AN: This is not all of this chapter as I planned it, but I am flying home tomorrow, and the day upon arrival would surely be hectic (little or no writing, I'm afraid). So I deemed that if it had to be divided this is a good place, with enough plot for both semi-chapters to survive on.

Many thanks to dear YenGirl for beta-ing me once again!

Disclaimer: I still do not own VK, and I'm not likely to in the future either :P

"You have to turn me in... this is the only way..."

As soon as the words left the pureblood's lips, it was Aidou, of course, (who else?), who just had to step forward with an adamant, "Ah... forgive me... but no way, Kaname-sama! We... we'd die if we have to before we let them have you... You... you'd have to use compulsion on us to make us do it... and you haven't ever... and... and right now you can't!.."

Oh, right... and trust the obnoxious blonde to find exactly the right thing to throw into the Cousin's face as well... and do it in this wordy and totally useless manner...

...though of course, Shiki understood all too well that there was no other answer Kaname could truly expect... but then again he also understood, unfortunately, from where Kaname was coming, and viewed from that side - there was no other way to end this situation peacefully besides the one that the Cousin had just suggested. Actually, right now Senri couldn't come up with any middle way that would've let all of them get out of this predicament intact.

He knew also - with a certainty only reinforced by the bond - that Takuma's opinion on the matter was very much the calmer version of what Aidou had already expressed, and the only reason for him not voicing it already was that he was clearly still recovering from initial shock.

That left Senri once again, not surprisingly, as the only one - out of the four of them, he suspected, - who was able to see everything objectively and concentrate on the things no one else paid any heed to, which was getting... for the lack of better word - boring... But he cared both for Takuma and the Cousin enough to act on what he saw. So he stepped softly to press himself to Takuma's back and wrap his arms around the blonde noble's midriff, thus effectively distracting him from the words that had already formed on Takuma's tongue. Not only so, but he also nuzzled into the blonde's ear - or so it should've looked from outside, where in fact he murmured so softly that even Aidou, not two steps from them, wouldn't be able to hear him talk, "Takuma! This discussion can last forever, and he's shivering under the wind... it can't be good - in his condition... lead him inside and then you can argue with him to your heart's delight..."

He knew that his words had sunk home when the bond resounded with guilt and gratitude, and then Takuma was stepping forward out of his embrace, speaking in the placatory and entreating tone that only he could pull off with remotely any grace, "Kaname... let's talk about it inside ... it's cold out here, and you're not well..."

Long eyelashes rose, revealing tired and a little confused brown eyes, as if the pureblood was fluttering between exhaustion and full awareness, as Kaname accepted the offer with his usual calm graciousness, "Yes, thank you, Takuma... you follow me, please... Aidou, Shiki, you can wait in..." His voice halted uncertainly.

"In the kitchen," Takuma suggested almost immediately, but even before that Senri found himself once again moving with uncharacteristic haste, grabbing Aidou by the hand and almost dragging him back to from whence he had come...

"Come on, Aidou-san. Let's wait in the kitchen!"

All to cover for the lost and slightly disorientated look that should never, never ever be seen in any pureblood's eyes.

As soon as they turned the corner though, the blonde tore his hand forcibly out of Shiki's grip.

"That was uncalled for!" He spluttered, but reined his temper back to boil just under the surface almost immediately - which was also something of an uncharacteristic novelty. "You go into the kitchen... I'll... I'll stay out for awhile. Here," he thrusted the note that he was still holding back into Shiki's hands. "I... might succumb to temptation to tear it all to pieces... and there could be something else... important... that Cain wrote... that I haven't noticed upon the first read..."

As soon as Takuma entered the room directly after Kaname and closed the damaged door as best he could, the whole posture of the pureblood altered considerably, his shoulders sagging, and a few steps into the room he stopped, breathing heavily and closing his eyes as if waiting out through a dizzy spell.

Frankly, Takuma was feeling immensely privileged and relieved that Kaname still didn't feel obliged to keep up appearances for his sake. Neither did he object to the light and reverent touch of Takuma's arm around his waist, gently guiding him towards the bedside. Still dazedly, Kaname allowed the noble to remove his coat and slumped on the edge of the bed, slender shoulders shivering under the crumpled and slightly damp - whether with perspiration or just from not having dried properly (Takuma vaguely remembered having seen it spread out before the heater) - dress-shirt, his eyelashes fluttering open, then closed, then open again, as if the simple act of staying conscious and alert demanded an almost unbearable effort... and Takuma turned quickly away to compose himself, deeply affected by his long-time friend's obvious weakness.

So it was with more than a mild surprise that - having put the coats, Kaname's and his own on the crook by the door - he turned back to a sight of perfect vampire prince - as straight-backed and languid as ever (he almost could swear that even the shirt looked now not nearly as crumpled as before), a genuine smile, slightly curving the pureblood's lips directed at someone in the dimmer, more shadowed side of the room, and looking over there Takuma discovered the reason for the entire act - Sayori Wakaba had awakened and was sitting up in the recliner, rubbing still sleepy eyes with one fisted hand and covering a yawn with the other.

