Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight, never have, never will.

Hate's a burden

(When you love)

~Written by the crazy Black Claided Cat

~Betaed by the awesome –Moon'sRain-

There's no chance for us.
It's all decided for us.
This world has only one sweet moment,
Set aside for us.

Who Wants to Live Forever- Queen

Prologue

The beginning starts with the end

It was just a normal day in the Kyoui household. I'd never thought anything was going to go drastically wrong, no one did. All except the vampire that planned it. Who knows why he did. Maybe he was tired of living, wanting the hunters to come after the 'rouge pureblood'. Maybe he was just bored; I know I would be too if I lived for centuries. Whatever drove him to attack the normal family house of Kyoui must have been like a drug; prodding and poking, making you do things you wouldn't normally do, but still making you giggle.

Amazing, how after all this time I can equivocate Ouri's actions to taking drugs. Maybe it's because I look from outside in? It did happen when I was seven, seems like so long ago.

I vaguely remember it, but it's still there.

It was a normal day, six days to sixty six days until school ended for the summer. I was helping my younger sister, Komakai, with her math work. I was young and my parents should have been helping her but they were off doing something. But I understood math extremely well, so I volunteered.

I was up in our room, sitting on her bed with her, leaning over a textbook with pieces of paper scattered around. Yes, the Kyoui sisters still shared a room. Even at seven.

We were the Kyoui sisters. Were, because one was dead and the other disowned the name years later. The family owned a large, European house and a horse. That's us. Kuro Kyoui and Komakai Kyoui.

A black and small wonder. Ironic, because I'm an albino.

I'm Kuro, obviously. And a girl, if you didn't notice. Just Kuro. Just Black. My parents must have a sense of humor, naming their albino child after a color that contradicted to their appearance. Nice going, Otou-san, Okaa-san.

Komakai, my younger sister, is surprisingly not my twin. She's just a year under me, but she looks nothing like me. Now that I mention it, neither do my parents. Must be the albinism. She may be named 'small' but she was taller than me. And she seemed darker, too. Older, maybe. Yes, older, that was the word to describe her. She seemed like she knew what was going to happen, she looked sullen. Physically, she looked like a ten year old, with dark brown hair and light hazel eye. Almost the opposite of my starch white and diluted wine red. She was tanned, too. Young, pretty and tanned. She looked like a completely different and unrelated person next to me.

But I loved her, and still do.

She needed help on her math, as I said before. I was good at it, as I said, too. Back to the beginning.

We were in our room when noon struck, it almost seemed like the vampires were waiting for the old grandfather clock in the living room to strike twelve before emerging into our home and forever holding our peace in their hands, and crushing it.

The clock struck once. I decided to take a break and see what my parents were doing.

Twice. I got up and said a quick farewell to my beloved sister, walking out of the room and down to the kitchen.

Thrice. I heard a noise.

Fourth. A heartbeat later.

Fifth. A shadow thrown across the wall.

Sixth. A moan of pain, quickly cut off.

Seven. A quick decision, one to save my life.

Eight. An opened drawer and a sharp knife.

Nine. A cautious walk down the stairs.

Decade. A scream erupts from a child's throat.

Unde. A horrid bloodsucker with its teeth in the parent's neck

Dozen. A messy cut from a knife, ending the life of the damned.

All in twelve rings of the clock. On what could be a thirteenth ring, I realized that a quick stab to the neck couldn't kill off this monster. I look back now at how weak I was, not even getting a proper cut in the foul beast. But my younger self managed to kill her first vampire that day. Death wounds- a severed head and a stabbed heart.

My parents were past salvation. My father, the first to go, had his head severed. Just like the vampire before it turned to a stanching filth. He probably tried to save Okaa-san, just like him to do that.

My Okaa-san? She was the one being drained, so she looked a little better. There was still blood everywhere.

The smell was overwhelming, fresh maroon blood spilled across the room. Snaking down the walls and pooling on the ground, the scent it gave off was overpowering. But not as overpowering as that of the vampire filth.

