Hello again! I've missed you all. Here is the new chapter for your enjoyment.
I have assumed that the Kuran business interests are similar to a conglomerate - one large parent company with many diversified branches and brands under its supervision. For perspective on Shirabuki's sabotage last chapter, to have a company considered 'large' by the stock market, it needs to have over 10 billion USD worth of market value. So a company can lose several billion dollars in value and still be worth a great deal, even heavily damaged.
If you're having trouble imagining Zero's kamon, there are a bunch of examples on wikipedia if you search the term.
XXXIII. The Spaces Between Souls
"How could you let her go!" Kaname roars with his hands balled into fists.
"Don't you think I'm asking myself the same question!" Kiryuu shouts back, agony in every syllable.
Kaname lowers his voice, mindful of the Hunters loitering outside the house they've borrowed for their 'discussion.' Only feeling his wife through their bloodbond, the steady, undisturbed pulse of her life, is keeping him sane. "Explain the facts to me," the pureblood snaps, tone still dangerous.
Kiryuu lowers his eyes, tightens his crossed arms. "After we cleared the village, Lead Hunter Albrecht called me away to report. Yuuki was helping with the survivors, and we were close enough to see each other. We were both inside the Hunter defenses. We thought it would be fine. But-" He chokes, tries again. "But about ten minutes later, Yuuki was gone, moving too fast for me to follow. I found her phone inside a house, and I just knew -" the Hunter breaks off, ducking his head, a catch in his voice.
"And?" Kaname replies coldly, tucking his hands behind his back and turning away.
"One of the apprentices saw Yuuki speaking with a human girl just before she left. But when we questioned the other survivors, none of them recognized the girl's description," Kiryuu says, still staring at the floor. "We can't find the girl anymore. She must have slipped away after that."
Closing his eyes, Kaname pinches the bridge of his nose, cursing himself and Kiryuu's foolish, predictable nobility, easy meat for anyone ruthless enough to exploit it. "Shirabuki hid her servant among the real survivors, trusting that the Hunters - and you - wouldn't suspect a human. The servant was meant to contact Yuuki, which she did. There was no sign of a struggle?"
"No," Kiryuu admits, looking defeated. "I don't know why, but Yuuki seems to have willingly left."
The old, ancient madness - the darkness the Ancestor of the Kuran chose Sleep to escape - is creeping in, eating at the edges of Kaname's vision. Desperately, the pureblood cleaves to his anger. Anything to fill the void that Yuuki's presence keeps at bay. "It's not difficult to surmise," he says scornfully, "There's only thing that would move her so effortlessly - threatening you."
Kiryuu's head snaps like he's been struck, and he watches Kaname through pain-bright eyes. "What," he says quietly, voice paper thin.
Kaname's chest aches in shared pain. But his voice is steel-hard when he says, "You heard me. Yuuki left because Shirabuki threatened you."
"Why would Yuuki believe her?" Kiryuu asks desperately. "You said together we'd be able to hold her off."
"Yuuki has always been irrational when it comes to you," Kaname replies, lifting his shoulders in a shrug as he feels his empty despair crawl up his spine, constrict around his heart.
A ripple unfolds in his consciousness, and the pureblood traces the link to his familiar. Watching briefly through the wolf's eyes, he slides back to his own skin and says, "Nightshade has found a body."
Kiryuu blanches - then relief sinks in as he realizes it can't be Yuuki, otherwise there would be no corpse.
Grabbing Kiryuu by the arm, Kaname pulls him to the door, choosing to focus on action rather than his gnawing demons, the spectre of loss at his shoulder. Once outside, Kaname ignores the dozen or so Hunters clustered protectively nearby, all of whom are sending him speculative glares. If anyone is going to stab him, Kiryuu has first rights.
Nightshade has found the girl spy's remains in a clearing a few minutes' run from the Hunter temporary headquarters. There is not a mark on the corpse - for all Kaname can tell she just dropped dead. But the girl's face is twisted in agony, and the ground around her is torn by thrashing feet and hands. Cooling blood leaks from her nose and eyes, and white foam flecks her lips.
The culprit is no mystery. Kaname's lip curls in disgust - Shirabuki and her poisons. Did the spy die simply because she knew too much, or was the girl's death part of something more profound?
No way to know. Even more troubling, Nightshade found the body by tracking Yuuki's scent. Their wife was here not long ago, and by the overlapping scent trails, she was here at the same time as the girl. Was the spy alive or dead by then? Fighting his growing fear, Kaname says none of that in front of the Hunters as he argues futilely for control of the autopsy, all the while giving Kiryuu silence and indifference.
"Can you find her?" Kiryuu ventures when the Hunters and the corpse are gone. "With your blood bond. Yuuki said she could do that."
Kaname pauses, his back to his Consort. "I can. She is somewhere west of us, growing further away. The feeling is faint; she is blocking me as hard as she can."
Kiryuu is silent. "Can you tell if she's alright?" The words are hushed, nearly inaudible.
"I am blood bonded to her. I will know the instant she dies. The rest.." Kaname does not want to believe Yuuki could be hurt and her pain go unnoticed, that she could bleed while he felt nothing. The idea of his dear girl injured, and himself ignorant - no.
"Perhaps if she were injured too badly to hide any longer..." The pureblood cuts himself off. Truly, Kaname doesn't know. Distance dims the bond's impressions, and it's not as though he's experienced this before.
Then Kiryuu's phone rings.
Both of them freeze. The timing is too much of a coincidence, and only a handful of people have Kiryuu Zero's personal number.
Kaname twists, whirling to face the Hunter. Holding the phone in his hand, Kiryuu is staring at it like a poisonous scorpion. Kaname takes him by the wrist, tilting the screen to see: unknown number.
"Answer it," the pureblood orders. The ground under his feet feels unsteady. There is no leverage he possesses over Shirabuki that can equal Yuuki's life.
Kiryuu's hands are shaking as he stabs the button to answer, lifts it to his ear.
With his vampire senses, Kaname can hear perfectly the weighted silence on the other end of the line.
"Hi Zero."
The tension relaxes a fraction; Kaname briefly closes his eyes. She's alive. Praise Mother Night, she's alive.
"Sorry about leaving you so suddenly." Yuuki's voice has a curiously restrained cadence, a measured quality absent from her usual speech.
"Where are you," Zero says instead. Too desperate. Kaname tsks silently.
"I'm going to be gone for a while. You and Kaname take care of each other while I'm away, okay?" The formal air of her pureblood persona, with an undertone of strain. Kaname drives his nails into his palm. Shirabuki is nearby.
"Yuuki, you need to tell me where you are so we can come get you," Zero begs.
Yuuki hesitates. A rustle of cloth in the background. "I'm going with Shirabuki-san. She reminded me the other day that I haven't visited lately. I'll be staying with her, so don't come get me. Okay?"
"Yuuki, please-"
"Promise! Promise me that you won't come find me unless I ask. Kaname too. Swear it to me."
"Yuuki…"
"Please. Please Zero, give me this. I wouldn't ask if it weren't important."
Zero looks at Kaname with wide, helpless eyes. Kaname has nothing to offer him. Yuuki can be as selfless as Zero for those she loves. She would only ask this promise if she believed it would protect them.
"I swear," Kaname says past the ashen taste in his mouth. For now, he will trust Yuuki.
Zero's breath hisses out of him. Defeated, he hangs his head, nodding once before he realizes Yuuki can't see him. "I promise." The words are faint as the wind.
"Thank you," Yuuki says, her relief palpable. "I need to go. I love you both."
"Yuuki!" Zero protests sharply, but the line goes dead.
Kaname spends one long moment wrangling the impulse to burn through everything between himself and Yuuki, then turns on his heel. "Home," he says tonelessly.
"We're not really going to let this happen, are we?" Kiryuu demands, scrambling along behind.
Kaname grits his teeth. "For now, Yuuki knows more than we do. We will wait."
"We cannot just-"
Kaname rounds savagely. "Do you not understand? We are not 'letting' anything happen. Yuuki is Shirabuki's hostage! If we disobey, Yuuki will pay the price. Shirabuki holds our strings, you fool, and we dance to her tune until we can find a way free."
