A/N: Wow, this is my longest chapter so far. ^^And originally it was even longer, but I had to cross some parts out, it was just too soon for them. But the remaining scenes gave me enough hard time. XD I've rewritten a certain scene countless times, and now I am afraid to reread it as I might get another urge to rewrite them again. The fact that I found myself quite often struggling with English didn't help either... Well, what I am trying to say is, that there may be some mistakes and awkward wording.^^; I'll try to edit it soon enough.

But the chapter is finally here, so enjoy^^/

6. Questions of loyalties

'Knock, knock'

The hunter groaned burying his head under the pillow. For the second time that day Zero had been woken up by someone knocking on the door. This time he had no intention of going to acknowledge whoever dared to disturb that little sleep he got. The surprise party lasted into the late hours of afternoon and even though Zero managed to get a few good hours of sleep, he still felt like it was just a minutes ago when he dragged himself into the bed. The knocking started to be a little more persistent, but Zero only buried himself deeper in attempt to ignore it. And he was pretty successful at tuning out the noise, nearly falling asleep again, until he heard a voice of a young woman coming from the door's direction.

"Mister Zero, are you there?" Mister? Well, that was new. It certainly got Zero's attention. After a short fight with himself, he finally dragged his tired body to the door opening them with a little more killing intention than the poor maid standing there probably deserved.

"Uh...mister Zero?" The young girl looked quite startled, but continued. "Lady Yuuki sent me to wake you up, sir. Also, this was in front of your door." She handed him a small package uncertainly.

"Huh?" Zero took it and looked inside. Someone was giving him clothes? Why? They were a little bit more fancy looking than his usual 'peasant' ones. The hunter frowned, his clothes weren't that cheap. It took at least five full payments from association before he managed to buy them. But he had to admit, in certain situations, he might be mistaken for a bandit. Well, it was his fighting gear after all. He touched the expensive fabric in the package carefully. He was processing things a little bit slower than usual in his half-awake state, only just now figuring out that this must be his new work uniform. It seems that as the king's new manservant he had to look the part, too. That reminded him... he paled in sudden realization.

"What time is it?" Zero asked the maid urgently.

"Uh... eight in the evening, sir."

Shit. He was going to be late. "Thanks." He shut the door in poor girls face, had he more time he might have felt sorry for her. Or maybe not, she was one of the gossiping trio from the kitchen. Why was she suddenly so docile? Was it princess' orders? And why the hell didn't Yuuki sent someone a little earlier? Even if he used inhuman speed now, he would barely make it on time. Zero started undressing, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it might be partly his fault too for ignoring the knocking for so long in the first place.

Running with a vampire speed and managing not take too many wrong turns in the castle, Zero arrived just on time. Seiren was already standing by the entrance leading to the king's personal chambers, obviously about to step in for him. If the one she personally trained didn't show up on time on his first day, it would be her failure, too. She sent him the most displeased look Zero had seen on her so far, but stepped aside to let him pass.

"Do not let it happen a second time." She sent a quiet warning after him.

Zero entered and looked around. The royal chambers were huge. Going through the small entrance hall he stepped in what seemed to be study room or maybe some kind of lounge. There were padded chairs and stools, a working desk, and few bookshelves with various maps and documents scattered all around. The walls were decorated with portraits picturing scenery or some important looking nobles and a few hunt trophies of animals the king had probably hunted himself, some of which Zero had never seen in his life before and had no idea what they could be called. On the other side were doors leading to the king's sleeping chamber. There was a large bed with very expensive looking silk and satin bed sheets, some wooden wardrobes and commodes and other fancy stuff. But Zero didn't examine it more closely; right now his was more concerned where the king was, as the rooms were empty. Was he late after all?

Suddenly, he heard the sound of water coming from one corner of the room. Zero stepped closer noticing that behind the folding screen was hidden entrance to another adjacent room. It was smaller and much less luxuriously decorated. The only furniture was a few towel racks and tables for various oils and shampoos. There was a huge bathtub in the middle of the room that seemed to be warmed by the small controlled fireplace underneath. But more importantly, the king was lying in said bathtub, relaxing as a young maid washed his hair. Zero certainly didn't expect to walk in on such a sight. The ex-human realized he must be terribly intruding and hurried quickly out of the room to wait outside, but Kaname called him back.

