So here's chapter fifteen. Rated RSEF for random stupidity and extreme fluff. Shut up, You-Know-Who.

This disclaimer means I did not create that beautiful first kiss between Yuuki and Zero. Gasp. Sob. Baba.

Possession

A tiny orange light flickered to life outside her window. The outside light on the school—he was finally done there. She couldn't remember the last time he had stayed so late in his office, but then, it was the middle of the spring semester. Finals would be in a month and a half, and then everyone would be gone for the summer.

Yuuki sighed and turned over so she stared at the wall. The uniform darkness padded her eyes, almost warping into spirals as she stared intently into it. She itched to lie on her belly, but had read somewhere that during pregnancy it was best to stay on her side. She exhaled heavily and closed her eyes…

Flip!

…and started. What was that? Turning over onto her back, she sat up halfway, clutching her stomach where the unusual sensation had come from.

And she felt it again. A tiny flutter, like a baby bird, from the very depths of her abdomen. Her eyes widened in comprehension and she drew in a quick, sharp breath.

It was him. Her baby. He was moving. Incredulous tears filled her eyes as the realization vanquished any denial left in her mind. There really was a baby in there. A little life, a small soul reaching for its place in the world. A life that was half her, and…

…and half Zero.

Half that beautiful, strong, sensitive young man, by whose side she'd spent her life and with whose fate hers had become irrevocably intertwined. The one who had been so cruel and cold at first, but to whom she'd given all her heart regardless, only to learn his cruelness was his way of protecting her from the demon he'd seemed destined to become.

She lifted the fabric on her nightshirt and rubbed her lower abdomen gently. "Sweetheart," she found herself whispering. "My precious baby…"

She really was going to have a child, and be a mother. That baby was a part of her, and a part of Zero. This was the permanence of that beautiful night all those months ago. Life had never seemed so special, so magical.

"Yuuki? Are you awake?"

She yanked down her nightshirt quickly and looked toward the door. "Uh, yeah."

The Chairman poked his head in the door. "I'm sorry I'm so late getting out. Did you get dinner for yourself okay?"

"Yeah, Chairman, I mean, I'm getting better at cooking. I left some for you in the refrigerator."


"And you took a tablet, yes?"

To this Yuuki rolled her eyes. "Of course I did."

"Okay. Good-night, darling."

"'Night."

She ran a hand through her long locks and lay back on her side as the door clicked closed. She should probably cut them. They hadn't seen so much as a pair of sewing shears since they grew out suddenly when she was fifteen. The ends were thinning around her waist and it looked terrible. She wondered why she bothered to keep it so long in the first place.

Her fingers stretched over her belly once more and a single tear slipped from her eye as intense tenderness rose in her chest seemingly from nowhere. She knew, despite the struggles that lay ahead, this child would be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

And she knew what its name would be, too.

The school's light, unprovoked by movement for its set time, flickered out.

--

Zero's head was getting heavy on her chest as he slept peacefully in her arms, but she forced herself to ignore the growing discomfort, preferring to feel her second half so close to her heart for as long as she could bear it. With each gentle breath his hair shifted over her breasts and throat. She sighed heavily and ran her fingers over the long, thin scars on her lover's neck for the hundredth time.

They were still there, running horizontally along his neck, just under his jaw and just above the anti-vampire tattoo. After waking from Zero's memory, she'd kissed each one tenderly, as though to erase the dirt and pain, and he'd licked her tears from her eyes as she apologized for her brother's actions over and over and over.

"Zero," she'd asked when she'd gotten her tears under control. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The awkward silence that followed spoke the answer louder than Zero probably could.

"You didn't want to destroy my idealization of him." Yuuki sighed pressed herself against him. "Even after everything he'd done, to both of us…to you…"

"I took his blood so I could stay with you. So I wouldn't have to put you through the pain of killing me just yet." He kissed the crown of her head softly. "At first I was all right, but then I started to get a lot angrier and a lot more jealous. You know, little things would set me off, until I was pretty much furious all the time. It was like I still had all my thoughts and memories and consciousness, you know, I was still there, but his blood was dictating my emotions and my actions. I wasn't doing what I would have done in those situations—I was doing what he would have done. Does that make sense?"

She nodded. "I understand all that, Zero. I knew something wasn't right, but I could never figure out what. I guess eventually I just told myself to forget about it, that you'd snapped out of it or something. What…what was it that brought you back, Zero?"

He'd shrugged gently. "I don't…really know, exactly. I fought back a lot. Every time I pointed the gun at you, I was fighting back. If I had lost, well…"

"Don't talk about it," she sighed. "Just…"

"Just make love to you?" he smirked, already undoing the button on her pants.

