Hello everyone and welcome to the sixth chapter of Crimson Roses! As usual I would like to thank you all for your reviews, you guys are the greatest! So, on with the story…

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE KNIGHT…

Crimson Roses/ chapter six

The Bloody Rose fell from Kaname's shaking hands, and fell with a soft thud to the floor. Zero's head slowly moved downward looking his eyes looking curiously at his shirt, a dark stain was forming at the center of his chest. Zero took a step forward, his arms outstretched. "Kana…me…" Zero's eyes seemed to roll back into his head as he fell backwards. Kaname moved faster then he ever had before and caught Zero right before his body met with the unforgiving ground. "Zero!?" Kaname cried, shaking the younger teen, "Zero, open your eyes, please Zero." Kaname implored. Zero gave no response.

'Oh God, he's not breathing!'

Kaname brought his wrist to his mouth and tore the skin with his teeth, he sucked out the blood from the wound until his mouth was full. Kaname tipped Zero's head back and placed his mouth over Zero's slightly parted lips, his blood streaming from his mouth into Zero's. "Come on swallow…" Kaname whispered…"Swallow…" Kaname ran his fingers over Zero's throat forcing him to swallow. Kaname sighed with relief. "He'll be okay in a minute…" After a few seconds that seemed like hours, Kaname still couldn't hear any breathing.

…and he couldn't hear the blood flowing in his body…

Tears fell from Kaname's eyes as he tore away Zero's blood covered shirt. The wound hadn't closed as it should have, and Kaname could smell his own blood leaking out of the wound. "No!" Kaname cried, pressing his hands over the wounds, trying in vain to keep the teens blood in. "Oh, God, no!" Kaname dropped his head on Zero's chest, his tears mixing with Zero's blood, "Please don't leave me."

Kaname felt someone touch his shaking shoulder. "Kaname." He heard Zero's voice whispers softly. Kaname looked at Zero's lifeless body, "Zero?" Kaname asked, 'He's alive!' Overcome with joy, Kaname hugged Zero's body to him. "Come on, let's go home." Kaname smiled as he picked up Zero's body and gently laid him on the bed. "I've got to find some cloths, and then we'll go, okay?"

Not once had Zero answered him….

Someone was clutching his hand. Kaname's eyes fell to his hand, his gaze slowly moving up the person's arm, to the shoulder blade, and to the person's face, which wore a sympathetic smile. "Zero?" Kaname asked, the confusion obvious in his voice. Kaname jerked his head towards the bed where Zero lay.

"Kaname….thank you…" Zero said, kissing Kaname on the cheek. "I'm sorry, but I cannot live in that body, it was so contaminated with that man's organs inside of me it was nothing more then a cage."

'He's dead.' Kaname thought. 'He's really dead…and I killed him!'

"No." Zero whispered, "You didn't kill me, you set me free." Zero brushed away Kaname's tears. "It's time for me to go." Zero said, and Kaname could see that Zero, who had appeared so solidly, just a moment ago, was now transparent. Kaname tried to touch Zero's face, but his hand went through. "Please stay with me." Kaname begged. "I'm sorry, so sorry for what I did to you, just please stay with me."

"I can't Kaname."

Kaname burst into tears and he turned away from Zero. Kaname bent down and seized the Bloody Rose. "If you can't stay with me, then I'll go to where you're going." Kaname pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple. One shot to the head, it would painless and he and Zero would be together forever.

"Stop it Kaname."

Kaname pulled the trigger, a loud clicking was the only thing he heard.

"The gun's empty Kaname."

Enraged, Kaname threw the gun across the room.

"Hey, " Zero said, calm down, you're a pureblood vampire, try to maintain some composure." Kaname looked at Zero and despite everything that was happening managed a smile. "Tell your brother I said 'Hello'."

Zero smiled back. "Open your mouth." Zero commanded.

Without hesitation, Kaname did as Zero asked. Even though Kaname couldn't touch him, Zero could still touch Kaname, Zero placed his wrist under Kaname's sharp fangs and jerked his wrist up. Kaname didn't feel his teeth break the skin nor could he taste any blood. Zero moved his wrist around, and it was obvious that whatever Zero was doing was painful. Zero took his hand away, and showed his bleeding arm to Kaname. Zero had used Kaname's fangs to carve a cross shape onto his wrist, and already the wound had sealed, but the mark remained. "Time to sleep." Zero told Kaname, and almost instantly the purebloods eyes closed and his body pitched forward, landing hard on the floor of the house he had been 'born' in.