I didn't have much more time to ponder; I had to save my sister. I thought back then that I could protect her.

Foolish? Yes.

Noble? Only in a child's eyes.

I ran up the stairs, still clutching the knife. The dooming feeling I got should have been an indicator to the predator ahead. And that a knife would be worthless.

The door ripped open as Komakai launched forward and clung to me. We were still outside in the hallway so I drug her into our room and sat her on my bed, which was the one farthest from a window.

"Mama? Papa?"

I just shook my head, still scanning around the room for the cause of the severe trembles down my spin, and the one who got the vampire to kill my parents.

"Vampires. A wild one got them. I sti-" my voice was cut off by a high pitched giggle, but it turned to a dark chuckle and back again. It sounded as if the person was barmy.

"Entertain me. Pla-ay with me-e!"

We both shivered on my bed. I was almost about to reach over and tuck Komakai in, but I was sensible enough not to block her from fleeing if she chose.

"Pla-ay!"

I was silent, trying to find out where the voice was coming from. It seemed like it came from everywhere though. Up above, down below, under the bed, from in the closet, even from my sister next to me.

There was a shrill squeal and we both jumped in fright. It didn't sound like nails on a chalk bored, but pretty damn close.

It was a bat, a strange looking bat. It was hanging outside the window and trying to get it. Strange looking because instead of the wings staying in one place, it seemed like the ends were flowing behind it like a gas. Its claws scratched against the glass and it let out another loud screech.

There was a long pause, time seemed frozen. Then the bat opened its mouth and screamed, "Pla-ay with me!"

Then, in a whoosh of smoke, it disappeared.

A couple of seconds passed before Komakai was launched off the bed. Right before my eyes a young man fluttered out of the wall right where she was sitting, he started licking blood off his claws- no, talons.

My sister screamed again and I tried to jump for her but I was lurched back from a blow that the vampire dealt to me. He hungrily clamped down on her neck and drained her blood before me.

"K-kuro. H-help."

A chuckle, or a giggle, erupted from the man's throat and he lifted his head from Komakai's neck.

"Mmmh? She can't save you. At best she can run. But I hope for that. Better hunt than what your parent's brought."

He slowly brought his mouth down to her neck again, teeth already extending to bite down. She struggled suddenly and broke free, gripping her neck. She threw a punch at him with her free hand and got him in his face, stunning him. Komakai stumbled back a couple of feet before falling down.

"You little bitch," he growled, his eyes glowing redder than before.

He started stalking forward, not launching himself at his prey, he looked how a coyote would leer down on his injured rabbit.

I was frozen to the ground, still grasping my breath. But I had to save my sister. My little sister.

He stopped walking and tensed, looking about to pounce on Komakai. Her eyes widened in panic, looking at me for reassurance that she wouldn't die there and then.

"No!" I screamed, launching myself at the vampire. I was just in time; he was going for the kill. The only thing standing in the way between my sister and the vampire was my left wrist, which had the vampire's fangs sunken into it instead of Komakai's throat.

He growled at me, sinking the fangs deeper. They felt like thorns, large and sharp thorns going through. They were so long that I could see the tips of them poking out from the other side of my wrist.

I grabbed my arm and pushed up, trying to get the vampire off of me. I was putting quite a bit of weight on my sister and I had to get it off before I crushed her to death. I pushed with all my might, even having a little shove from my sister under me to add some more strength to it. We pushed him off and he retracted his fangs from me.

Komakai made a quick dive for the knife and tossed it to me. I caught it in mid air and in the same swoop flung it at the vampire. It hit him in his head; it was at an angle and got his whole nose and right eye. It should have gone deep into his brain and killed him but he only did his chuckle.

"Who…," I started, "Who... Who are you?"

He giggled again, "Moeki! Moeki," and faded away into a bungle of the creepy bats like the one outside the window from earlier, the knife clattering to the floor.

