Title: The things you do to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight, this is a fanfic written for fun and for love of the series. I'm not making any money with it.
Warning: Angst. And spoilers to various chapters, especially 35.
(Please don't kill me, Yuuki fans? XD; I really like her too, and normally don't think she'd ever do this like that, (I don't think Zero would either, he's too honest for that) but... the evil plot-bunny demanded it, and there are distinct times where she does pretty cruel things to Kaname without noticing that she's hurting him, so...)

My ideal ship for VK would be if the trio could end up together in the manga, so that they can all be happy instead of one of the three inevitably being alone if Yuuki only picks one of them. So please no hating on either pairing in the reviews. ^^;

Summary: A few years after the academy, Kaname and Yuuki are happily married… Or are they? Zero still loves Yuuki, and Kaname is furious to suddenly realize something absolutely unthinkable has been going on right under his nose. Drama, short series.

Pairings: Kaname x Yuuki, Zero x Yuuki.

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"If you plan to cast me away…" Kaname's voice was shaking, distorted to the point of sounding almost husky, but it wasn't just the strain of the physical pain that was doing it.

Yuuki clutched the bar on the side of the bed, burning with guilt and shame but not allowing herself to speak until he was done. It wrenched her heart to see him so desperate.

That pain too, would be part of her punishment. She sobbed, eyes filled with tears but kept open and focused on his pained expression as he went on and said the one thing she never expected to hear.

"Then, I have a last request… I want to die by your hand."

The shock upon hearing his words was such that Yuuki lost her voice for a moment. She was still desperately clutching the bar on the side of the bed, but her hands felt completely numb and cold like the horrified shiver that ran up her spine. Her mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out, a silent exclamation of shock dying on her lips before any sound could be formed.

What? What had he just asked of her? She had pushed him that far?

"Ka…Kaname…" Oh my God, what did I do to him….? "No, oh no, Kaname… I… I could never… I would never…"

But she couldn't order her thoughts enough to make any sense, and just went silent again, tears streaming down her face harder than before, violent sobs shaking her body and making it difficult for her to try to speak or even keep her eyes open.

At the face of her renewed silence, Kaname pushed further.

"Leaving me alive after having cast me away would be more cruelty than I think you capable of, my love. Or at least, that's what I would like to believe, although it's a little hard to have any hopes of mercy by now. However if I die by your hand, it will at least be less painful or unpleasant than it would be if you force me to do it myself or by other means."

Everything seemed to get to Yuuki through a filter, as if she was trapped under water and the sounds came through sounding muffled, impossibly unreal even as she saw Kaname's lips moving and heard each word.

Kill him? 'Mercy'? And he would kill himself if I don't kill him? No! NO, NO!

Her arms let go of the bedside bar and flew up to her sides, hugging herself and struggling as if to break out of the daze she was caught in, but all she managed was to choke on her tears and have a fit of coughing mixed with her sobs, chest heaving as she fought the choking to try and regain her voice, to try and call out to him.

Kaname somehow managed to hold back on the protective urge he automatically felt when he saw her coughing so hard. He suppressed the instincts that told him to comfort her and instead continued pushing further on. It wasn't enough yet. He had to go a little farther.

"If… If you can't do it by your hands, I suppose you could always have… Zero do it."

No! What are you saying… Oh, Kaname!

She was no longer choking, but she was still out of breath, and much more importantly, the things he said and the idea that he could be that desperate created a tight knot inside her, the guilt tearing at her so brutally that she still could not find her words. She clung onto his bedside again, crumbling under the weight of it all, his pain echoing into her more real than ever as she realized more and more what she had caused. She sobbed hard, dropping her forehead onto the mattress, her delicate frame convulsing with the sheer strength of the despair racking her body.

A soft warmth touched her cheek. He was trying to wipe her tears away, but the pain made his movement clumsy and slow.

"Don't cry Yuuki… I'll always love you, you know… nothing you ever do to me would stop that. I told you before, a long time ago, when I confessed my love for the first time."

