nodded. I barely caught her before it touched…"
Zero was interrupted by a horrified sob before Kaname decided to put her out of her misery.
"Good morning, Arundhati. See you at seven."
"Sir!" Arundhati confirmed, so glad of the extra hour to sleep she almost forgot about Zero's bit of severe character assassination to her boss.
Zero came to sit down opposite Kaname at his desk. He was in his blue cotton pyjama bottoms with brown slippers under a matching robe. He didn't feel the need to be formal at these sorts of hours, even in Kaname's office. He yawned theatrically to illustrate.
"Is your winning personality why Arundhati doesn't have a sense of humour?"
"She does have one. Just not where Baroness Gordon is concerned. Much like her employer."
Zero chuckled as he lay back in the chair. He was happy. He wanted to share it with Kaname. But Kaname seemed content to hide in here.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Kaname's face clouded over as he returned his attention to the epad.
"I see." Zero'd gotten his answer. He sighed. He leaned forward to the studiously oblivious brunette.
"Then, we won't talk. We'll just fuck until you pass out."
Zero noticed the drift in concentration, the slight change in his eye movements and then the return to the print onscreen. Of course, he'd heard.
Still, the awkward silence stretched until…
"I… I have a lot to do before this evening, Zero…"
"Bullshit."
Zero rose and circumnavigated the desk, confidently going up to Kaname and pressing his body against him, threading his fingers firmly into his hair, letting Kaname feel that he wasn't lying about sinking himself deep into a certain pureblood, over and over until Kaname dissolved into several series of violent orgasmic seizures.
"I was thinking about your pregnant body all morning and…," Zero paused as he dipped his head to Kaname's, nuzzling aside his mane of silky black hair to expose his neck, his bite area, as his voice and tone lowered to indicate his current state of… preparation, "…I almost drenched my shorts. I think we should get started on all the rough stuff now because in a few months, we'll need to be far more careful and you'll hate that…" Zero let his nascent fangs caress Kaname's bite area as he moaned, thinking he wouldn't mind if they started on the desk in here then moved their bedroom.
Kaname shuddered but, incredibly, pulled his head away from his lover's talented fingers and stood, his back the only witness to Zero's astonished face.
That should have worked. His centuries of experience with Kaname's body made him sure that the older vampire would have felt his fangs' touch on his bite area to the marrow of his bones. His bones. His next position would have been, unfailingly, to be bodily lifted into Kaname's arms and taken to the next available flat surface and at least bitten, the pureblood vampire only fighting a bad instinctual urge to eat him.
"Kaname…?" His long-time love almost never turned down such an offer… unless his fear couldn't make his settle. Like the time he'd first met Zero's literal soul-mates. "What? What is it?"
"Fine! If you must know," Kaname spat, rounding on the ex-human as if he'd just decided to have some courage like the ruthless monarch he was. "I need a bit of time to adjust to this, to think, without you… complicating everything."
"Me…?"
"Yes. You! You know very well how to get your way with me. How to get me act against my better judgment…" He was saying too much but he was grumpy, dammit! His need to connect with Zero singed his very core, seemed to resonate in his very nature. He had to focus now. He had to make a decision on this without Zero's emotional influence. It's what kings did…
"Are you telling me… you are still deciding whether to do this?"
Zero's visage became stormy. Kaname looked away, his fingers ploughing his hair as he felt the weight of Zero's anger. See…?
"We spoke!"
"No! You spoke! You essentially… ordered me to! You can't order me! I am…!"
"Can you blame me! You were spouting nonsense! How can you think of killing the only children we'll ever have together?"
"You see? I can't speak to you. Leave me alone…"
"No! You need to understand that if you do anything to these children, we're fin…!"
Zero was cut off by a prompt on Kaname's telecommunications system.
"Call from Dr Hanab..."
"Reject!"
It stopped before it could finish. He'd forgotten that Arundhati would have switched on the answering software before she left. Zero's eyes narrowed in suspicion as Kaname watched his face guiltily. The call came through again, marked urgent.
"Reject and disable!"
Son of a bitch!
Zero turned, seemingly to leave the office. Kaname sighed in relief, turning to go back to "work", but then he heard Zero at Arundhati's desk… He was there in a flash but not fast enough.
"Aidou is contacting you? Why?"
"W-Why not? He's involved with several of my projects…"
"Then put him through. Don't you trust me to listen in?"
Implicitly, Kaname thought as he squeezed his eyes shut.