"So we're helpless."
How bitter a truth. "For now."
"You did well, Yuuki-chan. I'm so glad we get to spend time together! You're far more pleasant company compared to your brother, precocious as he is."
Shirabuki means that Yuuki is easier to control. Safer. No threat. Careful of the winds battering Shirabuki's opulent private plane, Yuuki swallows her resentment and sets her china cup down with a clink. "Thank you, Shirabuki-san."
The blond pureblood smiles behind her own cup. "Hopefully your husbands will follow your request. It would be a shame if I had to hurt you."
Behind her smooth mask, Yuuki shakes with anger and disbelief. She hates being used against them as a bargaining chip, but she has no choice. Mindful that more fates than her own depend on her behavior, she choses each word carefully. "Was it necessary to kill the girl, Shirabuki-san?"
The blonde tosses her head. "Naturally. Would you be so compliant now without the demonstration?" A sweet smile lifts her lips. "Now you can imagine it vividly, in perfect clarity - the exact expression on Zero-kun's face as he dies the same way."
Yuuki nearly throws up, because she can see it in her mind, the agony and violence, Zero's shaking hand reaching up for help as his lilac eyes go dark. She controls her gorge by shutting her eyes tight until the spasm passes, and thinking as hard as she can about the three of them playing in a glowing sea.
Shirabuki's eyes have a satisfied glint as she snaps her fingers and a level D servant comes to refresh the tea. "See? But as long as you do as I say, the poison in his blood will stay dormant, and darling Zero will live."
Yuuki knows the minefield she's picking her way through. The risk she's taking by putting herself into her enemy's hands. But if she wants to save the life they've built, the only way out is to discover what Shirabuki's done. Every poison has an antidote, and Yuuki has wagered that she can find the one she needs if she stays beside Shirabuki Sara.
But god does the weight of another life in her hands terrify her.
Yuuki is gone: the words echo unceasingly in the back of Kaname's mind, filling the silence between heartbeats. Yuuki is gone.
(People who leave Kaname never come back.)
The pureblood clutches the metal of his fork, collecting himself only when Kiryuu sends a wary look across the dining table.
Dinner has been conducted in complete silence. Rosehill's servants must have sensed their twin dark moods; even Steward Inukai didn't protest when Kiryuu sat down in his stained, filthy hunting clothes to eat. This is nothing more than a facsimile of normality, and Kaname participated only out of habit.
"Kaname?"
"What is it," he replies with disinterest. The pureblood puts his fork down. He has no appetite, and his body requires only blood to function. A meal is unnecessary distraction.
"I was wondering where I should sleep tonight." The boy's voice is even, but uncertainty lurks beneath.
Kaname pushes his chair back, rises without looking at his dining companion. "Yuuki is not here. Your presence is unnecessary."
"I see," his Consort replies as the pureblood strides away.
(There is a twinge in Kaname's chest. He ignores it.)
His dark mood settles around his shoulders, weighing him down. Kaname heads for his study, refusing to face the master suite and its happy memories with this spectre of loss biting at his heels.
WIth the study door safely closed, Kaname pours himself a glass of the strongest drink he has - a pitiful, futile effort at numbness - and holds his head in his hands, grinding the heels of his palms into his eyes.
What a costly failure. Costly? Kaname gives a hollow laugh. There is no word strong enough to describe his defeat. His beloved Yuuki is gone. He's lost his heart, his north star, his one driving purpose. Cut loose from his center of existence, the pureblood feels adrift in his burgeoning despair, familiar black demons coiling round his brain.
Kaname can already see the changes in himself - the creeping apathy, the desperation, the aimlessness. He relies completely on Yuuki for his emotional sanity. It is monstrously unfair to demand so much of another living person, but when has Kaname not been monstrous?
(He feels more like the Ancestor of the Kuran than he has in years.)
He should be planning his next move, advancing some plot to return Yuuki to his side and regain the upper hand. Instead, Kaname can only sit crushed beneath his dark thoughts, the memories of previous losses - the Ancestress of the Hunters, Haruka and Juuri, so many more - and listen to that haunting whisper: Yuuki is gone.
Running his hands through his already disheveled hair, Kaname tears off his coat, throws it to the side, begins to pace. Trying to anchor himself, he turns his thoughts aside - but each time they creep back, and he wonders - fears - what Yuuki is enduring right now, what Shirabuki has done to her. Kaname knows how a mind can be broken without taking a life, and he knows the reach of Shirabuki's depravity. The images torment him - Yuuki bleeding, Yuuki empty and hollow, Yuuki slowly falling to dust...
No use. Kaname sags against the side of his desk, fighting the itching urge towards some desperate madness - Kaname has no limits when it comes to those close to him. War and destruction are nothing. No price is too high to pay.
But Yuuki wouldn't like it, he reminds himself, sinking down on the chaise. Both of them would look a him with disappointed eyes.
Kaname lies there listlessly, letting his thoughts drift. The bloodbond pulls endlessly west. Time passes. But something is pricking at Kaname's mind, pulling him back, tying him to the present, refusing to cast everything loose.
...both of them?
Zero. Kaname straightens, tenses. Where is Zero right now?
The Consort's suite, he realizes, flashing back to his careless words at dinner. It's late - the servants will have retired for the morning, leaving Zero alone by himself. Panic bubbles up, cracking through his apathy. Kaname did not post any extra guards - he didn't even leave Nightshade - and Zero is exhausted and asleep, an easy target if Shirabuki sends an assassin.
Now Kaname's mind is full of Zero's death, Zero's pain in a thousand variations, a kaleidoscope of thorns. He swallows the hot, frenzied feelings, to no avail. His mind is spilling over, churning out infinite scenarios where Kaname loses his husband, each one skewering through his heart.
A torrent of longing strikes him, leaving behind a deep ache. The alpha howls; more terrifying, his pureblood nature hungers. (The blood of a beloved is the most satisfying taste of all. Yet Kaname's hunger arises from even greater depths.)
Kaname is tired of making the same mistakes. The people he loves always pay the price. And he is tired of being alone.
Go to him, his darkness whispers. He is essential to us. There's still time. He's not too late.
Kaname finds himself on his feet. He sways forward, takes a first step. Freezes.
Pride and denial war with need and something else. Something he dares not name. His hands clench, and his eyes burn red.
In the end, the choice is easy. Kaname does not want Zero to die. That makes it simple, straightforward even. Focus on the present. Ignore the complicated parts. Don't think. Don't examine things too closely. If it has no name, is isn't real.
Kaname runs. Wringing every drop of speed from his frame, he blurs through hallways brightening with morning light, skirting the thin shadows. His pulse jumps; his heart lodges in his throat. His steps tap out a rapid tattoo in time with winter birdsong.
Doubt assails him. A corner of Kaname's logical mind is still stranded back in his study, wondering what he's doing - but the greater part is reminding him that the weight crushing his lungs is imaginary, and seeing Zero will make this terrible pressure go away, all the while frantically calculating the chances some disaster has taken Zero away.
Heedless in his need to prove Zero alive, the pureblood bends his enhanced senses to the task, searching for a heartbeat, a breath, anything. There! Soft rustlings, then a gasp. Alive.
Alive, and caught in the grip of a nightmare, tossing beneath the covers and groaning softly. But instead of soothing Kaname's ardour, each soft inhale and exhale only fans the flames of his desperation to see and touch his husband.
Like a man possessed, Kaname's strength crushes handprints into the door handle as he flings open the Consort's Suite with a crash. The splintered, twisted ruin lodges in the wall, but Kaname has already whirled away. The atrium, then the outer rooms flash past, but Kaname's attention is bent wholly on the precious occupant of the bedroom, hidden away in the rear.
Tearing the bedroom door from its hinges - he's forgotten how to use the handle when he can hear his Zero beyond - Kaname catches an anti-vampire knife two millimeters from his right eye, smiling fondly at the sleepy, confused Hunter sitting bolt upright and fondling a second knife. His nightshirt is rucked to one side and his fringe is mussed; the little-used linen sheets, smelling of the laundry, have been kicked off; the shadows under his eyes are deep, and grief lines his face.
