Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Night and am making no profit from this story.

Enjoy!

Warning: spoilers for recent manga chapters abound here!

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Snap.

Body not moving, her alert eyes darted towards the noise.

Yuuki caught her breath at what she saw.

There he was, standing there.

Dark. Black as night.

Her mind told her that he could be here to kill Sarah or hurt Zero or any number of other things and she vaguely remembered Zero's warning last week that maybe Kaname would hurt her when he saw her next as well. . . . She was a pureblood, after all.

But suddenly, she found she could care less about that.

All that mattered was him. In front of her.

She ran.

So close.

Her feet sprinted the distance between them, her heart pounding in her chest as she hoped against hope that he wouldn't disappear into a hundred bats the moment she stepped too close.

Nearly stumbling and falling - still an oxymoronic, clumsy vampire, after all this time - she righted herself and continued her race towards him.

Kaname. Here. He is here. He has not left me - he is not leaving me. Not yet.

He hadn't moved. He still stood there, watching her - waiting too, she hoped.

Yuuki fell into him.

Her hands grasped his upper arms, her face buried in his trench coat. His arms came around her, holding her up as her legs gave out and she let her feet dangle to the ground. She held on to him tighter.

Here. You are here.

Warmth. He felt warm and alive and he smelled like Kaname. Kaname. Kaname. Kaname. Kaname. His name echoed in her head and she couldn't have said when she started speaking it out loud as well.

"Kaname. Kaname. Kaname," she whispered.

His hold on her tightened, but he said nothing. Yuuki hardly noticed, caring only for his presence, that he had not teased her with a glimpse of him and left her alone once again.

"Oh, Kaname." Tears began to fall and she tried to stop them. She moved a quick hand from his arm to start wiping them away - she had been chastised by scandalized nobles often enough regarding her tears for it to be a habit.

She brushed them away and Kaname pulled her closer for a moment. She reveled in hearing his heart beat beneath her ear, in knowing he was safe. That he was here, pulling her towards him.

He moved her slightly away and traced a hand down her cheek, wiping away salty tear remnants.

"Yuuki," he finally spoke.

"Kaname," she repeated. "You're here," she said, at a loss for words.

He inclined his head.

She reached up to cup his cheek in her hand, brushing her thumb over his skin. She took in his face, his weary, worn out face. She wondered if she could tell how he was feeling because she knew him, or if he was intentionally letting his guard down. Probably the latter, she supposed.

Stress lined his brow, and she moved her hand up to soothe the creases away.

"What are you doing, Kaname?" she finally asked in a whisper. "What on earth are you doing? I don't understand - no one does."

He shook his head, "No, Yuuki. Trust me."

She frowned at him. "I do, but, Kaname, you haven't been making any sense." She tore her eyes away from his and stared hard at his chest, still deciding whether to say the words that came to her mind, that she had been thinking in secret for weeks. "Kaname," she pleaded. "I don't understand . . ." she bit her lip before continuing. "All you seem to be doing is hurting people." She tightened her grip on him and allowed some of her pent up anger to expose itself. "Why? Why must you do this?"

His hand soothed a path down her spine.

"It's better if you don't know."

She pulled back in sudden annoyance, and he dropped his arms.

"Kaname," she said, feeling rejected. "Why can't you trust me with this?" Yuuki demanded. "How can you let me constantly defend you while I'm not sure what you are doing - while I start to question why you are doing this . . . why I am still supporting you," she ended quietly.

A lone tear trailed down her cheek. He lifted it off, onto his finger.

"This is something I must do."

He sounded so confident, like the Kaname she knew, not the one who had been making mysterious and questionable decisions in the past weeks.

"Why are you hurting innocent people? What have they done to deserve your anger, Kaname?"

His eyes softened as he looked down at her.

"Yuuki," he said, his voice swirling around her, embracing her. "They are hardly innocent, Yuuki."

She was about to protest.

"I'm protecting you, Yuuki."

Her brows furrowed.

"You can protect me without doing this!" she exclaimed. "You can stay with me, protect me better, by not doing whatever it is you're doing right now."

Her protests fell on empty ears.

She hated how he looked at her like she was ignorant. In truth, she knew she was, but it was so difficult to be reminded of it by him, especially when she knew just how many more years, how many more experiences, he had than her.

"You're hurting me with this, Kaname," she said, looking away, "not protecting me."

"Yuuki . . ."

"Maybe you don't mean to," she said, "but you are."

Rushing footsteps tore their attention away from each other.

Yuuki was the first to respond when they realized who it was.

"Zero!" Yuuki spun towards him.

"You," Zero bit out at Kaname, ignoring Yuuki. "What are you doing here?"

"Zero . . ." Yuuki began warningly.

"Are you intending to do something about it, Kiryu?"

Yuuki turned to glare at Kaname for antagonizing Zero.

"Zero," she said, turning back to him and taking a centering breath. "Please leave," she said firmly.

