Thank you all for your responses to the last chapter! I can't put my gratitude into words. Sometimes it's just nice to know that you guys are still out there, still reading and enjoying TWOFT even though we're nearly 300,000 words in and close to thirty chapters. Thank you guys sincerely for being my readers.

By the way, this fic is also archived on AO3, if any of my readers would prefer to read it there.

XXVIII. You Hunted Me Down

"Welcome back, Kiryuu-sama," Sasaki and the rest of Zero's maids chorus as he enters his suite, still in his human traveling clothes. Sasaki comes forward and bows. "Consort, would you like us to lay out your daywear?"

"No, thank you, I'm going to the stables with Yuuki. I need to check on my horses," Zero replies. "I hope you've been well, Sasaki-san. Could one of you please find my riding habit?" Zero's closet is a mysterious well of unending new outfits; even if the Hunter ventures inside, there's no way he can find a specific item by himself.

The maids chatter away as they help Zero dress, gossiping about what he's missed while staying at the onsen. But they're acting rather oddly, giggling too often and sending Zero hidden glances when they think he can't see. The Hunter has no idea why his maids are suddenly acting like schoolgirls, and flees as quickly as possible when Yuuki rescues him from an enthusiastic interrogation about his vacation.

"I don't know what's gotten into them," Zero tells her, patting Saya's nose as she nearly bowls him over searching his pockets for treats. Untrained as she is, ground manners are another concept they're working to teach her.

For some reason, Yuuki chokes and looks shifty. "I'm sure it's nothing serious."

Eyes narrowing, Zero reminds himself to do a little interrogating of his own later. "Anyway," he continues, "I know you're working today. Do I have time for a ride?"

"A short one," his wife replies, fidgeting with the cufflink of her business suit.

Now that Zero is healed and working toward peak condition, he's finally dared try riding Magic, and the black mare has proven herself talented enough to deserve her high purchase price. Even a short session leaves Zero feeling more accomplished, with a nice tiredness in his muscles as he returns to his suite alone to change clothes.

Zero's maids aren't the only ones behaving strangely - other servants stare like they've been startled, or give the Hunter second looks as he walks past, though they always drop their eyes if Zero returns the scrutiny. Now edging past curiosity into worry, Zero can admit he's rather distracted as Sasaki helps him don a fur wrap against the late autumn cold.

"Kiryuu-sama, is there something the matter?" Sasaki asks him, straightening his lapels and smoothing down the fur.

Zero hesitates, but Sasaki has proven herself trustworthy so far. "I'm not sure. People have been acting strangely around me this evening."

The woman beams at him so hard the corners of her eyes crinkle. "They're pleased that you, the Master, and the Mistress are getting to know each other better."

"What?" Zero asks, completely in the dark.

"In a more intimate way," Sasaki replies, politely implying her meaning. "The way an alpha is meant to know their omega."

Zero's jaw drops. "How did you - how did you guess that?"

His head maid's brow furrows as she thinks, then flies upward as though she's figured something out; Sasaki stares at Zero in surprise. "Consort Kiryuu, can't you tell?"

Zero stares back, completely confused. "Tell what?"

Sasaki gives Zero an apologetic look. "Your scent, Kiryuu-sama. It's mixed with Kuran-sama and Kuran-hime very...carnally, so to speak."

His eyes open wide, and Zero's face warms. "Thank you, Sasaki-san, that will be all until lunch," the Hunter says faintly.

The whole evening, Zero can hardly concentrate on his book. Every time his thoughts wander toward that conversation, his mind floods with embarrassment. Finally, Zero gives in and presses his nose to his skin. Maybe a faint hint of something? But Zero's Level D, comparatively poor sense of smell isn't keen enough to tell what the scent is, even if his brain already knows. The Hunter groans silently to himself - another awkward omega thing. Just what he needed!

The Hunter-raised part of Zero resents being treated like an object that can be owned, but the vampire in his head is almost proud, and feels reassured by the claim. And Zero himself? Well, everyone knowing he had sex is embarrassing, but hardly the worst. Zero will just have to make sure he washes more thoroughly after their...sessions. Not that it will help much, he remembers from his accident with Aido.

Groaning aloud this time, Zero buries his face in the cushion of his settee and doesn't move - until a maid arrives to inform him that Kuran-sama is requesting his presence for lunch.

Occupied by this thoughts, Kaname only glances up as Kiryuu is guided into the outdoor pavilion where the pureblood is seated, awaiting his Consort's presence.

Yuuki must have spoken to the Head Maid before she left - Kiryuu is wearing one of his dresses, rather than his normal robes and tunics. Kaname must admit, his wife has a good eye for these things. Kiryuu looks particularly comely tonight in cobalt velvet and blue-grey winter mink, his cheeks pink from the cold. The pureblood especially likes the silver beadwork at his Consort's collarbone, drawing attention to the graceful throat. Inescapably, it reminds Kaname how good the Hunter looks wearing his marks, his neck encircled by Kaname's collar.

Underneath his skin, the alpha ripples.

It's easy to understand why Yuuki is driven to pay extra attention to their Consort. Whatever the Hunter believes, Kaname is not indifferent to Kiryuu's confession. As the Hunter settles into the opposite chair, Kaname can feel the urge brewing under his skin, telling him to draw his omega closer, to safeguard his mate's well-being with his own hands. The pureblood finally got his answers, but he did not like what he found; Kiryuu's self-loathing exceeded all his expectations, in ways that bode ill for the Hunter's mental health and state of mind.

"I've never been here before," Kiryuu comments, looking at the garden spread around them, full of maple trees, mossy lawns, and koi ponds.

"It seemed like a nice change," Kaname remarks. "When you reach my age, change is a necessity for the sake of one's health and sanity."

When Kiryuu tilts his head to the side, his pearl and lapis Hoseki glints in the moonlight. Yuuki really did a good job with him, Kaname thinks again. "I would imagine too much change can have the opposite effect," the Hunter remarks.

"That is true," Kaname allows, taking a sip of his wine. "But an excess of most things goes ill for the mind." Kiryuu is following one of their older scripts tonight, the pureblood observes, one from their days as rivals. Such caution is no longer necessary, but entertaining nonetheless.

Face perfectly unruffled, Kiryuu merely nods in acknowledgment.

"I thought we might eat more formally than normal, to celebrate our return," Kaname says. Still no reaction from Kiryuu. "What will you be having to drink?" he asks, signaling the servant waiting out of earshot.

"Lemon soda," Kiryuu says, probably just to be difficult. The servant scampers off to fulfill the request.

Now that the two of them are alone, the Hunter's face hardens. "You don't just invite me to nice lunches, Kaname. What is this about?"

"I wanted to speak with you, at your leisure. This seemed a convenient way to do it," Kaname tells him.

"About what?" Kiryuu persists, his lilac eyes cool.

Kiryuu is being unusually hostile. A puzzling response, unless considered through the lens of the past few days, and the revelations they contained. What's Kiryuu expecting Kaname to do with his new information?

"I think there may have been a misunderstanding," Kaname says, gesturing with his wineglass. "I wanted to speak with you regarding the past few days, but not with malicious intent."

The Hunter - and Hunter he is, revealed now in his dangerous glory as his hand tightens on his steak knife. "You often mean well," Kiryuu says, "but that doesn't mean you keep anyone's best interests at heart, except your own."

"A fair criticism," Kaname admits easily, "but not one that applies right now. You made yourself vulnerable before us. I won't spit on your trust for petty gain."

"But you would do it for significant gain?" Kiryuu questions, raising an eyebrow.

The pureblood laces his fingers together. "I can't think of a significant enough gain to make it worthwhile. I was serious when I said I wanted an alliance, Zero. I won't violate that intention now."

As the servants arrive with Kiryuu's lemon soda and their first course, both of them fall silent. His Consort, Kaname notes with amusement, receives an extra slice of bread with his soup - the servants are never blind to the affairs of their masters. Following the pureblood's calculations, they eat in silence until the second course is served. Wiping his mouth, Kaname puts his linen napkin aside.

Kiryuu straightens, sensing the change in mood. Hopefully, the Hunter will be more amenable with some food in his stomach.

Meeting his Consort's gaze, Kaname says, "May I speak frankly, Zero?"

"I don't think you know how, but go ahead," Kiryuu responds dryly.

Nodding, Kaname says, "Though it no longer matters, I want you to know that if I made the choice again today, I would refuse to conceal your deliberate self-starvation. At the time I neither realized the true scope of the problem, nor cared to discover how deeply it ran. That was my error."

Kiryuu shifts in surprise before he can conceal his response.

"And even if I had known, I would have used the information to blackmail you further into doing what I wanted. At best, my intentions stemmed from apathy; at the worst they were driven by malice. I don't blame you for keeping silent," the pureblood finishes.

Now Kaname lets a hint of steel creep into his tone. "But you should know - I will not allow any of your old habits to continue. Not in my house, ever again. You will accept every comfort you are offered, and ask for everything you need. For Yuuki's sake, if nothing else. Do you understand?"

Behind Kiryuu's stoic mask, some deep emotion is storming. "Yes," the Hunter answers. Then unwillingly, like the word is dragged out of him. "Why?"

A reversal of positions indeed. "Because that is my will," Kaname replies.

"And why do you want that?"

"I told you. Your injury or death are not acceptable to me."

Kiryuu slams his palm on the table. "And so what? My choices involved none of those things!"

"Injury of the mind is still injury," Kaname says, losing his calm.

"You don't even like me! Don't pretend you care, as long as I'm still useful to you," Kiryuu hisses. "Who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?"

Kaname finds himself on his feet without deciding to move. "I am your husband, and your alpha!" he barks. "Your health and well-being are my natural concern!"

