Notes: This will be a bit of a retelling as I wanted to start toward the beginning of the series. In that way there are some things that will change in normal VK canon as I proceed. There will be a pairing sometime but I still haven't actually decided on who it will be. Either Kaname or Zero but there will be a bit of a love square or something that emerges as time progresses.

Chapter Two: Introducing Midnight

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."

-Terry Pratchett

Optimism was waning.

Perhaps if she'd arrived in the morning she would have remained so, maybe if she'd gotten there anytime in the afternoon or evening she could have clung to some hope that her days in the new school would be fine. The school being on the opposite side of Tokyo from where she lived made it unlikely she'd visit home often. Officially it wasn't even Tokyo anymore, being a slighter smaller suburb city of it's own.

Her travel to her new school had been more complicated than anticipated. First she'd accidentally gotten on the wrong train, then when she'd finally managed to get off she was on the opposite side of the city. That wouldn't have been too horrible of a problem if then on the way back the train hadn't broken down on the tracks and left her and the other riders stuck midair for several hours. She finally got to where she was suppose to get off and take the bus but there were no more running that day.

After a lot of asking someone was finally kind enough to stop and give her a few moments of their time so she discovered where a taxi was that could take her deeper into the city and over to the school itself. She was already low on cash that her mother had given her to spend before she'd even managed to arrive.

The city around the school was quaint, older styled with buildings that held a lot of stonework and were almost maze like in quality. Paying to be driven by people that were familiar with the surroundings would be needed for a while if she ever wanted to visit town. More or less a part of town she wanted to visit, the area just around the school seemed decrepit and broken down with unsavory sorts that gave her a bad feeling.

Pushing down the nervousness thanks to having a car between her and them she reached the large gates of the impressive estate not long after they'd entered the area that was bothering her and then she was left at the gate with her bags. The driver almost tossed her change at her before leaving and she frowned after him.

"No need to be so rude about it..." She grumbled after the retreating car, eyes turning back to the tall iron clad passage. It was closed and there was a lock...she hadn't anticipated being stuck right outside the gates of the school. "Great..."

She tugged her luggage closer and glanced at the stonework walls along the gates, climbing over would have been manageable if she didn't mind leaving her suitcases outside. That option left her mind shortly after it came up.

"HELLO!?" She raised her hands to make a slight funnel of them as she yelled toward the luscious grounds. At least the courtyard seemed like it's own miniature forest, though at night it was so dark it was pretty creepy. Without a flashlight or even a cell phone she hid beneath the right light at one of the sides of the immense gate.

Without an answer she tried yelling again and checked her watch.

12:09 AM.

"Midnight. Everyone's probably asleep." She sighed to herself, glowering at the lock on the gates as the piece of metal was what was keeping her from a soft warm bed. "Great, I don't want to just sit here all night."

"Got a problem there?" A chill went down her spine a moment before the male voice reached her. Whoever the man was, she knew there was something wrong before she even turned to face him.

She couldn't pick out his face, he had it hidden in the recesses of a deep hood of his dirty brown sweatshirt. Jeans, sneakers and a backpack completed the simple ensemble. His hands were shoved in the front pocket of his sweater and his stance seemed laid back, relaxed. Nothing was out of the ordinary other than him being there, but she just felt something wrong.

"Um..." She swallowed and tried to be reasonable, why would anyone just hang out around the outside of the gate? "I arrived much later than expected for the first day today and am not sure of how to let them know I'm here now."

"You could climb over the wall." They suggested, swaggering closer in the same lazy manner in which they held their stance. "You seem tall enough to make it."

"I don't just want to leave my things." Kagome answered, doubting with the dirty state of the man's own clothes he would be scrupulous in watching them for her.

"That's quite the problem them. I heard you yelling from just up the road...I doubt anyone in the buildings will hear you this late." He had gotten within twenty feet and Kagome felt her hairs on her body stand on end, goose bumps curling along her arms and neck.

"I'll manage...you should probably continue with what you were doing." She attempted lamely to get rid of him. Something was wrong, no one had reason to be wandering by the school entrance this late...unless they were up to no good.

"Oh, I've got all night. You are sort of cute you know." The person commented, they were close enough now that she could tell they smelled as if they hadn't bathed in a week (if not a month) and they still sent off a strange feeling in her. She wanted to run but there wasn't anywhere to go...she wouldn't make it past them and climbing the wall would take longer than it would for them to get to her.

