Bleeding Love

By Willow Athena

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or any of its characters, but this story is mine.

Author's note: This was written in about three hours, because I wanted something easy to write and was taking a break from my Supernova fanfic. I've been watching some romantic anime's recently, and this was one of the best ones, so I thought why not. If anyone can recommend some good romantic animes, I'd appreciate it…I guess I'm just in that mood. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 1 - Desire

She was back. He was in his last year of high school and she was suddenly back. He hadn't talked to her. He had seen her on a few occasions but did not bother to speak to her, even though she had greeted him. She walked hand in hand with that monster now. She was a monster now too. So was he, now that he thought about it. But he wasn't like them.

Zero kicked off his covers and went to take a shower. He shouldn't let it bother him. She was nothing to him anymore. She stayed with them. She was after all a part of their coven now. She wasn't just a part of it, she was their queen, standing right next to their king. It was disgusting. Zero rubbed at his skin, a little too harshly, trying to wash away the thought of Kaname touching her – his Yuuki.

He eventually left the shower behind, reluctantly drying himself off and putting his pants on, the rest of his clothes were in his room. He had been staying at the Chairman's house since Yuuki had left, two years ago. It was too dangerous for a vampire to stay in the regular boy's dormitory, 'just in case' was how the Chairman had put it. Just in case what? Zero had resisted the urge to bleed him dry right there, and then consequently realized he was right.

Zero looked at his hair in the mirror, it was a dripping wet mess. It looked exactly the same, just a little longer than he used to keep it. It was the only thing about him that continued to change as a vampire, so he had let it grow out a little. His eyes looked dangerously dark, beneath the mess of silver hair falling all over his face. His glare was all the more effective now.

The other vampires, the night class, gave off this come hither vibe, like a beautiful flower that lured you in, only so its' razor sharp teeth could devour you more effectively. Zero's features, although they had always been beautiful, were hidden by his discontent and utter hatred for everything around him, especially himself. No one was ever drawn in by him, no one ever understood him, no one but Yuuki, once upon a time. But, that fairy tale had long been over. He was 18 now, and no longer the adolescent she left behind. He touched the spot where she had drunk him, it had healed almost immediately, but he still remembered it. Even the monster was happy in that moment.

Zero watched the blood tablet dissolve in the glass of water. He swirled the liquid around the glass to ensure it was fully dissolved. He downed it. It was disgusting; such a pale imitation of the real thing. He was forever thirsty. It felt like his throat constantly burned, especially at school where so many helpless victims were available. He could hear their hearts beating an enticing melody to him.

Take me.

He laughed. A sound devoid of any joy. He hated himself. Staying in the day classes was just another way to torture himself and the monster within him. He would not give in. There was previously no alternative as there was no night class for the two years it took to rebuild the school. But now that everyone else's hard work had resulted in a better than ever Cross Academy – the vampires were back. How convenient. The Chairman said he should have transferred to the night classes, now that there was a choice and the vampires were back. Zero would not give those leeches the satisfaction. He wasn't like them. And someone needed to protect the day students from the monsters they were so willing to throw themselves at.

Zero walked out of the bathroom, vigorously towelling his hair dry. Something soft rounded the corner and hit his elbow, landing with a dull thud on the ground after hitting the decorative bench outside the bathroom door. He removed the blinding towel from around his head, assuming he had hit Chairman Cross.

She lay there on the ground, her blue school skirt dangerously high on her thighs, rubbing her head that had soundly hit against the bench. She hadn't even screamed out. She ran her fingers through her rich auburn hair, the colour of arterial spray. She eventually opened her translucent grey eyes to look up at him. He looked shocked, both his hands holding either side of the black towel around his neck now.

"You must be Kiyruu-kun," she chimed as she sat up on the floor now. He felt her voice vibrate inside him for some reason, like he should know her as well.

"Nice to meet you," she said and genuinely smiled at him, even though he had automatically started glaring down at her. She stuck out her hand to shake his. He saw the prefect's badge on her left arm. He held her right hand in his and pulled her up, then only noticing the almost transparent quality of the ivory skin on her wrist as it moved closer to him. He could almost see the blood rushing beneath the surface. Her whole body was like that now that he had a closer look.

