Disclaimer: This is the part where I say I don't own VK and that everyone should chill the way I should have chilled about Yuuki and Zero not getting together at the end of chapter 43.
Bullet (Part One)
"Mommy's home! Mommy's home!"
A small girl leapt from her blocks on the dining room floor (a mess to him, but a city to her) and dashed for the front door as fast as her fat little legs could take her, long silver curls bouncing behind her head. He set the knife on the giant wooden cutting board and followed her into the living room, wiping his hands on a towel.
She jumped up and down ecstatically in front of the giant oaken door. The metallic sound of a key turning in a lock made the child jump back to make room for the door, which swung open about two seconds later.
"Mommy!" she squealed, jumping up and down at her mother's calves.
"Hi there, my precious!" The small brunette woman set a grocery bag on the floor and collected her daughter in her arms. "How's my baby today?
The girl laughed. "Daddy took me to the park."
"Oh, did he?" Yuuki smiled gratefully at Zero as their daughter locked her arms around her mother's neck and buried her face in her shoulder.
"Oh, my sweet, sweet girl," she crooned, stroking her head and kissing her on the cheek.
"Did you being me stickers, Mommy?"
"Of course I did." Spying the mess by the dining room table, Yuuki set the girl down. "Go clean up your blocks and I'll give them to you when I've put the groceries away. Go on." She patted her on the back and the child zoomed away.
"Hi love," she said, straightening up and taking him into her arms. "Long day?"
"I've had better," he replied, and she kissed him gently on the lips, sending that familiar rush through his body.
"Then you rest tonight," she mumbled. "I'll take care of Misaki."
"Aren't you tired too? You worked later than usual."
"And you need to work tomorrow. I'll take care of our baby tonight."
"Our baby…" he murmured as she kissed him again.
Now the scene was changing. Their daughter was in bed across the hall, and they were lying on their bed, a sheet tossed haphazardly over their naked bodies, groaning and shivering against each other as they pushed themselves further and further to the breaking point. He pressed her body as closely against his as he possibly could, never wanting to loosen his grip. She was warm, she was beautiful. Each time they made love she seemed purer, sweeter, more and more like an angel…
"Yuuki!" Zero bolted up in bed, soaked in a cold sweat with tears staining his cheeks. The room was pitch dark save the blue glow of his clock, whose two-thirty AM message glared into his eyes ruthlessly. His hand shot out desperately, searching the right side of the bed for his loved one, but found only air.
No. This couldn't be. It wasn't right. He was downright stupid to trust Kuran's word; if their baby really had died, he could believe one person only.
Yanking the phone off the nightstand, he dialed Yuuki's cell number and jammed the receiver against his ear.
It rang. And rang. And rang. And…
"Moshimoshi. This is Cross-Kuran Yuuki. I'm not here right now but if you'll leave a message I promise to get back as soon as I can. Thanks!"
Zero swore, slapped the holder switch, and pressed redial.
"Moshimoshi. This is Cross-Kuran Yuuki. I'm not here right now b—"
Jing! The force of his slam cracked the plastic in the holder, but he didn't notice. The room was tilting; soul-searing terror numbed his arms and legs. Something was dreadfully wrong.
Zero threw his phone in his bag and fled the apartment, house key clenched between his knuckles.
--
"Where on Earth can I find information like that? If you weren't able to find a doctor over the last four months with phones, books, and the Internet, how on earth do you expect me to find her a doctor by just going out?"
"God, Kaname, this is our last hope. Go to the Senate hospital and ask around! Interview people. Find out about retired doctors, or see if any of the ones working there would be willing to come help us. Anything! Please, Kaname!"
Yuuki had never seen the Chairman so desperate. She felt her face—flushed from her last contraction, the fourth in the last six hours. Each one came long after the last, but they were done hoping for a false alarm. This was real, this baby was coming. And it was four weeks early.
"I don't want to leave her side."
"Do you want her to get fatally sick?"
Kaname unfolded his arms, sighing in defeat. "Fine. I'll go to the Senate. But you have to let me take your car!"
