Vampire Knight Fan Fiction ❯ For You-repost #2 ❯ Chapter 7

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Vampire Knight; it belongs to Matsuri Hino.

Author’s Note:  I can only sincerely apologize for the delay on this chapter. I’ve finally managed to get past all of the bad news that my family’s had and keeps getting. Add to that, I had to rewrite this chapter several times before it finally fell into place.

So I now present to you the long overdue Chapter 7.

Italics: thoughts
Bold italics: rumors that Zero overhears

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Chapter 7

Yuki lay in a heap on her bed utterly exhausted. The mess at the gate earlier had been horrible. If her father hadn’t shown up when he did, she didn’t know what she would’ve done. “Did you give Ichijo-senpai your list?” Yori’s soft voice was always a pleasant thing to hear after dealing with her fellow classmates. Yuki’s tired brain took several minutes to process the question. Once it came up with the answer, Yuki let her head fall back onto her pillow with a groan. “No, in all of the fuss I never got a chance to talk with him. I’ll give it to him tomorrow evening.” She looked over at her roommate and best friend who for some strange reason was still wide awake. Something tickled her memory. “It was so crazy out there I actually thought I saw you sitting in a tree.” She chuckled at what was obviously a hallucination brought on by exhaustion. But Yori doesn’t have anything to do with the Night class. It’s nice to have at least one sane friend in this place.

“Go to sleep, Yuki.” Yori suddenly said. “You don’t have to do the second escort since the Night class students didn’t go to class tonight, so take advantage of the extra time to sleep.”

Yuki did as Yori suggested never questioning her friend’s knowledge, even though she never mentioned that the Night class skipped their classes. She was even too tired to worry about Zero. The extra sleep was sorely needed.

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It always amazed Sayori how easily her friend could fall asleep no matter the location. Sleep never came quickly for the lighter haired girl especially for the past several months. The short haired girl knew that the extra sleep Yuki would get tonight wouldn’t make much difference in the long run, because in a few minutes the nightmares would start. She drew her knees up to her chest and patiently waited—a silent witness to her best friend’s unknown torment.

The nightmares always started within ten minutes of Yuki falling asleep plaguing the girl for most of the night. Yuki would suffer through them for hours before finally waking up drenched in sweat and terrified out of her mind. Sayori always pretended to be asleep so that Yuki wouldn’t feel guilty about keeping her up. After reassuring herself that Sayori was sleeping Yuki would lay back down until she finally fell back into an uneasy slumber.

Sayori didn’t know what the nightmares were about because Yuki refused to discuss them. However, sometimes her best friend talked in the middle of one always crying for a family that was unknown to Sayori. It was no use trying to confront Yuki about the nightmares because she would either do a clam imitation or change the subject. Meanwhile, her eyes clearly showed her distress and fear.

Soft distressed whimpers drew her attention to her now shaking best friend.

One of the things that made Yuki such a great friend to have was her large heart. While there were times that she could by incredibly single minded and oblivious, Yuki didn’t know how to hold back anything when it came to her friends and family. If it came down to it, Yuki would probably get herself killed trying to protect them. Yet, at the same time she repeatedly ignored her own needs and wants. Sayori’s biggest fear was to one day find that her best friend had lost herself in the process of trying to help everyone else. The short haired girl wanted to help Yuki so much she was ready to cry; however, there was no way to help someone who refused to acknowledge the need for help. The frustration Sayori felt because of this wore on her nerves causing a rift in their friendship.

So in the meantime, Sayori could only watch and listen to Yuki’s heartbreaking tears.  

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Back in the Moon dormitory, Kaname sat at his desk trying not to bang his head on the innocent piece of furniture. It wasn’t the desk’s fault that the vampire council was full of power hungry idiots, who seemed to be incapable of doing anything other than hoarding power and aggravating him. He was glad to be given a reason to cancel classes for the evening because that gave him the time to deal with all of these reports, requests, and general stupidity from the council so that he could have the weekend to pursue his mates. A teeny, tiny part of him felt bad for Aido. The blue eyed blonde was now going to have to spend the entire weekend doing research for the pureblood.  For Kaname, though, it meant that he was able put aside a rather large pile of the paperwork for at least three or four days decreasing the pile in front of him drastically. Since the rest of these aren’t anything important, I should be done with them in less than two hours. The council obviously doesn’t understand the concept of going to school. Speaking of said mates, I don’t sense Zero in the dorm anymore. Cross must’ve come and rescued him. Kaname was disappointed but knew he’d see him soon.

