"Mercy should make us ashamed, wrath afraid to sin."
~William Gurnall
[Irae]
It was on nights like these that he wished he had the courage to pull that motherfucking trigger and put an end to his misery. But no matter how many times he managed to convince himself that death would be a salvation for his tormented soul, Zero's finger would be locked in place on the trigger and never twitch.
So he always ended up taking his anger out on his furniture. The curtains would be pulled, the pillows de-feathered, the carpet dirtied with his own blood, the blankets ripped and stained, the nightstand toppled over, and the lamp thrown across the room and shattered against the door.
Next would be the bathroom.
And next would be himself. His nails would dig into his skin painfully, drawing blood until the wounds healed, just to repeat the process over and over again, until he got tired or until his anger dissipated.
The heartbreak would always fill him with madness.
When Zero was mad, literally every single person in the Academy would know. It's as if the young silveret would be surrounded by a black cloud of negative emotions, and his expression always promised a death wish for those who dared cross his path.
When Zero Kiryuu was mad, you simply let him be.
Yuuki, too, learned that, mostly through personal experience.
Even the Night Class knew. But that didn't mean they had to abide to "standard procedures". Two vampires, in particular, simply loved to pour acid on the burned area.
Sometimes, Zero wondered if Aidou and Ruka were really fucking retarded or if they simply pretended. Because seriously, what part of "I'm a hunter with an easy trigger and a susceptible mood, back the fuck off" didn't they understand? Was it so hard for the two bloodsuckers to simply shut the fuck up and leave. Him. The fuck. Alone?
"Say, Kiryuu, why so moody today?"
Dumb blonds be dumb.
"Mad your little Yuuki didn't notice you again?"
Please. As if he currently gave a flying shit about Yuuki.
"Or is our dear prefect moping because you finally realized what a piece of trash you are?"
His fingers twitched at his sides, the want to pull the trigger at the blond's temple almost too hard to resist. Still, he didn't answer as he kept patrolling the grounds.
Why were they following him, anyway?
A giggle from Ruka and a snort from Aidou were enough to finally trigger a reaction.
"Why dont you two bloodsuckers turn the fuck around and go back to class? Maybe you will actually learn something for once," he snapped, still refusing to look at any of the two but clearly showing his distaste in his cold tone.
Another scoff, this time from Ruka, and Zero felt the temperature drop a couple degrees. "How dare you insult us?!" the female vampire growled, almost spitting the words at him.
Zero rolled his eyes and finally turned his head to give her a scornful look over his shoulder. "Please tell me you seriously weren't expecting me to simply remain quiet and let you act like a bitch towards me. How dumb can you be?"
And he turned back around and kept walking, but not before commemorating the look of pure outrage and shock on Ruka's face.
"Know your place, Kiryuu!" Aidou suddenly seethed, and Zero felt the ice trapping his leg before he could see it. The cold substance wrapped around his right leg like a vine, ending at mid-thigh and efficiently impeding him any further movement. "We are above you, Kiryuu, remember that!" the blond continued, his usually cerulean eyes tinged red.
Zero's patience completely snapped at that point, and he reached into his jacket to pull Bloody Rose in less than a second. With the barrel of his loyal weapon pointed at the blond fucker, the silveret let out an animalistic growl and sent a threatening, deadly glare to the two vampires in front of him. "And you better fucking remember, Blondie, that I'm not one of you bloodsuckers, so I don't have to follow any of your stupid rules. To me, your social status means absolute shit. Understood? You have nothing on me, not an ounce of power."
Both Aidou and Ruka had frozen at the words, shocked beyond belief by the prefect's outburst and, dare they admit, a little frightened by the truth behind the last statement.
Maybe going to bother the hunter when he'd already been in a foul mood hadn't been such a good idea, after all...
Before wither vampire could come up with a clever response that could get them out of the situation, a third presence made itself known, first in the form of a superior aura and then as a voice. "May I know what is happening here?"
Zero, still shaken and ready to press the trigger of the gun, wanted to growl in frustration when he recognised the individual. Of fucking course Kaname Kuran would decide to make an appearance, because why would he ever stay out of such a situation?
