~The Nutcracker~

By: Aerys Krystie.

Theme: AU.

Plot: Set to the ballet 'The Nutcracker', but with less dancing and music, and more sex between two males. Zero is 'Clara', who receives the Nutcracker, and goes on the psychedelic trip.

Warnings: Language, violence, death, OC and OOC. Oh and sex between males.

Disclaimer: Everything of and referring to Vampire Knight and The Nutcracker do not belong to me. This is a fan-based, non-profit story. Please support the official releases.

A/N: This story does contain Kurenai Tsuki. Because those who know my other works will know that there is no one better who likes to screw around with Zero. And I also read a friend's story titled 'Sugar Plum', which I think might follow a loosely based transcription of the original, but it's still awesome nonetheless.

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Act I – Scene I

Kiryu Zero wasn't one for the Christmas festivities. The less he had to do with them, the happier he was. He could hear the guests of his parents downstairs, decorating the giant tree they had every year. The children of those guests were upstairs, with him and his brother. They did not speak to him, however. Zero made it clear that he did not want to be near them, at all. Ever. Period. His brother lay on his bed, reading a book and also ignoring their guests. Ichiru usually got into the spirit of Christmas, and that year was no different.

Ichiru was dressed in red jeans, a green sweater and had gold accessories. He had painted a miniature tree on his left cheek, and a candy cane on the right. The book he was currently reading was 'A Christmas Carol'. Zero glanced at the book he had been reading, and wondered how he and his brother could be so different.

The other children were dressed in their Sunday second best clothing. The Kiryu family was well known, but such an occasion did not call for full formal attire. It was a get together, and nothing more. Zero had barely been bothered to pull pants on when he heard the doorbell ring. But he knew that his mother would be upstairs soon, and would tell him to dress for guests. So Zero had spent the last five minutes staring into his closet, trying to find something that would keep his mother happy, and not make him feel like a monkey.

Zero finally settled on a pair of black jeans, and a white button down shirt. He pulled on his favorite books, and sat on the edge of his bed. Ichiru groaned, rolled over and closed the book. He had memorized it, and Zero didn't understand why he read it every year – twenty-four times.

"So, what has you looking so gloomy?" Ichiru asked, studying his brother. He knew that Zero disliked that time of year. He always had, for as long as Ichiru could remember.

"It's Christmastime," Zero answered, as though he was stating the obvious. And as far as he was concerned, that was a damn good reason as to why he was gloomy.

Ichiru laughed. "Keep that attitude up, and you could be visited by three spirits."

Zero forced himself not to roll his eyes. He was also dreading one of the guests. The man usually brought brilliant toys with him, all handmade and crafted with beauty. Zero, however, did not enjoy last year's gift from the man. He had received a blow up sex doll, complete with male attachments. Ichiru had teased him about for months.

"Well, if they did visit me, I would send them your way. You seem to be only one who cares about being visited by three ghosts, anyway. And why would they want to see me? I'm not a scrooge."

Ichiru sighed and shook his head. "But you lack the Christmas spirit!" he declared. "You don't get excited for anything, these days. And to tell you the truth, it's kind of a downer. I've seen planks of wood with more personality than you at times. I've also seen sticks that have a bigger libido."

Zero narrowed his eyes. "What is it?" he barked, when someone knocked on the door.

The door timidly opened, and a pair of large brown eyes could be seen. "I just wanted to know if you wanted something to drink. We've been here for an hour, and neither of you have come out," she said quietly.

"No, thank you, Yuuki. I think we'll be fine," Ichiru said kindly.

Yuuki nodded, and closed the door. Zero glanced at his brother. The only reason he liked Christmas was because Ichiru seemed to change during the festive season. He was happier, kinder and a lot less of a douchebag than usual. Although Zero was getting a little tired of his brother's rants about how demons are trying to take over the world.

"How much longer is it going to take them to finish the tree? It doesn't take this long normally!" Ichiru whined like a hurt puppy, and flopped back on the bed.

Zero shrugged. The longer it took the better, in his eyes. It was the same every year, anyway. And there were no extremes that Zero hadn't gone to get out of it, either. He even tripped down the stairs, dislocating his right shoulder and left wrist. Unfortunately he was able to return home the same night. He dropped a toaster into the bathtub, but forgot to plug it in, so he just stood there like an idiot. He had even tried antagonizing lions at the local zoo. All that got him was a lifelong ban, and endless teasing from his brother.

