"I don't know what Kaname-sama sees in you."
Zero sighed in annoyance, lifting his head to meet the ice blue eyes of Hanabusa Aidou. The two males were at the fountain; Zero had been taking a 'break' from patrolling when the mouthy noble appeared from the trees. "Shouldn't you been in class, Aidou?" Said vampire crossed his arms and walked forward until he was standing in front of the silver-haired prefect.
"Yagari dismissed class early today, Kiryuu; I don't see what business that is of yours, though." Aidou's eyes shined with great distaste, "Kaname-sama is our leader, after all." Zero scoffed and sat back slightly, his hands grasping at the smooth stone of the fountain, "Yeah, and does he know you're here?" Before the blonde could answer, the Hunter stood, eye to eye with his adversary.
"You disgust me, Aidou; if I were you, I'd stay out of my way."
Satisfied with the look of shock and anger in the noble's eyes, Zero stuck his hands in the pockets of his school slacks, and pushed passed him. He didn't get very far though; he narrowed his eyes as his wrist was grabbed forcefully. "You... you think you're all that, don't you? Just because you're Kaname-sama's mate." The prefect looked over his shoulder, catching the burning gaze of Aidou.
"You listen to me, you trash. Don't walk around here all high and mighty because you're his. I don't appreciate you acting like-"
"You're jealous, aren't you?" Zero interrupted Aidou's rant, an unreadable look in his lavender pools.
There was a pregnant pause before Aidou's eyes flashed and ice immediately enveloped the arm he had a hold of. "Jealous of you? Oh, that's rich, Kiryuu." The ex-human rolled his eyes, feeling the biting cold of the ice travel up to his shoulder.
"Aidou, you're acting like a child. It's disgraceful." He then did only what Kaname ever had done; he back handed Aidou hard enough to send the blonde noble into the fountain. Zero groaned, holding his arm encased in ice, his arm going numb. He walked back over to the fountain, and slammed his frozen arm into it; shattering the ice, and sending a throbbing pain up to his shoulder. "Oh, shit!" He bit his lip, drawing blood by accident as he waited for the pain to subside.
Meanwhile, Aidou sat up in the fountain, panting slightly from the impact of his landing. Water dripped off the ends of his bangs onto his face, and when he raised a hand out of the water to wipe the streaks away, a strong smell hit his nose: blood. His eyes flashed red as his head snapped in the direction of Zero, and noticed the small cut on the prefect's lower lip. His eyes widened in surprise, 'That... that smell... Zero's blood smells like that? No wonder Kaname-sama can't resist him; that scent is absolutely delectable!' This was the first time the noble got to smell it full force and his mouth began to water.
As if he was in a trance, the ice wielder slowly rose from the water and stepped out of the fountain, approaching Zero. The Hunter sent him a questioning glance, but he realized too late what was wrong. He called out in shock as Aidou's mouth covered his.
Zero's eyes slowly opened as the morning light streamed through a crack in Kaname's burgundy curtains. He sighed, raising a hand to rub his face; that dream again. A continuous reminder of the night Aidou pledged his loyalty to Zero. 'No matter,' the prefect thought as he slowly slide out of bed, the deliciously throbbing pain in his ass reminding him of last night's activities. A soft smile crossed his features as he glanced at Kaname, sound asleep in the middle of the bed. He then continued on his way to the bathroom to get ready for his day with Yuuki.
Just before he made it, there was a soft knock at the door. He growled lowly, and his eyes flashed red. "Aidou. What is it?" At his words, the blonde opened the door slowly, and stepped in, clad in his blue silk pajamas. "You told me I could run tests on your medicines today, Zero-sama; I wanted to grab them for later before you ran off to see Yuuki." Zero blinked, glancing over at them on his bedside table. 'Oh; right.' He thought to himself.
He gingerly walked over, getting one pill of each before tossing the bottles to the scientist. "There." He then picked up a glass of water and downed it with his pills as Aidou examined the bottles again "Right. I should be able to tell you what I find out later on tonight. I'm going back to bed now though." He made his way to the door, "Have a good day, Zero-sama."
Zero nodded, "Yeah. I'll see you later." Then he started making his way to the bathroom again, pausing in front of the door to it since Aidou had yet to leave the bedroom. "Did you need something else, Aidou?" There was a pause before Aidou responded, "You sure are a screamer, Zero-sama," running out of the room and shutting the door as the Hunter threw his gun at the door; promptly waking Kaname.
"Oh, this is going to be a long day..." The prefect murmured hopelessly.
