We're Not Meant to Be chp. 9

We're Not Meant to Be

Chapter 9

Empty Vengeance

“YUUKI-SAMA!!!” Ruka shouted.  The explosion nearly knocked her off her feet, and she staggered back.  “Yuuki-sama!!”

The dust blinded her for a long moment, but she didn’t need to see.  A voice answered her.

“Stay back, Ruka-senpai,” Yuuki ordered as the clouds of dust dissipated.  “If I can’t fight a human-turned-vampire alone, I’m no pureblood.”

Ruka watched in shock as Yuuki’s Artemis rod transformed into her enormous curved blade.  She twirled it in her hands like a deadly baton, let it whistle through the air like a deadly fan.  Zero fired the Bloody Rose again, and a third time, but the Artemis blade caught every shot.  Purposely, Yuuki slowed the rotation of her weapon.  She trusted Zero would pause as well.  He hesitated.

Suddenly, pain tore through her side.  She stared at Zero in shock.  He wasn’t looking at her.  He was looking down, where, the Bloody Rose lay on the concrete.  And he was shaking all over.  Yuuki dropped to her knees, clutching her side, still staring up at him.  Helpless.

It takes more than that to kill a pureblood!  She thought frantically.  Get up!  Get up!!!  He knows where Aidou is!  He…  He really does hate me…

She’d known he hated vampires.  But until the Bloody Rose bullet had shot through her, it hadn’t yet dawned on her that he actually hated HER.  That he would try to kill HER.  She thought he was just talking.  But she should have known better.  The pain increased a hundred times over when she realized her closest, dearest friend had really deserted her… for something that she couldn’t change.

Tears ran down Yuuki’s cheeks as she tried to gather her thoughts.  “W-Where… is Aidou?” she sobbed.  “And why…?”

Zero looked up at her.  He was sweating, and breathing shallowly, like he too was in pain.  “I swore I would kill you, Yuuki.  You… you let your guard down.”

Gasping in pain, Yuuki swallowed hard.  “I suppose we can never go back, can we?” she whispered, but she knew Zero could hear her.  “You’ve decided to end our friendship because of an ancient, baseless prejudice!”  Zero flinched, but Yuuki continued.  “I know that vampires killed your family, but that has nothing to do with me, or any of the vampires at Cross Academy.  I’ve told you this a thousand times, but… now it’s more personal than ever.”  She took her hand off her stomach, holding up her blood-stained fingertips.  “Will killing me give you satisfaction for Shizuka Hiou killing your parents?!  You may have given up on our friendship, but I would still do everything in my power to help you find peace if your means of attaining it were good.  Everything EXCEPT die.  Aidou needs me, and I won’t abandon him.”

Zero grit his teeth, his eyes narrowing.  In a flash, he had the Bloody Rose back in hand.  In the same second, Yuuki was on her feet, carving the air with her weapon.  She charged, blocking Zero’s shots with the blade, then swung.  Metal clashed against metal as Zero blocked with Bloody Rose, though the curved tip of Yuuki’s blade dug deep into his left shoulder.  They were face to face now, their noses almost touching.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Zero!  You have no idea how-”

“Save your breath, Kuran Yuuki!” Zero spat.  He shoved her away and fired again, but she ducked just in time.  “Just fight!” he added.

“Tell me where Aidou is!” Yuuki demanded, blocking again, then flipping out of the way.  “Please, Zero!”

“Fight!!” Zero screamed, rapid-firing.  Yuuki dived out of the way, swinging as she went.  The tip of the blade slashed Zero’s left arm, shocking him.  Yuuki rolled into a crouch, brandishing her blade, but not charging again.  Zero was hurt-  That second of hesitation cost her again.  Pain shot through her shoulder, then her leg.  She cried out and collapsed onto the ground.

Shifting Bloody rose to his left hand and clutching his wounded arm with his right, Zero stood over her, breathing hard and raggedly, though he’d moved little during the battle.  Yuuki didn’t move.

“Y-Yuuki…” he gasped.  “Get up…”

As if she heard his order, Yuuki stirred, struggling to raise herself up.  She looked up at him, eyes blurry with tears of pain and sadness.  Through the film of tears, she thought she saw a tear trace Zero’s cheek as well, but it was gone so fast she was sure she hadn’t seen it.

“You’re weak, Yuuki…” Zero hissed.  “You’ve lost.”