The very sight of him makes Kaname's heart leap, his mouth water, his fingers twitch with longing. He sucks in desperate mouthfuls of that sweet-spicy omega scent, and the fragrance soothes his beasts. Kaname wants to wrap himself up in it. The jagged void of Yuuki's absence is still bleeding and festering, but standing in the doorway, staring at his Hunter, even that becomes more bearable.
More. Kaname wants more. He crosses the room slowly, holding Zero's gaze without blinking. Each footstep sends tremors through his world. The silence between them has unspoken words. Without understanding why, Zero has gone still, instinct serving him well when dealing with pureblood thirsts.
Kaname's boy trembles when the pureblood touches his cheek ever so gently with the pads of his fingers, like he would stroke the velvet petals of a rose.
Zero doesn't understand what has happened, poor child. Doesn't realize Kaname's very soul shook at the same touch. Doesn't understand what he's become. Doesn't know what Kaname will do to keep him at his side. But he must realize Kaname's turmoil, and his gentle nature drives him to salve the wound; Zero reaches out and takes Kaname's hand in his own two, his slim fingers closing round to offer the pureblood comfort.
Kaname's madness abates; the cutting whispers are hushed by the touch of callused hands. The pureblood kisses his boy's palms, then forehead, then takes that pink mouth and lays claim to Zero's whole being with every fibre of his ancient, possessive soul.
"The error was mine earlier," he whispers as their lips part. "It isn't safe for you to be alone."
Zero's thoughts hide behind his controlled expression as he considers Kaname's change of heart. He looks at the ruined door, then back to the pureblood. "This bed isn't made for two," he finally says.
"We will make do," Kaname replies as be begins taking off his clothes and laying them over the dresser, not dissuaded. He will accept no excuse to leave Zero's side; his sweet boy will simply have to resign himself.
Zero sighs as Kaname slides in bed beside him, stripped down to his underclothes, but he doesn't protest when Kaname pulls their bodies flush, stemming the pain of loneliness by pressing their wounds together in the dark.
Just like always, his boy settles when he's in bed with company. Kaname wraps his arms around that narrow waist, inhales the warm smell. His beasts settle, quieted by being nestled beside the half of his world he can reach.
Half asleep, his Consort murmurs, "It feels so good to fall asleep and know you're not alone."
Yes, Kaname mouths against the nape of his neck.
Shirabuki Sara's castle is nothing like Rosehill. There's a patina of similarity - its age, remoteness, history, grandeur - but the air of restrained wealth tempered by tasteful, traditional simplicity is missing. Tucked away within thick forest, Shirabuki's ancestral home overflows with artifacts meant to elevate the status of their owner: the furs of extinct beasts, one-of-a-kind antiques, famous sculptures that ought to be in museums, paintings by old masters, lost works by great artists, and rarities of all kinds. Yuuki gets the impression most of them were added recently.
Most jarring is their reception. The castle overflows with light to welcome the mistress home, and what looks like the entire staff lines up to bow and call out cheerful greetings in an eerily synchronized display. Every face glows with cheerfulness and reverence while Shirabuki gushes praise. Yuuki finds the whole ceremony offputting.
There are so many servants! The halls teem with bustling maids and houseboys; every room has its own appointed caretaker. There are servants for any task, no matter how small: to take your coat, open doors, remove your shoes when you sit down, to offer food and plate it, hold drinks, help you dress, and more. There are even bathroom attendants who - well, Yuuki doesn't know, because she dismissed them as soon as she realized they intended to stick around while she did her business. If she lived here, Yuuki would never have to lift a finger again.
Walking behind her captor, Yuuki finally pins down exactly what bothers her as they pass two maids who curtsey until their knees touch the parquet floor, then watch the purebloods with worshipful eyes until Yuuki passes out of sight. Kaname expects competence, respect, and a certain discretion from their servants; Shirabuki Sara demands absolute adoration from hers. Everywhere she goes, she surrounds herself with a little court of her own followers. They flutter around like birds now as Shirabuki stops and gestures. "This is your room, dear Yuuki-chan, right beside mine."
Yuuki smiles and thanks the pureblood politely. This is a much nicer prison than she expected.
The blonde simpers, clapping her hands together; her lace shawls slips down her shoulders. "I'll leave you to settle in, but I wanted to make sure you remembered the rules first."
Smiling again, Yuuki nods vacantly. All her focus is bound up in slowing her racing heartbeat.
The woman's blue eyes sharpen. "You will not attempt to contact anyone or influence my servants. Disobey, and I kill Kiryuu Zero. Escape attempts will earn the same result. Take your own life, and Zero-kun dies the moment you succeed. If I die, or if you try to kill me, the poison in his blood will activate automatically and your little omega will perish in agonizing pain. Understand?"
"Yes, Shirabuki-san," Yuuki agrees meekly. If her enemies see a weak doll, all the better for her. Let Shirabuki forget what happened to the last people who threatened Zero's life.
"I would prefer no unpleasantness between us," Shirabuki says earnestly, placing a hand on Yuuki's lower arm, her manner softened back to her usual girlish charm.
Yuuki's skin crawls, but her face stays placid.
"I have plans, you see. You could be of great help to me."
Never, but Yuuki needs Shirabuki to believe she might succeed. So she lowers her eyes, and nods.
"Well, I'll leave you for the day. I'd like a little relaxation before bed. Feel free to make yourself comfortable," Shirabuki says, and then goes, taking her coterie of servants with her.
Shirabuki keeps a collection of pets, young Level D girls and boys hand-picked as the most pleasing and beautiful of all. The walls aren't soundproof; after the first night, Yuuki has no illusions about what exactly they're used for.
Yuuki pretends not to notice the smell of blood or the hovering servants, and watches the sunrise through a gap in the curtains. Her fist clenches in her dress, right above her flesh and blood heart.
Her real heart is thousands of miles away, one half with each of the men she loves, and Yuuki longs to go where it rests. Not yet, she reminds herself. She promised to protect Zero, and Shirabuki intends harm to Kaname too. She'll just have to endure it.
With one last look, Yuuki turns away from the dawn's light, and goes into the darkened bedroom to steal what sleep she can.
"My spies have found Yuuki," Kaname announces at breakfast that evening, putting down his phone.
Now back in his hoseki, Zero's dull eyes brighten, and he raises his head. "Where is she? Is she alright?"
"She's been taken to the ancestral Shirabuki estate in Eastern Europe. More than that, I don't know. Seiren can't get very close. I don't want to alarm Shirabuki when she's explicitly warned us away."
"Thank you for telling me," Zero murmurs, and continues picking at his food.
Flicking a glance across the table, Kaname considers his present circumstances. With Yuuki located and his bloodbond's assurance she lives, urgency has been tempered by caution.
Kaname hasn't left Zero's side since he barged into the Consort's suite. As long as he remains in Zero's presence, the pureblood feels clear-headed enough to act like himself. Deliberately, Kaname does not consider what that might mean. He does, however, begin crafting several plans to keep Zero there permanently. Perhaps getting him pregnant?
What have I been telling you? huffs his alpha. Fill mate with babies and he will be ours forever.
"I have been thinking," Kaname says, carefully putting aside the idea for later examination. "We lack information. I want to reexamine the murder of the Level D. If we can find Shirabuki's conspirator, they may know something that can help us."
Zero stirs his breakfast, looking pensive. "That sounds like a good start. We don't have much else."
Kaname crosses his arms. "Something is troubling you?"
Putting the spoon down, Zero laces his fingers together. "I keep remembering what happened at Takuma's soiree. I was using my extra sense all night, and there was something different about Shirabuki when she arrived compared to when she left. I keep going over it in my head. I think - I think she just came to cause trouble at first, but I can't shake the impression she was upset when she left. Almost rushed."
Tapping the table, Kaname closes his eyes. He trusts Zero's instincts. Something changed that night for Shirabuki. What was it?