"Ah, Zero, you're here. Good." The pureblood said opening one eye shortly, to look at the newcomer. He let the maid massage his scalp for a while more, before he gestured for her to stop and disappeared under the water to wash the remains of the shampoo from his hair.

Kaname stepped out of the tub, not at all concerned that he was completely naked, and asked for the towel. The maid already started cleaning up the oils and shampoos she used on king's hair, so Zero was the one who grabbed nearest towel and handed it to the pureblood. But the king didn't take it. Instead, he picked up a parchment from nearby table and started reading his schedule, explaining what would be the manservant's duties during tonight. After a while he looked at the ex-human, who was still standing there with towel in hand, curiously. Zero suddenly realized that he was the one expected to dry him off. He glanced at the maid, but she continued cleaning completely unfazed by this. This was obviously a very normal situation. The ex-human gulped, he didn't imagine that his first duty would be something like this.

Zero suddenly remembered the one time he overheard a discussion between the group of older hunters as they all gathered in Lucky Horseshoe over the mugs of good beer. They joked that if their hunter careers ever failed they would apply for the job in some pretty noble lady's household. There were rumors that the lord-lings felt so high and mighty that they regarded servants as no better than furniture and had no problem being naked or fucking each other in front of them. Zero now thought that there might be some truth about it after all. But the ex-human wasn't sure what would his reaction be if he happened to walk in on some nobles having sex and he certainly had no desire to find out, ever.

He was blushing enough already as it was, as he started drying off the pureblood carefully, trying not to stare too much at the body in front of him. Zero tried to concentrate on the king's explanation of his duties, instead, but it was proving to be harder and harder, dreading the moment he would have to go a little lower with the towel. Zero had to admit that the pureblood's body was practically perfect, not even a small mistake or badly placed mole, almost like statue, if only statues were warm to touch. Zero shook his head. Was he really just now thinking about another man's body as beautiful? What was wrong with him? It must be just a reaction to the pureblood's natural physiology. As the ultimate predators, they were designed to look attractive almost magnetically alluring to humans.

Zero held his head down to hide his embarrassment so he didn't notice the suddenly amused look on Kaname's face. The pureblood was quite aware of how carefully was his new manservant handling him. He watched him for a while when a predatory look crossed his face as he got an idea. He bended a little until his mouth was very close to the ex-human's ear, breathing out slowly, sensually onto the exposed earlobe.

"Wha-" Zero nearly dropped the towel from shock. He stepped back quickly, glaring at the pureblood accusingly. He was too much concentrating on his task to pay any attention on what the pureblood was up to. Kaname chuckled at the ex-human's reaction.

"Seriously, do I look like I'm made of porcelain or something? You can use a little more strength with that towel. I promise it's not too rough material to hurt the royal me." Kaname teased making the ex-human blush even more. He couldn't help it. It was just too amusing to see Zero embarrassed like that.

But he decided to have a mercy on him after all. "Give me that." He motioned for the towel.

"There are some letters in the bedroom that need to be sent urgently. Take them and bring them to the delivery boy. You should find him in the kitchens."

Zero handed the towel a little too eagerly, more than glad to be able to excuse himself as he hurried out of the room.

When he came back the king was dressed already. The pureblood was wearing a white tunic and three maids were currently offering him various kinds of vests. Kaname touched the black one feeling its material and nodding in content. The other two went to put the clothes away only to bring matching set of jewelry to choose from instead. As the king seemed occupied Zero decided to check the room if anything was amiss. This was also one of his duties, to make sure other servants did their job properly. But it seemed that they did a good job and the room was pretty much clean.

Suddenly a servant boy entered the room holding a pitcher of the blood colored liquid. This one smelled a little bit different than the others from the kitchen.

