"Do Not Deny Me"
Part One

"Where do you think you're going, Yuki?" Even though he wasn't facing the front doors, he caught her smell almost instantly as she emerged from her bedroom. She had just finished taking a bath and the smell of her blood and rose scented soap permeated the air surrounding him.

Yuki, who had done everything in her attempt to remain quiet while trying to sneak away from the night class dorm, froze in mid step. Although it was foolish to think that it would be easy to get outside undetected, she clenched her rust red eyes tightly shut, hoping that she might somehow magically be swallowed up by the bottom stairs.

Kaname smirked as he glanced up at her from his book. He had been standing silently next to the cold stone fireplace, almost as if he had known what Yuki had been planning all along. He was dressed in his uniform pants and black cotton button down shirt. The rest of his school attire was draped precariously on the back of one of the two couches in the center of the room.

Everything about his appearance set Yuki's blood on fire with wanting, but she doused the flame with thoughts of homework and future studying.

"It would have been easier just to leap from your bedroom window. At least from there, you wouldn't have to pretend to vanish on the spot like you are doing now." He studied her figure up and down, enjoying the view of how innocently beautiful she was. Her hair had been let down, and it tumbled long and flowing like a soft brown waterfall down her back and her gown hugged her curves delicately in a sea of cream colored silk that billowed out into a full skirt that cut off just a few inches above her knees. The smooth skin of her bare arms and shoulders beckoned him to taste her flesh, but he contained that desire with little effort.

Knowing that she had been busted, she smiled too after feeling her cheeks redden from embarrassment. "I…well it's just-"

"You have a bag in your hand and an umbrella. Going for an early morning stroll before night fall?"

Yuki glanced up and was caught in the spell of Kaname's steady crimson gaze. Lying to him was never a good idea, especially when he fed from her not long after. "I was just…going to try and enjoy what was left of the sunlight before class." She smiled sweetly, holding up her school bag which was packed with a soft pink fleece blanket and a bottle of water. Even though she knew that he would clearly be able to tell, she had hidden her blood tablets within the folds of the blanket.

"You're not tired from being up so early?" Kaname studied her face closely, knowing all too well how her mind worked from her facial tells. "The sun is not kind to such a young vampire…especially one that hasn't fed on blood for a while."

Blushing, Yuki dropped her gaze, determined to keep from having her hunger be known. "No, I'm alright, really! I'm hardly even thirsty, so going out isn't a problem for me. But I'm bringing an umbrella just in case the sun rays are a little too harsh." She lifted up the hand that held her dark purple sun protector. "See? I'll be fine…"

Her innocent smile didn't fool him but he chose to ignore it for the time being. He'd deal with her secrets later. "Why the need to be so secretive, then?"

"Huh?" Yuki blinked stupidly at him.

"I know that you were trying not to bring attention to yourself on your way out. Why were trying to be so sneaky?"

"Oh! Well…I just thought that…well, I thought that you might try to stop me." She looked back at him, instantly ensnared by his beautifully alluring crimson stare. "I guess I failed at it, didn't I?"

"I think so." The amusement in his words ignited a jolt in her heart, making it skip a beat, which did not fail in getting his full attention. Kaname snapped his book shut and set it to rest on top of the mantle above the fireplace, and he strode over to her. He smirked wickedly when he caught Yuki's heart quicken its tempo as the space between them disappeared.

Yuki swallowed the knot in her throat, desperate to diminish the fire that was rapidly drying it out. Her desire for his blood nearly drove her mad with wanting and she whimpered like a small child about to be scolded for getting in trouble. Once her fiancé reached her, she braced herself for anything that he might try and do.

Kaname's smile never wavered. Gently, he lifted a hand and placed it on her left cheek and caressed it while he gazed at her with feverish eyes. "Will you not feed before you leave? Your thirst is no doubt leaving your throat parched."

She didn't think it was possible, but she felt her heart stop upon hearing him state the obvious. "Um…" She gulped again, annoyed that her thirst was threatening to consume her. "I'm alright for right now…Perhaps after I return?"

Kaname examined her rust red eyes and body language, carefully scrutinizing whether or not he should let her go in her fragile condition. After all, nothing was more dangerous than a pureblood denying the unavoidable craving of their lover's blood. His instincts screamed at him to keep her confined, but he knew better than to hold Yuki captive. She was more than capable of finding new ways to escape binding situations. Sighing, Kaname nodded. "Very well, then." He removed his hand from her cheek and extended it for her to take.

