Title- Next Time

By- Envo

Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Knight.

Warning- Spoilers for recent manga chapters.

-

Next Time

-

He'll never be able to get this image of her standing before him out of his mind again if he ever lives through the experience.

With her raven hair reaching to her back dancing in the breeze along with the recently disturbed debris in the air, she manages to retain the gracefulness and stand tall with Artemis grasp firmly in her hands—in front of the pointing barrel of his Bloody Rose. Yet after all that is said and done, her red wine colored eyes remains the same when she looks into his silver ones. Calm and soothing. He expected anger or betrayal swirling in the depth of her eyes, but not this. Never this.

From the moment he enters the household of Kurosu Kaien and into the presences of Kurosu Yuuki—or should it be Kuran Yuuki—he has lived a life of painful lies. After the massacre of his family, he convinced himself that he is strong enough to fight off the temptation the scent of blood often calls to him. As a descendant from the renowned Kiryuu family, the vampire hunters, it is a disgrace to fall to the same levels as those vampires. But seeing the evidence sitting on his neck that day has open his eyes and forces him to look at the truth before his very eyes.

That woman's blood flows within his veins, slowly burning away bits and pieces of his remaining humanity. He is turning vampire, no matter how unwilling he may be.

Then there are those years when he fights bitterly to control his blood lust, to not lash out and hurt the one who accepts him without a second thought. He clings to Yuuki like a drowning man to a raft; to him, she is the last defense when his vampire urges nearly consumes him, the tiny bit of sanity that is left in him. She gives in to every one of his requests without a question, yet the only thing he has in return is the burning sensation of pain when his fangs pierced her skin as he takes her life-giving fluid into his body, starves of fresh blood. Inside, he is filled with guilt, but whenever their eyes meet and her eyes lit up, he just can't bring himself to confess to her his worry, his guilt, and his pain.

And now he stands in the ruins of rocks and large chunks of building parts with his Bloody Rose, bearing the intent to kill, to end it all. He knows that once the trigger is pulled, there will be no turning back; he will not miss. The stench in the air wafts gently across the space and pricks his sensitive sense of smell: the sweet yet strong scent of warm blood. An ancient bloodline. The Purebloods. The hand holding the lethal weapon tightens. The hatred he bears for all Purebloods and vengeance for manipulating his life drives him to pull the trigger and end all his misery, but it is the look in Yuuki's eyes that jolts him out of his haze of red and forces him to turn away from the sincerity blazing in her eyes. He can't do it, just can't.

Very slowly, he lowers Bloody Rose with his eyes still averts from her searching ones.

"It will be the last time you breathe should our eyes meet the next time."

He swears to the sun and the moon, to the stars and the sky that the next time they see each other, one of them will fall; that one of them will have their hands stain with another's blood. But really, deep down, he knows he won't be able to fulfill his half of that promise. Not now; not ever.

Excuses after excuses he made up, in the end, they are still excuses that avoids the real problem. Resolves, revenge, none of it matters. There will never be a day can he look into Kuran Yuuki's eyes and be able feel the rush to kill, be it Pureblood or not.

Somewhere inside him tingles with unease when sadness creeps into her expressive eyes, but he waves it off. Without looking back, he walks away. From them, from her, from what they had.

He is the one walking away all along, a mere pawn after all. The thought left an unpleasant taste in his mouth, but even the bitterness can not be conceal by the small lift of lips .

There will never be a next time, he'll make sure of it.

A/N: First time writing a present tense story like this surprises me. It's a lot harder than what I imagine it would be, but then again, my grammar isn't perfect either (posting this in the middle of the night, so very, very minimum revising is done).

Also another first timer for writing VK fics. Definitely a different touch from what I used to write, but it's different enough to make it interesting. As some might notice, this scene is entirely based off on the very recent manga series in VK with just a tad twist in the end (well, we don't really know the ending of their 'fight' just yet...).

The relationship between Zero and Yuuki isn't very apparent in this fic, it's the 'squint-to-see' kind of thing I am aiming for.

So here you go, hope you enjoy.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are greatly welcome and appreciated!

Envo 10/25