But…
"I see."
Zero turned to leave.
"I just need a chance to sort through this, Zero. I'm trying to figure out what is happening to my body. I enlisted Aidou to help for… obvious reasons."
Yes, the least of which he would take this bizarre situation to his grave.
Zero's body visibly sagged in relief. It felt like a normal, mundane concern in a world of far from normal. He walked back to the morose brunette and pressed his lips to his, his forehead to his. His peculiar state of… wellbeing returned and he squeezed himself against him. He was happy. Had been happy. Happier than he'd ever been, he was sure. He was willing to do anything to help Kaname through this. Unlimited scalp massages until his fingers bled? Not a problem!
"Why all the secrecy? We can do this together. Figure this out together. We went through this with the surrogate, remember? You couldn't understand why she needed all that fibre… What?" Zero asked as Kaname seemed to cringe as he pulled away from him.
"Zero, please, listen to me…"
Zero swung towards him, his own manner tightening.
"Don't tell me after two centuries of assuring me that I had all rights to your body and vice versa, in every sense of those words, I might add, you're suddenly bashful when we're having children together?"
The tone for the incoming call sounded again and Zero turned towards it in reflex, just before the circuitry died in a flurry of sparks.
"Now, that's mature…"
"Sorry! I'm sorry. It was… driving me crazy…"
Kaname's fingers found his hair again as he stalked into his office and to a chair as he sat. He was panicking. He shouldn't panic…
"Kaname, why don't you just talk to me. You are not alone in this. Just tell me what's making you this…"
"I tried, Zero. I tried to speak to you. You just…"
"Are you still thinking of doing it? Are you insane?"
"You see… I can't reason with you…"
"What's reasonable about killing our children? Our children. Yours and mine. Don't you get how fucking unprecedented that is?"
"I get it. I do. I'm not going to kill them. But there must be a way to…"
"There isn't." Zero countered quickly. Emphatically. He knew what he was going to say. Knew.
"Zero. Aidou is working on incubation techniques that…"
"Kaname, you promised me. You. Promised. Me. You are not going to risk our children to a fifty-fifty chance in an incubation chamber!"
"They have less than that inside me! Don't you understand? I have tried to explain to you what it takes...!" Kaname inhaled as he paused to calm down. He was yelling. Zero was even beginning to tremble, even if he hadn't noticed yet. God, what about two vulnerable human children? He couldn't even lose his temper and Zero wanted him to do this!
"Zero, I could explain it all to you but you wouldn't care…"
"Not that I don't care, Kaname! It all pales to our children. All of it! For once!"
Kaname nodded and stood, going to the door.
"Wait for me! I'm going to bed too! We could…"
"No. Actually, I'm… going for a walk. I'll see you later."
"A walk?! But it's almost noon…
"Kaname!"
YES, HE WAS AWARE the sun was almost as high as it would go and it was the waning weeks of summer. He was a pureblood vampire, dammit. You didn't have to tell him about the sun. Just the heat of the day made him drowsy, the smell of its radiation on his surroundings gave him pause. Then there was the brightness that threatened to toast his retinas, which rendered him blind in any meaningful way. Yes, he knew noon was bad and he was leaving anyway. It gave an indication of what lay in wait if he stayed.
Still, Kaname wasn't entirely crazy. He headed for the enormous underground parking lot and chose one of his custom vehicles. Aside from their designed tolerance for his abuse, they had auto-adaptable sunshields on each window, antiglare, fully light absorbing coating on the chassis and all fully loaded.
They would be perfect protection for a lengthy jaunt during the more obnoxious portions of the day.
Kaname chose the silver-one - counterintuitive, he knew – but he liked the colour and he saw it as a test of the coating. If it didn't work under these conditions, he could direct his lethal energy towards the technicians at his vehicle manufacturing division, instead. He'd probably sleep like a new-born after tearing them a new one….
A new-born… Kaname "paused" briefly at the opened reinforced doors to the still shockingly bright outside – what had he expected? – and ran his right hand over where they…
The door on the passenger's side opened and Zero appeared, saw that Kaname was stretched out, improbably, on that side, – he hadn't intended on actually driving so he'd wanted to be comfortable and not have the steering apparatus in the way – briefly paused in shock, before taking advantage of the stymied, speechless ancient vampire's paralysis to climb over him to get to the driver's seat. Kaname growled and made a good "push" at the irritating ex-human – perhaps a little too late – but it didn't work. Shit!