As soon as he thinks it, Kaname knows what happened. "She met her agent - the one in my circle who's passing on information about us," he says, confirming the idea aloud. "The entire upper nobility was there. She made contact, and her spy told her something that made her panic."
Breakfast forgotten, the pureblood rises in his excitement, rounding the table to seize Zero's hands in his own. The thrill of the chase is a riptide rising in his blood. Kaname smiles, and knows his fangs are showing. "No wonder his gambit isn't her style. Remember Touma's Level Ds, and the attempt to assassinate you? Shirabuki prefers using proxies to keep any risks away from herself, and her traps are always subtle and laid out long before they snap shut. This kidnapping is an unplanned necessity. We've overturned her plans somehow, and she's been forced to use more crude means."
Zero has a certain wariness in his eyes. "What does that means for us?"
"We need to find her spy more than ever," Kaname replies.
The Hunter's brow crinkles. "How? You and Yuuki tried, and didn't find any hint."
Kaname swings their joined hands. "This time is different. I can be straightforward and use my power of command. The nobles would resent being so harshly questioned over the death of one near-Level E. The disappearance of a pureblood is another matter entirely. I'll wager they will even let me wipe their memories willingly."
Zero's frown deepens, likely at Kaname's remark about the Level D.
"Another thing," Kaname continues. "We don't have the luxury of time. This standoff is not sustainable. There are too many witnesses to what happened - the Hunters don't talk, but the news will leak. Shirabuki doesn't have long. She'll need to move as soon as she can."
Eyes sharpening, Zero carefully disentangles their hands. "I'm going to go train."
Shirabuki has prepared Yuuki's prison well. She has no phone or internet she could use to contact the outside world, and she is never allowed outside the castle's walls. She isn't even permitted to leave her rooms without Shirabuki's permission, and she is always escorted by a chaperone who follows her everywhere she goes. The spiders are everywhere, and Shirabuki herself is never more than a room away.
As a further precaution against a pure-blooded captive, all the vampires Yuuki has contact with are Level Ds. If two pureblood commands conflict, the more recent takes precedence. The sole exception, which Shirabuki is taking advantage of, is that a Level D's master always has the greater power over those they've Turned. Some pureblood families prefer D Rank servants for exactly that reason. They're more reliant on their benefactors, and less able to be suborned by other purebloods' power.
Nothing terrible happens. Shirabuki seems genuine when she says she would rather use Yuuki than break her. She enjoys keeping Yuuki nearby like a trophy, alongside the sycophant multitude Shirabuki surrounds herself with.
Yuuki hates it. Every moment is layered with tension, a coil twisting tighter and tighter around Yuuki's insides, slicing and cutting. Her appetite is nonexistent. She sleeps little. She's always on edge, always afraid. Shirabuki could kill Zero on a whim. Shirabuki could change her mind and do to Yuuki the things she sees in her nightmares. Shirabuki herself delights in dropping hints, playing little mind games when they're together. Yuuki feels like screaming when she's finally away from her captor, just to expel her tension. But good, obedient dolls don't do that, so she stays silent.
"Is it good?" Shirabuki asks, peering at Yuuki as she picks at her meal. The look on the other woman's face is more than nosy curiosity. There's something academic in the way Shirabuki picks up Yuuki's hand and examines the base of her fingernails.
Yuuki's stomach drops. "Yes," she says, lacking other options.
"Purebloods are immune to my family's poisons," the blonde comments. "But I hope you don't mind. I have a few formulas of my own creation I'd like to test. Who knows? Perhaps I'll succeed."
Yuuki looks down at her uneaten plate. Her hand shakes. Then, she deliberately takes another forkful, puts it in her mouth, and chews. Another. She tastes nothing. Another. Another. The plate is empty.
Shirabuki shrugs. "Ah, well. I have others."
As soon as she gets back to her room, Yuuki runs to the toilet and vomits.
When Kaname rounds the corner, Zero is standing in the courtyard of the Consort's suite, wearing his training outfit and holding a mobile phone to his ear. His boy's forehead is wrinkled, and the Hunter is massaging his temple. As Kaname lets himself into the courtyard, he catches the end of Zero's conversation.
"I never thought I'd say this, Master Yagari, but I agree with Cross." Zero paces a few steps. "You can't get involved in this. You are Cross are co-presidents of the Hunters' Association, and this is a fight between purebloods." A pause. "Where it happened doesn't matter. It gives us an excuse to take an interest, but that's all." Scrubbing his hair away from his sweaty forehead, Zero digs his heels in. "At least promise me you'll keep Kaito as far away as possible. He doesn't need to ruin his career for my sake." Zero closes his eyes; Yagari must have yielded on that, if nothing else. "Alright. I understand. I'll call if anything changes."
Zero hangs up, and his shoulders slump. He takes a deep breath, and faces Kaname. "Since Master Yagari is semi-retired, he's decided to take a vacation in Eastern Europe."
"I wish him happy travels," Kaname replies, raising an eyebrow.
Zero's eyes flicker down to the object in Kaname's hand. "What's that for?"
Kaname hefts the blunt practice sword. "I thought I might join you, if you allowed."
"Go ahead," Zero says, gesturing limply. "How is your evening going?"
"Without Yuuki? A minor circle of hell," Kaname replies, unsheathing the sword from its scabbard and putting the sheath aside. "I have used my power of command on every guest present when the Level D was murdered. Not one of them is guilty. So I questioned the staff again. Nothing. None of them committed the act. I am at a loss to explain what happened."
Extending Artemis Rod, Zero assumes a ready stance. "You cross-referenced the guest list with the nobles who attended Takuma-sempai's soiree?"
The pureblood clicks his tongue. "Who do you take me for? I cleared every member of the inner circle as soon as we left that night, and every likely suspect since then."
Talk is abandoned for the clash of steel. Kaname is familiar with the handicap necessary to spar with weaker vampires, and carefully softens his blows. They fight until Zero is doubled over, steaming in the cold night air.
"A familiar?" he pants.
"Not through Rosehill's defenses," Kaname counters, as unruffled as he was when they started. "An intruder, perhaps. Though Shirabuki has no Shadow serving her, and no known servants possessing such skill."
Zero slams the butt of his staff on the pavestones, and his face crumples. "Then we're no closer than when we started," he mutters. Abandoning the spar, the Hunter slumps down on a bench, hugging Artemis Rod to his chest.
Kaname circles cautiously, retrieving his scabbard and drifting closer as he sheathes the blade. Zero's despair is uncomfortably close to his own moods, and Kaname is not the sort of person people turn to for comfort.
"Can you give me an honest answer?" Zero says, stonefaced as he watches Kaname through his fringe.
"As you have pointed out before, I am rarely honest." Kaname tells whatever truths best serve his ends; when a lie leads to victory, why not use it?
"You're not helping."
"Ask the question, Zero," the pureblood says, which is not precisely a yes.
Laying Artemis Rod on his lap, Zero scuffs his hands through his hair. Resting his elbows on his thighs, he slumps forward with his head in his hands. "It's my fault Yuuki was taken, isn't it?"
"Yes," Kaname says without a flicker of guilt as he takes the offered opportunity. Hunting is such a dangerous profession. It would be better if Zero stopped of his own will. "There are other Hunters who could have handled the situation. If you had been thinking rationally, you would have remembered that. Instead your good intentions put both of you at risk."
Zero curls tighter with misery.
Kaname rests a hand on his Consort's back. He is not being fair. What happened was Shirabuki's fault, and she would have kidnapped Yuuki at the first opportunity whether or not Zero took her bait. But Zero's nobility is far too easy a weakness to exploit. For Zero's own protection, Kaname must make him cautious. "You cannot think of yourself as a simple Hunter any longer. You have other roles now. Your importance to us means you can accomplish so much more, if you take the opportunity."
"I understand," Zero says, lowering his head. "Thank you for being candid."
"Any time," Kaname replies, his hand tightening possessively on Zero's shoulder.
Near the end of her second day in captivity, Yuuki grows too exhausted to suffer such intense fear any longer. The caution remains - Yuuki knows the stakes of her behavior, after all.