“I won’t die, Zero, but I won’t fight you.  If I were actually trying, you’d be dead right now…” Yuuki gasped hoarsely.  Something suddenly dawned on her then, but the click of Bloody Rose distracted her.  She looked up into the barrel of Zero’s gun, trying to move, but the pain blinded her with tears again.  The sound of the shot firing rang through her ears, as did the sound of it blasting through the cobblestones behind her.  No pain followed the noise.  Looking up in surprise, Yuuki watched as Zero turned his back to her and walked away.

“Your Aidou is waiting,” he growled, then leapt into the trees and disappeared.

“Yuuki-sama!”

Suddenly, Yuuki found herself being lifted off the ground.  Seiren held her under one arm, Ruka the other, each supporting her so she could manage some kind of walk.

“Are you all right, Yuuki-sama?!” Ruka demanded.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Yuuki-sama,” Seiren said quietly.  Yuuki could only manage a weak glare.

“Let’s take you to the nurse,” Ruka suggested, distracting her.

“Take me to Aidou,” she ordered instead.  “I have to see him…”  She tried to take a step forward, and nearly collapsed.  Before Ruka and Seiren could catch her, another pair of arms wrapped gently around her.

“Need some help?” a familiar voice asked.  Yuuki looked up to see Shiki, the one who had spoken, and Rima standing before her.  Ichijo, the one who had caught her, swung her carefully up into his arms, his jaw stiff.

“I can’t believe he went far enough to harm a pureblood, and especially Yuuki-sama,” he whispered to himself as the group headed for the main building, though Yuuki heard him only too well.



Light flooded Yuuki’s vision, along with the sound of panicked voices and the warmth of strong arms enveloping her completely in a strong hug.

“Yuuki-chan, don’t ever do that again!”

“Ch- Father…  Father…” Yuuki sighed.  The tears finally broke loose, and she sobbed into Keian’s shirt uncontrollably, even as he carried her into the patient’s room.

“It’s okay now, Yuuki-chan.  You’re safe…” he soothed, rubbing her back, then tenderly laying her down in a second bed.

“Are you crazy, Chairman?!” the nurse screeched.  “She has three bullet wounds, two of them serious!!”

“Well…  Thank goodness you’re here, Seiren, so you can erase this confounded woman’s memory when all of this is over…”

“Wha-?!”

“Of course, Cross Keian.”

“But what-?!”

“Not to worry, my dear.  Just get my daughter’s wounds bandaged quickly, and then we can have a cup of tea and a long talk…”

The voices faded away into a hum of jumbled noises as Yuuki began to fade out of unconsciousness.  She tried to move, tried to ask someone where Aidou was, but no sound came out of her mouth.  Her head lolled to the side as she began to go numb, sinking deeper into the black splotches that were eating away at her vision.  Just as she went out, she saw him…



It was still dark when Yuuki opened her eyes again.  Everything hurt badly, and she was still tired and miserable from walking all day and fighting Zero.  Suddenly, her last intelligent thought before she had passed out came back to her.  Turning her head to the left, Yuuki gasped.

Aidou lay on the bed next to hers, unconscious or just sleeping she couldn’t tell.  The last time she’d seen him, he was covered in blood.  Now he was clean, glowing in the light from the open window.  Beautiful.

“Aidou…” Yuuki whispered, reaching for him, though it hurt.  Her fingers curled over the unbandaged part of his arm, holding on for dear life.  “Aidou-senpai…”  Tears of relief squeezed out of the corners of her eyes, following the tracks left by her earlier tears.  “I’m here, Aidou-senpai…  I’m here…”

Another few minutes and she was able to sit up.  Thanks to her pureblood healing abilities, the pain had lessened great deal.  Immediately, she tried to stand, but she hadn’t swung one leg over the bed before the door burst open.

“Yuuki-chan!!” Cross Keian and Ichijo shouted in unison.  They rushed to her bedside, carrying huge armfuls of flowers.  Kain, Shiki, and Rima followed after them, Kain going straight to Aidou’s bed, Shiki and Rima just standing back to watch.  Rima had a card in hand, but she dared not try to give it to Yuuki just yet with Keian and Ichijjo fussing over her.

“Yuuki-chan, daddy’s here!  Don’t be afraid!”

“It’s so good to see you’re recovering, Yuuki-chan!  We brought flowers for you!  Please get better soon!”

