Secrets in Blood, Tied with Blood and Secrets

by Forestfirekid

Even though the attack by a pureblood vampire has left her scared, Zero still thinks that vampires aren't as bad as her parents have made them out to be. With her parents dead and with her twin sister missing and assumed to be dead, Zero has only one person that she will turn to with her trust, her childhood friend and a vampire from the Night Class, who she thinks of as a brother.

Hey people who are reading my fanfic,

This is my first attempt at a Vampire Knight Story. I have read several, but I have only read two that I actually found entertaining (hopefully I am not offending anyone by this, but if I am I apologize since I don't really mean to, it's just what I think) and one was a crossover with Inuyasha and I even then it wasn't as well as I thought it could be. But then again, people have different tastes and the rest of the stories just didn't fit mine, so I decided I would attempt to write my own.

I would like to ask anyone who decides that they haven't been offended by what I have said (typed?) above and will continue to read on to read whatever I type at the start and at the end of any of my fanfics, since I may put in hints of what is next to come or when I may be updating next. I only type as the ideas come to me, so it may take a while for me to update any of my stories. If you are willing to help with the process, PM me some ideas and I will get back to you on it.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, this story is mainly from the perspective (NOT Point of View) of Zero, though it will switch to other characters as well. I will put up polls for paring ideas, but feel free to send me PMs giving me your ideas if I don't have a poll up. When I do put a poll up will count those PMs as one vote.

In this story Zero his female, as is her twin. If any of the characters seem to be too Out-of-Character, please tell me so that I can change it so that it is not. Also almost all the chapters will have some type of little ramble (mostly from Zero's Point of View) somewhere and it won't always be at the start. If you don't understand it PM me and I will tell you what it means.

If you want clarification on anything that that has been written feel free to ask. So long as people understand and enjoy what they are reading, I am happy.

Happy Readings.

... I feel so alone ...

... it's cold ...

... at least I think it is cold ...

... that is the only way that I could be lying in the snow – if it was cold ...

... why can't I feel the cold ...

... I can feel that I am alone, ...

... so why can't I feel the cold ...

... snow isn't suppose to be red ...

... is it?...

... how long have I felt alone?...

... was it when father tried to keep mother away ...

... or was it when mother tried to keep me away from Ichiru ...

... or was it when I noticed that mother never had any emotions in her eyes when she spoke to me, even if the rest of her face showed emotion ...

... I feel so alone ...

...why is it that I always felt that mother never acted like a mother should ...

... it's cold ...

... was she even really my mother ...

... why is everything red ...

Zero could only look on in slight disgust as she watched the females of the Day Dorm students as well as the males whisper and wait eagerly for the students of the Moon Dorm to come out for their classes. She really didn't want to be one of the two school Prefects, but the Chairman had insisted, and her father had always held the man in high regard, so she had given in. Well technically she had given in because Kaien Cross, the Chairman, had told her that the only way he would allow her to wear the boy's school uniform was if she became a prefect. She didn't want to wear the girl's uniform for the simple reason that the skirt was so short and, added with the fact that she was taller than the Chairman as well several of the boys at the school and she was a girl, it would be a lot more revealing on her than it would be on Yuuki. None of the students really bothered her about it though, not even the Night Class students.

She looked over to see Yuuki having trouble with a group of girls who were yelling something about Yuuki being bossy as well as a Prefect and not understanding, but she ignored it. Though she liked the girl like a sister, Zero could help but notice that the girl was far to gentle with everyone. There were times where one would need to be gentle, but there were other times when one needed to be harsh and maybe even rude. Yuuki needed to learn this, but no matter how much she tried, Zero couldn't manage to get the girl to understand that fact. It was one of the reasons why she waited so long before she came to help the younger girl, but she never Yuuki never seemed to realize this, only told her that she was being rude and got mad at her for not helping out earlier.

The creak of the doors got Zero's attention, and she turned her head slightly and let her mask slip into place as the doors opened. She had been standing underneath the shadow of a tree, out of the way and out of view from the crowd that Yuuki was trying to control, as well as Yuuki herself. Though she had worn the emotionless mask for years, but she rarely ever kept her eyes guarded. She only really did around the Night Class, but even then it was only partially, allowing the vampires that comprised the Night Class to see some of what may or may not be going on in her mind. Then again, the Day Class never bothered to look into anybodies' eyes, so they never got the chance to see, even if it was just slightly, behind her mask.