The next two hours passed by quietly and more importantly quickly. With a sigh of relief, the pureblood was able to place the last piece of paper in its respective envelope to be sent back to the council. He leaned back in the chair and prayed that Takuma wouldn’t come into his room with anymore work. Sometimes, I wish that I’d never been born a vampire. Life would be so much simpler. Kaname pushed that thought aside just as someone knocked on the door. He let his senses extend enough to know that this particular visitor was more than welcome to come in whenever he wanted. I just have to convince him of that. “Enter.”

The door opened far enough to let Akatsuki in before quickly being shut behind the tall noble.  “Kaname-sama.”

With amusement coloring his words, the pureblood motioned to the couch. “Hiding from your cousin and Ruka?”

“Yes,” Akatsuki answered grimacing as he sat and leaned against the back of the couch. “I told Ruka to stop with the subtlety since Hanabusa won’t notice it. If she keeps on being subtle it’ll take years for him to take the hint. I really don’t want to have to deal with him thinking she’s out to get him for that long.”

“She is out to get him, though.” Kaname replied with smirk. “Just not the way he’s thinking.”  The noble gave a tired chuckle. He must be worn out from dealing with their antics. Hell, they wear me out after just a few minutes on a normal day. “Were there any problems while Zero was in the dorm?”

Akatsuki ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “No, there were glares, looks of shock, but most of the Night class seemed more curious than anything. Of course, he wasn’t anywhere that anyone with malicious intentions could get to him.”

Kaname nodded, “Good. While I trust most of the Night class, there are those that I don’t.”

Sunset eyes closed—a sign of relaxation the brunette was glad to see. “If we can limit the times he’s open for an attack than the less chance that any possible enemy can get to him. Zero can hold his own against any of them; but any type of incident like that and both the association and the council will have a field day.”

“Correct.  Once it becomes general knowledge that the two of you are in a relationship with me, both of you will become targets—Zero more than you, because he’s in a separate dorm and an exhuman.” No one would dare lay a hand on Akatsuki in the Moon dorm. The noble didn’t leave the school grounds often so there would be even less of a chance for someone to attack him. Zero, on the other hand, regularly left the school grounds on missions from the association and errands for the headmaster. Then there was the little fact that most vampires (not just the council’s lackeys) and even some hunters wouldn’t hesitate to cause problems for an exhuman. Some of them would even consider it their sworn duty to do so. Thank god Zero doesn’t take crap from anyone. Kaname decided it was time for a change of subject. He was tired of thinking about the council. “Was it the headmaster who rescued Zero earlier?” He couldn’t help but admire the seemingly relaxed body of the noble stretched out in front of him.

Akatsuki snorted. “Actually, it was Ruka who rescued Zero. She grabbed him and pulled him all the way to the door where she promptly shoved him at the headmaster.” He paused before adding, “I didn’t intend on giving him back; but she was quite insistent.”

Kaname let out a chuckle. Ruka acted like an ice princess, but she was just as fiery as Zero underneath the surface and quite the tomboy. ”Poor Zero, he’s not sure what to think of her anymore. First she ignores him, next she hates him because I told her he was my lover, and now she’s protecting him.”  The appreciative look in the now open sunset eyes made the pureblood slightly self conscious. He knew it was rare for him to show emotion, but being a little self conscious was a small price to pay since Akatsuki was here trying to get passed rules that had been pounded into him from birth.  This warmed the pureblood’s heart. Of course, it might help if I wasn’t sitting behind my desk.

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Akatsuki was nowhere near to being as relaxed as he looked. While he’d been standing outside of the brunette’s room, the sunset eyed noble had berated himself for the conflicting emotions running throughout his body. His mind had run around in circles unable to decide between ignoring everything he’d ever been taught about purebloods or going back to his room and pretending that nothing had changed. The second wasn’t really an option seeing as how Hanabusa would never let him live it down. His body acted automatically and before he knew it, he found himself knocking on the door. With both relief and dread coiling throughout his body, the noble entered Kaname’s study at the pureblood’s command. Akatsuki felt stupid as he walked in because he had no reason to give the brunette for his intrusion. Thankfully, Kaname started off the conversation and kept it going; and while the pureblood was more relaxed, there was still a tiny bit of formality in the air that soothed Akatsuki’s nerves since it was familiar.

