Disclaimer: If VK ends sadly or in a way we Zekis do not like, this disclaimer makes it not my fault! Mwaha!

Trigger

When he returned to his room, Zero lay halfway down against the pillows and pulled his sleeping fiancé into his arms, resting his head on top of hers and closing his eyes against his weariness. He felt like all the life had been sucked out of him, like any minute his brain would melt out of his skull. The world seemed to spin as the darkness descended, and he could swear he felt slightly nauseated himself....

Bong!

Zero started. Had he fallen asleep? He was still holding Yuuki against his chest protectively, still leaning his head on hers, so he couldn't have been out for very long.

"Ze...ro..." Yuuki mumbled drowsily, lifting her head from his shoulder. "Wha—?"

He shook the lingering sleep from his head. "How are you feeling?" he asked, brushing a lock of her matted hair behind her ear.

She sat up and stretched. "Uh…better, I guess…wha—what time is it?"

"About"—Zero glanced at the clock—"five thirty. I, uh, I think your brother's here."

Yuuki froze. "What?"

"The Chairman wants you to drink his blood. He thinks it'll help."

Yuuki gazed at him, concerned.

"What is it?"

Her hand slid over to cover his. He noticed how much cooler it was compared to when she was vomiting. "But…but what about you, Zero?"

"What about me? I'll be okay. This is to protect our baby. I can handle it."

"But—"

A firm knock cut Yuuki off. Her head whipped around so she stared at the door.

"Zero-kun? Yuuki-doll?"

"Uh…yeah?" Yuuki called out.

"Kaname-kun is here. You can stay in bed, Zero, but Yuuki, you need to come out, okay?"

Yuuki stood slowly, testing her body for strength. When no dizzy or nausea spells fell over her, she crossed to Zero's side of the bed and gave him a tender kiss on the lips.

"I love you, Zero," she whispered. "I'll never betray you. You know that, right?"

He chuckled and touched her cheek. "I'm not worried about this."

"Surely you must be…at least a little…"

"Don't worry about me right now. Just take care of yourself and our child. Okay?"

Yuuki nodded and pulled away slowly, turned and opened the door. As Yuuki hugged Kaname in the hallway and shut the door gently, Zero ground his teeth and repeated her words in his mind.

I will never betray you. I will never betray you. Never…

--

"I'm so sorry about this, Kaname," Yuuki whispered once they were in the privacy of her bedroom. "You had to come all the way out here, and just so I could do this…."

"I'd do anything for you, Yuuki," he replied, stroking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I know, it's just…please don't take this to mean anything, Kaname. I'm very ill, and I need blood. That's all. This isn't something I'm doing to spite you nor is it some—" she cut off, unable to say the rest of the sentence. Unwilling to hurt him like that. But the look in his eyes betrayed to her his comprehension.

"Come on." He put her arms around his neck and dragged her into his lap. "Don't hesitate or worry about hurting me. Do what you need."

Yuuki put her lips to his throat, yet still hesitated. Every beat of Kaname's strong heart yanked more insane thirst to the surface, yet she wanted to pull away, almost repulsed by the alien skin waiting patiently under her breath. It tasted funny, not salty-sweet like Zero's, but more bitter, the kind of taste that told her what she already knew.

This isn't yours.

Yuuki wondered at why she didn't feel this when the Chairman opened his veins for her. She had to face it: the only blood she took any real, any memorable, pleasure in drinking was the blood of her lover. Her Zero.

"Do it, Yuuki," Kaname muttered, moving her head to a stronger, more irresistible spot on his neck. Yuuki gasped slightly at the sudden pulse, and felt her stomach lurch, her eyes grow to that intense red, as his jugular throbbed mercilessly beneath her lips.

"It's okay," he muttered, placing a hand over the crown of her head. "We've been through this before…"

Yuuki squeezed her eyes shut and forced his flesh to give way to her teeth…

--

Zero's exhaustion forced him to sleep while Yuuki was gone, but his rest, as it had been earlier, was fitful and disturbed. While he slept in their bed, the bed in which their baby was conceived, Yuuki was in the room across the hall, drinking the blood of another man. Another man with whom she had once been in love.

When the door creaked, his eyes shot open and he bolted upright.

"Yuuki—"

She fell to the bed next to him and wrapped herself around him, pinning his arms to his sides. He tried to free himself as she licked his neck lustfully and released what could almost be a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay, Yuuki?"

She sighed again. "I am now." She sat back and gave him a pained smile. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you."

"Do what? I told you I'm not worried about it."

"Except I know you are." She took his hand between hers. "Please, don't be. It wasn't really…anything special, I mean, it was really weird. Uncomfortable and awkward, and his blood didn't taste all that good, and the whole time I just…I just wished it were you." Her lips were soft and clean, and he tasted no blood on her tongue as it lovingly explored his mouth. Yet her body was warmer than it had been in a long time, and he could feel a new life radiate from her skin. She must have washed the blood away before returning to their room. Her hands tightened on his shoulders; her kisses became hard, desperate; her arms clenched around him like she was afraid he'd turn to smoke.

