Fallen Petal

by Kuro Warau

Rating: M

Summary: Natural enemies, unlikeliest of friends, impossible lovers. And yet…

Warnings: AU. Yaoi/boyxboy relationships. Lemons. Non-con. Very dark themes such as war and massacres. Graphic depictions of torture and violence.

Pairings: Mainly Kaname x Zero, Zero x Kaname. But there are many other pairings as well, both yaoi and het pairings.

A/N: This story is AU, so many important aspects of the original VK storyline are missing or changed. As a guideline, all events that have occurred since the time of Juuri's and Haruka's deaths in VK is at least changed in one way or another and many don't happen at all.

For example, Shizuka never attacked the Kiryuu's place four years prior to the storyline's start, so although Zero's parents have died, he was never turned into a vampire, and thus, has a very different view on vampires in a whole as he has in the original story. Yes, he hates them, but that's more because of common view on them and his hatred is not very deep, since it's not on a personal level in the same way. His parents were killed by vampires, but he wasn't present.

Another example is that Cross Academy was never founded since Cross is a "homewife" (sorry for the term used) and since no vampires are accepted there, there's no reason for him to push through with anything. That means that all the students who meet through Cross Academy have, for the most part, never met.

Also, please heed the warnings for this story. It'll be very violent as it is depicting a world struck by a long-lasting war between hunters and vampires. I'm trying to make it as realistic to real horrible war actions as possible, while also depicting the special features of a vampire-hunter war.

Disclaimer: Vampire Knight and all it's characters do not belong to me, but to their creator Hino Matsuri. I'm only burrowing them without permission but with great love for the series. This story is meant for entertainment purposes and I'm not earning any money from it.

Chapter One: Two Worlds

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It had started ten years ago, with intense and organized hunts for vampires of every level, gender and age after an attempt to control the humans from the vampires' side. It was impossible to escape and almost impossible to hide. The hunters had forced their way through the streets, killing every vampire in sight. For more than five years, the hunt on vampires had spread them wide apart, those few that were left. However, they had finally regrouped and for the last four years, the slaughtering had been a war instead.

Kaname carefully grasped the bullet with delicate fingers, taking caution not to touch the still bleeding wound area more than highly necessary. Slowly, he lifted it out of the wound and put the bullet beside him, cleaning the wound with a wet cloth. Yuuki gritted her teeth, but neither cried nor screamed. It was almost a routine to take bullets poisoned with hunter drugs out of bleeding wounds.

Kaname made sure to put a bandage around Yuuki's arm, the drugs made even pureblooded healing slow down significantly. His sister followed him downstairs to the other vampires gathered. All of them were simply waiting for instructions. An entire city of vampires, all of them waiting for a chance to infiltrate hunter territory.

The two sides of this war, the hunters and the vampires, controlled different parts of Japan and had for the past years continuously attacked each other in an attempt to dominate more land. The vampires' territory was hopelessly small compared to the hunters', though. The entire reason that the vampires' territory was located in Japan was that it was here that the conflict had started, although it had quickly spread to become a global killing spree.

The last vampires, the only vampires to escape, had all fled to the large island, Hokkaido, which, in a sense, had now become a land of vampires, cut off from the rest of the world. Somehow, although the rest of the world still had what was regarded as different countries, they were all united against this single, small civilization of vampires left on a single, somewhat small island.

Kaname's life had not been easy for the past ten years, but it had been better ever since he arrived at Hokkaido. Here, he had a house, he had food almost every day and he had created a living for him and his sister. They were all that was left of their family, but that was okay, as long as they just had each other.

Together, they soon left the so-called hospital and headed home. It was not really a real hospital, but more a place to clean wounds, remove bullets and see who was still alive. It was a quite big house on the outskirts of the safe area, so it was where vampires naturally gathered after arriving at the port in Hakodate.

The siblings lived in a small house, on the second floor because the two lowest floors were in a state not suited for inhabitants. All of Hokkaido had once been a part of the hunter territories too, so when the hunters realized that the vampires were moving forward towards Sapporo in one, big group and reclaimed territory bit by bit, they had destroyed as much as possible so nothing would be left for the vampires. Even now, many buildings still stood in ruin, because the vampires were focused on surviving and had no time for rebuilding anything during a war.

Yuuki put down her overcoat and found her mother's necklace from one of her pockets. She'd carried that necklace for nine years, since she'd taken it out of her mother's dead hand. Inside, there was a picture of their family, mother and father, Kaname and Yuuki, together. She knew it hurt her immensely when she looked at it, but she'd never let it go.

