A/N: Urgh. I can't even put into words how unhappy I am with this particular chapter. It's so freaking filler-y, and I hate it. Nothing of real plot importance, so just enjoy the slight funniness and Kaname's slightly gushing "Zero's so cute!" thoughts.

Disclaimer: Heartache-sama does not own Vampire Knight.

ENJOY!

Ichiru was in a very rare emotional state.

He was pissed off.

Of course, he had been angry plenty of times. For example, when his father told him that it wasn't proper etiquette for him to have a roommate, and that just because "that immature cousin" of his "liked to play human", he couldn't simply ignore his pureblood status. Indignant anger rose inside of him at the time, bewilderment at his father's pretentiousness alongside it.

He'd been sad often times as well. He'd had to come to terms with his mother's absence very early on in life. His father had tried his best, and Ichiru had certainly never been without anything, but it never felt as though his father was truly affectionate with him. Every time it seemed as though they had finally reached that closeness, his father's heterochromatic eyes would turn incredibly distant. When he was younger, he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing in his father's eyes, but as he grew up, Ichiru realized that this was the loneliness and the regret. The feelings his father hid with arrogance.

Ichiru had experienced his fair share of happiness too, though. Growing up with his cousins and half-brother had certainly been refreshing. The way they lived their lifestyles was so unlike the older generations; they were almost ignorant of the permanence of their lives, and Ichiru embraced it. He loved the sensation of being a regular teenager. He loved not feeling like not feeling like he simply existed as a means of continuing a pure race. He loved just being Ichiru.

And right now, Ichiru was pissed.

He lay in bed, the long sweeping canopy forming a barrier between him and the world around him. And yet, as the sun tried to force its way through the curtains and as he tried to force himself to relax, he was conscious only of the throbbing pain in his cheek and the other silver-haired boy resting in the bed across from him.

It had only been a few hours ago that stupid, grumpy Zero Hio had stormed into the room and punched him in the face. Zero hadn't stuck around for long after that, turning out of the room just as quickly as he mumbled something about "stupid purebloods and their stupid cousins."

Ichiru didn't bother informing his roommate that he was also a stupid pureblood.

Dinner had been an awkward affair. After desperately trying to finagle a seat as far away from Zero as possible, Ichiru found himself squished between Yuki and Aido, which proved to be its own form of torture. On the other side of the table, Zero was seated with Maria on his left and, curiously enough, Kaname on his right. Ichiru absentmindedly poked at his dinner, watching his cousin and roommate curiously. Their interactions struck Ichiru as a little strange. They seemed to be speaking to each other civilly, though the hesitation and weariness was evident on Zero's face. His older cousin was continuously leaning in and whispering things to Zero, the sort of things that put a startling flush on the angry teenager's face. In fact, it wasn't until Zero stood and declared that Kaname was a "damned perverted pureblood", that Ichiru was able spy Zero's habitual characteristics, though it seemed to be carefully hiding the faintest hint of happiness.

Ichiru was irritated, though he wasn't sure if it was because Zero had insulted his awesome cousin again, or if it was because of the commotion that Aido was making about Kaname and Zero's interactions. Hoping that this would dispel his annoyance, Ichiru stood and decided to enact a little revenge on his dearest roommate.

They had matching bruises.

Across the room, Zero laid in his bed in the same position, facing the wall with his throbbing cheek turned skyward. As it was, the left cheek seemed to want to match his other cheek, as it was currently turning red, and it was all stupid Kaname Kuran's fault.

As Zero had discovered during dinner, Kaname was actually really funny. The brunette entertained him by telling him random facts about their tablemates: "There's a lot of unresolved sexual tension between the two of them; I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up to the sounds of them resolving that tension…Oh, she is very talented when it comes to tying cherry stems with her tongue…I'm not gossiping, Zero, I swear…and I'm not stalking these people either; I just know things…"

The pleasant flush on Zero's face increased at the memory. He'd never admit it, but he felt a little awkward. He wasn't used to talking to people his own age, and he certainly wasn't used to talking to people he didn't know very well. As Kaname continued "not gossiping", Zero made a startling realization.