Sipping her poisoned tea, the words she's been thinking for weeks now slip out. "Why are you doing this?"
Shirabuki looks up from playing with her pets, hand feeding her pretty young boys and girls grapes like schooling carp in a pond. "Hmmm?"
The words come out with more conviction. "Shirabuki-san, I don't understand why you're doing this."
"Doing what?" the blonde says, enjoying the chance to dangle her bait.
"Any of it," Yuuki replies honestly. "This whole situation with Zero and I."
Shirabuki faces Yuuki squarely, letting the grape fall from her fingers back into the bowl. "Now that's a complicated question, Yuuki-chan. Are you asking me for the long answer, or the more immediate cause?"
"All of it," Yuuki says, going out on a limb. Kaname always tells her truth is more valued when it's unexpected.
When Shirabuki says nothing, only watches her, Yuuki thinks she's blown it. But then the blonde smiles, and Yuuki knows Shirabuki has thought of a new game to play. "I'll tell you, but it will cost you. Nothing in life is free, Yuuki-chan."
Yuuki nods, keeping the bitterness out of her tone. "I know. What is your price?"
Leaning forward, Shirabuki gestures toward the scantily clad pets kneeling at her feet. "Pick one and kill it. Then I'll tell you your answer."
Yuuki draws out the silence. Not because she can't decide, but because she's ashamed her answer lept so quickly into her mind. Waiting patiently, Shirabuki strokes her favorite pet's head and watches with cruel curiosity.
"How do you want it done?" Yuuki finally says, raising her eyes and hating herself. She could try justifying it. These are the servants of her enemy, and therefore also her enemies. But Yuuki knows it wouldn't matter who the stranger was, if she did it for Zero and Kaname's sake.
Shirabuki's eyebrows rise. "Why Yuuki-chan, that was almost something a pureblood would say. I didn't know you had it in you."
I am a daughter of the Kuran, and a pureblood no lesser than you, Yuuki wants to say. The anger helps her feel less disgusting.
"I don't want the carpets ruined," Shirabuki says. "Otherwise, do as you like."
Yuuki swallows, gets up. For her own peace of mind, she picks the oldest looking one. The boy cowers fearfully at her feet, gold paint outlining his eyes.
She's killed before, but never without cause. Only in defense of her own life, or the lives of others. Self-loathing pools in her belly.
She makes it quick. Her arms whip out, twist. A snap of the neck, and the Level D boy is dust. Yuuki will never, ever be able to forget the feeling of his throat under her palm, the terror in his eyes as she loomed over him, or the sound of his bones popping.
Guilt lodges in her soul - but not regret, and as Yuuki settles back in her armchair she knows she would do it again, for less cause.
She feels filthy. "Please explain it to me," Yuuki says, a hint of steel in her voice.
Shirabuki nods approvingly; Yuuki is flooded with shame. "Power. Really, that's all it boils down to, sweet Yuuki. Kaname has greater power than I. To obtain the power he possesses, I need him out of the way. Everything I have done is a means to that end."
'Out of the way' - that means dead. Yuuki glances at the ash-dusted carpet beneath her feet. "That's all?," she says, keeping her voice light. "I took you for a more complex person, Shirabuki-san."
The pureblood shrugs, waving a hand. "Of course, I can't deny it's a bit personal. There was a time when Kaname let me believe there was a mutual empathy between us - I haven't forgiven him for the false familiarity. And he has cost me the omega I was pursuing. That just makes victory all the sweeter."
"I suppose," Yuuki replies. She just killed a boy for nothing.
This is the kind of despair that destroys souls. Yuuki wonders if any of her own soul will survive this.
"Zero, are you finished?" Kaname calls through the bathroom door. When it swings open, Kaname's jaw drops. "Zero - you -"
"I thought about what you said last night," Zero says, lavender eyes all steely resolve, fingering the ends of his shorn hair. "I've been slacking off. Sasaki-san helped me trim it."
With his newly shortened hair, Zero is a mirror of the Cross Academy prefect from Kaname's memories. Privately, Kaname mourns his boy's longer hairstyle - it softened him, marked him as Kaname's Consort - but he can't deny Zero is lovely no matter what.
"Now, what are we doing about Shirabuki Sara? You must have some plan."
Kaname tickles the soft silver ends of Zero's hair with his fingertips. "I do. It will take me a day or two to arrange, but I will have it ready." Complicating Kaname's counterattack is the fact that Kaname cannot use any of his own forces. If Kaname acts overtly, Shirabuki might harm Yuuki. His only option is to manipulate a third party into acting for him.
"Can I help?" Zero asks, swatting away the ticklish touch.
"Indeed you can." Kaname smiles, envisioning blood. "If Shirabuki can strike at my finances, it's only fair I cripple hers in return. My businesses are legitimate, while she makes the vast majority of her her fortune through the black market. There are many, many people who will be willing to act on my behalf, not the least of which is law enforcement. I need you to pass information to the Hunters on vampire related crimes."
"Seiren's been working overtime, I see," Zero comments. "I could do it, but I can actually think of someone better."
Kaname lifts an eyebrow. "Who?"
Zero's smile is positively devilish. "Yagari-sensei is in Europe, isn't he? Who better to present your information than the Association co-president?"
"Oh, that's very good," Kaname praises.
Zero straightens under the approval, and Kaname's heart flips. Then his Consort frowns, and Kaname feels the equally irrational urge to wipe it away. "But what about the spy? Won't Shirabuki learn what we're planning before we can act?"
Oh, his boy is clever as well. "I am counting on it. If we maintain strict secrecy, and divide up duties so only a few people know about any single target…"
"Then whichever one fails, that will tell us who the spy is," Zero finishes for him with a triumphant air.
"Precisely." Kaname offers his arm. "Will you keep me company as I work?"
"As you wish," Zero acquiesces, and rests his hand atop Kaname's forearm. Kaname feels the weight keenly all the way to his study.
Yuuki understands now how profoundly lucky she's been. She's always had Zero and Kaname to rely on for help. Before that Cross and her parents protected her with their lives. In this place, Yuuki has only herself and her wits. If she's going to learn anything, she has to trust her own abilities.
That's why, on the third day, when Shirabuki invites Yuuki to join her in her laboratory, Yuuki accepts.
Yuuki keeps one cautious hand on the bannister as they wind down into the bowels of the castle, following behind Shirabuki and her lone lantern. Surprisingly, the depths are dry, cool and clean, not the dank pit of her imagination.
The laboratory itself more closely matches Yuuki's expectations. Liquids bubble and fizz, giving the air a tang that is acrid and sweet by turns. The walls are lined with great vats, in which the essences of herbs and flowers are distilled. The worktables have a multitude of glass instruments, all of which are mysterious to her, shaped into beakers and curled straws and spigots. There are knives and cutting boards and flasks and canisters full of ingredients scattered everywhere. In one corner are cages full of rats and small animals; in another is a cage full of Level Ds who displeased their mistress. Shirabuki makes no distinction between the two.
Yuuki's hands stay tucked behind her back. She knows better to touch anything in the lair of a poisoner descended from a notorious line of poisoners.
"You can sit there and watch me work," Shirabuki instructs. Yuuki obeys. Shirabuki has been almost friendly today, and she doesn't want to endanger the good mood.
Very quickly, Yuuki learns what the bucket at her elbow is for. Watching a man's internal organs melt is not for anyone with a weak stomach or the ability to empathize with another living being.
Is this how purebloods are expected to behave? Shirabuki doesn't even act like her subjects are people at all. Was this callousness and casual cruelty what Kaname learned for thousands of years? Not for the first time in these past few days, Yuuki is finding much more of Kaname's behavior comprehensible than ever before.
"Yuuki-chan. Bring me a glass of ice water, if you please. I'd like to have a break," Shirabuki calls.
Leaping out of her seat, Yuuki's hands shake as she pours, slopping water onto the worktable. "You seem very knowledgeable," Yuuki says, casting around for anything at all to say that won't get Zero killed.