"Don't worry. I'm not here to nag. I'm just to make sure you are okay."
Ken. Fucking... Fuck!
"Meaning what? Zero sent you?"
"Not in so many words..."
Kaname tossed in frustration.
"Get out. I do not want to see you."
"Really? Is our love affair over already?" Ken deadpanned.
"You bastard. You did this to me!"
"So, you resent the person that 'knocked you up'? Hardly unchartered waters but… aren't you a bit old for this immature reasoning? It takes two to…"
Kaname snarled and turned to "get" the door. He could tell Ken was laughing at him. He would take his walk, by himself, in the sun if he had to…
The door didn't budge.
"Ken…"
"Yes?"
"You. Are. Just making me. Angry." Kaname voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. He would have killed him if he could manage it.
"Good. I can tell you needed to. I don't know why, though. Isn't this what you wanted?"
"What? What about me made you think I wanted to be saddled with two human children?"
"Nicely done. Still, I think you can do better. Tell me about your lofty, dead ancestors and say how 'soiled' you feel to be with child for a Level "D" vampire?"
"You unadulterated prick…" Even Kaname's claws had shot out.
"There. You're all purple and thoroughly sexy. Sit back and get angrier. I'll drive."
Ken's hands began to glow and Kaname "tried" to react to what he knew to be a spell but he soon recalled he was already under one.
"Could you release me?" Kaname managed through clenched teeth. "I hate being like this."
"Sure, when you calm down."
The car lifted into the air and shot forward toward the doorway. Kaname braced himself for the sun-drenched park and closed his eyes… but he soon realised…
"Where are we?"
"I'm not sure."
"What do you mean you're 'not sure'?"
"I tried to think of the 'Grand Canyon'…"
Kaname pressed his face to the windshield and stared skyward, even through the copious amount of blizzarding snow. No point looking around given the landscape was cloaked in white in all directions. No point in looking up either.
"We could be anywhere…" Kaname groused, noting the extreme cold and conditions.
"It probably chose Denman Canyon in Antarctica. It is an old spell I'd found the other day. Do you see penguins?"
"Why do you always try out spells on me? Why?!"
"Perhaps, father," Ken replied as he paused and directed his eerie gaze into Kaname's crimson eyes, "it's because you've always brought out the worst in me.
"Where's the heating?"
Heating? He didn't need heating. Kaname was so flushed with emotional turmoil he could start his own forest fire…
Wait.
Kaname suddenly paid attention to Ken as he scanned the car. Their breaths frosted the air. Ken's lips were turning blue…
"You're cold!" Kaname's tone was almost glee-filled.
"I'm fine."
"Zero complains when it rains during the summer. It must be several tens of degrees below out here and you're barely clothed…"
"I'm fine. Just help me with the heat."
"Take us back!"
"Not until we talk. Not until you tell me… why you're so scared."
Kaname made a frustrated noise and moved to power-on the vehicle.
"You'll have to move. It's synced to my vital statistics."
They effected the exchange, bodies sliding over bodies, Kaname handing Ken his jacket and shirt, even wrapping the tie several times around his neck. The car roared to life and the heating turned on. It was soon clear it was slightly better than lighting a match. Kaname made a mental note to make the technicians pay…
"Please, Ken. Let me help you..." Kaname had lost his humour about the situation. Zero – Ken – was shaking violently…
"Tell me… what happened… with the hunters, Kaname."
This was ridiculous! His teeth were chattering!
"Nothing! I couldn't bargain with the moron they left me with. They insisted on making me pay for the war…"
"You're… going to let me… d-d-die without h-hearing the truth?"
"Die?!"
He trembled but his black eyes watched him closely. Kaname was learning every part of him. Just as he saw his agony and ecstasy when they made love, he saw his concern in their depths. And he was sure it was more than just projection. It was Ken.
Kaname hadn't noticed they were falling. He did notice the clumsy landing onto the wafting snow. Not good.
"Ken!"
"Tell me." Ken's eyes were sliding closed. Kaname leapt onto him and rubbed him frantically. The heating turned off automatically. Kaname screamed at those totally fucked technicians!
"There was nothing…"
"You're lying. I know…"
"You bastard! You complete bastard! I fucking hate you, you stupid fuck! I was raped! The hunters fucking sold me to the … Cartel in … and two men held me down in the back seat of a filthy old car and… raped me! I've never felt so useless, so small and helpless in all my life! I couldn't protect myself, Ken! I couldn't even protect what we wanted most in the world and it sickens me so much I can hardly breathe! Now you're doing the same letting me watch you die…
"Ken? Ken!"
