Of Temptation and Despair

by lickANDpromise

Vampires have finally come out of hiding, Kaname is the face of vampire kind and Yuki's husband. It's five years after the battle with Rido and circumstance, or is it fate, finds Yuki back at the academy where she is forced to confront Zero. Will he force a final confrontation? ZERO/YUKI, SOME FLUFF (eventually), VULGAR LANGUAGE, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and SEXUAL CONTENT. ;)

1. Chapter 1

A/N- Okay. So this is my first ever anime fic. I just binge watched the crap out of Vampire Knight and absolutely loved it. Loved it so much that I am re-watching it as I write this. I loved the dynamics between Zero and Yuki so much I just couldn't resist writing a fic about them.

This story starts up five years after the battle at the academy against Rido and the Level E army. Vampires have stepped out of the shadows and into the history books. Kaname is the face of vampire-kind, a politician, bit of an arrogant ass-hat, and Yuki's husband among other things. You'll get a lot of insight into how the life of politics has treated Yuki and carved her into a new woman, unfamiliar to Zero. I hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER ONE

Hanabusa exited the plane before I did, insisting on getting all the way to the bottom of the steps before allowing me to exit. Ruka brought up the rear. The last four years have been hell on all the vampires, particularly Ruka and Hanabusa. For the most part they have acted as my own personal guard at the insistence of Kaname, of course. No one who has ever guarded me would tell you it is an easy job. I didn't envy them. It wasn't until Hanabusa went to get the car that I saw the first flash of a camera. Air port security flooded in as if that one lone camera had summoned them. Since vampires had come into the lime light the figureheads of governments nearly all across the world had agreed that it was in their best interest to make sure us vampires came under as little harm as possible. No one wanted to be the one responsible for a blood feud or anything of the like. In the time it took security to make a human wall of flesh in front of me the press had already begun pushing in against them. Ruka spun me so that the cameras could only see my back and then she stood, back against mine, facing the crowd. Come on, Hanabusa! I thought furiously at him to hurry the hell up. I hated this shit! It was why I had wanted to get away so badly.

"Mrs. Kuran, is it true that Mr. Kuran is negotiating a vampire civil rights amendment with the Prime Minister of Russia?"

"With all the recent threats against your lives, why are you and Mr. Kuran parting ways for the first time in four years? Why now?" This was the question that changed the tide from political to personal.

"Are you and Mr. Kuran splitting up?" The cameras exploded and a flurry of questions were screamed at me. Great.

"What's it like to be Mrs. Kuran?" If you idiots would live your own life maybe mine wouldn't suck so bad! I wanted to yell at them but dared not respond. I had learned really quickly in the past four years how anything you do or say in front of the media, no matter how small, will always be misconstrued when you read it in the morning tabloids. As a result I'd gotten really good at simply giving them nothing. No answers, no facial expressions...nothing. Anything would do, but if I could help it they would get nothing from me.

"How is he in bed?" Heard that one before.

"Is vampire sex better than sex with a human?" I wouldn't actually know the answer to that question. I'd never had sex with a human.

"How big is he?" The questions got more and more perversely personal and I did my best to ignore them all. There was one women, fighting her way to the front to be heard above the rest, the same woman who had been all about the politics.

"There is a rumor floating around that you and Mr. Kuran are using sex to smooth over vampire/human relations. Can you either confirm or deny this?" I shook my head and smiled into my hand, trying my best to hide from the cameras. The rumor mill was such an odd creature.

"Have you any idea how seriously this accusation could damage your image as influential politicians?" My smile slipped away in the shadow of my growing anger. Hanabusa really needed to get me out of here. Ms. Insistent had finally pushed her way to the front so that she was pressed nearly full length against one of the security officers.

"Fine. You won't answer my political questions. How about telling us whether it's true that you're back in Japan to visit a high school lover?" I hadn't paid enough attention to her, so she was getting bitchy. Figures. I couldn't stop the quick skip of my heart and fought to keep my face blank. The only thing that might have given me away is the long blink I couldn't prevent. If the cameras could have seen, even that might have been enough. "Are you cheating on Mr. Kuran, Mrs. Kuran?" She put a little too much emphasis on the Mrs. The crowd exploded with questions in unison with their flashbulbs and microphones popping up around the security wall like mushrooms after the rain. I cursed her under my breath. I could already see the headlines. My PR agent was going to flip her shit. Ruka's phone rang and she picked it up.

"Hurry...I don't care what you have to do, Hanabusa...Just get here..." She cursed vehemently. "Fuck...get here now!" She twirled me in against her so that her body shielded mine and began moving us quickly away from the crowd that had grown so violent that one of the security officers was down on the ground. I smelled the blood but Ruka kept us moving too fast for me to see much of anything else. We were running, fast but awkwardly as Ruka forced my body to stay huddled in the center of hers so that I was as small a target as I could get. A black Escalade screeched to a halt in front of us. Ruka rotated us so that her side connected with the side of the car. We had been moving too fast for her to stop on a dime, not while half carrying me at least. Hanabusa kicked open the door.

"Get in, get in get in! Hurry up, they're coming!" Not two hundred feet behind him was a mob of press about to swarm like locusts over us. I dove in the open door while Hanabusa jumped back behind the wheel. Ruka slammed the door as he gunned it and both of us were thrown against the seat as the car accelerated. There was yet another crowd of locusts at the gate. I waited for the car to slow down but when I felt it jerk forward I grabbed onto the front seat and pulled myself forward so I could see the side of Hanabusa's face.

"What are you doing?" I half yelled.

"I'm not stopping."

"Hanabusa, if you kill them our whole campaign will be shot to shit! You have to stop." He shook his head.

"I made the mistake of stopping before. They swarmed the car, thinking you were already inside it. That's why it took me so long to get to you." Ruka put her hand on his shoulder and his eyes flicked briefly towards her in the mirror before he focused back on the quickly disappearing tarmac.

"Hanabusa-" He shook his head.

"No, Ruka. I will not suffer the wrath of Lord Kaname for this." he gripped the wheel a little more solidly. "I'm not stopping." Ruka stared at him for a moment.

"Buckle up, Lady Yuki." Ruka said to me while staring at Busa.

"Hanabusa, you must stop!" Ruka grabbed my upper arms and pushed me, not violently but still forcefully, back into the seat.

"They will move. Now buckle your seat belt, Yuki." I glared at her before buckling myself in. She slumped a little in relief.

"You too, Ruka." I said. She buckled in and we both watched the crowd loom closer and closer.

"Ruka?" I nearly growled out

"Yeah?" Hanabusa began laying on the horn.

"Move! Get out the way!" He yelled, waving his arms like they could see him as we sped toward them. My heart raced as individual details of the people in our way became more clear.

"They had better fucking move." My voice was quiet, squeezed tight with too much emotion. Ruka looked at me, a laugh escaping her, more from the pressure of the moment than humor. I thought they wouldn't move but at the last second the crowd parted like a curtain. They had finally realized we weren't stopping. One photographer stood his ground a little too close to the path of the car, snapping photos of us speeding towards him. Hanabusa swore loudly as he swerved just in time, narrowly missing the man. I took a huge lungful of air in relief, realizing only then how long I'd been holding my breath, expecting the impact. The car wove in and out of traffic in maneuvers one would be hard pressed to classify as legal. We screeched to a halt inside a garage and poured from the car to the waiting Olive green SUV. We were back on the road, the full switch taking all of forty seconds. Back in the beginning of all this, when Kaname first became the face of Vampires I might have spent the rest of the drive to the academy scolding Ruka and Hanabusa for all the ridiculous shenanigans. Now I just sat quietly in the back seat watching the human world blur through the too-tinted glass and wondered, not for the first time, if Zero would try to fulfill the promise he made me when I chose Kaname over him.

"The next time I see you, I'll kill you." Tears stung my eyes. We'll see, Zero. We shall see.

...A short while later at the Academy...

I hesitated just outside the closed office door of Headmaster Cross, taking a breath so deep my chest shuddered, and I still felt like I was suffocating. I held that breath as I reached for the door. My fingers had just wrapped around the knob when it twisted and the door whooshed open revealing Headmaster Kaien Cross. His blonde hair was loose, framing the fine, handsome lines of a face that looked half the age I knew it to be.

"YUKI!" Tears filled his eyes and the first one spilled over as he yanked me into his arms. His embrace was crushing, more so then usual. That staticky pressure began to fill my head and my eyes tingled from his intense embrace squeezing the air out of me. "You've come back home to me!" I gasped in a breath.

"Can't...breathe..." I gasped out. He chuckled and loosened his hold on me, but held me still. I took a couple quick lungfuls of air and finally wrapped my arms around his narrow waist, returning the hug. I allowed myself to relax into his arms, closing my eyes and simply enjoying being close to him again.