The two Nobles immediately bowed in respect to their superior, offering a polite, "Kaname-sama" before daring to look up at him.
"We...we were just talking with Kiryuu, Kaname-sama," Hanabusa explained, almost fluent in his excuse.
Almost.
Kaname had a keen instinct, and when his burgundy eyes met Kiryuu's, they didn't simply stop at his face. They slowly traveled down his body—and Zero briefly wondered if the shivers wrecking his body were still from anger or because of the scrutinizing gaze—until they reached the ice-covered leg. Without batting an eyelash, and with a deadly calm tone that promised sever punishment, he asked, "And what kind of talking was this that it required such treatment, Aidou?"
And the blind gulped nervously, obviously caught (half) lying. He hastily opened his mouth to start apologizing (or perhaps spout more excuses), but Kaname beat him to it.
With a well-delivered backhand that had the blue-eyed male stumbling back a few, almost losing his balance.
Ruka looked down and away, ashamed of herself, while Zero stared in utter schok at the Pureblood, his anger momentarily forgotten as he lowered Bloody Rose. Wine-colored eyes seemed to glow eerily in the darkness of the night, the harsh smack! of the slap still echoing in the woods surrounding them. Everything about his posture screamed "power", and even Zero felt a little intimidated.
Lavender eyes turned to look briefly at the blond on the ground—almost on the verge of tears—before flickering back up; and Zero barely kept himself from flinching.
The brunet vampire was looking at him with a stoic expression, but his eyes seemed to swirl with an emotion the silveret coukdnt decipher. And when he spoke, his eyes never left Zero's. "Both of you, leave immediately and get back to class. Report to the Headmaster's office at the end of the day." His words were clipped and straight to the point, leaving no room for arguments.
The two Nobles nodded and bowed before parting, their heads lowered in shame all the way.
A heavy ans akward silence was left behind, one neither Kaname nor Zero seemed to want to break. The rustling of leaves sounded way too loud, ans the whistling of the wind almost made the silver-haired hunter cringe.
Almost.
Zero Kiryuu did not cringe—not in public, anyway.
"Kiryuu." Kaname's imposing voice rang loud and clear in the air, and Zero found himself wondering briefly how could one word hold so much power behind it.
He raised his head and met ruby eyes with his own steady glance, muttering a harsh "What" as a reply.
"What were you talking about before I came?"
"It doesn't concern you."
"It does if they were about to hurt you."
D'aaw, how cute...he almost sounded like he cared.
As if, Zero thought bitterly. The feeling showed on his expression, eyebrows furrowing and lip curling slightly, as if in distaste. "Well, they didn't, so it doesn't matter." He turned around, wanting to walk away from the Pureblood and confine himself in the safety of his room. He didn't want to deal with anymore vampires that night—he had more than enough insults thrown at him, he didn't need more salt rubbed on the wound.
But Kaname seemed to have another idea, for he made sure his overpowering aura reached the Hunter as he retreated, making him stop in his tracks. "Kiryuu—"
"Just fucking drop it, damn it!" Zero snapped, looking over his shoulder at a bewildered Pureblood—or as close to bewildered as the head of the Kuran family could ever look. "Fucking leave me alone, you and your groupie! I have enough problems in my life to take care of as is, I don't need you and your stupid, fucking posse adding to that list. Mind your own goddamned business, Kuran and stay out of my life!" His voice grew louder and louder towards the end, his words echoing faintly around them.
Kaname, for once, seemed to be speechless at the prefect's outburst, the slight widening of his eyes indicating so. When he didn't say anything for a while, Zero thought he had finally made his point across and started walking away again, and the Pureblood almost let him.
Almost.
"Zero—"
Kaname... "Don't fucking call me by my name, you bastard," the silveret hissed, not even gracing the older man with a second glance. He just kept moving, his senses on alert and body ready to react if the Pureblood decided to physically attack him—he knew very well the bastard didn't tolerate such disrespect, and it wasn't as if it would have been the first time Kaname got violent with him as a result of that.
But no harm came his way, no more words were spoken to him...and Zero felt immensely disappointed.
Kaname let him go.
...he wished he hadn't.
[Irae_Wrath]
(Congrats to Ice and Coffe for guessing it~! You know your sins *winks*)