Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or any characters
A/N: This story begins right after Yuki erases Zero's memories. It assumes that everything from the point in which Zero wakes up in the infirmary and everything afterwards did NOT actually occur. For the diehard Yuki x Zero fans like me, I'm giving Zeki another chance.
I…I don't know who I am anymore.
I belong to Kaname.
Am the girl who stayed by this boy as he suffered through those four long years? Or, am I the young woman who is to become the wife of Kaname Kuran?
Two separate enemies battle inside of me. One is in love with a beautiful, mad pureblood vampire. The other wonders what could have happened between her and this declining former human, former friend who is now staring blankly up at me.
Kaname, when you erased my memories, you erased me as well. But then, when you went and sketched me back into being, you only covered up the old lines with the new. And so the time has come for me to correct your mistake and scratch the old lines completely out of existence.
Zero could remember that he'd been on a mission to find Kaname Kuran. He remembered being at the masquerade and even remembered seeing Kaname for a moment, before he suddenly transformed into a dozen bats. And although he couldn't remember what had happened in those moments between entering the ball room and seeing Kaname—surely he'd been too determined to snap the trap shut before he'd missed he chance to care too much for the event itself—he could remember leaving the ball and coming to this place to change back into his own clothes so he could return the suit that he had borrowed. Now, he found himself lying on the ground, with a young female pureblood sitting on top of him.
This pureblood vampire…where did she come from? She must have gotten the jump on me after she caught me in a day-dream...
...but what was I even dreaming about…?
The spell which had paralyzed Zero quickly wore off in the following minutes. As the pureblood continued to stare blankly at him, seemingly unguarded, he rolled to pin her and then after ripping the Bloody Rose out of his pocket, he put it to her forehead.
I think she paralyzed me too…but how? How did she manage to get this close to me without my realizing it?
"Who are you?" Zero demanded. Yuki continued to stare at him. Her face was all bunched up, as though she was about to cry. Because it was clear to Zero that he wasn't about to get an answer, he sighed and stood up, placing the Bloody Rose back in his pocket.
"You must be a friend of the pureblood who lives in this house," Zero considered. "And I'm assuming you jumped me because you found a stranger wandering about in your friend's home seemingly uninvited."
"Ya-yes," Yuki managed to choke. She did not say anything else, for she felt she would burst into tears if she even tried.
"Right, well, I was invited here so there's no reason for you to be hostile towards me. Besides, I'm leaving soon anyways." Zero commented. He made his way over to the door that would led him back to the main part of the house and the exit. He gripped the handle, but before opening the door, he looked back over his shoulder and said, "I left the suit on the bathroom counter. Would you mind passing that message onto your friend?"
"Oh-okay," Yuki uttered so softly that Zero couldn't even hear her. He stepped out of the room.
Yuki closed her eyes and let the tears stream down her face. She stayed like that for only a few minutes before Isaya came into the room. Upon hearing the dear opening, Yuki promptly shot up and rose back her feet.
"Is everything alright?" Isaya wondered. "The maid said she just saw Zero leaving without you."
"Yes, everything's just fine," Yuki sniffed. She jerked her head to the side and wiped her nose and cheeks with the edge of her sleeve.
"You've been crying," Isaya noted. "I take it you and you hunter friend weren't able to ultimately settle your differences after all."
"I guess not," Yuki grunted and closed her eyes for a moment. After taking that moment to regain her composure, she looked back to Isaya and with a bow said, "I really appreciate your hospitality and cooperation this evening. Unfortunately we were unable to achieve our goal in luring Kaname to this fun-filled evening at a masquerade, but I'm still sure we will be able to catch up with him sooner or later."
"If makes you feel better, I actually saw Kaname this evening. Unfortunately I was unable to detain him as well, but he told me something that might be useful to you. It seems he plans to throw his heart into the furnace so that the vampire hunter weapons can be restored." Isaya explained. "In which case, he might be headed to where the association remains now lie. However, I can't say that I'm really sure, considering he seemed torn between this decision and another."
"What decision was that?" Yuki questioned.
"It seems he wanted to give his life for another purpose. And that purpose is to turn you back into a human." Isaya stated.
"Well, if you should see him again, tell him it would be wiser for him to offer his life to the furnace because offering his life form me would be a waste of time." Yuki said bluntly.
I will turn him into a human…just as soon as this whole mess is dealt with and settled.
"I will be most happy to pass along your message should I receive the chance," Isaya replied, respectfully not pushing for too many details.
"And I'll be most happy to get out of your hair now," Yuki replied.
"No, no, please stay the night. You must be exhausted. I'll have the maid make up one of the guests rooms and you can catch the first train that rolls through tomorrow morning." Isaya offered.
