Vampire Knight

Guilty Temptations

Chapter Four: The Exquisite Ball

Maria smiled smugly, and she pranced off, humming a cheerful tune to herself. I covered my lips and stepped back, wondering if becoming a prefect was really worth it. Dealing with all these vampires was enough to handle, but to be kissed by one!?

That's a GIRL!?

I panicked, getting all these images in my mind, some, which I'm not proud to say, are sort of perverted. I mean… I get that Maria's a vampire, and that she has lived for a very long time. She would get bored, right? …But so bored as to actually turning… that way? Now, I have absolutely nothing against lesbians and what they do for a living, but it is… a little disturbing if they start hitting on me.

I avoided the stares sent to me as I walked down the long hallway. I heard steps coming closer from behind me, and I turned, praying to God that it wasn't another vampire to freak me out. And it wasn't. Zero stood behind me – this time, not huffing. He mumbled, "At least tell me if you want to get away from those guys."

"You… seemed busy with them. You could've just walked after me anyway," I replied, continuing to step towards the Chairman's office.

"I needed to know what Aidou had exactly done. I know you wouldn't have told me." Zero muttered, now catching up to my pace.

I murmured, "Sorry. It had reset what my family had done to me so – it was traumatizing, in a way."

"Where are you going?" He asked, not really seeming to care.

"You don't look like you want to know," I said under my breath.

His head turned towards me and he said, "What? No. You're going in the direction of the Chairman's office."

I nodded slowly, and told him, "I don't think being a prefect is a good job for me. These vampires are…"

"Look, I know you don't like these vampires. I hate them. But I still stay a prefect."

"That's because the Chairman forces you to do it. I'm sure he'll let me quit."

"Are you kidding me? He's not going to budge! Once he says yes, he says yes."

"I'll see about that."

"And I'll be watching you fail."

I grunted in slight anger, and walked faster, reaching the office before Zero could. I opened the door without knocking, and said in a bold voice, "Chairman, I have to speak to you about the prefect ordeal…"

The Chairman looked up from his desk, and raised his eyebrows, in genuine interest. "Ordeal? I wouldn't necessarily call it an ordeal… Why? Did something happen?"

I shut my eyes for a moment, to keep myself from bursting out my anger. I took a step inside, with Zero following me silently. "Chairman… I don't want to be a prefect."

He was now more attentive than before. "What? Why would you say that? You already made a decision to stick with this!"

"Yes, right before I realized that these vampires are nut jobs!" I whined.

"Why on Earth would the Night Class students be nut jobs? What did they do to make you think so meanly of them?"

"I'm not the one who is being mean; I feel like they're teasing me on my first day! A-Aidou-senpai almost tried to bite me, and that new girl Maria k…ki…kissed me! On the lips!"

The Chairman looked startled, along with Zero as well. "Kissed you? …Do you have any relationship with Maria at all?"

"What? No! I only met her today!" I shook my head.

"How strange…" He scratched his chin, as if he were in deep thought.

I perked up. "So, you'll let me quit?"

"Eh? Oh, of course—"

I sighed of relief. But I'd assumed to quickly.

"—not."

"W-What!?" I cringed. "But I'm horrible at keeping things in order! A-And I can't handle the stares the other students give me already, prefect or not!"

I felt Zero smirk smugly behind me, and I frowned at him. The Chairman shrugged. "Well, you're the one who agreed in the first place, you're going to have to handle whatever you decide."

"But I don't want to…!" I complained, hoping it didn't sound too stubborn.

"Shiori-chan, just deal with it," The Chairman told me solemnly, not smiling anymore.

I'd never seen the Chairman not smile, and as broody it looked, I didn't want to deal with his bad side. So, I obeyed his words, and exited his office quietly. And faintly, behind the shut door, I heard the Chairman sigh.

"She might just start to remember those memories… That Maria… What does she think she's doing?"

Zero stuffed his hands in his pockets as usual, and smugly said, "I told you it wouldn't work."

Shiori muttered, "It never hurt to try."

Zero turned his head the other way, to look out the window as they walked in sync together. The moon was shining brightly in its crescent form. Zero accidentally wondered aloud, "You going?"

Shiori looked up at him. "Huh?"

Zero flinched, realizing what he had said, and mumbled, "No… Nothing."

Now Shiori was curious. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing! I was just thinking," He answered almost rudely.

Shiori furrowed her eyebrows together and grumbled, "Sorry, Mr. Grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy," He said stubbornly.

"Then prove it by telling me what you were going to say," She smiled.

He raised an eyebrow. "Geez. I don't need to prove anything to you."

"Do I hear a chicken?" Shiori grinned, imitating a clucking bird conspicuously.

"What!? I'm not a chicken! And stop doing that! It's immature!" He protested.

"Cluck!" She crowed at Zero. "Cluck, cluck!"

"Okay, fine! I'm not a chicken, and you will stop doing that!" He smacked her gently on her head.

"So you'll tell me?" She beamed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Zero admitted. "You… uh, going to the Ball?"

"There's a ball in school?" Shiori echoed. "I wasn't told of this. When is it?"

"It's on the weekend. I'm not really planning to go but… You know, if you're going, I don't want you alone with all the vampires." He somewhat suggested.

"Zero-kun…" Shiori whispered. "…Are you asking me to be your date for the ball?"

He grimaced almost immediately after I said that. "No!? I was just suggesting something! You know, so you won't be as vulnerable towards Aidou. Don't get the wrong idea…"

Shiori chuckled nervously, with a great big obvious blush on her cheeks. "I-I knew that, haha, after all, why the heck would you be interested in a girl like me? Haha…ha."