Overwhelmed, Yuuki fell back against her pillow.  She looked over at Aidou, still unconscious.  She had to get to him.  She had to make him okay…

“Don’t crowd her, idiots!” Ruka’s voice suddenly ordered.  Everyone in the room suddenly stood at attention, save the patients themselves.  The golden-haired vampire stormed into the room, snatching every single flower out of Ichijo and Keian’s arms and arranging them in a vase on Yuuki’s bedside table in seconds, then shooed the two forcefully out of the room.  Rima shrugged and placed the card besides the vase, then left as well.  Kain lingered.

When the sound had disappeared from the hall, Yuuki swung out of bed and leaned over Aidou’s bed.  Kain retreated to the far corner by the window, giving them plenty of space.

“…Aidou-senpai…?” Yuuki whispered, leaning closer.  “It’s me, Yuuki.  Please wake up, Aidou…”

No answer.  Kain cleared his throat gently, calling Yuuki’s attention to him.

“The blood of a pureblood vampire has great healing power,” he suggested.  “The best thing to help him now is that.”

Yuuki nodded.  Pulling her sleeve up, she hesitated, then bit deep into her wrist, making the blood flow fast.  Kain tensed, but didn’t move from his spot in the corner.  Bracing herself, Yuuki held her wrist near Aidou’s mouth, drops of blood falling on his lips.  Like a spring, he was sitting up, his mouth clamped over her arm.  Yuuki bit down hard on her tongue to keep from crying out.

Kain was immediately by her side.  “He won’t let go if you ask him to,” he warned.  “Just tell me as soon as you start feeling weak, and I’ll stop him.”  Yuuki nodded again, though she didn’t really hear him.  All she could comprehend was the sound.  It was rhythmic, like a heartbeat, and she knew instantly what it was.

It’s the sound of Aidou… drinking my blood…  

Her eyes widened in shock.  All she’d noticed whenever Zero drank her blood was the pain, the fear, and the sadness.  This was much different.  It felt – and sounded - strange… strangely good.  She could no longer feel Aidou’s fangs in her arm.  In fact, her whole body had gone strangely numb.  Was she getting weak from blood loss, or was it just because Aidou was drinking her blood?  Yuuki couldn’t tell.

Kain moved to separate Aidou’s teeth from her arm, but Yuuki held up her free hand.  “Not yet…”

“You’re eyes are rolling back, Yuuki-sama, you’re going to faint!” Kain protested, taking a firm hold on Aidou’s bottom jaw with one hand, and the rest of his face with the other.  He pried the blonde vampire off, shoving him back down on the bed as he struggled and thrashed.  “Get those wounds bandaged, now!” he ordered Yuuki firmly.

Staggering back, Yuuki blinked fuzzily, then snapped back into reality.  Quickly, she rummaged through the cupboards, found some bandages, and wrapped them tightly around her wrist.

“Try the palm next time, it bleeds much less,” Kain suggested as blood soaked through the white bandage.  “Humans kill themselves doing things like what you just did.”

“Oh, right…” Yuuki agreed, nodding sheepishly.

Aidou’s struggling eased until he was lying still again.  After a few moments, when nothing more happened, Kain left the room to give Yuuki and his cousin some privacy.  Grabbing a chair from the corner, Yuuki set it by Aidou’s bedside and collapsed into it, letting her head rest lightly on Aidou’s chest, looking up into his face.  He seemed so peaceful, and that made Yuuki smile.  She could hear his heart pumping rhythmically in her ear, feel the steady rise and fall of his chest.  Slowly, she entwined the fingers of her left hand with his right one, squeezing gently.  The sun was just beginning to rise…

A few moments later, his hand squeezed back.

Yuuki gasped, remaining perfectly still, holding her breath.  For an unbearable minute, nothing more happened.  Then, Yuuki could hear his heart rate increase against her ear.  Her own heart seemed to race his as her excitement and relief threatened to overwhelm her.  His chest rose much higher than before as he took a deep breath.  Yuuki had to take a breath with him to keep herself from running out of air.  Aidou’s eyelids flickered, and yuuki had to keep blinking to try and force the tears back.

“A-Aidou…  Aidou-senpai…” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Aidou’s head rolled to the side, facing her.  Yuuki immediately sat up, leaning over him.

“Aidou, it’s me, Yuuki,” she said, a bit louder.  Jerkily, anxiously, she ran her fingers through his hair.  “Aidou, please wake up.”

He groaned very faintly, but it was a sound nonetheless.  Yuuki smiled, joyous tears streaming down her face.  They landed on Aidou’s cheek, and he blinked again.