"Zero!" Yuuki smiled brightly as said man entered the Chairman's kitchen where the petite girl was eating waffles unenthusiastically. Zero gave a small smile, taking a seat at the table, "Morning Yuuki; Chairman."
Kaien smiled big, "How nice of you to join us for breakfast, Zero! I made waffles! Would you like some?" The Hunter's eyebrow twitched slightly when he saw how most of the waffles were burnt on the edges. "Nah; I ate before I came over. Thanks though." The Chairman looked dejected, and went back to eating his waffles; mumbling to himself. He was ignored.
"So, Yuuki," Zero said, clearing his throat, "What did you want to do today?" Yuuki finished her unappealing waffle, and quickly downed the rest of her milk like her life depended on it, before slamming the glass on the table. "Well, I thought we could go into town! I've got a little money from my birthday left over."
As she stood, taking her dishes to the sink, Zero tossed a look over his shoulder at her; remembering what happened the last time they went into town together.
"Yuuki!" Zero gasped out, panting as he continued to dodge the rogue Level E's lashing claws, "Run! Get out of here!" Her beautiful sienna eyes were wide as she held her Artemis staff, not believing what she was hearing. "Zero! I can help you, don't tell me to-"
Zero groaned as his cheek was slashed by one of the E's claws, "Damn it, Yuuki! I don't have time to baby sit you! Leave!" He could tell by the look on her face that she was hurt, but it was true. They were partners, but in something like this? She was a burden.
The Hunter made the mistake of looking away for a second to see Yuuki's location, and the E lunged for him; knocking him to the ground upon the old stone of the abandoned street. Zero bit his lip, using his hands to keep the face of the E away from him as its claws tore at his jacket. 'Damn! I've got to get this thing off of me! If Yuuki had just listened to me...' His thoughts were brought to a halt when he heard said girl gasp in what sounded like surprise, and his own lilac eyes widened as the Level E was lifted off of him by seemingly nothing; restrained to floating in the air as Kaname walked forward from the shadows. His sienna eyes ablaze with the red of blood lust.
"You pitiful creature," He said, standing before the growling E. "It is surely a shame that things have to end this way..." By this time, Yuuki had run over to Zero, and had her hands on his shoulders as said Hunter was leaning up on his elbows; looking at the prince and Level E in surprise. Then Kaname's eyes narrowed, and his aura began to become more stifling; Zero blinked as he heard a whimper of fear come from the restrained beast at the power increase.
"You have chosen the wrong person to hurt, E; filthy, pathetic creatures like you have no right to lay your hands on my mate." His hand then shot out and pierced the Level E's chest, a blood-curdling scream ripping from its throat as Kaname tore its heart out and threw it to the ground as the E disintegrated into ash.
The glow in Kaname's eyes settled, and he glanced down at his hand, covered in tainted blood. He sighed, and looked at the pair who were still on the ground. "Zero. Yuuki." He held out his clean hand to Zero, and helped him up as Yuuki stood. The pureblood stroked his finger tips across the still bleeding gash on Zero's face. "How dare that creature..." The ex-human closed his eyes, a hand subconsciously reaching up to cover Kaname's.
The scent of his mate's blood drove the pureblood prince's senses crazy. His eyes glowed a light red as he leaned forward, now holding Zero's hand firmly in his and gently licked the length of the gash; the Hunter gasping softly. The prince lapped at the gash slowly, and then healed it; not even a scar left on Zero's porcelain skin. It was around that time when Kaname opened his eyes, his lips still connected to the prefect's cheek and he saw Yuuki over Zero's shoulder; the look of shock and hurt on her soft features. "K...Kaname..."
Zero was brought back to earth by his foster sister's quivering voice. Shit. He turned around fast, pulling from Kaname, and faced her. "Yuuki! I- it's not-" He stopped as she shook her head, slowly stepping back. "How... I don't understand..." Tears were now slowly streaming down her slightly red face. Kaname closed his eyes, and bowed his head. Now was not the time. "Zero..." He murmured softly. The Hunter wouldn't have it though.
"Zero, how could you?" Yuuki choked out, before turning and running. Zero started to go after her, but a firm hand grasped his shoulder. "Zero. No." Zero stopped, and just watched Yuuki's retreating back in horror. "I can't... Yuuki..."
The pureblood prince spoke his thoughts, squeezing the prefect's shoulder, "Now is not the time, Zero; give her some time. We shall discuss this in the near future with her and Kaien."