"Fresh drink for the king, sir." The boy explained, putting the pitcher on the table and bowing to Zero before leaving the room. Zero realized that he was called sir once again. Thinking about it all of the servants behaved unnaturally politely towards him, today. He wondered what brought that change. Was he suddenly above them, as king's new manservant? Well, that was interesting.

"Well? How do I look?" Kaname smiled at Zero enigmatically. The pureblood looked good and he knew it.

"Well, it could be worse." Zero said nonchalantly. Of course, the pureblood looked perfect. But Zero was still a little peeved about Kaname's stunt earlier and didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

The king chuckled." Oh, I guess that would have to do then."

"Grab those documents on my desk, Zero. We have quite a long night ahead of us."

And long night it was. It consisted mostly of paperwork, discussing various matters with advisors, one hilarious lunch the king had with Yuuki and another huge load of paperwork again. Zero was mostly standing nearby Kaname, usually functioning as delivery or messenger boy if needed.

In the early morning hours the meeting with ministers was held. All kinds of important looking nobles showed up, puffing their chest to better expose all those important insignias on their chests for everyone to see, so no one could have any doubts about their importance. They all sat by the long table with the king in the head, drinking wine and discussing important state matters. Well calling it a discussion was a little overdoing it. Whenever someone proposed an idea or law, five others completely dismissed it immediately. The only thing they seemed to have agreed on was that they all tried to degrade the others to make themselves look better in front of the king. They were going on it for two hours already and it was starting to feel really frustrating. Zero wondered how Kaname could stand it. He looked in pureblood's direction and was surprised with what he saw. Long gone was the playful man from the morning, he was replaced by the uncompromising, powerful king. His face becoming an emotionless mask. Kaname knew this meeting wouldn't lead to anything, but he also knew it was unnecessary evil in order to appease the nobles, who needed to feel important enough, who needed to be reassured they had some saying in politics of this kingdom.

Zero was pretty relieved when the meeting finally ended and he got a leave for the rest of the morning. The sun was just coming up, when he exited the castle, but he saw that Yori was already up and working. They chatted for a while, when he suddenly heard Yuuki's voice from behind the hedges not so far from them. It seemed she was also in the gardens and he headed to greet her, but Yori stopped him suddenly.

"Wait! Look more carefully." She pointed to the clearing between the hedges.

Zero moved a little closer to see better around all those bushes and noticed that Yuuki wasn't alone but surrounded by others ladies of the court as they all sat comfortably doing embroidery while enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the gardens. Well that could have been pretty awkward situation. Yuuki was so lively and acted so friendly that Zero forgot for a while that she was still the princess of this country and had a reputation to hold. He as an ex-human servant had no right to speak to her freely in front like that. Of course, Yuuki wouldn't mind, she was airheaded like that, but it would create all kinds of very bad rumors, if Zero acted openly around her in front of others.

Yuuki must have felt that someone was watching her as she started looking around and spotted them. She made sure that all other ladies were currently busy listening to Ruka's gossip and started making funny faces in their direction.

"Is there something wrong with your face, my lady?" Ruka looked at her sharply. It seemed that the first lady in waiting caught her red handed. All the other ladies were now looking in princess' direction, giggling.

"Uh, no, no... Please go on." Yuuki blushed and hurriedly busied herself with embroidery. She heard Zero and Yori laughing in the distance and risked one last stick-out of the tongue at them.

The old wooden church door creaked loudly making everyone inside turn in their direction suddenly. Yagari cursed inwardly as he fought of the urge to put his hat back on his head. He intended to be a little more subtle than that. The hunter didn't expect any people to be here at this hour, but a few poor souls still sat here and there praying silently.

Yagari headed to the darkest corner of the church, his figure casting shadows on tall stone walls as he passed one of the torches. He sat down in the furthest empty row where the chance of someone overhearing was minimal. He clasped his hands trying to look like just another person that came here to pray. But since he was in the right place he might as well give it a try. There was still some time before the meeting anyway.

