It was a nice warm morning at Cross Academy. The Day Class students were, as usual, at the gates of the Moon Dorms waiting for the Night Class to make their appearance. And also, as usual, Yuuki was there, trying to keep the Day Class girls in line. Zero was not there this morning to help her, much to her dismay. In any case, she always expected him to be late, or otherwise, not show up at all. 'I'll have to scold him later for not showing up today.' She thought to herself reluctantly. It was like a pointless routine. She was always the one there in the morning, Zero would either show up late or not show up at all, she would end up either getting trampled or embarrass herself when the Moon Dorm's gates would open, later she would find Zero sluffing or sleeping in the stables with that creepy white mare, he would give her either the cold shoulder or the silent treatment and leave, they would patrol at night, then turn in. Then, she would walk to class half-asleep and just pass out in class. The teacher would then slam his heavy book on her desk right in front of her or scream at her, Yori would chide her and ask her questions, to which she would be too tired to answer. She was then jolted out of her thoughts at the Day Class girls screaming and glaring at her. She flinched back as some of their words hit her, and she ended up just looking down and taking it all. "Hey, leave her alone, you little pests!" Zero…The Day Class girls screamed in fright and ran as he gave them a fierce glare.
She looked up just as he turned to look at her. She was surprised when his brows furrowed slightly in concern. "Yuuki… Are you okay?" She looked in confusion at him. She opened her mouth to say she was fine, but nothing came out. She then felt something warm and wet slide down her cheeks and her eyes became so blurry, Zero's form became nothing but a blur. She realized she was crying. Zero's hand came up to her wet face and his thumb wiped away some tears from her eye. "Yuuki, you shouldn't let their words get to you. They're just jealous." She could only respond with a little whimper. She let out a little grunt of surprise as he pulled her in and held her, one of his large warm hands on the back of her head while the other was on the small of her back. She heard him whisper in her ear, "It's alright…" Her hands slowly came up and placed themselves on his shoulder-blades, her fingers slowly clenching his jacket. "B-But… W-What if they're right? What if I am just g-getting in the way?" She felt Zero shake his head and push her back gently, forcing her to look up at him. His silver eyes were burning into her chocolate brown ones, and she almost looked away from their intensity. "You need to be stronger than this, Yuuki. Since when do you listen to a word they say? Anyone who does what they tried to do to you is pathetic." Her eyes widened at his words. He was so angry about this! She'd seen him angry at the Day Class girls before, but never like this! "I should kill them for what they said to you." Yuuki vigorously shook her head. "No, Zero that won't be necessary at all. You're right; I do need to be stronger than this… I don't know why I let them get to me."