Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight. This disclaimer covers all future chapters as well.

Red is the color of blood and I will seek it... --Conrad Aiken

It was a ritual.

Yuuki would sit on the chair in the decorated bedroom of Kaname's large suite in the Night Dorm, in her prim white night gown, her hands folded in her lap and a look of determination on her delicate features. She would stare at a blood tablet as it floated to the bottom of the crystal goblet on the mahogany dresser, making a faint a hiss as it dissolved, staining the water a weak shade of red. I will drink it. I should drink it. It's the right thing to do. Everyone in the Night Class does it. Why should I be special? Yes, tonight, I will!

…And with this resolve still fresh in her mind, she would creep out into the spacious suite, her hands clutched at her stomach, and find him lying down on the elegant couch, his expression calm and his burgundy eyes soft as he gazed at her, waiting.

Tonight, he fulfilled his part of the ritual, as always. "Yuuki," he breathed after a few moments of watching her wringing her hands. He turned his head subtly to expose the smooth white flesh of his neck.

Breathing in rapid gasps, Yuuki unlocked her hands and dropped them to her sides as she crossed the space between them in a few strides. She lowered herself on top of him, her hesitation gone, but still having enough control to make sure she straddled only his slim waist. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his throat, hesitating only a second to enjoy his sweet scent and feel of his blood rushing beneath his skin before she opened her mouth to let her fangs graze his skin. He exhaled a sigh, but otherwise was completely still, his body hard and unmoving as marble under her.

"I want… Kaname-sen-…Onii-sama…s-sorry," she muttered incoherently against his throat, before sinking her teeth into his flesh. A mixture of euphoria and self-loathing filled her as his blood rushed into her mouth, coating her tongue with rich, exotic taste.

"It's okay, Yuuki." Kaname's hands rose from his sides, where they had been tightly clutching the cushions, but an inch away from her back, he pulled them away and returned them to their previous position, gripping the upholstery. He closed his eyes, a strained expression on his face she couldn't see.

Tears filled her eyes at his words, but instead of stopping, she sucked harder. Heat suffused her body, spreading through her midsection and her limbs. The warmth radiated outwards from her toes to the tips of her fingers, which were threaded in his dark hair.

But beyond the powerful and pleasurable physical sensations at drinking Kaname's blood, there was more. As she had suspected with Zero, blood communicated it owner's thoughts and emotions. Memories of Kaname's grief at her forgetting him, his frustration because he had to stay away from her and deep, crushing loneliness were feelings laid bare for her every time she drank his blood.

Even more, his blood whispered his love for her. From the moment he had first laid eyes on her, cradled in their mother's arms, he had loved her with all his soul.

It wasn't drinking his blood, it was drinking him.

I'm so weak. No, it's worse than that, I'm a junkie for his blood, for the way it makes me feel and for the way he sees me. How can I take one of those pills, which was made in some cold laboratory, when I can have this? Yuuki thought, locking a sob inside her chest before it could escape her lips. I'm taking his most private thoughts. It's theft. It's… She shied away from the word that wanted to form in her mind and bit down harder in an effort to make it disappear entirely. She heard Kaname's steady breathing become more rapid and irregular as her fangs pierced more deeply. She waited for him to tell her to cease, but the words never came and his respiration smoothed out to almost normal as she continued swallowing his blood in desperation.

A dull yearning ache settled into the pit of her abdomen as the tenor of his thoughts in his lifeblood shifted from his warm memories of her childhood to something else, and the graphic images of what he wanted of her burned her mind in their intensity. With a stifled moan, she retracted her fangs from his neck and loosened her grip on his hair. Carefully, she lifted herself off of the breathing statue of his body and perched on the edge of the sofa.

Yuuki let the curtain of her new luxuriant hair fall over her face to act as a convenient barrier from eye contact and wiped the remnants of his blood from her lips as well as the tears from her eyes. She waited for the silence to be broken, but other than the ticking of the ornately carved grandfather clock against the wall, there was no other sound.

And that, too, was part of the ritual.

She hazarded a glance at Kaname's face and for moment she thought she saw his eyes glowing a brighter crimson with mute need, but it was so gone so quick she thought she imagined it. As usual, his face was serene and so beautiful it was almost difficult to look at and keep a coherent thought, but Yuuki's eyes widened when she saw the punctures on his neck still flowing blood in sluggish streams and dark bruise-colored circles nestled beneath his eyes.

