Several miles from the gates of Cross Academy, a small cottage stood in a thicker portion of the woods. It had once been owned by an elderly couple, who grew spices and herbs in their garden, and they would sell these spices to a nearby market for honest profit . However the building now stood in silence, quaint and threatening, and though the reclusive couple had several acquaintances in town, none of them had searched for long.

Sara Shirabuki plopped herself down into a plush pink reclining chair, which was broken-in and worn in all the right places. It had easily become her favorite seat in the house, and she rested her bare feet on the ottoman beside it, sighing in comfortability.

"Please..." she said. "Have a seat. You're making me uncomfortable just standing there."

The thin young man swallowed hard, body trembling like an autumn leaf as he positioned himself awkwardly into a small kitchen chair. As he watched her watch him, he was briefly reminded of a snake waiting to strike, still and poisonous.

"You're afraid of me, then?" she accused, twirling a curl of hair around her finger. "You shouldn't be, after all that I went through to bring you here."

The young man, whose real name was Noboru, felt a sickness in his stomach as he struggled to recall the previous nights. Most of it had been a haze of anguish, and she had bit him several more times as she'd dragged his haggard body through miles of foliage. His heart skipped another beat at the remembrance of her frightening strength, and he released a shaky breath.

"Do not forget that if it weren't for me, you'd be dead," she scolded. "And there'd be nothing left of you but an empty body and some unfavorable clothes. I even gave you my precious blood, and you are still not satisfied?"

"Yes..." he thought idly, acids churning in his stomach. He remembered that too, an unbearable feeling of hunger, consuming him for nameless hours. "No!" his thoughts shouted back, "hunger didn't describe that at all." It was as though the pit of stomach had been gnarled and empty, and a savage pain had made all movement impossible. He was blinded, screaming, shouting obscenities and praying for some sort of relief, and she had given it to him. He had yearned for something he didn't even know he'd needed, and this snakelike woman had provided for him, albeit somewhat forcefully.

"Tell me then," she continued on, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Would you have rather I'd left you there?"

At this, Sara's eyes bore into him with a wolfish intensity, waiting for his answer, but this went unnoticed by the boy as his vision glazed over. At that moment, as her question reached his ears, Noboru's entire life flashed before him. This had not happened the evening previously, when he had been dangling his own life from a gnarled tree, not before when a vicious creature had attacked him and drank his blood, nor had it happened through any of the nightmares which had preceded soon after. Now as he met her blackish-blue eyes, he saw everything at once, and he realized with a pang that as he'd been fighting for his life, he had actually been desperate to keep it. Being brought to death from life and back again had made him realize... his life was finally something precious.

Lost in these thoughts, Noboru shook his head slowly before he realized it.

The next thing he saw was Sara Shirabuki's wide, magnificent smile, and though her fangs were bared and his memory still fresh, it was beautiful enough to calm his nerves. For the first time in many months, he felt himself smile as well.

"I'm very glad." she crooned. "Now get some rest, darling. Classes start on Monday."

...-...

"Hahaha! This is too good! He looks like an angry hen! All puffed up!"

Yuuki's laughter was boisterously loud as she rolled around in the grass. Yori sat beside her, also chortling, but it was her own drawing that they were holding, and she'd already had a good laugh in private.

"How long did it take you draw that anyway?" asked Yuuki, sitting up clumsily as she wiped her eye. "It's so exact, it's almost like you took a photograph!"

"Well," Yori mused. "Maybe about three days. I see him like this all the time though, so it's pretty much committed to memory."

The drawing in question was of Hanabusa Aidou, angrily shouting at a mysterious silhouette, which walked away from him as if unfazed. He was slightly cartoonish in nature, with his body bent over and arms raised over his head, and his mouth took up half of his face. When you added in his bloated cheeks, puffed out in disproportionate size, he really did resemble to Yuuki a clucking hen... or an angry blowfish. She broke into a fresh wave of giggles at the thought.

