AN: This is after episode 13 when Kaname makes Zero a vampire.

This is not the way things work!

After he was locked up for his safety Yuuki hadn't seen Zero once and was worrying about him. For his safety... she repeated in her head. Did that mean he had already fallen to Level E? No, that couldn't be! It was way to soon. She didn't want to lose him so early.

During her night patrol there was nothing else on her mind. She walked through the garden and stopped by the fountains. She sat down and closed her eyes, reliving the past time she'd spent with Zero, recalling what they'd been through together. And now it would all come an end? No way! She'd sworn herself to save Zero from becoming a vampire and falling to Level E. She couldn't stand this loser feeling.

She opened her eyes slowly to see Zero standing right in front of her. The sudden sight of him let her skip a heartbeat.

"Zero," she whispered.

"Yuuki. What are you doing here? Why aren't you patrolling?" he asked her.

"Zero!" she cried, jumped to her feet and hugged him. "What happened? Where've you been all the time? I've been so worried about you!"

"Yuuki, let me go. I can't breathe," Zero answered, gasping for breath. Yuuki let go and looked at him questioningly. He took some deep breaths and said. "You sure got a lot of questions."

"Of course I do! I followed you the other day and I found you gasping on the ground, bound to fall to Level E! I ran away for help and when I returned you were gone and the chairman told me they'd taken you away for safety!"

"Yes, that's right. But as you can see I'm fine now. Besides, from now on there's no need to fear falling to Level E any longer."

"Why?" she asked and added mumbling to herself. " The only way to save a potential vampire from falling to Level E is for him to drink the blood of a pure blood."

"Well, I guess this is what happened then," Zero said casually but regretted it at once.

"WHAT?!"

Yuuki stood there in shock. Fear, anger, confusion; it all occupied her mind. She knew Hiou Shizuka was dead. So who?

"Who?!" she demanded after finally finding her voice again.

"Believe you honestly don't want to know," Zero evaded. How would she react if she found out?

"Tell me! Now! Who!"

"Yuuki, don't cry. People will hear."

"I don't care!!" Yuuki cried even louder.

"Alright alright," Zero sighed. "It was Kuran."

"Kaname-senpai?" she repeated with a much lower voice than before.

"Yes. He came to visit me in the tower where they kept me tied up so I wouldn't hurt anyone. He offered me to drink his blood so I would not fall to Level E and keep my sanity," Zero explained.

Yuuki wasn't even listening to him. She was still shocked by the fact that Kaname had made Zero a vampire. Zero – a vampire? Hell no!

"Why did you do that, Zero? I thought..."

He cut her off. "I thought you know me. Know that I'd rather fall to Level E than accept his blood. But my mind shut down. I didn't have any control over myself. So my blood lust did it in the end. Well..." he changed his mind. "Maybe not. Maybe I wanted it so I wouldn't be able to hurt you or force you to hurt me as I know you would have never been able to shoot me."

"No. That's not right." Yuuki shook her head hard. "That should have never happened! How could you let yourself in for it?!" she shouted.

"But isn't this what you have planned anyway? Having me drink Shizuka's blood?"

"No! It was only the very last option!"

"Yuuki, does this all matter at all?" Zero questioned her. "Seriously, isn't it more important that I'm alive and sane?"

"No!" she cried. "Because I've never wanted you to become a vampire all along! This is not the way things work, Zero!"

With these words she left him, running off. She ran as fast as she could not minding where. The recent conversation was playing in her mind. She was still in shock. She could hardly think. But running away seemed to be the perfect idea. She didn't pay attention where she was running to until she ran into someone.

"I'm sor-", she began but when she saw who was standing in front of her the words stopped halfway. "Kaname."

"Yuuki, open your eyes." Then he noticed that she was deeply upset. "What's going on? Why are you so upset?"

"Let me go!" she cried warding off his embrace. "How could you do that to Zero?!"

"Yuuki, it was the only way to save him. He would have fallen to Level E soon. I saved him. I thought you wanted him to be saved."

"This is not the way I imagined!" she argued back, avoiding his gaze.

"You mustn't accuse Zero of it. He really didn't have a choice," Kuran tried to calm her down.

"I don't!" Yuuki cried. "I'm accusing you! I hate you!"

She left him too, running inside the academy to her room, slamming the door shut. She locked it and threw herself onto her bed where she started to cry helplessly. The shock slowly faded away. Her senses and her mind returned. The sobs stopped and she started to think about everything. About Zero, about Kaname, about former, happy times, about the times she allowed Zero to drink her blood. Her memories were stuck in the past.

Since they had met the first time she and Zero were close friends, best friends. They had no worries and were enjoying each day with no regret. They had both done their duties as prefects not ever considering it all would turn out the way it did in the end. Was this their destiny? His destiny? To become a vampire all along? If it was then all the hunter training he had absolved had been for nothing and waste of time.

Yuuki still didn't understand it all. Didn't Zero despise vampires? They had killed his parents and Hiou Shizuka had done some serious brain washing to his brother Ichiru. So why would he choose to become a vampire just to save his life? This wasn't like him at all. This wasn't the Zero she knew.

No, she didn't want him to be a vampire. She'd wanted to save him as a human. This had been her goal. She had let him drink her blood which was typical for a vampire but just because she wanted to help him, ease his pain and still his hunger. Maybe she shouldn't have let him. Maybe she shouldn't have cared about it. Maybe she should have never let herself get so deep involved with him.

Another thing that made her angry was that Kaname-senpai, her Kaname, had done it. She had said it and she meant it. She hated him for this. Her love for him was overcome with that hate. She didn't blame Zero. She could imagine that when about falling to Level E he really wouldn't have had a choice if he was temped by Kaname who offered his blood for him to drink. She felt some of betrayed by Kaname, by everything but Zero. She let him out of it. She didn't want to blame him or to hate him. This was something she could never do.

She felt like she had lost a very close person forever. She suddenly felt so alone in the world that she actually wished for some comfort. Yori-chan was home with her parents during vacation. She looked so small in the seemingly large room. Now she blamed herself for shouting at Zero. She should have stayed calm so they could talk things over. Oh, how she wished him to be with her right now...

As if he had caught her suddenly there was a knock on the door. Yuuki jolted up and stared at the door.

"Who's there?" she asked, trying to sound more interested than down.

"It's me," Zero's voice came through the door. "Can I come in?"

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk. Please open the door."

Yuuki slowly slid off her bed and headed to the door. She unlocked the door and opened it. Zero was shocked at her small crying form.

"Yuuki..."

"I'm sorry, Zero. For shouting at you," she cried silently when she shut the door after he had entered.

Zero could not but take her into his arms and give her comfort.

"I'm sorry, Yuuki. I didn't figure it would upset you so much," he apologized.

Yuuki held on tight to his embrace. "I wanted to save you," she explained between heavy sobs. "But as I human. I wanted to keep you the way you are. I didn't want you to become something else. Of course I'm glad you're alive."

"Yuuki, listen to me." He tilted her head back so she would face him directly. "I know I've become something else. I'm a vampire now. Something I always despised. But I promise you I didn't and won't ever become somebody else. I'll always remain who I am. My body might have been affected by the transformation but not my mind and soul."

"I thought I had lost you forever," she said.

"You never will," he promised and hugged her tightly.