Kaname was preparing dinner, a warm soup of potatoes and a little meat. It's scent filled the rooms. They didn't have many resources, but the vampires who weren't at the front fighting, lived in the middle of the island, making the food they could from what little was available and sending it down to the cities that were inhabited by vampires who fought every day.

They ate in silence. Yuuki's wound was starting to hurt slightly, but she didn't bother walking all the way back to the infirmary for some painkillers. Transportation in another way than on your own two feet was a rare thing on land. Vampires and hunters fought each other by sailing between the island and the main land, but on a somewhat small island with little electricity, there wasn't anything. If you were lucky, you could catch a truck driving between cities.

The vampires themselves had also made the situation worse by using anything they could find to make their own homes better, which meant that the roads even inside the biggest cities were in a poor condition, there was almost no asphalt left. In the winter, the frost destroyed what was left bit by bit. They truly lived in a world destroyed by war and countless massacres.

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Zero pushed the food around on his plate. He wasn't in the mood for eating anything, even if he was dying of hunger. It was the year-day for his parents' deaths and he was in a depressed mood. He was tired of it all. Of the war, of fighting against vampires, of eating the same tasteless food day after day. Sometimes he was even tired of living.

He, his master, his brother and his foster father owned a small house close to the harbor in Mutsu, one of the cities laying closest to Hokkaido. Both he, Ichiru and Yagari were often in an open fight with the vampires on the other side of the waters. Only his foster father, Cross Kaien, always stayed home, no matter how badly his help was needed. He never hid that he thought everything about this war was disgusting and, even worse, he openly blamed the hunters for it all.

Most people around ignored him or made fun of him for his view on the war and on vampires all in all, but Zero, although not foolish enough to voice it, knew deep inside that he would have been of the same opinion if he had experienced what Cross had.

When the last vampires of their old home-town nine years ago had been killed, some sort of misplaced calm fell over everyone. There was no one left to kill. The hunters made records of what vampires were dead and counted up who could possibly still be out there. In the area where Zero, his family, Yagari and Cross lived, it was understood that all vampires either had died or run away, but information lacked concerning the famous Kuran family, who were old friends of Cross.

The hunters were very interested in the Kuran family because they were all purebloods and therefore strong. The head of the family, Kuran Haruka, had been killed already in the first waves of killings, but Kuran Juuri and the couple's two children were missing. They had escaped when hunters set their house on fire after taking everything they wanted.

Hunters had asked everywhere after Kuran Juuri and the children, about if anyone had seen or talked with them, but no one knew anything. Therefore, the hunters decided to search through all the houses that they hadn't already. Every person, hunter or human, who was suspected of sympathizing with the vampires, received a visit. The hunters had long wished to search through Zero's house, because of Cross's obvious kindness towards the vampires, but they hadn't dared because they were afraid that Yagari and the Kiryuus might have weapons inside.

To appear strong and untouchable, they met up outside the house in great number and shouted that Zero's family should throw the Kurans out to them before they went in after the vampires themselves. They were perhaps a hundred people or more, but because they were known to steal, Yagari picked out three of them to search the house. It was a great disappointment for them when they understood that Zero's family wasn't hiding Juuri and her children.

While one group searched through the house, another group searched through the nearby forests and fields.

Zero heard when they found her. "We've found it," it suddenly echoed down over the fields. The hunters outside the house rejoiced and ran towards the place of the capture. It was a field a single hill away, close enough to be of hearing range. The female vampire knew what was going to happen and begged for permission to see Cross one last time, but they didn't oblige her. She was tortured and killed in the most devious manner, close enough to enable Zero to hear every scream.

That night, he would have liked to be able to read minds. What had Cross been thinking the second he heard someone yell "we've found it" about a person he cared for? He was inconsolable and depressed for months and only took comfort in the fact that they never managed to find the children.

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Kaname blinked against the sharp sunlight of morning. He would have liked to have real curtains in front of the window, but fabric was sparse in vampire territory and he had to go without. There were many things that he had to go without, but in one way or another, he always found a way. A tarpaulin was hung up in place over most windows. It kept some of the sunlight out.

He only vaguely remembered a different life with a big house and extravagant furnishings, delicious food and gorgeous clothing. Kaname wasn't a materialistic person and had he got all those things now suddenly, it was unlikely that he'd know what to do with it. Although some new clothes and furniture that hadn't been half-destroyed by hunters was one thing he missed dearly.

The siblings' schedule was almost the same every day. Waking up early, since the light irritated their sensitive eyes as soon as the sun rose. Eating breakfast, usually a sticky porridge made of wheat. Then either off to the ports, where small boats took vampires to the other side for fighting, or simply outside of the safe area if it was one of the days where hunters sailed to the vampire territory instead. In the evening, or when one of them had been injured too badly to continue, they returned to the "hospital" and took care of each other's wounds. Then home for dinner and early to bed, exhausted from fighting an entire day yet again.