Zero's eyes widened.

"What?" he spat out, his voice rising as he continued. "You want me to leave you with him? After everything that's happened?"

Yuuki did not waver.

"Yes. Go, please," she demanded.

"I am not leaving my family's killer alive," Zero ground out, his chest rising and falling quickly as he became more worked up and began loosing control. His flashing red eyes zeroed in on Kaname. "I will kill you, Kuran. For me, for my family, for my brother . . ." he darted a glance at Yuuki standing in front of Kaname. "For everything."

Yuuki opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by Kaname.

"You can try," his low baritone voice flooded the clearing. "But you will not succeed, and I still need you alive."

Zero sneered at him.

"You need me alive?" he spat. "For what? To babysit Yuuki while you go off rampaging against anyone who stands in your way?"

Yuuki frowned as the conversation turned to her.

"Perhaps," Kaname replied vaguely.

"Hey," Yuuki protested, frowning at the two men. "I do not need a babysitter. I've been taking care of myself well enough since you left," she ended with the slight at Kaname. She felt guilty for doing it in front of Zero, but she was so frustrated at being pushed aside, she could not stand to be as discrete as she had planned.

The two men ignored her and she huffed.

Zero began to step forward, coming closer to the two, and reached to pull out the Bloody Rose. Yuuki's eyes widened and she backed towards Kaname.

"Zero . . ." she said warily. "Zero, stop it, what are you doing."

"You always say you're going to stop him, Yuuki," Zero said, keeping his eyes firmly on Kaname. "You always say you're going to stop him, but when it comes down to it, you're never able to," he spit out. "Just look at you now, standing in front of him, defending him. You can never decide what you're really going to do," he accused.

Yuuki took a quick, hurt breath in. Her belief in Kaname was strong, but her stance against him hunting purebloods was just as strong.

She just needed a final, definitive answer from Kaname . . . either an explanation that absolved him - at least in her mind - of what he was doing, or a final assertion that he would not tell her and would not stop. Then she would act, however much it tore at her heart to think of acting against him.

Zero advanced another step, and suddenly he was surrounded by two others. Yuuki blinked at their sudden appearance and recognized Kain and Ruca before they turned around, looking to Kaname for approval.

Kaname nodded his head, and Zero stood still for a moment before lowering his weapon, knowing he was too outnumbered to continue this fight today.

"This is not over, Kuran," he said, grinding his teeth in frustration.

"I did not expect it to be, Kiryu."

Zero turned and stormed off, quickly disappearing into the night. Her eyes on Zero, Yuuki did not notice when Ruca and Kain disappeared as well.

Frustrated and emotionally drained, Yuuki turned back to Kaname. "Kaname," she said with fierce eyes full of tears. "Kaname, if you don't stop this, I will stop you."

He observed her silently for a moment.

"Please trust me, Yuuki- "

"No!" she interrupted him. "No, I- " she took a heaving breath and tried to center herself. "I can't stand by and watch you hurt people . . . no matter who they are." Yuuki searched his eyes, hoping desperately that he would, by some miracle, assent to her wishes when she put her foot down.

All he did was hold her gaze, his eyes full of all the sadness she knew he held but never let out.

"I'm going to stop you," she repeated quietly, with resolve but in a gentle tone . . . a regretful tone. She fought her throat closing with emotion, she fought the choking sobs that wanted to burst up through and out of her.

"I know," he said, gently bringing his hand up to wipe tears from her cheek again, believing every word she said. "I know you will."

That's who you are, Yuuki heard the unsaid phrase in the silence between them.

"I don't want to," she clasped his hand tightly in hers, wordlessly begging him.

"But you will," he said, and her heart dropped and her face twisted as she tried to keep a hold on her emotions.

She nodded.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I will."

"Then there is nothing more to be said."

She looked up at him, eyes darting to and fro, around his face, tracing the edge of his cheekbone, the curve of his brow, the contour of his eyes, the way his hair fell into his face just so.

"I love you, Kaname."

She said it with all the feeling she could muster without bursting into hysteric sobs.

He stepped forward, placing his hand on the back of her head and pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. Her hands gripped his cloak and the shirt underneath, and she held on to him tightly . . . just in case it was the last time.

She felt his face descend on the top of her head and bury in her hair.

"I love you," he said.

And she stumbled forward as he burst into a hundred bats, flying up and away into the night sky.

Yuuki watched him disappear.

She was alone.

It was silent.

And she hoped that Kaname would not hate her when she turned him into a human.

At least she would not be around to face his anger . . . she would be dead before he awoke in his new state.

Because if sacrificing herself to turn Kaname into a human was the only way to stop him, the only way to save him from himself . . . she would do it a thousand times over if it meant he could still live.

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A/N: Obviously, I wrote this before chapter 89 came out. :) I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but I'm very, very curious to find out what's in store for our two favorite vampires! (I just love them...)

Thanks for reading and please review!