Once upon a time, there was a beautiful vampire princess, with hair as silver as moonlight and eyes as pink as cherry blossoms. More than anything, she longed for true love, but cruel fate betrothed her to a hateful and heartless prince who locked her up in a tower. The prince brought her humans to feed upon, but they were poor companions, full of fear and trembling. Until one day a man came who did not fear her, and in time her heart grew full with love for him. So great was her love that she could not bear for him to die, and so she made him a vampire and gave him her blood, and together they broke free from her cage.

But the cruel and jealous prince would not allow the princess to be happy without him, and so he ordered her lover's death, and cursed her to wander the earth alone, hungering for the love she could never have. In her rage, she savagely destroyed her lover's assassins, and in the madness of her grief, she attacked even the assassins' children. The first, she bit, meaning to swallow his life, but when she looked into his eyes, she saw her lover, and she could not kill him. In the second child's eyes, she saw herself, lonely, unwanted, and cursed, and so she carried him away with her, that they might console each other.

Pursued by vampires and hunters alike, and loved by no one save the stolen child, she fled from one lowly hiding place to another, until she could bear her misery no longer, and so offered her life and her power to one who promised revenge upon the cruel prince. And so the princess died, as all madly blooming flowers do, before her time. But her curse did not die with her.

Zero Kiryuu pressed his back against the rough bark of the ancient oak and prayed to be left alone. He had no hope that his prayer would reach any particular deity; he had given up on hope long ago, on the night when his life had been ended in one savage bite. But his eyes as he prayed were focused on the moon, that shining crescent that had always followed him, faithfully lighting up the darkness of his world.

"Zero?" Yuuki called softly.

Her voice was similar, and yet so different. It had that silken, predatory undertone now, like the fur of some sinuous jungle cat brushing past him in the night. She was a beast now, like them—like him. He had to remember that.

"I know you're there," she said. She was just on the other side of the tree now, stalking him like prey. "Do you need blood?"

"No!" Zero growled, overwhelmed with disgust and anger that only thinly covered the yawning well of fear within him. "No…"

It was no longer blood for which he thirsted. He couldn't tell her, of course. He would rather die than tell anyone what his traitorous body now craved, but Yuuki was the last person he would want to know. How ironic that it was her blood that had done this to him, changing from sweet nectar to bitter poison in the hunter's veins when her brother's fangs had pierced her throat. For Zero it had been like turning all over again, only this time he had sunk to a depth so low that even vampires looked noble by comparison. Why her blood had cursed him to this agony, he didn't know, and there was no one he could ask.

God, if only he had the courage to end it all… Zero squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to look at the moon anymore. It only illuminated the wretch he had become.

"I'm fine. Just go away," he forced out through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong, Zero? Why won't you talk to me?" There. That same plaintive desire to comfort him, the same one that had always worried its way through his defenses, and even though it sounded like a sick mimicry of itself, he could still hardly resist it.

"Did you think nothing would change?" he demanded with reckless desperation to drive her away. "It was your kind that destroyed my family."

He imagined that he could feel her pain at his words. But that, of course, was the old Yuuki, the one who only existed, now, in his memories, like the phantom pain of a limb that had been severed.

"You're lying," she answered. He groaned. "Please come out and talk to me, Zero. I still want to be friends. I still want to help you."

Zero slid to the ground. His uniform rode up and the rough bark scratched his back, but he couldn't get his legs to support him any longer. He struggled to form coherent words.

"Fine," he relented in a husky, breathless voice. "I will, but—tonight I need to be alone, and if you force yourself on me, then I won't forgive you."

There was a pause as she listened for the truth of his words. "All right, Zero," she murmured sadly. "If that's what you need."

Zero tried to run, he really did, but the ground kept tilting and swaying, knocking him down, until he was reduced to crawling, and before long he forgot where he was going and simply collapsed. Reality blurred into a confused kaleidoscope of thoughts and images. The only constants were the piercing hunger and cold that tormented him.

The hunter lay panting, sometimes groaning, in the light of the crescent moon that filtered through the veil of oak leaves, for how long he did not know. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that if he could only bear it long enough, the attack would pass. But this thought came and went like a reflection dancing on water.

How long he lay there alone, he could not know, but eventually he became aware that someone had joined him. There was someone warm and breathing, someone strong and alive. Zero was as helpless to resist the pull as a man falling through clear air.

