A/N: Yuuki/Zero with a pinch of Yuuki/Kaname, and a lot of angst and drama sprinkled with cuteness and fluff (figure that one out!).

I hope you enjoy this because I've worked really hard on it, figuring out the plotline, and self-editing (this is the most challenging part –sweatdrop–) so this story actually gets completed! If you like it, please drop a review! Also, please do tell me if you notice a major grammatical, spelling, or Japanese term (such as the use of '-sempai') error; as much as I like to think my editing is flawless, I know it is far, far, far from it. Thanks and enjoy!

Story Disclaimer: Vampire Knight belongs to the wonderfully talented Matsuri Hino. The plotline of By Your Side, however, belongs to me, AJ Seawiel. Please note that this disclaimer will suffice for the entire fanfic.

By Your Side
By: AJ Seawiel

One: Destruction

Kaname!

I raced up the grand staircase of the Moon Dorm, shouting as I jumped each second stair. It did not matter if I woke the entire dorm; finding Kaname Kuran was of the utmost importance. I couldn't be late, I had to find him quickly, or something awful would happen.

I squealed in pain as I tripped over the last stair and landed face down on the carpet. I struggled to right myself, trying half-heartedly to ignore the pain in my toes, and managed to get to my feet. I continued sprinting down the corridor, despite my injury and the sweat gathering on my brow. Blinking back tears that threatened to overflow, I gave myself a moment to glance around at my surroundings and felt uneasy. If I hadn't seen the crescent moon over the archway before entering this dorm, I would have thought I'd walked into the wrong building.

It looked abandoned. The corridor lamps and small tables were covered in dust and cobwebs. Dust mites floated helter-skelter around my head, a few resting on my shoulders and in my hair. It appeared as if a large, clawed animal had been here not long ago; jagged marks marred the ceiling and walls, tearing off the light beige wallpaper. In certain areas, huge chunks of wood were missing from the walls, leaving pink insulation and drywall dust and debris littering the carpeted hall. Not a single light was on in the bedroom corridor, despite the fact that it was nearly two in the morning – around mid-afternoon for the vampire nobles. My heart thumped erratically and my breath caught for a moment. What had happened?

Kaname! Kaname!

It was very unlike the pureblood noble not to answer my calls, and, prone as I was to jumping to conclusions, I started to panic. What if something had happened to him? But that was ridiculous, right? He's Kaname Kuran, vampire noble and pureblood. Who would be ignorant enough to stand against him? But… what about everyone else?

Ichijo-sempai?! Aido-sempai? Kain-sempai!

I lunged forward, down the hall that led to Kaname's dorm; I felt hot tears finally roll down my cheeks. I kept shouting Kaname's name while it echoed around me, up and down the empty, unforgiving hall.

Kaname! Kaname! Kaname!!

I knew it was useless to continue. He couldn't hear me. He wasn't coming. I was alone and the Incident was going to occur. My legs felt like jelly, and I collapsed in a heap on the floor. I was scared, and I was useless. I knew it had already happened. I could feel it. I was too late to save him…

"KANAME!!!"

I woke to the sound of my own voice. Sitting upright in my bed, I felt my chest heave as I took deep painful breaths. My racing heart began to slow, but I could still feel the tears on my cheeks, and where the sweat had stuck my shirt to my back. My comforter was tangled up between my legs. My pillow lay forgotten on the floor.

I reached up and ran my hands through my hair, pulling at it to wake myself up more completely. My light brown hair was tangled and greasy from perspiration and tossing, and I brought my hands down again to cover my face. Why was it always the same one? Always the same feeling of loss and uselessness… pity and emptiness….

Images of the ravaged corridor came back to me in a quick flash, and I yanked my head up from my hands, willing myself to wake up. Sitting here dwelling was not doing me any good.

I disentangled myself from the blankets and strode to the door. Pulling on my slippers, I walked as quickly as I could across the three creaky floorboards just outside my dorm, trying my best not to wake the Chairman, and down the short hallway to the living room.

Through the living room window, I could see the sky lightening over the rooftops of the Sun Dormitories, the navy of midnight mixing with the dusty, lighter hues of the imminent dawn. I moved closer to the window, hugging my arms around myself. My hot breath fogged up the icy panes, reminding me that it was only the third week of January. Not exactly the best time to be walking around in just a nightshirt and slippers, even if I was inside. I shivered and turned toward the kitchen on my quest for a glass of water.

CRASH!

I jumped and squeaked a small, high pitched squeal of surprise. Someone was already in the kitchen! I dove behind the sofa and peeked over the top, wondering frantically how long it would take me to retrieve my Artemis Rod from my bedroom when…

"Shit! Why he has to leave that stupid…"

Oh. It was Zero.

