Rewind.

The last thing he remembered was searing heat.

----

Kiryuu Zero awoke to a white ceiling.

His head hurt, his limbs could hardly move. His whole body felt sore and heavy.

"...Where am I?" His throat was hoarse and dry, and it hurt to talk.

He tried flexing his fingers, successfully clenching and unclenching his hand slowly, he tried to sit up.

The door opened.

"Zero!"

A girl's high-pitched voice rang in his ears, shocking him and making his headache worse at the same time. He groaned and fell backward, the pain in his abdomen not helping things.

A brunette girl came up to his bedside, touching the side of the bed.

"Are you alright? You've been sleeping for the past three days!"

Her cheerful tone grated on his frayed nerves. The silver-haired boy frowned, glaring at the girl.

"...Who're you?"

"What? Three days and you've forgotten who I am, Zero? Did you knock yourself silly?"

Zero remained silent, settling for just looking at the stranger who entered the room so abruptly and acted so close. When she didn't show any reaction, he asked again.

"Who are you?"

He didn't notice when the girl's hands turned slack at the side of the bed.

"Where am I?" Zero looked about the room – it seemed normal enough, it had a dresser, a closet, a door that probably led to the bathroom and another to the kitchen. The windows were open, but the curtains were pulled shut and the room was dimly lit.

The hand that smacked his shoulder playfully caught him off guard, and he winced.

The brunette was smiling at him widely, laughing.

"You're so mean, Zero! How could you pretend you've forgotten me?"

The fair-haired boy looked at her strangely.

"...Have we met?"

The girl's face fell immediately, and she looked at him earnestly.

"...You don't...remember me?"

She leaned in closer, pointing to herself.

"I'm Yuuki! Yuuki Cross!"

The name sounded foreign to his ears. He shook his head at her.

"...I don't recall knowing anyone by that name."

The girl, Yuuki, looked absolutely stunned. Did he really know her? He jumped when she gripped the side of his bed again.

"Then, do you remember who you are? What about the school?"

Zero regarded her strangely again.

...School?

"My name is Kiryuu Zero." A sharp pain shot up to his head as he tried to say anything further, and he realized that aside from his name, his mind was completely blank.

...He couldn't remember anything.

Yuuki was staring at him with an intense and worried expression.

He remained silent for a while.

"...I don't remember anything else."

----

"He's lost his memory?"

The Chairman was pacing about the room worriedly when Yuuki came in to tell him the news.

"He can't remember anything other than his name. He's forgotten about me, and the school – even his family!"

The Chairman frowned, now stalking back to his desk and sitting down.

"...But it was just a fire! It couldn't have made him lose his memory!" Yuuki was beyond worried, she was outright distraught.

"He could have suffered a concussion when the pillar fell on him, Yuuki. Memory loss is not entirely impossible." The Chairman sighed loudly, resting his chin on his hands.

"...That means he's forgotten what he is, Yuuki...As well as the existence of others of his kind."

Yuuki looked out of the window, her brows furrowed with worry.

"He's forgotten that he's a hunter, about the Vampire race completely."

The Chairman's features softened.

"...But this may not entirely be a bad thing, Yuuki."

The girl turned to her adoptive father in confusion and was greeted with a smile.

"That means he's forgotten his hate as well."

There was a glint in the girl's eye, something that was akin to hope.

"...But that's betraying Zero, isn't it? Even just a little bit."

The Chairman sighed again, looking away from his adopted daughter and nodding.

"But I'll leave it to you on what you want to tell him, Yuuki. I'm sure you're thinking for his best."

The girl had stared after her father's retreating back until he left the room.

----

Zero was in pain.

He couldn't remember what it was that got him in this battered state in the first place, let alone recall anything about this 'school' that the girl keeps talking about.

"You're a Guardian. You and I patrol the school to make sure that students don't sneak out of their respective dormitories at night. We keep the school safe."

…Safe from what?

Zero sighed, rubbing his temples absently. He didn't know why, but he felt a thirst in his throat that he just couldn't get rid of, no matter how much water he drank.

The door swung open, and that girl was standing there, holding a tray with a box of pills and a glass of water.

"How are you feeling, Zero?"

He didn't know why he felt comfortable allowing a complete stranger to address him by his name, but he didn't complain.

"...Not very good. I'm very thirsty, but I've already had six glasses of water."

The girl seemed to tense at his mentioning of thirst, but she set the tray on the bedside table, forcing a smile.

"That's normal! You're still healing anyhow."

She gestured to the pills awkwardly.

"Those pills should make you feel better." She smiled, but there was something in her eyes that told Zero that she wasn't really smiling at all.

He looked at her suspiciously for a moment, before reaching cautiously for one of the pink-coloured tablets, placing it on the palm of his hand and regarding it thoughtfully. He didn't know why, but the sight of the 'medication' made him want to puke.

"…What are these?"

She faltered a little, looking out the window before replying, as if she was afraid to meet him in the eye.

"…They're Vitamin Tablets! They'll make you feel better."