It was while Aidou was out on his nightly rounds, patrolling the campus for signs of any incursions by strange vampires or hunters, that he discovered Zero Kiryuu's condition. For a time, he simply observed from the shadows, but when he realized that the icy prefect was nearly insensible, he crept forward, until he stood directly over Kiryuu, taking in his state with an amused little hum.

"Well, well," Aidou said to himself gleefully. "How the mighty have fallen."

He hadn't the faintest idea what might have induced this state in Kiryuu, but it was obvious from the scent the hunter was exuding—not to mention the way he was clawing the ground and panting—that he was suffering from a manic fit of lust.

Perhaps someone had hit him with a charm. Aidou almost wished he had thought of that himself. It was the perfect prank to play on someone as straight-laced and uptight as Kiryuu. Still, it must have been an awfully strong charm to reduce a vampire and hunter as strong as Kiryuu to this state. Anyone might have come along and killed the guy… Aidou frowned at that thought. Had someone meant to kill Kiryuu? Kaname wouldn't like that. He had plans for the hunter, Aidou knew, although he wasn't privy to them.

As he was mulling over these thoughts, Aidou realized that Kiryuu was not quite as out of it as he had been before. He seemed to be looking at Aidou, although not recognizing him. He would never have looked at Aidou like that if he knew who he was looking at. …Would he?

Aidou smirked. Perhaps he should take a picture to torment the asshole with after he had recovered. Kiryuu was so conceited; he'd probably die of mortification at the sight of himself rolling around on the ground panting.

Uh-oh. Now he wasn't just looking at Aidou, he was…oh, dear.

Zero crawled, dragging himself weakly along the ground to the source of heat, and then cuddled into it, rubbing himself against the warmth. It smelled so good, so delicious—he wanted to get closer… For some reason the warmth was trying to get away. Zero panicked. No no, he wouldn't be left alone again—he had been abandoned in dark, frozen solitude for an eternity, and he would die if he couldn't touch another living being.

"Whoa!" Aidou yelped as Kiryuu yanked his feet out from under him. Christ, even when he was a drooling mess, the guy was strong. Much stronger than any D had a right to be. "Damn it, Kiryuu, get your paws off me!"

The prefect made a keening little whine and sort of slithered up Aidou's body until he was sitting on the noble's thighs.

"Uhhh…" Aidou said, wondering how he was going to get out of this. Then Kiryuu started unbuttoning his pants and all rational thought fled.

The warmth was a man. Zero could tell because the chest under his wandering hands was flat and hard, and he moaned to himself as he felt his way down the warm, firm body to the crotch. It wasn't as though he couldn't see, but everything was fuzzy and blurry somehow, and if he had been able to focus on his hearing, he would have realized that it sounded like he was underwater. Everything was muddled and confused except for scent and taste and touch, and those senses burned so bright that they were all-consuming.

Zero craved so fiercely that thought was impossible; he was reduced to the state of an animal. All he knew was that he wasn't alone anymore, and he craved to taste another being, to hold him and be held, to be inside him or have him inside, anything, everything, all at once and again and again. He couldn't tell who the man beneath him was, but it didn't matter, because he was Zero's lover now, his dearest, his only, his everything.

Zero unfastened the frustrating barrier of clothing that separated him from his lover and exposed his manhood, coaxing it to life with his tongue and his lips. He was too incoherent to make a proper job of it; it was a sloppy affair—messy, dripping, juicy—wonderful. His lover's hand crept into Zero's hair and held his head in place, and Zero moaned, delirious with pleasure, and whimpered for more.

That was how Kain found them, a little while later, lying tangled together on the dirty ground, Aidou's hands fisted in Kiryuu's hair, Kiryuu whimpering around the noble vampire's manhood. It was those incongruous noises and the strong scent of arousal that he had come to investigate. What he found was beyond shocking. It was something he had seen before and hoped never to see again.

With a shock like icy water being dumped over his head, he was plunged back into that memory, when he had been a paralyzed child, unable able to move, to help—even to speak—and had been forced to watch his most precious person be violated. For a few seconds, he could do nothing but stare in dumbfounded horror.

Then he rushed forward, seized Kiryuu and wrenched him away from Aidou's grasp. He shoved the prefect away, and then he grabbed his cousin by the throat and pinned him against a tree.

"Wha—Kain!" Aidou spluttered. "What the fuck?"