Relieved, I stood up and walked around the sofa, willing my heart to stop racing for the second time that evening. Honestly, if this persisted, I was sure to have an anxiety attack. I walked into the kitchen, prepared to ream Zero out for scaring me like that, when I noticed a trail of blood drops on the floor leading from the refrigerator to the sink. Zero was hunched over the stainless steel sink, a dishtowel pinned to his right forearm with his left hand.

"Oh, Zero! What have you done to yourself now?" I said; my tone, I noticed, sounded worried. Well, I supposed I should be, considering a teenage vampire was standing in my kitchen, holding a towel over his arm to stem the blood flow. I flicked on the light and moved closer to him, reaching out to open the drawer next to the sink and retrieve another dishtowel. "Here," I said, handing him the clean towel, "use this one, I'll rinse that one out."

Zero nodded, grabbed the towel from my hand and switched the two, his violet eyes already showing tinges of crimson from the scent of his own blood. It wouldn't be too long now. His colourful eyes, though, showed me his thanks, and I smiled before running the tap. I furrowed my brow, trying my best to make sure I got as much blood out as I could before I threw it in the bleaching hamper. As I scrubbed, I glanced over at Zero. He was grimacing, trying to ignore the tantalizing smell of his life's sustenance. I reached up and placed a comforting hand on his left shoulder, letting him know I understood his pain, or at least I sympathized with him. All the same, when he turned his head, seeking my eyes, he looked as if he understood what I was trying to convey.

Smiling, I returned both hands to my task. I took a moment to squeeze out the last of the watered-down blood from the dishtowel before running it along to the clothing hamper. When I returned to the kitchen, Zero was reaching for the first aid kit above the stove.

"Zero, I'll do it. You go sit over there." I motioned him to one of the kitchen chairs and retrieved a second one to act as my stepladder. Zero sat down, putting his left elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand. I heard him heave a little sigh as he watched me struggle on my tiptoes, trying to locate kit.

"To your right, Yuuki."

I felt around a little to my right and my hand made contact with the cool metal of the rectangular box. I took it from the cupboard, and as I turned around, my soft shoes slipped on the seat cushion.

"Yuuki!" Zero exclaimed quickly with a sharp inhalation. I threw my arms out to my sides to balance myself, my heart skipping a beat, and yet I managed to hold on to the first aid kit. We exhaled at the same time as I, more carefully, stepped down from the chair and walked briskly over to the table.

"You're going to kill yourself one day, Yuuki -­­­ don't you have any balance at all?" he muttered as I opened the first aid box on the table. I decided to ignore his question, as it seemed rhetorical anyway; and besides, my mind wasn't in the right space to think of a clever retort. As I took out the gauze and surgical tape, Zero removed the blood-sodden dishtowel. I took a sharp breath at the sight. The cut didn't look too deep, just wide. What had he been doing?

I looked up at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation, but he simply waved it off. I rolled my eyes and turned back to his wound, dabbing it lightly with some salve before wrapping the gauze gently and thoroughly around his arm.

"Yuuki, that's enough gauze. I'm going to look like a mummy," complained Zero.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him. "I'm just making sure it won't leak through! Do you want bloodstains on your uniform tomorrow?" He sighed theatrically as I returned to wrapping.

A couple more rotations and a bit of surgical tape later, and my task was finished. I stood and smiled triumphantly at my handiwork. I hardly ever did this; usually it was the opposite – Zero patching me up. I wasn't exactly what one would call 'agile,' and I had multiple scars to prove it. Plus, Zero loved to remind me of my clumsiness. Even the Chairman got a good chuckle out of my ability to walk into doorframes. It used to embarrass me, but now I'm used to it - mostly….

"Well, I think that turned out well, don't you?" Had I been fishing for a compliment, I would have been sorely disappointed; all I received was a grunt of acknowledgement. I rolled my eyes. And this was why Zero would never have a girlfriend.

Zero closed the first aid kit and stood up to put it away. He didn't even have to stand on his tiptoes, the bugger. I was jealous of his six-foot-one height; I hated being only five-foot-three. It made situations like this embarrassing, not to mention annoying. Sometimes, I could swear he purposely flaunted the fact he was nearly a foot taller than me. Turning, I scooped up the bloody dishtowel from the kitchen table and proceeded to the sink to rinse it out.

After a moment, I felt Zero's eyes on me, and I turned my head to look at him. He was standing behind me, looking rather awkward. Like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have. I couldn't guess why, though… Maybe he had been doing something earlier, the thing that caused his injury? I turned back to the sink and continued to scrub the towel, my face flushing pink with anger. What? Did he think I was going to tattle on him or something? How old were we, six? We were past tattling when we met one another, for God's sake!

I turned off the water and spun on my heel to face him. Again, he looked a little ashamed. I balanced my hands on my hips and looked at him sternly. "Whatever you were doing, Zero, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to tell the Chairman!"

