I do not own Vampire Knight, although I wish I could. Haha. Anyway, hope you all enjoy! This is my first fanfic, so enjoy the best you can!!! Read and Review!

It was supposed to be a beautiful, relishing first Winter day. The blackened sky dotted with stars was breathtaking, and the wind was a light breeze as it whistled and blew through the frail silver strands of his hair. Zero tried his best to savor the moment as much as he could, knowing that he only a limited time on this earth to enjoy such moments.

He inhaled briefly, mentally shaking his head clear of such thoughts. At the same time, he caught the familiar, delicious scent of someone near by. Her wonderful smell had always been appetizing to him, and Zero had repeatedly tried to resist the wine. Somehow, the wine had managed to always maintain her hold on him.

Her face came into view and Zero stared at Yuki as a bright, weary grin stretched itself onto her expression. Her thin, brunette strands blew across her face as she approached him and Zero stared at her wandering eyes and sagging figure, then sighed.

"Go to bed, Yuki. I'll stay and keep watch." She hesitated, then nodded, smiling at how Zero always looked after her. Sometimes he could see right past her. She had tried to keep a bright smile on as she had approached him, but Zero knew that she was deeply exhausted.

"Thanks Zero," she said brightly, and skipped awkwardly back to her room. He watched her, frowning as her bounced up on her shoulders. A few times, before she disappeared into Cross Academy, a patch of skin upon her neck would reveal itself.

He winced at the tightening of his throat, and as his mouth became dry. It had been a few days since he had last taken from her, and now he was bloodthirsty again.

Zero wanted to follow her, knowing that she would give voluntarily give her blood up for him. But he couldn't make her do that.

He shouldn't.

He wouldn't.

Besides, he always took from her. What was she benefiting from that? She probably didn't even care. He was nothing. Just a monster who needed blood. Just another vampire out for fulfillment.

He sighed. The slight breeze from before was getting harder. Zero smelled approaching rain, and he hugged his jacket tighter. He should go inside. He didn't want to stay when it rained. As he whirled around to go back to Cross Academy, a pair of ruby eyes stared at him out from the closest window. He recognized them as belonging to the new vampire girl, Kasumi Miyako.

She had arrived a few weeks earlier, and had pissed Zero off from day one. She had a real bad, snobbish attitude about her. Unlike the other aristocrat vampires, Kasumi did not own polite manners. The only thing worse than a vampire, Zero thought, is a vampire with a rotten attitude.

He looked away and went inside the Academy. Yuki was in her room when Zero began to take a shower. The water was warm, and it soothed his body for only a second. But as he caught the scent of her favorite strawberry shampoo, his blood lust returned and all tender thoughts faded from his mind. He hurried to get out and go to bed.

Still, even his daytime nightmares intruded in his sleep. Zero couldn't even escape them as he dreamt.

The thundering echo outside pounded in Zero's mind as he dreamt of a memorable snow day. A white blanket covered itself throughout the entire yard of one large house, the kind of house you only see in movies and where a lively, affectionate family lived.

But this was not the case. The house belonged to a family of Vampire Hunters, a well known family who called themselves Kiryu. The ironic thing was that these Vampire Hunters were practically wiped out by vampires. Zero couldn't save his parents, or his brother. And he couldn't save himself.

Now, as the snow continued to fall upon him, Zero stood, transfixed as he glanced around him. As if he had stepped back through time, he watched as the Pureblood Vampire who had changed him step back from a limp body on the ground. Her mouth was smeared with blood. His blood. He watched as the young image of himself lay limp on ground, his body altering to that of a vampire's.

Then the dream changed and Zero looked straight ahead. He was standing in a forest, surrounded by midnight darkness and the silhouettes of the trees. And right there in front of him stood Yuki. But something was different about the bright, shining, cheerful, innocent Yuki that he knew.

Zero peered closer, and his jaw dropped when he realized that bite marks scarred the side of her neck. Blood trickled down her chest and onto her clothes, and Yuki's eyes...they were lifeless. Completely empty. There was no trace of shine left.

And in her hand was the Bloody Rose. Yuki, her eyes lost and unforgiving, raised her arm up until the gun was pointed directly at Zero. He froze, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Yuki..." he whispered, pleading. "Wait, I'm not a Level E, yet. Yuki, wait—!"

"I'm sorry, Zero," was all she said.

"Yuki—!

"So sorry..." she muttered, her voice dead. "Zero..."

Then the gun fired.

And Zero woke up, yelling as he sat up in his bed. A thin sheen of sweat covered his body, the stickiness revolting to him. His eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness around him, and he managed to glimpse for a short moment that his bedroom door was thrown open.