"What the fuck?" Kain repeated disbelievingly. He didn't get upset often or easily, nor had he ever been particularly fond of the vampire hunter, but this was beyond the pale. "That's what I want to know, Hana! Just because you don't like a guy, you decide to rape him?"

Aidou paled, and his eyes widened. "What?! I didn't—I wouldn't—" He looked around frantically, as if there might be someone to help him. "Damn it, Aka, at least let me pull my pants up! I can explain."

Kain narrowed his eyes, but back off. Aidou zipped himself back up and wiped some sweat off his face. He couldn't seem to stop staring at Kiryuu, who was still lying where he had fallen. The prefect looked dazed and out of it, as if he had been drugged.

"You're telling me you didn't slip him something, you didn't lure him out here?"

"No, I didn't! I found him like that."

Kain's eyes blazed, and small flames danced around him for a moment. It took a moment to calm himself enough to put them out. He pinched the bridge of his nose and drew deep breaths.

"I—I mean—" Aidou began.

"Look at him!" Kain shouted, pointing at the silver-haired vampire hunter, who was now blinking around at the clearing with a confused expression. "Someone did that!"

"Y-yeah, I know, I thought maybe someone was trying to kill him…"

"So you decide to take advantage of it?"

"No! Damn it, Aka, do you really think I'm that kind of person?"

Kain looked his cousin over critically and said nothing.

Aidou looked flabbergasted. "Aka…I swear, I was just checking on him, and then—he knocked me over and ripped my pants off. What was I supposed to do? He wanted it! Look! He came!"

Kain glanced sideways at Kiryuu, who was now trying to sit up unsuccessfully. There was indeed a small stain on the front of the hunter's pants.

"Right. Zero Kiryuu, the same guy who pulled a gun in your face the last time you so much as touched him, suddenly decided he wants you."

"Yes!" Aidou shouted, stomping his foot. "He did! I don't know why, I guess he was drugged or charmed or something—I wasn't thinking, all right? But I didn't force him!"

Kain sighed wearily. "Just because you didn't force him doesn't make it okay, Hana. Christ…"

Aidou grumbled something unintelligible and kicked at the ground. Kain put his hands on his hips and shook his head. He felt relieved but also disturbed. If Aidou hadn't done this, then who had? Could it possibly have been an accident? Some hunter charm gone wrong?

There was a sharp intake of breath behind him, and he turned to see Kiryuu sitting up and looking cognizant at last. The violet-eyed hunter was looking back and forth between Kain and Aidou with a look of utmost shock and horror. His face was ghastly pale, and he was trembling slightly.

"Kiryuu…" Aidou began, moving toward him, but the prefect pulled his weapon, Bloody Rose, and leveled it at him unsteadily.

"Stay th' fuck away from me, vampire!" the boy snarled. His words were slurred, and the muzzle of the gun drifted up and down as though it were almost too heavy for Kiryuu to lift.

Kain hauled Aidou back and lifted his hands placatingly. "All right…take it easy…" he murmured. "No one's going to hurt you."

The hunter tried to get his feet under him, but his legs were obviously still wobbly, and he couldn't seem to manage standing, at least not while holding the gun on them. Kain bit his lip as the boy hit the ground for the second time, and dropped his gaze to his own feet. He had always known, in a vague sort of way, that Kiryuu had very beautiful and expressive eyes. He had mostly noticed it when those lavender orbs were flashing hatred and contempt at him. Just now it was too painful to keep watching Kiryuu try and fail to stand when he could so plainly read the shock, fear, rage, and humiliation in those eyes.

Aidou must have felt something of the same sentiment, because he tried to go forward and help Kiryuu up. Kain knew that was a bad idea, and so it proved when Kiryuu, despite being almost incapacitated, still managed to pistol-whip Kain's cousin across the face with a blow solid enough to knock the noble vampire over.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Aidou howled, clutching his cheek where the vampire weapon had burnt an impression into it. "Was that necessary? I was trying to help you!"

"Y'…done 'nough…help'ng…" Kiryuu growled. His words were even more slurred than before, and he had ceased trying to get up. It was all he could do to hold the gun on them.

Kain frowned. "Kiryuu-kun, we need to get you to a doctor before this gets any worse."

"No!" Kiryuu shouted. There was a flash of sheer, unadulterated terror in his eyes. "'ll…go 'way…on 's own. Please…" He swayed unsteadily on his knees. "Don' tell 'nyone."