Zero's eyes widened and a slight blush crept up onto his cheeks. "I – I wasn't doing anything!" He said and then turned to the fridge. "I was trying to make a sandwich when you came in. I was balancing the Chairman's dish of leftovers – you know the one with the chip in it? – on my arm and it fell off and cut me." He opened the refrigerator door to reveal a messy mixture of leftover liver and yam stroganoff, broken pieces of china, and saran wrap on the bottom of the fridge.

So that was the crash.

I stared into the fridge, amazed. "How on earth did you miss the floor?"

Zero shrugged. "I tried to save it with my leg." He pointed down at his pajama pants and, sure enough, a small blobby stain of liver and yam was present. He bent down and grabbed the largest piece of china from the mess, trying to stack the rest of the litter on top. I brought out the rubbish bin from underneath the sink. "Thanks," he said, scooping it all into the bin. When he finished, I was offered him the bloodstained dishtowel I had cleaned and left in the sink.

"Might as well," I said, shrugging, when he raised an eyebrow at me.

He took the damp towel from my outstretched hand and scrubbed the bottom of the fridge. When finished, he threw it into the rubbish bin, on top of the leftover stroganoff, and carried the bin back to its cupboard. I closed the refrigerator door and moved to where Zero stood next to the sink. His eyes had returned to their violet shade, but he was glaring at the sink as if trying to burn a hole right through it. Once more, I placed a hand on his shoulder.

After a few moments, his right hand crossed his chest to cover mine. I flipped my hand over and gave his a gentle squeeze. "Zero, are you okay?"

His eyes softened, and his glare disappeared before he turned to face me, his hand pulling mine down to clasp together between us. I looked down at our intertwined hands and then quickly back up at his face. His amethyst eyes may have softened, but they still held a silent ache behind them. I bent my gaze downward again to hide the tears starting to well, and reached with my other hand for his to fiddle awkwardly. It was a nervous habit, fiddling with my own hands; his much larger one just happened to be in the way this time.

"Yuuki?" My eyes snapped up to meet his. A half-smile played on his lips as he looked down at me. For a moment I thought I could see the distress in his eyes disappear, but it was only for a moment. My mind must have been clouded by the smile. He rarely smiled, and I could only smile widely in response, even though I knew my eyes must be glossed over with telling tears.

"Yuuki, I know what you're thinking. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." He pulled his hands from my anxious fingers and slipped over to the cupboard to fill a glass with water. He held it out for me. "You came for this, right?" I nodded, but when I reached for it I gasped and my eyes widened in horror.

I remembered why I came here tonight.

The nightmare.

The destroyed corridor.

Screaming for Kaname who would never come.

And… the incident…

My hands started to tremble as nausea rose in my stomach. The overwhelming feeling of guilt, uselessness, and self-loathing took me over, and I turned into the sink just in time. As I retched into the sink, I felt Zero slide his cool hands across my cheeks and back to hold my hair at the base of my neck. I shivered at the lightness of his touch and icy hands that contrasted with my warm neck. A couple moments later, I was finished, and Zero let my hair go to pass me the glass.

I looked at the water for a second before realizing it was too soon to think about liquids. I shook my head in response - much too rapidly.

"Yuuki!" Zero caught me before I crumpled onto the floor. Cold arms took me up under my knees and back as he braced me against his hard chest. Zero knelt on the floor, holding me as I lay limp in his arms. The room started spinning and I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck and burrowing my head into his navy blue t-shirt. Why was everything spinning!? Make it stop; I'm going to be sick, again…

"Yuuki?" Zero said softly. "Did you…have another nightmare?"

I nodded furiously into his chest, and I felt him stand up, keeping me steady against his chest. Zero started walking; he must have been walking slowly because I could hardly feel the movement. I was thankful for that.

A few minutes later I heard the creak of the floorboards outside my room. He bent down slightly to reach the handle; inside, he set me down gently on the bed. My eyes were suddenly very heavy with sleep as he picked up the pillow from the floor, tucked it under my head, and fixed and pulled the comforter up over my limp body. He carefully removed my slippers, each hitting the floor with a soft 'thud.' I opened my eyes slightly to see him leaning over me, and I saw the flicker of conflict in his eyes. Then, hesitantly, he kissed my forehead and stood up to walk away.

Had I been in any state of mind to realize what I was doing, I probably wouldn't have grabbed his wrist right there. But I did.

"Zero?" I barely registered the sound as my own voice. "Can you… just… sit here, please? Just 'til I fall asleep?"

Even through the state of my drowsiness, I saw that struggle once again in his clear amethyst eyes, but he nodded and pulled the desk chair over to my bed.

"Thankzero," I slurred and closed my eyes again. For a moment, I felt the coolness of his hand brush against my cheek. I smiled, feeling undisturbed sleep take me into its arms.

Goodnight, Yuuki…

o.o.0.o.o

A/N: The second version of chapter one! :-)