"I am one of the youngest to have mastered my family's skills," Shirabuki says, smiling as she accepts the water. "We practice the discipline like an art, rather than a science."
"Oh, really?" Yuuki says in her calmest voice. She needs Shirabuki to talk about her poisons, to let slip any clue about how to help Zero. "What's that like?"
"We draw out the hidden natures of substances, using our own blood as the catalyst. That is too intimate to be called a science, don't you think?" Shirabuki pauses to drink.
Thinking furiously, Yuuki nods. "Does everything have a hidden nature?"
Lifting her head, Shirabuki smiles. "Yes. We have a saying: 'In every living thing lies its own destruction.' Did you know that humans use drugs derived from venom to treat their illnesses?"
"No, I didn't," Yuuki says, pouring her captor more water. "That's impressive."
Shirabuki swirls the water in her glass. "My family has a great respect for nature's poisoners - though we are hardly a family anymore. I am the last." Her blue eyes flick up to meet Yuuki's gaze.
Yuuki feels a chill go down her back.
"Let me show you something," Shirabuki says, with a smile that means nothing good. She puts down her glass and goes to retrieve an embossed casket. Lifting the lid, Shirabuki takes four small, stoppered vials and places them on the table. The fluids inside are luridly colored reds and pinks, and the liquids flow easily when Shirabuki tilts them.
She twists off the stopper, and withdraws a small brush from the casket. Dipping the brush inside the brightest red, Shirabuki starts to paint Yuuki's nails.
At first Yuuki's muscles ache with the effort of holding still, but as Shirabuki does nothing threatening, Yuuki's body gradually relaxes. Yori used to do this for her, and Ruka still does. It brings Yuuki a calming familiarity to watch the slow strokes of the brush - and for Shirabuki to casually do that now for her hostage? What's going on?
Yuuki is dumbfounded by the surreal experience, so when Shirabuki hands her the brush and presents her own hands, Yuuki numbly begins to return the favor.
As Yuuki begins painting the blonde's right hand, her fellow pureblood admires the red polish on her finished left. "I make these polishes myself, using a recipe of my own creation."
Yuuki makes an interested noise, wholly focused on painting as perfectly as possible. She may not know Shirabuki's intent, but it's better not to give the blonde any cause for anger.
Shirabuki watches Yuuki work for a moment, painstakingly smoothing the coating before it dries. "You think I poisoned Kiryuu Zero when I helped those young monarchists, don't you?"
Her hand jumps. Yuuki stops breathing. There is a ringing noise in her ears. "Didn't you?" she says past the catch in her throat. Her fingers clench around the brush.
Surveying Yuuki's response with satisfaction, Shirabuki's smile widens as she shakes her head. "No." The pureblood leans back in her chair, holding up her hand to admire the bright red color of her nails. "I poisoned him the first time we met, actually. I didn't intend to use it - it was supposed to be insurance in case he betrayed me. Unfortunately, Zero-kun turned out to be too stupid to be useful." Shirabuki tuts, shaking her head.
Yuuki wants to claw Shirabuki's eyes out. But she needs information, so instead she viciously imagines the scene, and says, "We didn't even realize. You must have done something very clever to slip past Kaname."
Laughing, Shirabuki preens. "I consider it my best invention because it was so difficult to synthesize. I needed the poison to withstand drying while still retaining its potency, then to linger unnoticed in the bloodstream until the moment I woke it."
She lifts the little glass bottle of red polish. "We vampires are already venomous creatures, dear Yuuki-chan. I just took the next logical step. Really, getting the color right was almost as difficult."
The paintbrush slips from Yuuki's nerveless fingers. She stares in horror at the innocent glass bottle, and the liquid red as blood.
Shirabuki inclines her head, showing her white teeth. "Exactly, Yuuki-chan."
Lifting up her hands, Yuuki recognizes the bright red poison coating her nails - the same poison in Zero's blood.
She almost doesn't make it to the bucket in time, heaving out her insides while Shirabuki giggles. Her skin crawls, and she's covered in a cold sweat.
Shirabuki makes her wear the poison until they go to bed.
Kaname and Zero have continued sleeping in the Consort's suite. It feels disloyal to use the master bedroom without Yuuki, as though she were never coming home. Nor do they touch lustfully for much the same reason, indulging only in gentle, sweet kissing for comfort.
Zero wears his devotion in the delicate confections of lace and ruffles and soft pastels that Yuuki would have swooned to see him in. No less fervent is the care he takes with Kaname - the meals he brings prepared by his own hands, all the times he presses his husband to rest, to take a respite from his labor, to care for his appearance. He is Kaname's solace, tending ceaselessly to the ache of Yuuki's sundering and asking nothing in return.
When Kaname is difficult, Zero gently reminds the pureblood how he promised Yuuki he would take care of their husband, and Kaname can do nothing except yield with a bitter ache in his throat. Zero does none of this for Kaname's sake - only for Yuuki, ever Yuuki - and it burns. Kaname wants even a sliver of his regard returned when he looks in those lilac eyes. How he wishes Zero would experience those same desires! Kaname wants to run his hands over the sharp bones of Zero's face, touch the plump pink of his lower lip, entwine their hands and walk beside one another.
The sole advantage of Yuuki's mandate is the way it makes Zero accept Kaname's attentiveness without a single hint of suspicion. Her words alone, her wish, is enough to rule them from afar.
"I don't understand you," Zero says in the dark of their bed when Kaname holds him tight, "You want to be close to people, but then you push them away. You never let them know who you really are. But you don't let them leave either."
Kaname says nothing in return. Sometimes a truth can be spoken in darkness that would disappear like smoke in the light.
"When you decided to Sleep, what kept you alive?" Zero asks that morning in bed, propped up on his elbow. He has the distant gaze of a man lost in his own memories. "I keep thinking about Yuuki, and it just makes me afraid -" He closes his eyes, turns his face to the side. "Ichiru. It was Ichiru for me, the second time I lost everything. I couldn't make his death worth nothing."
"And the first?" Kaname asks, entwining their fingers beneath the blankets.
"First I had revenge, and then I had Yuuki," Zero whispers. He has a painful, blank look on his face.
Kaname kisses it away until Zero is breathless, than whispers words into silver hair. "I think it was mostly apathy that kept me from suicide. Apathy, and a buried thought that if I were, by some mischance, to wake again, I would be just as alone in the future as I was in the present. But perhaps next time there would be someone..."
Zero tangles his fingers in the hem of Kaname's shirt. "You are not alone now."
No, he is not. Twice blessed. The pureblood kisses his boy again. "We are close," Kaname reminds him. "Our trap is almost ready. Yuuki will be with us soon."
Like Yuuki has passed a test, the next evening Shirabuki brushes Yuuki's hair until it shines, and offers one of her pets for Yuuki's pleasure.
Yuuki declines politely. "Thank you, Shirabuki-san, but after enjoying a virgin omega, I'm afraid everyone else is disappointing."
Shirabuki would have pressed the point, but a servant appears at the door bearing a sealed envelope, and the blonde pureblood quickly leaves the room.
Folding her hands in her lap, Yuuki strains to hear any sound from the hallway. Shirabuki has been like that all evening - distracted, passing in and out, leaving Yuuki alone with her chaperone more often than not. Even the spider familiars' many eyes look elsewhere. There could be an opportunity tonight, if Yuuki can snatch it. She hasn't found an antidote, but perhaps she might be able to pass a message. It's vital that Kaname at least learns of Zero's danger.
Yuuki gets her chance when Shirabuki sends her back to her room alone, and she stumbles on the first Level C she's encountered since she arrived fixing the plumbing of the guest toilet she had intended to us. The workman in his uniform bows, gathering his tools in a rushed panic that means he knows they aren't supposed to meet. No wonder the usual bathroom attendants had been missing.
Yuuki's mind races. She will be risking Zero's life if she is caught. But Shirabuki is distracted, so she might overlook a spark of power. And Yuuki's watcher is two rooms away behind thick soundproofing. If the pureblood can move quickly, then return to her own suite, no one need know they met.