Yuki smiled sweetly at his gesture and gladly placed her own hand into his. She allowed him to pull her down from the last remaining stair and openly accepted his kiss upon her rose tinted lips. Every touch of them against hers made her toes curl, which now, proved difficult as her white pin heals confined them tightly in the point.

Kaname pulled back to Yuki's displeasure, releasing her hand. He stepped back to give her room to move freely, and Yuki took advantage before he had a chance to change his mind. Before she slipped through the front doors, she turned and offered Kaname a loving smile, to which he returned, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'll be awaiting your return, Yuki. Don't stay out too long."

Yuki nodded. After a few seconds of watching him closely, she disappeared in the daylight, leaving Kaname to glare at the doors that she had walked through. Suddenly, the paint and plaster covering the walls surrounding the entrance of the night dorm split viciously, branching out into veins that reached as far up as the ceiling.

Outside the dorm, Yuki took off just after she heard the long awaited click of the double doors. Her destination came into view minutes later.

A vast clearing just inside the night class gate but outside the edge of the tree line came into focus and Yuki stopped in the center where she was just outside the reach of the dying sunlight. She took her time in setting up a spot in which to rest and when it was finished, she sat down on her soft pink blanket and whipped out her bottle of water and blood tablets. I know this doesn't do much…but I'm so…thirsty right now…She unscrewed the cap on the bottle and dropped several little white circular pills into the water, then watched as the clear liquid transformed into a less than appealing knock off version of blood. Despite its bland taste, she polished it off in less than a minute.

Although her thirst was diminished, it wouldn't be long before that burning sensation returned to reduce her to a bloodthirsty state. Any unsuspecting human whose scent might get swept away in a cross breeze might find themselves a victim to her selfish desires. Please be on duty, Zero…Almost instantly, the fire in her throat devoured the synthetic blood that she had just consumed and left her struggling to keep calm. Thinking of Zero's name sparked the ghost of desire to rear its ugly face. No! I can't…have him! I must…ignore him…ah! She grasped her throat and dug her nails into her own flesh, desperate to quell her sinful thoughts.

She imagined his neck, strong and powerful. She imagined his flesh, concealing the blood that flowed freely within his veins, and she wanted to sink her aching fangs deep within his throat until the sweet taste of his life quenched the burning fire-NO! Yuki removed her hands from her own neck and buried her fingers into the ground and squeezed until she felt her claws dig deep into her palms. I can't have him! I can only have…Kaname… She closed her eyes and saw the face of her beloved, watching her closely. If anything, she longed to devour his blood just as much as he longed to devour hers. I love you, Kaname…I love you so much that…I refuse to drink from you…my feelings are so torn that I deserve to suffer…I-

"Yuki?" A meek feminine voice interrupted her internal thoughts, catching her off guard.

Yuki twisted her head to the left to inspect the surrounding area and discovered that she was no longer alone in her private clearing. "Yori! What are you doing here?"

A young woman with short honey gold hair and soft brown eyes emerged from her hiding spot behind a rather large tree. She was dressed in a day class school uniform. "I wanted to come by and see you, Yuki. I've missed you."

To Yuki, Yori should have been a welcome sight, but instead, she was one of Yuki's worst nightmares coming true. The scent of her blood teased the young vampire to the point of pure madness, but she kept herself tightly bound by her own internal bonds. "Yori, I…I've missed you too, but it is too dangerous for you to be here."

The human woman shrugged her shoulders, but did not come any closer. "It's always too dangerous for me to be here, but I always come none the less to visit whenever I can get a chance." She smiled sadly from the safety of the tree line. "May I join you for a little while? It's not often that you come out during the day."

Yuki started, frightened for the safety of her dearest friend, but grateful for her familiar presence. Against her better judgment, she nodded.

Yori's smile brightened and she sprinted over to where Yuki was sitting and plopped down less than a foot from her.

Their close proximity nearly broke her. "You shouldn't have come here…I'm still very dangerous, Yori." Although she was now gazing in the direction of the fading sunlight, Yuki was able to catch Yori's reaction to her statement from the safety of her periphery. Her dearest friend was obviously troubled, since her face contorted into a mixture of countless emotions with confusion being the most prominent. Saddened by this tale-tell sign, Yuki's usual bright smile gradually turned sullen and she closed her eyes to guard their dewy appearance. After all, purebloods are never seen weeping by the judgmental eyes of the public.