The sun seemed to pour through the window and over the bed at the same moment when Aidou’s eyes came open.  Yuuki had never seen a brighter, deeper blue than in those eyes.  This time when she ran her hand through his hair, it was smooth and tender, soaked with pure relief.

“Aidou…  You’re okay…” she sighed, smiling brighter than ever.

Aidou blinked again, his eyes focusing and refocusing, until finally they focused on her.  “Y-Yuuki…” he gurgled.

Yuuki’s heart swelled at the sound of her name. Her smile widened even more, and, as if she couldn’t be happier, she did when she saw the corners of Aidou’s mouth turn up in a weak grin.  He was going to be okay.  It was all going to be okay…



Every head in the waiting room snapped around when the door from the hall opened.  Three growled ferociously.  One lunged.

Zero didn’t have time to dodge Ruka’s open palm.  It slapped him solidly across the face, making half the others in the room flinch themselves.

“How dare you show your face here, Kiryuu!” Ruka screeched furiously.  

Zero growled low in his throat at the blond vampire.  “I just wanted to see-”

“I don’t care!” Ruka cut in, standing on her top toes so she could look him in the eye.  “You’re not welcome here!  If you don’t want me to kill you personally, you’ll leave now and never show your face again!”

Zero growled louder at her, and suddenly he found himself being thrown out of the room and against the hallway wall across from the door.  Kain Akatsuki was gripping the front of his shirt with a white knuckled fist, his eyes wild like his nickname claimed.

“Now is not the time nor the place-” Kaien began to warn the enraged vampires, but they didn’t hear him.  Ichijo took his place on Kain’s rleft, and Ruka on his right.  Shiki and Rima stood a little back, watching and waiting.

“You’re only doing this for your stupid cousin!” Zero snarled at Kain.  “You don’t care about Yuuki-”

“Maybe that is the reason I’m trying to keep from tearing your head off right here!” Kain hissed back, slamming him harder against the wall.  “Maybe Aidou is my reason, and not Yuuki at the moment.  But I care more about Yuuki than you do!  At least I wouldn’t half kill her like you did!”

Zero flinched like he’d been smacked again.  He growled again, eyeing Kain murderously.  Before Ichijo or Ruka could stop him, he snatched the Bloody Rose from his jacket.  The next second it was gone.

Kaien rapped the hand that Kain was gripping Zero’s shirt by sharply with Bloody Rose’s hilt.  It didn’t hurt him, but it got the message across.  Kain shoved Zero against the wall once more, then released him, his eyes locked with Zero’s lavender ones.

“As I said before,” the Chairman began again, his voice ringing with authority, and more than a hint of anger, “now is not the time or the place for this sort of thing!”  He turned his eyes on Zero, flashing him a look that was a mix of anger and sorrow, then turned away, tossing Bloody Rose back over his shoulder as he went back into the waiting room.  Zero caught it easily, his eyes still fixed on Kain, then slipped it back into his jacket.

“Zero!”

Everyone whirled around at the voice.  Yuuki was standing in the doorway, staring in shock, but more at Zero or the huge cracks and chunks of loose plaster in the wall behind him no one could tell.  The Chairman tried to push her gently back into the waiting room, but she ducked under his arm and out into the hallway.  She marched right up to Zero, looking up into his eyes with a fierce expression that he couldn’t predict.  Everyone waited in silence, unsure what they should do or what would happen next.

“You smell like blood,” Yuuki commented suddenly.  “Didn’t you bandage those wounds?”

Zero was so surprised by the abrupt question that he didn’t know how to answer.  Yuuki grabbed his wrist and started to drag him off down the hall, shocking everyone else as well.

“Yuuki-sama-!” Ruka began, but Yuuki interrupted her.

“Oh, Kain!” she called cheerfully over her shoulder.  “Aidou is awake now!  He’s looking much better!”

Kain immediately hurried back into the nurse’s office, leaving the other vampires and the Chairman in the hall, still wondering what to do.

“Should we stop her, Cross?” Shiki asked uninterestedly.

Kaien hesitated, watching his adopted daughter still drag his adopted son down the hall.  He sighed, shook his head, and said, “I’ll give them one last chance to figure it out on their own.  I have faith in Yuuki…”



Zero was still partly numb as Yuuki dragged him into his room and shut the door behind him.  He let Yuuki push him over to the bed, where she sat him down.

