Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or its characters. I'm just having a little fun with them.

It was snowing outside, she could smell it. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was standing amidst the falling flakes. And the more she thought about it, the more she longed for it. How long had it been since she'd breathed the free air? How long had it been since she'd laughed and smiled from the bottom of her heart and lived?

'A year…'

For a year she had been living within the concealing walls of the Kuran mansion. The place where she had been born. Her home. But it wasn't warm. It wasn't comforting.

The noble vampires loyal to the Kurans were always around, teaching her the ways of vampire society. She lived with her brother, who tried to do all in his power to ensure her happiness. But she'd never felt more alone.

She loved and was loved in return… but Kuran Yuuki was lonely.

She wrapped her arms around herself as she allowed her mind to think of all that she had left behind. She missed the sunlight, her school, the Chairman, Yori, Zero… Zero. For four years, he had been a large part of her life. So much so that she realized now that she might have taken him for granted. Every day she'd see him, talk to him, eat meals with him, argue with him and just live with him. Now suddenly deprived of that steady presence, she felt an unexpected ache in her heart. But there was no way they could go back to the way they were even if they were to meet again. Not after that parting one year ago.

Clenching her fists tightly, she forcibly pushed aside that memory. She didn't want to remember that. She didn't want to remember how she was now Zero's enemy or that she was supposed to run away from him. But more than that, she didn't want to remember all the pain and anger and anguish that had lurked in those familiar amethyst eyes. No. She wanted to remember his rare smiles, his warmth…

~~~~~o~~~~~

It had been nearly a year since the Chairman had brought Zero to their home. In that time, Yuuki found herself getting closer to the taciturn boy. And somehow, they chased each other's nightmares away. The haunting shadows and fears could be held at bay when they were together. He still refused to open up to her but she knew him well enough by now to know that he cared. Despite his scars, he still had the heart to care about her. It made her happy. And she wanted to show him she cared just as much, every chance she got.

It was with this thought that Yuuki dragged Zero outside that morning. Or maybe it was that she just wanted to play with someone in the fresh snow. Either way, the two ended up spending their morning outside in the school grounds.

Yuuki made snow angels before brushing the snow off herself and building a small snowman. All the while, she tried to wheedle Zero into playing with her but he remained stoically in the sidelines. Pouting and grumbling about his reluctance, the girl proceeded to pat her little snowman into round perfection. Every few minutes, Yuuki glanced over at Zero to see if he had changed his mind but the silver haired boy continued to stare off into the distance. She couldn't tell what he was thinking of but judging by the slight frown he wore, it wasn't pleasant.

Yuuki chewed on her bottom lip agitatedly before an idea hit her and she grinned. Discretely, she reached down and made a snowball before hurling it at her silent companion.

When the snowball hit him in the side with a resounding thump, Zero jerked and whirled to glare accusingly at Yuuki. But before he could even properly glare, a second snowball flew straight towards his stomach. Reflexively, he jumped out of the way. When he turned back to the grinning girl, his eyes were narrowed but he wasn't quite glaring. And before she knew it, a snowball sailed through the air and hit her smack in the chest.

Although she had been the one who started it, Yuuki had never been in a snowball fight before. There had been no one to play with since school was usually on winter break whenever it snowed. So when hit squarely by a snowball, for a moment she froze and simply looked down at her chest. Her expression was a comical mix of surprise, incredulity and happiness. Or well… she didn't think it was a comical expression at all but Zero apparently did.

Because the girl looked up to see a sight she never had seen before. Zero was smiling, In the year that she had known him, he'd never smiled despite her best efforts. But now, he was smiling.

Yuuki decided that smiling really suited Zero and that she liked his smile. She liked it a lot. She wanted to make sure that he continued to smile from now on.

Snowball fight all but forgotten, she skipped over to Zero and impulsively hugged him tight for a brief moment.

"We should go inside now. It's time for lunch and I'm hungry," she cheerfully chirped.

Pulling away, Yuuki started to head back towards the house but was halted in her steps when Zero touched her arm. He was looking at her thoroughly soaked mittens.

"You're going to end up with frozen fingers if you stay like that."

With that, he simply took hold of both mittens and swiftly pulled them off.

Yuuki had known that her wool mittens were getting soaked while playing with the snow for so long. But she hadn't wanted to stop just because her hands were getting cold. And even if her fingers were all numb and red, the morning had been well worth it. But why was Zero taking away her mittens? Soaked or not, they at least shielded her hands from the chilly wind. About to argue that he was just making her fingers colder, she found a different pair of mittens shoved into her hands.

"Zero, what…?"

"Put them on while we walk back. Or you really will get frostbite."

Yuuki looked from Zero's now bare hands in his pockets back to the mittens. These were a little larger than her own and were a different color but she found them comfortable and warm when she put them on. She could slowly feel the numbness in fingers fading with the residual warmth of Zero's hands.

With a smile, she turned to her companion.

"Thank you."

And though Zero just nodded as they walked across the deserted campus, Yuuki saw the hint of a smile lingering on his lips.

~~~~~o~~~~~

It became something of a tradition for them each year. Even when they grew older, she continued to drag Zero out to play in the snow. And she always ended up returning with Zero's gloves warming her hands.

But this year, neither of them would be out in the snow, throwing snowballs and smiling and enjoying each other's warmth.

She wondered if he would ever think of her when he saw the snow covered world the next morning. She wondered if he would smile at the memory if he did. She wished he would. She knew she no longer had the right to think so and that she was maybe being a little selfish… but she fervently hoped he would. Her heart hurt too much at the thought that he wouldn't.

And as she clenched her hands together, she imagined that it was Zero's warmth she was feeling. For this one moment, she let herself believe that it was his warmth that enveloped her hands.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated! :D

A/N: First off, I apologize to those who are waiting for me to update my other stories. I'm in the middle of a new chapter for Stolen Glimpses but a recent rereading of the manga had me in a Zero/Yuuki phase. It's my favorite canon pairing (Kaname and Zero are my fandom OTP, of course XD). I had to get this little one shot out of my system before I could concentrate on that story again. I'll have that chapter ready as soon as possible.
As for this story, the style of writing at the beginning and the end were slightly different from what I usually use (I think) so I hope it didn't seem choppy. The plot bunny was formed by the scenes where vampire Yuuki kept mentioning that she was lonely. And being the fluff lover I am, I just had to write the middle part. I hope you enjoyed the story despite its short length! =D