A/N: Hey guys! I'm here with another story just to keep people reading while they wait for other stories (mine or otherwise) to be updated. I honestly don't know how these stories are turning out, but hopefully they're coming well! Without further ado, here's the first chapter of One Life to Live, my first actual fanfiction with Vampire Knight!

-PROLOGUE-

"You're going to be okay. Just keep breathing,Hitomi,"

Everything was a blur, like something was in my eyes. I tried to look around, but I had no energy.

"What's happening?" I wanted to scream, but my chest was tight; it felt like I couldn't breathe.

"Let's get her to the ER. We'll stabilize her there."

I awoke to the sound of shallow breaths. My eyes opened slowly, trying to adjust to the brightness of the room.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake, Hitomi!"

I knew that voice; it was my mother's. I could feel her sitting at the side of my bed.

"It was really bad this time. You fell during school and there was no one around when it happened." she explained.

I glanced at her, seeing the truth in her eyes behind the heavy tears.

Please, Mom. Don't cry like that. It's not your fault.

"I'm just so glad we made it in time!" The tears continued to fall as she smiled down at me.

I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and scream at her, tell her not to smile or show false happiness, to not cry in front of me as if I was already dead, but I couldn't regain control of my body; all I could do was lie on the hospital bed without saying or doing a single thing.

Why me? I couldn't help but ask myself. Why did I have to get this disease instead of someone else?

-6 MONTHS EARLIER-

"Hitomi, hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" my mom called from downstairs.

I was groggy and tired, but I woke up anyway, since it it was the beginning of the new semester, and I couldn't risk being late and taking part in morning exercises.

That's right, I thought, I'll be entering high school this semester.

Being a high schooler was completely different than being a grade schooler; all of a sudden, people cared about how they looked, who they talked to, how they spent their time, all those insignificant details that made life complicated. I say this, but I'm also one of those people. High school was another chance for me to start over again and set my own path.

I must have been looking in the mirror too long admiring my uniform; it was much different that my middle school uniform—much more pronounced and vibrant—because my mom was yelling from the kitchen repeatedly.

"Hitomi! Come on! You'll be late!"

I grabbed my schoolbag, jumped down the stairs, and ran out the door while putting my shoes on.

"I'm off!" I exclaimed as I began to ride my bike.

"Have a safe trip, and don't forget to eat something!" my mom said as she watched me leave.

Tori High School was about a fifteen-minute bike ride from my house, which wasn't so bad compared to walking from home. I decided to apply to Tori High because it was one of the top-ranking high schools in the prefecture, and because my friends Miyuko and Yui applied there. We'd been in the same classes since preschool, and we've always tried to continue that until we graduated and left for college.

The bike ride went by fairly quick, and I found myself at the entrance gate of Tori High School, where I got off and walked beside my bike to meet up with Miyuko and Yui before the entrance ceremony began.

"Hitomi! There you are!"

Someone behind me tackled me to the ground in a giant hug. It hurt, but when I saw who it was I felt that being glomped to the ground was worth it.

"Yui, you could be normal and hug me after I see you..." I breathed.

Yui helped me up and smiled. "That's not fun," she said, "And that's not me."

I shrugged. It was true; Yui was someone who went against the norm and stayed that way no matter what other people thought of her.

"You guys haven't changed at all." Miyuko came from the other direction and poked my cheek.

"Neither have you. And don't poke my cheek when I haven't turned my head to look at you yet." I rubbed my cheek to ease the pain; Miyuko's cheek pokes were more like deadly jabs.

"Love you too. Come on, we'll be late for the ceremony." Miyuko dragged us to the gym as she said it.

April 2, 8:00 AM

Nikki-e,

The school year has finally started, making me officially a high schooler! I've been waiting so long for this, and now that it's finally happening my thoughts are jumbled. Now that I'm a high schooler, I can start all over again and do things I never thought I'd do as a grade schooler. It's kind of scary to think that I'm getting older every year, but I hope to enjoy it to the best of my ability!

It's only the start of the second day, but popularity contests have already begun. Not that I care. Anyways, I guess I've been chosen as the female class representative. The male representative is a guy named Zero Kiryuu, and he looks like he doesn't talk much. I don't know why, but he keeps giving everyone really cold stares. Whenever he glares at me it gives me the shivers, but I just ignore him. He's kind of hard to ignore, because he sits right behind me, and I'm pretty sure he whispers to himself.

I'm not being judgmental, but Kiryuu-kun seems like someone I should avoid as much as possible, so I will. I feel like I'm writing too much about him, so I'll stop writing right now. Class is about to start anyway.

I closed my diary, glad to get all my thoughts out before the teacher came in and started to take attendance. It was also kind of frustrating, too, because the teacher, Tohru-sensei, was the kind of creeper who would read someone's deepest secrets if he ever got his hands on them; I've had to be extra careful to hide my diary during the school day just in case.

