"Zero?" Yuki, please stop talking. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired." I turned away, heading back to my room. "Don't worry about it." Because I'll worry enough for both of us. I felt my eyes sting again and sped up my pace. I was so not going to cry. Not here. Not in front of Yuki. Never in front of Yuki. I had just turned into my hallway when I ran into the very last person I wanted to see.

"What's wrong, Kiryu?"

I froze, slowly looking up to see the pureblood staring at me. I struggled to find the words. But as nothing seemed to want to leave my mouth, I ended up shoving past him to my room. I needed to get away from him. There was no way I was going to cry in front of Kaname either. Though I felt like I should. The fresh tears lingered behind my eyes, threatening to pour out.

I had almost made it to my room when Kaname placed a hand on the door, keeping it shut. "I asked you a question." I moved to push him away so I could reach the safety of my room but not before he grabbed my arm.

"It's none of your business, Kuran." I replied with difficulty, I stopped trying to move him, settling for glaring at him in hopes that he'd leave. Each second I spent out here left me in a sense of mixed panic and anger. Anger to lash out at the man blocking my path and to let myself release my burdens upon him so he'd leave.

"It is my business." He sighed, running a pale hand through his hair. "Yuki would never let me hear the end of her worries about you."

I felt a warm tear, roll down my cheek as I pushed him forcefully away from my door and finally entered. I quickly shut and locked the door behind me. Locking out the very person who was now knocking on my door.

"Kiryu?! Let me in!" I slid to the ground feeling the tears fall. I couldn't stop them anymore. I pulled my knees close to my chest, attempting to make myself smaller. Chocking back any sob and hiccup that might have made a noise.

There was a moment of silence before there was a click and the door opened again. I felt his footsteps as he walked towards me and I instinctively curled in on myself. I didn't even have to look up to know that he was standing in front of me. But even as I sat there sobbing quietly in a huddled ball, I hadn't yet realized that Kaname had knelt in front of me with a worried expression.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, attempting to gain my attention. His gentleness shocked me and I looked up to the warmest eyes I had ever seen. At that time, it was almost like the world had stopped for a moment. My eyes trapped within his as my tears flowed out unimpeded. We stayed like that for a moment before a sob escaped my trembling lips. he scooped me up into his arms.

"K-Kuran!" I felt my heart skip a beat at the loss of ground beneath me as I found myself carried to the other side of the room. He dropped my onto the bed and sat next to me in silence. I stared at him with shock. What the hell?!

"You still haven't answered my question, Zero." My name. Not Kiryu, he called me Zero. "What happened?" I almost wanted to laugh. A vampire, a pureblood at that, giving me, a hunter, compassion. I adjusted my position and stayed silent. It was something I really didn't want to tell him.

"Zero, if you don't tell me then I am going to kiss you."

I turned to him shocked, "What?!" I exclaimed. Surely he wasn't going to! I mean, we are both guys so...er. There was no way he would, right? I'm sure that he wasn't gay and even if he was, why would he say that to me? I was confused but before I could get my thoughts back in line I heard laughter. Very hard laughter.

I glanced back a the pureblood who was in the midst of a laughing fit. I just stared. This was surely some kind of imposter. Kaname Kuran never laughs like this. His face began to turn a light shade of red before he managed to calm himself down and glance my way, meeting my stare.

"What?" He asked with a light grin. I was blatantly shocked at this man.

"Was something fu-?" I began as he raised a hand to my cheek. I froze.

"Good, you stopped." He spoke softly, rubbing just below my eye. I had stopped crying. He stood and moved in front of me, "Let's see. Because you didn't answer my question, you need some sort of punishment."

Just before I could protest, I found myself silenced, not by anything that he'd done to my voice, but by how close his face now was to mine and by how I wasn't doing anything about it like I would have normally done. "Kana-" I started.

Then I felt his lips connect to mine. A short and brief contact but enough to cause my face to flush red. What had this man done to me.

