A/N: Right. I'm an asshole. Sorry guys. I completely forgot to mention a vitally important factor in this story: Mpreg! (Thank you to black suede for mentioning it in a review, as I probably would've posted this without a warning...) Call it freaky, weird, whatever you like, but there'll be implications of it in this story. And no, I'm not planning to have Zero knocked up, but the idea of males having a part in a female's role will be implied. Sorry if it grosses anyone out, but if this note has caught your eye, you can stop yourself from gagging in disbelief in advance! XD

Oh, and if you're still reading, another note to lessen confusion: Juri and Haruka aren't related for reasons you'll soon hopefully see down below :D

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Cracked Diamond

Orchids

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Haruka silently closed the door to his daughter’s room to hear sweet quiet laughter come from downstairs. Bemused, he found the mother of his children reading a book, her shoulders shaking as she laughed. Taken by whatever was currently holding her interest, she never noticed him come inside to stand behind her.

“What’s so funny?” He murmured, and delighted in the surprised gasp that left her mouth as she jerked, turning to see him.

“Haruka!” She placed a hand at her chest, “Goodness, you really scared me. I almost thought it was your creepy uncle come back to haunt me, whispering in my ear like that.”

He gave her a look full of hurt. “Oh Juri, you’d go so far as to compare me to Uncle? I don’t think he was as creepy as you say, though,” he added thoughtfully. He looked down only to see Juri sending him a raised brow.

“…Well, only a little.”

“He was Creepy.” Juri repeated. She might as well have been saying the sky was blue for all the certainty she held in her tone. Haruka laughed nervously.

“And your book? What were you reading?” He tried to get back on topic. Once Juri got started on his uncle, things never ended well.

“Nothing,” she said, raising her nose with mock haughtiness lighting her tone. She closed the book and smiled up at him from under her lashes. Haruka’s smile faltered. When she leaned closer to him, over the back of the couch, he swallowed.

“Juri—” He started.

“Sorry to interrupt something, but I’m letting you know I’m sending someone over,” a soft, lilting voice cut in. Haruka didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or disappointment. He could’ve either been very lucky tonight, or utterly miserable.

“Shizuka-san,” Juri greeted. “I’d like it if you actually showed yourself whenever you do that, but your voice is so distinctive, I guess it’s alright. Who did you say was coming over?”

There was an exaggeratedly put upon sigh. “Really, it’s not that I want to, I’d like to keep him if I could, twins are rather sexy, but this one needs to stay hidden.”

Haruka blinked. Shizuka had always been a little…off, but this was… What in the world was she talking about?

“Oh really?” Juri perked up, “I bet they’re the cutest thing. When?” This time, Haruka turned to blink at his wife. She’d actually understood all of that?

“You’ll know, and yes, they’re both cute.”

Juri laughed delightedly, hopping over the back of the couch, and went straight past her husband to the guest room. Haruka could only watch her go before turning to where he heard Shizuka’s voice originating from, “Juri may have gotten that, but I haven’t a clue as to what you were talking about. Would you care to elaborate?”

“…No.”

Haruka frowned. “Shizuka-san,” he started, and paused, waiting for an answer. When he failed to hear a response, he sighed.

“…” Haruka was only half listening to Juri’s excited murmurs as he stared down at the shopping list she gave him. It was rather long. “Juri, what…?”

“—and that’s it,” Juri finished. “Got it? Good, you can take Kaname and Yuuki with you. Yuuki’s wanted more of those sweets that also come with a toy. She’s been collecting them.”

Haruka nodded absently. Well, he only had to get the items on the list, right? Nothing too hard, he could do it.

“Yuuki?” Oh bless the lords, where was his daughter? “Kaname?” And where was his son?

“Tou-sama? We needed to get more of the fruits and vegetables,” Kaname held up a few plastic bags of said foods in one hand and Yuuki’s small hand in the other. “You seemed busy with choosing the spaghetti, Yuuki and I thought to lessen your load.”

“Oh thank you, you’re always so thoughtful.” Haruka sent his children a soft smile.