She watched as Hanabusa Adio, who had been nicknamed Idol by his fans from the Day class, flirt with the Day Class girls. The rest of the members were as collected as they usually were, but the moment that the Day Class girls knocked Yuuki over to get closer to the Night Class students, Kaname Kuran went to her rescue. She didn't have much against the vampire, she had never had anything against any vampire if you wanted to be accurate, but she couldn't understand how anyone, Night Class and Kaname himself included, could think that the man had fallen in love with Yuuki. It was obvious to her that he loved her like a little sister, but then again Zero had had a sister before... she cut off that train off thought as she watched the pureblood vampire help Yuuki to her feet. Actually, if one were to look at the two closely, you could tell by their looks that they were definitely related. It just made her wonder how the hell Yuuki was currently human and not a pureblood, though Zero did suppose that, like hunter families, vampire families also had their own sets of rituals and the like.

Noticing that Yuuki still hadn't learned her lesson about when it was needed to be gentle and when it was needed to be harsh, as well as the fact that Kaname had spent enough time with Yuuki, she went to tell him to continue his way to class. It had become a type of ritual really, and she knew that if she waited he, as well as the rest of the Night Class, would become curious as to why she hadn't come after the normal period of time. Though she was sure that it was subconscious, since they had yet to call her on it, due to the fact that she always made sure to stop him at the exact same time. Any less and Yuuki would be upset. Any more and the Day Class females, as well as Ruka Souen, would get upset.

Quickly walking toward the pureblood vampire, she grab the hand that had been in the process of musing Yuuki's hair and moved it away, giving her patented glare to the vampire letting him know in her own way that his time with Yuuki was over for the day.

"Class is starting ... Kuran," she told him with a glare in her cold tone, a tone that she always used with her mask.

The Kuran jerk his hand out of hers as though burned and continued on toward the school. As he went though he called over his shoulder mockingly.

"Your scaring me, Miss Prefect."

Zero was really starting to hate the pure blood's arrogant attitude. As she watched the rest of the Night Class walk off she saw Hanabusa look back at her with worry, she shook her head slightly and then tilted it upward, her way of telling she was fine and to keep on going. The only issue with his antics were that the rest of the Night Class rarely ever payed attention to him and so long as he made sure that the Day Class students didn't notice and bring up. After they had left Zero turned to look at Yuuki, most of the Day Class students having run off as well.

"It's none of my business how much you suck up to Kuran, but you do know the rules, right?"she asked the younger girl softly.

Yuuki looked at her with a pout. "Shut up. I know already! They're different from the rest of us."

Zero sighed inaudibly. The girl still didn't get it. She couldn't tell the other Day Class students what not to do when she herself could not stay away from Kaname Kuran when she had the chance. Zero and Hanabusa Aido were childhood friends, though no one had known before... and no one knew now, so it wasn't seen as hypocritical. Not that it really could be, since she didn't have a crush on him, unlike Yuuki with Kaname.

"Just making sure," she turned around to face what was left of the Day Class students and shouted, " Listen up Brats!Get the hell back to your dorms! Why do I have to deal with you running around acting like fangirls every damn day!? Why!?"

The girls ran away, but the moment they did Yuuki seemed to remember the fact that Zero hadn't helped out right away at the start.

She punched her.

"You were late again! Why can you never be on time?!"

As Zero rubbed the arm that Yuuki had punched, she looked at the girl incredulously, though Yuuki (for some odd reason) thought it was a glare. What the hell was wrong with this girl. The one time, two years age, that she had help right from the start Yuuki had punched her afterwards because Kuran had not spoken to her. It was one of the reasons why Zero left her alone for a certain amount of time, but the girl still hit her. Yuuki needed to make up her mind: did she want help right from the start or did she want to have a reason to spend some time with Kuran.

Ignoring Yuuki, Zero made her way the the Chairman's office, Yuuki following her. Well, technically the Chairman actually had his own set of buildings on campus. She was extremely ticked off by the time that she had reached his office. The entire way she had been thinking about what a stupid idea this was. She was totally for having vampires and humans co-exist, but the fact that the vampires were willing to antagonize those who they didn't like was not helping the matter. She was angry at Kuran for not only mocking her, but letting the other vampires do what they wanted when it came to her. She wanted to hate him for it, she willed herself to hate him for it, but she couldn't and that confused her, making her anger grow even more. She opened the office door, not bother do hold back her strength and letting it slam against the wall, and marched up to the Chairman's desk. She glared at the man that she had come to see as her favourite uncle.