Then the formality and familiarity disappeared when Kaname chuckled. Even though Akatsuki and the other nobles of Kaname’s inner circle had known the pureblood since they were children, it was rare for said pureblood to really interact with them. None of them remembered ever seeing their leader truly happy with the exception of that all too brief moment when they first met him.  If tossing familiarity and tradition out the door with a swift kick means that I can hear him actually laugh, see what makes him tick, and understand him then so be it. Even more enticing than the chuckle was the hint of pink now gracing Kaname’s cheeks. That faint blush fascinated the noble enough that he didn’t realize the brunette was out of his chair until Kaname sat beside him on the couch. “Sorry, I’ve been sitting in that chair for so long that I thought I’d never be able to get out of it,” the brunette said in a apologetic tone; yet Akatsuki could see something like amusement dancing in the burgundy eyes.

The noble simply nodded his head in response. This was also new. Very rarely did the brunette get close to a person. Definitely not unwelcome—just very intense. “We wouldn’t want that,” Akatsuki mumbled softly not really paying attention to his words. He’d always known his leader was an attractive male; yet it was only now really sinking in just how attractive the brunette was—from burgundy eyes and soft looking dark brown hair to the pale skin that looked like marble. However, Akatsuki was sure that the smooth skin would be soft and not cold at all. At that moment in time Kaname wasn’t a pureblood, he wasn’t the dorm president, or some remote figure to be obeyed at the drop of a hat; right then, Kaname was a flesh and blood person who’d previously admitted that he was attracted to the noble.

Akatsuki was so immersed in his thoughts that he never realized that he was unconsciously leaning towards the pureblood. He mind seemed to shut down as he leaned forward a little farther and gently brushed his lips against Kaname’s. The noble’s eyes remained slightly opened so he didn’t miss the shock in the burgundy eyes before they closed and Kaname leaned into the kiss. This was completely insane and not something Akatsuki was going to question. A part of his mind screamed at him for daring to take such an action, but he ignored it in favor of something much nicer. As he started to pull back, one of Kaname’s hands slipped upwards to the back of the noble’s neck stopping his retreat. The pureblood pushed their lips together roughly. One of them moaned softly, but Akatsuki didn’t know who.  Not that it really mattered. A fight for dominance ensued that was won by Kaname when the brunette decided to play dirty.  When the two finally separated for air, Akatsuki leaned back to fully take in the more relaxed form of the brunette. He made a mental note for the future:  Need to make sure Zero’s with me next time to restrain Kaname’s hands.

Whatever might’ve happened next was interrupted by a person knocking on the door. Kaname sighed as he stood up and reclaimed his seat behind the desk. Quickly running a hand through his hair he called out, “Enter.” Akatsuki started to stand in preparation to leave, but the brunette motioned for him to sit back down.  Meanwhile, Takuma entered the study with a frown on his usually cheerful face. The green eyed blonde spared Akatsuki a brief glance before refocusing his attention on Kaname. Said pureblood frowned, “Please don’t tell me you have more paperwork for me to do.”

A smirk crossed Takuma’s face, “Sorry not this time. I know how much you enjoy going over pointless reports and whatnot.” The smirk disappeared. “I just got off of the phone with Grandfather.”

“And what does that piranha want now?” Kaname asked not bothering to conceal his irritation. Akatsuki remained silent simply observing the way the other two interacted with each other. He’d known that the two of them were close, but it was different actually seeing how relaxed they were with each other. This was also the first time that Akatsuki had ever heard the brunette speak with an emotion that wasn’t feigned politeness concerning the older Ichijo.

“You should be aware that there are some interesting rumors concerning Shizuka Hio along with a renewed interest in the Kiryu clan.”  Takuma answered in complete seriousness any trace of humor was erased.

Kaname’s eyes narrowed, “What kind of rumors?” Akatsuki tensed as he waited for the blonde’s answer. To his knowledge the whole events surrounding the insane pureblood and Zero’s family were pretty straight forward.

“I really think Zero should be here for this conversation along with Headmaster Cross. They probably have the answers we need.” Takuma paused for a minute. His frown deepened. The sunset eyed noble had never seen the other so uptight. “Let’s just say that there is apparently much, much more to the story than what the general public has been told.”

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After a restless night of sleep, Zero was not too happy to be awakened by loud banging on his door.  His dreams had been plagued by endless possibilities leaving him rather disgruntled.  Figuring that the unwanted nuisance at his door was Yuki, the hunter buried his head underneath his pillow muttering obscenities. Maybe she’ll go away. He knew it was a foolish thought. One of his adopted sister’s best yet worst qualities was her persistence.  The banging on the door continued.

“ZERO KIRYU, OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!”