“What do we need next?” Yuuki chirped.

“Mm, some more honey apparently, and…the rest aren’t anything we can get in the food aisle.”

Kaname raised a brow, “I’ve been meaning to ask, is there a reason for Kaa-sama’s sudden interest in buying male clothing?” Both he and his father had more than enough, and she never made them buy their own clothes. The one time she did…Kaname held in an embarrassed cough. But to both he and his father’s defense, they’d never had to choose what to wear, much less actually shop in a store before, and everything had been new.

And, he added, he’d been seven. How was he to know what shade of red would clash with his complexion and what shade wouldn’t?

“There is, I’m just not aware of it,” Haruka answered, “I think Shizuka-san talked to her again to go over more specific details, since she seems to be pretty sure of what size to get too…”

Kaname leaned over to take a look at the list again. “He’s not much smaller than I am,” he murmured, “and she’s only asking for a week’s worth, at the most, so I’m assuming she’ll have whatever else tailored?” It’d take more than a few days to prepare an entire personal wardrobe, and Kaname guessed the clothes they were buying for today were only to be worn during the time the clothes were being made.

“Mm,” Haruka nodded in agreement, amused at how Juri had written down very specific descriptions on what to buy. Dress shirts, jeans, plain slacks, socks, even the colors were chosen accordingly. He wondered who this boy could be. He guessed him to be around Kaname’s age, with his size, but he wondered how Shizuka-san of all people had come across such a child, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Will he be like Nii-sama?” Yuuki supposed she could consider liking him if he was.

It wasn’t that she disliked anyone that wasn’t her brother, but the other boys she’d met just didn’t click well with her, and she hadn’t many male friends. At the young age of eleven, she’d come to conclude she hadn’t been able to get along with them because they weren’t like her brother. Kaname Nii-sama was a boy and she got along with him without any problems.

“Maybe,” Haruka smiled while inwardly pleading for that not to be the case. He could only imagine how Kaname would react to having his beloved ‘Nii-sama’ position threatened. Juri would probably find it hilarious, but Haruka didn’t want his son to awaken to any homicidal urges at sixteen, or ever, really.

When they got home, however, it wasn’t his son’s possible urges he had to worry about.

Opening the door to the kitchen, he stopped dead. “…Juri?”

It was his own.

“Oh, Haruka, you’re back?” Juri smiled up at him, pushing some of her long brown curls from her face, and stood up from the boy she’d practically been sitting on as if it were a daily occurrence for her to fall into every male’s lap.

“Yes, I am, and he’s…?” He barely managed to gesture towards the light haired boy whose face he still couldn’t get much of a clear view of, due to his angle.

“This is Zero-kun! Isn’t he cute? Just like Shizuka-san said,” his wife picked a piece of bacon slathered with mayonnaise off a large plate and cheerily bit into one. “We were having so much fun making food together; he’s such a fast learner!”

“Oh?” So this Zero was ‘cute’, she had ‘fun’ (a lot of it) with him, and he was a ‘fast learner’? And the position he’d found them in… It didn’t help the fact that Haruka absolutely hated cooking. He hadn’t known she loved to cook with someone else so much…

“Juri-san, you’re going to get mayonnaise on your chest,” a soft voice spoke up, “it’ll ruin your shirt.”

“Oh!” She panicked for a moment, seeing the excess creamy sauce close to dripping from the strip of bacon she was holding between her fingers. Unfortunately, she’d jerked her hand in her surprise, and the mayonnaise failed to hold, plopping down to meet its end at…Zero’s hand?

Juri blinked.

The mayonnaise hand landed in a circular drop onto his fingers, near his palm, at the inner crease of his knuckles. Juri watched, still a bit dumbfounded, as Zero raised his hand to his lips and darted a moist tongue out to lick if off in a smooth swipe. The long-haired brunette in front him now had her eyes widened slightly in fascination as she saw the pink of his tongue from between the V of his middle and ring finger.