“Take you shirt off,” she ordered.  “I need to bandage those wounds.  I can’t believe you didn’t do it yourself…”

Zero watched as she pulled a roll of gauze out of her pocket, unmoving.  He could see how much paler she was from the strength the Bloody Rose bullets had sapped from her, but she was acting just like… just like his Yuuki would act.  The question was building in his chest, painful, until he was sure he wouldn’t be able to contain it.

Yuuki felt him staring at her and glanced down at him.  “Well, take your shirt off, silly!” she said, smiling.  When she gave an amused laugh, Zero’s control shattered.

“Stop that!!” he shouted fiercely.

Yuuki blinked in surprise.  “Stop what-”

“Stop acting like nothing’s changed!” Zero screamed, standing.  He loomed over her, and she suddenly seemed much smaller and weaker.  He ignored the face she was making, the familiar, pain-filled, piercing eyes that he knew too well.  “Stop pretending like you didn’t give me these wounds and I didn’t give you yours!  We’re enemies now!  So stop!  Just…”  His voice failed him there, and he swallowed painfully.  “Don’t help me.  I… I hate you!!”

Yuuki was still staring up at him with those eyes… the same eyes she always gave him when she was afraid she’d hurt him.  It made him feel guilty.  He didn’t want to feel guilty.  Turning his face away, he sat back down on the bed, exhausted.  Yuuki still stared.  Zero turned onto his side, hoping to escape that piercing gaze.  It didn’t work.

“Why… do we have to be?”

“You’re a vampire.”

“So are you…”

“You’re a pureblood.”

“And...?”

“… And I hate purebloods.  I hate vampires.  And I’ll never stop hating them.”

“Zero… why?”

Zero squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth.  He was running out of reasons, and, even worse, resolve.  She sounded like his Yuuki.  She looked like his Yuuki.  She laughed like her, talked like her, smiled like her, even felt like her.  But she didn’t smell like his Yuuki.  She wasn’t his Yuuki.  His Yuuki was dead.  This girl, this… thing had killed her.

“Because I hate you.”

The vampire princess was silent for a long time, so long that Zero thought she might have left.  But then he heard a muffled sniffling noise.

No… he thought bitterly.  Please don't’…  He dared not look up, knowing what he would see.  “What are you crying for?” he demanded roughly instead.

“That’s no reason!” Yuuki cried.  “Why do you hate me?!  What have I ever done to you to make you hate me?  We’ve been friends for four years, and I know I’ve messed up a lot, and I’m so sorry for hurting you so many times, but…  Zero…  Why?!?”

“It’s just the way things are!” Zero hissed.

“It doesn’t have to be!” Yuuki argued.  “I still want to be your friend.  I still care about you, Zero!  I would do anything for you.”  She paused, waiting for him to speak.  When he remained silent, she sat down on the bed next to him, keeping her eyes on the roll of bandages in her hand as she began to unroll it.  To her relief, Zero remained perfectly still as she unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off his wounded arm.  The wound seemed fresh, like she’d just made with her Artemis blade.

I guess it’s because Artemis is still an anti-vampire weapon.  It still makes wounds harder to heal.

She had Zero sit up, and he complied without a word.  His eyes were glued to the floor, intense and brooding, but somehow broken.  He was quickly losing strength, not physical, but emotional.  He didn’t WANT to hate her, he didn’t WANT to be her enemy…

And he most definitely did not want to kill her.  

Yuuki bandaged his wounds in silence, and he was surprised how delicately she was doing it, like if she pressed too hard or pulled to tight he might shatter completely.  When she was finished, she didn’t move.  She just stayed where she was, sitting beside him on the bed, staring at the floor, and trying not to cry.  Every now and then, she would glance cautiously up at him, trying to gauge his expression and read his thoughts, but she simply couldn’t.  The silence stretched on.

Then, slowly, Yuuki scooted a bit closer, then a bit more.  Zero ignored her, even as she cautiously wrapped her arms around his neck in a tender hug.  She rested her head against his chest, still trying to fight the tears back.  But she failed in the end.  Burying her face in his chest, she wept bitterly, all her pent up frustration and pain pouring forth in large tears that soaked his shirt.  At first, Zero didn’t move, refusing in vain to give in.  But he too failed in the end.  Uncertainly at first, then with a bit more confidence, he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his cheek on her head.  He breathed in her scent.  She still smelled different, like a vampire.

But she cried like his Yuuki.

To Be Continued...