He was making friends…with "the arrogant bastard".

Chagrined, he bolted out of his chair and shouted the first insulting thing that came to mind. Recalling the moment, Zero groaned and rolled over, muffling the sound into the cotton-encased pillow he'd brought from home. There was no way he was using that fancy silky shit that matched the canopy.

"Hey, Zero." Ichiru's soft voice cut through the silence, and Zero ceased his slight smothering movements. He quickly lifted his face from the pillow, silver hair bouncing lightly as he did so.

"Yeah?" Zero replied.

"Wha-what," Ichiru began uncertainly, "were you and cousin Kaname talking about earlier?"

Shocked didn't begin to cover Zero's reaction. Out of all the things Ichiru could've said, Zero certainly didn't think this was one of them. His mind raced a little, rapidly trying to surmise what he should do – Zero chose to tell a modified version of the truth. "He was just telling me about some of the other students."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The silence washed back over them, but it was awkward now. Both were fully aware that the other was awake, and their sensitized hearing could pick up on the light sounds of each other's shallow breathing. Zero couldn't stand it; his house had never been this quiet. There was always a living element – the sound of his mother's softly singing voice, the occasional turn of a page, a light scratching of an ink pen against paper, the careless footsteps of their maids. Almost against his will, Zero could feel the corners of his full mouth turning up in a fond smile. Suddenly, Ichiru broke the silence once more.

"I've never seen Kaname smile like that." His voice was thoughtful, almost as though he were more so speaking to himself than to his roommate. Though he couldn't see the other silver-haired teen, Zero could hear the faint smile in his voice. The drowsiness seemed to slip in towards the end of his sentence, and a yawn caused his ending words to waver. "I hate you, but I'm glad that you could make my cousin smile like that."

Kaname Kuran awoke to the sound of shouting. This was soon followed by a quick succession bangs and the screeching of a window being pried open. Several more shouts followed as, two doors down, several items were promptly flung out of the window. The undeniably elegant dorm president wasn't entirely sure what was being hurled out of the windows, though he was fairly certain that he'd seen a gauzy black canopy curtain whip past his own large bay window.

An ambivalent mixture of irritation and amusement flickered through his dark chocolate eyes. Certainly, such commotion was being caused by Ichiru and Zero, and while their clashing personalities were certainly amusing, Kaname sincerely hoped that this would not be the first sound to greet him every night for the next nine or so months. After all, such incidents would get old after the first few days, at which point Kaname would be forced to interfere. The twins would not want him to interfere.

With a deep sigh, Kaname began to prepare for his day. Once dressed, the suave pureblood made his way downstairs to the common area where a large majority of the Night Class awaited. Several of his classmates greeted him with enthusiastic smiles and pleasantries. Already, his sensitive ears could pick up the sounds of eager squeals and enthusiastic cries of the female Day Class students. The brunette released a sigh; it was only the first evening of classes, and yet the fangirls had already assumed their positions outside of the gates.

His mild irritation towards the over-eager Day Class students was slightly quelled by Zero's arrival. The silver-haired beauty was currently trudging down the hallway with his cousin, Maria Kurenai, and he seemed to be quietly complaining about something, if the scowl on his delicate face was any indication. Almost instantaneously, their gazes met, and Kaname couldn't help but stare at those infuriated lilac eyes for a few seconds longer than he should have. A teasing smile curved onto the brunette's face, earning him a startled blush from the younger male. Kaname admired the sweet rose color on Zero's cheeks for a moment before turning to greet his sister and silver-haired cousin.

Yuki was oblivious to the attractive glance that her older brother had directed at Zero, but Ichiru wasn't. He rose a thin silver eyebrow at his cousin questioningly but merely received an enigmatic smile in return. Ichiru didn't have the opportunity to directly question Kaname at the moment, though, as their classmates were already beginning to exit the dormitory.