"Kiryuu-kun, do you know who did this to you?" Kain asked.

The hunter nodded unsteadily. His head seemed to want to drop. "Yuuki," he muttered. Then the gun fell from his grip and he pitched forward, only just catching himself before his face hit the ground.

"Yuuki-sama?" Aidou repeated. The two cousins stared at each other in horror for a second. That put a whole new spin on things. Kain blew out a gusty breath.

"We can't just leave him here," Kain observed.

Aidou nodded, looking worried.

"But we can't just dump him in his dorm, either. What if someone else stumbles on him?" Kain continued.

"We could take shifts watching over him," Aidou suggested.

Kain paused. "I'll do it," he said.

"Damn it, Aka, for the last time—"

"Hanabusa." Kain gave his little cousin a stern look. "You've done enough, don't you think?"

Aidou looked irritated, but he shrugged. "Fine. Less work for me. I'll just finish patrolling, shall I?"

The world swayed and tilted nauseatingly as Zero tried to lift his head. He couldn't seem to get it free of the ground. He couldn't lift his gun, either, but he stubbornly maintained contact with it. The Bloody Rose was his last vestige of control.

The dark, vampiric aura nearby lessened suddenly, and Zero blinked, looking around as best he could. There was only one pair of legs where there had been two before. The legs appeared to be horizontal, but Zero reminded himself, dazedly, that he was the one who was horizontal.

He had to get a grip, but it was so hard. He felt as though he'd drunk a whole bottle of some vile liquor and then bashed his head into a wall several times. It was always like this, afterwards, but usually he slept through it. Falling asleep here, however, was out of the question.

"Kiryuu-kun," Kain said, moving closer to the fallen prefect and crouching down so the boy could see him. He noted that Kiryuu's hand was still on his gun, although he couldn't seem to grip it. "Aidou's gone. It's just me now. Kain. I'm going to take you back to your dorm, all right?"

A grunt was the only reply.

"All right, then," Kain said, mostly to himself. He picked up the gun, gingerly, hissing as the hunter metal burned his fingers. Kiryuu grunted angrily at the loss. Kain stowed it swiftly in the hunter's shoulder holster. "There, see? You still have it," he murmured.

Another grunt. This one sounded peevish.

"Now, let me just…" Kain slid one arm under Kiryuu's back, and another under his knees, and hoisted him. The man was heavier than he looked, packed with solid muscle, but Kain wasn't a noble vampire for nothing. The prefect dangled from Kain's arms like a boneless rag doll, and the sight of that smooth, ivory neck, together with the last vestiges of pheromones in the air, did not pass by Kain's notice. He determinedly fixed his eyes elsewhere.

With a light patter of feet on fallen leaves, Kain ran swiftly through the woods, his movements carefully controlled so as not to transfer any force to Kiryuu's body. When he reached the campus proper, he stuck to the shadows, using his innate vampiric affinity for darkness to help hide them. There didn't seem to be anyone around to see anything, but it never hurt to be careful.

He told himself these efforts were on Yuuki's behalf, but at the moment he felt a great deal more sympathy for Kiryuu's plight than for hers. If she really had done this, she must have been incompetently trying to seduce Kiryuu, or else she simply had a greater streak of cruelty than Kain had ever realized.

At last, Kain made it into the boys' dorms, and located the prefect's room by the lingering scents of Yuuki and Cross. Inside, Kain laid Kiryuu carefully on the bed, and took his shoes off. The hunter seemed to awaken a bit at this, and began to move a little.

"All right…it's okay…" Kain soothed nonsensically. He decided not to try removing any of Zero's clothing, but just slid him under the covers. "There. Just go to sleep. I'll make sure no one disturbs you."

Two slivers of violet fixed themselves on Kain with hostility and suspicion, and Kain smiled with what he hoped was reassurance. It was distressing somehow to see Kiryuu fighting so hard in such a weakened state, when there was no need for it. A moment later, the hunter's eyes fell shut again, but it was impossible to know whether he had decided to trust Kain, or whether he had simply succumbed to exhaustion.

AN: My intention for this story is to have fun pairing Zero with a number of different people but for him to wind up very eventually in a stable relationship with BOTH Kain and Kaname. I am working full time and writing a dissertation, so I am not updating quickly, and I make no promises.