In reality, fighting was perhaps not the right word for it. Instead, they were patrolling streets, having to be prepared for sudden assaults. The hunters were known among vampires for taking prisoners and slowly torturing them to death afterwards. They had both weapons and drugs and often, vampires who patrolled alone or in small groups were assaulted by larger groups of hunters, drugged with hunter poisons and taken to the nearest hunter quarter for interrogation and torture.

Vampires almost never had the chance to take prisoners, since their weapons exclusively were their own bodies. They were faster, stronger and often smarter than the hunters seen from a strategic viewpoint, but they had no weapons other than that. Besides, when hunters realized that they were trapped with no way of escape, they usually made short process and simply shot themselves in the head. Although their bullets were designed to hurt vampires, with their excessive amounts of hunter poisons contained within, a bullet to the head was fatal no matter it's contents.

For vampires, it was almost impossible to commit suicide, especially after a capture, since hunters went to great extents to insure that their prisoners survived, at least until they had had a chance to get information out of them. Vampires considered that the worst way to die. To first be tortured endlessly until the breaking point, then forced to betray family and friends and lastly killed as slowly and painfully as possible.

Kaname remembered the day the killings began clearly, even if he was only eight at the time. It started with the killing of the hunter president. She lived in the hunter association. Before the war, there had only been one, but the number had increased the last years. It had been discovered that her window was broken and the hunters had rushed up. She was found drained of blood with deep bite wounds on her neck.

An hour later, there were roadblocks on all main roads in all of Japan. Everyone got withheld and those who were vampires were killed on the spot. Hunters went to the Council Headquarters and burned it off. The most high-ranking nobles and purebloods that didn't escape immediately were killed during the first 24 hours.

In the course of only a month, all of Japan and large areas of Asia and Europe were cleared of vampires, at least officially. More than a million vampires had been killed and the rest of the world quickly followed the example and began chasing vampires. Although their existence weren't publically known before, hunters all over the world, together with the authorities kept records of where vampires lived and soon, the normal humans too had been informed and tagged along in the massacres.

Vampires of every gender, age and level were killed with hunter guns or even simple swords dipped in hunter poison. Everywhere where vampires had connections to the human world, they were in danger of getting exposed. Nobles who had dealings with human companies got killed at meetings, vampire teachers who held lectures at schools and universities were killed by their students, even vampire children were at risk of getting killed if they had human friends. No one came to the vampires' rescue.

Hunters made others join in the killings by depicting vampires as savage beasts who killed people in their sleep and sucked the blood from their veins, abducted their children and even feasted on each other. The irony of this saying was that now, vampires had little alternative than drinking from each other simply because there were no humans around. The blood tablets that they'd once been so close to achieving were now an unreachable goal. Sometimes, vampires took blood from dead hunters or humans on the mainland when they roamed the streets, but else, they were forced to drink from each other exclusively, something that almost all vampires had always thought to be disgusting. You didn't drink from another vampire for feeding reasons, it was something intimate that were considered much like a kiss. Drinking from humans was finding food and nutrition. Drinking from other vampires was a form of sexual contact.

After breakfast, Kaname and Yuuki made their way to the end of the safe area, waiting for instructions. The safe area was the part of Hokkaido where hunters had never reached after the vampires had taken over and as such, it was the area where vampires could relax and didn't need to be alert. Outside the safe area, closer to the shores, it was only the vampires who were on their way to be sailed over to the other side that gathered.

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Zero wandered around aimlessly in the empty streets, never letting his guard slip for a single second, but not as completely indulged in the frenzy of the hunt as he usually was. In these territories, not much more than lawless districts where the war raged, you wouldn't last long if you let your guard down, even for a second. Vampires were fast as lightning and if they got hold of you, you were as good as lost.

Zero had heard frightening stories of hunters who were disarmed by the beasts before they had time to pull the trigger. Not many, but enough to leave a blueprint of fear in every hunter around. Stories of hunters who were captured alive, brought to their hellish bit of land and then killed in different ways after the interrogation, in whatever way the vampires deemed appropriate. The cold-blooded beasts even used rape as an interrogation form.

Suddenly, a sound from behind caught Zero's attention and he turned in a rush. He'd let his mind wander, let his small train of thoughts unsettle him. Bad idea. He reminded himself over and over to always stay alert, especially when a boat of vampires supposedly should have arrived here earlier today. If that was true, it meant that there was a large group of vampires roaming these streets right now, perhaps between thirty and fifty if it had been a huge boat.