(It wasn't until later that I found that his name was actually Ouri. Moeki was the level E vampire that killed my parents. But nether the less, that name stuck in my mind.)

We just sat there for a couple of long minutes, just breathing and believing that we weren't dead yet.

Finally, I got up. I remember that I had to go and help Komakai. Her neck was bleeding profusely and we had to stop it or she would die from blood loss.

Stumbling, we finally made it to the bathroom and I got her cleaned up. I remembered what my mom always did when we scraped a knee, and got some bandages and ointment and cleaned out the wound before wrapping it up. We just sat there staring at the puddle of blood on the counter that she was sitting on before I tried to get my wrist wrapped up by myself. I couldn't do it so Komakai had to help.

......

A couple of hours later was when we first saw the symptoms of the venom spreading. Komakai was withering on the floor and trying to shred her own neck, where the vampire bit her.

Her teeth enlarged and caused her lips to start bleeding. It wasn't just her top canines that became fangs, her bottom ones did too. She greedily lapped up the blood she produced but spat it out in dissatisfaction. Her normal brown eyes shone a maroon red, looking like pools of blood. She tried to bite me one, but I held her down.

Her nails grew into claws and she screamed terrible screams, unimaginable sounds erupted from her throat before she fell silent in a deep restless sleep.

We had to get out of there, we needed help. I tried to get up to pack a bag, but Komakai grabbed onto my pants and begged me to stay.

So I did.

After hours and hours of screaming, she finally quieted down. She wasn't able to talk very well. Her skin was a sickly grey and bubbles flowed under it like lava, her teeth were dug into her mouth and she could barley even open it to scream.

Her eyes.

Her eyes were terrifying. They seemed flat and lifeless like a dead corpse. But they followed me like normal eyes. The normal brown pigment had changed to red, but now they were all gray.

"Kill me," came the gurgled reply from Komakai. He tongue had swollen so much that her mouth had to be pried open from her teeth.

"What?" I remembered I said as I bent forward to listen better to her. But I soon understood. "No! No, no, no, no! I won't! I can't! I love you!"

"Kill me. Be merciful, Kuro."

"You- you want to die by my hand?"

I knew she wasn't going to make the transformation; unless this was normal, which I highly doubt it. So she decided to die by my hand; seeing a familiar and loving face than without one, blind by the side effects and killed by a vampire. I could already feel a tingling at my own bite caused by the vampire. I wouldn't make it much longer, either.

So I killed her. I cut a lock of her beautiful hair and braided some, twisting it around the handle of the knife and letting it dangle like a tassel. I then said a prayer to a god that I now knew didn't exist and then said my love to her, telling her to tell our parents and our relatives that I would be there soon.

I had driven the knife, the same one used to kill the vampire, stab Moeki (Ouri) and with the tassel of hair, into her heart.

Komakai shuddered, gasping for the breath she wished she could have, and froze. A couple of seconds later she turned into a foul smelling dust.

It was better now. She could rest in peace. But she wouldn't have to worry; I thought back then that I would die soon after. Hours, maybe days. But I would follow. But I had to be prepared.

I still couldn't believe I did that. She was- no is my sister. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have. But I did. I almost had to. She wanted me to. So I did. Is that so hard to believe?

......

I could feel it creeping in my veins, like a cold and deadly poison. I don't know why it was talking so long, the venom, but I was grateful.

I just sat there. A long, long time. Disbelief of what I did was colder and harder than the venom that I believed would kill me. Frozen.

That was the word. Frozen. Life seemed that way, at least now. I believed that it would always seem that way. Mind of a child, mind you. It seems as if I'm repeating words in my mind now. Believe. Mind. Frozen.

Maybe I'm insane?

Nah, Komakai wouldn't like that. 'Oh, yes. My name is Komakai. And this is my sister, Kuro. She's an insane albino. I really don't know her. She's just my father and mother's daughter.'

Ya, that wouldn't go well.