Then he realized that he was not alone as he felt his bedcovers being ripped off from him.

"Zero!" he heard Yuki yell as her face appeared beside him. "Zero, what's wrong? Zero!" she gasped, looking at his eyes. She had never seen them so empty, so flat, so...barren...

What exactly had Zero dreamt about?

"Zero...?" Yuki whispered as softly as she could, noticing that it was still dark outside. It was probably the middle of the night, Yuki wasn't sure. She was sleeping peacefully until she heard Zero's agonizing screams from all the way down the hall. She was surprised that the Chairman hadn't heard him. "Zero, look at me."

Zero continued to keep focus on the wall in front of him.

Yuki... The image of her, bloody and vengeful, sickened him. How could he have done that to her? How could he hurt her that much? What had he done to make Yuki appear like that? It was like she hadn't even cared about killing him, as if she needn't have another second thought about it.

But that didn't bother him the most. It was the fact that he knew his dream would become real soon...too soon. There was going to be a time when Zero would be human no longer, and Yuki would really have to kill him. He told her to kill him by her own hand, then, right? So why did he still feel upset and empty at the mere thought of it actually happening. Dying wasn't a problem. It was leaving Yuki one last memory of him as being what he truly was; a monster.

"Zero...!" Yuki screamed again, trying to capture his attention. She reached out and grabbed his chin, tilting it up toward her so that he could face her directly. Still, his impassive features revealed nothing to her. Yuki sighed, disappointed. It seemed that she would have to force it out of him. No matter how dreadful that sounded. She knew that he still had nightmares about his past nowadays, even after four years. Yuki wondered how often he really thought about his past, and of that night.

"Zero, are you okay?" she asked him, not surprised at all when he tried to look away from her. She moved her hand until she held his cheek, sighing as she did so. "Zero, I'm your friend. You can tell me anything, you know."

Zero shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to speak. Just to be left alone. Even Yuki couldn't help him with this. After four years, she still tried to help him? It was enough that she helped him when he was thirsty. He wasn't about to trouble her any longer. Especially with this.

"It's nothing." His voice was raspy from all the yelling he did, and he tried to moisten his throat.

"Zero..." she exhaled deeply. "You can tell me anything. I want to help you."

"Yuki...don't—"

"No Zero," she insisted. "This isn't the first time that this has happened. You've been having these nightmares for awhile now, haven't you?" She didn't expect a response back, and didn't get one. "I've heard you, you know. And it hurts me that you don't want to talk about this." She dropped her hand down in her lap, missing the tortured expression that flashed across his face.

She took a deep breath, still refusing to look at him. "It was about...that night...wasn't it...?" she whispered.

Zero glanced away.

"It was?"

Still, he didn't look at her.

"Or it wasn't...?" She asked, still unsure. After no reply from Zero, she sighed. Then she suddenly reached forward, wrapping both her arms around his shoulders. She knew that when she held him that it helped the both of them. Hopefully, it still had an effect on him.

It did. Zero was surprised, but content at the same time. He hesitated for a moment before hugging her back. And he relaxed when he did so. He always felt so calm when she held him. He felt like himself, as if he didn't have any worries to bother him anymore. He could just lie in her arms forever, unmoving as they held each other close. Yuki poured all her feelings for him in the hug, and he felt it. He knew that it was only sisterly concern that influenced her, but still...for now, that was all that he needed. Of course, he wanted more.

He had always longed for more from Yuki. Not her blood, though. Her smile, her eyes, her laugh, her silly charm that always made him smile. Her smile, and only hers that she saw. He wanted the same look that she gave Kuran, her childhood love. He knew that he lived in a fantasy world, but a man could still dream, right?

Ahh, that was heaven to him. To stay in Yuki's arms forever and not worry about what the future would bring, which included his death as well as losing Yuki in the process.

After a long moment, Yuki began to pull away. She gave Zero a small smile, tilting her head slightly to the side when she finally got a reaction from him. He wore a tiny smile as well. It wasn't the rare smile that she often saw from him, the one that left dimples on his cheeks and a bright twinkle in his eye. But it was improvement for now.

"You alright now, Zero?" Yuki asked.

He shrugged, already preparing to stand and stretch. How did she do that? he wondered.

One moment he was loathing himself for creating such an image of Yuki, and the next his heart is fluttering as she holds him.

"You should get back to bed, Yuki," he muttered as he opened his bedroom door for her. She stood, yawned, and did as he told her to. But hesitated before fully exiting the room.

She bit her lip as it quivered, and gulped. "Zero..." she whispered. "Was it something else? Was your nightmare really bad?"