He turned away and stalked off to his room without another word to her.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she sarcastically added to his bare retreating back. He was kinda cute without his shirt, and obviously beautiful, but his personality needed a lot of work, she thought.

When Zero came down, now fully dressed, she was there…at breakfast. Sitting in his seat. Chairman Cross was doting over her, but she didn't seem like she was enjoying the food. It looked strange. She inhaled a cup of coffee that she held, but sipped at a cup of tea on the table.

"Kiryuu-kun, this is the new prefect I told you about. She is going to help you out with the patrolling for the night classes, you can't keep doing it all by yourself," Cross suggested. The Chairman had been raving about her for weeks and praising her martial arts abilities, but now that Zero looked at the more than delicate features, it was hard to imagine her being forceful.

"About earlier, sorry I was grumpy, I'm not a morning person and starting my first day of school with a headache was not how I planned it. I shouldn't have been running about the house unsupervised." She smiled at him again and he involuntarily moved closer and took the seat next to hers. He could not understand why she was apologising since the incident was his fault, and then his desire for her had made the situation all the worse, even though he had just …eaten.

"Nonsense, this is your home now too," Cross said and beamed down at her. "It will be so good to have a daughter in the house again," he said as he began exaggeratedly crying. Surely the Chairman wasn't serious – her living in the house, right across the corridor from him. What happened to just in case? Zero chided himself for the thoughts he was now having, the feast playing through his mind – he would just have to exercise more self-restraint now that she was here.

"Kiryuu-kun, be nice and show her around until she gets used to the school, and be sure to help her with all her duties, and don't hurt her anymore, or else," Cross said and waved a fist in front of his face until he batted it away. She sounded like she would be more work than help.

She silently walked beside him. Excessively distracting. Flaunting all that blood that ran beneath her ivory skin. Her beautiful long red hair, swaying around her hips like temptation, a mere preview to how beautiful her blood would look like dripping down her skin. She had been walking the whole way with her eyes downcast, not bothering to engage him in any needless conversation. He appreciated the quiet.

They stopped in front of his classroom, Chairman Cross had said she was also in the last year. He walked in and held the door for her, she followed. Zero took his seat at the back of the classroom. All the students gasped as they looked at her. She looked like she was in the wrong class. The students began muttering about her to eachother. She waited and talked to the teacher.

The teacher cleared his throat. "Class, please welcome our new prefect." Even the teacher blushed as he said it.

"Hi everyone, my name is Hikari. I'm pleased to meet you all." She smiled an excessively radiant smile at their class. It was so fake, Zero thought, but some of the boys and girls still fainted.

"Oh, sorry," she added, seeing their reaction.

She walked up the steps to Zero and looked at him expectantly. He moved slightly in and let her have his usual seat near the isle. There was more muttering as she sat down next to him. "Was it too much?" she inquired, looking into his lavender eyes, capturing him for the most brief second before she released him and opened her books. They looked like the school text books, but were empty inside and she began to write in long elegant strokes that looked like calligraphy. How idiotic of her, how would she ever learn anything with empty books filled with nothing but her thoughts.

She looked outside and rubbed her temple. He felt slightly guilty, her head must be killing her, she had taken a hard knock this morning. She moved some of her hair to behind her ear, revealing her succulent ivory neck, her blood pulsating so close to the surface, and her scent, like rare steak marinated in a red wine sauce and matured to perfection. He turned away, putting his right hand over his eyes.

"Are you ok, Kiryuu-kun?" her voice was like silk near his ear, and he dared not look at her. She had moved closer and comfortingly rubbed her hand down his back.

"Zero," he corrected, but he didn't know why.

"Class is over, Zero," she said, moving away.

That was impossible. It had just started. How long had he stared at her for? Had she noticed? He didn't care anymore, he just needed to stay away from her. He could not understand his fascination with her. He was usually able to withstand the temptation the girls presented, and guys usually smelled less appetising than the girls, but the more beautiful the girl, the more appetising the smell. It was probably a mental thing, because he was attracted to girls, female vampires probably felt men were more appetising, he concluded – not that he would ever have that conversation with a vampire, male or female.