I had missed him much more than I thought. I hadn't really let myself dwell on what had happened my last semester at this academy. No, I'd boxed it away and tried to live this new life of blinding lights, passive smiles and forgotten nights. This was not a life I'd ever wanted. I held the man I knew as father close for the first time in nearly five years and let myself remember again. For the first time ever he was the first to attempt to break the embrace. When I held onto him, obviously showing no intention of moving I felt a fine tension thrum through his body. He slowly wrapped his arms around me again.

"Yuki?" There was no humor, just concern, fear and something like anger. I shook my head and pulled back, moving around him to flop in one of the two new chairs in front of his desk.

"Are you okay?" I smiled and leaned back so that my head rested against the rounded, top of the chair. My eyes were sliding shut.

"I'm great. I guess I just missed you much more than I let myself realize. And all this excitement has me-" His hands wrapped around my shoulders, pinning my arms to my sides as he wrapped his arms around me, lifting me completely clear of the chair.

"Oh, Yuki! I missed you too!" I nodded as much as I could and fought to push the flat of my arms between us, prying my chest away from him enough to take a few deep breaths. I shoved at him a little.

"I can't breathe!" His laughter made his eyes gleam and he let me go so abruptly I stumbled back a step, bumping into the chair I had been in. His hand was just there, a firm hold around my wrist, stopping me from falling back onto the chair. He moved so that he was sitting on the top of his desk.

"You haven't changed much." His voice thick with the afterglow of all that laughter. I couldn't help but smile. Oh, I had changed in many ways, some of which he would not like in the slightest. But I smiled to hide that and let him believe I was the same person I had once been.

"Neither have you, head-" I stopped, seeing his face fall into that so cute frown, he was absolutely adorable when he looked like that. "Father." I finished. His face lit up, smile so wide I found myself smiling along with him. He'd always been able to simply smile and I couldn't help but do the same. I laughed. Oh how I'd missed him. He settled onto the desk, crossing his legs under him.

"Now, Yuki, we have many things to discuss." I nodded, the humor fading away.

"Indeed, we do. Let's start with why I'm here."

"I know why you're here." I cocked my head with a raised eyebrow as if saying oh? "Lord Kaname called me while you were en route and told me that he was sending you as his other half to see if you could perfect the school and what it stands for. If it is successful he said you proposed to build similar schools on an international scale in an attempt to better vampire/human relations." I nodded.

"That's correct." He stared at me as if he were tasting the truth of my words and it was a bitter flavor.

"That's truly why you came back here?" I raised an eyebrow and nodded once.

"Yes." He shook his head, shoulders rounding as he slouched in upon himself.

"And what of Zero?" I felt my eyes widen and my breathing quicken at the mention of his name. I hadn't expected this topic to be broached so soon. I forced my face back into the neutrality I had perfected in the last five years.

"What of him?" My voice sounded as bland as I'm sure my face looked. His head snapped up and for the first time in a very long while I saw real anger in his eyes.

"Don't be so callous, Yuki. I don't think I need remind you of the promise he made you before you left." I stared calmly at him as my stomach began dropping into my feet. "I am glad to see you, believe me I am more than ecstatic to finally see my daughter again."

"I remember it just fine." The words carried just a hint of heat to them and I forced myself to take a deep, supposedly calming breath.

"Then why are you here?"

"You already know." He slammed the palm of his left hand into the desk top hard enough that the wood groaned in protest.

"Why are you really here?" His voice betrayed none of the anger burning in his eyes. It was an impressive display of self restraint that not even I was capable of. Once you could see the anger in my eyes it was sure to be reflected in everything else. I stared calmly at him as if he hadn't asked me a thing. I wasn't sure what he wanted to hear but whatever it was he clearly wasn't getting it. "Why would you put Zero, put me in this position, Yuki? I didn't think you'd risk coming back here for anything short of desperate measures. You want him to kill you?" He was pissed now, voice trembling with all that emotion.

"Of course not." My voice still sounded calm, I'd pat myself on the back for that later, but my stomach was twisting like a serpentine vice.

"You think he won't keep his word." No question, just a statement. I couldn't keep myself from looking away. I spoke to him while analyzing the turquoise curtains hanging over the tall window.

"In truth I thought that maybe-"

"Maybe, what? Maybe he loves you enough that he is unable to kill you?" I swallowed hard and nodded. That was exactly what I thought. I stopped lying to myself a long time ago about my feelings for Zero. I loved him. I loved him too much to ever fulfill a promise like the one he made me. It might have been incredibly naive to think he loved me the same, but life is all about chances, circumstance and personal decisions, right? I was taking a leap of faith here and hoping something saved me before I had a rude meet and greet with the jagged rock bottom. He scoffed and slid off the desk, walking away from me to look out the window.

"Did you ever consider what might happen if Zero does try to kill you?" I shrugged, not that he could see it.

"I won't let him kill me. If he does try to do just that I plan on fighting back." I watched all that blonde hair swish across the tops of his shoulders as he shook his head again.

"But you won't be able to kill him, Yuki. I don't think you have it in you to kill someone you love." In truth I didn't think so either. You could only defend your life from someone if you were willing to take theirs in return. I didn't think I'd ever be ready for that. Then again, I'd done countless things in the last five years that I never would have fathomed possible.

"I am capable of a lot more than you think." He whirled around and I flinched back a little at the pure rage on his face.

"Dammit, Yuki! This isn't a game!" I stood up, finally angry enough that my fingers trembled with the rush of it.

"No it's not. Not everything is about, Zero, Headmaster. Perfecting this school and what it stands for could change the face of vampire/human relations. It is something I feel must be done."

"Then let Kaname do it!"

"Why? Why should he have to do everything, huh? I just stand around and look pretty, make his image even more socially flawless. Did you know that a man who is married is more socially accepted in politics?" I waited until he nodded before continuing. "Why can't I handle something for once?" He stared at me for a long minute while I took several deep breaths, attempting to win back my composure.

It did make me mad to be the ornament decorating Kaname's arm. The pretty face that when paired with his made him look like the perfect politician. He was the mouthpiece, the figurehead. I was a prop to be played with to optimum advantage. Fuck that. I was tired of being carted from country to country, city to city, facing the endless hoard of media, anywhere we went. He got all the attention whenever we were together, but the second I was alone the media swarmed, poking and prodding at the quiet prop, trying to get me to squeak, give them anything they could use. Despite perfecting my stone face, they still kept at it. It made my lonely explorations of endless foreign cities a game of hide and seek, me versus a tide of cameras and microphones.

"You couldn't have handled something else?" I scoffed and flopped back in the chair. I closed my eyes and counted to twenty. It was a long twenty because the silence stretched between us, more tense than it had ever been.

"Why can't I have just missed my family? Is that not good enough an excuse?" He harrumphed at that.

"Not when half of your said family is going to attempt to kill you. Is your political ambition worth your life, Yuki?" I smiled at his complete ignorance. I couldn't give a fuck about politics. It was a game I was nearly homicidally fed up with. The politics of being here was a cover. No. My political ambition wasn't enough to get me killed, I had none. Kaname's ambition however, was enough to drive me to homicide, at the high end of the spectrum, suicide, on the low end. Four years of this shit and I was ready to lose my fucking mind.

"No it is not." He made a triumphant noise. "But love is." The room was so silent I could hear him breathing, hear his heart playing skip-bo against his ribs. I opened my eyes to see him propping himself up against the wall. "If we can't die for love, tell me, what can we die for?" His eyes filled with tears but not a single one broke free. He nodded and turned away to look back out the window, shoulders rounded so that he could hug his arms around his stomach. My heart clenched at seeing him like this but I didn't regret my decision to come back. Not yet. I stood and made my way to the door, unable to watch him hug himself, knowing he was probably crying. I froze, the door just barely cracked as he finally spoke.

"Let me just ask you one question. If Zero does kill you, what do you think he'll then do to himself?" I fought to pull in my next lungful of air past my throbbing lump in the back of my throat, eyes stinging with tears. It hurt too much to think about that. "You might not care about your life, but what about Zero's?" If I was wrong and Zero didn't love me as much as his hatred for vampires I wouldn't be the only one who would lose. I ignored the question's and asked one of my own.

"I'm going to assume that while I'm on campus you, like Kaname, will insist on a near constant guard on me?"

"Lord Kaname did express such concerns. And he is right to insist on such things. The academy will be wild with news of Lady Kuran living among us." I frowned, turning to face him. It sounded like their was a but coming.

"But?" I prompted.

"But what?" his voice was as flat as mine had begun.

"You said Kaname insisted on the guard, but that didn't answer my question." He was absolutely still. "You won't insist on the guard, will you." He was so still I thought he might disappear if I weren't looking right at him.