She held onto his hand like there was no tomorrow, clinging to it and pressing it against her face, sobbing against it until she finally managed to gather herself and voice what she had been trying so hard to say.

"Kaname, I don't deserve your love! I don't deserve either of you!"

He just shook his head softly, denying it with a look of deep sadness.

"No Yuuki… I'm the one who failed you." He sighed painfully, head lolling to the side on the pillow, looking away to avoid her eyes as he continued, voice straining even further at the horrible confession of his assumed inadequacies "If I had been good enough, you wouldn't have gone for someone else. I wasn't… enough. And I didn't even know it, too drunk with happiness and blinded by it. I… I failed you, and I don't even know how or when."

Yuuki's mind was reeling, and she couldn't stand anymore, her knees weak from wave after wave of blinding despair. She held his hand between hers tightly, pressing her forehead onto the bed again, sobbing loudly.

"Ka…name… please stop this! What can I do for you to ever forgive me? Is it even possible that you will forgive me?"

This.

She finally understood.

Kaname's eyes had narrowed slightly, his gaze hardening for a second, and when Yuuki looked up, she saw a ghost of an ambiguous almost-smile on his lips.

Coming from Kaname and aimed at Yuuki, it would never be a cruel smile, but… there was something distinctively different in it, that strongly set it aside from the unguarded way he normally smiled at her. There was something very different in the air.

The turning point might have been when he had seen just how serious and determined to die Zero had been. Through the pain, through the fear of losing Yuuki and all the horror of her betrayal, somehow along the way, Kaname had stopped his fall into utter despair and found his footing again. He was the one in a position of power now. And he knew exactly the effect his words were having.

When their eyes met, she saw the confirmation of what she had come to understand.

This would be her punishment.

Kaname would never hurt her, never lift a finger against her physically or mentally. But his own pain and despair were the very best punishment for Yuuki, as the guilt ate her inside with the horrifying realization of just how far she had hurt him with her betrayal.

She was taken aback, not daring to even break contact with his eyes. She was both slightly afraid and absolutely relieved to see that perhaps there was a way out of the nightmare, and that maybe she didn't ruin it all to the point where Kaname wouldn't recover. If he was able to look at her that way, then sooner or later, he would be okay. And even if he never forgave her, even if he threw her away as she felt she deserved, she would find solace from her suffering in the knowledge that he would eventually be whole again.

She was still clinging to his hand, determination in her eyes. She would take whatever punishment he saw fit.

"What should I do, Kaname? Just tell me and I'll do anything."

At that, Kaname cocked his head slightly and hesitated for a second, not because he hadn't planned his next question already, but because it was going to be a painful one to voice, even though he was convinced it was the only solution that would truly make things work.

Yuuki did need punishment, but above all else, Kaname only wanted her happiness. He could never be happy himself if she wasn't happy.

And so, he cast pride and vengefulness aside and told her his decision, to which they would stick, no matter how much she was taken aback and worried when she heard it.

Three months later…

Two toasts popped up, light-brown and smelling deliciously tempting to the sensitive senses of the two hungry vampires wanting to get breakfast.

Kaname reached to take the one closest to him, and his fingers brushed lightly against another hand that had moved for the same toast on same time.

Both hands made a hasty retreat, and pureblood and hunter eyed each other quickly.

"Sorry, you go first, Kaname." Zero looked much more embarrassed than anyone normally did over toast, but then, he had a tendency to look that way whenever he worried that he might have invaded Kaname's personal space.

The pureblood didn't comment, and pulled one of the toasts out, setting it down on his plate before spreading his favorite imported pêche-de-vigne preserves on it, grabbing a cup of coffee and moving into the nearby dining room. Meanwhile, Zero slated the second toast with his own choice of topping –today it was a thick acacia honey- and poured himself a cup of juice before following him.