She had heard his reactions from earlier nightmares about that night, but tonight's was different from the rest. He had screamed, for goodness sake. And she swore as she had left her bedroom that he had yelled her name.

She wondered what could bother him so much...

"Goodnight Yuki," Zero muttered, about to close the door. Yuki wanted to stop him, but saw that she didn't have to. He paused midway, and glanced back at her. For a short moment, his feelings betrayed him as they revealed themselves through his eyes. Yuki read the fear, the self disgust, the sadness, and the agony... She felt her heart quench together at the sight.

Then she felt herself being caught up in a strong pair of arms that squeezed her hard against his body for a split painful moment. Zero loosened his hold, trembling for a moment as he lay his forehead on hers. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." he whispered repeatedly against her hair. He had one hand holding her head against his chest, and the other wrapped itself around her waist.

Yuki grinned slightly, and wrapped her own arms tightly around his torso. "Don't..." was all she said, slightly confused but utterly grateful that he was at least trying to make an effort.

Zero rested his chin on her head, sighing as he rocked her frail body in his arms, soothing her to sleep. He never wanted to let her go, but he had to some time. She wasn't going to go to sleep standing upright.

Yuki sighed, hugging him tightly against her as she felt her own body also become relaxed.

Then a few minutes later, Zero heard the gentle snore of Yuki as she fell into a deep sleep. He sighed, picking her up in his arms as he walked toward her bedroom. Then he dropped her sleeping form softly onto her covers, careful to cover her tightly. The temperature was dropping, and Zero didn't want Yuki to catch a cold.

Before he left the room, he sneaked one more glance at her and grinned. Yuki looked like an angel whenever she slept. Her soft, touchable hair fanned around her pale, beautiful and translucent face. Even her lips, small and parted like they always were as she slept, were beautiful. Perfect.

And Zero. What was he? Nothing but a hideous monster who didn't deserve her. No matter how much he hated him, Zero had to admit that even Kaname was better than him. Not for her, but almost close.

He sighed.

Hating himself was getting no where. It was late, and he was tired. He hated the thought of going to back to sleep where his nightmares could catch up to him again.

"Zero..." she suddenly heard Yuki's gentle voice. He turned around and looked at her, strolling over to the bed to kneel down. Her eyes, beautiful and slightly sleepy looking, met his. Then she moved the covers lower, patting the bed beside her. "Stay here, Zero. Stay..."

As much as he liked the thought, Zero shook his head.

"You're asleep, Yuki. It's alright. I'm going to my own bed."

She shook her head once, sleepily. "Please Zero. I want you to stay. Besides," she said, yawning at the same time. "You'll have nightmares if you go back." She stared intently into his eyes, searching.

Holy crow, how did she do that? It was like she was purposefully trying to put a spell on him. But she didn't have to. Zero would do anything just to make her happy.

"Alright," he finally agreed, grinning. "Scoot over, will ya? This is just for a few minutes."

Yuki obeyed him, and cuddled up close to Zero as he pulled the thick, soft covers over them. It wasn't a big bed, but it was alright for the both of them if they didn't move. Yuki settled her head on his shoulder as his left arm was tucked away underneath her. His free arm was draped along her waist, where Yuki held it there as she squirmed her face into the bend of his neck.

Yuki sighed. So warm...

Zero fought a sudden shiver as Yuki's heated breath touched his skin.Then he relaxed as she placed her left hand on his upper chest.

"Hmmm, goodnight Zero," she whispered. Zero gulped, trying to moisten his throat which had become dry again.

"Goodnight Yuki," he said back. "Sweet dreams," he added.

Yuki grinned, and instantly fell into a deep sleep.

Hours later, when Zero was sure that the sunrise was only minutes away, he decided to get out of bed. Yuki still faced him, except this time her head was lying directly on his chest. Half of her body practically lay on his. Zero sighed, reluctant to move in case he woke her up. He also wished that he didn't have to depart her angelic sleeping figure, or her delicate sweet, sweet scent that could only belong to Yuki.

But he inhaled deeply, remembering the scent as he slid out from underneath her. She didn't stir, but merely clutched the pillow tighter to her, the same one that Zero had slept on.

At the door, Zero turned one last time. "Goodnight Yuki," he whispered. Then he carefully slipped out, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway back to his room, and got ready for school, knowing that Yuki was supposed to wake up soon as well.

All the while, the image of Yuki resting peacefully beside him triggered a smile to form on his face.

For now, during his last few moments of a true, free life, Zero had to savor each moment he had while he still had Yuki. While she could still smile that goofy grin of hers, and at the same time make him grin, too.

I'll upload again soon, for all those who actually do like this story! This story will be long, so look forward to it! Until next time...!