SARA ROLLED over and pulled a pillow, with full deliberation, over her head.
They were trying to separate her from her glorious dream. Three little girls were playing dress-up in her closet, three teenagers were trying their first push-up corsets with matching transparent wraps, three women getting their first power suits. She was coordinating the power-suits now; green for the silver-haired twin to complement their matching eyes and unfortunate freckled skin, fire-engine red for the golden-haired beauty with blue eyes they called sister. They all had to have heels and a tote, of course. Alligator print because it was in this season…
The knocking was distracting her. A persistent tone irritatingly called "polite sensation" on the dial, coupled with a series of sharp raps on the door.
So vulgar. The girls pouted at her as she drifted away from them at such a crucial stage as the make-up tutorial.
I'll be back, my darlings! Not too much on the cheeks and eyes!
"What!" Sara screeched as she opened the door to find Seiren standing there with five personnel, looking all officious. Lights flashed in the hallway. Come to think of it, lights flashed in her room as well. Sara deflated a bit, not much, and smooth her hair.
"What has my husband done now?" It was barely a question.
"My Queen!" They bowed. "The king is missing ma'am. His tracker disappeared around noon tod…"
"He's not missing, Seiren," Sara began fussily. "He's in…" She stopped, frowning…
"Ma'am?" Seiren prompted. It was why they'd decided to wake the queen at this time of day, risking death themselves.
"He's on Antarctica! I'm sure of it. Near that Canyon. The big one…"
"We'll look it up, Ma'am."
"But during the winter? What's the point of that? Can't see anything farther than your nose during this time of year…"
"Did he… intend the trip, Ma'am?"
"I doubt it… Is Zero here?"
Seiren shook her head, unable, it seemed to form words where Zero's disappearance was concerned. Sara frowned in confusion, then gasped and covered her mouth. She'd just remembered…
Her dream!
"I don't know what's going on but we need to get him. What do we have down there?"
"There's a research station near the … Coast. Nothing more than a ship and snow-mobiles there with a skeleton crew. Otherwise, we'll have to call in some favours of the Argentinians…"
"Do it. Make sure they take electric blankets. Something. Maybe some of those incendiary missiles. Those poor children…"
"Ma'am?"
"He's fine, Seiren. I can tell," Sara informed as she turned back into the apartment to get dressed. "But we need to make sure he is toasty warm and soon. Or, he will not be alive for much longer."
Because I'll kill him myself!
ZERO FINALLY STIRRED, HIS EYELIDS FLUTTERING. Kaname watched his face silently as he moved, keeping his anxiety to a low hum in the pit of his stomach. He'd noticed the spell's mysterious healing several minutes before of his frost-bitten extremities, his brittle fingers, toes; lips saved for future use. Kaname was thinking of such a use now as he hovered protectively over his love's beautiful face, his body pressed to his, celebrating each visible indication of a rise in temperature. Soon colour returned to his skin, soon he began to twitch, draw breath. Soon his eyes roamed his frosty eyelids.
Soon…
Zero opened his eyes and squinted at the light nearby. It was too close.
"What…?"
Zero turned his head and looked up into Kaname's face, his eyes. He relaxed as he saw him. Kaname loved that. Any indication Zero trusted him and looked to him for protection he cherished, drank in like a starved fool. Kaname closed the distance and kissed his peeling lips. He couldn't wait for the spell to finish their work.
I love you. Don't ever scare me like that!
"Where the fuck are we, Kaname?"
"Funny you should ask. But first, how are you feeling?"
"Like a T.V. dinner waiting for the microwave to turn on."
"Hush up. You'll be warm soon."
"Your eyes, Kaname…"
"I'm fine. The fire is small. And I'm more focused on you to worry about pain."
Zero settled again as he finished looking around. He was tired already and there wasn't much to see. It appeared to be a cave, but, from the smell of freshly torn earth, it was freshly bored. Looked like Kaname's handiwork. He realised he should be very grateful for Kaname's unusual body-warmth but he didn't want to say it aloud given how often he'd verbally cursed it on hot nights…
"What happened? And don't keep dodging. I realise it had something to do with Ken from the way you're behaving. An argument? Did we lose the fight?"
Kaname pulled the leather coverings higher over them both and Zero finally noticed them. He fingered the engraved symbol.
