Oh lol, I agree completely. It doesn’t make sense because these shippers are mainly attempting to draw attention away from the real abuse that Kaname inflicted upon Yuuki.

Funny thing is, Yuuki is the first to know that Zero would never actually hurt her. Yes, he rejected her when she first awoke as a pureblood, but each knew that he believed he was letting Yuuki grow and become “strong” in her own way.

Zero was initially opposed to her transformation as his experience with turning was suffering and the hopelessness of dying in madness. But once he learned that she had always been a vampire, he let her go thinking that she was an existence apart from him.

Still, Zero couldn’t hide his ever-present care for her even when he was trying to pretend she had become a mockery to the dead.

“…Do you still feel scared?” – Zero

The last request her made to her before he let her go was an answer to a question grounded in worry and love.

And Yuuki thought on that moment later and suffered for his absence. She was alone without an outlet for her complete trust, understanding, and love for Zero Kiryuu. He took himself out of her life and placed all of his HOPE in Kaname Kuran to make her happy, even though it was Yuuki herself that told Zero to his face a few chapters prior that the one she desperately NEEDED was him.

Zero still couldn’t face the new feelings that had blossomed between them, he was too afraid and not grasping his place in this girl’s heart…

“If I could pretend I was INDISPENSABLE to you, I felt it wouldn’t MATTER if I didn’t have a past.” – Yuuki

Zero believed that the person Yuuki wanted most was Kaname [it was you, Zero, it was youuuu /shot], but his hope in Kaname was misguided in the same way Yuuki’s was [that her older brother knew what was best for her, that becoming a vampire would be enough to make her strong and happy], and Zero would come to regret letting her go, pushing her away, only so she could fall at the hands of her brother/ancestor.

He couldn’t have known what would happen down the line, it WASN’T anything that he had ever wished for her, but he would still lament not being able to protect her.

“Why did I wish for that?” – Zero

“I’ve always known that Zero has wished for my happiness. I know him so well…” – Yuuki

Zero’s wish in letting Yuuki go, confirmed by Yuuki herself [she knows him better than he knows himself], was for her happiness above all others. He wouldn’t expect anything of her and he would pray, with pure intentions, that she received all that she desired.

But Kaname was the one that subjected Yuuki to treatment that would steal her smile away. Looking past the way he lied about who he was in the first place, his reasons for making Yuuki unhappy were because her heart “screamed and cried out” for Zero while she was supposed to be his fiancee.

Kaname didn’t even think to “free” Yuuki so that she could maybe resolve her issues and actually be with someone else if she preferred.

[image credit: imaginarylights] [I’ll never get over that reunion heLP]

Instead, throughout the second arc, Kaname chose to lock her up, threatened to kill her or himself if she ever left him, belittled her as you said by openly perceiving her as weak, and punished her for getting close to Zero during 60th Night – all very abusive behavior.

“You refrained from drinking his blood, Yuuki… I commend you for that.” - Kaname Kuran [image credit: imaginarylights]

And when Kaname tried to make Yuuki think Zero betrayed her in the worst possible way, to make her think “the kindest” person she knew would’ve wanted to kill her because she was trying to capture Kaname instead of “abandoning” him – especially when we consider that it was Zero who came to genuinely wish for her to freely be with whomever she wanted while Kaname was the one that wished for her to let go of everyone else but him [Zero most of all] – I couldn’t help but see humor in the situation.

Petty, pitiful, and self-engrossed, Kaname was basically trying to portray Zero to be as bad as he was so that Yuuki would maybe have her doubts about him, believe in another illusion as she did before [which, of course, was of Kaname killing an innocent man, and funnily it didn’t take much for her to think that he would do such a thing].

Luckily, his plan backfired on him.

Yuuki KNEW Zero would never mistreat her like that.

“Zero… would NEVER BLAME me like this.” - Yuuki

I get that Kaname was trying to be seen as a “madman,” however I also see that he was trying one last time to break the attachment Yuuki had with Zero.

If that was not his reasoning, why would he want to make his “dearest” think that the one that SHE wanted to CHERISH had just killed her? Why didn’t Kaname use his own image if he wanted her to “abandon” him?

Because he was still dragging everyone along with his contrary whims, that’s why. He still wanted Yuuki to turn to him and him alone.

But Yuuki wouldn’t stop holding Zero in higher regards even while she was supposed to “belong” to Kaname – she would follow Kaname with intentions of stopping him from self-destructing, but her feelings for Zero had already begun to overflow…

Really though, that was actually a great moment once I got past the graphic violence supplied by Kaname’s will over Ruka’s imagination, which she herself spoke unfavorably of [yeah, making your most important girl in the world think that she was just shot in the head– something’s definitely wrong with that].

“I’m grateful for what you did.” – Kaname to Ruka

I’m sure Yuuki’s unwavering trust in Zero was another brazen display of Zeki’s shared radiance to Kaname for further confirmation that Yuuki deserved more than being held to an obligation [as his “terrible fiancee”].

Zero and Yuuki went through so much angst on their way to embracing their love, and this post reminded me of most of it /clutches heart, but the intricacies of their affections, Yuuki’s unshakeable belief in Zero along with his innately good nature are what made the dark forest Kaname lead them into survivable.

Okay, I got a little carried away answering this, anon. I just reread your question and I could’ve said, “it’s bad, man” and have been done with it lol. But I hope you don’t mind this prolonged look upon how Yuuki reacted to both boys, why she could live for one and not the other, and why her love waxed and waned between the two.