“Um, thank you?” She smiled. Her blouse was saved, however unusually. Well, it was better than having him react a bit too late and having him wipe it off straight from her chest (which she couldn’t help but imagine happening to her if it’d been Haruka).

“You’re welcome,” Zero nodded once, his words seemingly an automatic response to an expression of gratitude.

There was a slight cough.

“Yes, Haruka?” Juri tilted her head as she finished the rest of her bacon before any more of the mayonnaise had a chance to drip further.

“Can I have some of that too?”

Juri raised her brows, looking from the plate of fried meat strips to him and back to the plate. “But Haruka, you don’t like bacon and mayonnaise together. It’s okay, Zero-kun and I will finish it, he likes it too,” she tried to reassure. As if to further prove her point, Zero reached out and took another piece, biting into it casually.

So the pale child even had similar taste in food? Haruka pouted.

“Tou-sama, Yuuki wants some of the sweets we bought,” Kaname strolled in, looking for the shopping bag containing most of the food. Seeing it still in his father’s grasp, he unhooked it from his fingers and looked through it, placing the desired items on the counter.

As he continued to look, he started to get a bit unnerved at the silence around him, especially with his mother in the room. Glancing up, he raised a brow, pausing in his candy search. “Did something happen?”

His mother frowned in confusion. “I don’t think so…but your father’s acting weird. He actually wanted the bacon today.”

“But he doesn’t even like it,” Kaname commented, unknowingly repeating the words of his mother, his gaze sliding to the plate of meat on the counter.

“I know, but he asked for some, weird isn’t it? Zero-kun, would you like something more to drink?”

“Zero-kun?” Kaname blinked and froze when his eyes met with soft lilac.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot the introductions again!” Juri groaned. “I’m really very sorry, Zero-kun, you must’ve felt so out of place with these strange people coming in all of a sudden.” She’d gotten so used to Zero’s presence in the few hours she’d gotten to know him it felt natural for him to simply be there with her family.

Ichiru would have snorted a laugh had he been there. Zero, ‘out of place’? His brother probably knew how to blend in against a black background dressed in white.

Haruka and Kaname exchanged glances. ‘Strange people’? Who was the one that ate everything with mayonnaise, even bacon?

“It’s fine Juri-san, you unintentionally introduced your Partner, and I think the other is your son.”

About to pull Haruka towards Zero, Juri paused. “‘Partner’? You, you know of our terms?” She whispered.

Zero tilted his head, tapping the back of his neck. “I saw your Mark when you were tying your hair up.”

Juri raised her hand to her neck, lightly rubbing against the area she knew had worked in deciding her future since birth. “Zero-kun, you know about Bearers?”

He looked confused for a moment, as though wondering how she didn’t know, “I am one.”

“I’m guessing Shizuka-san hadn’t told you anything of this?” Haruka asked warily.

“Uh, no, she mentioned everything else, but that, I think,” Juri said haltingly.

“Zero-kun is like you, Kaa-sama?” Yuuki swayed in her seat from side to side, unable to contain her energy.

“Yes, actually, in more ways than one,” Juri smiled.

“So then he’s special too, huh?” Yuuki chirped, her eyes wide with curiosity as she took the time to study the older boy.

He looked to be about her brother’s age, which would make him at least a year older than Kaname’s circle of friends, excluding Takuma, who was the same age as her brother. He seemed rather nice, she supposed, and she definitely liked his style in clothing, whatever it was. She’d never seen it before. It was as though he was wearing a really nice robe.

The deep indigo blue faded from the bottom right to a silvery white at the top in tiny detailed snowflakes. The sleeves were wide and she could see there was another layer of cloth under it, in a plain white. The other dark navy cloth that was tying everything together around his waist was beautiful too. Even the knot at the back looked simple and elegant.

Wow, she wondered what it was like to dress in something so nice everyday.

“If you’re a Bearer, which line are you from?” Kaname asked. He never thought he’d meet anyone like his mother.

“My full name is Kiryuu Zero,” Zero answered softly. He was vaguely interested in how they’d react.