"Onii-…Kaname-senpai, I'm sorry… I took too much. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry!" She said this in a rush, a dull flush coloring her cheeks as she realized if they must have been there when she had first walked in and had been too wrapped up in her bloodlust to see it. He had been getting more weary each day. "You should have told me to stop," she mumbled to the floor.

She felt him shift from is prone position to sit beside her. His fingertips lifted her chin to look at him. "I will never tell you to stop, Yuuki. My blood is yours to take whenever you want it," he said in his silky voice, a small smile twisting his lips. "And I'm fine, but thank you for worrying about me." At his light touch, Yuuki was once again aware of the warm sensation in her abdomen and exhaled a shaky breath.

I'm a parasite because I only take. I'm… hurting him with this form of… rape? Yuuki questioned silently, finally admitting what this nightly routine reminded her of. Maybe it's too strong a word… but surely it's a violation. The only difference is he's a willing victim.

Tears stung her eyes once again and in response Kaname inclined his face closer, so that his wine-colored eyes filled her vision. She froze and squeezed her eyes shut, but she felt him draw away and drop his hand from her chin.

Yuuki scanned his face for hurt at her hesitation. Finding none, she mentally cursed herself for feeling both relief, and a disappointment she registered on an almost physical level, that he had drawn back. She now wondered if he had intended to kiss her as she had thought. "Kaname-senpai…"

Raising his eyebrows, he waited for a moment for her to continue. When it became obvious she couldn't form any words, he finally sighed as he leaned forward to the table in front of the couch and opened a small lacquer box. He dropped a familiar white tablet into his own goblet and poured a measure of water into it from a cut glass pitcher.

"Yes?" he prompted, as he reclined back and crossed his legs in a liquid movement, sipping the synthetic blood. Despite the deep wound on his neck and his innermost self revealed to Yuuki, he looked as refined as ever in his grey silk shirt and black pants as he watched her.

Yuuki struggled with herself for a moment, not quite meeting his eyes. "You are weakening because of me. The blood tablets aren't helping you…"

His relaxed posture and expression didn't change, but his gaze sharpened.

She was bewildered by the intensity of his stare and wondered what he was thinking. To gather her thoughts safely away from is hypnotic regard, she suddenly decided to take an interest in the carpet. "I don't want to see you hurting. Why don't you feed from me? You haven't since..." Please say yes, so you'll feel better. A deep voice inside of her pointed out that it would also ease her guilt for what she was doing and she felt a tug of shame. "Well, you can if you want."

"Hmm, 'feed on you'?" He finally said in a musing voice, as if it had never occurred to him. Yuuki eyes flicked back to his face trying to read it, but her confusion increased when she saw him smiling one-sidedly as if something was secretly amusing him. She noticed; however, the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Do you ever get tired of charity cases, Yuuki?" he asked in suspiciously light voice.

Her bewilderment increased and then her mouth dropped open in shock as she wondered if he meant Zero drinking her blood. Does he mean the first time? Or does he know it happened..."W-what...?" Yuuki managed through numb lips.

"So, how does this go?" Kaname continued in the same smooth tone as her words trailed off into blushing silence, setting his glass down. Before she was entirely sure what had happened, she was lifted onto Kaname's lap, her back pressed into his hard frame. One of his arms circled her ribcage beneath her breasts in a snug embrace but a small squeeze suggested he wasn't using a fraction of his strength. His unoccupied hand slid into her mass of hair, a pale spider nestled in against the dark strands, and pulled her head firmly to the side to expose her neck.

"Am I doing this right?" he whispered in a tone of polite inquiry, his breath tickling the tender skin over her pulse point.

Yuuki held her breath as she registered the strange and erotic sensation of his fangs moving under his velvety lips. She closed her eyes, waiting for Kaname to profane the ritual...

A/N: My first attempt at a VK story. I recently discovered this manga and now I'm hooked, especially on Yuuki x Kaname. I'm extremely impatient for the next chapter to come out so I whipped this up. I proofed it, but it hasn't been seen by anyone else so excuse my inevitable errors. -sweats- I'm not really sure how it turned out so please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I'll continue if there's enough interest in it. :)

Thanks for reading! Oh, and it's rated 'T' for now, but any later chapters will probably be rated 'M'. I can't help it; I'm a bad girl. XP