Zero's hunter senses informed him that a vampire was nearby and he put even more effort in his senses now. No use being caught off guard. And yet, somehow, he fell back in his thoughts after a couple of minutes with no apparent danger. When thinking about it, hunters didn't treat their prisoners mildly either, but that was something else entirely. Not less than what the beasts deserved.

That was why he should be on-guard anyways. If a vampire caught a hunter, they wouldn't hesitate to kill and drink. Perhaps, even worse, drink first and kill afterwards. Zero couldn't imagine anything else than that it must be the most painful thing in the world to get bitten by a vampire.

He turned the next corner, and the next. And then, the scent and presence of a high-ranking vampire reached him, tenfold the strength it had before. It washed down over him in waves and he only had time to turn around before standing face to face with the beast.

In a split-second, the vampire held Zero up against the wall by his throat in one hand, the other used to force Zero's Bloody Rose away from the vampire's head. In his mind, the hunter cursed himself for not reacting fast enough, although he realized that the vampire nearly squeezing the life out of him was a pureblood. Strange. There couldn't be many purebloods left nowadays.

Purebloods had always been a relatively small group of elite vampires, but they had also been targeted first when the killings started, so naturally, hunters had assumed that they had finally exterminated them, the elite vermin. There were only three purebloods known to have escaped the killings, and now, Zero was facing one of them, looking directly into his garnet eyes.

The pureblood was breathing erratically through his teeth, the dirt on his hands and face mixing with blood running from a wound to his left temple. The wound itself was half hidden by the dark brown hair that framed a most androgynous face, although it was contorted in rage.

Those garnet eyes burned with untamed rage and murderous intent. Zero felt a cold shiver down his back, but else just closed his eyes and waited for inevitability. The vampire held his gun away, aiming it onto the pavement of the street. Might as well die without somehow triggering the vampire into being sadistic with him.

The seconds passed, the only sound being the pureblood's continued ragged breath. No tightening around his throat, no bite, no insulting words. Nothing. Slowly, Zero opened his eyes a little, watching the vampire's face from behind his eyelashes. The angered face had now disappeared, leaving behind a puzzled look as the vampire observed him.

Zero dared opening his eyes fully, taking time only now to get a picture of how the pureblood looked.

He was undeniably beautiful, like most vampires. His eyes had the color of garnet jewels and looked both knowing and innocent. His mouth quivered with each breath, exposed the glory of perfectly sculpted, rosy lips, although his fangs had extended from the fury that burned in him a moment ago and now further complicated his breathing. He was lean, yet strong and beautiful in build.

But his hair was mixed with his own blood, his face, hands, clothes, everything was dirtied throughout and everything he was wearing carried signs that he hadn't changed them in a very long time. His hand that held onto Zero's throat in a tight grip seemed to shiver slightly, another indication that he had run quite a bit before catching up to the young hunter.

His expression though, was what puzzled the most. He clearly looked taken aback, and Zero got the feeling that he was observing the hunter in much the same way as he was observing the pureblood. Zero's silvery eyes met with his garnet ones for only a second before an enraged shout echoed from a street not far away.

"His scent leads this way! Come on, it's a big catch this time!"

For a moment, the vampire looked back the way he'd come from, then he released Zero's neck and let go of him, running at break-neck speed down the next side street. His dark jacket disappeared quickly in the dust.

Zero was thrown backwards the moment the vampire released his hold and ended up falling into some old wooden boxes that collapsed under the impact. One of the broken chunks of tree bored into Zero's arm, another scraped his forehead, but it was nothing that really hurt and, strangely enough, Zero was left with the impression that it was merely an accident when the vampire released him, not a considered act to cause him pain.

For a second, he merely stared after the disappearing back of the pureblood, then the hunter patrol that chased after him caught up, and Zero was lifted up from the destroyed boxes. Takamiya Kaito, a childhood "friend" of Zero's, who lived in the house next to him now, stayed back to examine the wounds to Zero's arm and forehead while the others continued the chase.

"Geez, Zero, why don't you go after a pack of nobles alone, now you're at it?" he asked sarcastically, while cleaning the wound on the young hunter's head with a piece of clothing from his back pocket. Zero and Kaito had never been, and would probably never be, best friends, but they still went on hunts together and considered each other much as if they were cousins who didn't get along very well. Kaito detested Zero's sometimes foul mood and considered him stupid because he was so blindly devoted to a frail brother. Zero, on the other hand, couldn't accept Kaito's view of his brother or on anyone weaker than the average hunter, and found his zeal in being cruel to vampires highly disgusting.

"You should be dead, you know," Kaito continued, observing the wood still stuck in Zero's arm in hopes of finding a solution for getting it out. Zero barely noticed him. He just looked in the direction the pureblood had run.

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To be continued…