"Zero, don't you think I'm a little far along for that—" His hand kneading between her legs cut her off.

"We can make love without doing that."

And he did, he did everything he could think of short of the action that had created their baby, and when she came at his hand she realized she'd never felt closer to him than she did then, when all the energy in his body was going into hers, when he abandoned all personal need to focus solely on making her feel loved.

"I love you," she choked, and then collapsed against his arm. Life had never seemed so beautiful to her, even when she was little and the only thing she could see was her love for Kaname and the Chairman.

"Zero," Yuuki mumbled, catching her breath, "do you think…"

"What?"

"Do you think Kaname-sama is a bad person?"

"My guess is he used to be a lot more horrible than he is now," Zero said, choosing his words carefully and trying to restrain the urge to scream out his hatred. "But you can't worry about it, Yuuki, because he's not really your brother. Your actual brother…"

"Was killed when I was a baby," Yuuki finished. "I know. Our personalities are so different, because we don't even have the same parents. Kaname's body…that's just it. It's just his body. My real brother was probably a lot more like me, like my mom and dad. But then…then…" Yuuki turned over and buried her face in the pillow.

Zero gently pulled her hands from the fabric and forced her to face him again. "Yuuki, your brother's body is home to the soul of the very first vampire. Vampires weren't always kind as so many are today. Centuries back, they were mostly selfish, ruthless killers, and it was a slow infusion with the gentler genes of humans that their descendents began to settle down. Very few purebloods are like you, love. Most of them still have that violent and angry nature you see in your brother." He sat back as she pushed herself up. "That characterized vampires back in the Dark Ages.

"That's one reason I love you so much, Yuuki. Purebloods were always nothing but evil, self-serving demons to me, until I found out about you. Until I realized that even though you were a pureblood, your nature was still pure and beautiful." He smiled sadly. "You've never fallen to that darkness."

Yuuki slipped a rebellious lock of hair behind her ear and gently rubbed her belly. "I don't know why it took me so long to see you, Zero. To feel you in my heart. All those years you were right beside me, and I was just so blinded by my love for someone who wasn't even real…"

"That's okay," Zero smiled. "Because you see me now, and I have you. No matter how long it took, I have you, and that's plenty good enough."

--

The living room was huge, monstrous, as though each of them were an insect making its way along the floor. Yet she still sat by the couch, and he still ran at her, reached for her, trying to get her before Nagano appeared and took them both…

He lunged at her, ready to grab her and hide beneath the mammoth couch, yet something changed and he ran headlong into darkness, tangling himself with the black form with the frigid blue eyes.

"Don't touch her!" he shouted, struggling to get a hand on any of his opponent's weak points. "Don't you dare—!"

The arctic chill wrapped around his throat as part of the darkness became a hand and began to choke him. He kicked and thrashed, even when his enemy lifted him, helpless, into the air.

"Honestly, Zero, how much do I have to hurt you before you give up?" Nagano demanded, shoving his free hand through Zero's chest and yanking it back. "How much do I have to torture you"…he dangled his bloody hand in front of Zero's face, taunting him with the lustrous aroma..."before you realize you don't stand a chance?"

Still clutching Zero's throat, Nagano whipped around and fired a single shot into Yuuki; then he threw Zero at her and evaporated into the gloom.

"Yuuki!" He scrabbled over and worked his arm under her limp neck. "Yuuki, come on, stay with me!"

Her head lolled over his forearm, her eyes lifeless and alien. He shook her and screamed; a lake of blood grew over the floor, bright red and oozing up like man-eating slime, covering their legs, their arms, their chests, swallowing them, suffocating them….

--

Sorry this took so long. Finals week, then the holidays, not to mention a serious writer's block. Next update will be faster, I promise. :/

Honestly, after chapter 45, the ending we saw was the ending I expected. No, not that Zero would be insane enough to vow to kill the woman he loves, that he would kiss her (or something, lol) and then be on his way, telling her that because he was a hunter and she a vampire, there was no way they could ever be together. I hope to God he isn't serious about killing Yuuki if he ever sees her again—that would just be too cruel (and out-of-character, considering the way he was in the first half of the story) and how can anyone love someone like that? Anyway, my reasoning is made clear in my other fic, Snow, so I'm not going to repeat it here.

Honestly, my opinion of Yuuki just went down so far, I can't believe she doesn't see what a scumbag Kaname is. No, I'm not saying she should get together with the guy who vowed to KILL her, but she's completely blinded by this stupid crush and doesn't realize what she's getting herself into.

So right now Kanakis are out there celebrating their one-handed victory (I is the queen of lame puns) but I honestly believe Zekis are gonna have the last laugh. In four years or so. Heh.