She is still cautious, winding no more power than needed around her throat. "You will deliver my message to Kuran Kaname," Yuuki orders, feeling the weight of the quiet command tickle as it passes her lips. She is already planning ahead, what words she will send to Kaname, except -
The servant nervously bobs his head, and says, "I'm sorry, Kuran-hime. That is not allowed."
Yuuki's jaw drops. That - she must have bungled the technique. Again, with a hint more power.
The servant shivers, muscles in his neck twitching, and nervously wrings his hands. "Kuran-hime, it is forbidden."
Yuuki stumbles back, unsteady as the world shifts beneath her feet. This servant is not Zero with his Hunter blood, nor a D yielding to his master. Why, then?
Desperately, Yuuki tries one last time to right her reality with as much power as she dares. "Obey me!"
This time she can watch as the C rank's body jolts and shakes, a battlefield for the forces tearing it apart. She watches as her own power buckles and ebbs, the command already laid on the servant swallowing her own.
Impossible. This can't be happening. But Yuuki can see the evidence right in front of her eyes. When given to an ordinary Level C, her new command should have nullified Shirabuki's old order. But it hadn't. Instead Yuuki's command had been the one overridden. What on earth is going on?
The Level C servant makes a nervous movement backwards, reminding Yuuki she has no time to work out what's wrong.
Lunging forward, Yuuki claps her hand over the servant's mouth to silence him. What does she do now? She's practically killed Zero with her own hands. If Yuuki lets the servant live, he'll tell Shirabuki and she'll kill Zero with her poison. If she kills the servant, Shirabuki will know what she's done. Tears prickle at the corner of her eyes. Yuuki just wishes she could go back in time and make this never happen - wait.
She bites her lip. Yuuki can't undo her actions, but she knows she has the power to make it appear so. Purebloods can alter memories, like her mother blocked hers. Yuuki has no earthly idea how, but it's the only option she has.
She closes her eyes. Tries to breathe, to put herself back in the training room under Cross Academy. Reaches out. It's like sinking her hands into thick gelatin. Desire and intent, she reminds herself, threading her power with the delicacy she uses to create her butterflies. Under her hands, the Level C goes limp, his eyes open but unseeing. Yuuki shivers, and concentrates harder. Make the last few minutes disappear, she tells her power, bending her will to the task, and has the disembodied sensation of her power sinking in, being absorbed, and dissipating, its task done.
Yuuki hesitates, unsure if she really succeeded. The servant stirs. She realizes her suspicious position, and hastily props him against the wall, fleeing to the outer room. But she can't leave without being sure, Yuuki realizes when her hand is on the door knob. Pulling on her best pureblood air, she turns around and sweeps back toward the servant, spying past the door. He has pulled himself together, rubbing absently as his temple as he goes back to his repairs, unconcerned.
Her shoulders relax. Somehow, impossibly, her mad attempt worked. Perhaps if her mother could do it, it's one of the Kuran family talents, like being able to move things with her mind? It doesn't matter; Zero is safe.
Yuuki returns to her chaperone like nothing happened, and spends the rest of the night shut up in her room, worrying and pacing. What happened with the Level C servant should have been impossible. When used on any born vampire - any vampire higher than D Rank - the power of command can always be overridden by another pureblood.
She can come to only one conclusion. Shirabuki must have done something that made the Level C unable to disobey, and that terrifies Yuuki as much as anything else that's happened. This changes everything. All their precautions, all their discretion - none of it means anything. Shirabuki could have spies anywhere, even in the heart of their power. Nowhere is safe, because no one can be trusted.
Feeling the walls close in, Yuuki curls up in her bed and hides for a while. The walls of her cage are even tighter than she imagined.
When Shirabuki invites her to dinner, Yuuki's blood turns to ice. She knows, Yuuki thinks fearfully, struggling to keep her pulse even.
The world seems spun cloud-thin as Yuuki follows her instructions and dresses in the high-waisted red satin dress she finds in the wardrobe. When she moves, it ripples ominously beneath the candlelight like blood. The pureblood hopes she's imagining things.
When Yuuki is escorted inside the dining room, Shirabuki has already taken her seat at the head of the table. The glass eyes of mounted deer and boar heads gleam in the light of the fireplace, which lends a sinister air to Shirabuki's angelic beauty. Yuuki is seated without discussion at the elder pureblood's left hand, and the meal is delivered silently.
Shirabuki says nothing as they begin to eat, only smiles and gestures for Yuuki to begin. The servants are especially attentive tonight, fawning ceaselessly and fearful of their mistress' wrath. While Shirabuki's posture is loose and confident, there's something buried underneath that troubles Yuuki. It reveals itself when she moves - too abrupt, too sharp, too explosive.
"How are you this evening, Yuuki-chan? Find anything interesting to do?" Shirabuki begins after her third glass of champagne.
Yuuki's hand jumps; she puts her utensils carefully down, smoothes her napkin to hide the way her hands shake. Is this dinner a theatrical way to reveal Yuuki's punishment - a flashy, dramatic stage for Zero's death?
"Not really," Yuuki replies. "I'm fine. Just wanted to have a quiet day."
"I envy you, my day has been quite busy," Shirabuki pouts, finishing another glass of champagne. "I suspect Kaname-kun has been up to some naughty hobbies in your absence."
Yuuki must tense, because Shirabuki laughs with an ugly edge in her voice, and takes another glass.
"Shirabuki-san," Yuuki says, searching for a distraction, "I'm surprised you've never questioned me, not the whole time I've been staying with you."
The blonde laughs again, her delicate hand covering her mouth. "Kaname-kun trusts nobody, not even you. He's carefully kept you away from any hint of business and politics. You don't know anything I couldn't find out myself, Yuuki-chan."
Yuuki feels inexplicably offended, but she isn't stupid enough to correct the mistake.
"But if you want to be questioned, I suppose a host should indulge their guest." Shirabuki leans forward, her face losing its mirth, heavy with intent. "Tell me, Kuran Yuuki, have you answered the pureblood's dilemma yet?"
"I'm sorry?" Yuuki offers, completely confused.
Shirabuki pulls back, disappointment sitting heavily in her features. "Too young. I thought you might understand."
What does Shirabuki want from her hostage that would make her disappointed when she doesn't get it? "Try me," Yuuki insists in a fit of inspiration. "Explain it to me."
The other woman must be driven by deep need, because she sighs, running her fingers along the rim of her glass. "We are purebloods. We have eternity. The question each of us must answer is the pureblood's dilemma: what do you do with eternity?"
Yuuki says nothing - she has the feeling Shirabuki doesn't want an answer.
"My fiancee's answer is no mystery. When his Consort" - Shirabuki spits the word with hateful envy - "when Shoshanna dies, Ouri will be as good as dead. Just an empty ghost waiting to join her. My parents were weak too, just like him. They failed to find their purpose - committed suicide together when I was young, the same way we thought Kaname's parents did. The trick, Yuuki-chan, is to find yourself a purpose that is not so easily weakened, that is lofty enough to sustain immortals like us. I have dedicated myself to such a purpose."
"And your answer is power?" Yuuki murmurs, recalling the feeling of her hands around a fragile throat.
Shirabuki gives a sharp shake of her chin. Her eyes nearly glow with fervor. "Not just power. My dream is not so small. I will unseat the uncrowned king, and become queen of the vampires in his place."
The fire crackles and throws sparks; Yuuki digests Shirabuki's pronouncement. Part of her wants to laugh. This ambitious, desperate pureblood overthrow the Original King? Shirabuki is mad if she thinks she'll succeed. With her hand around Kaname's heart, she has an edge, but once Yuuki is dead Kaname will simply crush her like a bug. Shirabuki Sara will never win, but maybe that's the point. An impossible goal ensures you never have to decide what you do when you finally achieve it.
"It will be a considerable feat," Yuuki says, realizing the silence has dragged too long.
Shirabuki lifts her shoulder, the corner of her mouth turning up. "Anything worth achieving is, Yuuki-chan."