'Uh… hey God, in case you really are there, protect that stupid boy of mine, okay?' He started but felt incredibly idiotic and gave up. Some of the hunters believed in God, but Yagari wasn't one of them. He was just anxious to know if Zero was alright, if everything went smoothly. He had no news except for the rumors about the ex-human saving princess' life a few weeks ago. But since then, nothing. Maybe that was a good thing as that also meant that there were no news about any ex-humans being executed either. And his meeting with Zero was supposed to be in less than a week, so hopefully he'll find out soon enough.

Suddenly, a tall man sat down next to him.

"I was surprised you contacted me. Are you finally getting some sense into that thick head of yours?" The man started whispering.

"Well, isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black, Kaien?" Yagari snorted.

Cross shook his head not about to argue further. They had this discussion too many times. Instead, he just passed him the scroll. "Inside is all the information my sources managed to gather about the mysterious assassin. Not much, they were very thorough with covering their tracks, but at least we found out what order he belonged to. "

"The Order of the Black Wolves?" Yagari opened the scroll scanning it quickly. "But that's a vampire only order. That could mean..."

"A coup d'état? Yes, there is that possibility." Cross sighed. "Someone is definitely trying to stir up trouble. But apart from the fact, that only some wealthy vampire noble could have afforded to hire an assassin from the Black Wolves, we know very little. Not even who or how many of them are in this. But why are you interested in it, anyway? Why is it so important to you that you would risk contacting me after so many years?"

Yagari contemplated if he should tell the truth. He looked at the scroll, Cross must have gone to great lengths to get him this information. He owed him at least an honest answer." It's a mission. Zero and I were hired to kill the king. Mind you, it's paid very handsomely, but there seems to be other players in this game and I needed to know who else could be standing in our way."

"Are you crazy?" Cross cried out suddenly, completely forgetting that they were trying to be discreet for a moment. He looked around quickly, but except for a few stern looks and 'shhs' no one was really paying them any attention. "Do you realize what consequences this could have? Kuran is one of the few purebloods that are in support of the peace. In fact, his parents were the ones that enforced the idea of peace treaty that ended the war. Without Kaname, the balance between those who are supporting peace and those who aren't would be tipped off. The sympathizing noble families would all fall apart without their strong lead, and all those aspiring to have the tyranny back would suddenly start acting out freely, if they no longer have to fear the king's wrath for breaking the laws. This could only end in a civil war!"

Yagari frowned. The truth was, he didn't like the implications that it all could lead to war again. But what if there really is one? Wouldn't it be such a bad idea? It would be a great chance for humans to get rid of vampires and get their rightful places. Finally. "And that would be bad because? While the bloodsuckers are too busy fighting each other, it will be a great opportunity for humans to try to take them down for all. Sure vampires are powerful, but we have the power in numbers. This land might become a human kingdom again. First of many. Once we get enough power we could start to fight the bloodsuckers in other countries. You know, Kaien, you would have been the perfect candidate for the new human king, if only you remembered where your loyalties lie."

"I know exactly where my loyalties lie." Cross shook his head. And he thought that the possibility of coup d'état was bad enough. But a human rebellion on top of that? A certain recipe for disaster. It can't be a coincidence that both events were slowly escalating at the same time.

Cross knew that the offer to throw down the vampires must sound very tempting to hunters and humans, who were stripped of their rights and titles. It will all escalate in another war.

"Somehow I doubt the vampires would have a problem forgetting their differences for a while to unite against humans. They certainly didn't have one in the great blood war before. But if humans start rebellion just like that, seemingly unprovoked, even the most open human sympathizers among vampires might come to conclusion, that it might have been better to leave humanity enslaved after all. I can't let that happen."

"And maybe it would be only for better. Maybe we shouldn't have signed the peace at all. It only gave people false sense of security, when in reality we're just like the cattle released in large enough pen that we're no longer able to see its fences. If there is no pseudo peace blinding them, people will have no choice but fight." Yagari frowned. "If there really will be war, I know which side I will take. But what about you, Kaien? Will you stand with vampires then?"