He lifted the pillow up enough to yell at Yuki through the door, “GO AWAY!”

“DON’T TELL ME TO GO AWAY! GET UP NOW!”

Irritated mutterings from the other guys on the floor reached Zero’s ears making him realize just how early it was.

“ZERO!”

“Fuck,” Zero muttered pushing himself up out of bed. He yanked open the door before Yuki could bang on it anymore. Grabbing her raised arm in a firm grip, the hunter jerked her into his room to hopefully end her tirade. This had been going on ever since he’d moved into the dormitory so the other guys on the floor just ignored Yuki whenever she barged in.  The guys might’ve accepted her constant presence in our dorm, but the girls sure haven’t. She’s going to get a big lecture from her dorm president later. Sometimes Zero wished his dorm president would complain about Yuki to the headmaster; but no, the dorm president always turned a blind eye to Yuki’s constant appearances. He hissed, “What the hell do you want?”

She gave him an angry pout, “I was worried about you! The last time I saw you, you were being marched into the Moon dorm with a rabid mob behind you. I wanted to make sure you survived.”

He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with her dramatics even though her words were completely accurate. “As you can see, I’m fine. Now leave.” His eyes just happened to catch sight of his alarm clock. “Why the hell are you up so early anyways?” When she suddenly refused to look him in the eye and nervously began rocking back and forth on her feet, Zero’s irritation changed into concern. The silver haired teen didn’t give her a chance to answer, “Are your nightmares back?”

She seemed to curl in on herself. “Yeah.” Her head snapped up while her hands began waving frantically, “It’s nothing. They’ve probably just been brought on by stress from the upcoming exams. It’s nothing, really.”

You’ve always been a terrible liar, he thought with resignation. However, he knew better to force her to talk about them. All he could do was wait and be there when she needed him. I just hope they aren’t going to get a lot worse. Something about her memory loss seems so familiar…he shoved his suspicions aside for the time being. “You’re probably right.” He agreed casually. “I wouldn’t want to be you if you fail again and the class president finds out.” Their class president was as bad as the mob that waited at the gate every night. He snorted when Yuki paled and shivered.  “I’m fine, and I didn’t kill any of the Night class. So, don’t worry.” Zero gently pushed her to the door. “You better get back to your room so as to not make Yori worry.”

The shadow of fear that haunted her eyes faded away, and she grinned. “You’re right. I’ll see you in class.” Just as she walked out the door, Yuki turned around to give him an almost crushing hug. Zero returned her hug and watched as she walked down the hallway. Please—don’t let her nightmares be memories. Let them only be created from her recent encounters with level E’s and stress from studying. He wished this with all of his heart because he knew from firsthand experience the type of trauma it would take to spawn nightmares like the ones she had. But what if they aren’t nightmares? What if they really are suppressed memories—the rational side of his mind asked. “I’ll deal with that if and when it happens,” he murmured softly before going back to bed to try and get a little bit more sleep. He refused to think about it because if he did, then he would have to try and make sense of his own fractured memories for the answer to help her.

By lunch time, Zero was cursing everyone within five feet of him.  He was glad that Akatsuki didn’t have problems with the whole bond thing; the noble’s acceptance had eased the apprehension previously plaguing Zero. However, Zero was now dealing with a completely different type of tension; a type that made the prefect uncomfortably aware of both the noble and the pureblood. Said tension was the reason he was unable to sleep; it provided way too many possibilities for his imagination.  Lack of sleep was always a problem for him with the odd hours he kept because of prefect duties; usually though, he could somewhat compensate for that by sleeping during his classes—but not today. The chaos caused by Rima during the last escort had spawned a mass of rumors that he couldn’t ignore.

“Why is Toya-sempai suddenly interested in Kiryu? I thought the Night class hated him.”

Up to this point in his life, there were only two things about being a vampire that Zero accepted—enhanced senses and reflexes.  He’d lost count of the times that his enhanced sense of smell, sight, and hearing combined with better reflexes kept him from being severely injured if not killed. I wish I was a normal human right now, he thought in growing irritation, that way I couldn’t hear everything those idiots are saying.  Enhanced hearing was not a good thing to have on this day.

”She can’t have him; he belongs to us.”

All around him in class, in the halls, and outside—it didn’t matter where he was—Zero could plainly hear the whispered voices.

”Damn, how did Kiryu get to be so lucky?  He sleeps all day and still has near perfect scores. Now he has a hot model after him.”