"Aren't these the seat coverings from…"
"Yes. The silver one. I didn't even get to drive it. When you, or I should say Ken, passed out, I was finally able to do what I could to save you. We're lying on the padding from the rare ostrich leather seats. This ostrich leather. That's the engine there on fire, wicking the last of the fuel from the tank. The prototype ZT-Class engine. The experimental titanium alloy chassis is now being used as the windshield for the exit and chimney..."
"Kaname, I know you're upset about the car. I do. But, could you start from the beginning?"
Kaname inhaled deeply and met Zero's eyes.
"I wanted to go for a walk, if you recall…"
"Yes."
"Ken waylaid me; said he would drive…"
"Makes sense. You were upset…"
"And we ended up on Antarctica…"
"Sorry… Where?!"
"It was a spell. He'd said he wanted the Grand Canyon and ended up…"
Zero rolled to his side and covered his face with his arm, his body trembling. Kaname's eyebrows knitted in disgust.
"Zero, this is not funny!" It certainly wasn't. He'd been close to losing his mind, then he'd realised he was free of the spell. Just like when Ken fell asleep after sex. He'd felt so stupid for forgetting in his panic.
This utterance only made the trembling worse, however. Kaname tried again.
"Ken actually passed out from the cold! He came to the Antarctic in fucking pyjama bottoms!"
"Ha Ha Ha Haaaa!"
Zero'd uncovered his face and howled in laughter. Kaname moved to get up off his crazy lover, causing the cooler air of the South Pole to hit Zero, making him shut up and shudder. He wrapped his legs around Kaname and hauled himself up to join him, press himself into him. Nope. He wasn't ready to separate.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't leave. I'll do anything. Anything."
Kaname did sulk for a few seconds longer but soon returned off his knees and hands to the makeshift bed of luxury car seat stuffing, leather and Zero's body when he felt certain Zero had learned his lesson. It took a good while longer for Zero to trust he wouldn't leave him to the cold and unwrap his limbs.
"I don't know why you aren't as angry as I am."
"I don't know, Kaname. I guess it reminded me of earlier times. When you weren't trying to kill each other, I liked the rivalry between you two. Not over me, obviously. You know..."
Kaname caught himself smiling too. He remembered how Zero used to laugh when he would complain in total frustration about Ken challenging him at the office or starting rival companies on a lark, and yet, Kaname still told him about all those encounters. Because he too felt enormous pride and hope for the future. They'd raised a strong son. One who would challenge a king…
Kaname's smile faded.
Zero reached up to cup his face and Kaname returned from that faraway dark place to meet Zero's eyes.
"Is that what you're afraid off? Loving them so much and then losing them to whatever the future holds?"
Kaname cleared his throat and looked away again.
"You can only imagine what I'll be like if I actually carried them, gave birth, then…. I felt Sara's unending fury when Ken died. I don't think I'm built to accept loss like that, Zero. Not after investing so much of myself."
Zero's tears rolled unabated down his cheeks. His love. His gorgeous uber-vampire love.
"I adore you, Kaname. I can't think of a better mother for my children. You'll find that out too if you give this, them, a chance."
Kaname jerked back his attention at this utterance, his body almost physically recoiling at this designation.
"'Mother'? Really?"
"One of us is with child and… it's not me..." Zero's eyes, dancing with mirth, slid to the side as if to avoid looking at the culprit.
"You know, I can fix that. Easily. Out here, no-one can hear you scream. Where do you want it? Here?"
Zero laughed as Kaname reached to tickle his stomach. He rolled to get away and pulled vigorously at the brunette's gentle searching fingers. They soon settled together as Zero warmed up, simply enjoying being close, no interruptions, no (working) gadgets within hundreds of miles to disturb them. Kaname lay on Zero's chest, over his heart, - after assuring Zero he wasn't "squeezing" them - and listened to him speak about the future, his plans for their children, his eyes eventually closing on his absent study of the shredded fossilised bone of some enormous ancient mammal, as Kaname began to have hope, began to try to convince himself that the odds of the children… not being Zero's were small. Had to be very, very small. He would try it. For Zero. Tell Aidou he didn't need his… services after all. Figure out camouflaged clothing and a way not to be seen by another living soul for the last few months.
And, he could still… resolve the pregnancy if it turned out they didn't belong to Zero, Kaname thought, his eyes becoming cold. It's just… the thought of their babies growing inside of him… Kaname squeezed his eyes shut and held Zero tighter, his anger robbing him of breath...
