Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight. Matsuri Hino does.

Her fists pounded hard on Hanabusa's back as she struggled to be released from his tight grip. Her ribs seemed to protest under the amount of pressure he was putting on her torso. Though a dull ache started up in her sides, Yori didn't dare stop struggling. Hanabusa was currently carrying her back to her designated room and though the trip was short he was already annoyed at her constant writhing.

"No amount of wiggling and thrashing is going to free you." He might as well not said anything at all as Yori refused to quit her attempts. Despite her strong spirit, her body begged to rest, her movements becoming half hearted as time went on. Just as they were upon her door she stopped, her body slumping into her captives hold. Hanabusa felt her exhaustion, or was that his? He found himself having trouble separating the rings influence and his own emotions and felt a pang of dread.

'As if things weren't complicated enough.' he thought sourily. He placed the young girl on the bed, surprised that she didn't start up a fight immediately after being released. He turned his back to lock the door, the sound almost making her flinch. Almost. Yori sat tall and still on the bed, her eyes boring into his.

"You can glare all you want. But what happened out there was the consequence of her own actions. You should just wait here like a good little girl until we sort this all out." Yori's glare seemed to intensify after her told her to be a good little girl. What was she? A dog? Hanabusa moved towards her vanity running a long finger down the shallow cut along his check. He whistled. "You really do what you want now, don't you?" The cut started to heal rapidly until there was yet again not a blemish on his face. "Why so quiet all of a sudden?" he turned back around to see her eyes still on him. His ring seemed to pulse as he remembered his previous orders. "Ah...I remember now." Her glare intensified. "What a shame you can't use that beautiful voice of yours." Hanabusa tapped his finger against his chin before coming up with an idea. "I got it. How about I allow you to talk once more..." he paused hoping to see her eager and desperate look only to be surprised to see a lone eyebrow raise in response. "Don't be all excited now" he his words dripped with sarcasm as he glossed over his slight disappointment in his chest. "I'll let you talk if you don't scream and basically throw a hissy fit." Yori rolled her eyes at the thought of her throwing an immature crying fit in front of this creature. As if they need more to stack against her. "Perhaps we could actually carry on a normal civil conversation."

Yori weighted her options in her head. She could remain stubborn and decline his offer, taking joy in being petty. Or she could accept his offer seeing as she doesn't know when she will get the chance of her voice back. She ruled out trying to escape once more seeing as his previously demonstrated speed and strength belittled her chances. Hanabusa fought an amused smirk as he practically saw her thoughts filter though on her face helped by the hint of emotions he picked up through the ring. He learned that if he focused just enough he can read her fleeting emotions unlike the overpowering ones he was forced to feel. He filed away his thoughts to be looked into at a later time as he saw a faint almost nonexistent nod to his offer. He waved his hand towards the girl and thought hard about revoking his previous order. Nothing happened.

'Okay...guess the link works only with spoken commands.' He thought.

"Let her speak again." At his words Yori felt something in her throat almost unplug allowing the strain that was withholding her voice to lift up. She felt as if she could breathe easier and with that she let out a relieved sigh. Though with the blank stare she now sent to Hanabusa, he knew she wasn't going to provide it worked anytime soon thus he tried to pick up a conversation as previously mentioned. But what should he say? Hanabusa felt off balanced as he couldn't think of what to say to the little girl sitting crossed legged on the bed. Hanabusa always had something to say so why now is he pulling a blank in front of this girl?

"Uh...How are you...liking things so far?" he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he still searched for the appropriate words not caring for small talk himself but finding he had no other option with the heavy atmosphere. With the pure look of disdain that overcame her face he could tell he asked the wrong question immediately wanting to take back his inquiry.

"How am I supposed to feel when surrounded by blood suckers when it is in fact blood that runs through my body keeping me alive and well." Her voice was void of any pitches almost as if she was mimicking a boring school teacher with her monotone tone. Hanabusa sighed. Of course she was still in that mindset.