"Alright, everyone, settle down," Tohru-sensei began, "I'd like the class reps to pass out the future aspiration forms."

Kiryuu-kun and I stood up as the class gave a collective groan. It seemed funny to me; all of us have in mind what we want for our future, but we don't want to write it down and make it set in stone.

Tohru-sensei set the forms on his desk for us to hand out. I gave Kiryuu-kun his stack to hand out, and our fingers accidentally touched. I looked up at him, scared that he'd give me a glare even icier than all the ones he's given before, but instead I saw a mixture of slight surprise, anger, and fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," I bowed a little and turned away, not understanding the emotions that he felt. I guess I'll just ignore it; it's not something I should worry about or poke my nose into, I thought as I passed out the forms.

Looking at the form, it wasn't much of a big deal to begin with; in its simple format, it was an assortment of questions regarding future career, college choices, occupation, and the like, as well as some pertaining to personality and ideal life. Sitting in front of my own form after passing out the rest, I filled it out with ease, barely giving myself room for second thoughts. I've always had in mind what I wanted my future to be; going to college at Tokyo University, becoming a middle school teacher with a high degree, marrying someone who'd love me for who I was and create my own family, making as many memories of my life as possible before those final moments in old age.

"Well, you sure have high ambitions," someone hovered above me.

"There's nothing wrong with hoping, Kiryuu-kun. What about you? Did you fill out your form?"

There was a slight pause. I took the chance to turn and face him, only to find his face inches from mine. The look in his eyes was like he was restraining himself from something, filled with a strong force of emotions.

It felt strange; his face was just inches from mine, and I didn't feel scared. My instincts told me to scream and run, but looking into his eyes, filled with so many emotions, I just couldn't; besides, it would be troublesome to explain myself later.

"...mi. Hitomi. Hey, Hitomi!"

"Eh?" I looked around, semi-dazed. The classroom was mostly empty, save for Yui and Miyuki, who were waiting near the door, looking at me like I'd died.

"What happened?" I asked, still half asleep.

"You were dead asleep all through class, and the teacher was really mad. You have supplementary classes after school today and for the rest of the week."

I turned my head around. "Kiryuu-kun?" Why are you still..."

He smiled. "You're not the only one who sleeps in class. I've got supplementary lessons too."

That was a surprise; it was funny how Kiryuu-kun always slept through class and kept the highest grades in the class. At the same time, it was pretty amazing, too.

I turned to Yui and Miyuki. "Sorry, you two. I guess I won't be able to come today, though we had things planned." I apologized.

Miyuki smiled. "Don't worry. It's important for you to study. Exams are coming up, so we can hold off our plans until afterwards."

"Thanks, Miyuki, you're such a big help."

"No problem. Come on, Yui, let's go." Miyuki dragged her from the classroom as they made fun of eachother on the way home.

I sighed, thinking of how great it was to have best friends like them.

"You do realize supplementary classes don't start for another hour, right?" Kiryuu-kun remarked.

"Of course I know. It's unnecessary for them stay longer than the end of school. Besides, if they don't go home their parents worry." I replied.

"Then what are you going to do until classes start?"

"I'll just walk around the halls for a while." I started to get up, but something stopped me; like my feet were glued to the ground. It spread to the rest of my body, rendering me unable to move at all.

Kiryuu-kun noticed the hesitation. "What's wrong? I thought you were heading out." he said simply.

The stiffness that plagued my body was gone almost as fast as it came. "I am, I guess I just sat too long." With that I practically ran out the door, leaving my bag and coat behind.

I somehow ended up inside the girls' bathroom, but it was relaxing to be alone for some time. I quickly turn the faucet on to wash my face.

"There's no need for you to wash only your face," a girl's voice said behind me.

Suddenly I was pushed inside one of the stalls and locked in.

"Who is that? What are you doing?" I banged on the door as hard as I could, trying to get out.

"Oh, stop it. No one can hear you. We're the only ones here," was another girl.

"What do you want from me? I haven't done anything to you."

"Don't act so innocent, Hitomi-chan. We know what you're trying to do."

An abrupt burst of cold, semi-dirty water came from over the stall door, landing on my head. It surprised me, but now I was drenched, despite covering my head with my arms.

"Don't ever try to get close to Kiryuu-kun. He's ours." The sound of the bucket falling to the ground was followed by footsteps as the girls walked out, leaving me locked inside the stall.

"Hey! Let me out!" I banged on the door again, this time harder, hoping someone would hear. The water's chill went through my skin, sending shivers down my body. My knees gave way, not allowing any more energy to be spent. I sat there, shivering from the cold, the water beneath me not helping either.

