Disclaimer: I hereby disavow any intent to benefit from this work of fiction. Vampire Knight was created by Hino Matsuri…

Chapter 1: Rido's Final Moments and Juri's Message

The thing about the Kurans, even their infants could find a way to lend trouble in any plan. Especially for those who had thought them done and over with by the end of their own goals. The day a silver haired boy shot him in the chest; Kuran Rido gaped in open-mouthed horror. Oh, that was wrong on so many levels…

The baby had done the impossible and reincarnated himself into a Vampire Hunter.

Things had turned out smashingly well after that. It could hardly be denied there was some form of satisfaction in the violet eyes when his bullets tore through Rido's chest or that the boy seemed hardly perturbed to be facing off with his once ancestor afterwards.

Damn, did he suddenly feel sorry for the Kurans.

No matter what fate the people of the night had pictured ahead of them, he doubted it would be anything they desired.

That boy was going to tear them all apart and enjoy himself immensely as he did so.

As was proper for any born vampire…

A child after his own heart indeed.

(break)

A baby is crying, he thought, his conscious mind stirring out of sleep before he could catch himself. Pushing himself upwards, Zero cast his eyes about the room trying to find the source of the crying. The images that reflected back at him were fuzzy at best, flickering in his sight as stonewalls and damp air…

The smell was nearly impossible not to recognize.

"I'm in a tomb." He whispered softly as the baby's crying increased in ferocity. Spinning on his heel, the silver haired teen renewed his search with determination at his back. "Hang on, kid, I'll get you out of here."

Picking up his pace, Zero fell back onto his training to track the crying baby. For all the many reasons he found himself waking up here, they became mere shadows in the light of another's need. No matter how hopeless he found his own situation, there was always that drive to do for others.

To protect others from the vampires, from things like himself.

That was why he hunted, he believed, so that no other person would suffer.

It wasn't to hard to draw the conclusion into his mind's eye why there would be a baby in a tomb despite waking there himself. The vampires were usually behind everything when it came to these kinds of places. The theft was most likely to be blamed on a level E. The further Zero's mind stumbled in thoughts and footsteps, the closer he found his instincts leading him to the crying infant.

Spotting the flickering lights of torches lighting a dim opening, Zero crashed through with little thought that he was without a weapon or a plan. All his instincts were tuned to saving that child. It was only the dripping of blood hitting the floor that stopped him, his eyes taking in the blood red tint of the world.

Held above an open casket was a child, cradled in Rido's hands.

"Im… Impossible." Zero growled. "You're dead."

"He is dead." A woman whispered into his ear from beside him. Startling, Zero turned to look down at the speaker only to find Yuuki's face looking back at him. Despite the ghost beside him, the ex-human shot his face back towards the baby and Rido. Only the tips of her fangs gave away her true nature and he snarled in reaction.

"Go away, Vampire." he ordered her moving forward to wrest the child free from Rido's deadly grasp.

"You can't help the baby either, Zero. Rido killed him many years ago. Long before even my Yuuki was born." The woman called out to him. "It isn't surprising though that you would remember this. If only we had known you would come back we could have save you. I'm sorry for all the pain we have caused."

Zero stopped, tipping his head to look back at the woman as her head tilted forward. Suppressed sobs spilled out from her, shaking her shoulder's in grief.

"What do you mean? What is this?" He asked, torn in two by the images presented to his mind.

"This is your memory, Zero and I am nothing more the ash in the wind." The dark haired mirror Yuki answered him. Taking a breath of air, the vampire raised her eyes to meet his own. "If we had known what path your soul would take we would have done everything in our power to protect you."

The moment she was finished speaking, Zero's heart thumped in recognition of her presence beyond the similarities to Yuuki. "No." He whispered. "No, that is imposs…."

"Nothing is beyond a pureblood. Especially a pure blooded Kuran, my child Zero." she answered him.

"No!" he shouted. "I have no connection to you damned purebloods. Your kind destroyed everything, murdered my family, and stole my brother. It's all your fault."

"Yes and no." she stated. "You cannot deny the facts, even as you deny the truth. Blood will always call to blood in the end. You long to be at home with us, just as you hunger to destroy the ones who hurt you. No ordinary mortal could resist becoming a level E as you did. That takes power from someone special never meant to be a human."

"What are you trying to say?" Zero barked out, his eyes gleaming in the shadowy flickers of the torches.

"You are that baby, reincarnated as a Vampire Hunter. Others can sense it, even if they cannot recognize it quite yet." The grief had fled her voice as she stepped closer to the Hunter, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. "You are my son, reborn. The real Kuran Kaname, Kiryuu Zero."

Shock drove deep into his heart, driving him to turn back to the baby and Rido. Familiarity struck through him, tearing him free of his own body as the Vampire female cast him a knowing look right as he shot up in the middle of his own bed. Sweat clung to his flesh, chilling the hot summer air from his presence in the middle of the night. Clawing at his face, Zero rent the night with a mournful wail of denial.

There was no way any of it could be true… he thought; He could not be just like her.

Just a dream, a nightmare. His thoughts scrambled. He was reacting to the shared blood of both Kuran purebloods in his veins. There was no way he had that kind of connection to them. I couldn't be... won't be that tightly bound to my enemies.