"Zero."

Hanabusa Aido, currently the houseguest of Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu after the Shizuka Hio incident, cracked an eye open.

"Zero, can you hear me?"

Not that again. Groaning, Aido threw his loaned pillow over his head. His delicate eyes had already been traumatized by accidentally witnessing their little friends-with-feeding-benefits act. He would keep his mouth shut (and had been a little offended that Cross had been worried that he wouldn't), but he really didn't need to be reminded of what was going on between the two.

Not listening. Not listening. Not listening.

"Zero, that's too much! You're taking too much!"

Suddenly, he smelled Yuki Cross' blood. Altogether too much of it.

Okay, that's not good.

Alarmed now, Aido sprang up and out into the hallway.

Ascertaining that they were in Kiryu's room, he rapped on the door lightly.

"Hey, Yuki Cross. Everything okay in there?"

"Aido?" he heard her answer weakly. "I-I don't think he can stop…"

Thankfully the door wasn't locked, so he was able to just turn the knob and walk in.

He immediately froze.

What he faced was Kiryu, in the full throes of bloodlust, embedded in Cross' neck with no signs of stopping.

Crap. What the hell do I do?

Aido was impetuous, but he wasn't enough of a fool to think that he could go in like gangbusters. In their current position, Kiryu could rip the girl's jugular.

He knew, of course, that he was so dead if Kaname-sama found out that he had let this go too far, but it was more than that. The Cross girl genuinely loved Kaname-sama, and that automatically gained points in his book even if it drove him up the wall that Kaname-sama was so obsessed with her. Kiryu could be a jerk, but he didn't deserve this and Aido knew that he would never, never forgive himself if he hurt Cross too much this time. And they had both been so nice to him, cooking for him and lending him blood tablets without asking any questions about why he was so upset.

He had to do something.

Keeping his eyes open to watch intently, he focused on harnessing his gift more finely than he had ever done before, the energy making his hair stand on end. He sent the ice out, not enough to make Kiryu shiver or move suddenly, but enough to get his attention.

"Kiryu, it's Aido. Can you hear me?"

Kiryu's brow crinkled.

"Kiryu, listen. You have Yuki. You don't want to hurt her, right?"

A slight hesitation on Kiryu's part.

"Come back, Kiryu. This isn't you."

The fangs withdrew.

"Yuki?"

"Yeah, Zero. It's me."

"What did I do?" Kiryu asked, his eyes returning to normal.

"It's okay. Everything's okay now."

Cross turned towards Aido as he let up as soon as he sensed that Kiryu was somewhat himself again, utterly exhausted by the strain of refining the ice to such an extent, and suddenly the smell of her blood and the sight of her uncleaned neck slammed into him, as his breath caught.

"Aido?" she asked tremulously, and he didn't have to ask them to know that his eyes were glowing like mad.

"I have to go. Now."
He flew out of the room, Cross' wide eyes regarding him as she cradled Kiryu in her arms.

It wasn't the way he wanted to go back to Moon Dorm, but he didn't dare stay in Sun Dorm at the moment. If he was lucky, his cousin would be out with Ruka.

He wasn't famous for his luck.

Akatsuki was sitting reading a book when he barged in.

"Shit." He hissed in alarm, jumping up with just a glance at him. Akatsuki never cursed, so he probably didn't want to know what he looked like right now. "Drink" he said, shoving his wrist up as he steadied him into a chair. Then everything went white.

When he came to his senses Akatsuki was still conscious, so he must not have taken too much. Retracting carefully, he rubbed his cousin's arms in grateful affection.

"Thanks."

"Hanabusa", Akatsuki sighed, clapping a hand on his head unjudgementally and protectively. "What have you gotten into this time?"

Aido never told him, true to his word not to tell something it was only Kiryu's business to tell, and his cousin didn't ask him again.

He went out the next night expecting to see Cross fawning over Kaname-sama as usual, but instead he heard her calling his name.

"Hey, Aido!" she cried, running up to him.

"Yuki Cross, how's Kiryu?" he nodded

"Oh, better, much better." She grabbed his hands. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Don't get carried away. I just did it because Kaname-sama would have killed me if I hadn't done something."

"You don't fool me, Aido." She smiled up at him. "You may not want to admit it, but you're a really nice guy. I'll never forget what you did for us, and although he won't say it, I know Zero won't either. Not when it counts."

Then, to his utter shock, Cross pecked him on the cheek.

"Wha…what was that?" he spazzed.

"Thanks, Aido." She waved as she ran to her duties. "Bye!"

Aido stalked off, a becoming but embarrassing shade of pink.

Hanabusa Aido had only a few people in his life that he truly cared about. His parents and sisters, his cousin Akatsuki, and of course his beloved Kaname-sama. Without him realizing it, this human girl, Yuki Cross, was starting to join that group. This girl who, he knew with a pang, was caught between a scary-powerful pureblood and a hunter doomed to become a Level E.

She was going to need someone who knew what she was dealing with to help her through the fallout, whatever that would be, or she was going to get killed. And somehow he knew, he just knew in his gut.

It's going to be me, isn't it?

Buddha help me.