"I didn't mean to sound ungrateful for your visit, as I know it took a lot of effort to even make it past the main gate with Zero on duty, but you must understand," she peaked through the sanctuary of her eyelashes, catching Yori gazing at her intently while she continued. "I haven't fed in nearly two weeks, and right now, you smell delicious. I'm afraid that if you stay in my company much longer, I might hurt you in some way, or kill you just to get at your blood. That threat will always be present with our friendship." She hung her head in shame, unsure as to why she felt so guilty for being the only person that she could be: a vampire.

Yori allowed Yuki's words to stew in her mind for a few minutes before the silence of their late afternoon get together became too deafening to handle. The young teen closed her eyes too, shielding them from the pain that the rays of the dying sun offered. "You know that I don't care about that threatening possibility, right? You would never have allowed something like that to happen while you were part of the disciplinary committee, protecting the day class students from the bloodthirsty night class. Therefore, I highly doubt you would allow yourself to go so far as to attack a friend no matter how much you might suffer for it later."

Once again, the guilt plagued Yuki's heart. "I may not be intimidating, but my appearance is deceiving. I can hurt you…"

"Yes, I know. But I also know that if you got to the point of actually attacking me, you would be able to stop yourself before you could bare your fangs against me."

Yori's declaration made Yuki feel that much guiltier. The smell of blood surging beneath her best friend's skin toyed with her senses, causing her to focus on nothing else except the idea of fulfilling the one desire that she had denied herself and her fiancé. "You are so trusting, Yori. That is a very dangerous trait to have…but I cannot change the way you think until it is too late for you."

Yori smiled despite the truth behind their painful situation and glanced up to catch Yuki's eye. "Even if you do attack me, I could never stop trusting you. I care about you too much to ever change my mind about whom and what you are. You are still the same old Yuki no matter how much you want to take my blood."

Yuki's eyes shimmered with fresh tears of complicated happiness. Even though she desired to taste her best friend's blood more than anything in that moment, she realized that no matter how strong the urge to feed was, Yori was the one person that she would protect from her own fangs to the best of her abilities. "Your confidence in me is troubling to say the least, but I will do what I can to ensure that you are protected, not just from all vampires, but from me as well." Her lips produced a weak smile to give her friend some peace of mind. "I think that we have had enough time to talk of such dark things."

Yori's own smile brightened, regardless of the tears that were now falling down her flushed cheeks. "I just have one question, though."

"What is it?"

Yori's smile faded a little, giving Yuki a cause to worry. "Yuki…why haven't you fed?"

Not expecting such a simple question, Yuki blinked several times before she lowered her head to stare blankly at the blanket that she had been sitting on. The soft pink fleece helped her focus on something other than the tantalizing smell of blood. "Did you know that when vampires take lovers, they feed off of each other instead of hunting strangers? The love that a vampire has for another makes it so that the only blood that they crave is the blood of the one they love."

"I sort of knew that. I know that Kaname's blood sustains you."

Yuki nodded while keeping her eyes plastered to the ground to avoid the judgment that was sure to come. "My blood is the only blood that Kaname craves because of his love for me, and I him…but his blood to me is not enough, Yori."

Yori's confusion was evident. "What? You mean you need more blood than what he can give you at a time?"

"No, no!" Yuki glanced sideways into the soft brown eyes of her best friend. They were watching her carefully. "My love for him is undeniable, and I always crave for his blood. He gives it to me whenever I need it, but I have been denying myself the satisfaction of his blood because…my heart also craves the blood of another."

"Yuki…you love someone else?"

Yuki hung her head in shame and nodded.

Yori sighed. "I had a feeling you did." Yuki gasped and looked back up to face her, shocked that it might have been so obvious. "Yuki, I have known you for so long that I know what you had for lunch last Tuesday because you get this happy face whenever the cooks make ginger pork stew in the café." She smiled kindly. "You love Zero…as well as Kaname. You always have but you just didn't know how much until you were brought back into the state of which you were born: being a pureblood vampire. You fed from Kaname, and then you fed from Zero. Therefore, you crave them both."

Yuki nodded. "I feel so guilty that…I don't deserve to quench my thirst. Kaname deserves more from me than what I am capable of giving. I have hurt so many people that I love, that I deserve to suffer for what I'm feeling."

"Yuki!" Horrified by this new admission, Yori leaped to her feet and glared down at the female vampire. "Why would you do this to yourself? You do not deserve this! So you are in love with them both! Big deal! You can't help who you love! You know they both are in love with you too, despite hating each other!"