"Thank you, but I'd like to get back to the association as soon as possible. The headmaster will be expecting a report. Not mention, Kaname may be on his way there as we speak." Yuki replied.
"As you wish. Good luck, Lady Kuran." Isaya replied. He showed her to the door then and sent her in his car back to the train station. She paid for a ticket and sat on a bench on the platform for about fifteen minutes before Zero showed up as well. She turned her head down and gazed out of the corner of her eye as Zero made his way toward the benches. She kept her eyes on him as he wordlessly walked passed her and sat down on another bench.
Yuki folded her hands in her lap and stared down at her feet to keep herself from staring at Zero. When the train finally rolled through 10 minutes later, she purposefully entered a different car than Zero entered.
Yuki Cross is gone. I devoured her being the night that I awoke. And now I have devoured her memory too. Theirs is nothing left of her. She has no future. She no longer even has a past.
And I, Yuki Kuran, have one final mission before I join her in hell.
Yuki arrived at the next station early the next morning. The sun wasn't even out yet, much to her relief as it'd make her walk home far more bearable. As she strolled out of the train car, she turned to see Zero coming off as well. He met her gaze in the dim street light and started walking her way. She grew tense. She couldn't even think to move just then. All she could was pray that he'd walk right on by as he'd done the previous night at the previous train station.
When he stopped only a few feet in front of her, she promptly jerked her feet to run. She broke in a dead run then promptly stopped after a few feet. She realized she would only draw more attention by running. And so, she stood frozen in place once again.
"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Zero called out at the perfect moment, just as Yuki decided to stop running. It made it seem as though she stopped because he'd called out to her. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach grew stronger as his words banged against her ear drums.
No…he can't feel so strongly that…that the memory erasing didn't hold!
Grinning and blushing, she turned her torso around and said, "Um…I don't know. I don't think so."
"Sure I do," Zero insisted and he stepped up to her. Yuki swallowed hard as he examined her face more closely. She tried to shake her head in denial, but Zero continued to push the matter. "Yes! You are the pureblood from last night that attacked me because you thought I was an intruder."
Yuki face went wry for a moment. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or devastated that he didn't really know who she was.
She choked out, "That…that was you?"
"Yeah, that was me," Zero admitted. "And I take it you came all the way out here because you have business with the association."
"Why…would you assume that?" Yuki wondered.
"Because the association president fancies himself a friend of purebloods…and after all the recent events, I'm also assuming he's trying to gather up all the support from the vampire society that he can get," Zero said, then muttered, "although he conveniently bothered not mention it to me."
"Oh, yes, that's right," Yuki said to confirm his suspicions. "You know the association president then?"
"Yes, unfortunately," Zero said then walked right on past Yuki without even mustering the simplest of farewells. He did, however, stop long enough to say, "Hey, there's something I've been wondering about you all night."
"There…there is?" Yuki's face fell as she asked the question, although Zero didn't see her as he hadn't even bothered to look back in her direction.
"Yes," Zero's voice grew serious before he paused for a few moments. Finally, he asked, "Do you have powers which can paralyze?"
"Wha-what?" Yuki asked.
Zero spun around fast then and demanded, "Do you have the power to paralyze people?"
"I…" Yuki thought about her words carefully before responding. If she told him that it was spell rather than an innate pureblood power she possessed, it might have triggered something in his memory. And so, she opted to say, "No, I can't do anything like that."
"Hmm," Zero considered, "I must have just been dazed then…"
He continued walking, he shoes clanking softly against the wood of the train platform. Yuki stood in her place, thinking in such a situation it would be natural for someone like her, a "newcomer", to ask a local to show her to the association. However, it was too much a risk for her to be around him.
Whatever I do, I can't trigger him to remember. If I do, then Zero will only suffer…all because of me.
"Is everything alright, ma'am?" One of the train station workers approached Yuki. "Can I give you some directions?"
"No, I'm…just waiting for my ride…" Yuki replied. Before the worker could even respond, Yuki suddenly burst, "My ride!"
That's right! The headmaster is supposed to pick us up. How I am supposed to explain this?
A car pulled up to the front of the station and Zero got in. The Headmaster jerked out his head to look out the rearview window. He asked, "Zero, where's Yuki?"
Zero looked at the Headmaster like he was crazy, but then he responded, "You mean that pureblood? Don't tell me you intended to pick her up as well today?"
"Zero, you're so cruel," the Headmaster sighed. "I take it something happened again?"
Zero just grunted, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Fine, fine, don't tell me," the Headmaster replied. "In any case, I'm going to go look for her. I'll be back in a few minutes."
The Headmaster got out of the car and walked up to the train station booth. After explaining the situation the worker inside, he was granted permission to go inside the gate and look for her.
Zero meanwhile reached into his pocket and shoved several blood tablets down his throat.
This thirst…is killing me…