Chapter 13 ~~ Spring break (middle)

Kaname took a deep breath. He'd been prepared for Zero to be angry. That tone in his voice still hurt though. So much so that he was having trouble putting his thoughts into words. "I said Explain Yourself!" Kaname looked up at Zero, who was now glaring directly at him. He loved those eyes; they were so full of fire. Kaname shook himself; it wasn't the time to be thinking about that type of thing.

Kaname was the first to break eye contact- he closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "I'm here because I wanted to spend the vacation with people I care about."

"Bullshit. And I could care less whom you spend time with. I meant what are you doing here, here. In this house."

"I'm here because I was invited to stay here. You are here because I made Yuuki convince you to come here so that I could talk to you."

Zero blinked in surprise at the flat-out honesty of the statement. He came back quickly (and angrily), though. "How dare you?! You're manipulating me? This is just like your kind- to control everything and everyone to get what you want. Well I'm not falling for it!" he stomped over to the door. Before walking out he said, "by the way your pie smells like its burning," and he was gone.

He went right out the front door, not bothering to close it. He was blindly stumbling around in the roses when he was grabbed and pulled into the trees. "What the Hell are you doing? Who Are you?"

"Shut up will you? I'm not supposed to be anywhere near here and I'd rather not be killed because I decided to help the likes of you."

"Aido? What the fuck is this about? I'd tell the truth if I were you."

"I said shut up. I'll tell you if I can get a word in between your yelling. It boils down to this: you need to get back together with Kaname."

"Oh HELL no! Not you too. Why should I take back someone who lied to me and made me believe he loved me for months? Please enlighten me," he finished sarcastically.

"Because he honestly does love you. I would know, after all I've been following him since we were kids. And in that time I've never seen him care so much for another being as much as he does for you. And because I'm the reason you broke up in the first place. The teacher did the assuming and convincing though. So now will you stop hurting Kaname already!?"

Once again Zero was stunned. "wha—what do you mean? Were you the 'source' Yagari was talking about when he came to confront me? What the Hell is your problem?! You are so lucky I don't have my guns anymore."

"Yes, yes, you're very scary. Can we move on back? Yes, I'm the one who ratted you out. I wanted to break you two up because I thought Kaname would be better off without you. I was proven wrong when Kaname went off his rocker after you left him. It kills me to say this but you two are perfect for one another. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you for stealing my love. And if you still don't believe me turn around and look at him. Would he be doing that if he didn't love you?"

Zero followed Aido's gaze to see Kaname looking around frantically, calling Zero's name. He soon gave up and sunk to his knees, muttering. Curious, Zero got closer; making sure to stay out of sight. He heard: "damn. Damn. Damn. Why did I let him go? Dammit!" he saw something glistening in the moonlight, rolling down Kaname's cheeks. Zero jumped back, surprised yet again (and not for the last time) that night.

"Now do you see? You're very lucky; Kaname is amazing. He rarely lets himself feel, but when he does it's with his whole being. I really wish it was me he was so crazy for, but hey, what can you do? Now go and talk to him before I change my mind about being nice and kill you."

"Yea… thanks Aido." Zero walked out from under the trees and picked his way between rosebushes over to Kaname. He put his hand on the vampire's shoulder, and Kaname looked up at him.

Zero smiled slightly, "let's go back inside and talk." Once Kaname got to his feet Zero brushed away the few remaining tears from his face.

"Sure, Zero. And I managed to save the pie, thanks for the warning."

Aido watched them go back into the house from the trees. "This guilty feeling better go away now. I want Kaname to be happy; I just wish it were me. But if this will make him happy, so be it." He found his way back to the main house, feeling much better, subconsciously, since he'd done the right thing for once.

Inside the kitchen again, Kaname poured drinks for himself and Zero – who'd taken a seat on the island counter. Out of curiosity he asked, "So what made you change your mind?"

"Nothing really. I did run into Aido and he told me a few things. I figured it'd be cruel to not even hear you out."

"Something similar happened with me and Yuuki." He handed Zero a cup.

*awkward silence*

Neither of them knew how to start the conversation of what they wanted to say, so Zero –to break the oppressive silence- picked a safe topic. "Uh… so how is school going in the night class? You have a different curriculum than us."

Kaname turned away to cut the cherry pie that had been cooling on the counter. "Fine. How about you, the day class just had midterms right?"

Guess. So why is the 'pureblood prince' cooking his own food?"

Kaname handed a plate with a slice on it to Zero. "It's because you always seemed to like it so much I wanted to see what the fuss was about. That and I couldn't take that crappy fast food anymore. It taste good?"

Zero took a bite, and had to force himself not to spit it out immediately. He forced himself to swallow it; it was probably the nastiest thing he'd ever tasted. "Kaname what did you do to this? I mean it's really good for a first try, but you're terrible at this. Stick with the personal chefs."

"Yea, that's probably for the best." Kaname looked away smiling, he was happy they'd fallen into their old pattern of joking around together.

They both set aside their food. The next few moments were occupied by another silence as they tried to summon up their courage.

"Kaname I—" "Zero I—" they said at the same time.

"Go ahead Kaname; I said I'd hear you out didn't I?"

"Alright. I've never done something like this so bear with me. I *deep breath* I want to say that I'm sorry. If I ever tried to lead you on or manipulate or use you it was unintentional. I don't want to do something like that or make you feel unsure about my feelings for you. I love you. I don't want to be apart from you anymore, it hurts without you in my life. I want you to take me back, we could be happy like before. *sigh* that's it, if you want to leave you can now."

Zero couldn't help gaping. "That's almost exactly what I was gonna say. I wanted to apologize to you for acting so rashly. It's really hard for me to trust people so I was feeling insecure. I was too quick to believe the worst. I just love you so much that the thought of you not feeling the same made me overreact. I didn't even let you try to explain. I was actually hoping you'd take me back."

Kaname was so happy that he was unable to control himself. We went right over to Zero, grabbed his face between his palms, and crashed their lips together in a bruising kiss. He thought he'd pushed too far, so he pulled back quickly.

Zero stared into space a few seconds (surprised again). "Sorry Zero, I couldn't help it when you said you loved me. I—"

"Shut up and kiss me teme." He pulled Kaname back in close with his legs, wrapped his arms around Kaname's shoulders, and kissed him back enthusiastically.