"My car? Why? I hardly ever use that thing. It might give you some trouble starting up."
Kaname glowered. "Because it's more reliable than my old junk heap."
"Fine, my keys are in the drawer next to the refrigerator. Hurry!"
Kaname gave Yuuki a kiss on the forehead and left the room.
"Call Zero and tell him to come home!" the Chairman called after him.
"Sure."
He turned back around, and smiled at his daughter, squeezing her hand gently. "She's coming! You're going to have your baby!"
Yuuki smiled back through her fear, tears pricking in her eyes. "Yeah."
"What are you going to name it?"
She drummed her fingers on her sheets. She knew he was trying to take her mind off her anxiety. "I have some ideas," she said, and closed her eyes again.
--
She wasn't going to last much longer. They were coming every ten minutes now, and they were starting to hurt. The Chairman had run across the quad to the infirmary to see if he could find something, anything, to make the process easier on her.
Another cramp pushed at her. She grimaced against it and remembered something about moving being a good idea during labor. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to move before or after her water broke (or all the time?); nevertheless, she pulled herself out of bed and wobbled out of the room.
Her body seemed ten times heavier than it had when she'd lay down. It took all her effort just to reach above her head to get towels from the linen closet. Maybe it would be best to do the birthing in the kitchen, where stains could be cleaned off the floor easily and there was plenty of room. She took the stairs slowly, gripping the rail and getting a firm footing on each step before moving on. She'd have to go back up to get pillows, too—crap.
The house was golden with midmorning light. Another surge of fear rushed through her system as her muscles threatened to cramp again. Was thirty-two weeks really good enough? What if there was a problem? She was pretty sure she was too far along for there to be any issues, but that damn maternal instinct made her worry anyway.
She didn't think she could bend enough to spread the towels over the floor—she'd have to get the Chairman to help. Maybe he could get the pillows for her too? She dropped the towels and her head snapped up when a loud, metallic tone sounded from nearby.
Her cell phone was lying on the counter next to landline and memo pads, and the alert light on the screen flicked off just as she approached. She flipped it open and checked the LED.
Two missed calls. Probably Kaname. Had he found a doctor? She pressed the VIEW button and her breath halted in her throat.
Zero.
She heard the front door opened and shut. That was fast. "Chairman?" she called out, and hobbled out of the kitchen, cell phone clutched in her hot right hand. She turned the corner into the living room—
—and found herself staring down the barrel of a rifle reminiscent of the one Yagari Toga used to kill level Es.
--
Yuuki hadn't known it possible to be as fatally terrified as she was now. Blue eyes, cold as death, glared at her from the other end of the shiny black pipe. Icy blue…she recognized the owner, but she couldn't on her life identify him or even where she knew him from. Her voice came out a whispered tremor.
"Wh-who—?"
"Come now, my dear, surely you remember me?"
An explosion with power to decimate her eardrums ricocheted through the room and something bit into her shoulder and began to burn into her flesh. Crying out, she grasped the wound and fell on her backside as the maddening crimson scent filled the room.
"You don't? I'm disappointed, Kuran-san."
"Oh, God," she moaned, collapsing on her back. The fire circled cruelly in her shoulder and she blinked back tears as a heavy boot crushed her sternum, forcing her all the way to the floor.
The fire of those menacing eyes as they glared into hers was almost more frightening than the one raging under her skin. "I'm sorry, Kuran-san," he said, bringing the rifle up and pointing it at her nose, "as you are the daughter of my dear friend. I was willing to overlook you and your brother because you have never been known as a threat to the rest of society. But your pregnancy leaves me no option."
Yuuki drew in a sharp breath as comprehension filled her from the pit of her stomach like waves from a cold sea. "You're the one who's been killing my cousins—!"
"I'm merely trying to protect the human race from further exposure to this putrid disease. Even if you do not spread it yourself, I cannot let you bring another pureblood into the world."
"But my baby's not a pureblood!" she cried desperately. "He's not, the father's a human!"
Hesitation flashed momentarily through the hunter's eyes, but not a second later they narrowed into slits and he moved the barrel between her eyes.
