-Three years ago-

Was there a single room in this house they had not mauled with their sexual desires? Probably not... The 'modest' house the two newly weds were living in was soon broken in within the first few weeks of their married life. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing... But hopefully the two will manage to control their thriving sex drives before they would be caught. Not a soul knew that they lived in this home, yet. It was private, able to stay away from the constant media attention that came from the second-in-command of the hunters marrying the leader of the vampires. It was quite a juicy story for anyone who needed it.

But after yet another steamy night that had finally ended up in their proper bedroom instead of adventuring to other parts of their home, the house was quiet, and the sun was setting. It was time for the vampires to awaken from their slumber... But of course Zero wasn't quite use to this bull shit that was sleeping during the day.

A yawn slipped from the weary hunter as he stood in the library that Kaname had set up in his study. He had been here almost all day after he just couldn't get to sleep... It was hard trying to balance two very different sleeping patterns, but it seemed like he would slowly have to get use to the vampire way of life. It had been much easier when they had been dating... Visits would normally be at night, when Kaname would awaken, and Zero would normally doze off until about noon and return home. Even the weekends of being with each other had usually resulted in the same pattern, and Zero hadn't quite been ready for the sudden change.

Rubbing his bleary eyes as he attempted to focus on the numerous titles, he soon reached up and plucked one from the shelves. The other books had fruitless efforts. Maybe he just needed to keep searching... He wanted answers, after all. He knew there were ways to do this, he had heard of them himself, but he hadn't yet wished to ask Kaname. After all, he didn't want to worry his husband with such a big step in their relationship. They had it peaceful as it was, it shouldn't be ruined...

The book was soon plopped onto the desk, the nearly naked hunter soon stretching himself out in Kaname's luxurious chair, of course taken from the academy. Putting up his heels onto the edge of the desk and quietly adjusting his sweatpants to keep his legs warm, he soon started to flick through the pages... It was another ancient book, the pages nearly falling out. The cover was worn but the title, written in Latin, was still able to be seen. Or at least the single word he needed to find...

Sanguisugae. Vampire.

He needed to do his research... And he knew that it would be nearly impossible to look through this Latin book. He knew terms and words, but not enough to read through an entire book. But he was searching for just one word, one word that would help him connect the dots... He could always scorch through Google translate for the rest, but he just needed that one little hint.

Fetura... fetura...

...There-!

"Zero, what are you still doing up?"

The tired voice was the cause of the book slamming shut in a heartbeat, and a cloud of ancient dust soon swirled around the silverette. Coughing at the mixture of dust that rushed into his lungs, he turned himself in the chair to see Kaname, still tired, his eyes still clouded with sleep. His beautiful dark chocolate hair was messy, as it normally was. It was so damn long that it always got into knots and tangles during his sleep... But Zero loved it all the same. Pushing the book aside and hoping that Kaname was simply too tired to notice such a thing, he worked on clearing his lungs of the dust before answering.

"...I couldn't sleep. You know it's a bitch to sleep during the day for me," Zero chuckled as he slowly brought himself up to his feet. He stretched, trying to work out his aching muscles free. Kaname, though, didn't seem like he was happy with his answer judging by the faint frown that had covered his face.

"You're never in my study, you have had no need to... What were you looking for?" Damn it. Kaname always stared straight through his lies. It was an uncanny ability that Zero hated with a passion, never being able to slip anything past the pureblood, not even for a minute. He couldn't even surprise him with making his favorite food before Kaname would guess what he was doing... But this was something he knew he couldn't tell Kaname, not quite yet. Maybe in a few weeks, maybe longer...

"I was bored," was the simple excuse Zero gave him as he crossed the distance between their bodies, hoping that Kaname simply will not notice the lone book sitting on his desk. He wished that Kaname wasn't so neat and precise so that he could hide it easier... Leaning in for a soft kiss on the lips, his sleepy husband soon reluctantly followed, as if accepting the answer.