No! They are Zero's. They are!
They are.
Zero frowned and looked down at Kaname who had begun to chuckle.
"Why are you laughing? My grandfather's middle name really was 'Yong'…"
"No… I was just thinking… I'd sent Aidou the imaging video with the subject 'I need this removed'. It explains his urgent calling. I hope he wasn't driving."
Zero started to laugh, too, at the thought of their friend's surprise and reaction, then realised… Kaname lifted his head when he noticed Zero's heartrate and silence.
"Geez, Zero. I… didn't mean anything by that. It's just how I'd felt at the time and I'm always brief when I speak. I wasn't in the mood to write out, "Honourable Dr Aidou: I understand you are an expert in extra-uterine incubation. Kindly advise on the attached imaging of yesterday's date, yours, his utmost excellence etc.…"
"I admit… that sounds much better…"
"I'm sorry, Zero. For being a fool. This situation… it made me crazy. Too crazy to see that it's worth meeting two children stubborn enough to start growing in my stomach. If they survive, I want to know them. Protect them. Love them. Ask them what on earth were they thinking. I'm going to try, Zero. I've decided… I'm going to carry them for as long as they'll have me. Hopefully, my body doesn't ki…"
Zero kissed him, cutting him off. Pulled him close and pressed his lips to those plump red pillows that had just emitted the sweetest thing he'd ever heard. Kaname moaned and turned his head, opening to Zero's insistent tongue, cradling his love's head gently as his eyes closed to savour his body's exuberant reaction...
Zero recalled his arousal over the thought of a certain pregnant brunette and since it was clear a certain appendage had recovered enough, Kaname was rolled onto his back to grip the bed of seat stuffing as Zero lapped and pinched the nipple over his "bruise" while continuing his massage of his already dripping erection, all before trailing his tongue lower along his soft skin to the sensitive bulb his hands were firmly but leisurely milking. Kaname stretched and moaned, then curled to watch as Zero swallowed him greedily, swatting away his assistance, his suggestions, pulling the coverings over himself and his prize when Kaname became too… demanding.
"Zero… Oh… that feels so…"
Everywhere was tense. His body… he needed…
"Zero!"
Kaname cursed as the ground shook. Pebbles leapt off the floor around them as the pureblood cried out, taken over by such pleasures…
Zero came out from under the coverings and ground his hips into Kaname's.
"How are you feeling?" He rasped, his voice tight with unreleased sexual tension. "Okay to continue?"
Kaname spread his legs without more and reached for the only part on Zero he wanted working right now but the younger vampire pulled away…
"Kaname, this is your first lesson in listening to what your body is saying and communicating that to me…"
"I am, damn you!"
"I meant…"
"They're fine. I'm fine. I need you. Deeply. Now."
"So, bossy."
Kaname "lifted" them both urgently to flip them and Zero relented, lining up his throbbing, ripe erection and pushing against the brunette's greedy, saliva slickened ring, and they dropped back to the ground, Kaname's eyes rolling, becoming pure white with need. Zero pushed in more, right up until his pelvis nestled firmly into Kaname smooth behind, as he reached to kiss his love's ecstasy-slackened lips.
"Ohhh... fuck..." Kaname moaned, as his sensitive tissues tightened around Zero's welcomed intrusion and scorching seizures spread throughout his body.
"Going forward, if this becomes uncomfortable, you'll need to tell me…"
"Zero…" came the low plea, as hips leapt up to try to swallow him whole.
Zero chuckled, lifting Kaname's legs and pressing deep to a completely satisfied groan, all before dragging his fingernails in a bloody trail along Kaname's back and legs, just the way he liked, until the brunette's own claws shot out and dug, painfully, into his lover's arms and back, the pureblood's fangs glistening in the warm light from the fire as he began to shudder again, his stomach muscles testing his skin, aglow in the firelight, over and over as he struggled with the war inside of him. A fight against the tumult or to submit, to come, to lose himself as Zero watched in pure fascination.
Watched his beautiful, pregnant lover. He almost couldn't believe it.
Almost.