It seemed that someone was working against him. And Zero knew how insane that sounded. But considering he had tried a lot of crazy ideas in the past to get out of this Christmas tree thing, and none of them had worked, he was almost certain he was not insane. At first he had thought it was Ichiru, who was preventing him from missing it. But Zero couldn't see his little brother invoking the powers of darkness just to stop him from attending a Christmas.

So that left Zero with no suspects, and a long record of failed 'suicide' attempts. From down the stairs, Zero could hear their mother calling them and the other children down. With a deep breath, Zero got ready to face the music, as it were. He knew it was going to take almost all night, but if he was lucky someone might die and put a halt on the celebration. And now he was beginning to think he was delusional.

Zero trudged downstairs, glaring at his mother for making him attend. She smiled back at him. Once in the living room, Zero barely gave the tree a glance. He looked at the time, and saw that it was nearing eight o'clock. He paid more attention to the owl clock, than to what anyone else was saying. He looked around the room and saw that the toymaker was missing. He was usually downstairs when Zero got there.

The clock chimed eight times, and the room went dark. All that was lighting the spacious area was the Christmas tree, which glowed pale blue. Thirty seconds later, there was a puff of smoke and the lights came back on. In the center of the room was the toymaker. A handsome young man, with nothing better to do in his spare time than to make toys for obnoxious, spoilt brats.

Godfather of Ichiru and Zero, Kurenai Tsuki was a 'magician'. He enjoyed using simple parlor tricks to enter the simple minded children that visited the house every Christmas. And until last year, that was Zero's only form of entertainment. That and Tsuki's lack of tact.

Tsuki's dark green eyes scanned the crowd. He sat on a giant box, wrapped in brightly colored paper. He was dressed as though he had stepped out of the eighteen hundreds. His eyes landed on Zero, and a smirk danced across his face.

"Toymaker Tsuki! I didn't think we would see this year!" a little girl of six exclaimed happily, waiting to see what tricks Tsuki had planned for them that night.

"Shut up, kid," Tsuki said, not looking at her.

Zero snickered quietly. Tsuki was not known for caring about anyone other than his godsons. Many of the parents had grown accustomed to this, and many of the children just ignored his harsh words. It amused Zero, though.

"So we'll start this party off with a life size doll," Tsuki said as he got off the box. He opened the top, and a doll dressed like Harlequin stood up.

Zero blinked as Tsuki got the doll out of the box. It twitched, as though it was robotic and sprung to life. The other children, Ichiru included, cheered joyfully as Harlequin danced around for their entertainment. His movements were like water, and eventually his dance came to an end.

"Why am I allowed to live?" Harlequin asked, before Tsuki shoved the doll back into the box.

Zero smirked. He watched as the next toy that Tsuki brought out was a female, in a pink tutu. She moved like a fairy, hardly touching the grounds. The girls were enthralled with her. They squealed with delight when the doll patted them on the head.

When her little dance came to an end, she went over to the box. "Thank you for waiting…my love."

Tsuki couldn't shove her in the box fast enough. He removed a red sack. "So, who has been good and who has been naughty?" he asked, raising an eyebrow when the children said they had all been good. He was a demon, and the amount that those children lied could put him to shame, almost. "Right."

Ichiru waited for his gift. He had cherished each toy he had received from Tsuki, knowing they were one of a kind. His eyes lit up when Tsuki handed him a box. The demon didn't bother with handing Zero one, but instead threw it to the boy. The children screamed excitedly as they tore off the colorful paper.

Zero looked at his gift. It was nine inches, and his mind immediately flashed to something horrible. Did Tsuki get him a dildo? He glared at his godfather, who just smirked and continued to hand out presents until the sack was empty.

Upon further inspection of the gift, Zero came to see that it was not possible for it to be a dildo. He tenderly removed the paper, a little frightened of what might lurk beneath the festive colors. Zero blinked as he stared at the wooden doll in his hands. Did Tsuki mistake him for a girl?

"He is not a doll, Zero," Tsuki said, standing beside the platinum teen. "He is a nutcracker. I gave him to you, because I figured you would take better care of him than your brother."

Zero turned the nutcracker over in his hands. Tsuki had spared nothing when it came to the details. Brown hair, wine eyes that looked sad, and a white uniform. Even the hands were finely detailed, down to the manicured fingernails. Zero brushed the brown bangs out of the eyes, and felt something flutter in his chest.