It wasn't until they were in the courtyard and approaching the slowly opening gates that Ichiru noticed the high-pitched squeals that were being emitted from the other side of the gate. The sound was alarming and incredibly loud, but most of his classmates seemed oblivious to it. The young vampire saw the faintest hint of annoyance on their faces, but the only one who appeared to be equally perturbed by it was his roommate.

Yes, the scowl on Zero's face intensified tenfold, and his matching eyes were rapidly examining his classmates' faces for a reaction. His roommate was incredibly tense, teeth clenched tightly. As they finally passed through the gate, though, both Ichiru and Zero nearly stopped in their tracks.

The sight before him reminded Ichiru of one of those zombie apocalypse games he was addicted to. There seemed to be thousands of them, but in reality there were only several dozens. They varied in height, size, and hair and eye color, but the horrifying look of complete adoration was mutual amongst all of them. Some of them held signs and gifts, and they squealed and cried out phrases like, "Wild!" and "Idol-sempai!" For a brief moment, Ichiru seriously considered returning to the dormitory, but the adoring zombies finally noticed him.

They must have smelled my fear! Ichiru realized a bit belatedly as a few of the girls practically fell all over themselves to get a better look at them, but thankfully there seemed to be two other students that kept them from getting too close. As he slowly trailed alongside Kaname and Yuki, Ichiru worked to keep the look of complete and utter bewilderment off of his face, but it was difficult. He also made a valiant effort not to make eye contact with any of the girls. Instead, he kept his gaze focused on the academic building at the far end of the path; he couldn't help but listen in on some of the frantic, excited whispers he elicited as he walked by, though.

"Oh my God, are they twins?! They're gorgeous!"

"Aww, he looks so scared! So cute!"

"Kyaa! Look at the scowling one! So sexy!

"We should give them a nickname!"

"The Moonlight Twins!"

Zero was seriously fighting back the urge to hit something, and hearing the nickname that the Day Class girls had given him Ichiru only intensified this urge. Honestly, the whole affair was nauseating to him. He hated the eager infatuated gazes and the high-pitched squeaks. With a sneer, Zero quickened his pace a bit until he was walking next to Kaname Kuran (also known as "the pureblood bastard").

"You neglected to mention the hordes of adoring idiots that would be standing outside of the gate," the silver-haired vampire complained quietly, his expression caught somewhere between a scowl and a pout. Kaname couldn't help but find the expression to be rather adorable, and he chuckled at the sight.

"You seem displeased, Zero. Such a shame too; the Day Class students seem to be quite smitten with you." The teasing words led to Zero leveling him with an intense glare.

"Smartass," the shorter male grumbled quietly. "So, what is this some kind of first night of classes welcome?"

"Ah, if only," the brunette mumbled wistfully as they walked. "Unfortunately, this is a nightly occurrence." Zero didn't respond immediately, and Kaname turned to his walking companion. To his great surprise, the bewildered teen stopped in his tracks, taking a moment to stare at the dorm president.

"Nightly…occurrence?" Zero repeated quietly as Kaname stopped to look at him as well. "You're joking, right?" Kaname chose to playfully wink by way of response, eliciting a keening cry from the girls, before heading into the academic building with the other students.

A/N: Awkward ending is awkward -_-

I'm really unhappy with myself and the quality of this chapter. It started out kind of strong but just sort of flopped towards the end. I was really getting to the point where I just wanted to be done with this chapter. I'm not going to have that attitude with the next few chapters, though. I will genuinely do my best to write a chapter that I'm proud of. You guys deserve my very best, so I'm going to bring it.

I have also followed the very wise advice of some of my reviewers and decided to change the main character settings for this story. I had considered doing it sooner, but I wanted to do once I actually got around to updating.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (at least a little). Please review, favorite, and follow! I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

SEE YA NEXT TIME!