"Come on." He pulled them into a lying position and tucked the covers around her. "You need to sleep."

She pulled the blankets to around her chin and buried her face in her pillow. Zero snuggled against her and kissed her forehead.

"Your blood has spoiled me," she joked, trying to make light of the difficult situation.

Zero didn't laugh. "It's okay," he said, even as uncontrolled rage and grief bubbled in his stomach. Why in the name of God could he not provide for his baby himself? The fact Yuuki needed Kaname seemed almost like God's way of saying she and Zero were never meant to be. "Just go to sleep."

--

Zero tried to stay away when Yuuki fed from Kaname again that afternoon. To provide for Yuuki further that night, Kaname had stayed the day, he and Zero avoiding each other like the other was something nasty in their soup. When Yuuki and Kaname disappeared upstairs at around four thirty, Zero stayed in his room with a puzzle spilled on the floor before him, trying desperately not to think of his future wife drinking that pureblood's life again.

He wished he could have gone with her. He wished he could have gone into the room to sit with them, held Yuuki's hand while she drank, given her comfort during an act she'd made it clear she did not enjoy. However, he did not trust his raging jealous side to not get the better of him.

The Chariman's voice called from downstairs not two minutes after Yuuki's door had shut. "Kiryuu-kun! Telephone! It's the university."

Zero groaned out loud. So much for locking himself in his room.

With a shaky will, he strode into the hallway, intent on walking right past Yuuki's door. He would not stop, he would not look in, he wouldn't even glance at the giant wood panel concealing the scene he so dreaded. He would just walk on by. Easy.

But a sliver of afternoon light spilling into the hallway stopped him in his tracks—the door was open a crack. He stared, unblinking, conflicting thoughts and impulses rushing at him from all directions.

He tried to force himself to move on, tried to make his legs continue to the telephone by the steps, but the temptation was simply too great. Silent as the very air, he eased the door open a little farther and pressed his head against the doorframe so his left eye saw through the crack.

Yuuki and Kaname were sitting on her bed, she in his lap with both arms wrapped around his neck, his hand holding the crown of her head gently, her face buried in his throat. Zero's windpipe constricted. Their matching brown hair, their breathing in perfect harmony…it looked so perfect, so natural. It looked like what was right. Saddened, Zero was about to turn away when movement caught his eye. He turned back and clenched his fists as Kaname's hand wandered sensually down her waist and over her inner thigh. Zero clenched his teeth in anger, the sweet taste of blood filling his mouth as one of his fangs dug into his gum.

Don't you dare!

As his blood pooled around his teeth, the sickening bloodlust washed over his stomach, and he shut his eyes against it, willing it away. When he looked in again, the scene between Yuuki and Kaname had changed.

She was fighting him...

--

To say the least, Yuuki neither enjoyed nor appreciated feeling Kaname's hand so close to the place she wanted only Zero to touch. She tolerated it for as long as she needed more blood, but as soon as his hand ventured to her inner thigh, she grabbed his wrist and gently but firmly pulled it from her leg. "Kaname," she whispered. "Please, don't…"

"But I want to," he mumbled, leaning his forehead against hers. "I love you, Kuran Yuuki."

Yuuki's lips twisted in a conflicted pout and she blinked tears from her eyes. The last thing on Earth she wanted was to hurt her brother, but she had virtually no romantic feelings left for him now. Not after all he'd done.

"Kaname, I'm in love with someone else. I'm having a baby with someone else. He's my boyfriend—no, wait, he's my partner. He's my partner, okay? And he's the father of my child. So please. Don't put me in this situation. I've already had to hurt you once; don't keep making me twist that knife."

Kaname reached to take her hand off his shoulder and startled when he touched a cold stone on the inside of her ring finger. Her face turned beet red as he turned over her hand and his eyes came to rest on the sparkling ruby.

"Why are you wearing your ring like that?" he asked soullessly, turning it around on her finger. She snatched her hand away, hot tears dancing on the brims of her eyelids.

"I-I'm sorry, Kaname," she choked, jumping up. "God, I know how hard this is for you, but I have a right to live my life the way I want to, and—"

It took a quick second for it to click in Kaname's mind. Comprehension dawned on his face and he slowly stood, his shoulders slumped.

"Y-you're engaged to him."

Yuuki nodded and looked down, unwilling to see the look on her brother's face. They stood in silence for a while, the suspense building as each waited for the other to say something more. Finally Kaname released a heavy sigh and walked past her.