Yuuki wasn’t exactly aware of what that meant besides it being a big thing, while Haruka and Kaname were mentally berating themselves for not recognizing the physical attributes sooner. Lilac eyes were a dominant trait in the Kiryuu line.

Their line was also the most well known and reclusive out of those that produced Bearers. Many of those that wanted the Floras gone would try to get rid of the Bearers instead of attacking the Floras themselves, as without Bearers, there wouldn’t be any Floras.

Juri hummed. Well it was no wonder Shizuka-san wanted to keep Zero away from the public eye. If the young teen were left to his own devices, there was no telling what could happen to him.

“Wait,” Haruka lowered his brows. “Did Shizuka-san…just take you from there to us? Because if she did—”

“They’re all dead.” Zero interrupted, knowing where Haruka might be going with his question. “They were killed.” There wasn’t a chance of them being accused of abducting him, as there was no one to do the accusing.

“Killed…?” Haruka repeated, “I, sorry, Zero-kun, for bringing up something like that.” He didn’t know how the child seemed so relaxed. He’d mentioned the death of his family as though he’d been commenting about the weather.

“It’s fine, I was…not very close to them.” He couldn’t say he hadn’t been surprised to see them dead after how they’d angered his brother. He didn’t understand much of familial interrelations, but he doubted it was a good idea to mention how unaffected he felt by their massacre, or that his brother had been the one to instigate it.

Seeing their concerned expressions, he decided that yes, he should keep such things hidden, at least for now.

“Um, if you’re staying with us, you can be my Nii-sama too,” Yuuki offered earnestly, her eyes welling with tears at the mere thought of anyone having to lose their family.

“Thank you…?” Zero hadn’t known you could be someone else’s brother without being related. He felt fine with being Ichiru’s twin, though. He’d never really understood what it meant to love family, having grown up with hardly any human company in the Inner Garden, but Michiko had explained if he felt at ease with them, felt that warmth and wanted to protect them and care for them, he could call it love, and that was how he felt for Ichiru.

“Sorry about your loss,” Kaname offered his own condolences. But Zero’s eyes were suspiciously clear of any grieving emotions, and he couldn’t see the slightest hint of sadness clouding them. It sounded as though he’d been speaking about the deaths of strangers. But even then, wouldn’t someone feel a bit of sympathy for the lives lost?

Juri smiled softly. It seemed what Shizuka had told her was true. Zero had grown up in a rather isolated environment and wasn’t allowed any chances to grow emotionally. She could tell the rest of her family was concerned, but Zero simply didn’t know how to feel for those he hadn’t developed a connection with, he didn’t know how and why he should. The closest person to him was his brother, and that was the only extent his experiences went with feeling something more than innocent indifference for another person.

“Ichiru’s attached to him too, so I might drop him off with you soon after Zero,” Shizuka had laughed amusedly, “He’s already wondering if it’s a good idea to leave Zero alone.”

Both brothers seemed to have quite the character. Juri hoped she’d also get to meet Ichiru. Not to mention, how cool would it be to have twins in the house! Shizuka had told her they were identical too. How cute.

“Zero-kun, it must’ve been a long night, why don’t you rest for now?”

Zero moaned softly, shifting as the light hit his face. The sun was already up? About to roll over, he stopped when he felt a hand go through his hair. Smiling, he leaned into it.

“Ichiru?” He whispered softly.

Ichiru smiled down amusedly at his brother, keeping up the slow motions of his hand through his hair. He didn’t know whether it was something Zero was born with, or if it was due to his isolation, but his older twin loved being touched. Whenever he wasn’t feeling well, Michiko would gently run a comb through his hair, and Zero would feel lighter in minutes.

“Were they good to you?” He murmured.

“Mm,” Zero kept his eyes closed as he answered, “Juri-san was nice.”

“And the others?”

“I don’t know.” He’d hardly talked to them before Juri had invited him to sleep. Ichiru nodded and continued his finger combing. “Shizuka-san said I was getting annoying, so I’ll be staying with you.”

“Annoying?”