"You've been awfully quiet, Zero," Yuuki commented, trying to match Zero's long strides as they made their way towards town. He was indeed lost in thought; he drug his gaze away from the road in front of them to look at her. "I'm sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind, Yuuki. Never mind that. How have you been?" He gave a small smile at the way her face lit up as she began to talk about how school had been going lately, and how the Night Class was as productive as ever. The same old stuff. Nothing had changed really; not even her relationship with Kaname.
"And during dorm checks, I found comics of you and Kaname in Aidou-sempai's room!" Yuuki exclaimed as they entered town. Zero gave an annoyed look, "That sounds like him; crazy vampire." Yuuki giggled, "You know, you seem to get along better with Aidou-sempai. It's unbelievable." The Hunter was quiet while he thought of a response.
"Well... he chose to be by my side. He made a vow to me, and that's all it is, Yuuki."
Yuuki nodded, "Yeah, but it's so unusual. If I remember correctly, he hated you as much as you hated him. It's just so out of character for him to just suddenly want to be your friend, but maybe that's because of Kaname." Zero shrugged dismissively as they came to a stand that Yuuki was interested in, "I try not to think about it." By then though, the petite girl was no longer listening, and was looking from item to item as Zero stood idly by.
He was slightly surprised when she called his name. "Zero! Look at this!" He raised an eyebrow and turned on his heel to look at her, his eyes widening slightly when he saw what she had in her hand: an anti-vampire knife. He frowned, 'What's this doing in a human store?' He walked over to get a closer look as the shop keeper walked over to them. "Ah, yes, you've got a good eye there, girl! This is a legendary knife; called the Asmodeus. The local lore states that it was wielded by the great Asmodeus Thanatos, who supposedly hunted vampires centuries ago, and he was well-known to always walk away victorious. His own undoing was this knife, in fact."
Yuuki blinked in fascination as Zero scanned over the knife; yes. It was a very dangerous weapon, he had learned about it when he first started his training to become a Hunter. He glanced over at the shop keeper, "Vampires, huh?" The stocky shop keeper laughed, his stomach moving with his chuckles, "I know right? So stupid; who's gonna believe that? But that's what the legend says." Zero shrugged, "It's ridiculous; right Yuuki?"
Yuuki grinned, "Totally, but I do want that knife. How much?" The shop keeper chuckled, "Are you sure? A pretty little girl like you shouldn't be holding something that dangerous." She blinked about to reply, but Zero took $200 out of his wallet, and slammed it down on the table. "There; now give it." He looked into the dull brown eyes of the shop keeper, his lavender eyes set in a warning glare. The balding man broke out in a sweat as his eyes widened, "O-of course! Here!" He picked it up off the shelf behind him and handed the sheath for it and the knife over to Zero. "T-there you go!" Zero gave a smirk, handing the items to Yuuki, "Have a nice day."
It was nearing twilight when Yuuki and Zero made it back to the Academy from their day of shopping and catching up. "Thanks for supper, Zero; I was afraid I'd have to eat something of the Chairman's." Yuuki giggled as they walked into the Chairman's quarters. Zero smiled softly, "It's no problem, Yuuki; I'm glad we got to talk today." She smiled back up at him, her eyes shining, "Yeah; me too."
After the made it to her room, he put her bags on the floor and bid her good night before heading over to the Moon Dorm. When he entered, the idle chatter that usually went on in the living room stopped suddenly, shocked looks greeting Zero's arrival. This caused the Hunter to raise an eyebrow; what the hell? He shut the doors behind him, and slowly walked over to them. "Evening."
The many vampires of Kaname's inner circle looked around at the walls or the floor, but not at him. He frowned as he shrugged off his brown jacket, "What's going on?" It was quiet for a minute, but then, Aidou stood, walking over to the Hunter. "Zero-sama... I've got something to tell you about that new medicine you're on; Reverse E." That peaked the ex-human's interest, but that didn't explain how weird everyone was acting.
He ran a hair through his silver locks, sighing, "So you ran tests on them, then. What did you find out?" Aidou opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. He didn't know how to go about it, so Ichijo took over. "Look, Zero," the calm, kind vice president of the Moon Dorm began, his green eyes boring into Zero's lilac, "Aidou found that one of the most prominent side affects in this new medication that's still being tested, is pregnancy. In vampiric males." Time stopped then for Zero. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"W... what the fuck? What?" He finally said, eyes wide. "That's not even possible-" "We're vampires, Zero-sama," Aidou interrupted, "Anything is possible. Also, I'm a world class scientist. I don't make mistakes." Zero swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry; he'd... he'd had sex with Kaname the night before...