"Well I think you've captured him perfectly," she laughed, secretly relishing this chance to be silly. "I can practically hear him shouting obscenities at me. And I always knew you drew well, but this is really good...even for you!"

"Well it's been a while since you've seen them!" said Yori defensively. "People do get better, you know! And this one's not even serious! I have others-"

Yori's cheeks turned pink , but with a steady hand she opened her blue sketchbook to a different page, and Yuuki gasped in spite of herself.

"Is-is that me?" she whispered.

"Of course!" Yori bubbled. "I told you I've watched you practice! Do you know how lucky you are, Yuuki? Being able to fly is like some kind of fairy tale that's always in the back of people's minds, and you've pulled it off effortlessly! It's a blessing really, I don't understand why you try so hard to hide it."

But Yuuki said nothing in defense to her statement, for fear that her voice would quiver if she spoke. The sketch was perfect to say the least, each fine line and shadow drawn by an experienced hand, and Yuuki flushed at how much detail was given to the curve of her body. The paper's crisp surface depicted a woman in flight, wings stretched high, long hair wild, and her facial expression determined. She was radiant, and even though Yuuki resembled her, she did not recognize the woman in the picture as herself.

"It's absolutely beautiful," she breathed. "Though I think you've given me a little too much credit. I don't really... look like that."

It was Yori's turn to whisper. "Yes, you do. You're beautiful, Yuuki. Like... breath-taking beautiful."

Yuuki felt something stir in her chest, and when her friend's eyes wouldn't meet with hers, she realized it had been more of an admission than a compliment.

"So are you. " she said plainly. "Not just your face but your heart as well; your talent to make something as perfect as this drawing. But you are not a vampire. You have no special blood or supernatural traits to make you beautiful, or talented, but you still are. I think that makes you lovelier than any of us."

Yori turned away, averting her gaze to a group of giggling day-class girls. Yuuki saw her smile.

"You would say something like that, Yuuki." she sighed, and there was a silence.

"Let's get back inside." she said finally, breaking their shared daze. "It's starting to rain a little, and the headmaster will be wanting his yearly reviews." She grinned. "I've been purposely avoiding mine, I think he's gotten everyone but me, and now I can feel his eyes boring into me between every class. It's getting kind of annoying..."

Yuuki smiled. Headmaster Cross had specifically mentioned Yori's avoiding behavior, and had asked her mawkishly how Yuuki's dearest friend had come to hate him. He'd had tears welling in his eyes, and it was all she could do to roll her own. As his adoptive daughter, Yuuki was used to his maudlin behavior, but it was funny to see how others reacted.

"Yes... he does get that way, doesn't he? Just be sure to smile and call him father, and he'll forget all about that in a heartbeat. "

...-...

Later that evening, Yuuki was awoken by a frantic knocking at her door. Though the noise itself was soft, it seemed hurried and urgent, and Yuuki practically fell out of bed as she stumbled to answer.

"Yuuki... please get up! I need your help!"

Recognizing Yori's voice, she opened the door to find her standing there in a blue nightdress, honey-colored eyes wide and edgy.

"My notebook, Yuuki! I left it in the chairman's office earlier! I need you to go and get it. Please!"

Yuuki huffed, only because she hadn't had a decent sleep in days. They had been friends for a long time, so she knew it was alright to express herself. "Why can't you get it? Why do you need me?"

"What kind of question is that? Because you're the chairman's daughter and you have the key! I'm not just going to break into his office in the middle of the night! What if he caught me in there? I'd be mortified! At least if it's you, it won't matter!"

Yuuki contemplated for a moment why this was so important to her, and then realized that the notebook was more or less Yori's personal journal. Upon recalling the images in its pages Yuuki blanched, she couldn't let the headmaster see.

"All right." she resolved, gesturing inside her room. "Just wait here and I'll be back in a few minutes. It'll be awkward if he finds me in there, too... so I'll have to be quiet."

"Yay! Thank you, Yuuki! I'll wait right here."

Yuuki grabbed the key from its hiding place in her delicates drawer, and proceeded to pad her way across the moon dorm. She realized that wandering its hallways in secret had become quite a habit for her, and wondered for a moment if hiding her abilities was really worth it, or if it could stay that way for long.