"Yes, how could I forget? I'm your prized possession, your rare bird in a golden cage," Kiryuu snarls, his fingers digging into the tablecloth. "Did you like having me walk around like an idiot, while every vampire I met could smell you blew your load on me?"

So that is Kiryuu's grievance. The pureblood's tone goes silky, and he stalks toward his mate like the predator he is. "Yes, I did. Every part of you is mine. Everyone who meets you should know that. Unlike you, I am not ashamed of my alpha instincts. Nothing satisfies the beast like knowing I've publicly claimed you. You have no idea how much more I want to do to you, little Hunter."

Kiryuu quails before Kaname's naked desire, but he doesn't step back. Brave but foolhardy, to give his opponent an opportunity. Kaname snakes his arm around the Hunter's waist, bringing their bodies flush, their faces so close he can feel Kiryuu's breath on his cheek. Studying lavender eyes, Kaname says, "I have acquired a certain fond tolerance for your insolence. And I respect your dedication to your principles. Is that sufficient reasoning for you?"

The Hunter's jaw tightens. "Fine. Now let go."

"No." And Kaname lifts Kiryuu off his feet, whisking his Consort back to Kaname's side of the table.

"What are you-"

"Finish your lunch," Kaname orders, settling his mate on his lap and signaling the servants to bring the next course. His Consort's weight and closeness are agreeable, reassuring; the pureblood presses closer, flattening them together chest to back, and his instincts rumble in pleasure.

"What about you?" Kiryuu protests when the servant only brings a single plate.

"My hungers require different food," the pureblood says, both arms chaining Kiryuu in place. "Now eat."

The Hunter hesitates, but after a few moments the quiet clatter of knife and fork return.

Kiryuu has put on muscle, Kaname realizes as he strokes his cheek against silver hair. "Does carrying Yuuki's scent really upset you?" Kaname inquires.

Kiryuu's fork freezes halfway to his mouth. "I understand it's instinct, and it offers me protection. But I resent being treated like a thing. And it's humiliating when people stare."

"To vampires, what we have done carries no shame," Kaname explains, breathing in his omega's scent. "It is a thing of pride and honor. They stare because they are happy for us, or because they envy you. Wait until the other omegas catch our scent on you - I promise, you'll find it entertaining."

Kiryuu chokes a laugh. "Are you trying to get me knifed?"

Kaname noses the soft stray hairs at Kiryuu's nape, licks at the warm skin there, and his arms tighten. "You're safe. They know what I'd do to them."

Kiryuu stiffens, but continues his meal. Kaname amuses himself by blowing against Kiryuu's neck, tickling the skin, and peeling back Kiryuu's blue gown to nibble at a smooth shoulder.

Once half-emptied, Kiryuu tries to push away his plate, but Kaname insists that Kiryuu finish every bite. It's good when mate is full, the alpha pipes up. Sleek, well-fed omegas birth big, healthy babies.

"You know, I don't hate you," Kaname breathes against silver hair, kissing the skin below his Consort's ear and feeling the pleasant tingle of all the omega pheromones he's consumed.

"You said you didn't despise me any more," Kiryuu corrects.

"That is also true. I've let go of those feelings. Have you understood what that means for you?"

A servant brings dessert as Kiryuu thinks. "Are you being cryptic on purpose? Just say what you mean."

Kaname can feel Kiryuu's heartbeat where they're pressed together, through the vulnerable barrier of his rib cage. "I am no longer a danger to your children. If I won't allow you to be hurt, then I won't allow anyone to hurt your children either."

The Hunter has frozen stiff in Kaname's arms. Kaname would pay dearly to know what's going on inside his head. "That doesn't mean they'd be safe. You might still use them as pawns," Kiryuu replies tersely.

"I use everyone," Kaname admits easily. "But I don't use everyone the same way. And there are some things I am incapable of sacrificing. I swear on Yuuki's life I will not hurt your children, Zero."

"If you think telling me this changes anything, it doesn't." Kaname wishes he could see Kiryuu's face, wonders if it would match his rough voice, the tension in his body.

Kaname shrugs, forcing himself to be casual. "I thought you deserved to know." Yuuki wants children with Kiryuu; it does no harm to strengthen her hand. And Kaname is curious what kind of beings the two would produce together.

Kiryuu eats his cake; Kaname sates his own hunger with strokes over velvet-covered flesh and the taste of his Consort's skin.

"I'm going out on the thirty-first," Kiryuu says suddenly. "It's the Ancestor's Festival. I'm not missing it - that would be disrespectful to the dead. At the very least, I need to clean my family's graves and make offerings to their memory."

Mortality. Forbidden fruit for a pureblood, a poison apple Kaname long desired and envied. But something Yuuki said is tugging at his memory.

"Zero is so fragile...anything could break Zero, and then Zero would be gone…"

Kaname goes cold. Zero is mortal, just like his ancestors. Someday Zero will be laid out beside the graves he tends every year. No, he's a vampire - not even a body, no grave, ash and dust scattered to the wind. Yuuki will be devastated. He should remind Zero of that.

"Please make an offering on our behalf," Kaname says instead.

Though he isn't sure why - probably to avoid Yuuki's ire - Kaname refrains from antagonizing Kiryuu the night before the Ancestor's Festival. When their Consort leaves at sunset for the Hunter burial grounds, Kiryuu is distant, aloof, as cold-faced as they've ever seen him, staring off into some misty space that holds his beloved dead.

By mutual agreement in the somber atmosphere, the Kurans split up and tend to their own affairs separately for a few hours. Their unplanned trip extension has left plenty of work to catch up on. Lunch is conducted with little conversation in one of the cavernous formal dining rooms, the heavy mood from earlier still present, before Kaname and Yuuki leave for the Kuran business offices.

Caught together in the backseat of the car, the tension deepens, and the silence makes Kaname's skin prickle. Yuuki stares out the window as though she's alone. For days, there's been an unacknowledged cold distance between them. Kaname knew Kiryuu's confession would damn him in her eyes, but Yuuki's anger is still deeply unsettling, resurrecting his old doubts about their relationship and his fear of abandonment.

Yuuki has yet to bring up Kaname's newly discovered sins against their Consort, but as much as Kaname dreads it, anything would be better than this agony of waiting. But that is Yuuki's privilege; Kaname hasn't dared broach the issue. In the meantime, he will have to-

"Kaname."

The pureblood brushes away his thoughts, lifting his chin from his palm.

Yuuki's posture is collected, confident, a perfect pureblood mask, and she's watching Kaname with a bland expression on her face. Their bloodbond burns like acid, his wife's betrayal and anger eating away at his insides. Yet her voice remains perfectly even. "I want to make something very clear. If you ever lay a hand on Zero, ever again, I will leave you. I will take him away and leave you. Do you understand, Kaname?"

Kaname swallows, working moisture into his dry mouth. "I understand," he says, tone placating, as submissively as he knows how.

Yuuki doesn't blink. "You will never keep anything so vital - anything about Zero's health or safety - secret from me, ever again."

"I will not," Kaname promises, and looking in her unwavering rosewood eyes, realizes he means it.

Hard-faced, Yuuki's accusations fall one by one from her lips. "Zero starved himself for years. You knew about it. You didn't help him. What if Zero had started hurting himself again?"

"I can offer no redress," Kaname admits. "I acted selfishly. I can only tell you that I regret my action deeply, and I would not do so if I were offered the choice now."

Yuuki breathes, and looks away to the window. "I can't forgive you for exposing Zero to danger," she finally says. "I want to, but I can't. Not yet."

Yet the anger in their blood bond is easing into tiredness; a tendril of love creeps through as Yuuki brushes their hands together

"I can accept that," Kaname replies with difficulty.

Yuuki touches his cheek with her fingertips, pain in her eyes. "I love you," she tells him. "No matter what, I love you."

Closing his eyes, Kaname presses his forehead to her hand. "But less than you love Kiryuu."

"Differently," his wife corrects him. "Not less. I love you both, but you're different people. My love for you and my love for Zero aren't shaped the same." The surge of affection through the bloodbond leaves Kaname no doubt that Yuuki really cares for him.

"How can I gain your forgiveness?" Kaname asks, above the hum of the car engine.

Yuuki waits until Kaname lifts his chin to look at her, a smile hinting around her mouth. "You already have it. I've forgiven you for everything you did that hurt me, all the times you lied or kept things from me. If I hadn't forgiven you for most of the shit you've pulled, Kaname, I wouldn't be sleeping in your bed right now, and you wouldn't be enjoying regular orgasms."

Kaname's eyebrows lift, amused by her unusually frank language and even more relieved to hear Yuuki say it aloud.

His wife's eyes turn away, and she picks at the threads in her skirt. "But Zero...Zero is different. Because I love him, he's a special case. I care for him so much. People who hurt him are much harder to forgive." As Yuuki turns back to him, her expression is so earnest. "You're the same, Kaname - I can't easily forgive things that hurt you, either. Please, just give me some time."

Jealousy is an old friend, but Kaname has learned to resign himself to sharing Yuuki's heart, and his envy merely twinges before the pureblood pushes it away. "Of course," he says. "Whatever time you need."

"Thank you," Yuuki sighs, relief clear in her tone. This must have been weighing on her heart too. Bottling things up is never good for her, but now that she's said what she needed to say, she'll consider the matter resolved, and their relationship will be restored to usual. "We'll work through this, I promise."

Kaname has no doubt, not when their bloodbond burns so brightly with their mutual love. Bringing Yuuki's hand to his mouth, Kaname kisses it. "I am very lucky to have you," he murmurs.

"Not as lucky as I am to have you," Yuuki replies, laying a hand on his knee as she smiles up at him.