"Thanks." She managed to keep her calm more than she expected to. "But really, I'll be fine, I'm sure they know I didn't make it and someone will be here anytime."

The guy paused his approach to glance warily at the front of the school.

"Good, keep him guessing!" Kagome congratulated herself on the small victory of making him nervous, offering a kind smile. "If I can make him think someone will show up then maybe someone will." Buying time...

"No, you were yelling pretty loudly and no one is here...maybe they think you'll come tomorrow." His face was slightly deformed when he tugged the hood down. As if some horrible fire had permanently made his skin uneven and glossy over his left cheek and continuing down into his shirt. It was his eyes that gave her pause though, they were a glowing red, somehow they seemed to match the slight fangs when he opened his mouth perfectly.

She felt nauseous.

"Maybe then, they'll think you decided never to come over at all." He finished a moment before he jumped at her.

She wasn't even certain how she'd managed to duck free of the strike, not that she'd avoided it completely, her sleeve ripped and shoulder cut by fiercely sharp claw-like nails on his hand. She reflexively had pushed herself back and to the opposite direction of the one he'd been attacking in, minimizing damage she would have taken by leaping another way.

"I won't keep getting lucky." She thought grimly as he was grinning when he turned back.

"Just as well, I like a little fight in my..." He didn't get to finish the statement.

She barely managed to keep up with the sudden change herself, there were two flashes of silver on a midnight blue background.

Someone had dropped from the top of the gates and landed on the person assaulting her, pressing him almost instantly and effectively to the ground with a gun settled on the nape of their neck.

Kagome back pedaled another step, staring wide eyed at the sudden change and her savior.

As if the starlight had fallen with the rest of him and taken shape in the short silver hair and bangs that fell to just above his eyes. The color raised a moment of familiarity in her, a flash of something of her past rising and then falling before she could grasp it. His eyes were more notable than the unique hair for her, for she'd never seen someone with such a gaze. Unforgiving amethyst orbs were narrowed hatefully on the man that had just fallen short of causing much worse damage to her.

The uniform she recognized, it was the navy blue and white of the uniforms that were even now in the luggage that had fallen out of her mind when she'd needed to defend herself. The gun was exceptionally large for a pistol but not long enough to be a rifle of any kind. It managed perfectly well to look dangerous, almost as shiny as the locks curling roguishly about his face. There were markings that looked like words but she didn't want to get any closer to try to read it. The small chain that curled from the bottom of it seemed to connect back into his jacket.

"Just do it then!" The smelly man beneath him laughed wildly, seeming quite insane and she wasn't sure what to do to help or at least not get in the way. So she just stood and gaped stupidly at the scene unfolding in front of her.

She hadn't thought it possible for her jaw to drop further until the shot went off and the man turned to dust in a flash of neon magenta lighting in the shape of a cross. Only the dirty clothes and her bizarre savior remained.

"What are you doing here?" His question was direct, harsh, indifferent to her feelings given the fact she barely survived that creature.

"I was...trying to get into the school...my train was late and I didn't make it here in time." She explained glancing at the dusty outline of something she immediately knew wasn't human and back to the silver haired boy glaring at her.

"You shouldn't be out here at this time." He commented, sliding the gun back into a pocket and pulling out a set of keys. "It's against school policy. Didn't you read your handbook?"

"Um, I'm just starting this year so I don't have one yet." She answered, a little angry at his attitude but finding it difficult to complain as she wouldn't be doing nearly as well without his help. "They said I'd get one when I arrived. I got stuck on the train that stopped today."

He didn't answer, he'd already pulled out keys and his hands were shaking as he tried to unlock the gate.

"Hey um...whatever...that was. Thank you for..."

"Don't mention it." His reply was just as tart, instant, and rude as usual. She could guess he wasn't likely a favorite person in his class or known for charisma.

"Are you okay?" Kagome mistook the shaking as fear after what had happened. "Do you want me to unlock the gates?"

He tossed the keys toward her feet, missing by a few inches and stepped away putting his back to her. She couldn't see him digging his nails into his chest or the slightly pained expression on his features. Had no idea that the still bleeding wound on her shoulder was tempting him. How could she have known that the man that had saved her, was slowly turning into a monster himself.