"This is ridiculous," she yelled at him as she slammed her hands onto his desk. "How can you possibly expect just the two of us to guard the whole bunch of vampires and deal with the screaming idiot fangirls, Mr. Chairman!"

The Kaien Cross, the Chairman, didn't seem rather bothered at this, but that may have been because this certain conversation had become something of a weekly ritual. Actually he was rather curious. Both of Zero's parents had always badmouthed vampires, calling them bloodsuckers and leeches, but somehow the girl had not picked up their attitudes towards them, even after she had been attacked and watched her family get killed by a pureblood. It wasn't like her father had always hated them, but he had used one of his clan rituals to permanently forget something and after the ritual, his attitude towards them had changed. He had long discovered that Zero hated to hurt anyone, and when he had asked the Hunter's Association why the had given her a gun of all things to protect herself against them, they had said it was their way of seeing if she would be willing to kill the vampires. The Kiryu were the Hunter's royal clan, just like how the Kuran were the royal clan of the vampires, and as the last of her line, they had hoped that she would be willing to fight the vampires. After four years, they Association had confirmed that the best their princess could do was hurt them in a way that would not draw blood. After Valentines Day, Cross was planning to take both Zero and Yuuki to the Association so that Zero could get a different weapon.

"I admit it is difficult to deal with every night," Kaien Cross told her. "so thank you for your hard work."

"Can you find someone else to help us before this whole thing implodes then," she asked him.

Yuuki took this to mean that Zero thought that everything was her fault.

"I'm not taking that from someone who's late half the time and absent the rest!" she yelled at her.

Both Kaien and Zero looked at her incredulously, though Yuuki didn't notice. Zero had never been absent or late, and Kaien knew this. Sure he loved his adopted daughter to bits, but he knew that the girl had her faults and, by the looks of things that he had gathered from her brief outburst, she had a lot. He knew that his daughter had a crush on the boy who saved her when she was little and had seen her reaction the one time when Zero had stepped in right away to help. Since that time Zero had always shown up, but hadn't helped out right away in order to keep Yuuki happy. It didn't matter, he had noticed, since Yuuki had the same reaction either way.

Seeing that his daughter somehow hadn't noticed how they were looking at her he decide to answer Zero's question.

"Impossible. You two are the only ones I trust with the job. Your role is critical if the Day Class and the Night Class are to successfully co-exist."

"The Night Class seems to be getting along really well with the others. I'm just happy to help," Yuuki said happily.

"Of course you are. With the job as guardian you get to spend more time than the other Day Class students with your crush."

Even though Yuuki didn't hear Zero's mumble, Kaien did and he looked thoughtful. He had been planning on going onto one of his rants, but decided against it.

" Yuuki, why don't you go on patrol. I have to talk to Zero about something so she'll join you in a minute, he watched as Yuuki made her way to the door and called after her in after thought, "and don't bother listening at the door, if we don't hear you leave then we won't start talking."

Yuuki after hearing this had to hid her pout. She had taken to eavesdropping whenever someone was talking to Zero in private, though she had noticed that her adoptive father had started to make sure to talk to Zero whenever she wasn't actually their to know that they were talking. She walked out the door quickly and ran out the building to start her patrol.

After Yuuki had left, Zero walked to the door and closed it before she turned to face Kaien.

"What is it," she asked, her mask still up though her eyes were completely unguarded.

"How bad is Yuuki at the job. I know you would never say anything to her face about it, especially after how she reacted the one time when you helped her properly, and she is always telling me that she is doing a good job, saying that you are rarely there. I know for a fact that the last part is a lie, since you always show up after a certain amount of time every day at the gates, but I have nothing except for Yuuki's word about how well she is doing. Well except for Kaname's, but I am pretty sure that he is just saying that to have you demoted from guardian position."

"Do you want the truth?"

"That would be much appreciated Zero-sama," he told her, adding the suffix to show her how serious he was about the topic.

Zero blushed at the suffix, but she answered.

"The truth? She tells the Day Class students to stop fawning over the Night Class when she herself does the same. It's the reason why she has so much trouble with the job. The others don't like the fact that Yuuki is telling them not to do something that she herself is doing. Whether or not I am there and whether or not I help, she gets mad at me. She also doesn't seem to understand that having a gentle attitude when all the Day Class students want to do is mob the Night Class isn't going to help. I have just given up on making her see sense. Four years of trying and it hasn't gotten anywhere so why should I bother anymore. Also I am pretty sure that Kuran is encouraging her behaviour, if only to just get on my nerves, whether he notices what he is doing or not though, I'm not sure."