The Ancestor's Festival - a solemn day of remembrance for the dead, when Hunters ate no meat from sunset to sunset, gathered with their living relatives to visit the graves of their ancestors, and mourned the newest lives lost, lighting candles, burning incense, and leaving offerings of food, drink, and flowers to comfort their family's ghosts.

Yuuki knows it's one of Zero's bad days as soon as she catches sight of him, skin bluish with cold and exhaustion dogging every shaky step. The distant look on his face earlier has hardened to icy desolation; blank-faced with lifeless eyes, Zero's withdrawn inside himself to escape from his pain.

It's not a relapse, she ascertains, taking Zero's face in her hands; he's just overwhelmed, and will be fine in a day or two. But Yuuki still worries at each sign, and her alpha frets with anxiety when its mate is so deeply distressed.

"I hope I didn't worry you," Zero says - those are the first words out of his mouth, and Yuuki marvels again at Zero's ability to ignore his own pain for other people's needs. Not tonight though. Tonight it's Zero's turn to be taken care of.

Yuuki and Kaname have prepared everything. First is the hot bath, smelling of aromatic oils and herbs. Yuuki chatters with Zero as he soaks, resting his head on his arms, and Kaname tells amusing stories. Zero's laugh is a weak, shriveled thing startled out of him by accident, but anything is better then that tight, hollow look. Once Zero is smothered in thick, fluffy towels, she brusquely dries his hair, and then ushers him over to their bedroom, where dinner is waiting. Kaname thought Zero might like to eat in bed, a rare indulgence when Rosehill's traditions demanded strict adherence to proprietary.

Obeying Hunter custom, the meal is nothing more than grain and vegetables, with not a drop of sweetness. Even using such limited, simple ingredients, Rosehill's kitchens made nothing less than their usual high standard of fare. And Yuuki asked the cooks to follow a few extra criteria: all the items are little bite-size finger foods, things that won't drip or spill.

"Go on Zero," Yuuki urges him, hand in the small of his back. Zero clambers up on the bed without resistance, then folds in on himself, curling up in his center spot.

Yuuki follows, being careful not to upset the trays laid out at the foot of the mattress. Kaname's enormous bed has plenty of room for three adults plus their meal, but they don't need a careless accident when Zero's in this condition.

Kaname is already waiting for them. Right away, he scoops Zero into his arms and begins carding his hand through their Consort's hair, working out the snarls. After so long without being cut, Zero's hair is almost long enough to tie back - like Ichiru's hair was, Yuuki realizes with a lurch.

"Zero, do you feel like eating?" Kaname murmurs.

Zero barely stirs. His eyes are open - at least the half of his face Yuuki can see - but he isn't watching anything except the ghosts in his head, staring blindly ahead like he'll find the answers he needs.

"They say the dead come visit the living tonight." Zero's lips barely move, and his voice is no more than a whisper. "For a moment, I thought I saw him - Ichiru, sitting on his grave."

Zero closes his eyes. In a voice layered with pain, he confesses, "He smiled at me."

"Why do you do this to yourself? Return, year after year, if returning causes you grief?" Kaname's question has an academic quality to it. Yuuki almost rebukes him, except Zero's eyes show a spark of life, and their Consort summons the embers of a glare.

"I'm the last. There's no one else. Do you know what it means to be the last of something?"

Kaname's hand freezes, half-buried in silver locks. "I do. I am the last living Ancestor, after all."

Zero lifts his head. "Then you know what I mean. If you don't remember, no one else will. If you don't settle those debts, protect those achievements, guard their reputation, there isn't anyone else left for the task."

"And you feel obligated to do those things?" Kaname inquires, too amicably, something more dangerous hidden underneath.

Zero's hands fist in the sheets. "It's the least I can do. I couldn't - I couldn't carry on the line. Ten thousand years of Kiryuu Hunters, one of the last Thousand Red Peony bloodlines, and I'm the one who fucked everything up. Our line will end with me. Ichiru was the last human Kiryuu, and I killed him. And I -" Zero stops, and takes a deep breath. "I'm...I couldn't - still can't - have children. The doctors told me…"

Laughing bitterly, Zero shakes his head. "Well, it's fine that the omega ripped off my balls. I was already defective anyway."

"Shizuka's actions were not you fault," Yuuki reminds Zero, shifting close enough to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "And you're not defective. Not ever. Don't say that about yourself." Yuuki will be disappointed if Zero can't carry a child, but that's unimportant compared to Zero's happiness and health, and it doesn't have anything to do with his worth.

"Besides," Kaname adds, shifting his weight, "even if you were infertile before, that may no longer be true - your body has changed since you presented as an omega."

Zero shakes his head, and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes so hard Yuuki panics and pulls him away by the wrists. The blend of hopelessness, failure and exhaustion in his eyes makes a stabbing feeling lance through her chest. "Will you eat something?" she nearly begs, desperate to erase that look from Zero's face.

He yields - entirely for her consolation, Yuuki suspects. But she'll accept it, take any chance she's allowed to care for him. Kaname brings a plate of something wrapped in dried seaweed, little packets of sticky rice and filling.

Picking one up, Yuuki turns to Zero, who catches her intent and obediently opens his mouth, too heartsick to care for things like dignity or social expectations. Yuuki slips the food past Zero's lips with little ceremony, and her fingers catch in the wet of his mouth, sending a jolt through her bones. Tonight is not the time, she reminds her body; Zero's in no fit state of mind to start anything.

But Yuuki is content with this; Kaname too, from the soft, intent way he watches Kiryuu accept his offerings. If the first time Yuuki fed Zero had been intimate, doing it with nothing but her bare hands deepens the experience a thousandfold.

Zero eats mechanically, consuming whatever his spouses give him, offering not a word of complaint or request. The Kurans eat too, but their own hunger is vastly overwhelmed by the appeal of feeding their omega, though the experience is dampened by the circumstances and Zero's heartache. Only when every last grain is gone do Yuuki and Kaname allow Zero to curl against them and go limp.

"Go to sleep, sweet boy," Kaname says, an edge of command underlying his voice.

But their husband still seems preoccupied. So Yuuki kisses Zero's forehead, and he finally shakes off whatever dark thoughts cloud his mind, slipping into a fitful doze.

Slouched in the doorway, Zero counts the seconds, curious how long it will take for the vampire muttering to himself and scribbling in his notebook to notice he's there. Quite long, it turns out. Aido is extremely observant, but also prone to hyper-focusing on things that interest him, to the detriment of his situational awareness. Around the four minute mark, Zero loses interest, and clears his throat.

The blond yelps, jerks his head up, and throws a handful of ice at the door, which Zero dodges by a nose. "Aido," the Hunter grits out, "if you don't want visitors, maybe don't leave the door open."

"You can't be here!" the vampire wails, half-falling from his chair, and taking shelter behind a table full of bubbling glass apparatuses. The whole room smells of burnt chemicals and cleaning product.

"As far as I know, you're forbidden from coming to the household palace. No one said anything about me being allowed to come to the Senate palace," Zero observes.

Aido is pulling at his hair. "What if Kaname-sama sees! What if Yuuki-hime finds out!"

Zero is beginning to regret this. Can't Kuran have less irritating minions? "I won't move from this spot, alright? I was just about to go visit Takuma-sempai, to return a book I borrowed, and I wanted to know if I could pass on any messages."

"Oh," Aido says, manner relaxing. "No, just tell him congratulations from me about the new baby. I always thought Ruka and Akatsuki would be the first, but nobody really expected the Ichijo to produce an omega either."

Nodding, Zero is just about to leave when Aido calls out, "Wasn't last night the Ancestor's Festival?"

Typical. Aido doesn't notice when Zero parks himself in his doorway, but he can keep track of the Hunter calendar. Zero tries to be polite. "Yes. Kaname thought it would be good for me to visit a friend." After Yuuki and Kuran's coddling, and plenty of sleep, Zero felt steadier when he woke up this evening, but that's none of Aido's business. And then, because he's not a saint, Zero asks, "When are you allowed to leave?"

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Aido collapses into a chair. "Who knows? Kaname-sama's agents have been watching Shirabuki, and she hasn't done anything suspicious. But Kaname-sama thinks Shirabuki is just biding her time."

"Kuran is usually right about these things," Zero says, much as it pains him to admit.

"Ahhhhhh!" Kicking his feet like a child, Aido lets out a shout. "I know, but I'm so close to a breakthrough! The sample I got is really interesting - I've never seen anything like it before, except for the poison I found in your blood. But I need more equipment to finish my analysis - equipment I can only find at my lab. It's so frustrating! I tried to get Kaname-sama to let someone else analyze it, but he said it would be a security risk to let anyone know we had a sample."

Zero is a Hunter, not a vampire therapist. "I'm sure it will work out," he offers.

"I just want to go somewhere," Aido whines. "Anywhere that's not here - not that being near Kaname-sama all the time isn't wonderful!" he hastily adds. "But would it really hurt if I just slipped out for a little bit? Shirabuki has bigger things to worry about than me."

Frowning, Zero says, "Don't do anything stupid, Aido. Kaname would kick your ass."

"I know," Aido whines, thunking his forehead down on the table. "Thanks for coming by," he says, and waves Zero out.

Walking up the path to the Shouto estate, Zero sighs. Visiting Aido was just a poor attempt at putting off his departure. He's returning the romance novel Takuma lent him, that's true, but - his cheeks heat - Zero also promised himself he would ask the elder omega about sex with purebloods. Again. There is no way this won't be incredibly embarrassing.

It takes two cups of tea before Zero can summon the nerve, as the two of them lounge in Takuma's sitting room.

"Takuma-sempai, can I ask you something?" Zero ventures, and his voice is tentative enough that the blond immediately gives the Hunter his full attention.

"Of course, Zero-kun," Takuma says, marking his place in his book. "What is it?"