"You are no longer a child and, as much as I hate the concept, there are things you will need to do that do not require an audience. No. I will not insist on any guard. There are none here on campus that could adequately defend you, anyway. However, I will not, nor can I, say anything about the vampire guards he insisted you bring with you. They are an issue I leave entirely up to you to contend with." I nodded, more to myself than anything.

"What will you tell Kaname if he asks about extra guard?"

"The campus is under more threat from the outside world now, than it has ever been. I'm sure as one of the leading international politicians I don't need to regale you with tales of the horrors that came with the unveiling." That is what the human media called us vampires coming out from under the bed. The unveiling. I couldn't dispute the terminology, but somehow I always smiled at hearing it.

"No you don't." The unveiling brought both a huge cry of support from the masses as well as kick-starting the vampire hunter revolution. The Vampire hunters numbers nearly quadrupled in the four years we'd gone public. They killed in shadows, as they had always done. The legal system was a little uncertain if it was illegal to kill vampires yet, so in the eyes of law enforcement vampire hunters were vigilantes at worst, heroes at best. Then there was the wannabe vampire hunters, who were, sloppy and poorly trained cannon fodder that kept endlessly proving to be a PR disaster. It's hard to make people see you as anything but a monster if your people are leaving a trail of bodies behind them, even if it's in defense of your own life. We were on the brink of all-out war with vampire hunters in the shadows while trying to maintain a pleasant smile for the dazzle of the human cameras.

"I have upped the campus security. The Security committee acts like campus security now, the numbers in the low twenties. I have hired vampires to guard the barrier to the school as an extra precaution. I will simply tell Kaname the guards I have are protecting the school, considering the circumstances, and even if I had them to spare, I employ none to which I would entrust your life."

"And if he decides to send more guards to me?" He turned just enough so I could see the beginnings of his profile.

"Like I said before, you're a big girl, I'm sure you can contend with your husband's guard choices on your own." I stared at that sliver of profile for a moment before nodding. I turned back to the door, opening it so that I stood framed in the dim, hallway lighting. I paused there.

"Good night, father." He didn't respond so I stepped through the door and closed it behind me.

"Good night, Yuki." I heard his mumbled words through the door and smiled as I began making my way down the hallway. I'd managed to convince Busa and Ruka to let me talk to the headmaster alone so I got to walk back with nothing but me, myself and I chasing each other through my mind. Alone, with just my thoughts, I suddenly couldn't wait to get back to the room.

...Nearly a week later...

I had been at the academy for almost a week and still had yet to see Zero. I was beginning to think he might be avoiding me. The schools first dance of the school year was approaching and I was about to pass out from exhaustion. Kaname had made our image, yes, our image, into a bit of a publicity slut. He was always ensuring that we were reaching out to the community, making sure the cameras caught every good deed. "It's good PR." He'd say. I had quickly caught on and allowed myself to be washed, brushed, painted and primped for any and every event that might provide even the slightest image boost. Now here I was, volunteering myself to dance among the students at the academy. I had learned 4 new dances in as many days, so as not to make a fool of myself by not knowing any of them when the time came. The greatest part was that Kaname had insisted that Hanabusa and Ruka join me in this dance endeavor so that none of us seemed unapproachable. So, my mighty body guards limped behind me, seemingly more exhausted than myself.

"Ridiculous..." Ruka mumbled for the hundredth time. "We are bodyguards, vampires! Not twerking buddies!" Hanabusa chuckled tiredly but said nothing, unusual for him. It must have been a rougher four days than I'd thought if Busa was giving up a chance to be a smart-ass.

They walked me to the Headmaster's guest quarters where I was staying, temporarily I am told, until they finish "cleaning up" a room in the dorm originally used for night class students. Hanabusa and Ruka were sharing a room about three doors down from mine, despite the plethora of rooms. They'd told me it was for security purposes so they could both get to me if I needed them. I was just waiting for the peace treaty between them to expire. In such close quarters along with their polar personalities, I doubted it would be long. They left me once the door was closed solidly behind me and all three locks were slammed home. I leaned back against the door and took a deep breath, trying to expel some of the day's tension. I began peeling off layers. When I wore nothing but my underwear I plugged in my alarm clock/ Bose speaker, sliding my phone onto the cradle. After spending so much time in the U.S., since they were both one of the most accepting and tricky to deal with where V/H relations were concerned, I had picked up quite the taste for music genres most people hadn't even heard of. Enigma's "The cross of Changes" came on and I stopped simply to listen to the liquid flow of the instrumental, eyes closing for a minute. Enigma had been a group for a few decades now and until about my fifth venture to the U.S., though they are a German group, I had never known about them.

I turned the music up so I'd be able to hear it clearly over the shower, which meant it was pretty loud. I didn't care. The headmaster sound proofed almost every room designated for guests and faculty, so no one would be bothered. I moved about my room, taking clothes out of my bag, which was still mostly unpacked. I grabbed my towel and moved toward the bathroom, draping it across the towel rack next to the shower. I turned the water to a near scalding temperature. When I closed the glass shower door it was already fogging up. I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin.

Zero stood in the doorway. My heart was a choking lump in the back of my throat, every heartbeat nudging it further up until it filled my mouth. The blood rushing through my veins quickened, laced with an adrenaline high I'd never felt before. I felt light and airy as I watched him watch me. We were alone in a completely soundproofed room locked from the inside. I was nearly naked, weaponless, vulnerable. If ever he was going to kill me, now would be the perfect opportunity. I fought to breathe through the growing fog and my racing heart. Would he kill me?

I looked him over. His style of dress hadn't changed much. He wore a white button down made of some light-weight material that was thin enough I could see a hint of his skin underneath it, gaping open so that the beginning of his pectoral muscles peeked around the collar like a coy schoolgirl. His pants were the typical black, but they fit his thighs and hips like a second skin, billowing out slightly at the knee to provide the look of looser pants. I was fascinated with the way the chain draped through the belt loops around his hips. A charm dangled down so that it swayed over that precious hollow where hip and thigh met. His silver hair framed his face, falling around his eyes, framing them like the curtain eye lashes wished to be. I was breathing too fast as something clenched inside me, low and hard. I knew that reaction. I shook my head and tried to ignore my body.

He took a few steps into the bathroom and I fought to simply stay in place. Not to run, either to him or away, it was hell on the nerves to just stand there. I waited for him to say something, do something but he just stared as he stalked, no word would better suit his undoubtedly predatorial gait, closer to me. He was close enough now that I could just barely, not so much hear as feel, his boots on the floor, the vibration of the connection between sole and ground. He stopped half a foot away from me and I couldn't help feeling powerless, breathless, hopeless and hopeful, embarrassed, vulnerable, scared and something I definitely didn't want to think about. I looked up the long length of his body so that I had the courage to meet his eyes when I got there.

"Did you forget about me?" His voice rumbled through me and I finally met his eyes. I sighed, without meaning to, remembering staring into that gorgeous face day after day. Those eyes, the silver of his hair but twice as mercurial with a splash of lavender, dazzling.

"Never." My response was a breathless whisper. He couldn't have heard it. He leaned down to me, hair brushing my cheek. I could smell the soap he used and new no other man would ever perfect the scent the way he did.

"You've changed...Yuki." He hesitated on my name, as if it was a surrender of some sort. I nodded, his hair tingling across my cheek as I moved. "Five years and you've nothing to say to me?" I swallowed hard and tried to think. This is not how I imagined meeting Zero again.

"Why are you so close?" I actually felt his lips whisper across my skin in a light caress as he smiled. He was really close. He took a step closer, our bodies nearly touching, forcing him to stand up to complete the movement. I took a shuddering breath as his lips moved away from the tender flesh of my neck. He tried to move closer to me and I finally took a step back. My body already trembled for him, if we were that close I didn't know what would happen. I didn't think I wanted to be that vulnerable with him right now. I backed up as he moved forward until my back pressed into the warming glass of the shower. He slid his body against mine, pinning me against the glass. I gasped, and looked down as my eyes slid shut for just a moment.

"Why are you so close, Zero?" I repeated around the pulse in my throat. His body moved away from mine and I was suddenly staring into his eyes from centimeters away. I stopped breathing and couldn't help glancing at the pale pink curl of those lips. He smiled and slid his lips along my jaw until his nose brushed the hollow just behind my ear.

"Breathe." He whispered. I shivered and took a breath I forgot I needed.

"What are you doing, Zero?" My words were nothing but a winded whisper.

"An experiment." He breathed against my ear. My heart was racing, breath a precious commodity I struggled to obtain. His lips traced lightly up the large vein in my neck and my head moved back on its own to give him more access. I tried to correct that subconscious mistake but his fingers were suddenly against my throat, just under my jaw, holding my head in place, other arm wrapping around my lower back as he pulled my body flush with his, my feet dangling helplessly above the floor. I bit my lower lip, fighting back the moan threatening to break free. I shivered in his arms, one hand finding its way into his hair, so soft and thick as it slid through my fingers. Maybe I did want to be vulnerable for him. I tried to reason with myself, my body.