I wanted to pack some stuff so I could leave her, and this place. But once I found my bag, large with many pouches and zippers, I couldn't remember why. But the main reason was because I didn't remember what I wanted to put in it. Stupid childish forgetfulness. All I really did was have the bag next to me. Until I saw the remains of my sister, then I grabbed a small jar and placed some of her ashes in it. Yes, a backpack with only ashes in it. But the entire time I had that knife with me. Waiting, in case Moeki came to finish me off. Or maybe he just thought that we would both die.

But I just sat down to wait. I ate food that a managed to get from the kitchen and I sat next to my sister's ashes.

And I waited.

......

It was two days later when I heard something. It was the sound of a door opening. Soon followed by footsteps and talking. I was terrified, thinking it was the vampire. But then logic hit, he didn't need a door. And he only giggled.

"Looks like the level E got the parents."

They were talking about the old scraggly vampire? Must have been. Level E? I wondered what that stood for.

"I thought there were children in the house," a new voice said. It seemed slightly calmer and less rough than the first, but still had a hard edge to it.

"Yeah," the first voice was closer now, "I'm going to check in the bedroom."

I heard the door open and the man walk into the room.

"Hmm, not here. Wait! Kaien! It looks like a pureblood!"

The second man, Kaien, rushed up the stairs, "What?"

"A pureblood, only they make those markings, right?"

There was a hum of approval for being able to distinguish the attacks of different vampires.

"Let's go look where the children are. Girls, right?"

"Yeah, Kyoui if I'm not mistaken."

"Kyoui? Where have I heard that before..?"

There was a shuffle in front of the bathroom door. The door creaked open and a black haired man stuck his head in the room. Once seeing an occupant he opened it all the way, showing the next man who was inside.

"Well, there's one of 'em," he said gesturing to me. By the sound of the voice he was the first man.

"Look at the ashes."

"Hm? Two then."

They seemed so calm about this, it was infuriating. I started to sniff a little bit; a couple tears fell out of my eyes and trickled down my face. The light from the flashlight the man held made a large star in my eyes, and I squinted, only to have the light change and blind me more.

"She's still alive!" The second man said. He had a mop of long blonde hair and looked surprised that I was still living and breathing.

I just nodded and sniffed some more.

The black haired man just looked over to his partner in confusion, probably of what to do with me.

"Touga, pick her up."

He came forward and leaned down to get me, he picked me up and cradled me into his arms but I squealed and tried to get down. It was foolish to try to get down, I realize now. But I didn't want to leave the rest of my sister.

"There's nothing we can do for the sister?"

Kaien shook his head, and just led them out of the house. My meager pack was in his grip while I was in Touga's. We were about to reach a car that was parked in the driveway when I remember our horse.

I squealed again and tried to get down.

"Lemea, lemea!"

Touga again threw a confused look at Kaien but he just shrugged at him. He gently lowered me onto the ground and before he could catch me I took off to the stables that were in sight.

I managed to get in there and run to the horse's stall. They managed to catch up with me then, but the stopped once they saw the Frisian colt, by the name of Kokutan.

"Mine."

They both looked at each other, again.

"What are we going to do with it?" Asked Touga. But Kaien just bent down to my level and told me, "Don't worry. Once we get you safe we can come and get your horsy. Is that okay?"

I nodded vigorously. I didn't want him to stay there and rot. Touga picked me up again and we headed to a car.

......

The next few weeks passes in a blur. They took me to Touga's house and took care of me; they even brought Kokutan and his equipment. They healed up my wrist quite nicely and Touga put a tattoo on it that was suppose to delay or cancel the conversion of becoming a vampire. They both explained to me about vampires and all the classes. They also explained why they were there, there were level E vampire sightings in the area and they went to check it out. Turns out the sightings were right and they were dispatched to go take care of it. Touga then explained about vampire hunters while Kaien was babying me. I learned later that he had a daughter around Komakai's age.

But it was peaceful.