This was what his existence was like – a guessing game. As a vampire hunter, he had a master to show him the way, but because he refused to acknowledge his vampiric side, he would not stop long enough to ask any of the vampires he knew, and so he guessed most of his way through it and tried to remain away from temptation…Yuuki, in particular.

"Come, we have Art next," she informed him, as he stood up, grabbing a hold of his hand and dragging him a little behind her as she left.

Avoiding her was going to be difficult, he realised.

"So, in essence we're crowd control for assholes," she said as she smiled at him and twirled along the path to the Night Class's dormitory, the spring flowers falling all around her like rain. Her heartbeat was so shallow, and he was surprised she did not get dizzy. He couldn't help but smile that she had so quickly figured it out, and she hadn't even seemed remotely drawn in by the vampires' security files he had briefed her on. She always disregarded every picture and scanned the information within the file before moving on to the next. She didn't even push him to speak when he was being silent. He was beginning to enjoy her company. Maybe this working relationship would be pleasant.

She twirled in front of him and stopped suddenly, her eyes closed and her face lifted up towards the sun. She looked breathtaking. She breathed deeply in. He stopped a polite distance away. "Mmm, you smell good, Zero," she innocently remarked, opening her translucent grey eyes to capture him again. She saw his startled reaction and chuckled. "What cologne do you use?" She turned to face forward, towards their destination, and began walking. She tried to hide her remark away, but he did smell really good, and she hadn't anticipated that.

He breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was momentary, and continued to walk behind her. He had never before considered what he smelled like. He stealthily tried to lift his jacket up and take a whiff, but he didn't smell like anything to himself. He smiled at her, even though she was too far ahead to notice. It had been a long time since he had found a reason to smile. Her hair flowed around her like a river of blood and her fringe messily fell in wild unrestrained tendrils over her right eye – to shield other's from the intensity of her gaze, Zero assumed. When she looked at him, it felt like she really saw him, all of him, even the monster that hid within…and she hadn't flinched or turned away. Chairman Cross would have obviously told her he was a vampire, as a precaution for being so near to him while doing their duties, but Zero felt it was more than that.

When they arrived, the female and some male students were already there, clamouring at the exterior door to the Moon Dorm. Zero effectively glared them back. He instructed them to form two lines on either side of the path, as usual, and he showed her where to stand. She did not look well, she was even paler now than she had been in the morning, but she dutifully walked up and down the line ensuring no student got out of it. She stood with her back to the lane, just like Yuuki used to, with her arms stretched out wide, dangerously smiling at the students. Zero chuckled lightly on the other side, watching her back, and imagining the excessive smile she was giving them, making knees of the male and female students quiver. One girl put one foot out of line, and Zero was about to reprimand her, when Hikari snapped her fingers on the hand closest to the student and sent them quivering back.

Zero was impressed, and as if he had said the words out loud, she turned over her right shoulder and smiled at him. He felt his dry throat moisten as she did it, and just as soon, the relief was gone with her smile as she faced the crowd once more.

The thoughtless Night Class was late and Zero was getting more and more irritated by the minute.

The exterior doors to the Moon Dorm slowly creaked open. The Night Class began to walk forward to screams and shouts from the girls and boys of the day class. The Night Class didn't look as cheery today as they normally did, and they seemed to all stealthily glance in the direction of the new prefect, and almost immediately away again, as though they had been instructed to ignore her but unconsciously couldn't. Zero noticed that Hikari did not turn around to even glance at any of them, and he was inwardly pleased. He saw the pureblood couple holding hands and bringing up the rear, and he averted his eyes, pretending to be uninterested.

Zero noticed the fall of red hair and caught Hikari's right arm, only then noticing Kaname had let go of Yuuki and steadied her left arm.

Hikari didn't even glance at Kuran. She groggily looked up at Zero and thanked him with a nod. "Ironic, isn't it?" she remarked to Zero once she was steady. "I think I've had too much sun," she smiled warmly. Zero nodded and let go of her arm, only to storm back across the path, past Yuuki.

"Zero…" Yuuki reached out, but he avoided her touch and her pitying gaze.

"How interesting, Kaname," Hikari whispered to him alone, prying Kuran's fingers off of her left arm when he did not immediately let go. She looked up at him, causing him to recoil away, grab Yuuki's hand, and hurry off.