"Hitomi! Where are you?" a voice called. It sounded close yet distant, but I couldn't answer back because I had no energy left. All I could do was sit there against the wall and wait for the voice to come closer.

The bathroom door slammed open, a pair of feet walked in. The stall door clicked as it unlocked, revealing Zero Kiryuu-kun himself.

"Hitomi? What happened here?" He helped me stand, since I was too exhausted to do so myself.

"Gosh, you're freezing." There was the ruffled sounds of clothing, and a jacket on my shoulders.

I was in a terrible state; I didn't notice how badly I was shivering until Kiryuu-kun put his arms around me to steady my weight.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

I looked at him with a half-tired, half-incredulous look. "Why does it matter to you? I'm just someone in your class. You don't know me at all." I didn't like saying it, but it had to be said.

His expression was unreadable. "I didn't want to be the only one to listen to a boring sensei reteach a lesson that the both of us slept through the first time. That's all there is to it."

I was quiet for what seemed like a long time.

"I seriously am going to drop you if you keep saying nothing." Kiryuu-kun was carrying me back to the classroom, where I thankfully had an extra pair of clothes in my bag.

"What am I supposed to say? I'm tired, I'm wet, and I'm cold. There. Happy?" I wasn't in the mood to talk, not after those girls just dumped a giant bucket of water on me.

Kiryuu-kun never said a word after that.

When we entered the classroom, he set me down.

"I'll wait outside while you change," he said.

I gave him a nod, then quickly closed the door behind him. I stood there for a moment, letting my feet get used to the ground, then ran to my bag. As I unzipped it, something fell out. I bent down to pick it up, and realized it was a shred of cloth.

"Oh, no." I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the extra clothes; they were torn to shreds by what looked to be scissors. I tossed them aside and realized something else: my diary wasn't in my bag.

"This can't be happening." I felt like punching the wall, but I knew better. Instead I used the back door to leave the classroom, not realizing I dropped Kiryuu-kun's blazer behind. I didn't want to burden him any more than I already had.

As soon as I left the room I ran down the hall to all the possible place the diary could be.

"Hey, are you looking for this?"

I looked behind me, instantly recognizing the voice as one of the girls' who had locked me in the bathroom. She was holding the diary in front of her for me to see.

"Give it back. Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that aren't yours?" I didn't let the desperation slip even though it was overwhelming.

"Why don't you take your own advice and stay away from Kiryuu-kun? Besides, you don't stand a chance against us." one of the girls laughed.

The girl holding my diary flung it out the window, then held up the lock. "Oops, sorry, my hand slipped."

I didn't hear the rest of it; as soon as the diary left her hand I ran outside to where it fell.

The courtyard was almost as big as the school, surrounded by a maze of rose bushes and fields of lavender among lilies and cherry blossom trees. It didn't sound like much, but it was a place to see rather than describe.

In the center was a large rectangular waterscape, complete with a center line of fountains, which were on and shooting lazy rockets of water into the air. My diary was in the very center, open and drenched, just barely floating on the surface of the pool. Not bothering to take off my uniform jacket, I trudged into the fountain towards my diary. The fountain water, despite looking relaxed, was much higher than I expected, and in no time I was completely soaked through. Again.

Well, at least the fountain water's better than bathroom water, right? I thought sarcastically.

I grabbed my diary just before it sank. Not that it helped. Flipping through the drenched pages, the water from the rockets hid the tears that fell. All the ink was smudged, destroying all those years of memories that I only kept to myself and on the pages. All the frustrations I vented, the thoughts that passed; all of it was gone.

I trudged my way out of the fountain, but slipped and fell face-first into the water. I didn't realize how deep the fountain actually was, or how it sloped deeper, like a swimming pool. To make matters worse, I was never the best swimmer, and gave up trying to learn.

So I was basically drowning. In a fountain. The only thing that was going through my head was, What a great way to die.

Somewhere in the back of my subconscious, I heard someone shout my name, then splashes that came closer. My vision was blurring from the tears I cried and the exhaustion I felt, so I couldn't see the person's face when they were right above me; all I saw was a hazy shadow.

"You're so hopeless," it was a guy's voice, one that I recognized, but it sounded distant and was hard to pinpoint. He lifted me up in his arms, and a rush of cold air hit me, made me feel worse.

Sputtering and coughing, I tried to look up at his face, but my head felt impossibly heavy, so I rested it against his chest instead.

He carried me over to a bench and lay me there, then crouched next to me on the floor.

"Hey, don't close your eyes. Just stay awake. Look at me." His hands cupped my face and turned it toward his. They were warm, which made me want to sleep, but I didn't.

His eyes were the only vivid thing I could see; they were a piercing lilac, with a hint of silver. He took his hand to his mouth and then placed it in mine, filling it with a warm liquid. I drank, feeling the warmth disperse to the rest of my body, and then everything went black.