“I didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut about you for five minutes,” Ichiru smirked. It’d been rather amusing to annoy the older woman.

“?” Zero carefully opened his eyes to look up at his twin, “I like hearing you talk,” he commented softly. His brother always had something to teach him, to show him things he’d missed while being raised in the Inner Garden.

Ichiru chuckled. “Thank you Zero.” He nodded to the trunk. “I brought some of our things over. I doubt you’ll be used to the western clothing they’ve so kindly prepared for you.” He’d looked through the closet.

Zero rubbed his eyes and went to pick out what he might want to wear, thanking his brother as he did so, lifting out a pale lavender traditional male’s one-piece kimono along with a white obi. He didn’t want to offend Juri-san for the nightclothes she’d provided, but he hadn’t been used to them and it’d felt unusual.

Sliding on the inner white cotton robe, he tied it towards the right side of his hip, proceeding to then slide on the outer silk robe, making sure everything was in place before turning to his brother. “Ichiru, can you tie the obi?” Michiko had always helped him to dress in the mornings and she’d never allowed him to finish the obi on his own. The knot wasn’t anything difficult, but he never quite managed to get it right.

Unsurprised, Ichiru gently pulled Zero to stand in front of him, between his legs, as he was still seated at the edge of the bed, and wrapped the cloth securely around his brother’s hips before tying it off. “It isn’t too tight or loose, is it?”

“No, thank you Ichiru,” Zero sent him a smile over his shoulder.

“Mm,” taking hold of his brother’s hand, Ichiru led him downstairs. He could smell food, and hoped Shizuka had been wrong when she’d told him the Mistress of the house had a weird taste in food. Really, bacon and mayonnaise? She’d better not have fed anything like that to Zero. His brother had only ever had traditional Japanese food, made and prepared by a trusted chef at their home. Ichiru didn’t know what would happen if they sprung a completely different diet onto his brother.

Bacon contained so much unnecessary grease…and she ate that with mayonnaise? No matter how many times he thought about it, it was just weird.

The younger of the twins felt his irritation spike another notch as he saw her staring. Again. It’d been like that since morning, when he came in with his brother.

“Is there something I can do for you?” Zero spoke up, looking up from his book. Ichiru also sent her a cuttingly curious glance. She’d even gotten his oblivious brother to pick up on her less than subtle staring.

“Um, no,” Yuuki flushed at being caught.

Ichiru smirked. “Maybe she’s taken a liking to you, Zero.”

“I, I just thought his clothes were pretty,” Yuuki pouted.

Zero looked down at himself before smiling. “Thank you. Your kimono is rather beautiful as well.”

The young girl smiled brightly. “Thank you! This one’s my favorite!”

“Zero, if you want to be more specific, her clothing is usually referred to as a dress,” Ichiru gently corrected.

Zero nodded, “Your dress is beautiful,” he repeated softly. Yuuki giggled, “It’s okay. You call it a kimono? Do they only let boys wear it?”

“Girls wear it in a different style, more decorative, and their sleeves are longer. There’re also many other ornaments involved if there is a special occasion. It can get rather complicated.” He’d heard from Michiko, if they went all out, just tying the obi could take hours.

“They’re prettier than yours?” How did it get nicer than that?

“Would you like one Yuuki?” Juri came in, holding a tray of drinks and small snacks. “We can get one for you, you’d look so cute.”

“Really? I’d like to,” just once, she’d like to see what it was like. Juri kissed her cheek and whispered she’d talk to her father about it.

Yuuki smiled hopefully and watched her mother go, blinking as she caught sight of her Mark, her eyes flicking to Zero once again, now for a different reason. She’d nearly forgotten, but Zero was like her mother, a Bearer. She wondered whether he had a Mark like her too, and if it was on his neck.

The older boy had gone back to reading, and she didn’t want to bother him, but it really was making her curious. “Um…” She felt her cheeks heating. She sometimes said things without really thinking it. Now both of the boys were staring.

“Um…is it, is it okay if I see your Mark?” She barely managed to get the words out of her mouth.