"Oh... Kuran-senpai... you are awake... How is your fever?" The girl asked as soon as the sight of Kaname, fully dressed and sitting at the edge of the bed, had penetrated her mind.

"Thank you, Wakaba-san, I'm feeling much better," Kaname smiled, gracefully inclining his head. "I haven't yet had an opportunity to properly thank you and Yagari-sensei for saving my life."

"Oh, that's nothing, you're welcome," she caught herself on the automatic and not exactly suitable answer and continued in a more stern and motherly tone, sounding a bit strange, when coming from someone so young. "That is... I hope that you wouldn't be as careless in the future - as to need saving. Anyway, it's mostly Master Yagari, who did everything, and I..."

"And you were there to help him with whatever you could," the pureblood interrupted her kindly but ruthlessly. "And that's not such a small thing as you seem to think. Also, even though I may be now the equivalent of a half-blind, half-deaf and otherwise severely impaired person," he sighed and Takuma's heart gave a painful lurch in an echo of this bitter admission, "but I still could say that some of the blood that was being fed to me in my sorry state was yours. Not to mention that it must have been you who summoned the hunter to help me in the first place. No, no..." Kaname shook his head as if admonishing Sayori for her extreme modesty. "Please, believe me, Wakaba-san, I have every reason to be grateful to you, and that I eternally am..."

Faced with such a thorough account of her deeds, the girl had no choice but to accept it with an answering nod, standing up and staring at the coat that covered her in sleep with a quizzical frown.

"Can someone tell me, please, what time it is?" she asked finally, and Takuma, who remembered that Kaname (for whatever reason) hated wearing anything around his wrists, checked his own watch and offered a little contritely, "It's quarter to three, Wakaba-san, sorry that we have woken you at such time of night."

"No problem," she shrugged off his apologies, "It was barely nine when Yagari-sensei fairly ordered me to sleep, so I've slept for nearly six hours and feel refreshed."

"In this case," the pureblood cut in smoothly once again, "can I ask you for another favor, Wakaba-san? Nothing big this time, just... Ichijou and I have a really important matter we need to discuss..."

"And you want me to wait in the kitchen, while you talk," the girl caught on instantly.

"Aidou and Shiki should be there to keep you from getting bored," Kaname offered, with an apologetic smile.

"Well, I'll go and brew some tea for them then," Sayori nodded briefly and went to the door, the coat still draped over her arm.

Hmm... Takuma had to admit that the girl had class - a kind of elegance in the very way she moved, something he thought that only the vampires possessed, and also a kind of quiet unostentious dignity that sadly was not to be found among the girls of his race. If that was what Aidou saw in her, no wonder that...

"Stop ogling, Takuma," the pureblood chided softly as soon as the door after Sayori had shut. "Such behavior is unbecoming in a well brought-up young noble..."

Here was one of the moments that Takuma enjoyed immensely. For some reason, it was during the moments like this, when Kaname would scold him gently for this or that insignificant fault and at the same time gaze into the distance with a hint of subdued wistfulness in his mahogany eyes, that suggested that he maybe... possibly... wished he could allow himself to misbehave in the same small and humane way, it was during the moments like that that Takuma felt closest to the pureblood, as if they really truly were friends...

This time though he had but a fleeting second to relish that feeling, as the first glance towards where the pureblood was sitting snapped him out of the rosy haze and straight into a worried frenzy. For Kaname was even more slumped than before, the head resting heavily on a palm of one hand, the other arm hugging himself - as if the little pretense had sipped away whatever meager strength the pureblood still had.

"Kaname!" The noble almost cried out, rushing to the side of his friend. "Please, lie down, do... you look..." 'Like shit' was the first expression that came readily to Takuma's mind, but one just didn't speak to purebloods in such a way, "...exhausted..." he finished lamely, which didn't fool Kaname one little bit.

"And I feel like shit too, thank you. But that doesn't matter," he tried to straighten up stubbornly, but only ended slumped sideways instead of full forward for all his effort. "We need to talk, Takuma!"

"Yes, it does matter!" The noble protested almost angrily, sending his caution to all four winds and already bending to take off Kaname's shoes and push his legs onto bed, almost making the pureblood to fall heavily onto his side in the process. "We can talk perfectly well with you lying and me sitting here by your side... like in the old times..."

"Yes... like in the old times," Kaname conceded finally, a light shiver of relief going through his entire frame as a thick blanket was tucked warmly around his shoulders.

Unlike the old times though (and to Takuma's intense relief) the pureblood didn't turn away, presenting the noble with nothing but the sight of his tense back, but neither did he lie still, continuously trying to prop himself up on the elbow, until Takuma understood what he wanted and piled the pillows in such a way that Kaname could both relax comfortably and still retain a full sight of Takuma's own face.

They rested for a few minutes after that - Kaname's breathing harsh, laboured and distinct in the sudden quiet.

"You have to help me, Takuma..." the pureblood started finally, "have to help me to overcome their reluctance... This is the only way, surely you can see it?" He paused to catch his breath and continued in small, self-deprecatory whisper. "That's all my fault, anyway... my miscalculation... I should've addressed the nobles immediately, not relegate it to later..."