"No!" she thought. "I already made the decision not to tell them. Not the Headmaster, not the night class, not Zero. I have to stick with it now..."

Something inside of Yuuki warned her that it was not time for anyone to know how much her body was awakening, and the thought of it set off alarm bells in her gut. She already couldn't handle the pressure of being a pureblood, let alone her brother's sister, and the extra attention would be too much to bear. Though sometimes, in the middle of the night, she would experience a strange humming in her body that grew progressively more violent the longer she sat still, and its energy was disorienting. On these nights she couldn't sleep, and as she cradled her pillow she wished she had someone with whom to confide. These were the times she missed Kaname the most, because only he and he alone would understand.

She had felt it that night too, in the hospital, and the feeling had been so strong its power had almost blinded her.

"It's strange though," she thought. "I felt it after I drank from him, and not before..."

She closed her eyes tightly. "Don't think about that now!"" But her mind flashed back to Aidou's words.

" 'It was just your instinct...' "

Shaking her head to clear her increasingly anxious thoughts, she realized with a start that she was standing in front of the headmaster's door. Taking in a breath, she turned the key and stepped inside of the dark, cluttered office. The headmaster was not a messy person, but his abundance of books and antique furniture made even a large space hard to keep clear. Side-stepping around globes and small tables, she reached his desk and began ruffling through large stacks of papers.

"Oh, there you are." she whispered triumphantly, as her foot happened upon a small blue sketchbook. It lay unseen under the chair. "That must mean he didn't see you." She picked it up and rifled gently through its contents, curiosity winning over, and Yori's eloquent, looping print stared boldly from every page. There were some poems and short stories, which she glanced at but did not read, and there were countless sketches of things and people she knew, though with heated cheeks, she realized that many were of Aidou.

"Wow..." Yuuki breathed , studying a particular sketch of the noble at a windowsill, where he gazed out as though in thought. "She makes even a steam-head like you look reserved!" And with that note , she closed the book and slipped it in her oversized pajama pocket.

Just as she was leaving, she caught a glimpse of a photo wedged between two stacks of papers, and finding it odd that the headmaster would have such things, proceeded to pull it out from its place.

Yuuki felt an ice-cold, watery feeling trickle down her spine, and her eyes dampened in terror. She had found the headmaster's victims file, and the latest one was hers.

Fighting the impulse to panic, she forced herself to take in every detail of the photo, and realized it must have been taken shortly after she had found him that night... when Zero had come. She once again re-lived the terror of finding him there, and was reminded of what she had done.

Hands trembling slightly, she read the tiny scrawl that was written under the man's photo. The handwriting was rough and unfamiliar, and she realized it must be Yagari's.

[Hank McLoughlin, aged 32, birthplace United States

Victim found dead at 23:37, time of death estimated at 21:00. Okaido Preserve, three miles southeast of campus. Two puncture wounds in neck, left appendage torn, abdomen severely lacerated. Crime scene indicates a struggle, victim brought against his will and bitten shortly after death. Bleeding gums indicate fangs were grown post-mortem. Pureblood affiliation is obvious. ]

She stopped reading, confused.

"Bitten shortly after death...?"

At that moment, the door creaked open, and Yuuki forgot everything to wonder how he always found her at the most inopportune moments. She threw the file onto the desk in haste.

"Hi..." she said weakly, and immediately cursed herself for not having something better to say. He simply stared back at her.

"What are you doing in here, Yuuki?" Zero asked. He sounded tired, and she was momentarily thrown off by the gentle use of her name.

"I came in here to retrieve something precious of Yori's." she stammered, deciding it was foolish to lie. "She asked me to come and get it before morning." She held up the book in order to prove herself, then hastily stuffed in back into her pocket.

"I see," he said. "And did Wakaba ask you to look at the association's criminal files, too?" Yuuki watched him raise his one eyebrow in the impatient way he always did, waiting for her to confess her wrongs like she did when they were children.

