This is a birthday fic dedicated to RoseLavenderRose. It's her birthday today! Happy birthday!
I should mention that I don't like this chapter very much. I'm looking forward to the future chapters though. I should mention that I haven't written in a long time and I know my writing isn't the best.
Disclaimer: Don't own Vampire Knight. Never did, never will. Too much Yuuki-cest.
Ichiru coughed.
This cough was irritating. Very irritating. Of course, normal people would assume the same when they get sick. For nearly over a week, Ichiru had been sick and he wasn't very happy. It didn't help that he was feeling exhausted a lot and he was feverish at times. Ichiru had tried the chicken soup method for a few days in hopes that it would help his immune system, but lately he didn't have much of an appetite to have more than a few spoonfuls of the warm liquid.
Ichiru hoped it was just a normal bug and that it would go away fast. He didn't want to bother Zero just because he had a petty cold. Zero was already busy with trying to scrounge up enough money for their living arrangements and school tuition. Besides of the two of them, nobody lived in the lonely apartment.
Their parents had died when they were both young. The Kiryuu brothers had just come home from junior high school to see an unknown car parked in front of their house. When they entered the house, the shocking news of their parents' death was dropped onto them. The twins were never told how their parents died, only that they were involved in an accident. As a result, Ichiru and Zero were left orphaned and homeless. A family meeting was called shortly after the funeral to see which relative would take them in.
None of the relatives wanted to take them in. They gave excuses like how there was barely enough money on the kitchen table or how their children had upcoming entrance exams and didn't need to be bothered with newly adopted siblings. Ichiru didn't miss the hateful glares and the body language they gave off. This wasn't new to the twins. Actually, they were already used to this reaction.
Their relatives never liked the twins. In fact, they loathed the twins with a passion. From the moment they were born, the twins and their parents were isolated from the main house. Their relatives never invited them to family reunions, never visited them, never phoned them, just never contacted them in general.
Their relatives didn't like being forced to attend the family meeting.
They didn't want to be near the twins. They didn't want to see them. They didn't want to breathe the same air as the twins. They didn't want to know the twins were alive, that they were safe and sound.
They wanted them dead.
Ichiru and Zero had clutched each other's hand tightly for the support they desperately needed for the duration of the gathering. They knew why they were hated. It was part of the family tradition that twins were considered bad luck. Twins were considered the separation of one person into two parts; the division of one soul. They would never be complete, even to their death. Their luck would be divided, as would their fate. As fate could not be divided, the twins were just blank spots in the weaver's cloth of fate. Blank spots in the cloth would lead to the destruction of the fabric, which would dictate the annihilation of humanity.
Ichiru and Zero's parents didn't believe in fate. Their parents had set about trying to convince everyone to let the twins live. It was only by slight chance that the head of the entire Kiryuu clan allowed the twins mercy and separated them from the main branch.
For the most part, the twins lived with their parents happily. However, the brothers could remember times when they heard a sorrowful feminine cry in their parents' room at night. When they asked their mother about it the next day, she only gave them a sad smile and a short "It's nothing." The twins didn't believe a single word.
It wasn't until a few years later they discovered why their mother seemed so sad. In the end, Zero fought at the family gathering so that the brothers could live alone. None of their relatives argued with Zero, relived that the twins wouldn't be connected with them anymore.
The twins still had some of their inheritance to start off. Zero had given up his hopes of high grades in order to keep the cash flow coming. Ichiru tried to help bring in some income, but was scolded by Zero and told to study harder so that Ichiru could have a better life in the future. Ichiru was disgruntled, but he accepted Zero's reasoning without arguing.
While Zero worked away, Ichiru took care of the household chores. He went home as soon as school finished, to the inquiring looks of his friends. Ichiru had to buy the groceries, clean the house, do the laundry; the list was endless. To fix this, Ichiru made a schedule of his chores. He fixed it so that he would have dinner prepared as Zero came home. The two usually ate in silence, but both of them always made an effort to start a conversation, if not just pleasantries on the other's day.
Ichiru looked at the clock; 11:39. Zero was late today. Ichiru sat at the dining table with his stomach growling in hunger. Zero would scold him again for not starting dinner first, but Ichiru would wait. Ichiru liked to spend every moment he could with Zero. They didn't see each a lot otherwise. With a sigh, Ichiru got up to reheat each dish. They would be slightly dry, but at least they would be warm. Plus the temperature was dropping quickly at night recently. Zero would like something to warm himself up.
Ichiru let out a series of coughs on his way to the microwave. Each cough took a little more air from his lungs, making it harder to breathe. A particularly harsh cough ripped form his throat causing him to drop the plate. The crash sent jagged pieces of glass flying everywhere, but Ichiru didn't care about it for now; he was trying to get air into his lungs. Another painful cough raced through him, but this time was different. This time a wet sticky liquid landed on his hand. Ichiru grimaced out of realization but look anyway.
Blood.
A large splash of blood was spread onto his hand. Ichiru quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and was met with a long smear of red liquid. Ichiru coughed violently again, sliding down the kitchen counter to land with a thud on the slick tiles. This wouldn't do, Zero would be troubled when he got home to see Ichiru on the floor surrounded by broken pieces of glass and blood. Ichiru would have to clean this up before Zero got home.
Ichiru struggled to get up, pushing himself up using the kitchen counter only to fall on his knees. The lack of oxygen was starting to affect him. His legs were weak from the lack of energy and his arms didn't seem to want to support his body. His head felt light-headed and the world spun every which way, decorated with wild bright colours. Ichiru's vision kept fading in and out. Finally, the strain got to be too much and Ichiru landed forward amongst the shattered glass and cold food, his last thoughts were of his precious other.
'Zero…'
I will say this again. I don't like this chapter very much so it's prone to a re-write. I don't mind any flames. I hate this chapter too.