"What was..." I muttered as he pulled away and stood up straight.

"I told you if you didn't tell me I'd kiss you." Then he left, leaving me behind, confused and in a daze. As the door shut I came back to Earth.

I reached up to my mouth, covering it and trying to figure out was I was feeling. I felt so light, like I could withstand everything. I slapped myself quickly and retreated under my covers. Damn that Kaname!

That was the first time in years that I hadn't cried myself to sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed. Until I looked at the little clock on the nightstand; 9:45 AM.

Oops.

Oh well, it wasn't this first time I'd been late. I slid out of bed and wandered into my bathroom to get ready for the day. I was surly going to get a long lecture from Yuki for this.

Yuki.

I sighed and splashed water on my face. I wasn't going to worry about that today. Nope, today I was going to be Zero Kiryu: hunter and guardian, not Zero Kiryu: crybaby and coward.

That's what I pushed so firmly into my head. Or so I thought.

I exited my room and walked down the hall towards the school building. I was late but I wasn't that student that skipped all his classes. Yuki would scold him good then. I reached out for the door handle but just before I opened the door I stopped.

Yuki was in the class with me.

Before I thought much about it, I turned around and walked away. I didn't really want to deal with this problem just yet. I decided to just hang out at the stable with Lily. The other students call her a demon horse but I've had no problems from her.

A few minutes later I opened the stable-house's door, listening to its familiar rusty creak as it moved. As soon as I stepped inside, Lily perked up. With a smile, I moved towards her, picking up a brush as I did so. I figured that, since I was here, I'd brush her (especially since the rest of the school thought she'd kill them if they tried). I let myself have a laugh at the thought of one of the Day Class boys trying to brush her. That was surely something I'd have to see.

After I finished, I settled next to her stall, leaning against the wall. It had to be noon by now, but I wasn't ready to go back yet. Nope. I'm going to have a nap. Yes, that sounded amazing.

But just before I nodded off, Lily whined and started to chew on my hair. "Stop it." I sighed, "I'll get you food if you're so hungry." She whined again as if to answer me and settled herself down as I exited her stall. Honestly, my hair wasn't food. I walked over to the stable-house's other end and picked up a small bundle for her.

And then my thirst hit.

I had just gotten the hay set in its place when I felt the warning pains. I knew this one was going to be bad. It may even rival the one from the past morning I just hoped I could keep my composure long enough to get back to my room. I could feel the urges wrap around my throat like a noose, growing tighter and making it harder to breathe.

I had been walking at a normal pace until the first wave of pain hit and I was still just a short way away from the safety of my room. The sheer level of pain the first wave brought scared me. If it hurt this much now...I don't want to finish that thought. I just picked up my pace, practically running at an inhuman speed.

Just before I reached the door to my room, a shout stopped me. I turned to face Yuki, the very person I had wanted to avoid. Especially now.

"Zero, are you alright?!" She went to step closer, her face holding worry and confusion. The wind blew lightly around us, wafting her scent to me. I cringed as the thirst strengthened.

"Yeah." My voice betrayed me, carrying all the pain I felt. I needed to get away, now. "I'm fine."

"No you're not!" Yuki didn't know when to quit. she couldn't understand this pain, the agony. How my sanity weakened with each new wave of urges. It took all I had not to pounce on her right now.

"Leave me be." I managed to get out before retreating into my room finally. I locked the door so she couldn't follow and staggered to my bathroom as another wave hit.

I ran the water, hoping it would drown out my cries. This pain was surely the strongest I've felt so far. My throat had constricted now, making each breath I took a gasp for air. I could just barely breathe anymore. I was getting dizzy. If this attack lasts to much longer like this I'll pass out. My vision began to haze. See? I knew it. Even if my vampire side wanted to go attack someone, I can't move if I don't have any air.

My last conscious thought was one of someone shaking me, shouting at me. The strangest thing was, at the time, I could have sworn it was Kaname.