Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight or any of its characters.

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The Cursed Princess

by: asphodel9

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CHAPTER ONE

Snow

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She screamed as she fell. Her hands grasped desperately for something — anything. Her frantic fingers met nothing but airand emptiness. She didn't want to die. Not here, not like this. Not when she promised him.

Leafless branches tore and scraped at her face. Large, dark birds screeched agitatedly as the girl whipped past their perches. Screaming still, she fell through the barren trees and hit the snowy earth. The impact stunned her, knocking air out of her small body. At first she laid completely still. However, soon she began to breathe, slowly, painfully. She was alive.

Her limbs ached all over as she tried to get up. She felt battered and bruised. Her head pounded. Wincing, the girl opened her eyes and glanced around. Nothing but whiteness. The land, the trees — everything was coated in a thick blanket of snow. Confused, she looked up at the sky, where she had fallen through the trees. Flakes of pure whiteness drifted down toward her. She captured a tiny flake in her hand.

"Snow...?" Yuuki murmured, eyes wide in amazement. Surely, it couldn't be snowing. Not when it was bright summer on the cliffs above, where she had been frolicking in the blossoming meadows before her foot slipped. How is it even possible...? Yuuki blinked. As if suddenly awakened from a trance, she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Now isn't the time to think," Yuuki chided herself, pinching her cheeks with the two of her hands. "Zero must be so worried by now. I must find my way back up there."

The girl got up from the snow and started trudging her way through the trees. She shivered and bit her lip as a chilly gust of wind blew past her. She didn't know where she was going, but at least she could try to find someone who could help her find her way back...

Then Yuuki suddenly stopped. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She felt someone behind her, watching her from the shadows.

"Perhaps," Yuuki thought silently to herself, "he can help me." She wasn't even sure how she knew that the person was a he. She didn't even know whether there really was a person behind her. However, one thing she did know.

She was afraid of him.

Without looking back, she quickened her footsteps. She heard heavy footsteps — the sound of crushing ice — following swiftly behind her. Chasing her. Now she knew she wasn't just being paranoid. Her blood froze as she heard him growl. An inhuman, bone-chilling sound.

She broke into a run.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she fought against the snow. The harder she tried to run, the closer he seemed to get. With a scream, she tripped and fell forward onto the snow. Quickly, she flipped around, bracing herself for the worst. She blinked. No one was there. She surveyed the soulless landscape in front of her. The same ghastly, crooked trees. The same never-ending whiteness. Still, no one in sight.

Yuuki released a sigh of relief. "Perhaps I have lost him," she thought. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her wildly racing heart. Now wasn't the time to rest. She must try to get back home. She must find Zero. Climbing to her feet, Yuuki shivered against the cold air.

"Boo," hissed a rancid breath into her ear.

Screaming, Yuuki whipped her head around and came face-to-face with a monster.

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Zero searched through the grassy fields, looking for his childhood friend. He was worried. He had nearly turned over every rock in the meadow trying to look for Yuuki. He stared down over the cliff. There was no way any girl could be stupid enough to fall off a cliff by herself, right? Zero contemplated for a while. Then he frowned.

With Yuuki, anything was possible.

Clenching his fists, he yelled her name into the darkening sky, yearning for a response. It was almost nightfall. She had promised to celebrate his birthday with him. He had secretly been happy, even though he pretended not to care. In the depths of his mind, he was afraid of letting her find out about his feelings. She never noticed the way he looked at her. Perhaps he was afraid of her response if she did find out.

Ever since they were kids, she had treated him like a brother, telling him that she would always be beside him and protect him. They weren't even blood related, for goodness's sake. They were both orphans adopted by a kind, loving, elderly couple. But he never did once look at Yuuki as a sister.

Her existence was the only light in his life.

Zero glanced down the cliff again, carefully this time. There were footprints in the sand. His heart lurched. It was a long way down. The valley was so deep that it was completely engulfed in darkness. No shred of light allowed him to see what lay within the darkness. His heart raced in fear.

He didn't need to know what was down there. After all, the darkness there was where he came from. As a kid, he thought he had buried his past. He had told himself that he would never return to that dark, filthy place again.

Zero's heart pounded painfully, his mind frantic with worry.

He had to face his nightmares. For Yuuki.

She had vanished. She was alive. She had to be. And he was going to look for her.

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Darkness.

Yuuki tried to open her eyes. She was being carried by someone, her body hanging limply in a strong pair of arms.

"The monster?!" Yuuki panicked and began to struggle. She remembered a pair of crimson, blood-shot eyes. And teeth. Sharp teeth. Fear and revulsion stirred in her stomach. He had wanted to eat her. She opened her mouth to scream, but a cool, comforting hand touched her face, tracing her cheekbones.

"Hush," commanded a clear, soothing voice. A beautiful yet sad voice vastly different from the monster's. "Yuuki."

At the sound of her name, her eyes shot open. How did he know her name? She stared at the stranger's face and her eyes widened. He was beautiful, with dark, haunting eyes. Dark hair framed his face. But his skin — that flawless, marble-white skin — was dripping in blood. His clothes, his arms, his hands were soaked in blood. Fear rose in her heart.

And he was holding her. She looked down at herself and nearly fainted. Her clothes and skin were also stained with a deep red. Her blood...?

"Not yours," he whispered, as if reading her mind. He hugged her tightly against him when she shivered, his breath hot against her neck. She glanced over his shoulder and saw a dead, bloodied wolf. Werewolf. She had heard tales about creatures of the dark, but she had never believed in them. They were old wives' tales, or so she had thought. She shivered again.

"D-Did you... kill him...?" her voice trembled as she spoke. "He wanted to... hurt me."

"He deserved to die," he stated darkly, vehemently.

"I am so glad you are safe, Yuuki," he murmured against her skin. "I am so glad I have finally found you."

"W-Who are you?" she blushed. Yuuki tried to lean away. She had never hugged any guy other than Zero and her foster father. The stranger felt so foreign yet so familiar, as if they had had known each other forever. Except that wasn't possible, of course...

She looked wonderingly into his eyes, forgetting about the blood and the cold. She was mesmerized by his beauty. He was so perfect, it was almost inhuman. She wanted to touch his skin, to run her hands down the smooth texture of his muscles, but she felt embarrassed by the weird feelings she was experiencing.

"My name is Kaname," he stated slowly as he stared deeply, yearningly into her eyes. Yuuki blushed. She wasn't used to being looked at like that by members of the opposite gender. Zero was the only guy she knew, and he treated her like a friend or sister.

"H-How do you know my name...?" she stammered as she lowered her head to conceal her embarrassment. She felt confused about her reactions.

Slowly, he lifted her chin with his fingertips.

"Because I am your brother, Yuuki."

To be continued...