With the exception of a few guys, who’d thought he was amazing for ‘catching’ a member of the Night class, no one was brave enough to approach him directly. If anyone else says something like that to my face I’ll wring their necks regardless of Cross’s ideas of pacifism. To say that he dreaded escort duty tonight was a major understatement.

“Did you see the way they manhandled him? I bet they were molesting him.”

Today can’t end soon enough; he thought as he headed to his next class, hopefully things won’t be so bad after the weekend. That thought was dangerous as it conjured up all sorts of different ways to spend the weekend. Zero’s stomach did flip flops because he knew that some time that night or the next Kaname fully intended to form a two way bond with him. Well, the sooner the better. He couldn’t take much more of Yuki’s worrying and Yori’s snickering. He ignored the anticipation that was slowly taking hold of him.

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Several hours later, Zero stood in his normal spot along the path mentally counting to one thousand. 452…453…454…4...”Get back in line,” he yelled at the girls who were as usual pushing against Yuki. 456…457…458…The girls standing behind him were suspiciously quiet and calm. Truthfully, their subdued behavior was causing alarm bells to ring in the back of his mind. Once again Yori was sitting in the tree behind him. 459…460…461…

The heavy wooden gate creaked as it opened revealing the Night class. Kaname and his trusted circle of nobles were the first to walk out as usual. Instead of being greeted by loud cheers and confessions of love, they were greeted by silence. Zero finally halted his mental countdown to devote his full attention to the suspicious acting mob. The alarm bells rang even louder. Even Yuki’s side of the path was eerily quiet. He was so focused on the mob, the silver haired teen failed to notice that the Night class was only a few steps away. However, just because he was unaware of this didn’t mean that the mob was oblivious.  Zero had just turned his head in acknowledgement of the Night class when he felt multiple pairs of hands grab his jacket and pull him backwards. The mob had the element of surprise in their favor, which allowed them to pull Zero several steps back while several of them moved between him and the Night class. It only took a few seconds for him to realize that he was completely surrounded by Day class girls, every one of them wearing a scowl on their faces. The message was clear as day—back off and stay away from him.  Like the previous night, Yuki just stood there in shock.

The silence was broken by the sound of Aido’s barely suppressed laughter. The blonde’s face was turning red from the effort and he quickly brought his hand up to cover his mouth. Zero just knew that blue eyed noble was grinning like a madman. He wasn’t the only one, though. Rima smirked despite the glares that were aimed her way. Shiki coughed a few times, while Ruka bit her lip. Takuma was smiling, but Zero could easily see that the smile was masking something. Even Seiren seemed to be slightly amused. Eventually Zero’s eyes landed on Akatsuki and Kaname. Their faces remained impassive, but the hunter could easily read the amusement dancing in their eyes along with a hint of jealousy. However, there was something else in the sunset and burgundy eyes that worried Zero. If he had to name the emotion, he would’ve said it was concern.

“Kaname-sempai, you and the others should get going if you don’t want to be late for class.” Yuki’s voice broke the moment reminding all of them that they should be doing something.

Kaname smiled softly at the girl, “Thank you for the reminder Yuki.”  He gave Zero an unreadable look before he continued leading the others to the school building. Akatsuki gave him a tiny smile as he followed the pureblood.

Zero would’ve contemplated the worry in their eyes, but his attention was drawn back to the mob of girls surrounding him. They didn’t budge until the last of the Night class disappeared from sight. Then without any orders from either him or Yuki, they calmly went back to the Sun dormitory leaving the two guardians alone on the path.

“Well, that was odd,” Yuki said out loud. Zero nodded his head in reply. Due to the strangeness of the situation, she didn’t scold him like usual. “I think I’ll start patrol now.” By the time Zero turned to look at her, Yuki was gone.  He shook his head and turned to face Yori, who was no longer in the tree. The short haired girl walked over to him with a glint in her eyes. “Wow, you had it easy tonight.” Zero raised one eyebrow in question. Yori tilted her head with an amused grin on her face. “Those girls spent the entire day plotting out ways to keep the Night class away from you. This was by far the tamest way they came up with. Some of their plans were quite bizarre.”

“Great,” Zero muttered causing her to giggle. He rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. “Thank god this is all they did. I really don’t feel up to pacifying a jealous pureblood and noble right now.” He began walking away to start patrolling when he realized Yori wasn’t with him. He stopped mid step to give her a questioning look.  “Do you want to patrol with me, or do you feel comfortable going back to the dorm on your own?”

Yori hesitated before answering, “You don’t mind if I tag along?”