"Um," the Hunter begins. Very intelligent. "Ah - it's about something private."

Hazarding a guess, Takuma says, "Is this about your relationship with Kaname and Yuuki-san?"

Relieved he won't have to explain, Zero answers, "Basically. While we were on vacation, we did things together. But I'm a little anxious about going any further. I just need you to answer some questions I have, in as much detail as you're comfortable with. Books are good, but they don't answer everything, and you have personal experience so..."

Takuma gives his sunniest smile. If the noble weren't so well-bred, he'd probably congratulate Zero on his progress. "What would you like to know first?"

Zero sincerely hopes Takuma won't regret this later. "Penises," the Hunter says, with as much of a straight face as he can manage. "Are alphas supposed to be really well-endowed?"

Blinking, and rather bemused, Takuma asks, "How large do you mean?"

Zero holds his hands out.

Takuma's eyes widen. "Not usually that large, no. But they're always sizable."

Thus follows the most embarrassing hour of Zero's life. The Hunter asks everything he hadn't dared before - about what sex as a virgin will feel like, about how alpha bodies work, about the mechanics of sex and pleasure, and especially about his own body's responses.

Both their faces are near-permanently red, but Zero gets his answers, and comes out feeling much more reassured than before. Zero's had the crap beaten out of him and nearly died several times; the potential physical pain of losing his virginity is nothing compared to the injuries he's endured as a Hunter.

It doesn't make his emotional discomfort with his body go away, but any way Zero can demystify all of this, he considers progress.

A man with less control of himself would pace. Kaname merely carries his excess tension in tightened shoulders, and rigorously keeps himself still, counting out the seconds between breaths.

Through the eyes of the familiar shadowing his current targets, Kaname receives confirmation they've arrived at their destination.

His window of opportunity is short, a few hours at best. If Kaname chooses this course of action, he needs to go now, while both his spouses are out of the house. Determined to Hunt again, Kiryuu has returned to the Hunter Association for the physical he must pass to be approved for active status. Yuuki has gone with him, and is waiting outside the boundaries for their Consort until he's finished.

Leaving Kaname temporarily alone, and unobserved.

The pureblood pinches the bridge of his nose. This idea occurred to him the night they returned from the onsen, but the ambition itself only took form after the Ancestor's Festival. Even now, Kaname hasn't committed to the risk. Revealing his desire is like offering his opponent a weakness, an avenue for leverage, a pressure point he can be manipulated with. But the reward…

A flapping of wings, and Kaname soars among his ravens. He permits himself no further debate - indecision causes dangerous error. Now to see what comes of it.

The ravens leave him on the slopes of a rocky, treeless mountain, where the elevation is high that the air feels thin - no trouble to his pureblood body. There is a palace complex built into the side of the mountain itself, square structures with sloping tiled roofs jutting out from shelves cut in the rock like rice terraces. According to legend, not a single stone was mortared to construct this estate - the rock itself flowed into the shapes commanded by its makers. Fitting, for the home of a pureblood.

The servant who opens the door bows, but does not ask Kaname's purpose; Kaname has not dampened his aura, and he can only be here to see the estate's master. Led silently through corridors and up staircases, they take winding paths past rooms filled with furniture covered in dust cloths, and pass by entire wings of closed doors. The whole time, Kaname only spots one other servant disappearing around a corner. Compared to Rosehill, this place is almost abandoned. Finally, the servant stops in front of a double door with two auras inside - one pureblood, one noble rank.

Breathing in, Kaname readies himself, settling into the ruthless cunning needed to succeed in vampire power games. There is no more dangerous opponent than another pureblood, even one like this. Yuuki's kinder, gentler Kaname can't survive here - to wrest victory, he needs the Ancestor of the Kuran, that manipulative cruelty and ancient will. Pushing open the doors, Kaname strides inside to meet this empty palace's lord.

The two occupants, seated side by side on a brightly striped divan, don't seem surprised by Kaname's visit. Surprise would require interest.

"Welcome to our home, Kuran Kaname-san." Ouri's voice has a raspy undertone, like he hasn't used it often, but it's still low and booming, strength not entirely gone. Most of his body is hidden beneath a heavy, high-collared cloak, except for his hands and face. Ouri has his family's black hair, though Kaname does not remember Ouri's Ancestor having such bright green eyes. The other pureblood's face, like his voice, shows no strong emotion. Kaname's impassiveness is a mask, but Ouri's blankness is an absence.

Beside him, Consort Shoshana smiles faintly, her mouth turning upward. Her dark hair is unbound beneath a veil, even longer than usual when released from her customary braids. Beside the dark color of her husband's clothes, the vermilion of her Hoseki, tunic and puffy trousers seem all the brighter. "Mint tea, Kuran-sama?" she asks, gesturing to the small round table in front of them, where a silver teapot and colored glass tumblers wait.

Nodding, Kaname allows the servant to take his long coat, and finds himself in a quandary. The divan is pushed against the far wall; the only available seat is next to either Ouri or his Consort. Another servant, arriving with a matching wood-framed cushion - rather like a low stool - solves his problem, and Kaname takes a seat opposite his hosts. Shoshana pours Kaname's tea in a curious circling motion, then pushes the blue glass tumbler in his direction. Appreciating the aroma, Kaname takes the glass in his hands, but doesn't drink.

Kaname knows less about Ouri than he does Shouto. The Ouri family have a mixed reputation, but the current lord is so ancient he predates available records, and his early history disappears into obscurity. It doesn't help that Ouri has been a shut-in for the last several thousand years; the only reason Ouri leaves his estate is to accompany his Consort, meaning very few living vampires know anything helpful. According to rumor, Ouri's devotion to Shoshana is his only remaining motivation, and the sole reason he's still alive.

One of the few facts Kaname knows for certain is that Ouri is engaged to Shirabuki Sara, and has been since she was a child. Before now, that possible alliance with his rival made Kaname too suspicious to approach Ouri. But Kaname's observations today have significantly lessened those suspicions, and increased his confidence in his course of action. Every piece of evidence Kaname's seen - Ouri's clear disinterest in Kaname, the lack of servants, the empty house - supports the rumors: Ouri has succumbed to his pureblood lifespan and grown weary of life, the engagement with Shirabuki isn't serious, and the only reason he remains vaguely engaged with the present is his Consort. Even this room speaks of Shoshana's taste, not Ouri's - the intricately woven wool rugs on the floor, the furniture, the geometric tiles on the walls, the potted plants flourishing in the corners.

Kaname's hosts remain content to drink their tea in peace, with eyes only for each other, ignoring the stranger in their midst. Kaname realizes Ouri and Shoshana do not particularly care for the polite small talk expected of a host.

"I hope I haven't come at a bad time," Kaname begins, not because he believes he's interrupted anything, but because at least one of them needs to start the necessary pleasantries before they can get to the point of his visit.

"No," Ouri says, and holds his glass out so Shoshana can pour more tea.

"It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," Kaname tries again. "You're the eldest of our kind - you must have seen a great many things in your life."

"Yes, my pleasure as well," Ouri agrees, meeting Kaname's eyes before his gaze drifts back to his Consort.

Kaname's hand tightens around his glass. Is this what Kaname was like during the worst of his despair? Dull-eyed and lethargic, his hair a touch overgrown and his clothes disheveled? No, Ouri has a Consort - without Shoshana his apathy would be far worse, and Kaname's despair must have been even more disturbing. Skin prickling, Kaname moves away from those thoughts. He hates to remember that emptiness.

At least Consort Shoshana appears to be paying attention; Kaname catches her watching out of the corner of her eye. "Your Consort has been an excellent mentor to Zero," Kaname says with a spark of inspiration, trying a new strategy.

His spine straightening, Ouri sits up and places a hand on his Consort's arm with the first hint of emotion Kaname's seen on his face. "Yes, Shoshana is rather impressed with him. You are very fortunate to have gained such a worthy companion, Kuran-san."

"I didn't appreciate Zero at first," Kaname admits, seizing the opening. He can see a path to his goal, but it will require candor and revealing some very private aspects of their life. "I hated him, and I behaved very cruelly."

Ouri's face darkens. "Consort Kiryuu is the most precious gift you will ever be given. Don't waste that gift, Kuran-san. You will regret it for the rest of your life."

Interesting. Is Ouri speaking from experience? Kaname inclines his head. "I understand, Ouri-san. I already regret my actions - Zero never deserved how I treated him. But my feelings toward him have changed very much."

Once, in his deepest, blackest depression, Kaname had punched a hole through his own chest, put a hand around his heart, and squeezed. Just to see what it might feel like to die. It was the greatest agony the pureblood had ever known, black spots dancing before his eyes as his invulnerable body screamed in fear of death.

In the moment Zero finally confessed his self-abuse, drawing back the curtain hiding his pain, all the terrible details given concrete form, something in Kaname's chest had hurt - squeezed, ached, bled - and too many thoughts and feelings had passed through Kaname's head to understand any single one.

Kaname raises his chin, meeting Ouri's eyes. "He is - I will not allow Zero to be hurt. I can't accept any harm happening to him."

For the first time, Ouri seems completely present in his own body; those green eyes have fire and focus. "Good. Guard him well, now that you understand his value."

Do it now, before Ouri's attention slips away again. "That's why I came here today, Ouri-san," Kaname says, making his body language entreating, his hand outstretched, palm upward. "I need your help. I want to protect Zero, but there are forces beyond my knowledge I cannot yet stop."

Consort Shoshana, who has been watching her husband attentively, tenses, shifting against her Ouri's side.

Kaname gestures toward her. "A noble rank vampire can expect to live around 2,000 years, and no more than 2,500. But Consort Shoshana is over five thousand years old, more than twice her natural lifespan. I want to know how you accomplished this. Will you tell me, Ouri-san?