"Well I saw it on his desk!" Yuuki snapped defensively. "I definitely have the right to know these kind of things! If it wasn't for me stumbling across them all the time, no one would tell me anything! And besides, I'm the one that-"

She stopped, heart faltering. He raised his eyebrows further.

"-found him...before you got there."

Zero said nothing for a moment, eyes passive, and then they glanced at the file she'd been holding.

"That guy we found was bitten by a pureblood, but the weird thing is that he was bitten after he was dead." He looked away suddenly, eyes glazing over like an overcast sky. "There's no pleasure in drinking someone's blood after their heart has stopped beating, that's why victims are always living."

"Well how do you know that?" Yuuki asked slowly, and her heart pounded so loudly now that she could taste its vibration on her tongue. "How can you know he was bitten after, and not before?"

Zero picked up the file and touched his fingers to the photo. "You start to get to know things after a while. The body's internal organs act differently for humans then they do for vampires, even when they die. After examining his body carefully, Yagari was certain that he was bitten afterwards. He was-" Zero paused, deep in thought, and Yuuki watched him gnaw a little at the inside of his cheek. "He was human when he died like this."

Yuuki felt a knot tighten in her stomach. How could what he was saying be true? She had bitten this man weeks ago.

There was silence as she looked down at the carpet, clenching and unclenching her fists. She gave a start when Zero took a step toward her.

"You're acting even weirder than before," he said tonelessly. "Everyone is noticing it. You sneak around at night, and you're avoiding me."

Yuuki forced her face to remain impassive, but inside she yelled at herself for being so foolish. How much had everyone noticed?

"Why are you avoiding me, Yuuki?" he asked again, and she was surprised that this out of all the questions was the one he'd chosen. She looked at his face and was momentarily startled by his reddening eyes.

"Because you've been with a woman," she thought. "And I know nothing about it. Who was she? Do I know her? Because that hurts me. Because I'm this, because I can never take it back. Because you truly hate me..."

"I-I'm not avoiding you, Zero. It's just that we've got very different lives now. We're not..."

She paused, wincing slightly at the way her statement sounded, and fell silent as she was met by his icy stare.

"You're lying..." he growled suddenly, and Yuuki shouted out as he grasped her wrists and pinned her body against the desk with his own, sending papers falling across the floor.

"Just tell me, Yuuki..." he said lowly, hot breath tickling her ear as she struggled not to notice. "Are you feeling hungry already? Is it because he's not here to satisfy you that you're like this?"

Yuuki felt a pang of hurt at his words, but with his warm body so near her own she couldn't fully register their intended blow. Instead she was preoccupied by his harsh breathing, and his closeness.

"Zero...why are you doing this?" she whispered into his shoulder, voice coming out much feebler than she'd hoped. He said nothing, and she noticed then the large, ugly veins that were protruding from his neck, the way that he swallowed as though his throat were dry. His breath grew more ragged at her question, and as his body tensed, she touched her hand to his hair.

"Zero-"

"What are you trying to hide?" he interrupted harshly, grip tightening around her. "Are you trying to protect him with something? Are you going to meet him when you sneak out at night?"

"NO!" she howled in disgust, and pushed him off of her with all her strength. He fell to the floor in surprise, and she was momentarily shocked by the look in his eyes...like that of a wild dog. She noticed the way his body trembled and for a fleeting second, felt fear, as though she was in one of the nightmares that plagued her dreams.

"But I am..." she thought wildly. "Because Zero is falling."

"I've had enough..." she said suddenly and, eyes blinding with tears, made a mad dash for the headmaster's letter opener. She sliced open her arm with reckless haste and immediately put her mouth to the wound. After nursing it for a small moment, she grabbed a stunned Zero by his collar and crashed her lips against his.

She had expected more of a fight. She had braced herself for a "level E" breakdown, for his furiousness, but instead she was met with warm and soft lips... lips that opened up for her and the blood she carried within them. Long after it was gone from her mouth, he continued to move his lips against hers.

"Zero..."