“My Mark?” Zero raised a hand to his shoulder. He wouldn’t mind showing it, but he’d have to fix his clothing if he did, and he didn’t want to bother Ichiru with tying his obi once again. Instead, he turned a bit and gestured to the area of where his Mark was located.

“It’s there?” Yuuki leaned forward, imagining the same circular design that was on her mother’s neck on Zero’s shoulder, behind the gentle curve, at a point where the arm met the shoulder blade in the back.

“Do they all show on different spots?”

“Depending which bloodline, yes,” Zero answered. Juri, he suspected, was someone from the Kakei line, from the position of her Mark.

“Oh…” Fascinated, she impulsively sat closer. “Kaa-sama said only Bearers can have Flora babies…” Zero nodded. “So…are you going to give a Flora girl a baby?” Yuuki asked.

Ichiru snorted, pressing his face into his brother’s shoulder as he laughed out loud. The girl could be annoying, but she was hilarious. So innocently unaware and naïve… He almost wanted to whip out some pictures and a diagram and go into explicit details on how Zero would go about ‘giving’ someone a Flora baby.

Unfortunately, Zero wasn’t aware of ‘generalizing’ in front of the younger generation, and parted his mouth to answer, “I can’t have a Flora child with a female, I’d need to have sexual intercourse with a Flora male if I wanted one.”

Ichiru was shaking his head, his cheeks flushed as he laughed even harder. When he peered over Zero’s shoulder to see Yuuki just staring in open confusion, he moved to poke his brother in the side. “Zero,” he breathed out, out of air from his laughter, “Zero, don’t say anything more, you’ll only confuse her.” Her mother was a Bearer, but she didn’t know anything about male ones? They were keeping her rather sheltered.

Yuuki didn’t want to seem like an idiot, she frowned, and thought on Zero’s reply. “You need to have sexual intercourse,” she slowly pronounced, smiling when Zero nodded, “with a boy to have a Flora baby?”

“Yes.”

“Um, why do you need sexual intercourse?” She was trying to get used to saying the unfamiliar words, “Is it like a wedding? You need to marry a Flora boy?”

“Sexual intercourse has nothing to do with marriage,” Zero shook his head. “It’s a physical process we need to complete in order to reproduce.”

Yuuki’s brows lowered in concentration, “Um, I, I don’t know what that means,” she finally mumbled out.

Zero tilted his head. Maybe it was too difficult? He tried using the terms she had used, and repeated, “It’s when a male Flora gives a part of himself to the Bearer in order to make more Flora children.”

“Oh,” Yuuki’s eyes widening with realization. “So Tou-sama and Kaa-sama did the same to have me and Nii-sama?” She was rather excited in learning something about her mother as a Bearer. “But what do they have to give? It must be really important, right? Since it makes the babies?”

Zero frowned. “I suppose…it’s an essential part of them, yes. And it’s called—”

“Zero,” Ichiru interrupted, covering his brother’s mouth with his hand, “no more on that, her parents might kill us.” Zero sent him a confused glance. “Sex is something she’s usually supposed to hear from her parents. The physical process,” emphasized with a bit of sarcasm, “is not supposed to be talked about in detail in front of others. What you were doing was inappropriate.”

“Inappropriate…” Zero mouthed against Ichiru’s hand. Once his brother let him go, he turned back to Yuuki, “I apologize. I didn’t know it was wrong of me to tell you.”

“It’s okay,” Yuuki shook her head. “I didn’t know either, you were just trying to help me. It was nice to have someone tell me things.” Everyone liked to just smile and pat her head, and although her older brother sometimes went through the effort of explaining things to her, most of the time, he liked to just keep things simple, successfully averting her attention to something else if she got too curious.

“But if you’re still with us when I’m older, can you tell me about it then?” She asked hopefully. She doubted her parents or older brother would want to tell her the things Zero seemed comfortable telling.

“Ichiru said you were to ask your parents…” Ichiru nodded approvingly. “I’d rather not upset them by telling you without their consent.” Yuuki deflated a bit, but gave in. She supposed she’d just have to put in extra effort when asking her parents. Actually, she considered, maybe she should just go to her mother.