Zero pressed an affectionate kiss to the "bruise" before pulling out and rolling Kaname onto his stomach, going to run his hands up his long, sexy legs to his luscious behind, squeezing him, parting him to feast his eyes on where he had been, the heat in his core intensifying at the sight, seducing him further. He soon re-seated himself on demand and continued, rolling his hips intimately, slowly into his lover, licking at his blood, raking his fangs along his broad shoulders until the pureblood begged, arching back to claim his lips, his tongue pressing deep as if to share the connection that threatened to devastate him. Kaname soon broke the kiss, however and yelled as his orgasm snatched him away, his internal seizures bringing a sweet paralysis. Zero sank his fangs into Kaname's left shoulder as the brunette sobbed into the bedding, another orgasm ripping from him, tearing his sanity as his lover conquered totally, seeding his insides in waves to match his own utter capitulation.
Zero dropped his head, spent, but his mind had been never far away.
How did this miracle happen? How did you happen?
Never mind. Just survive.
Let us meet you, know you.
Please.
"ZERO! DO YOU HEAR THAT?"
"No." Zero muttered immediately and definitively, settling to go back to sleep on Kaname's shoulder. Zero was used to Kaname asking him impossible questions regarding his senses.
"Did you hear that parade two counties over in …?"
"No."
"Do you smell that caterpillar to the North of …?"
"No."
Kaname stayed up to listen, though. It sounded like a helicopter.
"Zero."
"What?" Zero was physically happy but exhausted. He just needed one more hour's sleep and he could face being marooned on a hostile continent…
"They've found us."
"Good. Told you. Protocol." A snore emitted again. Kaname kissed his cheek and eased from under the slumbering ex-human vampire. He supposed he should be grateful and let him sleep until they arrived. He had been well and truly sorted out as promised. It had been his turn to pass out. Kaname pulled up the makeshift leather sheets, covering over his love before patting his talented hips…
No! Focus. He needed to go let them know where they were.
They'd argued over returning by the same spell. Briefly, as Zero wasn't keen on risking them ending up crushed by several mega tonnes of water under the sea next, as was Kaname. Zero eventually forbade Ken ever trying the spell again, particularly on gestating purebloods. Kaname actually asked after his son's reaction but Zero shook his head to indicate there hadn't been any. In fact, he had been eerily quiet, Zero mentioned. Probably suitably embarrassed, Kaname quipped.
They had then thought of venturing out and letting Kaname take them North, but Kaname worried about the temperature's effects on Zero, and Zero worried about separating from Kaname should anything happen to him. They began to wonder if anyone missed them and Kaname mentioned he could feel Sara's anger. Zero suggested Seiren was probably the cause and they would probably be located soon. At which point they'd fallen asleep again.
It was good they were coming. He was hungry and a little… weakened by his exertions. He might have passed out himself in these elements if he had made a run for it.
Kaname "drifted" to the opening of the cave, "pulled" away the portion of the carcass of the car, then "drifted" up into the air, quite nude, and listened. The conditions were much better, only a light snow-fall although it was still dark. All the better to see the helicopters headed in their direction.
He returned to his sleeping partner, wrapped him up tightly in the leather car seating and deepened his sleep. Would be a nice surprise for them to wake up in a large warm hotel bed with him begging for a reprise.
He couldn't wait.
"THEY'RE FINE. NO CHANGES…"
"I told you…"
"Shut up, Kaname. No frostbite? Nothing?"
"No, my Queen. I'd prefer if the King's perfectly regulated body temperature was a few degrees lower…"
"'The king' is right here…"
"…but that may have saved their lives. Still, they seem to tolerate his regular temperature well…"
"But you're saying it should be lower?"
"Just a few degrees would be optimal…"
"He could wear a cooling rig…"
"'He' would not," the King volunteered, to no-one who cared, it seemed. Even Zero was off somewhere being meticulously debriefed by Seiren.
"We'll see. Is that all, Doctor?"
Said doctor did notice Sara had called her "Doctor" and not "the human doctor".
"Yes, my Queen. You can get dressed now, my King."
"Thank you," Kaname ground out as he stood, grabbed his clothing and left the room.
He didn't know how much more he could take of this. He really didn't.
"Kaname! Aren't you staying for my examination?"
Kaname was halfway up the stairs but that didn't stop him returning in an instant. He was beside the Queen's reclined form as she watched for the reactions on his face, as realisation dawned.
"Darling…"
"I think it's right, don't you? Someone will need to watch over those two weaklings. An elegant big sister…"
"Or brother."
Kaname's eyes welled in happiness as he bent to kiss his wife.
"It would be perfect."
to be continued
lightpathetic wrote this but (most of) these are not my characters. They belong to Vampire Knight.