A/N: This was written a long while ago, and I told myself I would post it as soon as my RimaXSenri and SuigetsuXKarin oneshots were ready. Well, I haven't worked on those in forever, but I'm honestly going to try to start adding weekly again on all my oneshot collections. I need to get my butt in gear. Any words of encouragement, anyone?

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.

"Oh, Ruka I'm so proud of you." Mrs. Souen eyed her six-year-old daughter with sparkling eyes. "You have such good taste in men already! You really are my daughter."

Ruka Souen quivered under her Mother's gaze. No, this was a mistake. She had liked Kaname at first, but his attitude had turned her off to him pretty quickly. But her Mother was so proud... now the six year old Souen girl knew she had to lie. There was no choice. If she said she didn't like Kaname anymore, her Mother would call her fickle and start to yell again. Ruka could feel the panic building inside her, like a balloon being inflated.

"Ruka! Speak when you are spoken to!" Mrs. Souen chastised, loudly enough that the passing servant shook her head in distaste.

"Yes, Mother." Ruka murmured. She was a brave girl, but her Mother could just as easily reduce Ruka to tears as she could build her up.

"Go to your room." Mrs. Souen waved a hand dismissively and turned away. "And ladies are confident. Be a lady."

Ruka ran to her room, tripping on the hem of her dress. As she opened the door, she saw the calming face of her best friend, Akatsuki Kain.

"Ruka, what is that?" Akatsuki tried to lean over Ruka's shoulder to read the letter she had in her hands. Ruka's expression was enough to make him freeze. "Let me see." Slowly, and with great care, he eased the paper out of her hands.

Ruka's hands dropped to her sides and she leaned on his shoulder, her fingers trembling slightly. Nearly always proud and slightly arrogant, Ruka looked at a loss for words for once in her life.

Akatsuki pulled her against his side as he sped through the letter. He quickly found the source of her horror.

Both Ruka's parents had died in a freak attack by a rogue vampire.

Ruka ran her hand through her almond locks, tousling them. The girl who spent nearly an hour styling her hair was now messing it up.

Akatsuki folded the letter up and shoved it into his pocket. "Come on." He gave Ruka a little tug by her hand but she wouldn't budge. She was quivering a bit, and she looked lost. Like a child that had slipped away from her Mother at a supermarket, Ruka didn't know where to go from there.

"Come on." Akatsuki repeated, but this time he scooped her up and headed for his and Aidou's room. Upon arriving, he stared Aidou down until the boy genius darted out of the room and shut the door on his way out.

"My... My family..." Ruka whispered, not fighting Akatsuki as he set her down on his bed.

Akatsuki wasn't about to say anything. If he just held her and let her dissolve into sobs, maybe she would feel better after an hour or so.

"What... what do I do now?" Ruka murmured, her hands fisting around the material of Akatsuki's shirt. She still had the look of a child loose in the supermarket in her eyes, which were quickly tearing up. This was the side of Ruka that only Akatsuki ever saw. This was the broken, hurting side of Ruka that no one else had ever seen.

"Now..." Akatsuki tipped her face up gently as the tears started to flow from her eyes. "Now, you get to live your life for you."

Ruka blinked, slowly, as if realizing for the first time that the loss of her parents would mean she would get what she had always wanted and never been allowed to have.

Akatsuki.

A few hours passed, and Ruka finally cried herself to sleep as the light started to flow into the room, drifting through the thick curtains just a bit and patterning the wall.

Akatsuki watched her without sleeping even for a minute. All he could do was think about what this could mean. Ruka would obviously be inheriting a lot of family issues, and he knew this was hard on her despite how horribly her parents had treated her from the time she was a toddler.

When Ruka woke up, Akatsuki got the surprise of a lifetime. She kissed his cheek once, and then instead of leaving like she had every other time she had slept in his bed, she snuggled closer.

Beyond the grief, there was definitely a light at the end of this tunnel. Ruka would get to live.

A/N: By the time I finished this I was super tired, so if someone sees a typo, go ahead and review me pointing it out. Anyway, love it or hate it, or anything in-between, I love hearing my reader's opinions. And yes, I love exploring this kind of theme with Ruka and Akatsuki.