Ichiru sighed in relief. Death by enraged father (and most likely brother) averted, he calmly told himself. That was a close one. No matter how funny it seemed, if that girl went to her parents about what Zero had ‘enlightened’ her on, he doubted they’d be jumping in joy to the news. Well, she might just forget the conversation as she grew older, he shrugged, and even if she did remember it, it wasn’t something you could tell anyone without feeling like an idiot.

‘Why do you need sexual intercourse? Is it like a wedding?’ He inwardly snorted. I mean, really? He didn’t know how old she was, but she couldn’t be younger than ten, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she looked younger than her actual age. Didn’t they start sexual education early these days?

“Yuuki, there you are,” Haruka came in with a smile. Ichiru couldn’t be gladder he hadn’t come looking for her even a few seconds earlier. Imagining him actually walking into that conversation… Ha, ha, no. And thank the gods he hadn’t.

“Zero-kun, Ichiru-kun, would you like something more to eat or drink?” He saw that the snacks his wife had left on the table for them were untouched. Seeing Ichiru’s wary glance, he reassured, “Kaname made it, so it’s alright.” The twins nodded, and Yuuki giggled. Haruka sent his daughter a nervous smile, “Please don’t tell Juri I said that,” he whispered.

“Tou-sama…” Kaname shook his head. He came up behind his father with a tray of food. “You’re lucky Kaa-sama has gone out with Shizuka-san or she definitely would’ve heard you, Yuuki or no.”

Haruka coughed. “Right.” He really needed to watch his mouth.

Zero peered over the food curiously. “Is this another form of soba?” It smelled delicious.

“It’s called spaghetti, Zero,” Ichiru picked up the fork, “here, eat it this way,” he curled the noodles around the eating utensil in a neat bundle, “and watch for the sauce, it might drip.”

Zero did as instructed and brought the spaghetti to his mouth. Chewing slowly, he blinked at the warm, unfamiliar taste, but smiled, “It’s very good.” He wouldn’t mind having more of it.

Unbeknownst to him, Kaname let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. From this morning, it was obvious Zero wasn’t used to some foods, and when he’d seen that spaghetti was also something Zero hadn’t experienced, he wondered whether the boy would like it. Seeing that soft, awed smile brought forth a rush of relief. It felt good to have someone compliment his cooking.

“The sauce is really good, Nii-sama,” Yuuki chirped, careful not to get any on her dress as she ate. She thanked her father when he set down a cup of juice.

“Thank you Yuuki,” Kaname smiled, “and I’m glad you enjoyed your first taste of spaghetti, Zero-san.”

“Zero is fine.” Having been called Zero-sama for his entire life, and having it add distance between himself and the other servants, he liked it when Juri and her family called his name with such friendly familiarity. But Kaname’s ‘Zero-san’ seemed even more distant than the Zero-sama he’d had to get used to, and he didn’t like it.

“Don’t call me that either,” Ichiru added, “Ichiru-san makes me feel old.” Ichiru-sama made him feel like a statue, and Ichiru-kun made him feel like a brat. He liked neither.

“You two are still young yet,” Haruka chuckled. “There’s no need for that.” The twins couldn’t be older than his son.

“I was about to be married off next year,” Ichiru said flatly. And when you were a married man, you just weren’t young anymore, period.

“To who?” Zero asked concerned. He hadn’t known the Elders had been planning to marry his brother off.

“Some bimbo,” Ichiru shrugged. He could care less about it now, they weren’t alive to control his life anymore.

Zero hadn’t ever heard of a bimbo, but he assumed it was some sort of derogatory term for unintelligent women. Michiko herself had mentioned there were many of those.

“I’m sorry. Was that also due to my condition as a Bearer?” Ichiru would have been miserable, paired off for life with such a woman.

“No, Zero, you know how they were, greedy old bas-bats,” Ichiru corrected himself when he eyed Yuuki and her father.

