"He really get's on my nerves, I mean who does he think he is." Yuuki couldn't help but overhear a girl standing in the outside hallway next to the courtyard speaking to another girl with malice in her voice.

She wondered vaguely what they were discussing, but brushed it off as none of her concern and continued walking to find Zero, her sole book clutched tightly against her chest. He was having such a hard time lately dealing with his blood lust, and all she wanted to do was take care of him. But what the girl said next stopped Yuuki dead in her tracks.

"I mean, he is the strangest person I have ever known. Kiryuu is such a freak."

Yuuki recognized the girl as one of the girls a grade higher then her, but she'd just come here that year. Yuuki knew that the girl had been having troubles at her old schools, but since her parents had the money, and Chairman Cross was really such a push over, the girl got into Cross Academy easy enough. Yuuki was starting to think that her adoptive father had made a huge mistake.

Of course though, that could also be summed up to her being prejudice against the girl for talking so badly about one of her closest friends. Zero did not deserve to be talked about in such a manner. This girl had no idea what Zero has had to go through, she didn't know a single thing about Zero.

Who does this girl think she is?!

Yuuki clenched her right fist, holding her book tightly within the other, and tried to stop herself from turning around and doing something that her father wouldn't approve of. She took many deep breaths and tried to tune the two girls out as they talked about how Zero had stopped them from getting near the Night Class students. She'd almost gotten herself under control and began to take another step forward but didn't even get a chance to finish taking that step when the girl said the harshest thing she possibly could.

"Zero Kiryuu should really just crawl under a rock and die. Nobody cares about him anyway."

And Yuuki snapped.

She spun on her heel and stalked quickly over to the girl who insisted on talking about things she had no clue about, fully intending on teaching her a lesson. Yuuki held no fear in her as she walked up to the ignorant girl, anger etched clearly on her face. Book still in hand, Yuuki shoved her with all of her strength into the stone column she was standing next to, effectively knocking the other girl onto the ground in the process.

"Hey!" The ignorant girl protested.

Yuuki, ever the protector, had all but lost her cool, and with the crude words pertaining to Zero still fresh in her mind, she took a hold of her book in both hands and smacked the girl across the face with it.

"Who do you think you are!" Yuuki screamed, throwing the book on the ground and jumping on the girl.

Wandering eyes began to stop and stare at the scene unfolding in front of them. A fight rarely broke out at Cross Academy as its sole purpose for existing was for peace and tranquility. But when one did, the crowds got wild with excitement and news of it spread quickly in such a small place, so within a short time, anyone who wanted to watch had arrived.

Zero heard of the fight and knew it was his job to stop it. He wondered where Yuuki was. He might need her help to contain the members of the fight. Looking around, and not seeing her anywhere, he shrugged his shoulders and decided he'd have to bear it on his own. Without further hesitation, he took off running towards the altercation.

"What gives you the right?!" Yuuki screamed, slamming her fist into the girls face for the third time.

The girl, whose name Yuuki couldn't recall, not that she cared to, was squirming beneath her, holding her hands up in a wasted attempt at protecting herself. Yuuki merely smacked her hands away and slammed another angry fist into the girls face.

"You don't even know Zero! You know nothing about him!" Yuuki screamed.

The girl tried playing dirty by grabbing a hold of Yuuki's hair and pulling on it with enough force to really hurt her, but Yuuki payed no attention at all, completely oblivious to the pain the girl was trying to cause her. She only had one thing in mind, and that was to teach this girl a lesson. She had no right to say those things about Zero.

Ignoring the sting in her scalp, Yuuki grabbed the girls wrist and squeezed it tightly at her pressure point, effectively causing the girl to loosen her grip on Yuuki's hair and cry out in pain. The girl brought her hand back to her chest and used her other hand to cradle the now tingling one. By then the girls face was scraped, bleeding and already starting to bruise.

Zero was having a hard time fighting to get through the crowd encircling the confrontation. He'd been hearing whispers about a first year and a second year student, but wasn't worried. It wasn't anyone he'd have to take care of other then to get them to the Chairman's office. But when he heard Yuuki's name being spread among the group of teenagers, he immediately panicked. He knew Yuuki was more then capable of defending herself, but that didn't stop him from worrying any less.