The sunset colored the wall of the dining room with beautiful hues of pinkish orange and purple as night approached. The two vampires ate peacefully, the silence occasionally interrupted by small talk about their schedule and plans for the night. Kaname was surprised to find Zero particularly sociable that evening, talkative and initiating conversation more often than he normally did. For several weeks after Zero had moved in, he behaved like a rock on a china shelf, out-of-place and wary of his every movement and of the pureblood's sensibilities, waiting for Kaname to speak first and trying to stay out of his way as much as possible. It had gotten to the point that it was strongly bothering Kaname, so the progressive change into a more relaxed behavior was rather welcome.

Now that the hunter was finally starting to open up a little bit, the pureblood more and more often found - with surprise- that Zero was a much more pleasant company than he had expected. They were making considerable progress, getting to the point where they could pleasantly converse and smile almost normally, even while sitting at the smaller table they used for breakfast, and where the closer proximity made things slightly more difficult.

Zero had even stopped doing that thing he did when both went for a door on same time and he retreated instantly to let Kaname pass first. Much as it may stroke the pureblood's pride, it also annoyed him.
But then, Kaname had issues himself, and was still working on dropping the instinctive death glare he automatically put on each of the rare times he found Zero on the bed before him.

The hunter was bringing refills of juice and coffee for them from the kitchen when they heard the front door closing, before Yuuki's musical voice chimed in.

"Sorry I took so long, guys! I had to special order it because they don't make those this late in the day, the shop was almost closing."

She tossed on a chair her coat and handbag and made her way towards the two, setting a pastry shop box down on the table and taking her seat between them.

She opened the box and pushed it towards the center of the table, addressing a shy smile to each of them. "Croissants, anyone?"

Zero politely refused, being already on his second toast, and Kaname had a bite of the croissant Yuuki was eating.

They were now living mostly in vampire hours. Two days a week all three would switch to human schedule for the sake of Yuuki's –and in part, Zero's— love for sunlight, but the rest of the time they stuck to the night. Zero's schedule as a hunter made that day or night didn't matter much, and being up by night rather than by day made Kaname's life remarkably easier, so Yuuki and Zero readily adjusted to his schedule.

They had been living together ever since the day Kaname came out of the hospital.

Even though Yuuki had been deadly afraid that it would have tragic results and Zero had kept insisting that it was absolutely impossible for him to accept the idea, both had conformed to Kaname's decision and obeyed, Zero moving into their apartment and all three struggling to get used to life as a trio rather than a couple. Or as a double couple more than a trio, since both males very much orbited around Yuuki while somewhat ignoring each other whenever possible.

Everyday life was far from easy, but little by little, all three were adapting, despite initial reticences and difficulties each of them had, especially when it came to the idea of sleeping in the same bed – Yuuki was convinced that one day, tragedy would strike as one or the other rolled around and brushed against the other while putting an arm over her or something. But it didn't happen, each just occupying one side of the bed with Yuuki in between them like a frontier separating two countries - while clinging onto the hope that no war between them would start.

With the three peacefully having breakfast together like this, Yuuki finally had hope that it would all be okay and that all three of them could find happiness without having to ever rely on lies again.

Wherever there was love, there was hope. She loved them with all her heart, and was loved back the same way, so perhaps now they were all on the right path.

And who knows, maybe one day they would be even more than just two guys sharing the same girl... Yuuki was surprised and amused one evening when she had caught an admiring look on Zero's face as the hunter watched Kaname getting dressed, his gaze lingering a moment too long on the pureblood's chiseled backside, which happened to be very naked at that moment.

She could relate very well to the feeling she saw in his eyes...

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x-X-x The End x-X-x

Unexpected happy end? XD;; lol

Sorry if it didn't live up to expectations? XD;;

Also, I wanted to put a hint of possible threesome future in it, but didn't want to make it blatant since this one wasn't a yaoi fic, but well, it's there a little. I don't think it's possible to live under the same roof than Kaname –sharing Yuuki or not—and not feel certain temptations regardless of the sexual orientation Zero believes he has. LOL XD