A/N: Warning: there's blood in this chapter. But I think you've all already figured that out.
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Bloody nurse
Chapter 6
Yuuki took a deep breath. She was staring at the shards lying on the carpet, not too far from her right hand, gleaming almost happily in the slight moonlight. They were the remains of one of the wineglasses, which Kaname has broken beneath his foot.
Her brain was working very fast, tying reason and insanity together. She couldn't tell right from wrong anymore. Was she suicidal? Most probably, since leaving was not an option for her. He needed her help. She was the only one, who had that power. And the means of achieving that were, quite literally, ripe for picking.
Yuuki wasn't even conscious of formulating the plan in the first place, but before she even realized what she was doing, her hand reached out for one of the bigger shards. Her trembling fingers slowly closed around the cool piece of glass, bringing it closer for inspection. The sharp edges of the shard dangerously gleamed in the slight lighting of the room as she turned it over and over in her hands. When she finally realized what she was doing, her hands froze. She was suicidal, wasn't she?
Suddenly, Zero's face popped up in her mind, his face furious, turning red from his anger, his fanged mouth shouting unintelligible words with no sound reaching her ears. His imaginary face kept bawling her out, occasionally mouthing the single word Yuuki could read from his lips without actually hearing it: Idiot.
Yuuki smiled briefly for her self. "If Zero ever finds out about this, and chances are that he most likely will, I'll never hear the end of it." The chairman will reprimand her for it but at the same time, he'll be glad that everyone is fine in the end. Zero will be furious and he'll probably put her on a leash or something but… she will not regret her decision.
She tore her eyes away from the shard and she focused her gaze on the carpet in front of her. The dark stains on it were clearly visible up close. Blood. And not a small amount of it. All soaked up into the fibers of the carpet.
Your blood is too precious to be spilled...
So much blood has been spilled already. For the briefest of moments, Yuuki wondered who's blood decorated the floor of the room but she banished the thought as quickly as it came. She needed to focus. She needed to act fast, before fear caught up with her.
She closed her eyes to erase the image of stranger's blood from her mind and instead focused on the man behind the closed bedroom door. His usual calm gentle face appeared behind Yuuki's closed eyelids and she smiled softly again at the sight. But her face fell as Kaname's eyes turned crimson and his expression morphed into one of pure agony.
With a silent gasp, her eyes flew open. She never wanted to see that look upon her Kaname's face again. It was pure torture for her.
Taking a deep breath, she rearranged her legs beneath her so that she was kneeling and she reached forward for one of the overturned wineglasses, placing it back on its stalk in front of her. With her heart beating painfully against her ribcage she lifted her left hand over the glass, turning it over and she looked at the lines running across her white palm. She could faintly see her rapid pulse beating underneath her skin closer to her thumb…
Yuuki slowly lifted the sharp shard with her right hand and held it above her open palm. Her hands shivered violently as the fear of upcoming pain gripped her body. She breathed deeply several times and reminded herself: "I'm doing it for him." Biting her lower lip, she brought the sharp edge of the shard to her palm.
One heartbeat.
Two heartbeats.
And with a sharp intake of breath, she cut herself across the palm of her hand.
She watched in amazement as the first drop of blood made its appearance and slowly slid down her palm and dripped into the empty wineglass. But as it made contact with the bottom of the glass, her head snapped up in alarm as she heard a pain-filled howl coming through the bedroom door, accompanied with a loud thud.
Panic gripped her heart as she sat frozen on the floor, ignoring more drops of her blood slowly dripping into the glass. "Kaname…sama," she whispered into the darkness of the room, straining her ears for any sounds coming from the bedroom. For a while all she could hear was the soft plop…plop of her dribbling blood slowly gathering in the wineglass.
And then finally, she heard a tiny sob.
Kaname was sobbing because of her. She held her own tears at bay from the heart-wrenching sounds coming from his direction and she looked back down at her hand. The bleeding was slowly stopping but taking one look at the glass, Yuuki knew that she needed more blood than that. She clenched and unclenched her hand several times, renewing the flow of her blood, further helping it by rubbing her forearm in the direction of her hand.