"That's bullshit, Kaname," Takuma objected heatedly, his eyes smarting at the utter dejection that permeated his friend's voice. "You couldn't have counted on falling ill!"

"It is of no consequence... last night or even this morning I could've addressed the clans, and they would've believed me easily, simply because it were a pureblood's word... now that they have come to their own opinion - no mere word will suffice..."

"Then we will have to find the proof they couldn't deny," Takuma contradicted immediately. "This whole attack was planned! Me and Shiki could search through my grandfather's and his uncle's offices at the Council, or on my grandfather's estate..."

"Time..." Kaname answered as if this single word explained everything. "If you submit me to them willingly, then the Cross Academy could be allowed to go on... all blame would be mine... if not - then everything we worked for all these years to establish, the whole cause we fought for for so long... would we forfeit... lost... once again..."

"You truly do not understand, Kaname," Takuma's breath caught inside his throat, but he willed himself to continue, "You know I have embraced the co-existence with my whole heart and did my best to promote it... but if the cause demands of us to sacrifice our banner, our leader, our friend - I do not want to have anything to do with such cause."

"Then how can't you understand that I feel the same?" There was anger in Kaname's voice, enough of it that, if he had his powers, some glass-panes would've suffered. But that, of course, was not the case, and the reminder was painfully obvious for both of them. "You might be thinking that you can fight... or implore..." His voice slipped back into a tired whisper, the eyes closing as if the pureblood was recalling the pictures visible only to himself, "but you do not... you do not understand at all... They think me mad... murderous... they would aim to strike first... and since they will be coming to fight a pureblood, they are bound to bring along a pureblood champion of their own... several if they can rout them and give them insentive enough... and those wouldn't hesitate to use compulsion, so your little opposition would be thwarted before it even started... and with this affliction, I wouldn't... I wouldn't even be able to protect you... Can't you see, it's futile?"

"All I see is - you're tired and ill and that makes you despair... Now if it is as you say, cannot we too enlist the help of someone who can fight purebloods? I've heard weird rumors that it was Zero Kiryuu, who killed Rido, are they true? And he fought the Madly Blooming Princess too, the one who turned him - which is an unheard of feat..."

"I... it was I, who killed Shizuka, Takuma, Zero but wounded her... but with his current powers and the weapon he wields, he can kill a pureblood... true..." Kaname's speech was slurring with exhaustion, but then - it was as if the realization of what they were discussing had just sank into his tired mind, for he almost sat up in sudden anguish, "No, not Zero! He has to protect Yuuki, he has to... I raised him for that!"

Cool tender hands reached out to steady the pureblood and lower him gently back onto the pillows, and determined green eyes looked down into feverish brown ones.

"I'm sorry, Kaname, but Yuuki is not the one, who needs protecting now. Her pureblood status is undeniable and she had done nothing to offend them. She is innocent in the vampire ways, true, but it will only make them want to use and influence her, but harm her - that they will not. In fact, the pro-monarchy clans could even choose her as their next figure-head in your stead, seeing as she is of the Kuran line as well..."

"Yes," a little tender smile lighted a pale and drawn face momentarily, "she is the true heiress... unlike myself..."

"See," Takuma caught immediately on this first sign of agreement to further his point, " So we can safely borrow Zero from her for awhile... till you get better, or till this whole misunderstanding is resolved..."

"Aren't you missing something in your line of reasoning, Takuma? Zero would never agree to protect me..."

And for a moment it seemed to Takuma that he felt his late grandfather's formidable presence materialize behind himself as he answered with cold stubbornness that bore no objection. "That remains to be seen."

Kaname's eyes flew open then, clear and watchful and immeasurably sad, as if he to could feel this ghostly presence in the room.

"I see," the pureblood said tiredly, "there is really nothing I can say to make you change your mind, is there?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Ah... I see..." Kaname sighed, closing his eyes again, and the noble felt a queer pain in his chest, looking at how haggard and lifeless his usually vibrantly alive best friend lay against the whiteness of pillows, now that the animation of their argument had bled out of his features.

"Kaname," he said, acting on instinct alone, "drink my blood, please, so that you can get better soon!" But he really knew the answer even before the faint shake of the brunette's head.

"No, my dear friend..." came the slurry, barely audible reply, "you've barely recovered yourself... you can't spare it... and believe me, I had enough blood... I've overheard though... that you have some blood tablets... a few of those... I would appreciate...

"Put them onto the night stand and leave me alone, please..." he continued as Takuma rose from the bed already. "I will try to sleep... I feel... tired..."

"Of course," Takuma bent to remove a few sweat damp brown locks out of the closed eyes and surreptitiously tug the blanket higher over the shivering shoulder, before repeating the words he had whispered but an hour ago to his then sleeping and unhearing friend, "Sleep well, Kaname, and don't worry about things, they will somehow work out in the end..."

Come to that, he wasn't sure that the pureblood wasn't already sleeping and unhearing now...