He'd pushed through the group with force and had almost made it to the epicenter of chaos, when the smell of blood reached his nose. Blood meant someone was hurt. His blood lust had spiked slightly, but was ignored when he thought Yuuki could be the one bleeding. A part of him knew it wasn't the smell of Yuuki's blood, but that part of him was small enough to be pushed aside, and he began thrashing madly at the crowd trying to break through to rescue Yuuki from any unnecessary pain.

However, what he saw when he did finally manage to reach the epicenter had surprised him enough to make him stop where he stood and stare, mouth agape and eyes wide.

Yuuki was on top of this second year girl, slamming her fists into her face, screaming words at her that Zero couldn't comprehend. His brain was slow to catch up as he watched Yuuki beating this seemingly defenseless girl to a pulp. Slowly though, things began to register in his head, and he couldn't help but feel an swell of love in his heart as he heard Yuuki defending him.

"You stupid, worthless...Your wrong!" Yuuki screamed once again, letting her anger flow through her. She was far from being done, and the girl was still putting up a fight. The girl tried to throw a punch at Yuuki, but missed completely by throwing blindly, and Yuuki slammed her own fist down into the girls stomach.

As Yuuki thought back on what the girls last words were, a new found anger thrived inside of her, and she began to punch the girl ruthlessly, screaming at her all the while. "Don't you ever, dare say a thing like that about Zero again. Ever! Your wrong! People do care about him! I care about him! And I refuse to stand by and listen to trash like you talking down about people who are far better then you will ever be!"

Yuuki's voice was raw by now, and she had broken into tears, hurt by what the girl had said about Zero. Yuuki knew without a doubt that Zero didn't deserve those cruel words.

He didn't deserve that!

Zero finally ran forward and grabbed Yuuki around the waist, pulling her off the girl from behind. A kicking and screaming Yuuki fought against her unknown attacker, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No! Let me go! She needs to be taught a lesson!"

"Yuuki, calm down. It's okay." Zero told her, his voice full of the love he felt for her.

Yuuki instantly calmed and turned to face Zero. "Zero." She wrapped her arms around him, as if trying to shield him from the harsh words of the girl lying on the ground, shedding her own tears. She'd gotten pretty beaten up, but it wasn't as bad as it looked as she lied there covered in her own blood. Most of the blood had come from her nose anyway.

"Yuuki, what were you thinking?" Zero asked, his tone pleasant.

"She just...she just made me so angry. She had no right to say those things about you Zero. She doesn't even know you. I know I should have controlled myself better, but she was saying such cruel things, and...and the things she was saying were hurting me too Zero!"

Zero truly was happy to have someone care about him so wholly. He really loved this girl standing in his arms covered in another girls blood. As things calmed down, Zero's blood lust began to spike again, and Yuuki saw it when his eyes flickered from red back to lavender. "Zero, go. I will meet you in your room okay? Wait there for me. I need to explain this to the Chairman then I will be right up."

She gave Zero a little push when he hesitated, and he reluctantly took a step away from her and walked quickly back to his dorm room, awaiting her arrival.

"What happened here?!" The Chairman asked in a frightened voice. Yuuki had rejoined the girl in the middle of the circle, but kept her distance. The girl, now sitting beside her friend as her friend wiped most of the blood from her face grew determined once the Chairman came into view along with a slightly concerned looking Kaname, and the Chairman's presence caused the crowd to disperse.

She pointed a long arm and skinny finger directly at Yuuki. "It was her! She did this to me!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice.

The Chairman and Kaname both followed the direction of the girls upraised arm, and they both blanched when it led to Yuuki, staring at both of them, the girls blood staining her fist and her clothing. She looked slightly barbaric and frightening.

Kaname regained his composure quickly, replacing the stoic mask rightfully to his face, while Cross jumped out of his skin and ran over to his daughter. "Yuuki!" He cried. Once he reached her he gave her a once over. "Are you alright?!"

Yuuki sighed audibly and took a slight step back from Cross. "I'm fine Chairman. The blood is hers, not mine." She nodded to the girl across from her, now standing, and staring daggers at her. That seemed to snap the Chairman out of his worried daze and he gasped, covering his mouth with both of his hands.