Zero uncertainly watched one of the pink things dissolve in the glass of water, turning into a thick angry red. He downed it as quickly as he could, ignoring the bitter taste on his tongue.

***

"Kiryuu has amnesia?"

Kuran Kaname was sitting in the Headmaster's office, a small look of surprise on his face.

"I was thinking of educating him as a Vampire, in order to correct the hate he's been harboring for so long. What do you think, Kaname-kun?" Cross smiled, cheerfully taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"…Transfer him to the Night Class?"

Kaname gave the idea some thought, arms folded, a small worried look on his face.

"What do you plan on telling him? He would not be too well received, even if he is a new slate, Rijichou. Also, accommodations would have to be made for him in the Moon Dorm. Are you sure that's what you want?"

The Chairman sighed, looking to the Pure-blood a little tiredly.

"That's why I need you, Kaname-kun. He needs you. Yuuki needs you."

The brunet stiffened, his eyes steeling for a moment, before softening and relenting.

If that's what'll make her happy.

"I'll make the necessary arrangements."

***

The room they moved him into was large and grand, something he'd never thought he'd be able to live in his whole life. The blond boy – Aidou – was showing him around the dorms, a small frown on his face. Zero didn't know why, but he had a strange urge to tackle the boy and simply beat him silly. He was introduced to the rest of the dorm's residents, and he took care to try and remember their names – he was curious about them – their beauty and unnatural grace.

"You'll be sharing a room with Kaname-sama." Aidou pushed open an expensive looking white door, allowing Zero to step inside first. He didn't enter the room though.

Zero silently wondered why, and who this 'Kaname-sama' was.

"He'll be with you in a few minutes. Just wait here and don't go anywhere."

Zero turned from the window to look back at Aidou, who was still standing outside the door. Aidou sent him a glare, before slamming the door close.

The silver-haired boy frowned, deciding to dismiss it and instead take a look at his surroundings.

Apparently there were no open rooms available until the next month, and the only room able to hold another person until then was the Dorm Leader's room.

Zero made himself comfortable on the small chair by the window, peering out into the darkness outside, enjoying the soft breeze that snuck in from the little crack in the curtains.

Then he saw something outside.

There was a little bird – he didn't know what bird exactly, but it was resting on a branch, shaking, with blood drying along the side of its left wing.

It looked like it was dying.

Zero stood up, slowly approaching the window, fully opening it.

He was going to try and save it.

He climbed onto the railing of the little balcony, hopping onto the tree branch above the one the bird was resting on, making sure to be as quiet as possible, and slowly reached out with his right hand, his left holding onto the bark of the tree.

"What are you doing?"

The voice made him jump and nearly fall off the tree, but he quickly regained balance, snatching the bird up gently before stabilizing himself against the trunk of the tree.

A brunet boy was watching him with a small frown on his face.

Zero looked back, cradling the now struggling bird against his shirt, he realized he had no way down or back to the room.

The brunet seemed to have figured that out as well.

"…Are you stupid?" The brunet leaned against the side of the window, his arms folded, a small smirk now growing on his startlingly beautiful face.

Zero was slightly put off by the remark, frowning and building his guard up.

"Who're you calling stupid?" Zero glared, not moving from his position.

"Who are you anyway?" The silver-haired teen leaned against the trunk this time, figuring that until he could find a way down, he'd just make himself comfortable.

Half a second later, he found himself face to face with the boy that was standing at the window mocking him. Zero was so startled he would have fell off the tree if it hadn't been for the strong grip on his arms.

"I am Kuran Kaname." The brunet was on the branch with him, standing there with an inhuman grace, a small smile on his face. A small kind smile.

Kaname didn't give him any notice before scooping the slightly smaller boy in his arms and hopping back easily onto the tiny balcony and into the room. Zero didn't even have time to react as he was set down none-too-gently on the sofa near the desk, the bird taken from him.

He frowned as Kaname set the bird on the desk, opening one of the drawers to retrieve a medical kit.

There was relative silence in the room before Kaname spoke.

"Why did you decide to save this little one?"

Zero didn't know why, but his cheeks coloured.

"…I don't know. I just felt I needed to."

"Even if it meant that you may have gotten injured just as badly?"

"…I didn't think about that."

Kaname was shocked into silence by that honest answer, and he chuckled.

He really did lose his memory.

"You're different, aren't you."

Zero looked up, a small glint in his eyes.

"…You knew me? That girl – Yuuki – she said I'd lost my memory. Were you one of the people I knew as well?"

Kaname was surprised at the sudden influx of questions from the normally stoic silver-haired boy.

He finished up bandaging the bird, taking it in his hands gently, he made his way toward Zero.

"Do you know what you are, Kiryuu-kun?"

The hunter looked into his eyes with none of the contempt that Kaname remembered.

"…I don't know. I don't remember anything aside from my name."

Kaname took the fair-haired boy's hand gently, settling the bird on it. Stroking its head softly.

"…You're a Vampire, Kiryuu-kun."

Zero's mind went blank.

"…A Vampire?"