"Did you name him?" Zero asked. If he had to name the doll – nutcracker – he had no idea what name he would pick.

"I will allow him to tell you his name," Tsuki replied, and went to mingle with the adults.

Zero frowned at Tsuki's cryptic words. He felt a smile cross his lips when he looked back at the nutcracker. Something was wrong with him. Usually Tsuki gave him money, or a violent video game. Why was that year any different? What had changed?

Ichiru stepped over to Zero, and looked at his brother's present. "Wow. Tsuki did a masterful job on your gift. Wanna trade?" He held up Pharaoh Fighter, the new game from LittleKuriboh productions. The game that Zero had been waiting for.

"No, I don't think I will," Zero said absently.

Zero kept his hands on the nutcracker all night. He barely spoke a word to anyone that tried to get his attention. He decided to crack a few hazelnuts, and instantly felt bad. He didn't want to chip any teeth. And when that thought crossed his mind, Zero realized that he was a little insane. It was a piece of wood, and he was worried about chipping it?

Ichiru tried several times to get Zero to trade presents with him, and all of his attempts failed. At one point, he snatched the nutcracker from Zero's hands, and tore the head off. Zero's eyes flashed with rage, and he pounced onto his brother. It was the first time the brother had gotten into a fist fight during the celebrations.

Tsuki picked up the two pieces of the nutcracker, and repaired it. He waited five minutes before telling Zero that it was fixed. It wasn't that he was a sadistic demon. But it was very rare that he got to see two teens beating the piss out of each other, over something as trivial as a broken toy.

Zero looked up when he heard Tsuki's voice. It seemed to be the only sound that cut through the noise of the adults telling him to stop, and the children screaming. He got to his feet and took the nutcracker. He looked at the clock when it chimed out that it was ten o'clock, as though that had some kind of significant meaning.

The visitors said it was time they headed home, and that they had a wonderful time. Aside from the child violence that had happened. Tsuki was the last to leave. He said farewell to Ichiru and the parents, but he asked that Zero walk him out.

Zero hesitated. Why did Tsuki want to talk to him alone? Did he do something wrong? Zero doubted the latter was true. He had been well behaved, despite trying to beat his brother's face in with his bare fists.

Zero nodded, and followed Tsuki out the front door. The snow was falling lightly, and Zero shivered. They stood on the front stoop for a few moments, before Tsuki finally decided to speak.

"I want you to take good care of him, Zero. I created him with one purpose." Tsuki lowered his eyes. "He has two holes, by the way. Feel free to play with them!" Tsuki waved, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Zero's eyes were still wide at his godfather's last words. He blinked, trying to wrap his head around it, and failing. He looked at the toy, and sighed. Of course Tsuki would say something like that. He was always telling Zero that he needed to masturbate more. And unfortunately, that piece of information was usually shared in front of large crowds.

Zero shook his head. It was getting late, and he was starting to feel tired. He went back into the house, locked the door and went upstairs. By the time he got up, Ichiru was already asleep. Zero placed the nutcracker on his bedside chest, and stripped off. He looked over his shoulder, feeling as though someone or something was watching him. All that was there was the nutcracker.

Zero shook his head. Tsuki had put a load of weird thoughts into his head, with all his begging to Zero to make sure he 'took care' of the nutcracker. Was Tsuki worried that Zero would overuse it? If it broke after a time, then it was well used. If it broke the next day, then Zero would be pissed.

Zero got under the covers of his bed. He looked at the nutcracker, wondering when it would tell him its name. And again, he cursed Tsuki for putting strange thoughts into his head. "Good night, nutcracker. I hope to hear your name soon," he said, and closed his eyes.

Zero was asleep within seconds. He was unaware of what was happening downstairs, to the toys around the Christmas tree. There were the faint sounds of marching, chanting and a drumbeat. If Zero had listened for a few minutes before falling asleep, he would have noticed his nutcracker sitting up, and looking around.

End Scene I.

And that is the first chapter. I'm hoping to make it three or four scenes to each act. Anyways, enough of the boring stuff! Tell what you think, and I'll get around to posting the next chapter. How badly do you want it? Huh? Huh? Huh? HUH?!

Anyways, it is good to be back in the VK section. I have missed it, and I hope people have missed me. Pay not attention to the work-in-progress story I currently still have up.

But yeah. Leave your thoughts in the form a review. Same goes for questions. If I think it will be a spoiler, I will PM you directly with answers. Until the next one!

Have a great day!