"Are you sure you're up for patrolling? Really, it would be easier on me if you went home and I didn't have to worry about you. I can handle the patrol solo for another day," Zero complained. She looked even paler in the moonlight, even more tempting, like she was a flower that only fully bloomed at night. Zero was not convinced that she had recovered from her altercation with the sun.

"I'm fine. Are you really worried about me?" She looked up at him expectantly, and again, he felt like he knew her. "That's so sweet," she added, to diffuse the growing tension.

Zero looked at her grumpily. "Guess you're not much of a night person," she commented, looking up at the stars from the balcony.

"Just do your patrol if you can, and meet me back here after. What's your number?" He was growing weary of her attempts to make him blush. He could feel that that was what she was doing, like it was all some game to her. If she really wanted to play, he was willing, but he would not be the one that lost.

"Ooh, my number? I already feel like we're so close," she said and smiled, leaning closer than she should to him, wrapping his right arm around her so she could more comfortably write it the right side up for him. Her cool left hand held his hand as her right beautifully carved the number onto his palm in red ink. She twirled out of his arm, still holding his palm up so he could see her number.

"Sealed with a kiss," she said as she leaned in and kissed his palm where she had written her number. Her lips were cool and soft, and he flashed an image of her kissing the blood flowing freely out of the palm of his hand. Zero immediately departed thereafter, before he tore her open right there and then. As he patrolled, he felt his face and realised he was blushing, truly blushing…it was so human of him, he thought.

Hikari turned around to briefly stare back at Kuran glaring down at her from the classroom window. She left before Kuran could indicate that she should stay. She knew she would not be able to avoid him forever, but she needed to finish her patrol. She felt that patrolling was a pointless task, but completed it for Zero's sake. They could argue about the usefulness of the activity later.

Hikari gracefully landed on the balcony to wait for Zero, who she knew would take a little longer because of what she had done earlier. She wondered if Zero would try to avoid her now. Probably not, he was too head strong to avoid anyone, even if he ached for her.

"Kari, you have not been taking care of yourself," Kuran commented from too close behind her.

"That has not been any of your business for the last twelve years, Kana," she informed him as she turned around.

He caught some of the auburn stands of her hair and let them flow freely between his fingers as she turned to face him. This is how he remembered her, in the starlight, hair the colour of dried blood and eyes the colour of the moon. She was always looking up into his eyes, like she looked into no one else's, and he had missed her moonbeams.

"You should eat, Kari. I was just trying to feel if it was you earlier, I didn't mean to weaken you," he explained more compassionately, moving stray stands of her hair away from her eyes so he could get a better look at them.

"Don't," she pushed him away, her hands against his chest, holding him at arm's length away from her. He complied, even though she did not have the strength to move him. "We cannot pick up where we left off. A friend would have treated me better than you have," she sighed, putting her arms down.

She felt his will push against hers. He was trying to read her. "Stop that," she commanded, leaning onto the banister now. "If you want to know something ask me, I am not one of your pawns, I will resist," she reprimanded him.

"How do you plan on doing that?" He moved intimately close to her and inhaled deeply. "You haven't eaten in?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Months," she answered, not having the strength to struggle against him.

"Here," his velvet voice whispered while running his fingers through her hair and lifting her head, moving his hair away from the collar of his shirt.

"No, Kuran," she said his surname with such distaste that he backed away, only to find her fangs out and her eyes glowing red with desire.

"You need to eat, and I know how you despise the blood tablets," he explained, caressing her cheek as she tightly shut her eyes and hid her fangs. He could feel her blood rushing beneath his fingertips, calling out to him once more.

"Would you have me be like you? To walk around where they all bow to me and bend to my will? Better yet, should I tell them who I am?" she ranted as the red exsanguinated from her eyes. Kaname had always thought it was beautiful to watch the translucent grey of her eyes return after she had fed. But, she would not feed on him anymore.

He picked her wrist up and held it to his nose, breathing deeply in, he slowly…torturously…kissed it. She softly spoke, her voice oddly vulnerable, "We should never have allowed ourselves a taste, Kana. There is a reason it is forbidden. Purebloods should never taste eachother's blood, especially when they are from different clans. Now all we are left with is an addiction and imperfect imitations of the other's powers," she spoke softly pulling her wrist away from him and his suddenly glowing red eyes.