Faintly surprised, Ouri looks at Kaname - really assesses him - for the first time, buying himself time to respond.

Kaname holds himself still, and waits for Ouri's conclusion. Being blunt was not his intention for this meeting, but Kaname isn't sure how long he can hold Ouri's interest, and adaptation has proved necessary.

Shoshana is studying Kaname with even fiercer scrutiny, her finger tapping against her thigh. "I never expected you to ask that question, Kuran-sama. I thought perhaps Shouto-sama, in a few centuries. But never you," she admits.

Here is the real test. If Kaname can convince Shoshana, Ouri will offer whatever information Kaname wants. But if Shoshana disapproves, Kaname will leave empty handed. The pureblood feels his focus sharpen as he begins the familiar dance of words, delicate and perilous. "I understand your surprise, Consort. But as I told you, my feelings have changed. If it is possible to extend the lifespan of a pureblood's consort, then I must learn how."

"And what are your current feelings on the matter?" Shoshana inquires casually, the sharpness of her eyes growing flinty.

Kaname gives the easiest answer. "Yuuki loves Zero, deeply and completely. If our consort dies I fear what will happen to her. I'm willing to do what is needed to protect Kiryuu Zero's existence."

"Then your attempt to extend his life will fail," Shoshana tells him, and Kaname controls his instinctive anger at being denied. "For my husband's method to succeed, intention is key. You must desire your Consort's well-being for his own sake, not as a tool for another person's happiness."

She folds her hands in her lap and leans forward. "I ask again, Kuran-sama. Why do you deserve to know my husband's secret? Why should he tell you anything?"

Understanding this is his last chance, Kaname gives himself a moment to think before he replies. "Kiryuu Zero is the first D-Rank vampire to present as an omega, and there are many unknowns about his body's inner workings. If I let nature take its course, Zero may live a D-Rank's lifespan and die as soon as three hundred, or at best, five hundred. Either way, Zero would never live to see his grandchildren born. If I can prevent that - even if your method can only give Zero a few more centuries - then I need to know. Zero is the most selfless man I've ever met, and his existence makes the world a better place. It's not a question of me deserving anything."

Ouri and his consort exchange looks. "What is Kiryuu Zero to you?" asks Ouri, voice returned to its even cadence.

That question again. Kaname hesitates, though his expression never flickers. "I don't love him, if that's what you're asking."

Ouri shakes his head. "Love isn't necessary. Only sincere desire that Kiryuu remain alive."

Interesting. Kaname finds the truth difficult to admit, nonetheless. "He is - Zero's life is precious to me. My desire is selfish, but sincere."

Shoshana's eyes brighten, and she nearly smiles. "That will do."

"You are bloodbonded to your wife, are you not?" Ouri asks, manner suddenly friendlier.

"I am," Kaname says. "Is that a problem?"

Shaking his head, Ouri answers, "Not precisely. But your bloodbond means that both of you must participate if you want to succeed."

"So Yuuki will need to know."

"Yes," Ouri confirms. "Your wife will need full knowledge of what you intend to accomplish."

Unfortunate, but not a serious setback. "Will Zero need to know?"

"No," admits Ouri, and Shoshana shoots him a glance that says she'd prefer Ouri had lied. "Your Consort is a passive participant. You need not inform him at all, if you wish."

Kaname lowers his head. That's immensely helpful - the pureblood is almost certain Kiryuu would refuse. All he needs to do is convince Yuuki. She will want Kiryuu to chose, but if Kaname stokes her fear, and appeals to her selfishness, he may be able to convince her to act without Kiryuu's cooperation.

"For now, that's all I can tell you," Ouri says. "Discuss it with your wife, then come back if you both decide you wish to proceed, and I will explain further. And please bring her along if you do return."

Inclining his head, Kaname acquiesces. "Of course. Thank you, Ouri-san." The servant returns his coat, but just as he's about to leave, Ouri stops him.

"One more thing." Ouri's expression is serious. "Bending nature to your will does not come without a price. Decide what you are willing to sacrifice to preserve your Consort. How much weakness are you willing to accept on Kiryuu Zero's behalf?"

Kaname's throat tightens, and his mouth thins into a line. Of course it wouldn't be so easy. Sacrifice something to ensure Kiryuu lives? Even if he respects the Hunter, even if he's fond of him, why should Kaname do that?

"You don't need to answer now, Kuran-sama," Shoshana tells him. "Please just consider the question."

Unable to decide what to reply, Kaname merely nods, and turns on his heel, striding away before they can say another word.

Yuuki's low-key pre-planning for a 'spontaneous' celebratory dinner turns out to be a good idea when Zero passes his physical and begins the process to return to active duty. She hates the idea of Zero being in danger - of him deliberately putting himself in danger - but she's not about to skip an opportunity to celebrate Zero's health and reward him for taking better care of himself.

Kaname was a little distant at dinner, but Zero's enthusiasm is too infectious for Yuuki to really worry about anything. It's probably just Kaname brooding over Zero's impending return to duty, for the same reason Yuuki isn't completely happy - the Association has already promised Zero a Hunt next week.

Yuuki isn't pleased that Zero will be risking his life so soon, but the prospect has done wonders for Zero's attitude. There's a confidence in the way he holds himself tonight, and a lightness that resembles relief. Yuuki should probably be concerned that the prospect of death, trauma and injury makes Zero so eager, but it's nothing she didn't already know.

"Kaname," Yuuki complains, spotting her husband sneak-reading more reports when she comes out of the bathroom. "Didn't you work all evening? Come on, put it away. Zero learned some great news today! So please relax, and spend some time with him."

The pureblood makes a peculiar expression. "I did work earlier, but you know how it is. Problems pile up if you're not diligent."

Yuuki huffs. "You definitely qualify as diligent, Kaname. Now please come to bed."

There's a splash in the bathroom - Zero must be getting out of the tub, but Yuuki has more pressing concerns, like how her husband is overworking himself. "Come on," Yuuki insists, teasing Kaname with her smile. "Clothes off."

Kaname gives his wife an arch look. "You're dressed," he observes, referring to their new habit of sleeping in the nude.

Crossing her arms, Yuuki retorts, "I'm going to bathe after Zero's finished." She can hear the Hunter rustling around behind her, probably drying off and dressing.

"Very well," Kaname gives in, and the two of them gather up anything sensitive that needs to be secured for the night, hand it off to Seiren, then settle into armchairs to wait for Zero.

To pass the time, Yuuki tells Kaname about the Hunter Association headquarters. Not useful things, just small details that might have been part of Zero's daily life, like how the people dressed or what things smelled like. As a pureblood, Yuuki wasn't allowed to enter the town, but she remembers visiting it during her time as Cross' ward.

"I'm ready," Zero's voice calls from the doorway.

- and Yuuki forgets everything, loses the very ability to speak, to breathe.

There is her beloved Zero, watching them with dark eyes, and he is luminous from the bath, all sinewy limbs and wiry strength, with his most intimate secrets poorly hidden, half-covered by a cream towel. A stray water droplet from his damp hair plunks on the floor, and Zero's grip on his towel loosens.

Yuuki sees the whole thing in slow motion - the tortuous unwrapping of cotton from its loving embrace around Zero's hips, revealing the pale perfection of his thighs, and hipbones she wants to rub her thumbs over cradling his sweet shaft, pale and pinkened like the rest of him.

Her breath feels punched out of her body. Her mouth waters. Such a cute cock, hanging shyly between muscled thighs with a tuft of silver hair at the base, embarrassed at its naked crown, absent balls and modest size. Yuuki engraves this moment into her memory - her first sight of Zero's pretty cock, hiding something even more secret behind it.

Yuuki's alpha writhes covetous, ravening, emitting such concentrated want the pureblood trembles. "Oh, Zero," Yuuki says, the awe in her voice better suited to a church, laden with such unadulterated worship any pious soul would cry blasphemy.

Zero's eyes skitter away as he makes an attempt to cover himself, before shyly peeling his hands from his sex. Yuuki's brain claws for a foothold. "Are you alright?" she says, unable to remember why she needs to ask, but certain that she needs to know.

"Yes," he murmurs, gaze drawn to her face and mesmerized by whatever emotion he can see there.

At her side, Kaname glides forward, and Zero takes an instinctive step back, expression taking on an uncertain edge.

"May we look at you?" Kaname requests, faux affable - greedy, covetous, but Yuuki wants it too, wants Zero laid out just for them as she savors this sight. And more than anything, Yuuki wants to see her omega's untouched cunt, the place that belongs just to them. The alpha in her chest thrashes, chanting its mantra of oursoursours.

Their pretty virgin's eyes are so wide as he looks from one alpha to the other, naive to the instincts he's stirred with his innocent nudity. "If you want," he ventures. Zero's hands twitch again; he looks so vulnerable.

Yuuki wants to devour him.

Kaname backs their omega up, step by step, until his knees hit the edge of their bed, but Zero's balance is too well-trained to fall backwards. So Yuuki reaches out, the hard line of his collarbone beneath her palm, and shoves him inexorably down, further, even lower, until Zero lies recumbent, the whole milky expanse of his body displayed for their eyes - thighs, soft cock, belly, chest with its pebbled nipples, silver and white and pale pink and all belonging to them.

She's so hard it hurts, and she hasn't even touched him yet. Her voice is low, throaty - Yuuki's never heard herself make that voice before. "Please," she begs, "I want to see you," and massages the inside of Zero's knee, staving off her desperation and giving him time to decide. They have to go carefully, or Zero won't want to trust them again.

His face twists as he fights some inner battle, before his expression smooths into impassiveness, and Zero nods, loosening his muscles in an invitation.