Zero rolled his eyes dramatically. “I wouldn’t have asked if I had a problem with it. Besides, at least this way I’ll know that one of you is safe.” Her hesitation told him quite a bit—she still didn’t feel safe.  She caught up to him, and they started walking his usual route. After a few minutes of blissful silence, Yori retrieved an envelope from a pocket and held it out to him. He took it from her with a questioning look. “Right before you arrived for escort; Shiki-senpai came out and said that this was for you.”  

Zero gave the cream colored envelope a quick glance to see that it was plain except for an old fashioned wax seal. Who the hell uses wax seals these days? He pulled out a slender throwing knife to carefully separate the wax from the envelope. Stupid question when you stop to think about how some vampires dress. Once the envelope was opened, Zero slipped the knife back into its place in an inner pocket of his jacket. If Yori was surprised by the knife, she kept it to herself. The single piece of paper contained inside was the same cream color. Amethyst eyes scanned over the neat writing. It was a request from Kaname for Zero and the Headmaster to meet with him in a few hours.  Something about the letter made the hunter uneasy. Why it triggered that kind of response, Zero couldn’t say.

“Is everything okay?” Yori’s concerned voice startled him for a second.  

The hunter shoved the letter and envelope into a pocket. They had covered a fair bit of ground while he was preoccupied and were halfway through the patrol all ready. “Yeah…” he trailed off as he sensed a familiar presence on the edge of his awareness. It was faint, but he knew instantly who it was. Someone Zero hadn’t seen in four years.

“Zero?”

Since the presence remained in one spot, Zero refocused his attention on his companion. “Nothing’s wrong. You should go back to the dorm now.” Before she could start protesting he continued talking, “I need to see the Headmaster because he and I have been requested for some kind of meeting later in the Moon dorm. Besides, I don’t think you’re ready for Yuki’s questions if she gets back before you.” The concern in her eyes faded into understanding. She nodded, and they turned around now heading towards the Sun dorm and the headmaster’s quarters.   

Once they reached the Sun dorm, Zero stopped Yori from entering. She turned her head giving him a questioning look. “If you see anyone walking around on the grounds that you don’t recognize, even if they don’t register as a vampire, let me or the headmaster know as soon as possible. Find one of us directly.” He stressed that last part. “I also need you to do something else for me.” By now Yori was fully facing him. “Keep an eye on Yuki. I know she has nightmares; but if they get worse, come find me.”

“I will,” was all Yori said before she entered the dorm. Zero watched her until her form was no longer in sight. Only then did he walk away. He could still feel the presence on the edge of his senses. It was way too soon for that person to be near the academy. First things first, I need to see the headmaster. By then Yuki should be done with patrolling her area. As soon as she’s safely back in the dorm, I’ll figure out what to do. As his feet followed the well-known path, something occurred to Zero. I wonder if what I’m sensing has anything to do with this sudden meeting.

Fifteen minutes later, Zero sat with his adopted father at the kitchen table. Cross was now wide awake looking thoughtful as he absorbed the information he’d just been given. “I knew there were hunters in Yori’s family, but I wasn’t aware that she had inherited any of their abilities. Somehow, though, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. It explains her reaction to the Night class. Has she said anything about wanting to be trained?”

Zero shook his head. “No, I think she just needed to talk to someone about it. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like having her entire family thinking she was crazy.” He paused to take a sip of tea, “I’m glad she doesn’t want to be trained.”

Cross nodded his head in agreement, “I have no doubt she’d pass the training, but her heart wouldn’t be in it. Do you have any idea what’s going on between her and Yuki?”

Zero shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.” His uneasiness continued to rise.

Cross leaned back in his chair giving Zero an assessing look. “I don’t doubt your senses for one bit, Zero. If you sensed that person then I believe you; and if it is him, then tonight’s meeting is probably going to open a lot of old wounds. It also means that events are moving much faster than we anticipated. I  heard some very interesting news today.” Zero looked at him in question not liking the serious look on the long haired man’s face. Cross sighed, “They say Shizuka’s dead.”

Zero’s mug slipped from his fingers spilling tea everywhere when it hit the table before rolling off the table edge to hit the floor with a thud. His widened panicked eyes stared at his adoptive father.