I didn't want to reason. I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist as he buried his fangs, and other parts, deep into my body. I nearly bit my lip off trying to keep from moaning. The hard brush of his fangs grazed his favorite biting spot about halfway down my neck. When I had been feeding Zero twice a week he'd bitten into the same spot so often that it was his biting spot. As a result of all those vampire endorphins that spot on my neck was permanently sensitive. My whole body tensed against his, a jolt of pleasure arcing from my neck to pool between my thighs, breath leaving me on a soft moan. All those times he'd held me close as my body sustained him. I wanted it. I wanted that and so much more, right now. Kaname's bite never did even this much to me. The mention of his name startled through me. Oh god. Kaname. I tried to swim back into myself.

"Zero-" He opened his mouth wide and I froze as the points of his fangs dimpled my flesh. I fought to keep still, to keep my hand buried in his hair from urging him on, to keep my legs dangling where they were. I stopped breathing as he bit down ever so gently. He made a small noise, a breath of sound at the back of his throat and my fingers clenched tighter in his hair, an involuntary response on my part. He paused there, fangs nearly breaking my skin. Just a little more, clamp down just a little more. I wanted that bite, I wanted...What did I want? I fine tremor started in his jaw, I felt it in his teeth on my neck. He wanted to do it. I wanted him to do it. All we needed was a nudge. Wasn't there something I should remember?

"If-" I had to stop and swallow a few times before I could finish speaking. "If you're going to feed than feed." I spoke low, trying not to cause him to break skin. I wanted this, but Zero had to as well. I wouldn't have it any other way. His breath scalded my skin in rapid gusts. He was fighting the urge to feed. I felt it in the fine tremble of his body against mine. How long had he been going between feedings? I ran my fingers through his hair.

"It's okay, Zero." He started to bite down, my body reacted on its own. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders tighter, the hand in his hair full of silken silver. Pleasure spiked through me in anticipation of what was to come. He was suddenly gone and I fell to my knees, catching myself with a hand on the floor to prevent an ugly face-plant. I crouched on the floor, body thrumming with desire...need.

Zero was standing next to the door, back plastered to the wall like he would try to push through it. His eyes were a sparkling, rich red. Framed by all that silver it looked like someone had planted two giant garnets in his face and poured the sun through them, while his hair shone like the pale of the moon. Those eyes were all for me, watching me as I stood, running down my body from my eyes down. It was a long look, one that made me want to walk over to him and slake every hunger he had.

His eyes, when they finally found mine again, were filled with that darkness that fills a mans eyes before he devours you. Did I want what his eyes promised? Oh, hell yes! I'd wanted it for what felt like so long, I'd just never given myself over to it. He shook his head, eyes widening as I stepped forward.

"Stay." His voice was throaty and a little breathy. I shivered just hearing him speak. His eyes closed as he thumped his head back into the wall, throat convulsing as I watched. He turned to leave and I took a step toward him.

"Don't." I stopped.

"Was the experiment a success?" He was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn't answer. He opened the door, and only when he was closing it behind him did he answer.

"No." He glanced over his shoulder at me, eyes wandering my face for a moment. "Don't worry, Yuki. I won't kill you." Right before the door clicked closed I heard him say, "Tonight."

Only after a few minutes of staring at the closed door where he'd been did I finally move. I wobbled over to the toilet seat and fell onto it as my knees gave. My body was sensitive, thrumming with denied pleasure. I dropped my head into my hands, breathing deeply, trying to still my body. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! What was I doing? I see Zero once, just once, and nearly cheat on Kaname? What the fuck is wrong with me? I wanted him so badly that I forgot everything else. As the music began to filter back into my conscious I realized I had been so intent on Zero that nothing else had existed. I'd heard his voice from across the room over the shower and the music blaring from my phone.

My legs shivered with a fine tremble as I slipped off what remained of my clothes and finally got my shower. The water was too hot, burning my skin, but I stood under the scalding rain. No mater how hard I scrubbed, how many times I washed my skin or how long I stood under the water, I couldn't wash away the feeling of his body against mine. The smell of his skin, the crisp smell of a fall breeze accented by a hint of something floral, was in my nose and no soap could wash it out. I stepped out of the shower and dried my skin, reddened from the heat, and hair as much as I cared to, which currently wasn't much. The satin of the sheets against my newly sensitized skin was amazing. My nipples hardened instantly where the sheets brushed over them. It was too soon after my encounter with Zero and my body tightened in anticipation of something I'd never have. I forced myself to lay still. To close my eyes and take deep even breaths. My body was still swollen with need, mind racing. I sighed and rolled onto my stomach. It was going to be a long night.

…...

He grabbed my wrists, pushing my arms up as he pinned my body to the wall, feet dangling inches off the floor. I could feel him pressed in a long, muscled line of heat against the back of me, the cool tile pressed against my front providing a pleasant contrast. His fingers pinned my wrists to the wall, holding me passive. My body warmed for him in ways I had only experienced when I worked myself up. I gasped as he bent his head down and ran his tongue up my neck, shivering in anticipation.

"Zero-" His fangs bit in and my eyes widened from the intense flash of pain, quickly swept away on the tide of endorphins he was pumping through my system. Vampire saliva carried thousands of pleasure endorphins to pacify their victims with overwhelming pleasure. My muscles loosened, body going limp against his as the endorphins raged through me. My whole body pulsed with pleasure with each draw of his mouth. My breathing was quickening in time with my body. I was suddenly very aware how excited Zero was where he pressed in an incredibly hard line against my lower back. I rotated my hips against him and he moaned a little for me. I moaned as he dug his fangs a little deeper, rolling my hips back against him again. He shoved me forward into the wall a little more, driving forward with his hips, a clear message not to move that left me breathless. I didn't know if I could. Feeding took a long time, despite what the humans love to put on the silver screen. That means that a lot of endorphins were rushing through me, bringing me closer and closer to climax as each wave seemed to run over an unknown pleasure spot deep inside me.

"Oh..." I gasped out as my world began to narrow down to the building orgasm. I tried to keep my body still against him, tried not to let him know what he was doing to me. The pleasure crested and hesitated, like that hesitation at the peak of a roller coaster right before you hear the break release. The break didn't get that chance today. My feet were suddenly flat on the floor, his body moved away from mine and I had to fight to keep my feet. I fought not to make a sound, not to move a muscle as my body screamed, seized in denial. My legs shook, forcing me to press into the wall harder to stay standing.

"Did I hurt you?" I shook my head, that was all I could offer in way of response.

"Don't worry, Yuki." I frowned through the endorphins.

"What?"

"I won't kill you." I turned to see him standing there gun pointed at me. My heart dropped into my feet as I saw that cold look in his eyes, my blood still trailing from the corner of his mouth. "Today." He threw his head back and laughed right before the gun exploded in his hand and the world swam in streamers.

I sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath.

"Fuck." I breathed. The satin sheet pooled around my naked body as I stared off into the darkness of my room. What was wrong with me? I was sliding across the bed when I heard a loud bang on the door.

"Lady Yuki?" I sighed and nearly slipped off the edge of the bed trying to get my robe on as I moved.

"I'm coming, Ruka." Another bang on the door.

"Lady Yuki, are you alright?" Hanabusa this time.

"I said-" I froze and laughed at myself. I'd forgotten they couldn't hear me. I padded to the door and shot back the locks, swinging the door open for the two vampires.

"Come in." I said. Busa's eyes widened.

"Ah!...Ummm..." He turned around and made cute little awkward noises. I glanced down to see I hadn't fully fastened my robe. There was a pale line of flesh exposed down between my breasts nearly to my belly button.

"Oh." I chuckled as I fastened the robe tight. "Sorry, Busa." Ruka rolled her eyes and strode past me into the room.

"S'okay." He mumbled. Hanabusa was acutely uncomfortable around me in various states of undress. I found that particular characteristic utterly endearing about him. I laughed and turned away to find Ruka sitting on the edge of my bed, watching me move across the room. Her eyes were serious, amused and curious.

"Hanabusa, go get Lady Yuki the letter." She never looked away from me.

"Oh! Y-yes! Sure!" He darted off, closing the door firmly behind him in his rush to be anywhere else.

"Yes, Ruka?" I began gathering clothes for the day as she watched me.

"You smell like, sex, Yuki." I paused in grabbing a bra for only a moment, nothing more. "What have you been doing in here while all the whos down in whoville were asnooze in their beds?" Her voice was light with some personal joke.

"What's funny?" The smile faded from her face.

"Answer my question, Yuki...please." The please was an obvious afterthought but still, it got me to answer her question. Sort of.