"Well considering the fact you are alive and not sold to some lesser vampire with no ethics and morals, I'd think you'd feel pretty lucky." he responded almost as dryly as she had.

"Oh so being surrounded by monsters counts as lucky nowadays?" A tick wanted to form on Hanabusa's forehead but he forced himself to keep his cool.

"You obviously believe all that myths about vampires now don't you? How we have no control and suck you humans dry? How we have no thoughts of our own but of our next feast?" He sniffed the air loudly not noticing her slight flinch but partaking in her spike of fear that spread through her body.

"From what I've seen recently all of that sounds correct." Yori tightened her hold around herself, her legs getting numb from sitting criss cross but she was still too cautious to move almost as if one wrong move could set off the vampire in front of her.

"Unfortunately for you, you've only seen all of the unsightly sides of vampires thus you have an incorrect prejudgement of what the species is like as a whole." He took a seat in the chair situated in front of the vanity casually picking up little trinkets to keep his hands busy. Yori found herself fiddling with her hands in order to rid herself of some of her nervous tension ultimately wrapping them around herself. Hanabusa continued. "The cult of vampires you encountered first were the lowest scum on the planet feeding off humans only to watch the life drain away from their eyes as if it's a sick game." Hanabusa felt pangs of anger swell as he thought of the sorry excuse of his kind.

"So you aren't like...them?" A shiver ran down her skin as she approached the childish fear of even mentioning the cult that scarred her.

'Speak of and they shall appear.' Her mind quoted. She had interrupted his brewing thoughts with the innocent question, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

"No vampire in this school would willingly hurt a human least they face permanent extermination off this plane." If his words comforted Yori at all she did a good job at not showing it, keeping her body language closed and curled into herself. "You've already met Lord Kaname. He established this place in hopes to make peace between humans and vampires showing that they can coexist to other nobles who want nothing more than to make your kind a slave to mine." Yori's head pounded at the information being thrown at her. Okay so vampires were real, some good, some bad, some downright sinister. She currently was in a dorm room of the night class that was full of supposedly harmless vampires. The man who her best friend had a crush on was their leader. Call her human but Yori just still couldn't piece together all the pieces without wanting to throw up.

"Water." she croaked out in a small voice as he head started to spin. She felt the faint wisps of her consciousness fade almost as if a cold harsh wind blew it out like a candle. Awareness came back to her as she felt the ice cold glass of water grace her fingertips. She gulped greedly once more careful to not choke. Her vision sharped back to normal as Hanabusa's face started to faze back in. When the glass was empty he took it from her hands and placed it on the bedside table. He proceeded to pour himself a glass popping what looked like a red aspirin that stained the water's an eerie red. Yori faintly recalled Yuki bringing up fake blood tablets. She mumbled out a quiet thanks fascinated by the deep crimson water and how it worked. Hanabusa noticed her stare and downed the drink in one last gulp, licking his lips the remaining drops. He knew for a fact his eyes were glowing, yet that didn't seem to scare Yori in the slightest. The young girl seemed actually entranced by his actions, her arms unwinding around her legs allowing her body to scumm to a more relaxed position. Yori felt her curiosity sit on the tip of her tongue, as she longed to know how all of it worked.

"How….no. What was that?" Yori still couldn't decide if it was wise to ask any questions. Especially since there are still some questions hanging around that she didn't want the answer to. Her side ached, her burn wound flaring for a split second before cooling down.

"My tablets?" Hanabusa clarified, knowing fully that's what she meant. She only gave him a meek nod, her eyes on the empty glass that now had pink drops of the leftover liquid pooling at the bottom. "Did Yuki tell you nothing?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yuki mentioned something like fake blood. But she didn't go in depth. Nor did she tell me what this actual place was." Or well maybe she did, but Yori wasn't going to say she was too stubborn to listen at the time. She faintly wondered what had changed since then, why had she calmed down to this extend and with this man nonetheless. A man who was not a man at all and instead a vampire who lived a ruse of a playboy classmate loving to all yet distant in heart.