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Yori really didn’t feel up to listening to her best friend’s recap of the day so she quickly got ready for bed and pretended to be asleep by the time Yuki finally finished her patrol. She felt horrible for ignoring her friend, but Yori didn’t want to spend the next hour or so dancing around the reason why Yuki didn’t want to go to bed. She listened as her roommate moved about their room as quietly as she could, which wasn’t very quiet. After the fifth time that Yuki bumped into her desk loudly, Yori realized that Yuki was actually trying to wake her up. Irritation began to push the guilt and sympathy away; but Yori wasn’t going to play this game with Yuki anymore and acted like she was dead to the world. She loved her best friend dearly; but Yuki was going to have to admit there was a problem since Yori’s sympathy obviously wasn’t helping. The other girl put off going to bed as long as she could before eventually giving up on waking Yori; with a deep sigh, Yuki climbed into her bed and immediately dropped off to sleep.

Once again Yori marveled at Yuki’s ability to fall asleep instantly. She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling wishing for sleep to come; but the past few days still raced around her mind at full speed while Zero’s odd behavior during the earlier patrol unsettled her even more. His comment about Yuki’s nightmares made her think that there was more going on than anybody else knew. Not for the first time she wondered what could’ve possibly happened to traumatize the other girl that badly.

Soft whimpers drew her attention back to her roommate.   Yuki’s face was all ready twisted into an expression of fear and pain. Her hands clenched the blankets so tightly that even in the dim light of lamp they always left on Yori could plainly see that her knuckles were white. This observation prompted the lighter haired girl to sit up in bed with a frown. Yuki’s whimpers started getting louder as her body began shaking. Yori shoved the blankets away and got up from her bed calling out, “Yuki?” As she moved closer to the bed, Yuki began thrashing. Her head whipped from side to side so violently Yori was afraid that the girl was going to injure herself.

“Yuki!” this time Yori nearly yelled at her friend but there was still no response to her voice. She got close enough to grab one of Yuki’s shaking arms but was shocked when Yuki’s hand slapped her hard across the face. “YUKI!” Her yell still had no effect, and she didn’t dare touch the other girl again. Thinking quickly, she dashed out of their room to the bathroom for some water. Maybe I can shock her out the nightmare. She grabbed a cup from the storage cabinet, filled it with ice cold water, and ran back to the room. By then Yuki’s whimpers had turned to moans and her hands left dark streaks on the blanket.

Yori dodged her friend’s thrashing limbs and dumped the water onto her. Yuki’s snapped open; her body freezing as she gasped loudly. For a brief moment, Yori thought she’d been able to bring Yuki out of the nightmare; but her hopes crumbled when Yuki took a sudden deep breath before screaming. The cup fell from Yori’s hand as she stared at the other brunette in horror. The scream was suddenly cut off only to be replaced with even more violent shaking.

What do I do? She’s not responding. Then she recalled Zero’s words from earlier. Without putting on shoes or a robe, she bolted out of the room leaving the door wide open behind her, and dashed through the halls. She was so panicked that she had difficulty opening the main door before running outside into the night. I need to find Zero. She ran as hard as she could with Yuki’s scream still ringing in her ears. He won’t be at the dorm because he said he had to go to a meeting at the Moon dorm. She made it to the fork in the path—just as that extra sense of hers began screaming at her—where she collided with something hard. With a soft cry, she fell to the ground. Looking up, Yori saw that she’d run into a person; but she’d never seen this person before. He was dressed in casual clothes; however, it was his eyes that chilled her blood. His eyes were changing from their dark color to a bright, crimson red.

Her mind raced but couldn’t seem to grasp onto anything resembling a thought. The stranger smiled at her revealing lengthening fangs. Yori’s mind finally grasped on to two things as he leaned down, reaching out to grab her: he was a vampire and he wasn’t alone. His claw like hands were mere inches from touching her when a loud bang rang out in the night closely followed by a scream coming from behind her. The stranger seemed surprised as his body turned to ashes that scattered in the breeze.

“Yori!”

Yori tore her eyes away from the remaining ashes to find Zero running towards her. “Zero?” The sight of him helped to bring her back to reality; she pushed herself up to stand shakily. “Yuki won’t wake up!” He grabbed her by the shoulders as she cried out, “She won’t wake up. I yelled at her, poured water on her, s-she won’t wake up!”  Zero’s eyes widened.

“I’ll get the Headmaster; you better go with her, brother.”

A voice said behind her. Zero’s face turned grim while he nodded. Yori suddenly found herself being pulled by Zero in the direction she’d come from without getting a glance at the person who’d spoken. Zero was moving so fast Yori could barely keep her feet moving fast enough to keep up with him. Before she knew it, they were racing through the halls of the Sun dorm. Within seconds she was pulled into her room. They’d taken two steps into the room when Yuki let out another short scream. Zero pushed her into the hallway, “Go turn on a shower and make it hot!”