"I just had a very...hot dream." I put a lot of emphasis on hot. When I turned around she was right behind me. She leaned in and sniffed up the side of my neck in a very not-human gesture. I shoved her back, anger kindling to life at the invasion.

"Hmmmmm..." She licked her lips. "A hot dream about...Zero?" My pulse sped. I fed my anger until I looked at her with a level of rage she hadn't earned.

"You are not here to question me, Ruka. And the next time you invade my privacy like you just did I will personally punish you." Her eyes widened a bit.

"I would never dream of questioning you, Yu- Lady Yuki." I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you call this then?" She opened her mouth to say something then closed it. I watched that pretty face narrow down to angry lines as she nodded.

"Fine. I am here to protect your body, Lady Yuki, not your love life. I will stay out of your personal life until I am necessary." She strode over to the door, covering the distance from bed to exit in six very angry strides. "I will await you out here." I sighed and turned to talk to her.

"Ruka-" The door closed with a click of finality, not loud but solid, cutting off my words. "Damn." I grumbled to myself as I began tugging on clothes. I wished I would have said that differently but I needed no one to know about last night. No one could know.

It was difficult when you considered your bodyguards to be among your closest friends. Who ever thought mixing the two was a good idea? The line of obligation between friend and boss was a thin, tricky fucker indeed.

...Two hours, three coffees and one killer headache later...

"The numbers of students in the day class are ever dwindling with Japan's reluctance to recognize vampires as anything but monsters. We need to improve the school's outreach programs."

"Absolutely not! My students have been put in enough danger as it is. I will not roll out the red carpet for those that would harm them just so you can get some good PR." This conversation was pissing me off.

"If you aren't willing to help, headmaster, then why am I here."

"I don't know, Yuki. Why are you here?" I scoffed and shook my head.

"I will not indulge this ridiculous line of conversation again."

"You never really 'indulged' it before." I switched subjects back to the issue at hand.

"We need this, headmaster." His face was flushed a bright pink and he hadn't once told me to call him father since we'd begun discussing this issue nearly an hour ago. Yeah. He was pissed. I was just pissing everyone off today.

"No. I won't allow it"

"If we can just reach out to the communities closest to the school, maybe set up some fund-raisers, start up a committee to organize public outreach events-"

"No!" He glared at me, standing in front of the chair he had long since vacated. "I bankrolled nearly the whole construction of this academy from my own pockets. Built all of this on the basis of a dream that vampires and humans could live in peace."

"I know-" He cut me off.

"As founder and headmaster of Cross Academy it is my responsibility, my duty, to see that my students are safe." He shook his head. "I will not succeed. I won't be able to save everyone. Not now or probably ever again." He paused and took a deep breath. "If I let you do this, you'd be putting a neon target over the academy and if I can't protect my students I'd just as soon send them home." I sighed and slid down in the chair, pinching the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger.

"Then we have one hell of a conundrum on our hands. We have to bolster the numbers of the day class. There are nearly double the night class students than the day class. For this model to work we need much more sufficient numbers, not for them to drop even more." Zero shifted in his corner, drawing my attention. He'd been propped in the darkest corner of the room, silent the whole time. I'd been attempting to ignore the weight of his gaze on me, succeeding up to this point.

"What do you propose we do?" I yanked my gaze away from him back to the headmaster. I thought for a moment.

"I think you should lasso a few of your faculty members into doing some quiet telemarketing to potential student candidates. Get some feelers out there to see how many are receptive and how many aren't." I looked over the shadowed silhouette of Zero. "As for you, Zero, Being the head of the guardians you should search for more vampire muscle. Maybe begin training them up a little better."

"This is a school of learning, Yuki. Not a military compound." The headmaster sounded flabbergasted. I glared back at him.

"The humans know now that they are not the top of the food chain. That scares them. People do crazy shit out of panic and ignorance. You said it yourself, you can't even ensure the safety of your students now. Part of that is because your guardians are lacking in quality and skill. Part of that you can't control. But I may be able to help you gain some ground."

"What are you going to be doing?" Zero asked.

"The first part to fixing something is realizing it is broken. To do that we have to all be willing to do things we might not want to do." The headmaster repeated Zero's question, a frown creasing the skin between those pretty eyes.

"I will begin inserting myself into the world of Japanese politics." Both men made a noise of disapproval. I glared at them both. "I have to do something to pave the way for the academy. How far do you think we'll get if the government pushes back harder than we can?" The room was dead silent.

"And you think you can succeed where Kaname has failed?" Zero asked.

It's true. For all his beauty, charm, grace and intellect Kaname had been incapable of winning over Japanese politicians the way he'd so easily maneuvered countless others. The best he had gotten was a treaty built on the shaky foundations of a handful of scared politicians. And he'd only gotten that because most countries were erring on the side of caution where vampires were concerned. It would be unwise to start a war with creatures you don't even really know how to kill. Did I think I could tame the Japanese government? No. Not really. But I had to try. I didn't really care about politics, never had. However, I couldn't deny that I was a part of the political scene now and if I could change something, especially something like the prospect of settling this feud between human and vampire, then how could I sit back and not? In truth, I really just wanted an excuse to be anywhere Zero couldn't find me, at least not easily. I was suddenly on my feet as a fist smashed down on the table in front of me. The headmaster was staring at me, eyes raging.

"What do you think you can accomplish, Yuki?" I smiled sweetly and stared into those large eyes the color of rosewater.

"Anything that doesn't kill me." He froze, staring blankly as if my simple, incredibly literal statement was too much.

"This might kill you." His voice was hushed but clear. I shrugged, a nonchalant roll of muscle as I smiled at his beautiful eyes.

"So?" I heard Zero shift. If I didn't know better I'd swear he was uncomfortable or something. Nah.

"This isn't a game, Yuki!" He nearly shouted it into my face despite the desk between us.

"Isn't it!" I yelled right back. My chest heaved with the heat I'd thrown in those two words. My anger swirled through me and I knew my eyes would be a red storm to match. "Politics is nothing but devious men on a power trip playing at war and capitalism. The whole thing is one giant fucking monopoly game and wining boils down to materialism and who's tongue is more silken." I eased back from him and closed my eyes, shoving my anger down. I smiled and knew it didn't reach my eyes before I'd even opened them.

"A bit cynical, don't ya think?" Zero's voice was smooth, like nothing was happening. I cocked my head to the side as I stared at him. Why was he so calm? Odd.

"No. Not at all." He was cast mostly in shadow, only the bottom part of his legs visible in the shadows. I stared right about where I thought his face should be.

"You never answered the headmaster's question."

"No. I don't suppose I did." I looked back at the man in question and my face was that very neutral blankness I'd perfected. Pretty, sweet and absolutely clueless. "It's simple really. Politics is mostly men." His face crumbled in confusion.

"Yes, it is a particularly male dominated field." I scoffed a bit at that bit of polite bullshit before easing into the chair I'd been in. I leaned back and crossed my legs, folding my hands across my stomach without breaking eye contact with him.

"Men are easily manipulated. It is the rare man that proves to be different." My words fell like a bomb in the silence stretching in the room. I don't think either of them moved, breathed even. I smiled pleasantly and waited for them to adjust. At this rate they'd quickly learn just how much I'd changed in the last five years.

"What do you mean by that, Yuki? Do you mean..." He let the words trail off and I widened that polite smile just a little more, an edge of near violence just underneath, if you knew what you were looking at. The headmaster knew it for what it was and for the first time ever I watched uncertainty cross his face, uncertainty all for me. My heart clenched a little but I refused to be the first one to blink.

"I meant what I said, headmaster. Take what you will from it." In my dealings with the media I'd learned that little statements like the last, ones with the perfect edge of aggression, mystery and challenge were simply eaten up. They loved that shit. It helped that they also tended not to poke at the statement, which was quickly making it one of my favorite techniques. The headmaster dipped his head in acknowledgment and flopped back in his chair, staring at me over his folded hands. After a few breaths he spoke.

"I will put the word out for more guardians and have Zero begin setting up a schedule for training the ones we have. I will also do as you suggested and assign this telemarketing task to a handful of trusted friends among the faculty." I nodded. "Not that we won't be holding these meetings regularly but, anything else you might need feel free to come right to me." I stood and dipped my head graciously. Zero was gone. I wasn't sure when or where he'd gone but I was glad he wasn't here. I moved towards the door. I stopped in front of it and turned to find him staring at me.

"Never your friends, headmaster. Someone you trust, yes, absolutely. Someone you love-" I shook my head. "Not if you value them." I reached for the doorknob while his words came to me.

