"Who are you?" Zero repeated quietly. Kaname gasped, feeling his chest tighten painfully. Zero sat up slowly, wincing at the dull ache in his head. He could smell blood on the man in front of him. A lot of blood. "Kaname," the brunette whispered. Zero frowned. He didn't know anyone named Kaname. His eyes warily followed the pureblood's movements as Kaname gently reached out a hand. "Zero, you don't remember me?" Zero flinched back from the touch and bit his lip in confusion, shaking his head. "Kaname-sama, we should get him back to the academy," Ichijo suggested softly from behind them. Kaname hesitated, concerned and upset. Can we really get him back safely in this condition? He nodded. They didn't have much of a choice. Keeping his movements slow and unthreatening, he again held out a hand to Zero, stopping short of touching him. "Zero, we need to go back now. You can't stay out here." Kaname felt his heart clench at the distrust in the silvery eyes. "Zero I swear we aren't going to hurt you. You need medical attention." The prefect thought for a minute, feeling his body's injuries and exhaustion and slowly nodded. "Alright," he murmured, dropping his eyes to stare at the backs of his hands. Why was there blood there? His hands weren't hurt…Zero's attention snapped back as the man in front of him shifted. He looked hard at the offered hand, blood was under the nails and staining the white cuff of the man's jacket. The pale, slim fingers were graceful and long. He wondered if the man was a musician… He had to laugh. A mass-murdering piano player? A serial killing violinist? His thoughts slid together. "Zero?" The man asked. The concern in the deep, silky voice brought him back to reality. Cautiously, he grabbed the outstretched hand. It was cool and smooth. The man smiled, his dark eyes lighting in relief. Zero couldn't help but wonder at this odd stranger.

Kaname smiled, almost groaning in relief as Zero finally took his hand. For a long moment he had thought the prefect would flinch away again. As gently as he could, he maneuvered them both to their feet. Zero touched his free hand gingerly to his scalp, wincing as he brought his fingertips away wet and red. "So who did I piss off?" He asked, in a fake cheery voice. Kaname caught the underlying discomfort in the words. He squeezed the boy's hand reassuringly and shrugged. "No one really you're just accident prone," Aidou piped up from behind them. Zero turned to stare at the smirking blonde, a little startled he hadn't noticed him. "Aidou," the blonde reluctantly turned to his cousin who had raised an eyebrow warningly. Ichijo just sighed and shook his head. Seeing Zero's clueless looks at all of them he decided to do a quick introduction. "I'm Takuma Ichijo. This," he said pointing at Kain, "is Akatsuki Kain, and his cousin Hanabusa Aidou." Zero nodded at the introductions and his eyes lingered on Aidou. Kaname watched him hopefully for any spark of recognition. "You," the prefect said unsteadily, "you seem kinda familiar." He staggered a few steps towards the blonde, looking at him carefully. "I'm not really sure, but it does feel like I know you." Aidou's eye's widened in shock and Kaname looked like he had just been slapped. How would Zero recognize Aidou and not him? Zero swayed unsteadily, interrupting the dorm leader's thoughts. Ignoring the boy's flinching, he wrapped an arm around Zero's waist and wordlessly started back towards the academy. Aidou stood frozen next to Kain. "How in the world did he remember me?" Kain didn't answer, but grabbed his wrist and started walking slowly after Kaname. Ichijo sighed softly. "Maybe it was bad luck to watch those soap operas," he whispered to himself, remembering an event similar to this. Curse Kaien for loaning him those tapes. He just hoped that this would end differently. Otherwise there was a really good chance Zero would end up with Aidou…He stopped that train of thought and rubbed his eyes. Peering around, he made sure they hadn't forgotten any bodies or random parts. Other than the random splotches of blood, not a corpse or limb was in sight. Thank goodness. With a last glance, he turned and started jogging to catch up with the others.

A deep hiss of displeasure filled the clearing long after the vampires left. Incompetence. That's what this whole mess came down to. Well there really wasn't much of a chance that a handful of level E's would actually manage to kill Kaname, but still! Fresh snow was falling now. It was slowly covering the crimson splashes on the ground, slowly hiding the fresh grave of the unsuccessful attackers. Well there's always next time. Grinning in satisfaction at the thought, already planning the next move, the vampire slowly left the clearing. How nice that they cleaned up for me.

Yeah I had to rush this chapter a little. I'm in the middle of a huge, extremely boring project for school so it isn't my best. I really wanted to update though. Anyway thanks guys. I'll try and make the next chapter longer and better to make up for it!