The Yuki I knew was now gone.

Her eyes reflected the same thirst for blood that must've mirrored my own.

She was the only thing I had left...and now she's a vampire.

The foul creatures in which I held hatred for the most.

Angry tears pricked at my eyes, but I furiously wiped them away.

Crying. It was a weakness. There was no use to cry. Yuki never existed. She was an illusion. All this time, she was a vampire. It was hidden within her, it was something I had failed to notice.

But the question that repeated in my mind repeatedly, so much that it made my head pound: Why?

"Zero?"

The familiar sweet, innocent voice called my name.

I reminded myself harshly that the voice wasn't innocent any longer. That so-called innocent voice belonged to a vampire.

"What do you want?" I replied hastily, turning my eyes to hers.

I was still a bit shocked from her new appearance.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Long cascading brunette hair, and her eyes were alive with a new energy, something seemingly...attractive, you could say. But they were still that shade of red...blood red...

"I just wanted to talk to you, Zero. Is that okay with you?"

No matter how many times I tried to reinforce myself that she wasn't the Yuki I knew, it sounded all too familiar. Her voice sounded to doubtful, and maybe a bit frightened.

I didn't understand it at all, though. She was a pureblood, like Kuran. She had the power to kill me. Why was afraid to talk to me, a vampire that was probably going to fall to a Level E soon enough anyway?

"Go ahead." I kept my arms to my sides, staring her down immensely.

"Do you hate me, Zero?"

Needless to say, the questioned surprised me. My eyes widened, a little in fear as I realized I knew so little about the answer. Did I hate her? I should. I'm supposed to. She was a vampire all along.

But my heart spoke a different language. It longed for Yuki, it said that it didn't care what she was and what she might've been, all it cared was if she was here now.

I felt the sorrowful tears build up in my eyes again.

Vampires are foul creatures...they aren't meant to exist...

But I face a problem, something I can't get past.

It's probably something I'll never get past.

I've fallen in love with a vampire.

What is there to do now? I'm a vampire myself, against my will. I'll fall to a Level E, and I'll get killed by a Vampire Hunter.

I didn't hate her at all. I knew I didn't.

I would never hate her. I would always love her no matter what she was, even though my mind spoke otherwise.

"I don't hate you," I responded clearly, letting the tears slowly fade, refusing to cry.

Yuki rushed forward and wrapped her long arms around me. She buried her face into my uniform, and I felt it getting wet.

She was crying.

"Thank god, Zero. I don't know what I would ever do if you hated me," she said in relief, still having her face buried into me. Something oddly told me that she found it comfortable.

I didn't know how to respond to her. "So you're going to go with Kuran, right? Since the academy has been destroyed."

She looked up at me with her bright eyes. "Yes. But Zero...I don't want to leave you," she continued.

"What are you talking about? You have to. You can't stay, Yuki," I reasoned with her. She couldn't stay, she was a Kuran. A pureblood. She wasn't meant to stay anywhere near the Kiryu family.

"No...I don't want to!"

I heard her start to break out into sobs.

I felt my forehead crease. "Yuki...why do you care about me?"

"Just because I'm a vampire, it doesn't mean I stopped loving you."

Those words got to me. If she really meant what she said...

"You love Kuran, don't you?" I frowned as I remember all the times she used to tell me about him.

"As my brother, of course. But I want you, Zero. I don't want to leave you. Stay with me."

My mind completely shut off.

My heart spoke this time.

"I will."

Those two words were filled with the strange happiness that I hadn't felt in a long time.