"But it's not... for sure, right? Maybe it will, maybe it won't?" The slowly panicking Hunter asked the blonde scientist. Aidou sighed and crossed his arms, looking away, "The chances of pregnancy are 83%. It turns out one of the main ingredients in this medication is a vampiric plant called Aphrodite. It's grown and used to help male vampires conceive children; it's also a good source of nutrients for vampiric blood. I assumed that was the reason it was put in this medicine."
Zero nodded absent-mindedly. Of course this would happen to him. Stupid Hunter Association. "Zero-sama." Said vampire's head jerked towards Aidou as his name was called, "Yes?" The blonde vampire turned on his heel and headed for the grand staircase, "Come with me. We need to test you to see if you're pregnant." That word sent unpleasant chills down the Hunter's spine. "Y-yeah... right."
Zero had his hands resting on his knees, his head hanging as he sat in a chair in Aidou's personal laboratory as the blonde ran tests on the ex-human's blood. "Does Kaname know about this yet?" Zero asked softly. Aidou looked up from his computer for a second, pushing his reading glasses back up on his nose. "Yes. That's why he's not here."
The prefect lifted his head, concern etched across his features, "What? Where did he go?" Aidou sighed, his fingers flying across the keyboard, "I'm not sure. I told him, and he said he needed to be alone, and to let the others know he had left; so that's what I did." Silence followed that statement for a few minutes.
"What if he doesn't want me?" The Hunter whispered the question, but the blonde noble heard it loud and clear, his fingers pausing in their typing as he glanced up at the distraught male. "Look, everyone can tell how much he loves you. I doubt he'd leave you because of this. This happens all the time in the Vampire Society. It's not out of the norm." Zero worried his bottom lip, watching as Aidou left the computer and looked at a display by his test tubes. He frowned in worry as he saw a grim look cross Aidou's features.
"... Well?" Zero choked out, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Aidou closed his eyes and sighed, pulling his glasses off his nose and tossing them on the table. "Positive." The silence in the room after that announcement was deafening.
In the silence, Zero watched as Aidou's feet made their way towards him. He sighed as he felt the noble's hands on his shoulders as he bowed before him, "Zero-sama, look at me. It's going to be alright; Kaname-sama's not going to leave you, and we're going to be here to support you, okay? There's only two more obstacles to overcome." The ex-human met the noble's eyes, and he took a deep breath. "Yuuki and the Chairman..." His companion nodded his head, "But there's no hurry. I recommend you rest now, Zero-sama. In the meantime, I'll whip up some prenatal vitamins for you."
Zero tugged on his pajama bottoms, walking to the bathroom to wash his face. As he splashed the cool running water on his face, that's when he sensed the pureblood's presence in the Moon Dorm, and shortly after heard the double doors to their room open. It was silent as the ex-human turned the water off, and grabbed a towel off the rack, before walking into the bedroom. "Kaname."
Kaname glanced at him, his eyes flashing. "Aidou told me about the medication, Zero," he then walked over to stand in front of Zero, "And I can smell the change in you..." He raised a hand and caressed his mate's cheek lovingly. "You're pregnant."
Zero took a sharp intake of breath, "... yes, Kaname... what do you think?"
Said pureblood ran his thumb across the Hunter's trembling bottom lip, a serious look in his eyes. "It is rather surprising that you would be prescribed a medicine that would cause pregnancy. However," he then grasped a hold of Zero's chin gently, tilting his head up and leaned in, "I love you, Zero; this doesn't change how I feel about you. This will cause an uproar in the Senate, because you are not at least a noble, but I will handle it. I promise, my dear." There was silence in between them after those words, but it wasn't tense silence. It was realization, and acceptance.
"I think..." Zero whispered, one of his hands raising to rest on his flat abdomen, "That I'll want this, Kaname." A soft smile crossed his face, "This certainly isn't how I imagined this happening, but this is my baby." Kaname then tilted his head, a gentle look crossing through his warm sienna eyes, "Zero.. I love you."
"... I love you too... Kaname."
The words of devotion were sealed with a kiss.
A/N: Well, he's chapter three. Things are getting kind of messy. Thank you all who reviewed on the previous chapter, and thank you for those who favorited and followed this story. I appreciate it very much; this is different from most things I've written, so I'm glad people seem to like it. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and I hope it explains or sheds some light on things; review, favorite and follow please! :) ~Aly~