Kaien frowned. He hadn't thought it was that bad.

"Do you want to continue being a Prefect," he asked her.

She looked at him and let her mask drop. She closed her eyes and sighed, before she opened them again and let her face portray her emotions as well.

"I am happy to help," she told him softly, letting a small smile come onto her face and tilting her head to the side slightly. "but with Yuuki's attitude and the way most of the Night Class has been acting, not to mention the fangirls, I'd rather just attend school as a normal student. I never cared much for having their respect or being thanked, but I just can't take anymore of the insults. Not even the Day Class are that bad toward Yuuki.

Kaien nodded to her sadly.

"I'll let the student body know that Spring break is going to be earlier this year. We'll have it right after Valentines Day. After the break period, I'll have Yuuki do the job on her own. Hopefully she'll see how badly she has been doing at the job and hopefully Kaname realizes that Yuuki would be better off with you helping her. On a side note, the Association wants to change your weapon, the gun just doesn't suite you."

She smiled at him. "The only reason that they had me start out with the gun was because the were hoping that I would be a fighter like my father," she stated.

He nodded at her statement. " They had hoped, yes. But they are fine with how you are. A fighter for a Princess may not always be a good thing. Having a gentle ruler tends to allow the community to grow better and the Association knows this, they had just hoped that you were as much of a fighter as you are a gentle person."

Though Zero still smiled at him, everything about the look showed how sad she was.

"The fighter was Ichiru. It had always been Ichiru," she whispered.

Knowing what direction her thoughts were taking, Kaien decided to close the conversation quickly, so that he wouldn't end up bringing up bad memories

" So we'll go to the Association during the break."

She nodded and was about to end the conversation herself when she decided to ask him something.

" Can I bring someone with me?"

He looked at her surprised.

"Of course you can. It's not like anyone can tell you otherwise. And I'm bringing Yuuki with me. Who do you want to bring?"

She laughed at him.

"I'm not going to tell you until I know for certain that the person wants to come. I'm going to go and help Yuuki with patrol know. Knowing her, she's probably somewhere that gives her a direct view of Kuran so that she can watch him."

With that she turned around at went to the door. Though her last statement had shocked him (he hadn't known that Yuuki' crush had developed to the point where it could be considered a borderline obsession), he wanted to ask her a question that he had wanted to ask since she had mentioned the Night Class during their discussion about Yuuki.

"You mentioned earlier that most of the Night Class was picking on you. Is this person a Night Class student?"

The wide and happy smile she gave him before she slipped her emotional mask back on answered his question perfectly.

Hanabusa Aido made sure that it looked like he was paying attention as he let his mind drift to his thoughts. He knew how much the jabs that the rest of the Night class threw at her hurt Zero, even if she had her mask up. He had known her for far to long not to know. Even though Kaname didn't participate in it as much as the others, he let the rest of them do as they pleased when it came to the hunter, so long as they stuck to the rules of the school. That made his actions worse than that of the others, since Kaname had the power to tell them to stop and to make them stop. Since they had met as children, he had always taken the role as Zero's protector, alongside the younger twin Ichiru. She had always had the same affect on him as a pureblood, but unlike most vampires who obeyed a pureblood out of duty, he wanted to obey Zero because he wanted to. The fact that she wouldn't let him protect her from the rest of the Night Classes taunts bothered him, but he knew her reason for it. No one had known that she and her sister had befriended him when the three of them had been children and they had both agreed that they wanted to keep it that way.

He had been the first to find her after her family had been attacked and he had only stayed long enough to get her out of her hysterical mind set before he left(which was a pretty long time), having felt people running to the house. He figured out later, through a lot of eavesdropping, that he had found her the morning after the attack. The hunters had only known something was wrong when Zero's father hadn't shown shown up to a meeting so they had come to see what had happened.

He himself had never been close to his parents, though his two older sisters did liked to spoil him, and his father was planning on disowning him. His father had always favoured his sisters over him,and he was constantly getting yelled at because he couldn't fit the mold his father wanted him to.

He was shaken back to his thoughts when the teacher dismissed them and they had the rest of the night to them selves. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was paying attention to him, he slipped out of the class room and started to look for Zero. He didn't notice his cousin, Akatsuki Kain, watching him curiously.