"Come back to bed, we have no need to be up this early." Kaname broke the kiss with his soft, gentle words, his ruby eyes looking back into Zero's amethysts. He would accept that... He would just have to look back into that book at a different time. It was the first thing that he had managed to find all day and he needed to continue searching. It may have the answers he desired. But he had to make sure that his husband wouldn't snoop in with him at every moment. It had occurred to Zero a few times that Kaname may already know the answers he was after, but that conversation simply would be too awkward to begin.

He could hear the awkwardness in his own head as he brought up the only beginning of the conversation he could think of...

"Hey Kaname. Know any way that we could get pregnant? Two men having a baby together? It can't be that hard."

Pfft. Ridiculous. Quietly as he linked his hand with Kaname, he took a quick glance into the study and looked back at the book, trying his best to memorize what page he had been on. 285... He would return to it sooner or later. It could wait... They had all the time in the world, after all.

All the time they needed...

Silence had overcame their makeshift camp. It was a silence that chilled Zero to the bone more than any gunfire or bombs the enemy had thrown at them today. He could breathe in the stench of death, blood and gunpowder that still carried on his soldiers. The blood that soaked into his clothes was beginning to cool now, hardening into rustic stains that would take too long to wash out. But they only overlapped other old stains, ones Zero simply did not care to remove from his body any more. There was no need to when it would only become filthy with death again...

His men had already gone to sleep, and other than a few keeping watch over the wounded and scouting out the land to make sure they were not wandering into a trap, he was alone. He could still see the distant flames licking at the crescent moon, attempting their best to turn it the blood red that had flown onto the earth today. It was just... too quiet. But they were away from their enemies, and they were safe for another night. For once he might allow himself to be soothed by the silence...

...Bzzz- Zero... Zero, do you rea-bzzzz

The loud sound of the radio connected to his side had made the skilled soldier jump, his hand automatically reaching down for the Bloody Rose still clasped to his chest. But his thundering heart began to quiet once more, only slightly, as he realized that it was Kaien. He always tried to keep in touch with Kaien... Try to understand when the new troops were coming in, when they would be getting new supplies... He could only hope that it would be good news today.

Forcing his nerves to settle as he slowly stepped his way back to his tent, the hunter took the radio and soon replied. "Kaien, I copy. What's the news," Zero grunted as he pulled the flaps of his tent closed, wishing for nothing but privacy. If it was bad news, he refused to let his troops hear it. Their wills were shattering as it was, as well as their bones. It would end their will to fight.

"Zero! Finally, I have been trying to contact you all night!"

A sigh left Zero's lips as he heard Kaien's shrill and worried voice. He always turned into that 'father figure' when it came to speaking to him alone... Even in a middle of a war, he still couldn't stop trying to protect him... "We had a few... issues. We had to move camp, we're trying to lead them away from a neighboring town. It's the only way we can try to stop more civilian casualties," Zero reported in near silence, knowing far too well that they would have won this war a year ago if it wasn't for the Level Es snatching up civilians from nearby towns they hadn't thought were so close. It had taken two days for their numbers to triple, and the war they thought had been so close to being over was back again...

He refused for it to happen again.

"Just try to continue going south. We may lose ground, but the new troops will be here soon. I promise you that they will be ready."

"You said that the last time and you gave me shit."

"That won't happen again!"

Zero forced back another sigh... It wasn't Kaien's fault that Yagari was pushing out soldiers before they were ready. Yagari thought nothing more than to get bodies onto the warzone, rather than properly training them. Then again, he was one of the last original hunters left... He was the only one they could trust to train troops, and it was the only thing keeping Yagari alive at this point rather than allowing him to run loose, guns blazing, only to be shot down within an hour. "...Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"Our communications are back up again. You can speak to him tonight if you wish to."

...Finally. A spark of warmth flowed into Zero's chest for the first time in a month. It had been so long since he had seen him... And Zero decided that he didn't need to wait a second longer. He didn't care for the words that soon tried to pour through the radio as he flicked the dial, silencing it. He needed to see him again, see how he was doing, see if there was any news... Anything... Any good news back home...

With the first glimmer of happiness that Zero had dared to give himself for a very long time, he did not hesitate to grab through his equipment before taking out a rather battered and old laptop. It was his lifeline... And as he booted it up, he knew that he would finally be able to see his beloved again.

He would surprise Kaname with a call.