"No, Toga. I'll stand with Kurans and their idea of peace... Please, you have to understand that this peace might be the first and only chance for vampires and humans to become equal one day. But if you kill its main supporter, the war will soon be the only option left and it would bring only destruction, ruining all hope for any peaceful coexistence. You have to call Zero off, you're doing terrible mistake!" Cross tried to convince his friend.

He had to do something about this. He had to stop this madness before it turns out in bloodshed. Cross headed for the exit but Yagari caught his arm, stopping him. "Kaien, you still have time to join the right side."

"I am on the right side. Could the same be said about you?" Cross shook his hold off but didn't walk away immediately. "Please Toga, promise me that you'll think about what I just said. That you'll at least consider stopping this foolish mission."

Zero's first days of work went by pretty quickly. Some were more entertaining than the others, when the king would become fed up enough with politics and went hunting or horse riding instead. Sometimes taking Zero with him.

But most of the time he was incredibly busy, spending whole nights in meetings or doing paperwork. It was real relief when the morning came in those times. When Kaname finally allowed himself to relax and spent his time in company of his most trusted nobles, usually Aido and Kain, playing chess or various card games, discussing various topics. Yuuki and Ruka would often join them, watching them play, chatting, or just doing embroidery quietly in the corner.

But today the king wanted to spend the morning alone in his personal chambers reading letters. Zero wondered why Kaname hadn't still released him from duty, as he had practically nothing left to do. He caught the pureblood looking in his direction a few times, as if contemplating something, but whenever he met Zero's questioning gaze Kaname would shook his head and got back to reading. The ex-human shrugged, maybe the pureblood just needed company.

For lack of anything else to do, Zero decided to browse through the bookshelves in the room. There was a huge library in the caste. Huge enough to contain everything that was ever written in this country, but in these bookshelves must be the king's most favorite books to have them close at hand like this. The hunter read the titles, there were mostly novels, some pamphlets and a few handbooks about strategy, hunting, or even sword fighting. The latest caught his attention and Zero asked if he could borrow one, making the king looking at him in surprise.

"Zero, you can read and write?" Kaname asked suddenly, his eyebrows rising at ex-humans affirmative nod. "Really? Where did you learn?"

"My parents taught me." Zero answered honestly. As a hunter he needed be good enough to be able to recite various hunter charms. Most of them were too complex to be remembered without some written note. Zero suddenly realized it might be a mistake to reveal this information. The ability to read wasn't very common between people outside the noble circles.

"Were they merchants, then?" Kaname looked more interested now, confirming the ex-human's fears.

"No." Zero groaned inwardly hoping that the pureblood would drop the questioning soon, but no such luck. If anything, Kaname was more intrigued now, when he noticed his reluctance to answer.

"Were your parents human nobles then?" Most of the human nobles lost their titles after the blood war, but it seemed some of them still held themselves pretty high amongst the townsfolk, teaching their children skills they were taught when they still were called dukes and barons.

Zero sighed. He had to come up with some believable explanation, before the king's questions become more dangerous.

"They were city guards." He said finally. The hunters had practically the same function as city guards now so it was not a complete lie. But it was far enough from truth to be safe. Zero's hopes that he satisfied pureblood's curiosity were quenched as another question followed soon enough.

"Did you want to become a city guard like your parents, when you were little?"

"Yes." Well not a city guard but hunter anyway. Zero wasn't sure where was this interrogation leading anymore. But he found out soon enough.

"So were you also taught in sword fighting?"

"Uh...yes?" Zero knew quite a lot about swordfight, as it was a standard part of hunter training.

"Interesting. We should have a match sometimes." Kaname seemed to finally get to the point, smirking.

Thank you again for all your reviews!

You are my source of encouragement whenever I find myself struggling with writing. ^^

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A lot of you asked for more KxZ so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^^/

Sadly, no lemon yet, but we're getting there... hopefully soon enough.

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Esther Cain014 asked what the third tarot card was. I had to admit, I didn't notice that I forgot to mention it. The third card was: Lovers :3

So in case anyone's still wondering, the cards were drawn in following order: 1st King of Swords, 2nd Lovers, 3rd Tower

If there's anything you're interested or confused about, feel free to ask!