A/N: Umm...so this is my first VK fic! I'm a bit nervous about this...as it is I haven't yet finished the whole manga, so please correct me if I atribute the Purebloods certain powers that's not canon...

I used a concept from this one (yaoi) manga called "Bloody Kiss Tonight" which says that Vampires can use red roses as a replacement for human blood [it isn't as strong, but it works pretty well]. This was because I think that concept's so much more romantic (and with darker undertones) than a simple blood pill /shotsohard/

English is my third language and I'm all out of practice! Tell me if something doesn't make sense~ and no, don't tell me how I misspelled 'favor/color/humor' as 'favour/colour/humour'... that's the way I learnt to spell it, and I'm going to stick with it, no offense meant to anyone!

And a Happy New Year~

"Zero-kun!" an annoyingly cheerful and (somewhat) loud voice called out, making the silverette groan.

"What is it, Yori?" he muttered darkly, wondering what on earth was the usually subdued girl being so happy about.

Since Zero was an orphan with no land, he did whatever odd jobs that were available for food. This included a wide range of jobs from escorting rich peasants to other towns to acting as a temporary stable hand – but the country was undergoing a severe drought, and work was scarce. With no food for their own selves, everyone was cutting down on unnecessary expenses – and unfortunately, hiring extra help fell under that category. As a consequence, Zero had had to travel to other parts for work, and somehow he ended up with a wandering minstrel named Yagari (Although sometimes Zero wondered if the man really was a minstrel – he seemed to be unnaturally adept at swordsmanship to be one, but every time he asked, Yagari simply told him that minstrels had to protect themselves from stray bandits and predators.)

But even that had been to no avail. As long as they were in the forests, they had hunted and ate what they could, but now that they were in a town, even that option was gone. Even though this town didn't suffer much from the drought, and – if it wasn't prosperous, there was at least enough food to go around, the townspeople had no interest in minstrels. They had been performing in the town square for almost three days now, and the only coins they had were from a young maidservant named Sayori, who had insisted they call her Yori. She wasn't a particularly bright girl per se, but she was kind and intelligent, and Zero had hit it off with her quite well.

And if Zero was being antisocial now, it was just the way he was. This was actually a better response than he would have given to most people.

"I got something for the two of you!" she was practically (and extremely uncharacteristically) jumping with joy, "The Lady had a feast today, and she told me I could have the leftovers."

"Shouldn't that be for yourself…?" Yagari questioned, mirroring Zero's thoughts. The girl was a bit too kind. The first day she had given them coins, they found out later that it had been her own food money, and that she had had to go hungry that night.

"That's fine, there were lots." Yori murmured, holding out a basket. "Here, I brought it all here so we can eat together."

Peering into the basket, the three of them heaved simultaneous sighs.

"To think they are throwing this all out when there are people who can'r even get a proper meal once a day….." Zero growled.

"Well, they did say I could have it. That's not exactly throwing it away." Yori muttered, even though her expression, too, was somewhat downcast.

"So are you two going to stare at it all day or eat?" Yagari spoke up, breaking the gloomy mood with mock gruffness.

Or at least Zero thought it was mock. With Yagari, you could never be sure.
"Itadakimasu." Yori said quickly, before arranging the plates. Both Yagari and Zero ignored the prayer in favour of stuffing their faces, making Yori not-so-discreetly roll her eyes.

The messenger ran through the corridors of the mansion like a blur of crimson and gold, knocking on a door and banging it open before he had even received a response.

"My Lord!" he panted, ignoring the cold gaze directed at him. Under normal circumstances, he would have preferred to die than disturb his Lord in this unseemly manner (because his Lord would have put him through a fate worse than death if he had dared) but the circumstances right now were anything but normal.

He whispered something in his Lord's ears, forgoing an apology in his state of panic, and thankfully it wasn't needed. Lord Shirabuki* paled beyond comparison on hearing the news, and quickly dismissed him, before turning to his Head Advisor, who had been sitting quietly all the time.

"Sound the warning bell. Close the Town Gates and seal off the town completely. Nothing should come in, not even villagers from surrounding areas or the merchants who are away visiting other towns. We can't risk it. The Plague has appeared in the Kingdom."

A/N: Does anybody want me to continue? Did I suck too much?

Oh and, yes, the Lord of the City indeed is the Shirabuki clan~! Its because I don't like Sara at all, treating people like they are objects...especially Takun! He's always so cheerful and loyal and nice, he doesn't deserve it in my opinion! - And by that I'm sure you can already tell that if people want me to continue this, she's going to have a negative role~

Of course, her father is an OC, unless somewhere in the manga her father is shown. In that case, tell me where ;w;