Yori instantly obeyed, nearly ripping the curtain off its hooks in her haste to turn on the water. For the first time ever, the water heated up to nearly scalding by the time Zero carried Yuki into the bathroom ignoring her struggling. He shoved past her going directly into the cubicle only pausing once he got under the hot water to toss the blanket that Yuki was wrapped in out at Yori’s feet. Keeping his back turned towards the shower head, Zero sheltered Yuki from the worst of the stinging, hot water pressure. With one hand he kept Yuki supported against his body. The task was made more difficult by Yuki’s limbs thrashing around. His other hand was held out to gather water, which was then poured on her face and neck. Yori remembered Yuki once saying that it was in the middle of winter when she’d lost her memories, and she’d been lost in a snowstorm. Zero’s actions suddenly made sense to her. If Yuki was reliving memories of that time in her nightmares then it would take sudden intense heat to wake her up. “What can I do?”

Zero glanced at her, “Can you get her feet?”

Yori didn’t answer. She knelt down and began gathering water into her cupped hands to pour over her friend’s feet, which were ice cold. Time lost all meaning to her as she repeated the process over and over again. She could hear Zero over the sound of the water talking to Yuki about anything that seemed to come to his mind. The thrashing gradually calmed to soft tremors; and Yuki no longer felt like a human Popsicle.   Eventually even the tremors stopped and all tension drained from the brunette’s body. Zero eased down into a sitting position settling Yuki so that she’d be more comfortable. He reached up and turned the water down to a softer spray; but he never stopped talking. Yori leaned back and just listened.  “Remember the time you decided to decorate Lily’s tail with braids and flowers? How she chased you around the field for thirty minutes?”

“I swore I would never try to groom her again,” Yuki’s weak voice answered him. Yori sagged against the wall in relief as her best friend’s opened showing that she was at least aware of who was holding her. As she watched, Yuki’s face crumbled. Zero pulled her head against his shoulder holding on to her tightly and rubbed the sobbing girl’s back in lazy circles.

“Yuki!” The Headmaster’s worried voice made Yori jump. “Yori, Zero!” The long haired man ran into the bathroom closely followed by several other people Yori identified as members of the Night class from their uniforms. However, it was the person who entered behind them that captured her attention. Her eyes felt like they would pop out of her head as it whipped around to look in the shower cubicle and then back towards the door.

The mirror image of Zero had an amused grin on his lips, “I really don’t understand why I keep getting that reaction.”

Anything else he or the others might have said was drowned out by Yuki’s suddenly crying out: “I don’t want to remember anymore!!” She was clearly talking to Zero but her voice was loud enough for all of them to hear. “I don’t want to see anymore blood!” She clung to Zero’s shirt desperately. “I just want to be me,” her sobbing voice quieted. “I don’t want to be anyone else. I don’t care what happened, or why I was abandoned.”

Yori felt her heartbreak even more for her friend. All of them watched as Zero rocked the petite girl, “That’s fine. You don’t have to be anyone else. The past doesn’t matter.” His firm words seemed to calm Yuki down because her sobs lessened. “What matters is who you are right now. You have a family and friends who love you very much. You don’t need to change.”

“What about all of the blood I keep seeing? Something terrible must have happened.  I don’t want anything bad to happen to you because of me!” Yuki’s voice was heart wrenching to hear.

Zero reached up to turn the water off before grabbing one of her hands and placing it on top of Bloody Rose, which rested in its shoulder holster. “Don’t underestimate me, stupid. Somebody has to keep you and Yori out of trouble; and I can’t do that if I get defeated by some freak show with a taste for blood. No one has to know where the body’s been hidden. Besides what kind of Hunter would I be if I couldn’t take care of myself?”

By then the hysterical girl’s tears had stopped. Her voice was soft and trembling when she asked:  “You won’t leave me?”

Zero’s answer brought a tiny smile to her face. “No matter where you are; or what you’re doing, I’ll always be here for you. I nearly lost my little brother; I don’t want to lose my little sister.” His head leaned back against the shower wall. “It’s okay to be a little selfish every now and then, you know. It’s perfectly fine if you decide not to remember what happened back then. I don’t know that little girl; but I do know you.”

Yuki sniffed, “I don’t think I can be by your side if I remember; so I don’t want to remember.”

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Chapter End

I had to completely repost this story, once again, after screwing up the other chapters when I tried to post this one.

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed.
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