Timeline: Perhaps just after Eternal Bond, in other words, in the very beginning of my Zeki head-canon.

Enjoy!

Ruby Red

~o~

Sometimes, the things Yuuki did to Zero made him want to tear his hair out, even if almost every single time he complied with her wishes.

It had been a normal Saturday morning; Zero was in the process of finishing his cup of coffee, dark and bitter, with an open newspaper open on his lap. Beside him, Yuuki was finishing painting her fingernails a fresh coat of red, the smell having absolutely no effect on her, though it definitely affected the sensitive-nosed vampire beside her. The silver-haired youth scowled at her over the Current Event's page. "Yuuki, do you mind?"

Without missing a beat, Yuuki looked up to grin at him, "Not at all!" before going back to the mission at hand.

Silver brows angled agitatedly at her less-than-innocent answer before he closed the paper, folded it up, and tossed it haphazardly onto the coffee table. Turning his body to face her, he looked at the offending bottle of 'Ruby Red' and plucked it and the brush out of her hands and capped it. "Well I do."

Her distressed cry followed that and she turned to glare at him, reaching for the bottle once more as he put it just out of her reach. "Zero, come on, give it back!" This exchange happened for minutes before the brunette gave up, grumping and huffing to herself as she sat cross-legged, arm-folded-over-chest pouting at the wall.

Satisfied, Zero closed his eyes, relishing in the quiet; Headmaster Cross was to come back from a meeting that day, which had left him with Yuuki and her antics and almost no peace and quiet. Finally, he was glad to have just a few moments to collect his sanity which had been retreating south since this morning, when his partner had decided that singing at the top of her lungs was the perfect way to wake up a cranky vampire, and of course she was wrong.

He'd ended up pinning her against the wall with his body as one of his hands tickled her relentlessly – needless to say her howling laughter quickly replaced her singing and was much easier to tolerate than the sound of a cat screeching in pain… that was, her singing.

In his moment of silence, he noticed that Yuuki had also grown quiet, and he was about to crack one eye open before he felt her tiny hands close around his hand. One violet eye opened to look at her curiously, eyebrow raised and curiosity piqued. "Yuuki?"

She didn't say anything at first, before she started to rub her thumb across his knuckles, knowing it relaxed him. He let his eye drift closed and a content noise bubbled from his throat. Her fingers tangled with his, squeezing lightly, before he followed suit; finally, he could relax and enjoy the silence.

Finally. Yuuki smiled at him before adopting a sneaky expression; oho, he'd learn his lesson for leaving her half-manicured.

-x-

It was well after lunchtime when Kaien Cross stepped into his private quarters, ponytail dripping from the rain that had started to fall. The conference – of course, his annual check-in with Headquarters to report that things were running smoothly as always and that there was no need for anyone to come scout it out for themselves – had kicked his butt as always, having to argue for the umpteenth time that the Academy was safe and that everyone was enjoying themselves.

He was lucky that Yagari had helped assure the higher-ups when he did, because while Kaien could be plenty convincing, Yagari was much more adamant.

It wasn't until he'd hung up his coat on the coat hanger that he realized it was entirely too quiet. Bespectacled light-brown eyes scanned the surroundings of his home, scoping out his children the best he could; the kitchen was empty, the dining room too. He couldn't imagine they'd be out in the rain, and they tended to stay in his quarters a lot more lately so he doubted they had gone to their dorms. Sighing mightily – Yuuki would scold him for worrying over her so much – he made himself a fresh pot of coffee and dug out the bread from the refrigerator.

With his steaming cup of coffee – cream only – and a piece of buttered bread in his hand, he ventured into the hallway only to hear an "Eep!" coming from the living room. Alarmed, he nearly dropped his steaming cup before seeing Yuuki being chased by Zero. A delighted expression was on her face as she ran past, shouting a quick "Welcome back!" before darting into her bedroom, holding her door closed with all of her strength. Zero was fast on her heels, pounding on her door but not actually going inside. I wonder what's gotten into them.

"Yuuki, open this damned door this instant!" Zero bellowed, but not before letting a light chuckle escape his lips. Kaien stood, dumbstruck at the exchange; it had been a long while since he'd seen his beloved children playing like this… though he wondered just why it was Zero had chased her. When Zero paused in his pounding and yelling, Kaien scurried over in his socks across the wooden floor.

"My word! Zero, what did my Yuuki do this ti-…"

-But Zero didn't give the man a minute more to finish asking his question, because he shoved his hand in front of his caregivers face, fingers clenched in a claw-like position, and ground something through clenched teeth before poor Headmaster Cross started to laugh.

Deciding he'd punch the Headmaster later, Zero went back to pounding onto Yuuki's door, the sound of her laughter ringing in the air and tugging at his heartstrings before he pushed the door open, scooped her up, and closed the door. When he no longer heard the sound of laughter, Kaien left the two to their own devices, his laughter starting to die down as he entered the living room and relaxed on the couch.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he continued to stay blissfully unaware – or, perhaps, just the opposite – of the silence that filled the house until well into the early afternoon.

Written in necessity for some funny Zeki sweetness after the events of Chapter 89. (Seriously, it. Was. BULL-CRAP. -and not just from a Zeki-fangirl standpoint, either; from an overall lover of the fandom. The hell, Hino!)

I'm putting this at a solid T instead of a K-plus because... well, of the ending part. My fangirl-heart imagined dirty things and thus, while it's left to the imagination just what was happening in Yuuki's room, I'd like to assume that he's finding effective ways to make her behave. ;D

...ahem. Let me know if you like it?

-Cookie-