"You don't have to be so rude." She commented, she did appreciate what he did, but the attitude was getting to her. "I was scared by that, so if you were it's pretty reasonable. I thought you were amazing. I didn't even hear you or notice until you'd already flattened it to the ground."

"Should I be so calm myself about this?" She thought idly if she'd hit her head during the crash and was really in a hospital someplace dreaming. "I should probably be crying and running around crazily...not trying to convince the guy that saved me from...some monster...that it's okay to be afraid."

The lack of fear frightened her more than the presence of it. Was there something incredibly wrong with her to be calmly unlocking the gates of the school when she was attacked by a monster right outside? Yes...probably.

The lock clicked open and she smiled at the small victory of pulling it free. The gates didn't squeak at all as she tugged at one to open it, though given it's size and weight the going was slow.

"What's your name?" She asked, hoping to make nicer conversation.

"Zero..." He couldn't stay much longer. Once she'd gotten herself in and locked the gate he'd run back to his room.

"I'm Kagome. It's nice to meet you." She said in as cheery a tone as she could muster, tugging her bags in the gate while he continued to face away from her.

"Just lock the gate when your done. You can drop the keys off at the Chairman's office tomorrow." He went to brush by her, wanting to be away from the scent of blood.

"Hey wait." She grabbed his shoulder, being drug a foot and holding on instead of backing down. She kept speaking until the harsh drag opened back up the wound on her shoulder. "I need to know where I'm going and staying and such...you can't just walk away..."

He turned in a flash, grabbing her right hand and unable to pause from looking at the blood resurfacing fresh on her shoulder. It wasn't flowing as freely as it first had been but it had returned to a gentle trickle. She flushed a gentle shade of pink at the intense stare he was offering, her bravado suddenly forgotten.

"I still need first aid too." She commented in almost a whisper as he stared at her wound, embarrassed suddenly at her quick temper. It hurt but it wasn't that bad, she wasn't nearly as bothered by it as she thought she should be.

She blinked slowly when he pushed her back into one of the trees given they had previously been half the road leading toward the main building away. At least a few yards from them after she'd been dragged several paces by his earlier short retreat. "What are you..."

She froze as he moved his face closer to her and pushed her head to the side.

It was painful at first.

He'd sunk the fangs into her neck before she could even complete the question, it was becoming a quick habit to not complete her sentences.

The sensation was unique, almost pleasurable behind the curtain of fear over her deer in headlights reaction to the attack. She could hear him drinking, feel the renewed and frantic beating of her heart a moment after it seemed to pause at the first break of her skin.

The pain lightened, the initial tightness of her entire form in wanting to fight the attack wavered and her body relaxed against it's will. She could feel the warm liquid of her blood making a single escaped line down over her collarbone and along her chest. The intense desire emanating from her rescuer turned attacker was something anyone in the entire school should have been able to feel. Despite the blood loss, the aggressive manner of the attack, she was still blushing as a result of her own personal empathy. She could almost feel what she thought he was feeling.

His hands were holding her wrists so tightly that her fingers were going numb, it was as if every part of her body only got colder the further away from her neck or chest it became.

In a flash of light the sinfully elating embrace was over mere seconds after it had begun. Kagome was sliding down along the tree trunk to collapse in half-consciousness at it's roots. The boy had been blown backward by some force she couldn't recognize and was himself knocked out when he'd bounced off of a tree on the other side of the wide drive.

She pressed a hand over her neck where it was still bleeding lightly. The dizziness was a bad sign she knew, she couldn't move reliably until it started to pass. She'd donated blood before and while this wasn't anything like that, she knew that if she tried to move too much too soon then she'd join Zero on the ground.

"Bandage." She thought outloud, reaching into the one bag near her and tugging out one of the ribbons for her uniform to make herself a loose bandage before continuing to put pressure on her neck. "What the hell is going on here? Vampires?"

The word was familiar, there had always been stories, but she'd never believed them. Tonight seemed good reason to start having faith in fairy tales. If she didn't get help though it would be a wonder if she survived the night. The blood flow had finally stopped but she had no way of knowing how much she'd lost. Even thinking was difficult in a normal manner, not a good sign, she had to stay conscious or she could start bleeding again and then she really wouldn't make it.