Kain had been noticing how his cousin was acting, but hadn't seen any reason to alert anyone to the fact. He had seen how Hanabusa had a soft spot for the silver haired guardian, and it was one of the reasons why he didn't join the rest of the Night Class when they taunted her and tried to provoke her. He had also noticed her gentle nature behind the mask she put up every day and sometimes he couldn't help but wish that the girl would drop her mask and act freely. So when he saw his cousin slip out of the class room, Kain didn't bother letting the others know, he just turned back to what he was doing and hoped that his cousin stayed out of trouble.

Aido was walking through the forested grounds, sniffing the air in search of Zero. He knew that the recent taunt from Kaname had hurt her, especially since the girl had a soft spot for Yuuki and was trying to get along with him for her sake. Kaname just didn't seem to care, or if he did he was very good at hiding him reactions, especially since Aido had been around Zero long enough to see through her mask when he knew that even Kaname couldn't.

Catching a whiff of Zero's scent he started towards her direction. The two of them tended to meet like this frequently, since no one really knew about their friendship. As he walked, he split his attention between following her scent and looking at where he was going. He eventually found her at the stables. As he entered, all the horses did was look at him, having gotten use to him after a year of continuous visits. He walked up to where she was in Lily's stall. He stood by the stall door and looked down at her.

"Are you okay Zero,"he asked her softly.

She looked at him for a few moments before letting her mask drop.

"I'm fine Hana," she whispered before she sighed. "I just don't get what Yuuki's problem is. I help her, she gets mad. I don't help her, she gets mad."

There was a pause. Aido knew that she wasn't expecting an answer since they had had this conversation before, so he just stayed quiet and waited for her to speak up again.

"Kaien is planning to move spring break to right after Valentines Day."

That statement startled him.

"Why"

"The Association wants to give me a different weapon."

He couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

"So they finally realized that you would never use a gun."

She laughed along with him, her laughter sounding like wind chimes

"You know as well as I do that they knew all along that I wouldn't use it. They just hoped that I would be as much of a fighter as I was gentle."

Both of their laughter died.

"The fighter was Ichiru. It always was Ichiru," he said quietly. "You were always the protector. You would always rather protect others even if it meant that you would end up hurt in the process. It was why me and Ichiru swore that we would protect you no matter what happened. Even if it meant that we would loose our own lives to insure that you lived, we would protect you."

Silence stretched for a while, but it wasn't an awkward silence, more like a comforting one, as they both got lost in their memories. It was Zero who finally broke the silence.

"I asked Kaien if I could invite someone to come with me. He said that the Association wouldn't be able to say much if I did, because of my status. Would you like to come."

He looked at her.

"Are you serious? You sure they wouldn't kick me out?"

She stood up, jumped over the stall door, and pulled him into a hug.

"Of course I'm serious. Your like the overprotective brother I never had. And the Association will have problems if they can't see that. So do you want to come?"

"Sure," he told her as he pulled back slightly to kiss her forehead. "My father was planning a kicking me out of the family the coming break anyway. I'll just send him a letter telling him I'm staying on campus. If he is going to disown me then I'm not going to give him the pleasure of doing it with me there."

As he looked at her, she seemed to be thinking about something. He waited a while, pulling her closer, closing his eyes, and placing his chin on the top of her head. Soon her eyes closed as well as she continued to think, letting him hold her.

"I think my clan has a ritual that might help," she murmured. "I don't remember much, since it had been a brief visit and the only time my father let me go into the Kiryu family compound that is located within the Association Compound, but I think it was a family binding ritual. I'd have to read up on it again though."

"Do you remember anything," he asked her not bothering to move.

"It involved the family symbol and I am pretty sure that it involved needing both parties to be thinking of each other as family, but that's all that I can remember."

There was silence for a short period of time again.

"You know, if you ever feel the need to drink blood, you can drink mine," he told her eyes closed.

"You sure?"

"Of course. Just tell Kai – the Chairman and have him send for me. Knowing Kaname, he is going to be on your case about it soon."

"Have you noticed how much he and Yuuki look alike," she asked him.

He pulled back while opening his eyes to see her eyes were open and looking at him. He nodded to her.

"Yes. Actually, I'm pretty sure that the two are siblings, since his parents spent a lot of time at home and left him to deal with all the social parties and meetings. He had to learn politics at a young age. I think their parents were trying to protect Yuuki from being a pawn in politics for as long as they could. It makes a lot of sense, since normally the Council tends to take advantage of pureblood children to further their agendas."