"What has happened to you these last handful of years? What has killed the joy in my Yuki's eyes?" I felt tears burn up the back of my throat in a painful lump, shooting in stinging pinpricks across my eyes. What had happened to me? Too much. For some reason I remembered a story, though not its title, that I'd read somewhere of a man who'd fought against the shadows with his faith lighting the only candle responsible for fighting back the darkness. In the end the light went out. That didn't help my mood.

"What have you seen? Learned?" I twisted the cool metal of the knob and the breeze from opening it tickled my hair across my cheek.

"In the end, the shadow will swallow light." That's what I'd learned. Cynicism be damned.

"What about a really bright light?" I couldn't help but smile, but it was still tainted with the edge of tears.

"The brightest of lights cast the darkest of shadows that will consume the flames that created it with a flickering breath. All they have to do is wait."

"Wait for what?" His voice was choked with something that sounded dangerously close to tears. I wanted to look at him but dared not to.

"That depends on the flame." I stepped through the door.

"Yuki."

"Yes?"

"It's father!" My smile widened as I began pulling the door shut.

"Good evening, father." I closed the door with a soft click and grinned at the smile of pure joy I saw on the headmaster's face, the last image that ran through my head before I was yanked into a room four doors down from my own room. I swung out on instinct, twisting free from the grip on my arm. They were on me before I could so much as breathe.

Wherever we were it was dark. Too dark to see. Even a vampire needs at least a little bit of light to be able to see. I moved out of instinct, listening to my body, the feel of the air currents, the electric thrill of sound as my guides.

I felt the air shift and barely moved in time, dropping just below the woosh of air where my head had been. Their leg began sweeping back and I struck, moving my body in one line of strength and power exploding upward from my feet. I planted my foot in their chest, a solid kick that forced the air from them on a gust of pain. He, definitely a he from the sound of it, flew back from me maybe twelve feet or so, landing with a crash and a grunt. I followed that grunt and suddenly I was flipping him on his stomach, pinning him to the floor with my knee in his back as I got his arm in a pressure, joint lock so that his hand was twisted between his shoulder blades. He made a pain noise and his body tensed with some movement. I couldn't see what he was doing and wasn't willing to take any chances. My fingers found a great grip in his long hair as I used it as a handle to bounce his skull off the floor. He went still for a moment that I used to use my hand in his hair to stretch his neck in a long, clean line.

My fangs dropped low with all the adrenaline. I could feel the points of my fangs dimple the skin just below my lower lip. In combat a vampires fangs grew an average of three times their normal length, making them pretty useful tools for rending flesh from bone. Not every vampire could grow their fangs that large. No, it was a distinguished mark of the pure-blood line. I leaned over the man below me, grinding my knee into him while putting a little extra pressure on his arm. I got a small grunt of pain in return, just enough to spike his anger and fear perfuming the air. I licked my lips, stomach contracting hard enough that I almost sank my fangs into him. I closed my eyes and fought to keep still. The hunger twisted through me and I dragged my fangs up the side of his neck in response. He gasped and I smelled it the musky, wet smell of arousal. Under that, perfuming the primal smell of sex, was something I knew well, something that added a final element of intoxication. A crisp fall breeze carrying the faint scent of something floral.

I screwed my eyes shut to fight the blinding rage inside me. I used my hand in his hair to shove off him, bouncing his head off the floor again making him grunt. I strutted around the room, pacing to where the window was to rip back the curtains. The silver of the moon showed me that Zero hadn't moved from where I'd left him.

"Fucking moron!" My words growled out between my lips. I was so pissed I could hardly stand still. I could have killed him. I could have killed, Zero. And it would have been over something stupid. His silence was what stopped me. He lay still on the floor, eyes a pale circle of silver trailing me around the room. He watched me patiently, as if waiting for something he knew was coming and so he could wait there like that forever. My hunger twisted through me so fast and hard that I made a small noise of protest as I turned away from him. Oh god. I smelled him. Around me. On me. Everywhere. My whole body felt engorged with hunger. I couldn't remember the last time I'd fed. When had I last fed? I scrambled through my memories trying to remember. I had been at the academy a week today and hadn't fed that whole time. I flitted through my memories trying to remember and came up blank. When? When, when, when?

A face, female, long blonde hair, huge hazel eyes. Shit. I felt like kicking myself. The last time I'd fed was off the wife of the president of France.

"Let me feed you. I want to see what it feels like." She swept her long, blonde hair over the shoulder of a business suit that probably cost more than the private jet that had gotten us there. She began leaning into me. I put a hand gently but solidly against her shoulder. She showed me giant hazel eyes filled with soft confusion. I shook my head at her, forcing my eyes from the large, pulsing vein in her neck so readily exposed.

"You misunderstand, Mrs. Hollan. Even if I wished to accept your...delectable-" I trailed my fingertips gently down the exposed line of her throat. "offer, I could not."

"Why not?" She shivered a little and I saw that gleam in her eyes I'd become incredibly familiar with. I stifled the sigh and smiled politely.

"Pure blood vampires, like myself and Lord Kuran, spread vampirism with our bite." I added sultry charm to the smile I showed her as I sidled closer to her slender body. She eyed my every movement with anticipation, eyes sliding shut as I cradled the smooth, flawless curve of her cheek. She nuzzled my hand, eyes rolling up so she was showing me all the sexy those big eyes could convey.

"Then share with me your dark kiss." I couldn't help the dark laugh that rolled out of my throat in a low rumble. Her husband made a noise of outrage in the background as I smiled my first genuine smile of the evening. I leaned into her until our noses nearly touched.

"My dark kiss would then be called murderer for having snuffed out the light of a star." She frowned. I don't know why but I found myself smiling at the simple, arrogant, ignorant beauty of the woman before me. I closed what little distance there was between us with a kiss, long, probing and thorough. The kiss she'd wanted since we'd come. I broke the kiss, holding her body close to mine. She swallowed twice before she could speak.

"Take something, anything from me." She breathed against my mouth. I couldn't help the soft chuckle that came in response. Fool. She was not the first of her kind. There were those that would have nothing but professionalism. Then there were those who cared more for games and sexual deviation. She was the latter of the two. "Please." She kissed me several times to accompany her plea. I smiled down at her.

"I'll need a knife." She nodded and I felt movement. I looked up to see Mr. Hollan moving toward us. I ignored him and kissed the woman in my arms. I knew Mr. Hollan had joined us when the Mrs. moaned in my mouth at being pressed between the two of us. I broke the kiss, looking over the woman between us at the man before me. His eyes were dark pools of a brown that was nearly black, a little too wide. His breathing was a little too quick as he licked his lips. He looked away from me to his wife cradled between us. He palmed a handful of those long, blonde waves, pulling her head back against him with a jerk of motion. She moaned for him, skin exposed for me. So much skin. I licked my own lips at the creamy mounds of her breasts, piled up and quivering with every breath. The dress was a tight, sheath of red that emphasized every curve she had, the type of dress that made underwear an impossibility. If the bust of the dress wasn't as tight as it was there was no way someone as well endowed as her would have been able to pull it off. A cup in either direction would have ruined how perfectly this dress framed her every asset. Mr. Hollan placed the edge of the blade into the flesh of her left breast hard enough to dimple the flesh and draw a moan from the Mrs. He kept my eyes and flicked his wrist in a quick, practiced motion that told me better than any number of pretty words just how kinky the Hollans really were. She gasped and then I was spell bound, watching the rich red of her blood well up in little beads from the thin cut. It wasn't until the drops swelled enough to begin trailing down that pale creaminess that my will broke. I caught the blood on my tongue, closing my eyes so I enjoyed every drop. I locked eyes with Mr. Hollan.

"I know places where the blood flows a lot easier." He was breathing through his partially open mouth and could only nod.

We ended with Mrs. Hollan stretched on her back between us, him pinning her wrists down under his own body weight at my request. Wouldn't want her clawing me up. I didn't mind a little blood, but it looked bad on the cameras if I didn't take extra measures to heal the wounds, which was not an option. Her head was propped on a pillow so she could see me without effort. I kept staring into her eyes as I slid my hands up the inside of her legs, spreading them as I went. I smiled as the bare, soaking wetness of her was exposed to me. Nope. No undies. I ran my tongue where my hands had just been, running circles over the soft skin barely covering the large veins just below. I filled my eyes with everything she wanted to see so very badly as I stared up the line of her body and let my fangs slowly grow in length so that I was more likely to eat her than drink from her if I did sink fang, but it made for a great show. That was part of the thrill wasn't it? The threat of real danger looking up at you between soaked thighs, the promise of blurring the line between pain and pleasure. It was a powerful weapon, seduction.

I grabbed the knife off the bed and teased the edge of the blade up her thigh, getting a soft sigh in response. Mr. Hollan made a noise and I rolled my eyes up to see Kaname pressed behind the man. He had a hand in Hollan's thinning hair, moving his head back so that his neck was exposed in a long line. The Mrs. moaned, head tipped back to see the show. Kaname caught my eyes and I dipped my head in acknowledgment. I called my fangs back until they were barely longer than the rest of my teeth.