"As you know, vampires need blood. It's what we live off of. Much like humans need food and water, my race needs blood." Hanabusa explained taking a seat on the side of the bed. He made note of how Yori scooted back a little to keep a certain space between them. "In the past Vampires just feed off of humans, but in the new age we have found a way to implant all the nutrients we need into a tiny pill that dissolves into water. This pill is the gateway to harmony within the races." Hanabusa could go on and on about this topic, gushing about how Kaname was leading the cold war of new verses old traditions. He could go on about how he scanned every book within his grasp, spilling over the pages with a desperation to understand humans and their world. He could. And he found himself doing just that as Yori matched his desire to teach with her yearning to sate her curiosity. Question after question, Hanabusa stitched eloquent yet simplistic answers to quench the human girl's rapidly expanding mind.

"And when they go rogue? What happens then?" Yori allowed herself to indulge in her morbid curiosity. Her legs were laid losely crisscross as she leaned on her hands in front of her towards Hanabusa's frame. He was just about to spin off into a speech about the dangers and causes only for her words to still in his throat. Yori opened her mouth in a big yawn, her body uplifting to stretch her muscles only to settling back in. Through her body language read interested, her eyes conveyed tired.

"What happens then can wait until after you rest." Hanabusa said as he arched his own body into a wide stretch. His muscles felt tugged lazily, his body sluggish. His words seemed to bring about shock on her features. It made Hanabusa wish he had been paying attention to her fleeting emotions so he could label said action. Alas he filed it under her not noticing her own exhausted state. Hanabusa urged his legs to stand up from the comfortable plush bed. It was still midday and Hanabusa longed to go back to his own bed, covered in silk and bliss. He watched her let out another yawn, his mouth threatening to follow in pursuit for his own. "I'll see you when you wake up." He continued with a small smile. "That's if you don't try and run away again." He could feel her glaring a hole in the back of his head as he closed the door. He thought about her all the way until his head hit his pillow, and even then some.

She had woken up three times in her sleep due to the pain from her side. All three times Hanabusa was woken up too with a diluted but strong sense of the same gut twisting pain. His feet were soundless as he walked between the halls to iced down her wound once more. He had decided he couldn't sleep after a while and took up the space of a plush chair in her room next to a stack of books from his. Ironically quantum physics make him even more awake unlike his classmates due to his overactive brain interlocking connections. He never was a troubled child in school. Soon there were two stacks of books, ones he had finished reading and others not. Yori had woke up a fourth time when he was on his second to last book in the unread pile. She whined in discomfort at the burning ache in her side that had become agitated in her tossing and turning sleep pattern. Hanabusa calmly set his book down on the table and gently coaxed her back into a peaceful slumber by icing her burns.

She fell back asleep and continued to sleep for the next hour or two before her body screamed to be awake. Gasping for air, she shot right up only to cringe in pain at her sudden movements. Her eyes wide and pierced with tears that threaten to fall over her cheeks and into her hands that refused to stop shaking. She was being haunted by looming red eyes and her body shivered as she recalled her nightmare. The door opened and she screamed at her intruder, manifesting the eyes in her dreams in real life once more

"Whoa whoa! It's just me! Calm down." Hanabusa held his hands up in innocence. He only put them back down when he saw awareness faze back into her eyes, her arms littered with goosebumps but no longer shaking. Yori bit her lip and felt conflicted over the odd amount of shame that washed over her.

"...Sorry…" she choked out not daring to look at the smug face that was no doubt in front of her. Yet she felt even more conflicted when she saw concerned featured filter over Hanabusa's face. She felt the urge to explain herself which lead her to tumble and toss words carelessly from her mouth. "I...it was a nightmare...I keep having it."

