Breathe Me (A Sleeping Beauty Retelling/ Vampire Knight Fanfiction- KaZe)

2. State of Seduction

Kaname Kuran was not pleased to be marrying in general- especially not to a hunter of all creatures- but he had decided a year ago that he would do as he was bid to by Haruka and Juri- his parents of sorts.

They were not really his parents- no, in truth he was their Ancestor, the founder of their line.

He had been brought back from an eternal rest by the blood of their newborn babe as fed to him by a royal defector- his 'parents' elder brother, Rido.

But Rido had not known properly who he was awakening- nor had he known how to properly forge a master bond with Kaname, resulting in the dual eyed pureblood stealing away into the night, leaving Haruka and Juri to discover a newly awakened ancestor standing above their dead child.

Juri had cried and screamed and Kaname had been hit with a wave of guilt like he never had in his previous life- he had sworn from then on to do whatever he could to repay them, though he had long suspected that promise to be foolish to make.

They had not blamed him for it- why, he had never properly known.

The blood of the babe had not given him the strength to remain as an adult for long and so he was forced to regress his physical age to that of an infant, Haruka and Juri taking him in to 'raise' as their own.

But they had another child when he was ten years old in form- a baby girl by the name of Yuki.

It had been a surprise- and he had already been betrothed to the hunter princess who had been born two years previous to assure an alliance in the name of peace between their two races.

Kaname had not detested the alliance until years after Yuki's birth, until she had asked him to promise that they would be like their parents.

She had been too young to explain the betrothal properly, but he had sworn it to her nonetheless-unable to stop himself from doing so as her big eyes pleaded with him.

He had told himself that he'd find a way to defy the betrothal- but by now he had found his way.

The hunter princess would die off eventually- her life but a blink in the eye of a vampire- and so he had explained that to Yuki when she discovered the betrothal- telling her, promising her that they would be together when the princess breathed her last.

She believed him, and he swore he would never lie to her again.

He had not heard of the princess's curse- indeed, not even his parents had in full.

They had all known the princess was in hiding for safety reasons, of course. But it wasn't until Seiren, Kaname's right hand, had investigated that they had realized that the princess' life was already cut down so short.

The Kuran's had said nothing of breaking the marriage alliance however, had not breathed a word of breaking it even after hearing the extent of the prophecy on the princess' life.

It did put them on fragile ice though- that a vampire would be the one to kill her.

Kaname had vowed he would try and protect her in the letter to the Kiryu King- but it wasn't as if he had ever met the girl- nor had he ever actually met any of the Kiryu's in reality.

The King had been kind in his letter back, but had promised that they would not end the treaty after her death- mostly because they knew the curse came from Rido, and Rido was a known defector.

Kaname had released a sigh of relief when he had read the reply, but still, he knew to be careful.

But that had been two years ago- and he was twenty-five now- the princess' birthday being tonight as he and a small party travelled through the dense Autumn Woods to reach the Hunter Kingdom's capital some thirty miles away by horse.

Tonight he would arrive at the Castle, and tomorrow he would officially meet the princess as she was welcomed home. And by tomorrow night they would be married.

Joy.

He was grateful now for the density of the overhanging trees, the leaves a mass of golds, rubies, and dark browns as daylight streamed through thin windows, leaving his skin only a bit irritated as they progressed down the main road.

He was travelling some ways ahead of his party though and his parents were a ways behind them, so he was free to think clearly with little interruptions except for the billowing leaves in the cool breeze and the rustling of forest undergrowth by scuttering woodland animals.

In fact, he was only knocked free of his thoughts when a lilting melody began to reach his ears from the southeast.

"Creating chaos just to prove we're alive. Demolition of a delicate kind.."

He spurred his steed to a steady trot, trying to decipher the words of the song as he drew closer to the voice.

"Midnight confessions keep on blurring the line. Say you're here on my side. Want you here on my side..."

He urged the horse faster and headed off the road and into the untamed parts of the woods, following the trace of such a voice down ravines and across streams.

"You keep my heart under the cover of night. Could be the devil in a clever disguise. Temptation leads us, it's too late for goodbye..."

In fact, it was only as he had drawn so close as to taste the disturbance of the voice in the air that he noticed he had reached a dilapidated river bridge.

"Say you're here on my side. Want you here on my side. Come undone with me..."

With barely a thought he used his telekinesis to patch the slats of the bridge back together before crossing, his clothes dampening at the close spray of water.

"Diving into destruction. Come undone with me. In the state of seduction. Come undone with me..."

Kaname pushed on down a hidden path of sorts, sliding off his horse as the voice grew stronger- somehow even more alluring than before.

"Twisting and turning all according to plan. Your secret's safe until there's blood on my hands. Push me away but we're still victims of chance..."

Nothing had sounded so beautiful to his ears- nothing in this life or the one before.

He had to see the singer for himself.

"And we're here in the light. Now we're here in the light. We waged a war against the ghosts of the past. No one noticed they were under attack..."

He ghosted over the undergrowth, his boots silent against the grass, no branch cracking beneath his steady feet as he slid forward into a small clearing.

"We wanted freedom now there's no turning back. Cause we're here in the light. And I'm here on your side. Say you're staying till your last dying breath...."

His eyes zeroed in on a cloaked woman.

Her back was facing him and her arms were stretched out as she slowly danced her way around an ancient tree.

He approached her like a ghost till he was but three yards away.

"I wanna love you til there's absolutely nothing. I wanna love you til there's absolutely nothing left..."

He closed the distance and wrapped a hand around her wrist twirling her around as she sang the last line of her song.

"Come undone with me..."

A/N: As always, leave any questions/inquiries in the reviews and I will reply as soon as I know I have them! Please FOLLOW and (!) REVIEW (!). My question for ya'll this chapter is (and I always ask this in every VK fanfic, I know, lol): What is your impression on this Kaname? How do you think Zero will react to his appearance? Let me know in the reviews! Suggestions are also welcome. Also, if you want a favorite scene included from the Disney Sleeping Beauty movie, let me know and I'll be sure to do it! Thanks for reading! :)