A Night's Patrol

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"It's over."

Zero had told himself that phrase many times in the year that Yuki had disappeared from his life. She was gone. The sweet girl he had grown up with was dead to him. The kindest person he had ever met was too good to be true, she was not human. Instead she was a pureblood princess, the youngest elite.

He splashed some cold water onto his pale cheeks. Another night of guardian duty lay ahead of him. Once again, he would be doing this duty alone. Ironically he had become a guardian so she would not have to be on her own. Now he walked the campus alone at night, every single night.

"They are beasts in human form."

Contrary to the fact that she was not human anyone. Her personality had not changed in the slightest. The pureblood vampire had the same heart. That kindness was her core. It would one day either lead her to great victory or to a tragic demise.

He should have known better as his own heart did not change when he fully transformed almost two years ago. He was still the same idiot he had been before his transformation, the one who could understand organic chemistry and quantum physics with extraordinary ease, but did not understand his emotions any better than a child.

Zero leaned against the sink, avoiding his appearance in the mirror. His pale eyes were tinted red, his bloodlust becoming less dormant each passing moment. Every time he thought of her, his thirst grew deeper, more desperate and difficult. For more than a year he guzzled blood tablets by the dozen. He still did on occasion.

When her fangs pierced him. his only thought was about how close she was to him. The fragment, as he referred to it, was the wall he had built to keep his feelings for her from hurting him again.

"It's over."

That was his mantra. It was the bricks of the walls he built in his heart and mind. A wall she had come across upon drinking his blood. He wanted to partake hers once again. It was likely the only thing that would bring him had in the past.

He caught his image in the mirror. His shirt was untucked and his tie was askew, typical for him after a long day. It was no wonder many thought him a punk before he had pierced his ears and gotten his tattoo. Yet, she had never been frightened by his look. Instead her opinion of him had seemed rooted in that of the silent boy he had been the first night after Cross had taken him under his wing.

He left the bathroom, knowing that it was almost time for patrols to start. The Headmaster was in places unknown as was his master.

"They are beasts in human form."

The mantra of the hunters. The society into which he had been born and the one he would eventually die for. The one he would lead when he became a man. The words kept ringing in his head. Eventually the truth would burst forward from beyond those walls he had built-up.

The grounds stood silent and empty. It was how he preferred them at night. His thoughts served as more pleasant company than most people. As he patrolled the area near the academic building, he saw her.

She stood with Senri, her kin, and Toya, her classmate. The trio seemed to be working on a project. He saw the mathematics lecturer standing over them. It looked as if she was explaining a concept to Yuki. Apparently math was still her weakest subject. He smiled to himself, remembering the many nights he had spent tutoring her.

"It's over."

While surrounded by a group of hunters, he still sprung to protect her, knowing she was a vampire, a pureblood. At the same time she could use hunter weapons as well. Once she embraced her strength fully, she would need no protector, him included.

Did he still want to be her protector? No, that was Aido's job now. His sympathy went to blonde noble, knowing the difficulty he faced. The incident at the graveyard was proof enough of that truth.

A twig snapped behind him. The volume indicated a large creature. He prayed it was not yet another foolish Day class girl with a camera. He was sick of seeing the same photos of Aido, Senri and the other Night Class vampires. Did the foolish members of his class have nothing to do beyond daydreaming about the Night Class?

The figure before him was definitely female. The Cross Academy uniform was obvious even in shadow. However the motion was familiar. His hairs stood on end as he realized who was in front of him, her brown hair illuminated in the moonlight.

She reached out a hand to him, not sure of how to treat him. She seemed to want to return to the days before her transformation, before his too, when they were just Yuki and Zero, friends instead of the pureblood princess and the hunter vampire. Those days he did not want to return to, he could not be just her friend anymore.

"Zero."

Despite knowing that this was not the same Yuki he had known, the human Yuki, she was there, a piece of the vampire princess that stood before him in a Night Class uniform. It was there in her eyes, a reflection of the spirit within. Her chestnut eyes met his pale lavender. In that instant he knew one unchanging fact. Vampire or human, he still loved her.

He took her hand and pulled her close. She reacted instinctively, bringing herself closer to him and parting her hair by her ear as if she expected him to drink her blood once again. He had two desires to reconcile, his thirst and his heart. He chose to indulge the latter, bringing his lips to hers. Surprisingly, she responded in kind.

"Yuki"