"It's understandable. New and highly stressful environments can wear down the body to point of exhaustion and if suppressed can show signs within the subconscious such as dreams." She felt comforted by his lack of arrogant attitude and strange textbook definition of her actions. Hanabusa moved closer to inspect her side only to stall as she flinched from his oncoming figure. Trembles started at her fingertips only to speed up her arms and to her core. His eyes were glowing. Yori tightened the blanket around herself resembling a child trying to hide from monsters. Yet in her mind she knew it was Hanabusa. Her body though reacted negatively to his presence confusing it with more sinisterly haunting sights she had come across in these last few days. These last few days that felt like years, stretching and twisting up her normal life. Hanabusa blinked back his glowing eyes, sensing her fear through the link.

"Look. It's just me...I won't hurt you." He coaxed taking baby steps towards her, seeing as Yori was backed up all the way against the headboard, her arms wound tight around her frame. "Yori…" he strived to bring back awareness back into her. Something within her stirred and she blinked back the warped vision influencing her. She blinked once. She blinked twice. Blonde hair blue eyes. Blonde hair blue eyes. Hanabusa stood in front of her, arm outstretched, hand reaching to brush her bangs out of her eyes. She gently pushed back his hand surprised his hand was warm and not ice cold.

"I'm fine." She grounded out.

"You reopened your wound again." Hanabusa commented in a whisper. "Can't you take better care of yourself?" He continued not knowing that his close proximity allowed her to catch his words

"I'm not doing it on purpose." she flared up not bothering to take being belittled as if everything was her fault. Her eyes met his and they held for the longest moment Hanabusa ever experienced. He looked away first and with a sigh he ran his finger through his hair.

"I didn't mean it like that." Hanabusa busied himself by getting fresh bandages and alcohol with cotton swabs. He turned back around to still see her firm stare on him.

"How did you mean it then?" Her words were adorned with barbwire and accusations not even the deaf could misinterpret. This is why Hanabusa didn't do relationships of any kind, everyone always wants an explanation even if he wasn't willing to give one. The childish side of him wanted to bite back his tongue and deny her a response at all.

"Nothing. I honestly meant nothing." He settled for hoping she would just drop it. Yet Sayori Wakaba was not known to just 'drop' things and instead retorted back sharply in annoyance at his vague response.

"When people repeat themselves it often means they are hiding the truth."

"I see you took Professors Humfrey's class in psychology."

"I see you are avoiding the question." She was swift in catching him in the act and Hanabusa showed no shame in being caught red handed. Seeing as they were swimming in circle over one off thing he said, Hanabusa rolled his eyes giving in.

"I just meant that you humans are so fragile." That was a half truth, or at least something Hanabusa fully believed in. Yori seemed to accept the answer with a grain of salt

"Fragile?" Yori questioned with her eyes now narrowed and pinned on him.

"A single bullet can kill many."

"Is it different for your kind?" She tried not put a distasteful connotation on her words. Keyword tried.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" His smile boarded on a smirk at her sly attempt at prying. She huffed wanting to press more but knowing the infuriating man in front of her would only turn the conversation on its head. If she wanted more information she would have to be careful with her questions. After all Hanabusa opened up to her once, surely she can get him to again.

"Though if we are asking questions, I have one in mind." he drew open the curtains slowly, being greeted with the low light of the setting sun staining the sky with it's oranges and reds slowly fading off into deep purples. The slight sting of sunlight did nothing as watching the sunsets were his favorite but dangerous pastime, a guilty pleasure. "What would it take for you to trust us?" He smiled out towards the view of day students filing out of their last classes and heading back to the dorms for the night.

"Us?" she inquired with her eyebrow furrowed in confusion.

"Let me rephrase that." he crinkled his own brow for a fleeting moment before carrying on. "What would it take for you to trust me?" His blonde hair weaved in and out of the warm decaying sunlight, haloing around him as he turned towards the frail human who held a similar fiery light in her eyes. Yori couldn't help but be faintly entranced at the sudden vulnerability displayed before her. She pondered his question in all actuality and found it difficult to answer. Was she really going to try and trust the very people who feed off her kind? Her mind reminded her that not every vampire was bad just like how every human is not bad. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and pressed her lips into a fine line before answering.

"Trust is a two way street."