"Do you know why she isn't a vampire though, I know that Hunter families have rituals so I thought that the vampires might as well?"

"Any vampire family that is considered B Class or higher tend to have their own rituals and the like, similar to Hunter families, so they could have used one to either seal her powers or turn her into a human fully," he informed her.

She let go of him and stepped back. She smiled softly at him, and though he felt the sudden urge to bow down to her, he held himself back from doing so.

"You should go back before someone notices that your gone. I know that most of the others don't notice you, but Kain does care, he just has a different way of showing it than you do."

"Fine," he said, patting Lily a couple of times before he turned around at walked towards the stable door, " Remember to tell Chairman Cross to call for me if you ever need any blood."

With that last statement, he left, running towards the classrooms the moment he was out the stable doors. Zero watched him leave with an amused smile, before she sighed and let her emotional mask fall back into place. It was time to head back since she would soon need to go and help Yuuki lead the Night Class back to their dorms. For once she couldn't believe that she was looking forward to Valentines Day, but the fact that she would no longer have to deal with Yuuki or the Night Class was such a good thought that she couldn't help but look forward to the day.

Aido managed to slip back into the classroom fifteen minutes before the end of the Night Classes school day. He briefly looked around to see if anyone had noticed his absence, and had to hold back a flinch when he saw Kain looking at him knowingly. He hadn't thought that his cousin had seen him leave, but the look that Kain was giving him said other wise. He was happy that his cousin didn't bother to bring it up right their in the classroom though.

Aido stayed quiet as both Zero and Yuuki came to lead them back to the Moon Dorms. He watched as Kaname ignored Zero and the rest of the Night Class followed his lead and ignored her. He looked over at her briefly only to see her shake her head slowly and tilt her head downward, her way of telling him that she was fine and that she didn't want him to get in trouble over her.

When they had entered the dorms Kaname went straight to his room, his way of signalling to everyone that he had nothing he wished to talk to them about and they could do whatever they wanted so long as they stayed inside the dorms. Aido went straight to the room he shared with his cousin, Kain following him, and no one looked to see what they were going to do. The moment that both of them were in the room, Kain closed and locked the door, then turned to look at Aido. They stared at each other for a long time, Aido not wanting to be the first one to speak and Kain just not being one who normally spoke out.

"How was your chat with the Hunter?"

It was Kain who finally broke the silence. Aido literally fell over onto the floor from his position at the edge of his own bed.

"How did you know I was talking to Zero?" he asked as he got up from the floor.

Kain looked at Aido amused.

"Besides the fact that you called her by your first name (Aido facepalmed himself much to Kain's amusement), you never join in on when the rest of the group mocks or taunts her. There is also the fact that you let your eyes soften slightly when you look at her."

"To hell with it," Aido muttered." Do you think the others have noticed?"

Kain shook his head.

"No, your antics have made the others basically ignore whatever you do unless it you do something that would expose us as vampires. If it wasn't for the fact that I know you started acting this way after one of your days outside your family home – after you had told me had had made new friends, mind you, and you wouldn't tell me their names – I would have probably started to ignore you most of the time as well. So how was your chat with the Hunter?"

Aido sighed.

"She's gotten fed up with Yuuki and Kaname's attitude towards her."

"I can't really blame her," Kain mused. " The girl just doesn't seem to realize that, no matter when Kiryu shows up, it is Kiryu who does most of the work when it comes to their prefect duties. I've seen the girl while we're in class, and all she does is look at Kaname through the window from the roof top. If she was actually doing her duties, she would have caught you by now. Kaname just seems to be encouraging the girl's behaviour, but I don't think he even realizes what he is doing. The rest of the nobles just follow his lead when it comes to Kiryu and, since he mocks and taunts her, they do the same."

"Chairman Cross is removing her from having to do the duty as Prefect after Valentines Day."

'I can't really blame the man. It's about time really too. The girl can't take much more of the mental abuse from the others and the physical abuse from Yuuki. I'm amazed that the girl herself hasn't asked to be excused from the duty permanently before now. Four years of this with her gentle nature probably has been torture."

"I know, but she didn't want to let Chairman Cross down. Spring Break is being moved so that it starts the day after Valentines Day."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"The Hunter's Association wants to switch Zero's weapon. Other than that I don't know why the break is coming sooner than usual."