"Why are you here? What are you plans for Zero?" Kaname asked while staring at her neck, eyes glowing beautifully red, fangs still dangerously out. He knew why she had weakened herself, for Zero, so he would not feel her coming and know what she was. It was a dangerous thing to have done; he could have killed her earlier without even meaning to. Was it all for Zero?

"Forgive the intrusion, I wanted to at least see your Yuuki once, since you talked about her so much. My plans for Zero are non-existent, I enjoy him, he seems interesting," she replied more evenly, moving her hair around her neck and over her shoulders.

"Stay away from Yuuki," Kaname warned.

"Don't use that tone with me," she chastised. "I am not my mother. Her madness died with her and in your arms from the smell of it. How did she taste? So close to what I taste like, but not close enough, I assume." She was more cold as she asked these questions.

"Do you want revenge?" he bluntly inquired.

"What a simple notion. Did you ever really know me, Kana? Centuries spent together as children and then teenagers, and this is how little you think of me," she said it all with such playful danger that he could not decipher her intentions.

"I see you still love your sister as much as I remember. Do you think my family would force me to marry my brother, if I had one?" venom was infused in every syllable as she stared straight into his now wine coloured eyes.

"Yuuki is not forced to do anything she doesn't want to." Yuuki loved him back, there was no doubt about that. He would never force her into anything. Just because Shizuka Hio had been strong armed into a marriage with her brother, didn't mean it was always like that. His parents loved eachother and them, even if Hikari's didn't.

"Really? When you remove choice, what else is there but force?" she mischievously asked.

"Stay away from Yuuki," he repeated his warning, his anger rising. She had always been meddlesome, but she needed to stay out of his business. He didn't care if her mother's hatred of her had warped her idea of marriage, she needed to keep her opinions to herself, or else. Kaname was not technically her brother, even though Yuuki was a direct descendant of his.

"Would you really let her chose him, if she wanted to? Or is protecting your pure blood more important to you than her happiness?" she asked.

Who did she think he was, to question his honour.

"Yuuki is happy with me," he said between clenched teeth. Hikari Hio would pay if she cost him Yuuki, even if he did care about her. He would bathe in her addictive blood if that's what it took. He would even risk the Elder Council's displeasure and kill her, another pureblood dead by his hands.

"Then why does she reach out to him?" Hikari asked, in barely a whisper.

"Yuuki." Hikari nodded, looking past Kaname.

"Kaname-senpai?" Yuuki squeaked. She could feel something different from this prefect, something familiar, and something dangerous.

"You've taken her as your lover, and yet she is still so formal with you," Hikari noted. She saw the instant blush her words induced from Yuuki.

"How gallant of you, Kana, to preserve her innocence until you marry," Hikari spoke her words with such familiarity and ease as she gracefully jumped up onto the banister.

"Zero will be relieved. He's coming, so I suppose I should spare him the pain of seeing you two together," she said as she jumped down.

Yuuki ran to the banister and saw her beautifully land, with no exertion or effort, on the ground, the leaves flying up like green butterflies around her blood red hair and her smell wafting up enticingly. Yuuki looked at Kaname with glowing red eyes and bared fangs, unaccustomed to being tempted or having to restrain the predatory urge.

If this was the desire Hikari's scent evoked, Yuuki should never taste her, Kaname thought.

Author's Note

*Hikari means light…so that's why she said it was ironic that she had gotten too much sun. Kari should be pronounced [Car – i]…in your head (lol, where else), because it's short for Hikari

This is supposed to be a story about Yuuki and Zero, I don't know how it turned out this way. I'm hoping to get to the Yuuki/Zero part because I really feel for him and think they would be awesome together. I really have a problem with stories taking a life of their own. I know, I wrote another OC, I don't know why, probably to cause trouble. Forgive the title of the story too, I know it's cliché, but I like the song and wanted to have love in the title, so... I am being quite silly in this fic, so forgive my indulgence. This was supposed to be a short one-shot. I don't know if I'm cut out for writing one-shots. I already have too much of this story figured out, but I'm not sure if I should continue. Read and Review, pretty please.

~Willow~