Yuuki's neck prickles with unease. Shirabuki has been acting almost friendly tonight…
Ah, Yuuki realizes, relaxing into her chair. Everything she's seen over the last few days - the endless parade of servants and their flattery, the artificial bustle and noise, the way Shirabuki makes herself the center of attention no matter what - all of that and her obsession with Takuma leads Yuuki to one strange conclusion. Shirabuki, in her own twisted way, hungers for companionship. Perhaps that is why she's restrained herself from anything other than cruelty toward her hostage.
Yuuki feels not a shred of pity. There is no softness inside her for anyone who harms Zero and Kaname. But this may be something she can use.
Shirabuki presses one of her pets into Yuuki's stiff arms after dinner in a manner that makes it clear that Yuuki has no room to refuse. Yuuki knows what she's meant to do with the pretty, doe-eyed girl dressed in filmy scraps of silk, and the very thought of touching the girl's body disgusts her.
An idea blooms. Yuuki coaxes Shirabuki into giving her some privacy with an excuse about her prudish human upbringing.
Her first attempt at altering the girl's memory is a failure. Creating a convincing memory remains beyond Yuuki's current skill. Stitching the pieces together leaves an even worse jumbled mess. Just like she did with the workman, Yuuki wipes the D's memories and tries again.
The second attempt produces much more promising results. Yuuki discovers that blurring memories is much easier than creating them from whole cloth. First, Yuuki has the girl put on a show. "Show me how you'd have sex with me," she says, not that the raunchy display inspires anything in Yuuki except boredom. All it takes are a few careful alterations to make the imagined scenario seem real.
Once the girl is unconscious, Yuuki stages the scene carefully down to the last detail, just like Kaname would. Getting herself to masturbate is the hardest part, and it leaves her feeling filthy, but so has everything she's done in Shirabuki's house.
As she lets herself out of the bedroom and calls for the servants to clean up, Yuuki wonders what she's becoming.
When Kaname confesses his suspicions, Zero goes still, silhouetted against the snow.
"This was the result of your trap?" his Consort questions cautiously.
Pulling the cloak higher around his boy's shoulders - the one one Yuuki gave him before their wedding, lined with soft rabbit fur - Kaname's grim countenance doesn't change.
Zero's eyes flick away to the snow-covered gardens. Perhaps he understands now why Kaname insisted they speak outside. "I can't believe it. But you wouldn't tell me if you weren't sure," he murmurs, sounding winded.
Kaname feels winded himself. How could he have not seen? But his sense of betrayal, cutting and deep, is held at bay by his mounting confusion. "No other conclusion makes sense. But that cannot be right."
Zero turns into his husband's body, trying to escape the wintery gusts. Kaname crowds him closer, more than willing to share his body's unnatural heat. "I know," Zero says. "Logically, he cannot be our spy. You questioned him using your power of command. I remember it."
Kaname nods, bowing his head and taking comfort in the scent of Zero's hair.
"Have you talked to him?"
"No. I was hoping we could go together."
But when they arrive, the rooms are empty.
The next evening, Shirabuki hovers halfway between a very good mood and a breakdown. Yuuki treads carefully, more than willing for the woman's attention to stay fixed on whatever disaster Kaname has orchestrated. And from all the shouting, it is a disaster. Yuuki buries her satisfaction as deeply as she can, and cultivates patience.
It helps her keep a straight face when Shirabuki rages into the room, takes Yuuki by the arm, and dislocates her shoulder throwing her into the wall. Luckily, she's not wearing any makeup, so when Yuuki cries she doesn't have to worry about smearing mascara everywhere.
Chest heaving from the exertion, Shirabuki says nothing. The blond just stares silently, her face flushed red and rage in her eyes.
Yuuki clutches her cracked ribs with her good arm, tries to make herself as small as possible, and doesn't take it personally. She is simply the closest surrogate target for Shirabuki's anger and desperation, and a reminder that her jailor can still snatch a chance at victory.
After a few moments more, the other pureblood leaves without a word. One of the servants helps Yuuki pop her arm back in its socket. Yuuki hates herself for flinching every time she hears Shirabuki in the hallway for the rest of the night.
Yuuki is woken by her chaperone around mid-morning. Blurry-eyed and with the memory of their last meeting so close to the surface, Yuuki still doesn't forgive herself for jumping when Shirabuki storms into her sitting room, fully dressed while Yuuki is wearing nothing but her nightgown and robe.
Every line of the blonde pureblood's body screams danger, and carries the cruel focus Yuuki's learned to fear. Shirabuki's blue eyes burn bright with something Yuuki is afraid to place. "I've brought you a present, Yuuki-chan," she croons in a high voice. "He was a good little spy, but since he's no use to me any longer, I'll leave him in your care. Consider this an incentive to keep up your best behavior. Remember the lives that depend on you."
And then the door slams open, and Shirabuki's guards push Aido Hanabusa through, looking half-dressed himself, with bruises spangling his cheekbones, blood on his collar and eyes full of despair. Thrown at her feet, Aido pleads for forgiveness silently, looking up at Yuuki on scraped hands and knees.
Aido worships Kaname - he would rather die than betray him. Yuuki has no idea what's going on, but she remembers the Level C her voice held no power over, and thinks she has an inkling.
Shirabuki tosses Yuuki a mobile phone. Staring at Shirabuki, Yuuki uses both hands to catch it and still fumbles, nearly dropping it.
"Use it," Shirabuki orders tersely. "Call Kaname-kun and tell him he needs to be in the air within the hour. I think it's time your negligent husband visited you, Yuuki-chan."
Her heart drops to her toes, and Yuuki freezes, dread crawling up her veins. I will unseat the uncrowned king echos in her head like she's imprisoned beneath the surface of a icy pond. Shirabuki wants Yuuki to lead Kaname into a trap. Huddled on the floor, Yuuki sees her own horror reflected back in Aido's eyes.
Shirabuki notices her hesitation. "Yuuki-chan, would you rather I kill Zero? Use the lovely poison I've left in his blood?"
Yuuki shakes her head frantically, feeling tears prick at her eyes. How can she chose? What can she do? This is Kaname, she reminds herself. Kaname will know it's a trap as soon as the words are out of her mouth. He'll take precautions. And Zero won't let him come alone. Yuuki's job is to buy time
She will just have to trust the men she loves, Yuuki decides, wetting dry lips. And she's not going to stand around doing nothing, either, no matter what Shirabuki thinks.
Her hands still shake as she dials.
Zero stirs awake when Kaname carries him in his arms off the plane. Kaname thought his boy would struggle, but Zero lies their obediently, head on Kaname's shoulder.
This is not the first time Zero has indulged Kaname in the last few agonizing days. Zero believes he is Yuuki's replacement. Kaname has not had the courage to disabuse him of the notion.
"My apologies," Kaname says instead, stepping onto the dust of their next battlefield. "I know you need the sleep, even if I don't. Rest while you can."
Humming, Zero's eyes flutter shut, and he tucks his head back against Kaname's shoulder.
Both of them are too experienced to ignore the feeling of death looming. Exactly whose death remains to be seen.
"You'll be careful, won't you? Shirabuki hates me, but you're the one she wants to control," Zero says. When he exhales, his hot breath brushes Kaname's throat.
Of all the lives at stake tonight, Kaname least fears for his own. "Only if you exercise the same caution."
Zero hums again. He falls back asleep once they're in the car, and Kaname is left with his own thoughts. The desire to see Yuuki tears at him - the bloodbond is so much more alive when they're close. They'll stop to prepare, and then Kaname will finally go to Yuuki, as he's wanted to for days.
It's good that Zero is asleep. Kaname doesn't want his sweet boy to see the red, dark thing rising in his face.
If I've done my job right, I've given you enough clues in the previous chapters to figure out some of what happened with Aido. And yes, I knew Shirabuki poisoned Zero all the way back in chapter seven.
Shoutout to the one (1) clever reviewer who figured out the spy's identity without even having the most damning piece of the puzzle. I salute you! And also apologize for my attempts to lead you off the scent XD
Is there a single pureblood without Serious Issues? No. Definitely not.
Next chapter: 'Flashpoint'