"Kiryuu...you fool." She wasn't even sure how much time had passed when she heard the second voice. It was richer, kinder, surprisingly gentle for the strange feeling she got after hearing it. It was the same dark underlying warning she'd had at the gate, then again right before Zero had pressed her into the tree.

Kagome blinked and forced her head to turn very slowly out of fear of breaking the wounds open again to face a chocolate brown haired, brown eyed man that was just bending to consider her.

"Conscious..." He commented curiously. "A lot of strength for one that's lost so much blood."

Kaname had the vaguest sensation he knew her when he looked at her face. The blood wasn't nearly as tempting for him as it would have been if Yuki had been so wounded. He'd actually feared that Zero would lose control and harm her a little, but this would help to remedy that being an issue.

"Kaname sen-pai?" Yuki sounded nervous, she'd finally caught up to the scene, which was troublesome as he hadn't sensed her approach.

"We need to help this girl." Kaname commented softly. "I'll need to take her and erase her memory then leave her with the Chairman. Can you return and let him know we're coming?"

"...Zero..." She'd noticed him, Kaname was hoping he would be far enough away to avoid that. She was already moving toward him. "...what happened?"

"Best to wait and discover the details." Kaname commented, lifting the girl from the ground and glancing at her things. "Can you attend him and watch her things. I'll send someone back to retrieve them."

He didn't like using his resources to help anyone but Yuki but it couldn't be controlled without causing her more alarm. "Yuki?"

"Yes, yes. Go get her help...will she be okay?" Yuki was considering the very pale and still only half-conscious Kagome with a face lined with concern.

"She'll be fine Yuki." Kaname said and then he was gone.

Kagome didn't see anything else that happened at the scene of her attack, she knew they were running more quickly than a normal person could. Though she was jostled almost not at all, it was what she could imagine levitating over the ground would be like. She liked the soft couch he found her, it gave her more of a chance to relax that being in his arms wasn't allowing her. Being set down she had the puzzling realization she felt a bit as if a danger had passed.

The conversation in the next room she could hear but it seemed much more distant.

"...she's lost a lot of blood. Kiryuu attacked her, she's lucky that something stopped him before he drained her completely."

There wasn't a reply she could hear.

"I'll go over her memory once first aid is dealt with and you've cleaned her up a little."

Again silence for a moment before she could pick out the voice of the second person to rescue her that evening.

"I'm not certain. You'll need to speak with her before I deal with her memory."

"Memory..." Kagome clung to the word obsessively. "Are these same creatures the reason I can't remember the last year of my life? Are they the ones that harmed me so greatly? But...mom wouldn't want me here if she knew...do none of the other students know? I can't just stay here...I won't lose more of my life..."

As much as she needed the first aid, she shifted slowly to sit up, the dizziness not as bad as she was expecting, she'd always recovered fairly quickly. Something she was very glad for now, she pushed herself up as quietly as possible and began hobbling down the hall toward what she hoped was an exit in the unfamiliar building before she was caught.

She made it to the doorframe.

"She's got spirit." The voice she couldn't hear before was very clear now, another male voice but more of a tenor than a baritone like the others she'd heard today. It didn't set off the same warning bells, but those erupted a moment later when the voice of the brown haired man joined it.

"She shouldn't be able to walk." Kaname himself sounded vaguely surprised. The only way she should have been on her feet is if he'd miscalculated the blood left in her system originally. With that impossible, it was difficult to believe that his senses were telling him she'd recovered so much so quickly. "Perhaps she's descended from hunter blood."

"Her mother isn't one, neither was her family for years." Kaien commented back. Smiling when she turned to face them, albeit more gently than he normally offered. "Kagome right...will you come back and sit with us?"

"No." Kagome was all bravado she didn't feel again. It wasn't the wisest course but she ran for it.

End Chapter

Whew, excitement all at once! This is prior to even the small bite of Aidou on Yuki's wrist. Some things will come up in the story that have in the anime but I'll pick and choose as I go what to include and not include. Thanks for reading!

-Nera

Reviews: Yay feedback! Thanks to everyone that gave me some, I'll just try to answer specific questions here but I love all the comments you give me!

Kuronueslover - she doesn't remember at all. I'm still not sure as to whom to pair her with.

xXblackxxStarXx - Time will tell. Though I don't plan to leave Yuki alone.

Kage Otome - She does. Though she's not sure why just yet. Her dodge was implying that this chapter. More on past events to come in future chapters.