I sliced a shallow gash in her inner thigh and she cried out, body jerking in response. Mr. Hollan echoed her cry a fraction of a second after her. She looked down at me with something close to terror in her eyes. Blood flowed pretty steadily from the small wound on her thigh. She flinched a little as I began leaning down towards her. I watched her face as I locked my mouth around the wound, careful of my fangs, which despite their size were still sharp. Her face twisted with the edge of discomfort and I smelled her first adrenaline rush. It was going to hurt at first, it always did. I worked my tongue over the wound, keeping the blood flowing and kicking those amazing endorphins into her system. I saw the exact moment she began to feel them. Her eyes rolled and slid shut, mouth opening as she gasped for air.

"Mon Dieu." She moaned. Mr. Hollan was very thoroughly enjoying himself, hands roving over Kaname trying to find something to hold onto. Soft moans fell from his lips as often as breathe. She grabbed my attention again by entwining her fingers in my hair. Her husband was too wrapped up in his own pleasure to remember about holding her down. I sucked a little harder and she cried out, arching her back. Once the endorphins kicked in pain and pleasure were nearly indivisible, one heightening the other. Her breathing quickened, her thighs quivering on either side of me. I knew the long build up before climax when taking someone this way was an excruciating pleasure to burn you alive from the inside out. I knew it very well. She moaned to me, gasping things in French as my tongue drew her closer to release.

"S'il vous plait." She gasped. I sucked on the wound hard and fast, pulling as much of it into my mouth as I dared. She moaned, fingers clenching tightly in my hair, drawing a sound from me. My mouth filled with her blood, hot, sticky and sweet. I swallowed her down as she finally climaxed. I tasted the rush of endorphins in her blood, changing her flavor from sweet to a pleasant tangy flavor. I moaned and drew more of her in. Her body spasmed beneath me, the only still part of her being the leg I held still beneath my mouth. She screamed and it was quickly muffled. I rolled my eyes up to see her husband kissing her in such a way that his tongue proved to be quite an effective gag. I stilled my mouth against her and flattened my tongue over the wound. I let my magic fill me, directing it to my mouth where it rested on her wound. I thought about the wound knitting shut and felt it close beneath my tongue. Mrs. Hollan was a boneless heap on some kind of lounge thing we'd been on. Kaname stood by the armchair not ten feet away, staring at me.

"Thank you." He breathed through my mind.

I snapped out of the flashback with a gasp. What had brought me out of it? Zero. He was on his feet and moving toward me in a slow lope that was strangely submissive looking. Zero was anything but submissive. What was going on here. My stomach contracted so hard it nearly doubled me over and I couldn't help but groan from the pain. Zero stopped walking and eyed me, cocking his head to the side.

"You're hungry." My stomach chose right then to prove his point. "Very hungry." He began moving toward me again, even slower this time. I shook my head at him.

"Stay away." He smiled but still kept coming.

"When was the last time you fed?" He said from barely five feet away. I scurried several steps backward and held out both hands toward him.

"Please." One word whispered out on a shaky breath. Sweat trickled down my spine even as I felt how cool my skin had grown.

"When was the last time you fed, Yuki?" I glanced at him then away. We'd met with Mr. and Mrs. Hollan nearly three weeks before I'd come to the academy. I forgot to eat a lot but I don't think I'd ever forgotten for nearly a month. Things had been hectic for so long you'd think I'd be used to scheduling feedings in between pleasing the royals. I realized I still hadn't answered him. I was actually surprised he hadn't already pestered me again. He stood there, patiently awaiting my answer.

"Too long." My voice was hoarse with need. If I could just get away from him, somewhere I couldn't smell him or see him standing there all sexy and shit. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Mistake. The smell of him filled my lungs, I tasted him on the back of my tongue as if I'd licked him. My fangs ripped there way free, dropping down to almost an inch, nearly half what they were at battle length. My stomach seized so hard I dropped into a squat and huddled around the pain. I could hear his heart pushing blood through his veins, smell it all coursing just below the surface. All I'd have to do is-

I exploded to my feet, startling Zero into jumping a foot back. He'd been about to touch me when I'd moved. I was breathing heavily, pulling his scent, the rush of his body into me with every breath. I needed away from him now!

"I need to get out of here." My voice was guttural and slightly slurred from speaking around the fangs.

"You need to feed, Yuki." He stared at me as his fingers deftly undid the first button on his already gaping shirt. My mouth watered at the sight of all that smooth skin gleaming in the moonlight. He undid the next button and I finally realized what was going on here. No way could I let that happen. I shook my head at him. I kept shaking my head at him as I watched his fingers dance over each button until his shirt was more framing the lean muscled expanse of his upper body than covering it. I had all the time in the world to tell him to stop and yet I was spellbound by the slow reveal of skin. He took a step toward me and I backpedaled too quick, tripping over nothing and landing on my ass. I was on my feet so quick you'd swear it never happened. He was smiling.

"What the fuck are you smiling about?" I didn't think the situation was very funny.

He chuckled and took another step toward me. I was going to run out of room soon and I didn't want to be backed against a wall. I whirled and darted for the door. I felt him, smelled him moving. Before his hand ever touched my shoulder I had his wrist in my hand, using my grip to throw him in a text book perfect shoulder toss except that I kept my grip on his wrist, using it to slam him into the floor. I flipped my body on top of him so that I straddled his waist, leaning over him in a push up position. Surprise glimmered through his eyes so quick if I hadn't been looking I'd have missed it.

"Twice tonight you've surprised me, Yuki." I smiled, more a baring of fangs really.

"Surprise? You mean this wasn't exactly what you wanted, Zero?" I let the disbelief I felt show through in my voice.

He knew exactly what he was doing. Bastard. Why was he doing this? That was the real question. He blinked up at me as if he had no idea what language I'd spoken, let alone what I'd said. I dropped down so that I was suddenly laying on him, face almost in his neck. The gums around my fangs throbbed in time to my heart and instead of my stomach contracting something that felt like an electric spear impaling me from the stomach out nearly made me scream in Zero's ear. My whole body tensed and the fire began. My throat felt raw, like fire was being poured down it. Zero sat up, wrapping his arms around me. I locked eyes with him and what I saw there startled me. Zero looked pained, like something was physically hurting him.

"What's wrong, Zero? Did I hurt you?" His lips curved back in a small smile at first but it slowly grew until for the first time in so many years, he laughed. It was one of those deep belly laughs and I smiled too. He was absolutely stunning when he laughed. So beautiful. The laughter changed how he smelled. Instead of an autumn breeze he smelled like lavender carried on the wind of a warm, breezy spring night.

I suddenly had my hand in his thick, long silken hair, using it to pull his head back. I used my arm around him to pull our bodies together from chest to groin. I wrapped my legs around him and tightened my grip on his hair until he made a small noise for me. His eyes were closed, lips slightly parted. I stretched my body so I could lick a thin trail up the side of his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist, holding me closer, not pushing me away. That wasn't right. This wasn't right. I could feel him growing firm against the part of me that wanted him most. A bolt of pain shot through me again and I had to throw myself backwards to keep from sinking fang into Zero. I didn't go far with his arms keeping me from falling. My body was bowed backwards away from him, grinding me into his now hard cock. He groaned for me and bit his lip, blood trickled from where his fangs had cut him. I didn't even think about it. I just leaned in and licked the blood off his chin. I hesitated for a moment at the line of his bottom lip before saying fuck it and licking that too. I wanted to pull his lip into my mouth and suck on it, but the fangs made damn sure that wasn't going to happen. Zero was watching me as I pulled back and I saw he was breathing hard and the air was thick with the heady mixture of the musky scent of arousal and desire, both his and mine. Fuck, fuck, fuck...that was exactly where this was going. No, no, no-

"Do it." His words were husky and I shivered. I shook my head too hard, trying to shake the stupid away.

"No. Let me go." He jerked me against him until our faces were inches away, lifting me off his lap.

"You want, need, it. So take it, Yuki." I shook my head again and stopped my fingers from unconsciously playing with his hair while we talked.

"No. Please let me go, Zero."

"You're in pain. You need to feed." I wanted to analyze every fine detail of him to figure out what had changed about him. He was just acting so differently from the Zero I had known.

"I need you to let me go before I do something we both might regret." He held me tighter and I wriggled against him, getting a hissing inhale in response.

"Stop that."

"Let me go."

"Feed."

"No."

"Feed, Yuki."

"Dammit, Zero! I said no! What the fuck?" I was breathing hard from the outburst, finally angry again. I whispered sweet nothings to my anger, coaxing it to roar. Anger was good. I wasn't ready to jump Zero right here and now anymore. I was just one thousand percent pissed the fuck off. I shoved him but he didn't move, just stared at me.