Not in the least bit reassured, Zero nodded.

“Ichiru-kun was going to get married? He’s not a Bearer, so he can have babies with a girl, right?” Yuuki suddenly spoke up.

Ichiru inwardly groaned. Damn, did that girl have to go back to that conversation now? When her father and brother were in the room?

And of course, Zero had to answer her, “Yes.” Before his brother could say anything more, he sent him a firm look and shook his head. It wasn’t as though Zero had gone into a full explanation of why, so Haruka and Kaname had no reason to suspect the conversation had happened before.

“Speaking of marriage, how did those two characters in the book you were reading go, Yuuki?” Haruka asked, smoothly changing topic. He gave a slight sigh of relief when she immediately went on to explain the current events in the book.

Kaname had his brows raised. Yuuki’s question implied she knew male Bearers couldn’t have children with a female Flora. And last he checked, she hadn’t an idea about the topic on ‘How to Make Babies’.

“Ichiru,” Zero laughed softly, and Kaname looked up, it’d been the first time he’d seen such a relaxed expression since coming here, “you got sauce on your clothes and your chin. You were the one that told me to be cautious about it.”

Ichiru hissed, grabbing for a tissue. He wiped at the stain and his face. “Is it gone?” Zero nodded. “Will your clothes be okay?”

“Haven’t a clue.”

“You can have it washed now, if you like,” Kaname offered.

“Thank you, but it’s fine. A shirt stain isn’t the end of the world.” He was wearing a black shirt; it wouldn’t show much.

“Ichiru, you can change into my clothes,” Zero looked down at the spot the sauce had been. His brother shook his head. “I said it’s fine, Zero, besides, how will these poor people tell us apart if I wore one of your kimono?”

Haruka chuckled. “Very true. That’d be a problem.” The first time he’d met Ichiru, he’d thought the boy was Zero wearing the clothes they’d bought him. Shizuka hadn’t been kidding when she said they were identical. If they were to wear similar clothing on top of that…

Kaname tilted his head. He actually didn’t think he’d have much trouble telling them apart. It was just in the way they moved and acted. The atmosphere around each twin was much too different. Ichiru seemed to carry around a sense of embittered wisdom that was all his own, while Zero was like an impressionable child at some moments. He could be completely unaware of the most common things (he’d asked what a fork was this morning) while owning a vast amount of knowledge in other obscure areas (he’d advised his mother on several different types of silk). He seemed a walking contradiction.

The two had obviously lived very different lives and it showed.

Ichiru wondered whether the staring thing was something the Kuran siblings shared, since the older one was now doing it too. Were he and Zero so interesting they couldn’t keep their eyes off?

…When he thought of it like that, it was kind of creepy.

Quietly excusing himself, he pulled his brother along and went back to their room.

“Ichiru? You said you wanted to show me something.”

“Zero,” he sat his brother down on one of the chairs, “do you really want to stay here? We can go to Shizuka-san if you want. It might be harder to keep you out of sight, but we’ll manage.” They always had.

“Ichiru…it’s fine if you want to go back to Shizuka-san. You don’t have to take me with you.” He didn’t want to add any more strain on his brother’s life.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Ichiru shook his head. I just don’t want you staying with possible stalkers under the same roof! But it wasn’t as though Zero would understand if he said anything like that. “Just…just think about it?”

Zero nodded. Shizuka-san seemed nice – if he ignored the part where she’d leveled their house to the ground. “I think I’d like to stay here, though.” He liked the warmth he’d gotten to know, and wished he could feel more of it.

Ichiru lowered his brows. “If that’s what you want…”

“It is, thank you for letting me choose, Ichiru.” Zero sent him a soft smile. “No one ever really let us choose before. We could’ve made our own, I suppose, but we shouldn’t have had to, right?”

Ichiru nodded, “But now we can,” he said quietly. They could move forward on their own decisions.

Disclaimer: No own Vampire Knight.

Thank you for reading! :D Sorry about the mpreg thing, really, I'll be adding it into the the summary so no one's surprised in a bad way ^^;