"You're right, Yori…I do love them both and I know that their feelings are the same, but…it…it's a sin to want them both, and I'm selfish to assume that I can have them both. I…I don't deserve to be so happy! I don't deserve-!"

"Stop it!" Yuki snapped out of her trance-like admission, startled by Yori's harsh demand. The human teen was shaking with frustration, torn apart on this inside that she could do nothing to relieve her best friend of the guilt she was feeling, and feeling guilty herself that nothing was being done to manage Yuki's predicament. "Do they know?"

Staring blankly, Yuki stammered, "W-w-what?"

Yori snorted like a bull ready to charge for a crimson target. "Kaname and Zero! Do they know that you feel this way? Do they know that you are refusing to feed yourself because you are being stupid? Do they know?"

Yuki's jaw dropped slightly, unable to answer. Yori's sudden anger rendered her mute and dumbfounded. As far as Yuki was concerned, Yori didn't have one bitter bone in her entire tiny body and it shocked her so much that she was proven wrong, that not even her brain could predict what else might come from her friend's new attitude.

Knowing that Yori was waiting for an answer, the only thing Yuki could muster was a simple shake of the head.

"But you allow Kaname to feed from you? And Zero?"

"I do give my blood to Kaname…but Zero avoids me now. Even though I'd like to give him my blood too, I promised myself that I would only allow myself to provide for my fiancé…even though it hurts me sometimes to deny myself the feeling of relieving Zero's agony."

Yori's jaw dropped into the same position that Yuki's had been earlier. It took her a moment to collect her thoughts before she could finally speak again. "You told me once before that Zero was able to tell what your feelings were in regards to Kaname before you were released from your human form. Don't you think that you feeling this way would catch Kaname's attention too about how you feel about Zero in the taste of your blood?"

"If he has been able to tell how I've been feeling from my blood, he hasn't spoken to me about it."

"Typical stubborn male pride!" Yori snorted angrily again. Looking down at her best friend, she started to get the whole picture of what her own part would have to be in this troubled equation. "Night is almost here, Yuki. I think I need to head back to the day class dorm before I get reprimanded by Zero or attacked by someone from the night class."

"I would never let that happen to you, Yori." Yuki stood up from the ground and looked sadly upon her best friends face.

"Let what happen? Getting told off by Zero, or getting attacked by the night class?"

Yuki smiled weakly while her eyes were still shimmering with tears left unshed. "Both. Good night, Yori." Ignoring the aching hunger that tormented the inside of her throat, she stepped toward Yori and embraced her without fear.

Yori immediately responded to Yuki's hug with one of her own, not caring that at any moment, she might end up dead. "Same time tomorrow, then?"

Yuki shook her head on the crook of Yori's shoulder while fighting to hold onto her sanity as the smell of fresh blood teased her senses. "I'll send word to you when I am able to see you again. I cannot risk your safety while I am thirsty."

Yori nodded in agreement, but said nothing until they parted from their hug and she began to make her way back to the gate on the other side of the tree line. "I can't just let her suffer like this…something has to change. Soon…" She turned her head from the direction of the trees and discovered that the spot in which she had left Yuki alone was vacant. Somehow, in the few seconds in took for her to walk only a few feet, her friend had managed to leave the vicinity without so much as a sound to alert her of her departure. She's…gone. Just then, a thought occurred to her that kick started her nerve. "They need to know!" She spoke aloud to the empty silence before she turned and ran straight for the night class dorm.

Author's Note: This one took me over two weeks to complete. I have been an obsessive fan of the Vampire Knight Manga series since the release of the first book that came out years ago. I have only just now watched the anime that was inspired from it, and I never thought I would ever be inspired to produce a fanfic about it. But I must admit, I am in love with the Yuki, Kaname/Zero love triangle so much that I couldn't resist.

This fanfic takes place after Yuki, Zero and Kaname destroy Rido. In a way, this fic was more inspired from the Anime version of the series rather than the Mangas, so keep that in mind. The Anime eneded with the destruction of Rido and hasn't made any new episodes. The only difference is instead of having Yuki and Kaname leave the academy, I had them stay. They never have the conversation about her feelings for both Kaname and Zero, and that is where my fanfic comes in. This is about having Kaname and Zero confront her about keeping her love for them both a secret and stopping herself from drinking blood because of her guilt. She would rather torture herself than cause the men she loves more pain.

Thank you for reading!
OliviaAR