Consequence

Yuuki pulled the tight pink shirt over her head and flipped back the short auburn hair she had just cropped around her shoulders. A little tribute to my human self, she'd thought with a sardonic giggle. With the shirt on and the black knee-length leggings hugging her thighs, she reached for the large green kimono she'd bought in town a month before. It was all she wore anymore, because she had to keep this a secret for as long as possible. She was lucky her uniform was able to disguise it until the end of the school year. She couldn't bear to imagine their faces when they all found out.

Chairman Cross. Yori. And especially…Kaname. They hadn't had any kind of a sexual relationship in over two years, but she could not bear the thought of him finding out what had happened between her and Zero. Not now. Not ever. It was private, something she'd wanted to keep between the two of them, and she could not think how much it would hurt Kaname to know his betrothed had chosen the one he hated over him. Even though they'd "broken up" after the war with Rido, even though he was the first true vampire, and even though he had been a jerk in the past, he was still her brother (or, at least, the harbor for her brother's body), still the man who had saved her life, and still the overall good soul he had always been. He didn't deserve this, and she was terrified of what this would do to him when he eventually found out.

Still, someone was going to know the truth today. Someone vitally important, someone who had the right to know a long time ago.

Zero was coming home from his spring semester and was expected to arrive by noon. That was two hours away.

Two hours to prepare to break the news to him. Yuuki wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. Poor Zero. She felt so guilty, like she had betrayed him. He had trusted her, given himself fully to her, and this was how she thanked him...God, she was such a wretched human being. Vampire. Whatever.

Overwhelmed, she flopped back onto her still-childish bed and closed her eyes tightly. All she wanted right now was to sleep.

--

Earlier that day Yuuki had had to do an emergency grocery shopping while Kaname was paying his biweekly visit. Kaname had insisted on coming along, as he only got to see her twice a month.

"Why do you wear that kimono so much?" Kaname drilled as they strolled down the cereal aisle. "The Chairman told me you wear it every day. Especially now that the weather's warm, don't you want to wear something light?"

Yuuki shrugged, hoping her illusionary immersion in the different kinds of cereal would excuse her vague response. If it didn't work and Kaname wished to inquire further, he didn't get the opportunity because—

"Look out, Yuuki!" He grabbed the handle of the cart and tried to steer them left, but they were too close already and the far right corner smashed into that of another basket.

"Oh!" Yuuki felt her cheeks turning red. "I'm really sorry!"

"No problem, Miss," the user of the other cart replied, giving a warm smile whose effect was diminished by his icy blue eyes. "Konnichi wa, Kuran Kaname-san."

Surprised, Yuuki glanced at her brother, who returned the man's greeting with a simple bow. "Nagano Masa-san. It's been a while."

"I hope all is well with your family, Kuran…is this a cousin of yours?"

"She's a…friend," Kaname replied, squeezing Yuuki's hand. "A human friend."

"Human? And she isn't scared of you?"

"Hardly. Even as a little child, she attached to me like a barnacle."

"Ah. She looks so much like you I could almost say you were siblings." Nagano Masa smiled and bowed slightly. "Good day, Kuran-san." He grabbed his cart and steered past them the opposite way down the aisle, flashing Yuuki a smile as he passed. She could feel the Arctic chill in his eyes prick its way through her flesh.

She looked up at her brother. "Kaname? Who was that?"

"An old friend of the Chairman's. He used to come by a lot when you were smaller. His brother works for the Hunter's Association—they met through there."

"Why did you tell him I was a human? And not your sister?"

"Shall we call it…instinct?" Kaname smiled that knowing, deeply mysterious smile and set her and the cart in motion.

--

"Yuuuuuuuki-chan! Zero-kun is here!"

Yuuki's eyes snapped open. She'd gone back to sleep? And slept away the last two hours she'd had to prepare herself? Oh, shit. Shit! Zero was here now, and now she had to tell him? Could she put it off any longer? Damn it!

She sat up and rubbed at her tired eyes. Okay, she could do this. She could.

No, wait, she couldn't.

But she had to.

"Ugh," she groaned, fighting the weight of her body as she stood and watched the room spin. Stood up too fast, again. Her dizzy spells had been happening more and more recently, sometimes without such provocation. When her head stopped swimming and she opened her eyes, a tall, silver-haired boy was standing in her doorway, staring at her with his big lavender eyes.

"Zero…" she breathed.

"Yuuki-chan..." Overwhelmed, Zero pulled Yuuki into his eager arms, and held her for a good ten seconds before his brain registered the abnormal pressure he felt against his torso. Startled, he pulled away and stared at her abdomen a moment, then forced his hands through the slit in her kimono, shoved tight fabric upward, and ran them over the smooth skin of her swollen belly.

"Could you…leave us for just a minute?" he said to the chairman, who had followed him up and failed to notice the predicament because he was gazing at a picture on Yuuki's wall.

"Eh? Uh, sure." Cross stepped gracefully out of the room and swept down the hall, humming a tune neither of his "children" had ever heard.

