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Kaname barges into the room of the silver haired prefect, slamming the door open and shutting it close just as quickly. The force of the action echoed a sound in the room and the hallway of the day class dorms yet the boy sitting slumped besides his bed, head hanging low gave no indication of recognizing the other male in his room. He moved not at a bit. It fanned the flames of Kaname’s rage. He strode forward and placed himself down right in front of the boy, forcing Zero to face him by gripping his jaw tightly in his hand and pulling his head up and closer so he could look into his eyes.
The sight that greeted him almost shook him to his core. Zero’s eyes, no longer bright red from the bloodlust, were darkened with grief and pain, so much pain. He was crying; the realization had his eyes widening, cracking his stoically enraged face. Never has he seen the boy ever cry; enraged, callous, even grumpy but he never cried, never broke.
It was this that changed things for Kaname, this very moment. Looking at Zero had Kaname reflecting on what he has always pushed away and buried deep in his mind; Guilt, the defeated slump of his shoulders, the tears that fell from those mesmerizing eyes.
‘He is a child; a beautiful, bitter, broken and traumatized child.’ The sudden burst of that guilt he had refused to feel for Zero made his hands tremble. Is this what he had truly wanted? Had he become so blind in his games with the council and Rido that he hadn’t realized just how many lives he was ready to destroy? Has he truly become so cruel? Did he not always strive to be kind, to be gentle towards innocent and those undeserving of his ire? Why had he made it his subconscious goal to hurt this boy? Just what has Zero ever done to him?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
What happened next surprised him. His arms moved to gather the boy in them, slowly tucking his face into the crook of his shoulder. He lifted him up in his arms and swiftly moved Zero to his bed. But Zero clung to him; his tears slowly dampening his dark shirt, his body trembled in Kaname’s arms. He tightened his arm around him instinctively while raising the other to gently card through the soft silver hair as he let the boy cry his fill, an action he remembers from his second childhood spent with Yuki and the gentleness he reserved only for her, staying in the same position until he could stop trembling, and his tears died away. It was easy to hold him through his tears, to comfort him as he used for his Yuki. Gentle strokes on his back, a hand caressing his head.
The light weight of the body he held against his own slumped completely as Zero fell into sleep, as though assured of his protection from where he laid, in the circle of Kaname’s arms. A form of trust that had never been bestowed upon him by anyone but Yuki, a trust he did not deserve from the boy he wronged. It swelled his heart with fondness he never wished to acknowledge he had had for Zero. He had wronged him so many times, dragged him and many others, mere children compared to him in this war that wasn’t theirs, one that they weren’t even aware of brewing right now.
He sighed deeply, arms pulling Zero impossibly close, he felt his breathe shutter against his neck before relaxing back. His hands never stopped their movements, and it lulled the boy deeper into an easy enough sleep, his body completely relaxing from its earlier tension.
A light creaking from the door snapped his attention away from Zero, surprised at how distracted he became. Kaien stood at the door, surprise clear on his face, Kaname understood, Kaien had been expecting an entirely different scene to walk into than the one he did. Kaname gestured with his head for Kaien to leave the room and with a sharp quirk of an eyebrow, he stepped out and slowly closed the door.
A few minutes passed yet he stayed right where he was. A few more minutes and he slowly lowered Zero on the bed, adjusting his head and body to be comfortable and once he was satisfied, he finally left his perch. Standing up, he waved his hand in sweep to raise the covers over him; he watched as the boy shifted a bit in his sleep before settling on his sides, back facing Kaname. Raising his hand, he gently brushed it over the sleeping prefect’s head, using his powers slightly to ease his sleep further before moving away and walking out of the room to talk to Kaien who would definitely be waiting for him.