"Good bye Kaname." Zero noticed a very bright light on the balcony, he gazed into, the light which should have been blinding was warm and inviting. And in that light he saw his parents and brother, all of them smiling, waiting for him. Zero looked back at Kaname, a single tear fell down the vampires cheek "I'll miss you." He whispered and then stepped out into the snow and into the embracing light.

When Kaname had awoken Zero was nowhere to be found, even though he was sure he had been there moments before. "Zero?" Kaname called. And then he realized the cold truth. Zero had appeared before him to say goodbye. His once beautiful body had been tainted with the body parts of another.

"It had become a cage." Zero had said.

Kaname understood, when he had fired the Bloody Rose, the bullet hit his heart. Being a vampire, it didn't kill him right away, but Kaname knew that Zero was suffering, trapped in that body, forced to watch from some deep corner of his mind that he was forced into, as Kazuhiko tortured Kaname.

Taking a deep breath, Kaname stood up, knowing what he would find on the bed, trying to brace himself for it. Where he had laid Zero only a short time before was nothing but a pile of ashes. Kaname couldn't hold back, as he felt his grief consume him. Walking around to the other side of the large bed, Kaname laid down next to what remained of Zero's body. Very carefully, he moved his arm over where Zero's shoulder would be, almost as if he were trying to embrace him.

Something small, and glistening faintly beneath the ash's caught Kaname's attention. "Sorry." Kaname apologized, moving the ashes until he found what he was looking for.

When ever a pureblood died, their body would seem to explode into tiny white shards, and then they would all simply disappear. When any vampire besides a pureblood died they became ash, yet Kaname had just found a white shard in his lovers remains. Kaname picked up the shard and cradled it to his chest, "Zero…." He whispered. "Let's go home…"

Kaname placed the crimson roses on Zero Kiryu's grave and bowed his head. It was a ritual that had been going on for the last six months, he came every week with flowers not only for Zero, but for the rest of the Kiryu's who laid resting peacefully in the cemetery. "Where ever you are Zero, I truly hope you're happy." Kaname said aloud.

"Kaname?" Someone called. Kaname looked up, standing at the gateway into the cemetery was Yuki, carrying four white flowers. Yuki ran to Kaname and embraced him, he could feel her small body shaking against his and it was taking everything for him not to cry himself. "Yuki." Kaname said, lifting her chin up, and gently brushing away her tears, "I owe you an explanation for so many things, and I hope that one day you will forgive me."

Yuki shook her head, "You don't need to apologize Kaname, I think…I think deep down I always knew about you and Zero."

Kaname gave Yuki a surprised look, "How?" He asked. Yuki knelt down in front of the graves of the Kiryu 's. "We were together for a year Kaname, and not once did you ever touch me." Yuki stepped around Kaname and placed a flower on Ichiru's grave. "Sure we would kiss and hold hands, but when you looked at me, you didn't see me."

Yuki stepped over to the last grave that held the remains of her childhood friend. Memories flooded her mind, memories of when they met and the four years they had spent together. Forcing back a sob, Yuki rose, and wrapped her arm around Kaname's neck, pulling him closer to her, and gently she kissed his cheek. "I love you Kaname, and I always will, but I understand your heart belongs to Zero. And nothing I can do will ever change that." Yuki turned away from Kaname, it hurt her to say these things to him, she had loved him all her life, but until now the phrase 'If you love something set it free.' Had meant nothing. So, for his own good she would set Kaname free, but a piece of her heart would always belong to him.

Kaname watched Yuki go, he knew he should feel sad, but he didn't. He hadn't felt anything in weeks, many times he had contemplated suicide, even though it was nearly impossible to kill a pureblood there were ways, but every time he thought about it Zero would appear in his minds eye, telling him 'Stop.'

"Zero…" Kaname whispered laying down on his lovers grave. "…I didn't tell you this but, the blood bond, doesn't fully control your emotions, it makes you be honest with yourself. So when you accused me of messing up your head….I just…" By this time Kaname was in tears. He had regretted turning Yuki into a vampire the moment after he had done it, the way Zero looked at him that night, he knew there was no way Zero would ever forgive him…

"Well, you always where hot tempered when it came to people you actually cared about."

Kaname stood up and looked around, trying to find where the voice had come from, "Who's there?" Kaname called. He didn't see anyone. "Must have been my imagination…" Kaname dropped back to his knees and laid down on his stomach, gently he kissed Zero's carved name in the marble stone, "I love you." Kaname reached his hand out past the roses he had placed on the grave and felt something sharp on his thumb. "Ow." Kaname flinched, "must have missed a thorn…" Kaname picked up the flowers to pick off the rogue thorn and saw a piece of paper, that he was almost sure hadn't been there before. Kaname unfolded the piece of paper and read;

"Nothing is ever lost, it can all be found if you know where to look."