Kaien had to go back home to his daughter, and school. But he gave me a farewell and promptly forgot about me (until years later when I showed up at his doorstep). Touga became like an older brother to me, because when I said that he was like a father he told me he was too young to have a kid my age. So brother it became.

He explained to me the Vampire Hunters Association (VHA) and how vampire hunters were born, not made. Later he said he was surprised at me being able to kill the level E.

We looked up later why Kyoui sounded familiar, my great grandfather turned out to be a hunter, had a son, who got married to a regular human, then got my mother, who my grandfather didn't want to marry a hunter to have hunter children and married her to my father, a Kyoui. It was a large argument for a line to want to diminish itself with regulars. It was called the Kouki-Kyoui marriage. But I had only a little hunter in me.

He trained me and officially registered me into the VHA so when I got older I could go after marks.

After the three year anniversary of being his 'little sister' he finally got me my own gun. The only other weapon that I could call my own was my knife. But I finally got an anti-vampire gun! It was amazing, hard and silver yet it was dark and just the right size. I called it 'Bleeding Spirits' or 'Spirit' for short.

Other than in my vampire training, I've been riding Kokutan. I learned that familiars are great companions in the hunting world. But horses weren't exactly familiars. But I planned to go around and hunt marks all over the place so I needed good, trustworthy transportation. I could shoot my gun while on him, and he wouldn't spook.

I found my right familiar a couple of months after gaining my gun. I was in the woods and I protected a small pup from being attacked from its pack. It looked like a mix breed, wolf and dog. It trailed after me ever since.

Between you and me, I think I'm going nuts. He, so does Kokutan, speaks to me sometimes. Actually, Kokutan started it first. Just in my head. But they speak. I'm quite sure I am mad. I think that might be my gift. Talking to animals. It didn't happen until after the attack, so that's my theory. But I mentioned, rhetorically, to Touga about different hunter gifts and their awakening. He said something about hunters awakening at a certain age and also about a traumatic experience. So I guess getting attacked and killing my sister could be considered traumatic…

Even today I'm not too sure. But my Kokutan was only a little okay with a little pup trailing after him. For ironic purposes I called him Banpaia. He loves his name, so he said. I bet I could have called him 'Baka' and he would have liked it. But he's loyal and loving. And fits in my bed. I think Kokutan's jealous, even now!

When I grew to the age of fourteen, two years to the present time, I went off with my companions to make a name for myself. I had already been living in a separate area from Touga, because he was training students and doing his own hunting, so it wasn't that hard to say goodbye. I hunted rouge vampires, getting lists from the VHA and just killing them whenever they attacked me. Banpaia's nose was sensitive to their scent and he could sniff out a single vampire in a whole city. This was very helpful when that was the case. And Kokutan was the loyal level-headed one, correcting my plans and even making them. It was still strange to talk to them so freely, but I eventually got use to it.

But I did make a name for myself. I got paid quite a bit of money from the VHA and I became in the list of top ten best hunters, compared to the time they've been hunting. It's been only two years, but I've easily slain over three hundred marks and more rogues (that weren't posted but still attacked).

I love my life, which was enough to say. But I wanted something more. I wanted to know how the vampires ticked. How they worked. I also wanted that little flare peppers give to a soup. I was only sixteen when I decided. But I was just so bored. It was fun to kill vampires, I loved it. They were sadistic beings who deserved to be crushed. I hated them.

But later I realized that you could also love them.

They're so confusing, but I guess that's just what happens when you get trained under Yagari Touga.

I never realized that when I went to that town I got more than I bargained for. I was only there for a simple measly mark, a level D going to E. I was to be there to kill it. But I traveled deeper into the little town, went to a little shop, met a little girl, got a little something and did a big nothing. And got a whole whopping pile of crazy life.

I guess that's what I wanted.

......

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you like the intro to the new story! The plot's only going to be changed a little, and I decided to add a few more things in there. Once this is up for a while I'm going to be deleting the rest of the story for the whole rewrite. I'm going to take this step by step to get it all done!