Wetting dry lips, Yuuki nudges Zero's thigh open, feeling his muscles bunch and tighten as her fingers glide over the soft, smooth inner skin. The pureblood wants to rub her cheek against such dense, satin-covered strength, but contains herself. Not ever Zero's wonderfully thick thighs can distract her from tonight's real prize. Kaname's breaths have kicked up a notch as he mirrors Yuuki, inching Zero's legs open little by little, mindful of the increasing tension, giving their omega one last chance to refuse.

But Zero doesn't, and finally - finally - their Consort is spread wide, every last part of him exposed. Yuuki presses a hand against her cock, feeling the shaft pulse with her heartbeat, and tries to stop herself from coming straight into her underwear.

New-made, Zero's hole is so delicate. No one seeing it now could mistake it for anything other than virginal, bare and framed by small labia folded tightly shut. Only the tiniest bit of inner pink peeps out from Zero's demurely closed sex. Just that color by itself, the palest shell pink, gives off an air of perfect innocence.

It's so small, Yuuki thinks with mingled glee and horror, comparing the girth of her own cock. She's going to split him open when she takes him, destroy this pristine, unblemished view - and she will, Yuuki promises herself as boiling heat bubbles in her belly. Oh, she will.

"Zero, down here you're so pretty," Yuuki breathes worshipfully, inching her hand higher up Zero's thigh, burning so bad with the need to touch.

Giving a full body shudder, Zero stares at her, shocked. "No?" he says. "It's not - it's just an omega birth canal."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you what a pretty boy you are?" Kaname purrs, and Zero makes a little noise, shaking his head helplessly.

"Please, I'm not - It's gross, you don't have to -"

"Oh no," Kaname disagrees, stroking Zero's other thigh, "whatever anyone told you before, they must have been blind not to see it. You're very beautiful, Zero, with your lovely features, your exotic eyes and hair, and this body...do you have any idea what a temptation you are, stalking around like a leopard, all lithe and fierce?"

Zero is shivering, his eyes darting back and forth like he doesn't know what to do.

"Fools, all of them," Kaname mourns, shaking his head, hand tightening possessively on their omega's leg, "We'll just have to prove it to you," he finishes, leaning down to kiss Zero's inner thigh.

"Everyone we meet is so jealous, because I've got the most gorgeous mate of all," Yuuki says just for the pleasure of watching Zero's cheeks heat. "You're so sexy it drives my stupid caveman alpha crazy." Yuuki savors the way Zero's breath catches like he's never been complimented before and his bewildered lilac eyes.

Kaname bites at Zero's inner thigh hard enough to make their mate squeal and twist up to watch, propped up on his elbows and spooked again.

"Shhh, I won't go any further. Let me mark you a bit," Kaname soothes, petting Zero's hip and enlarging his tooth marks into a large purple bruise, so close to the tip of Zero's cock that his breath fans against the head.

The air carries the barest hint of Zero's arousal - and Yuuki's had all she can stand. She fumbles underneath her skirt for her cock, yanking her underwear down, and has a hand around herself furiously stroking before she can think.

A jingle of metal from a belt buckle - Kaname must have his own hand down his pants like a desperate teenager. Even the Ancestor of the Kuran's never seen anything as sexy as Zero, and damn if that doesn't make Yuuki hotter.

"Fuck, Zero" she groans, staring at Zero's perfect cunt, imagines spreading that virginal sex wide around her, the look on his face as she buries herself deep. "Let me come on you," she begs mindlessly, her brain blinking white, "please, Zero, I want you so much, want to have you."

"Yes," Zero agrees, utterly rapt as he watches Yuuki touch her cock, and the smell of omega desire thickens.

Sobbing, Yuuki turns her skirt up so Zero can see her fattened cock poking obscenely from her panties, so Zero has proof of how much he's wanted, needed. She gasps, twisting her hand in just the right way, and Yuuki is lucky her cock is facing the right angle, because with a wrench, a snap, she's coming, splattering all over his pale thighs, his cock, even pearly droplets of her come clinging to Zero's labia. His sex clenches at the sensation, and the little pearls drip down, smearing Yuuki's essence on his new-made hole. Her alpha radiates satisfaction, while Yuuki is left toying with renewed arousal.

And then Kaname groans and adds his spend, coating Zero's folds in more thick seed, until all the chaste pink is covered in white, not a hint of innocent flesh visible under its lewd covering.

Imagine her own seed, the alpha says. He'll look just like this when we finally claim him, even better! Yuuki is a little mad Kaname got to mark Zero's cunt, but with their rawest scents combined, Zero smells right for the first time

Zero seems calm, though that might just be shock, dipping his fingers into the mess pooling in the crease of his thigh. Such a mess, Yuuki's alpha gloats - Zero's pristine sex coated and soaked, more thick come running down his thighs, his own cock swamped by his alphas' potent seed, his fluttering chest and quick light breaths, the thin flush on his limbs. But his lilac eyes never leave either of his alphas.

Staring absently, Zero doesn't protest when Yuuki and Kaname scoop him up, cradling his body effortlessly as they run him a second bath, nor when they all climb in the tub together. The alphas take turns holding Zero between their legs and washing him, all three of them naked together for the first time.

The purebloods stroke him and keep him close, sensing their omega needs reassurance, and keep up a steady flow of praise - they tell him how brave he was, how good and calm he's being, how sexy he looked, how he needn't be frightened of how good it felt, and that he doesn't need to fight the omega. He's their precious mate - of course he feels safe and satisfied when he's marked by them.

Zero begins to stir, responding with weak nuzzles as his gaze sharpens. They allow the Hunter to dictate how much contact he wants as he returns to his normal self-possession and aplomb. Embarrassed and a bit grumpy, Zero glares at Yuuki when he sees the white silk nightgown laid out, muttering about cold November nights and horny purebloods with weird fetishes, but only shoots a proper glare when he realizes there's no matching underwear.

Yuuki smiles ear to ear, completely unrepentant. She only just got him naked, and she has plans when they wake up tomorrow evening. She needs to equal Kaname's claim on her new favorite part of Zero, after all.

Zero's first Hunt after his reinstatement was supposed to be easy. That was before the backlog of Level Es meant the Hunter's Association was short of capable, fresh Hunters to take on Zero's normal missions. Simultaneously their most expendable and most powerful active Hunter, Zero specialized in completing the most dangerous assignments - the kind no one else would touch because without vampire speed and healing, they were probably a death sentence.

Tonight, by comparison, isn't so deadly: a single B-rank vampire has earned himself an execution warrant from the Senate. Only a handful of Hunters in the world are capable of solo Hunting a noble, and Zero is one of them. Someone needs to pull the trigger, but the Senate doesn't bother with anything that didn't concern them directly - that leaves the Hunters. Out of consideration for Zero's injury, the surveillance has already been done for him. All Zero needs to do is flush out his quarry, and take him out.

Standing on the roof, Zero watches his target turn into the alley where he's set his trap, pleased that his plan is coming together so well. Wearing his Hunter coat and armour, with the night wind on his face and Bloody Rose at his hip, Zero feels complete for the first time in months.

Twitching with the eagerness to spring, Zero stalks to the edge of the building, shadowing his prey on silent feet. Nightshade cautions Zero with a quiet growl, and Zero scratches the wolf's ears in silent apology. It's taken several hours for their target to leave his luxury hotel room and give them an opportunity to strike. Within sight of his chance, Zero's heartbeat rushes loudly in his ears, every cell alert and straining.

It wasn't spoken of in public, but all good Hunters loved what they did on a deep, primitive level beneath human morality, the same animal way a hunting dog loved the work it was bred for. It was only natural, ten thousand years of the same orders resonating in the blood: seek, find, kill, survive. Taking pleasure in the kill was a dangerous path, but enjoying the Hunt itself was permitted. When you killed things that looked and spoke like humans for a living, you didn't get fussy about ethics.

When he was young, Zero's Hunts were driven by sloppy rage, and the desperation to kill as many vampires as he could before he was the name on the execution list. Older, they were just dry duty and rote repetition - stalk, kill, then rinse and repeat until you don't get up anymore.

Now everything is different. Zero's body feels energized - for the first time he's Hunting well-fed and healthy, with the knowledge he has something to go home to. No reward without risk; Zero wants to live, and it makes everything feel sharper and dearer at once. Zero can feel the clarity and anticipation, the animal joy churning in his belly.

Patience, Zero cautions himself, crouching down at the roof edge. Beneath him, his prey drifts deeper into the back alley. Almost far enough. Not quite. A few more feet, let the prey walk deeper into the ambush, draw him further away from the humans. Barely breathing, Zero slips into mushin. And then, right when the vampire is perfectly positioned, Zero drops from his perch directly above.

Something crunches, and the vampire screams when Zero's weight drives him into the pavement. Immediately, Zero jumps clear, putting some space between himself and the noble, not waiting for a counterattack at close quarters, where he has a disadvantage. Drawing Bloody Rose in one hand, Zero can hear Nightshade following behind, metal clattering as the wolf jumps between balconies to descend the building.

Wavering between fight and flight, the vampire hears Nightshade too, and decides attacking Zero before the Hunter's backup arrives is the better choice. The noble charges, his arms thickening and bulging, his fists engorging and becoming twice normal size. A strength enhancement ability, just like Zero's information said. Taking a single blow would turn the Hunter's body into liquified meat - instant death if the vampire hits anything vital.

Zero gets off one shot before he's forced to dodge away, and the vampire powders the concrete where he just stood using one giant fist. Fine concrete dust flies everywhere as the noble continues attacking with flurry of punches Zero knows better than to take, and Zero wastes another bullet to force more distance.

Now his opponent's legs are swelling up too, bursting through the vampire's expensive trousers and increasing the noble's speed. Already tall and muscular, all that added bulk makes the noble look like a miniature colossus. Now fully powered, the vampire attacks Zero with even greater fury, but the Hunter just keeps darting out of the way, refusing to allow his target close. As the Hunter dodges, his opponent overshoots and blows past like a freight train, bringing down an entire brick wall without any sign of pain.