"You monsters have no place in this world," he seethed, and placed his finger on the trigger.
"Get your filthy hands off my wife!"
The hunter whirled around, jerking the rifle away from Yuuki, and the sound of a second explosion pressed against itself in the small room. He fell back, swinging the barrel of the rifle dangerously, and Zero stormed across the room fearlessly, the smoking Bloody Rose still aimed at his opponent. If there was any terror of the man Zero recognized as Nagano Tatsuo's younger brother—Masa, the man from his nightmares, (1) the man he had forgotten until now—it hid behind the blinding fury raging red in his irises.
"You worthless piece of shit!" he seethed, firing another shot at his opponent. The rumor about vampire bullets being harmless to humans was only that—a rumor, based on the fact only vampires were allergic to the chemical composition. As solid shrapnel, vampire bullets could do just as much damage to humans if they were fired into a vital organ.
Injured though agile, the hunter rolled across the carpet and the bullet struck the floor. Zero was cocking the gun again when Nagano Masa fired a shot of his own, which caught in Zero's neck, jerking him to a halt. A second bullet pierced into his hip, and the one that hit his chest forced him off his feet. The cruel floor sent a taunting pain through his tense back and he gasped and coughed, swallowing the sweet taste of blood in his mouth.
"Zero!" Yuuki pushed herself up against the searing pain and tried to crawl over to her partner. "Zero!"
The hunter, shot only in the shoulder, managed to stand and used the butt of the rifle to knock the struggling Zero on his back again. Grabbing the Bloody Rose from Zero's side, he crushed a hand over his throat, lifted him up, and pinned him to the wall.
"The son of the two greatest hunters in the Association protecting a pureblood?" he said, poking the end of the Bloody Rose into Zero's bleeding chest. "I'm disappointed, Kiryuu."
Zero might have given in and let the jackass finish him were it not for his only love struggling across the floor, injured and slowly bleeding to death. But instead he pushed against his attacker and bared his fangs so nastily even Yuuki had to look away in terror. He stopped fighting, however, when the barrel of the handgun dug into his temple—if he moved now, Nagano Masa would shoot him, and there would be no chance for his family. Was there any way he could talk or trick his enemy into moving the gun away?
"I still serve you guys," he spat. "If you kill me, you lose the last Kiryuu in the Association."
"And the last Kiryuu expends his life defending a pregnant pureblood? Those disgusting worms of flesh who feed on human life to satiate their own selfish desire? How can you forgive the existence of something that lives to destroy the innocent?"
Yuuki was a mere three feet away when she grabbed her abdomen, groaned, and collapsed on her side.
She's in labor. Zero's mind raced, jumping headlong into despair. "Please. Yuuki has never harmed anyone, and her child isn't a pureblood. You stand to gain nothing by murdering Chairman Cross' only child."
Nagano Masa stared into his eyes for a moment, and comprehension dawned on his face as he looked from Zero to Yuuki. "Jesus Christ…you're in love with her. That baby is yours, isn't it, Kiryuu?"
Zero coughed heavily and this time couldn't keep the blood in his mouth. It leaked from the corner of his lips and dribbled into his hand, and Yuuki let out a tiny cry when she saw it.
The bullet had punctured his lung.
"The classic Romeo and Juliet. How sad." Nagano Masa tightened his grip on Zero's throat and moved to squeeze the trigger.
And an adrenaline rush stronger than any that had ever assaulted Yuuki's nerves forced her conscience and soul into submission. Rabid with anguish and bloodlust, she forced herself to her feet, slammed into the hunter, and buried her fangs in his throat.
They all slid to the floor and Zero wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close as she drank in the life that would save their baby. She was barely aware of herself; all she knew was the wretched bloodlust from her labor and the gunshot wound, her fury at the violent discrimination against her family, and the vital need to save Zero and her child. When the blood ran cold of life and she was sure the hunter was dead, she released her grip and collapsed, sobbing, into Zero's warm arms. Finally, finally, she'd been able to protect him the way he'd always protected her.