"Yuuki, what did you do?" He asked her.

Yuuki glanced at Kaname, who only stared at her, pride filling his eyes. Though she couldn't place the emotion when she looked at him, so she averted her gaze, and started to explain things to her father, still worried about Zero. She didn't want to keep him waiting any longer then she had to. Kaname stood by, listening to every word, only leaving once she'd finished her explanation. He needed to be sure the other vampires were still under control.

Needless to say, the Chairman was disappointed in Yuuki's behavior, as well as the girl, who Yuuki now knew was called Mimori. Yuuki truly felt bad for hurting the girl, but she didn't regret her actions. She felt Mimori got what she deserved, and hoped that she learned her lesson. Yuuki was still deeply hurt by Mimori's words, and couldn't find it in her heart to forgive the girl yet.

"Okay, we will settle this in my office. Let's go." He told both Mimori and myself in an unusually authoritative voice.

Yuuki kept stride with Cross. "I need to do something really fast. Is that okay?" She asked him in a low voice.

He took a side long disbelieving glance at her, ready to protest, but when he saw the determination and desperate need in her eyes, there was no way he could deny her this. He nodded once and told her to make it quick.

Bowing quickly, she darted towards the dorms, desperate to get to Zero. Mimori was walking behind the Chairman, still staring daggers into Yuuki's back as she ran away. "Where is she going?"

"She will join us shortly. Don't worry. She won't be treated any differently then you will in this matter." He assured her. She didn't say another word.

Zero sat on the edge of his bed, waiting slightly impatiently for Yuuki. He couldn't believe she'd actually fought for him. She'd done reckless things for him many times, but to start a fight over some meaningless person talking badly about him was strikingly comforting and inspiring to him. He really felt loved.

Yuuki finally burst through the door to his room, and slammed it shut behind her, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry it took so long, Zero. I thought I should wash up a little before I came. I think I got most of the blood off of me." She was surprised that after all of that, none of the blood had belonged to her.

Zero nodded and stood, walking quickly over to her. Despite his thoughts of Yuuki and his love for her, the smell of blood had really gotten to him and he was thirsty. He pushed her against the door she'd just closed and stared down at her for a moment. Yuuki stared back, but tilted her head to the side, allowing Zero better access to her throat.

Licking the exposed flesh slowly, savoring the taste of her skin, he pulled her closer to him, and without further delay, her forced her flesh to give way to his teeth and proceeded to drink from her. He felt everything she'd been feeling the past few moments. He felt the curiosity she'd felt, the anger and resentment for the girl, the pain she'd been caused by the girls words, he felt her need to protect him and above all he felt her love for him coursing through her veins, being carried along by her pumping heart and flowing across his warm lips.

Yuuki had made it a point for him to feel what she was feeling. She needed him to understand why she had done what she'd done. She didn't want him to be disappointed in her, so she conjured up every emotion she'd felt and sent it flowing throughout her body.

Zero retracted his teeth from Yuuki's throat and wiped the blood from his lips. Looking down at her, he did understand why she'd started that fight. And he was grateful for her.

I love you, Yuuki.

That was what he meant to say. Instead, he choked out a thank you, and pulled her into another embrace, glad to have her in his arms.

"Your welcome, Zero. I just hope you understand why I had to do that."

Zero nodded and smiled slightly. "Thank you. For caring." He said again.

Yuuki beamed, and straightened up her clothing, placing a fresh bandage over her new wounds. She'd learned to carry extra ones around with her.

"Well, the Chairman is waiting for me. Wish me luck." She said, opening the door.

"Do you want me to come?" He asked, hoping she'd say yes. He wanted to be there for her this time.

She looked back at him, trying to read the emotions in his eyes. Satisfied with what she saw, she smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him down the corridor towards the Chairman's office where her punishment awaited her. Having Zero beside her though, made it seem less bad then it could turn out to be, and as long as he continued to stand beside her, she'd be strong for him, and protect him just as he was doing for her now. Even if he didn't realize he was...

Or even if he did.

Either way, she was happy.