Zero's razorblade grin belongs on Nightshade - a challenge! Taking aim, Zero shoots a hole in the vampire's right bicep; roaring in pain, the vampire takes a swipe at Bloody Rose. Zero's vampire rejoices in the scent of blood, twining round his Hunter prey drive, the two working in concert to urge Zero forward. The fight flows back and forth, and Zero rises with it, sustained by the rush of adrenaline and barbaric joy of the Hunt.

The big vampire is reeling, resistance winding down as he loses blood and wastes energy trying to pin Zero down. The Hunter dances away every time, searching for his kill shot. Finally Zero spots his opening, and feeling almost reluctant to give up such a satisfying fight, allows the vampire one last charge. Zero doesn't dodge; instead he lines up his sights, and pulls the trigger. Bloody Rose gives one sharp retort, and the enhanced noble drops like a rhinoceros, his momentum carrying him a few more meters before his body turns to ash.

The smell of gunsmoke in his nose, Zero lowers his barrel, blood still thrumming in his veins. Nightshade pads up, tail swinging behind him as he inspects Zero for injury. The Hunter smiles, counting down the seconds.

His Hunter senses ping two powerful auras bearing down on him. Chuckling ruefully, Zero waits until his observers blur into view. Zero's not the least bit surprised to see his spouses - stalking is practically a Kuran family tradition. Breath steaming in the cold night air, the Hunter calls out, "I really don't need babysitters," just to see Kuran's reaction.

Kuran ignores him, russet eyes intent as the pureblood bears down on him. Yuuki has the look of a woman on a mission.

"You weren't subtle," Zero adds, not that either of them really tried to hide how they've been shadowing him this whole time. The purebloods may have stayed out of his his sensory range, but Zero knows the feeling of being watched.

Catching the Hunter by the shoulders, his spouses meticulously examine Zero for injury, getting in a good grope along the way. Luckily for them, Zero is still riding the aftermath of a successful Hunt, warmth lingering beneath his skin alongside the chemical high of cheating death.

"You okay?" Yuuki asks for confirmation, concluding that Zero is not about to bleed out. Kuran dismisses Nightshade in a swirl of smoke.

"I'm fine. A few bruises, that's all," Zero tells them, restlessness heating his blood alongside confident satisfaction. He's tired, but too hyped up to rest yet, his heart still beating a little fast. "You can head back if you want. I'm going for a run." Zero has always trained off the post-Hunt euphoria before, and he's not about to go back to Rosehill like this. A house full of vampires will just unsettle him.

"Let me heal your bruises first," Yuuki insists. Her eyes are brighter tonight, color high in her cheeks, even with the cold. She peels back the Hunter's sleeve, eyes fixed on his reaction as she laps at his sensitized skin. Zero's belly tightens, heat pooling under his navel. Everyone has their rituals after a Hunt; Zero inherited his habits from Master Yagari, but Kaito and most other attached Hunters sing the praises of post-battle sex. With Yuuki looking up at him like that, Zero can suddenly sympathize.

Mmmm, Zero thinks, surveying Yuuki and Kuran in their human clothes, predatory vampire nature kicking in. Maybe Zero ought to experiment. In his element, at home in his Hunter role with a dead man's ashes on his skin, this seems like a perfectly good idea to Zero's adrenaline-driven brain.

"Kaname," Zero calls, feeling the tingle of Yuuki's kitten licks vibrate through his skin. The pureblood raises his eyebrows in that typically arrogant and self-possessed way, and Zero yanks him by his cravat into a messy kiss so hard their teeth clack, pushing into his husband's mouth and demanding his full attention. Kaname fights back, gripping Zero by the jaw and fighting him into surrender, biting and lapping with ferocious hunger. Zero can't even catch his breath before Yuuki yanks him down to be kissed deep and hard, again and again, until his body sinks gasping into Kaname's arms, yielding to her intensity and the need to breathe.

His purebloods stare down at Zero with burning, starlet-stained eyes, starving predators with a tender snared prey, ready to pounce. Pinned beneath those dangerous twin gazes with his blood full of heat, something slots into place at the root of Zero's psyche. A surge of tight need washes through his body, and Zero whines in the back of his throat, dizzy with the force of his arousal. "Please," the omega says, squirming and showing his throat to the alphas who've proved worthy.

Their faces go taut, gazes sharpening. Yuuki's open mouth shows her fangs as she pants, and Kaname's powerful aura warns every vampire nearby to flee. Zero is whisked up to a rooftop garden nearby, hidden from onlookers by a high fence. Sensibility intrudes for a brief moment. "In public?" Zero protests, before being distracted by Yuuki's mouth on his throat.

"I rented the penthouse, we can do as we like," Kaname gasps, undoing the buttons on Zero's coat.

"Creepy bastard, stop following me," the Hunter whimpers. Yuuki's teeth press just shy of breaking skin, and her hand under his shirt feels like a brand, teasing the skin beneath his waistband. With Kaname's heat against his back, and the way his skin burns, the winter chill seeping under his clothes is welcomed.

"You were so hot tonight," Yuuki groans, her breath washing over Zero's throat as she kisses his pulse. "I just wanted to kidnap you and do bad things to you. I'm going to touch you, Zero, unless you tell me not to."

Zero shivers at the open desire twisting her face, heart racing. He's uneasy, but underneath the weight of lust and the lingering thrill of the Hunt, that's a small thing. Zero wants to please her, and Yuuki won't hurt him.

Kaname spreads the wings of Zero's coat, and Yuuki's delicate hands find the button of his trousers, undoing his zipper with torturous care. "Lick," she tells Zero, holding out her hand, and he does, mouth bruised and wet from their kisses.

Zero whimpers again, and nearly writhes out of Kaname's grasp when her soft hand settles around his penis. Oh god. Oh god oh god Yuuki is touching his cock.

"I love you," she says, looking him straight in the eye and giving his shaft one long stroke from root to crown.

It's been so long since Zero touched himself that he nearly comes right there, hanging on with nothing but willpower and stubbornness as Yuuki does it again, still watching his face. Zero can't stop the noises bubbling out as she plays with the sensitive head, rubbing her thumb over his slit. Zero feels every pulse of pleasure like a blow, only remembering to take a shaky breath when his lungs burn. He's going to burst just from the stimulation. Kaname corrupted her, because how else does Yuuki know the perfect pressure to bring Zero to the screaming edge and the perfect rhythm to hold him there?

"Please," Zero begs with his eyes closed, knowing if he sees Yuuki's intent face, he's going to snap and come embarrassingly quick. Kaname's arm around his middle is the only thing grounding him, and he counts the breaths against his back as a way to steady his control.

"Open your eyes, Zero," Yuuki coaxes, her clean hand touching his cheek. "I know you've been denying yourself. Come for me, and show me the cute face you make, okay?"

Kaname's hand pets his belly; Zero cracks his eyes open feeling even more embarrassed and aroused.

Yuuki grins fondly, and delivers one last agonizing stroke. Zero doubles over, teeth clenched on a sob, his release almost painful after holding it in so long, toes curling and cock jumping in Yuuki's hand as he comes dry. Her soft fingers milk him through his orgasm, fondling his cock as it softens.

Burying his face in her wool coat, Zero waits for his heart to slow down, but the itch is still there under his skin, still unsatisfied. The sensation of orgasm felt different compared to before - more hollow, good but not enough, leaving tension still strung out in his limbs. Zero squeezes his thighs together, abruptly aware of the dampness there, and resents his body anew.

"Ah," says Kaname's voice, "I thought this might be the case."

Zero shoves his face deeper in Yuuki's coat, squirming and frustrated.

Yuuki's hand settles in his hair. "If it helps, I can't come the way I used to either, Zero. I'm happy with only having my cock touched, but I want both when we start with penetration."

"Would you like some help?" Kaname offers, voice amused.

Zero glares upward with all the force of his sexual frustration - baleful, sulky, and about to crawl out of his skin.

"We're serious, Zero," Yuuki says with her most earnest expression. "Please consider the idea. I don't like leaving you like this - I can smell you. You're so desperate."

Zero can't stop himself making a circling motion with his hips, and forces his breath out through his nose, or he'd probably whimper again.

Exchanging a glance, Yuuki and Kaname switch places, Yuuki now the one keeping Zero's weak legs from giving out.

"Please Zero," she pleads against his ear, lacing their hands together. "Let us make you feel good. Let us help you."

Zero struggles with himself. His needy body is eager and willing; his vampire urges him to follow his natural instincts, but the shards of human left in his psyche hold him still.

Turning his face to the side, Yuuki's scent envelopes him, the cool, deep darkness of a pureblood vampire, her clean, dry smell tinged with woody alpha musk. "What would you do to me?" Zero ventures, caught between fear and desire, the alienation of his mind to his body.

"Fingering?" suggests Kaname, fitting a thigh between Zero's legs. "Yuuki says you've never touched your cunt. You could slide against me until you come."

"No!" Zero shakes his head sharply, rejecting the idea at once. "Nothing inside! And I won't touch myself. I'm not going to."

A slow smile splits Kaname's face, and his voice goes smooth and liquid. "Well then. Shall I use my mouth on you?"

Against his will, Zero's thighs clench at the filthy image: Kaname's dark head in between his legs, his proud ex-enemy using that clever, cruel tongue on him, one of the vampires' sacred purebloods lowering himself to service a lowly Level D. The nobles would scream at the very idea.

"Why you?" the Hunter persists, trying to deny his physical reaction.

"Experience," the pureblood purrs; his eyes say he's caught Zero's interest, and has unspeakably dirty plans of his own.