"The Association has finally realized that the girl is too gentle for a weapon that causes one harm," he asked, trying and failing to not chuckle.

Aido smirked at him.

"Nope they've known all along. They just hoped that she would be a fighter as well."

"Is that all?" Kain asked him.

Aido hesitated.

"No. She asked if I would like to come with her to the Association."

"What!?"

Kain had to keep from yelling, but his voice was louder than it had been. Aido flinched, but waited until his cousin calmed down, not wanting to speak before he was sure that his cousin wouldn't accidentally lash out at something. It took a few moments for Kain to calm down.

"How are the two of you planning to make that work out. The moment the Association sees you, they'd probably shoot you."

Aido sighed.

"Zero is to the Hunters what Kaname is to the vampires. From what I understand, the powers of control are similar as well. So long as she doesn't wish them to do it, they can't touch me."

Kain looked at him calculatingly. That was information that none of the vampires had known before, but he guessed that it made sense, since vampires had multiple pureblood families, while from what he understood of the information he had just learned, the Hunters only had the one.

"Is there anything else Hanabusa?" he asked.

"I'm going to send a letter to father to tell him the time change for spring break and that I'm going to stay at the dorm during the break. I've told Zero that I would go with her to the Association."

Kain looked at him sadly.

"So uncle is planning to go through with disowning you then?"

Aido looked down.

"He set the date for the first day of spring break. I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of being there."

The two of them just let the silence stretch between them, both lost in their own thoughts, before Aido got up.

"Well, I think I'm going to get ready for bed. Good night Akatsuki."

With that, Aido quickly went about getting ready for bed. After watching his cousin go into the the bathroom that was attached to their room and heard the lock click, he started to get ready for bed as well. Ten minutes later the two were in their own beds. Aido had fallen asleep rather easily, but it had taken Kain longer to finally fall asleep. I hope you know what you're doing Hanabusa, were his last thoughts before he too fell asleep.

Okay people. This Chapter, well the portions that were not me speaking (through words that have been typed and posted for all to see), is a total of 6'339 words and just over 15 pages (one line over 15 pages). I am rather proud of this story so far, since this is the first time that I have used so much dialogue in one chapter before.

So, from what I have in mind so far, the main pairings in this story are going to be Kaname/(fem)Zero and Aido/(fem)Ichiru. The Kaname/Zero relationship is going to be extremely bumpy though, since I am planning (from my view point at the current moment) to follow the plot-line mostly for the moment. I will put up a poll at some point for certain pairings, but only when I feel comfortable on adding them in. The main pairings will not be changable, so don't send me any reviews about changing them. Also, I will be making gradual changes in the attitudes of characters so that they don't end up being concidered Out-of-Character, because by the time they would be, people reading this story should have gotten used to it ince the changes were gradual. I will also point out what ever faults I see in the original characters, which I am sure all of you have noticed (Yuuki for example – she is acting like a hypocrite, telling the day class girls to stop fawning over the Night Class, when she herself is constantly doing so over Kaname Kuran. In the manga it seems that the Day Class students have realized this to a certain degree, which is way they rarely behave when Yuuki wants them to.)

I would also like to say that I don't mind having people give me reviews for my work, since I find that they can help me improve my writing skills, but I would like to ask those who read this story to not end me reviews that only ask me to update soon, or that they like the story. I would like comments on what I could have added or changed to make the story better, what could or should be fixed, or even ideas on what could happen later on in the story. I tend to have difficulties coming up with ideas on what to write next a lot, as those who have read my Ghost Hunt fanfic or my Harry Potter fanfic can attest to. I am working on a new chapter for my Ghost Hunt fic, but it is kind of hard to do when I'm either trying to create my own characters for the fic (that ghost hunt fic will have a lot of my own characters in it) or my little brother is hounding me to type up and continue a Ghost Hunt fic that I had written on paper because I was bored. My Harry Potter Fic is in the process of having its only current chapter edited because a friend of mine mentioned ways on how I can improve it.

I would also like to let people know that any news on story updates and polls, as well as any notices will be posted on my site profile so that I don't get anyone's hopes up by updating a story only for them to find out that it is a notice and not a chapter.

Please tell me how well I did with the dialogue. I want to know if it sounded natural at all, because that was what I was aiming for.

Hope you enjoyed reading what I have posted for this fic so far and that you may read more of my works in the future,

Forestfirekid