Yuuki's face flushed beet red when Zero turned his eyes back to her. "Z-Zero, I…I…"

"I thought you broke it off with him," Zero said bitterly, his reckless mind subconsciously denying, perhaps even hoping against, the truth. All he could think about was the bile rising into his mouth; the insecurities he still had about that…that pureblood…even though Yuuki hadn't shown any interest in him in over two years.

Yuuki shook her head quickly and placed a cool, soft hand over the hand of his that still rested lightly on her belly. "Zero, no. You're the only one I've ever…it wasn't even, I mean, I never—"

Zero's eyes widened in utter disbelief as the truth slowly began to sink through his skin.

"Then this…is…"

"Yours. This baby, it-it isn't his—it's ours."

He stared into her eyes wonderingly, still only half-believing the truth that seemed so obvious now. My God, he was so stupid!

"I-I-I'm s-so sorry, Z-Zero…" Yuuki was already beginning to sob. He shoved away from her and hurried outside and through the kitchen toward the back porch.

"Zero-kun!" Chairman Cross protested as Zero shot past. He ignored him. Out the door, down the steps, across the yard, to the gazebo by the tree-lined walkway that led to the school. Zero sat on the steps of the gazebo in the backyard, watching the wind blow the grass at his feet and listening to the soothing trickle of the waterfall in the pool. Thoughts raced through his mind a mile a minute, each more potent than the next…

I did this. I got her pregnant. Why did it all happen so fast? Why did I let it happen so fast? Why didn't I tell her earlier, why did it all have to come up to that one moment, and why, why, why did I let it get so out-of-hand?

This was his fault. All his fault. A child. A child. Zero wasn't sure if he ever wanted a child, and here was Yuuki, the secret love of his life, bearing their firstborn only months after they'd finally confessed their feelings to each other. So what was he going to do? It was far too late to abort the pregnancy; at this point, he would never let her go through with that. Images of his parents, lying dead in their own pools of blood, and Ichiru, gasping on the floor of Zero's cell as the life drained from his body, bombarded his mind ruthlessly. No. He would never let Yuuki do such a thing. Not five months into her pregnancy.

Could they give it up for adoption? Would Yuuki even want to? And, even more importantly, how on Earth would a vampire child be adopted? He wasn't sure if there was such a service within the vampire community, and he sure as hell couldn't let some ignorant humans unwittingly bring a life-sucker into their home. It wasn't safe for them, and it wasn't safe for the child.

So what choice did he have? He could stay, or he could run. And running was out of the question; it had been ever since Yuuki had stopped him the night he'd first sunk his fangs into her throat. He and Yuuki were tied by an unbreakable bond; he could not leave her side.

"Zero."

His head jerked around at the high-pitched, feminine voice he knew so very well. Yuuki stood on the other side of the gazebo, halfway up the steps. She had taken the kimono off in the heat and was now standing in just a tight pink shirt and black leggings. Zero stood silently and gazed at her, waiting for words to come.

"Zero-san, I—" Yuuki fell silent and clutched at the hem of her kimono, which hung heavily off her right arm. They were both lost; words had failed him back at her apartment, and now they were failing her as well. "I-I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Tears spilled from her eyes, sliding gently down her delicate cheeks.

Zero stared incredulously at what the two of them had unintentionally created that cold winter night. Her body was so curvy, so perfect, and he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to fight back the bloodlust that was throbbing at the back of his throat. When he opened them, he saw nothing bad before his eyes. He saw Yuuki, his Yuuki, standing sadly a mere ten feet from him, her hair hanging in ribbons around her face, her belly swollen with the fruit of their pent-up love. The setting sun lit up her tiny, sorrowful face, and her stream of tears (which had now become a steady river) tore open his heart. Finally, he closed the space between them and pulled her into his arms.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair, speaking for the first time the three delicate words that should have been said so long ago. "Don't cry, Yuuki. This isn't your fault. It's mine. I should have had more self-control."

Yuuki stood on tip-toe and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Nothing is your fault," she whispered as the tips of her lips lightly brushed his. It was their first tender, stand-alone kiss, a kiss without lust or blood. Just a kiss, a gentle, humane touch. Her tongue grazed his upper lip and she pulled his head down to her shoulder and rested her cheek gently on his.

Zero shuddered slightly as she wove her gentle fingers through his silvery hair and nestled her head into his neck. She was teasing him like a child, tempting him to the point of madness with the lust she was creating. Letting it hang in midair like an electric pendulum, ready to explode at any moment.

"Do you want my blood?" she whispered against his neck.

He shook his head as best he could against the gentle curve of her throat. "I'm fine, Yuuki." Even though being so close to her blood was driving him insane.

She was silent for a moment, tickled his scalp running her fingers through the long silvery strands. "I love you so much, Zero."

And, God, how he loved her back.

----------------------

I love Zero. He is adorable.

So if he ever seems out of character, would someone please tell me asap? Zero is by far my favorite character, mainly because he's so hard and mysterious on the outside but so gentle and loving on the inside (but also because he's incredibly hot :P). Since this story is 99% 35% fluff, he's going to be a lot softer that usual because he gets soft when Yuuki gets emotional and, like a proper pregnant gal, she's emotional A LOT in this story. So if he does anything that seems off, PLEASE TELL ME thanks. 