"Kaname is very good with his tongue," Yuuki promises archly. "He's agreed to teach me - if I can find a volunteer to practice on."

Zero swallows, conscious brain almost blacking out with the surge of lust. Oh Ancestress, he's lost hasn't he? Even his feelings that his body is wrong can't win out against that.

"Go ahead," Zero says in a wobbly voice, marshaling his strength of will and determination. "Let's see if you're as good as you say you are, bastard."

Kaname's smile, while triumphant, is softer at the edges; the pureblood's hand on Zero's thigh feels gentle.

"Wait - let's move, I want to see," Yuuki demands. Zero is positioned on a cushioned bench, with his head and shoulders propped up on Yuuki's lap, and his legs parted to make space for Kaname, who's lying on his belly between them.

Resting on his back in such an open position, Zero feels vulnerable, and his fingers seek out Yuuki's hand to quiet his second thoughts. Yuuki grips it tightly, and reminds Zero that she loves him and how much Zero means to her, as Kaname unbuckles Zero's equipment, stripping away Bloody Rose and Artemis Rod and setting them carefully to the side. Zero tenses as he feels his trousers slide down his legs; Kaname kisses his hipbone as the pureblood pulls them free.

One last barrier - Zero's stomach tightens with combined lust and fear as Kaname hooks his fingers in the waistband of the Hunter's underwear - and then slices them off with his claws. Zero squawks, outraged by the wanton destruction of his clothes and the cold air hitting his sensitive parts. "I didn't bring spare underwear!" he hisses.

"I know," Kaname replies, resting his chin on Zero's belly and smiling like a fox in a henhouse.

The Hunter's eyes narrow. "You better replace those, you pervert!"

"I've always wanted to see you in lace panties," the pureblood says brightly, and before Zero can open his mouth and spit the retort on his tongue, Kaname is running a forefinger down Zero's soft cock, and the Hunter's words dissolve in a shiver. He hasn't recovered yet from his first orgasm, otherwise he'd definitely be sporting another erection.

Kaname, in no hurry to relieve Zero's desire, kisses around the Hunter's cock from one point of his hip to the other, each touch a spark under Zero's skin. Zero bites his lip to avoid making those embarrassing noises again, and freezes when he realizes Kaname's watching him with displeasure.

"Yuuki," the pureblood orders, laying one forearm across Zero's hips and pressing down, "play with Zero's nipples until he begs you to stop."

Zero senses more than sees Yuuki's anticipation, her intent coiling heavy in the air as her hands snake up his sides, finding their targets with unerring accuracy. She caresses the little swells of flesh, tracing circles around his areolas with her thumbs. His chest is so much more sensitive now; Zero opens his mouth and moans, hoping for mercy.

"She's barely even touched you yet, and I can smell you getting wetter already," Kaname says with relish.

Yuuki takes that as a signal to begin massaging and squeezing Zero's chest, and Kaname, the cheater, leans forward to exhale hotly against Zero's sensitive labia. In the cold air, the temperature difference sends pleasure sizzling straight to his groin, and Zero shudders from crown to sole, only Kaname's grip on his thigh holding him in place. Zero can't stop watching Kaname move between his legs, though he's not positioned well for it - probably on purpose, so Zero can't brace himself against Kaname's teasing.

The pureblood nuzzles the crease of Zero's thigh, inhaling again. "You smell like us here, but inside your scent is purely your own, clean and virginal."

Yuuki tweaks Zero's nipple, and Zero's gasp is high and loud in the night air.

"Do you want to be ours, precious boy?" Kaname asks, rubbing his cheek against a white inner thigh. "Do you want me to desecrate your insides? Defile you with my touch?"

Yuuki's attentions slow, like she wants to give Zero enough clarity to answer, but his brain is so thoroughly scrambled by his wife's hands on his chest that Zero can only whimper.

"Well?" Kaname draws out the word, his red eyes almost glowing.

"Yes," Zero finally says, mindless as Yuuki plays with his nipples. But he can't imagine how his current pleasure is only the beginning.

Kaname's face disappears, and Zero feels warm fingers tease his labia. The muscles in his belly clench as the pureblood traces the seam, drawing out his anticipation, and then Zero feels cold air rush into his most intimate place as his labia are peeled back. Without warning, a tongue licks up through Zero's folds, once, twice.

Zero screams, his back arching as he bucks against Kaname's hold, and every nerve in his body lights on fire with sensation. It was better than having a hand around his cock, Zero realizes in shock, collapsing back down. Everything that was missing from his orgasm earlier - and more - all from that single touch.

Kaname raises his head, grinning up at Zero. "Like that, kitten?"

Slumped into Yuuki's hold, Zero makes an incoherent noise, staring at the pureblood between his thighs with huge eyes. Accustomed to nothing but pain, the Hunter never knew his body could offer such sheer pleasure. It's a little frightening how his body can still keep such secrets from him.

Chuckling, Kaname says, "You're an omega, sweet boy. Your whole body was rebuilt for one purpose, and if sex didn't feel good, you wouldn't keep doing it." Then he darts back between Zero's thighs, and the whole world dissolves into bursts of pleasure.

Zero can't even follow what part of his flesh is being touched anymore; everything is a blur of sensation. As Yuuki rolls Zero's nipples into little points and kisses marks on his neck, Kaname's mouth is everywhere - sucking, licking, nibbling, the wet press teasing against his channel - and Zero can't do anything but lie there and accept it. Wrapping his legs around Kaname's shoulders, Zero sobs and gasps with his head thrown back, feeling his body building toward something.

Kaname ruthlessly holds him open like he wants to wrench every last bit of pleasure from Zero's body. If his purebloods weren't restraining him, Zero would've thrown himself to the ground with the force of his thrashing. When Kaname starts humming and tracing patterns against his sex, Zero loses the last of his composure. His eyes go wet, and his hips strain upward as he chases his pleasure; his clawed hands tear through the cushion underneath him, and his voice cracks with the force of his cries.

Oh, he's so close, he can feel it, something slow building in his belly. Kaname curls his tongue, then flicks it, and Zero needs just a little more, just a little…

Without warning, Kaname thrusts the whole length of his tongue into Zero's hole, just that small part of him being spread open. Zero can't even describe the noise he makes, eyes going wide and every muscle locking, his ankles dragging Kaname even closer. Orgasm washes through him, slower and deeper as Zero's inner muscles quiver and his hips grind into Kaname's mouth. The pleasure goes on and on, while Kaname coaxes every drop from Zero's flesh, and when at last it starts to ebb, the pureblood cleans Zero up with his tongue before finally, with one last lick, letting him free.

While Zero recovers, Kaname slides back up and begins petting Zero's hipbone with the most self-satisfied smile on his mouth, lips shiny with Zero's slick. Catching Zero's blurry gaze, the pureblood grins, then licks his mouth clean in slow swipes.

The nerve, Zero grumbles, as the heat in his groin sparks again. He's only slightly mollified by the way Kaname's penis is tenting his trousers; at least it proves Zero can affect the pureblood too. Eyes fluttering shut, Zero tries to absorb his new experience, wallowing in the lingering satisfaction. If male orgasm is like a snap and a fall, female orgasm is like a wave, thorough and rolling.

When he surveys himself, Zero feels physically tired, but in a good, relaxed way - probably the orgasm - and he would really like to lie here and maybe sleep for a while. Emotionally, he's much better off then he thought he'd be, a little nervy but not panicked or distraught. Accepting his body's pleasure didn't scar him or break him; it was as gentle an introduction to his new sex as Zero could hope for. He's faced part of his fear, and damn if it didn't feel shockingly good. Though Zero's probably going to freak out later when all the happy chemicals wear off and everything catches up with him.

"Do you like having my mouth on you?" Kaname asks, once Zero has his breath back.

"Mmmmn. How?" groans Zero, his neck lolling as he tries to control his limbs, all of which feel like jelly.

"How does it feel so good when you lack a clitoris?" Kaname chuckles. "You're an omega, sweet boy. Your entire quim is a mess of nerve endings, which means every centimeter is exquisitely, deliciously sensitive. I could put a toy in you and leave you tied up and helpless, and eventually you'd squeeze yourself to orgasm. Pleasant, isn't it?"

Zero may have just whimpered in defeat.

"It helps that I'm very, very skilled. The only thing I dislike about oral sex is that I can't tell you how pretty you look, wrecked by my mouth. Come taste him, Yuuki."

Yuuki - whose arousal Zero can feel underneath his back - slides out beneath Zero, and settles between his legs, pressing a quick kiss to his ankle. Zero groans when her tongue catches on his damp inner sex, still sensitive from orgasm, and opens his eyes to glare.

His wife, smacking her lips with a dreamy look on her face, ignores him.

Huffing, Zero says, "Can I get dressed now?"

"Did I say we were finished?" Kaname replies, raising an eyebrow.

Zero freezes, blinking rapidly, and gets the feeling he may have miscalculated.

Kaname smiles and tickles Zero's inner thigh. "You told me I needed to prove myself. I suppose two orgasms are enough to begin with."

Zero is going to die.

Poor Zero doesn't know how to deal with Kaname and his 10,000 kinks. For the record, Kaname did not plan that last scene. He's just thorough and paranoid enough that his setup worked out perfectly for the occasion.

Shoshana's unnatural age is actually mentioned in chapter ten, the first time she's introduced. Sometimes it takes a lot of chapters for a single detail to become relevant.

The Ancestor's festival is based on the Japanese Bon Festival, with a dash of western Halloween. Since the founding Hunters' only universal trait was 'didn't die after drinking pure blood', most of their unique customs are spliced together from many different traditions.

Next chapter: Zero plots, and Kaname and Yuuki take on the case of the Level E vampires