"I'm leaving now, Yuuki," he said. "Please call me and tell me if you feel better. If my blood is helping." Yuuki frowned at the emphasis on the word "my." As if Zero's blood weren't helping her at all.

The second Kaname stepped through the front door, the sound of a gun cocking stopped him in his tracks. His eyes shifted to his side, where Zero stood tensely, hellfire blazing in his eyes, holding the barrel of the Bloody Rose an inch from Kaname's temple.

"I've mostly given it up," Zero seethed, "but it's no crime to kill a vampire, and I'm not above making an exception for you."

"Please lower your gun," Kaname ordered. Zero dug it into his skull.

"Don't you ever touch her like that again, got it? Ever. She doesn't appreciate it, and God knows I don't." He slowly lowered the gun. "If I catch you doing that again"—he pushed it into his opposition's shoulder—"my leniency is spent."

Kaname smirked melancholically. "Someone a little jealous?"

"It doesn't matter," Zero snarled. "Jealous or not, your actions make her uncomfortable and put her in a painful position, and I won't tolerate that."

In one swift movement Kaname clenched his fingers around Zero's throat and shoved him into the wall, smirking at the choking sound wringing from his adversary's throat. "You don't scare me, Kiryuu. If you kill me, Yuuki will hate you. I know you know it."

Although Zero tried to hide it, Kaname caught a glimpse of falter in his eyes. "How much hate do you think that sweet girl is capable of?" Zero responded, more quietly and with less confidence. "She already hates you."

Kaname tightened his grip and Zero gasped, instinctively dropping the gun to claw at Kaname's hands with both of his.

"She is not yours to marry," Kaname seethed, moving his face within and inch of Zero's. "She does not belong to you."

"She is not yours, either. She is an independent person, and she has the right to choose her partner. At least she's with me because she wants to be, not because I forced her to."

"Damare!" (1) Kaname's free hand swooped out of nowhere, landing with a loud plack across Zero's face and leaving angry red welts on his left cheek. In retaliation, Zero dug his nails into Kaname's throat; bloodlust raged when he felt the hot fluid slide over his skin.

"Stop it!" Lurching out the front door, Yuuki threw her arms around her brother and hauled on him as much as her pregnant body would allow until he finally let go of her fiancé. She gave him a good push back and stood, arms extended, in between the seething men. "What the hell is going on???"

"Nothing, Yuuki," Kaname sighed, brushing a lock of hair from his face and straightening his jacket. "Just tell your little boyfriend he should respect first-level vampires a bit more."

"Piss off!"

"Zero, please! Kaname, just…" Yuuki's words caught in her throat as she stared into Kaname's solemn face, deep brown eyes loaded with rage, torment, and defeat. She shifted to Zero, who was massaging the angry red imprints Kaname's fingers had left on his neck and looking at the sky, the trees, the cement—anywhere but at her. God, she couldn't handle this. "Just go, okay?"

Kaname nodded, turned away. "Bye, Yuuki-chan," he muttered, and dejectedly strode off.

Yuuki turned to Zero, who gazed back at her, embarrassed but with an indisposed iron will to show it.

"You saw him touch me, didn't you?"

Zero nodded. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I guess I lost control."

"You guess? You guess?" She groaned and fell onto the bench beside the walk. "I've told you a billion times I'll never leave you. Especially not for my own brother." Resting her elbows on her legs, she laced her hands between her knees and looked up at the young father. "Don't you trust me, Zero?"

"Of course I trust you." His voice came out a mingled sigh and strangled groan as he fell next to her on the bench. "But I can't just sit by and watch when someone's doing my Yuuki harm."

"He wasn't really harming me, he just…"

"He's done you more harm than everyone else you know combined! He hit on you when he knew you weren't in love with him. He played with you. He manipulated you. He threatened to kidnap you—"

"Kaname didn't threaten to kidnap me! I mean, not really—"

"—and he condemned you to this miserable, bloody existence. God, Yuuki, for all he's done to you, you should never want to speak to him again!"

"In that case, I should never want to speak to you again, either. You threatened my life, Zero!"

Oh, shit. Oh, no. She should not have said that. She should never have said that. God, she wanted nothing more than to take it back.

But the damage was done. Shaking in rage, Zero turned away, and Yuuki wondered for a moment if her tough-as-diamond fiancé was actually crying in front of her. "Which of us do you love, Yuuki?" he finally asked, glancing back at her.

Angry tears filled Yuuki's eyes. She clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood from her palm. "Who do you fucking think?" she cried, and bolted inside in a meltdown of tears.

--

(1) Damare = shut the fuck up. Or a very rude way of saying "be quiet," anyway. ;)

Poor Kaname. As much as he was being a jerk in this chapter, I can certainly relate to his pain. Being unwanted by the person you love and want more than anything in the world is like having a red-iron pitchfork shoved through your stomach and ripped out your chest.