At the sight of her blood, she was shortly reminded of that fateful night when Kaname came to her rescue. Her beginning. The start of her great fondness for him. He was the reason she was still alive. She owed him her life… "But for tonight," she peered down into the half-full glass, "my blood will have to do."
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"Calm down, Zero, I'm sure this is a misunderstanding."
"How can this be a misunderstanding when she's gone missing?"
"Are you sure you've checked everywhere?"
"What, you want me to search the whole grounds?" asked Zero in disbelieve, waving his hand in the direction of the office door.
The Chairman sighed, took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Take a seat, Zero."
"I'll stand."
The Chairman put his glasses back on, stood up from his desk and slowly turned away from a fuming Zero, heading towards one of his cabinets. "How about a chocolate candy?"
"Are you ignoring this on purpose?"
"I'm not ignoring anything, Zero, I'm trying to lighten up the mood."
"With candies."
"Yes, with candies," he said and placed one into his mouth. "Mmm, are you sure you don't want any?" he asked, offering the whole box to Zero on his way back to the desk.
Zero only stood there with his arms folded across his chest, boring his grey eyes into those of the Chairman.
The Chairman sighed again and placed the box on his desk. "Have you checked the dorm?"
"Yes."
"Her old bedroom?"
"Yes."
"Your bedroom?"
Zero paused for only a second. "Yes."
"All of the bathrooms?"
"What kind of a question is that?"
The Chairman lifted his hands in defense. "Just gathering the facts, Zero," he said calmly and seated himself behind the desk again. "Your patrol ended only twenty minutes ago. Yuuki has never been the punctual type, she might only be running late. But of course, you know this very well yourself. Which leads me to believe that there's more to what you're concerned about, am I right?" he finished, supporting his head on his hands under his chin.
Zero looked away from the chairman, focusing his gaze on the box of chocolates instead. "I think she was hiding something from me. She's not a very good liar so whenever she starts acting strange around me, I know something's up."
The Chairman considered that for a moment. "Yes, very perceptive, Zero. Do you have any idea as to what might be going on?"
Zero lifted his gaze back up to look at the Chairman as if he grew a second head. "Why don't you switch your brain on and think? What's usually causing Yuuki to behave abnormally? Or should I say who?"
The Chairman looked up at the ceiling and tapped his index finger against his lips: "Hmm, let me think…"
After a couple of seconds and a few eyebrow twitches later, Zero slammed his hands on the desk in front of him. "Kuran! It's always Kuran! And Yuuki's been acting strange ever since he stopped attending the classes!"
The Chairman leaned back in his seat and placed his hands behind his head. "Are you sure about this, Zero? It seems a little farfetched to me."
"How so?"
"Yuuki asked me about Kaname's whereabouts and I told her that he's never left the dormitory. And she left it at that."
"How does that prove anything?"
"And what proves your theory? I'm aware of the fact that you're not very fond of Kaname but what makes you think that he's behind Yuuki's so-called disappearance?"
Not even a second later came a knock on the door.
"Come in," said the Chairman and Zero moved to stand beside the desk.
The door was opened and a nervous looking Ichijou entered the office. "Good evening, Chairman Cross."
"Ah, Ichijou-san, what brings you here?" asked the Chairman politely.
Zero's permanent frown deepened as he sniffed the air around them. Why did Ichijou smell so strongly of his own blood?
Ichijou rubbed the back of his neck nervously and said: "Well, you see, I came to inform you that Cross Yuuki is currently in Kaname-sama's chambers…with Kaname-sama…but everyone else was banned from entering…"
Zero turned his head sharply towards the Chairman: "Is this proof enough for you?"
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A/N: Seeing Kaname all torn up and at the edge of his sanity is somehow…intriguing, I think.
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter at least a little bit. I know I've enjoyed writing the dialogue between the Chairman and Zero…they're just too much fun together ;)
Take care,
Matylda