"Let me go, Zero." He still didn't move. I sighed and closed my eyes. "I don't want to hurt you, Zero." I could smell him everywhere and the feel of his body against mine was too much with so many hungers right below the surface. I needed away from him. The pulse in the side of his throat jumped like it was dancing to some tune I could hear if only I just-.

"Oh god." I dropped my head against his shoulder. "Please." My words were a quiet whisper, not because I wanted to be quiet but rather I was afraid I'd start yelling or something worse, much worse. "Please don't make me hurt you, Zero." I felt tears sting my eyes and blinked them away. No way in hell was that happening. You didn't cry over shit like this. You had to be stronger than that. I had to be stronger than that.

"You won't hurt me."

"I will if you don't let me the fuck go." He tightened his hold and I think I growled, not sure really. "I refuse to feed from you, Zero. I won't do it. So, you can let me go or we get to see who wins Wrestlemania between the two of us."

"What?" I rolled my eyes. Of course he didn't understand the reference.

"Let me go or I'm going to kick your ass." There. That was nice and simple. He seemed to be analyzing me as he roved his eyes over my face. Whatever he saw there must have satisfied him in some way because he let me go. I stood up and took three big steps away from him, making a beeline to the door.

"Leaving so soon, Yuki?" I stopped and closed my eyes trying to steal myself against going back to him and giving him a reason to sound so husky. When I opened my eyes he was leaning with his back against the door, almost like he needed to be further away too but he wasn't ready to let me leave yet. I sighed.

"Is there something you'd like to talk about, Zero?" He was so still, only his shirt fluttering gently around his slowly rising chest showed he was alive.

"You've surprised me three times tonight." I sighed again and turned away to sit on the edge of the bed. My heart was in my throat, body humming with need and desire.

"Yeah? You don't say." He frowned at me.

"These ridiculous things you say are only the very beginning of how much you've changed." I laughed a nasty burst of sound that startled him enough that he was suddenly standing on his own and not lounging decoratively against the door.

"Oh, Zero. You have no idea just how different I really am." He nodded and laughed, an odd reaction, one the Zero I used to know would have sneered at.

"So it would seem." He shook his head while running his hand over his face and through his hair. My body tightened at seeing all that tall lithe body stretched in a long line, skin glowing in the moonlight. I took a deep breath realizing I had forgotten to breathe. My stomach cramped up on me and I knew I had to get out of there. If I lost control again so soon there would be no coming back.

"Your eyes light the dark with your lust." I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. The smell of him was so deep inside me I couldn't help but roll the taste of him around on my tongue and savor the flavor. I shuddered from head to feet as another bolt of agony shot through me. I must have made some noise because Zero was staring at me with something like pity.

"Do not pity me, Zero. Just get out of my way." The edge of anger, long overdue, was there in my words. He simply stared at me and I could suddenly smell his desire like it had kicked me in the lungs. I gasped for breath and backed away before I ravaged him. There was nothing fluffy or sweet about what I wanted from him. I wanted to sink my fangs into him as he fucked me. I wanted to hear him scream for me. I shook my head and scrambled away from him. I was on the other side of the bed, which meant I had gone over it at some point, but I didn't remember it. Zero had never moved, staring at me in my corner while propped against the wood of the door once again.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Zero's voice was the perfect medium between inquisitive and devilishly knowledgeable. I don't know if my patience was all used up for the day or something but I just snapped. I was suddenly so pissed that I didn't remember moving. I had Zero by the throat against the door, body pressed into his. My breasts pressed into his upper chest, which was when I realized that my feet were not on the floor. Zero's hands were passively hanging at his sides. Huh. This was a new one. My powers were slowly coming on line so occasionally, like now, I'd accidentally stumble across an ability. Cool. His hands wrapping around my waist brought me back to the situation at hand. My anger roared back over me as I looked and saw him with his head tipped back against the door, eyes closed, waiting.

"Is this what you want, Zero? You want me to sink my fangs into you?" He was breathing hard, I felt the rush of every breath through my hand on his throat. I could hear his heart and taste him like a favorite candy flavor coating on my tongue. I leaned into him and hissed my next words in his ear.

"You want me to give you a reason to call me monster. A reason to take away the guilt of killing me." I watched the first hint of red glow behind those metallic lavender eyes. I grinned and couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry. Am I pissing you off? Aw." I rolled my bottom lip out in a pout. His hands on my waist squeezed almost to the point of pain. "I won't help you kill me, Zero. I like living a little too much."

"Yuki-" He cut himself off but I heard the warning in his tone. I raised an eyebrow and asked him a question that had been bugging me.

"How did you get out of my room last night? The locks on the door were intact when I checked them and the window was shut too." He looked taken aback by my question for a moment before he smiled coyly at me and shook his head, clearly telling me his secretes were his own. My anger spiked and I should have just stopped there. Of course, I didn't.

"Fine. What have you learned from spying on me this past week?" He covered it up pretty quickly with arrogance but I saw the flash of surprise.

"What reason would I have to spy on you, Yuki?"

"Why don't you tell me. My first thought was that you were trying to scope out the habits of your target, me, deciding the best way to kill me or if you should kill me. My second guess was something more mundane like extra security." My tone alone said how little I believed that last statement. "Which is it, Zero?" His eyes were vamped out now, glowing red. "I'm a little tired of passing your tests, Zero."

"How do you know you passed them?"

"You wouldn't keep testing me if I hadn't passed the previous one." He laughed and shook his head.

"Naive, Yuki. Still so naive." I let the anger rage inside me but my voice was startlingly calm.

"I'm not naive enough to ignore the fact that you want me, Zero. You want to hold my body close while you sink-"

"Stop."

"You're fangs and other things deep inside me. If you can-"

"Stop this, Yuki!" His eyes flamed a brilliant red, the tattoo on his neck glowing a pale blue. I smiled. Despite everything I could still smell how aroused he was, how chokingly thick his desire was to do everything I'd said and more. He was breathing hard like he'd run a 10k at neck-break speed.

"If you can look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong then I'll never bring it up again and we can resume as if this whole fucking thing never happened."

"You swear a lot, now. You never used to talk like this." The statement seemed absent-minded, like he was distracted by something. I shrugged.

"It's been a rough few years." I swallowed hard, closing my eyes as pain ripped through me and suddenly I was back on the other side of the bed again, watching him and waiting. He took several steps toward me before stopping. He shook his head and made some noise in the back of his throat. I couldn't deny that I wanted him to say I was right because I wanted him in every way. But if I could make him do the thing he wanted me to do to prove I was a monster I could turn the tables on him. Could he kill me for being the very same thing as himself? It was worth a shot.

"You can't can you? Better yet..." I began moving over the bed, again.

"What are you doing?" I was back on my feet, moving towards him.

"Show me, Zero. Show me I'm wrong." He took a few steps backwards, putting the door at his back again. He looked back at it, as if he wasn't aware he'd been that close, before quickly coming back to me. Panic flashed through his eyes but underneath was eagerness, anticipation. I was only feet away from him now.

"No, Yuki. Stop this." I pressed my body as tightly as I could against him, running my fingers under the shirt framing that finely muscled chest. His skin was smooth and hot. Very hot. I curved my fingers over his shoulders and up the side of his neck. Just beneath his jaw I trailed my fingernails back down his neck. He shivered for me and I watched a fresh trail of blood shine down his chin from his fangs bleeding the lip he was biting. He grabbed me and spun, slamming my back into the wall. I gasped and wrapped my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. I licked a wet line up his neck and he groaned.

"Stop...this..." He gasped out, fingers finding a sudden grip in my hair, pulling my head back so that my neck was exposed. I moaned and rolled my body against his. He wrapped his arm around my waist and fell to his knees. I thought it might have hurt but he didn't seem bothered, so I didn't mention it. He tipped his head back, sucking in a deep breath that shuddered on the way back out. I pulled against his hold on my hair to drag my fangs up his neck. His body began to tremble, a very fine quivering of muscles.

"Oh god..." He moaned, body shivering hard enough to jostle me with him. "Stop this, Yuki."

"Tell me I'm wrong and I will." He shook his head.

"You have to-" He had to pause while his body spasmed again. I ground my hips into him where I was pressed against the hard length of him once again. He cried out."Stop. Before I..." His hands were on my hips now as I began slowly rolling them against him.

"Before you what?" I breathed against his ear. He growled and I felt him tense a second before he jacked my body up and struck.

A/N- Hey guys so I don't plan on this story being lengthy in the number of chapters, but the chapters are going to be pretty lengthy themselves, as you can see. I'd love to hear some feedback. How are you guys liking the story so far? I'd especially love to hear what you think about the new Yuki. I think I like her a little too much, if there is such a thing.