There was no name on the paper, but Kaname had the feeling it wasn't just a random quote that someone had lost. Without warning a strong breeze picked up and blew the piece of paper out of Kaname's hands; "Hey, wait!" Kaname called, trying to grab the piece of paper, but it flew up beyond his reach, sighing he watched the small piece of paper sail away.

'Oh, well.' Kaname thought as he reached in through the top of his shirt pulling out a small glass container that was painted black and was made in the shape of a heart and attached to a thick gold chain that he wore around his neck, holding the glass container he smiled at it.

Within the glass was the shard, the only good thing that had come out of Zero being possessed was that his body thought he was a pureblood, and despite the truth had formed a single shard after Zero had passed away. Not once had Kaname not had that shard on him, the necklace, his private memorial.

And that's where the necklace stayed for the next fifty years…

After high school Kaname attended college, where he spent eight years learning how to become a pediatric doctor, and quite enjoyed working with children, but every few years he would have to pick up and move, it still hadn't been made known to the general public about the existence of vampires and God only knew what would happen if he was found out.

Children, no matter if they were humans or vampires, would feel safe around a pureblood, it was just instinctive, and Kaname really had loved the forty years he spent at each hospital, but then one day, he decided to go back to school and get his teaching license. Four years later, he took his first teaching job at Cross Academy, where Yuki Kuran had been instated as Headmistress after the passing of her adopted father several years prior.

The first day of school Kaname opened the door to his classroom and was surprised to see a mix of black and white uniforms. 'The classes are integrated now…' Kaname thought, looking around at his students. He knew the students in white would immediately know who he was, so he knew they would do whatever he asked of them without hesitation. 'How boring.' Kaname walked over to the windows and pulled down the thick shades. "Hello class." Kaname said pleasantly.

"Good Morning professor Kuran." The students said in unison. Kaname was even sure he heard a few students say "Sama." Kaname started walking up the far aisle on the left, "I'm not going to lecture you about, 'oh you're in high school now this is how you should behave' and blah blah blah…" All the students where watching their teacher as he walked up and down the aisle, telling them exactly what he expected.

When Kaname was about to the center of the room, he heard someone call out. "Professor Kuran, I have a question." The person called. Kaname looked to his right at a student with light blonde hair, wearing a black uniform. "Why do you keep messing with that necklace, is it like a nervous habit?"

Kaname smiled at the student, "And what's your name?" he asked.

"Rei." The student responded.

Kaname hadn't noticed he had been holding the glass heart, he always held it when he was talking to a large group because it had made him uncomfortable.

"Well, Rei, " Kaname said, "In my class, and just in case you didn't know, you are in my class right now so you will obey my rules, when a student has a question, they sit and raise their hand and wait quietly for me to call on them."

The class burst into laughter, but a look from Kaname silenced them. Rei gave Kaname a silent look of defiance but sat down and stuck his right hand high in the air, turning his arm backwards from how a student normally would raise his hand. Taking his time to walk across the room, Kaname's eyes never left Rei's when finally Kaname reached the place where the student sat, he bent down, making sure they where at eye level, "Yes?" Kaname asked. "Did you want to ask me something?"

"That necklace, why do you keep messing with it, a nervous habit perhaps?"

Kaname nodded, "I dislike talking in front of a large group of people. This necklace acts as a 'security'. " The whole time he told the student this he hadn't let go of the necklace. The student still had his hand up in the air, almost mockingly waiting for Kaname to tell him he could put his hand down. Kaname sighed, 'God this kid is going to annoy the hell out of me…'

"You can put your hand down…" Kaname said, he turned to walk away as Rei turned his arm to lay it down properly, and from the corner of his eye Kaname saw something on the students wrist. Faster then he meant to Kaname turned back and seized Rei's wrist, his mouth dropped. "Hey, what the hell?!" Rei shouted trying to pull his hand out of Kaname's grip.

Kaname stared at the birthmark on the teens wrist, the birthmark was in the shape of a cross…

"Nothing is ever lost, it can all be found if you know where to look."

Kaname let go of Rei's wrist and looked into his green eyes. For the first time in fifty years Kaname felt a tear swell up and fall from his eye. Kaname brushed it away, "Your name…." he said, his voice shaking slightly. "What does it mean?"

"It's Japanese." Rei said, "It means Zero."

Crimson Roses/ The End

Well everyone that's all for this story, it was short I know, and I left you with a cliff hanger, but there WILL be a sequel, so look forward to it! Thank you all for your reviews. Until we meet again.