You wouldn't believe how many awkward moments the pair had created by themselves. They continued walking in a stiff silence. Zero and Shiori reached outside, where it was quiet, after the vampires had come inside to continue their classes. The whole time, the two didn't speak a word to each other.

Shiori looked around and tried to make conversation like last time. "Do you know where Yuki-san is?"

Zero shrugged. "Don't know. She ran off with Kurenai Maria last time I saw her… Speaking of which, did she really kiss you?"

She blushed, remembering how calm Maria was when she gave her that gesture of affection. "S-She did kiss me… But I never asked her to!"

"She's more suspicious than I thought," He mumbled.

"More suspicious?" She asked.

Zero shook his head. "I already feel like she's strange. But to find out she likes girls? What if she preys on girls like you? The seriously pale kind?"

"Are you saying I'm too pale to your likings?" Shiori questioned, wanting to know the answer.

"N-No, I'm not saying you're too pale…" Zero averted his eyes.

Shiori scoffed in not so much a stuck-up way. "You're pale as well, you know. You're paler than some of the Night Class students… Albino."

"Albino? You too, Shiori!" Zero argued.

Shiori held up a piece of her hair. "At least I have black hair. You on the other hand, have silver hair, making you more albino than me."

"Tch. Whatever," Zero folded his arms across each other almost childishly.

Shiori smiled of happiness to know that Zero was back to his normal self, and seeming to forget about that conversation about the Ball. But it had to be brought up again. It was Shiori's curiosity that took the better of her. "Hey, Zero-kun? About the Ball…"

"What about it?" He mumbled, not really wanting to get into the subject.

"You've been to it before… so you know what you have to do right?" She quietly said.

"I've only ever attended it as a prefect. All I do is what I do now. Make sure the vampires don't hurt the humans, and make sure the humans don't go over the top," He explained.

"That's all you do?" Shiori pressed her lips together. "It seems more like a chore than a fun event."

"You can dance with the Night Class students. It's probably the only event where both the Night and Day classes attend together. It's why every year there are more girls than boys in the Ball." Zero pointed out.

Shiori disagreed to his suggestion quickly. "O-Oh no, I don't want to dance with the Night Class students… I can't imagine how Aidou would take that to his advantage…"

"So you want to spend the night being strict towards the students like me?"

"Not so much strict… Just staying away from the Night Class."

"That's fine with me. Just don't try to annoy me during the Ball."

"Am I annoying you?"

"…No."

"You hesitated."

"Everyone annoys me. Even if it's a small detail, it annoys me."

"Sorry. I'll uh, try to not be annoying."

"Hn."

Shiori felt that awkwardness creeping up again behind them. It made her wonder if Zero and she would ever become good enough friends to get rid of that uncomfortable aura.

The night of the Ball quickly arrived, me being at Cross Academy for just over a week. I suppose the other students now thought of me as old news, not really giving me a second glance much. Yuki and I were in her room, fixing her uniform for the Ball.

"You're not going to wear a dress?" I asked, as I too, was wearing my Day Class uniform.

She shook her head. "No… I don't really have a good enough dress to come in. You should've seen last year's Ball, Shiori-chan. All the girls were wearing such beautiful dresses, and I came in wearing practically rags. Zero used to always bring it up to embarrass me. It wasn't the best night of nights, I can tell you that."

I smiled. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

Then, Sayori knocked on the door, and she too, was wearing a pretty dress. She raised her eyebrows at both of us. "You're not wearing a dress?"

We shook our heads. "No good dresses."

"Eh? Shiori-san, I would've at least thought you had a nice dress to go in…" Sayori said sadly.

I chuckled a bit, and rubbed the back of my head. "I didn't really have much money to buy a dress."

"Well you guys are in luck!" Sayori grinned softly. "Kaname-senpai delivered this package to you guys. I'm pretty sure it's something you can wear for tonight."

Yuki perked up and ran over to get the box from Sayori. She placed it on the bed and opened it, to find an elegant dress. It had a piece of paper on top of it, and she read it, smiling. Yuki lifted it against her body and she squealed quietly, looking like she was the happiest girl in the world. I shrugged as Sayori looked at me in apology.

"It's fine! Me and Kaname-senpai aren't that close compared to Yuki," I laughed. My eyes soon trailed down the box again, and I took away the paper stuffing in the box, and found a dainty, light pink dress, with a small piece of paper lying on top of it as well. I read it in my head,

"This dress is also for Shiori. Hopefully you'll wear it. Think of it as an apology from Aidou's foolish acts. – Kaname."

I held it up against my front, and looked at the mirror. I thought it was the most stunning dress I had ever gotten the chance to wear. It was the same color as Yuki's dress, so we had sort of matched, except I had a short sleeved dress and hers was long sleeved. It was frilly from hip to hem; it ended above my knees. It had a pink ribbon on the left side below my collarbone. It was adorable, I have to admit.

Yuki and I smiled at each other and we quickly helped each other into changing from our uniforms to our dresses, and fixed each others hair and make-up, topping it off with our prefect arm bands. It was fun to have this sort of girl bonding time. I never really had the opportunity to spend some girly time with friends because… well… I didn't really have any. Once we were done, we headed off together with Sayori to the ball. Once we did, we were greeted with Kaname and Zero at the entrance. Kaname smiled at the both of us, and immediately taking Yuki away to the open balcony on the other side. Sayori winked, and she left me with Zero by walking inside the venue. Zero turned away from looking at Yuki and Kaname, and his eyes met mine.

I waved slightly. "Good evening, Zero-kun."

He nodded and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Nice dress."

I beamed. "Thank you. L…Let's go inside."

Zero followed me inside the venue, and I gasped at how spectacular the setting was. Classical music played for the students to waltz to, the lights were not too bright, but not too dim, the decoration around was wonderful, indeed. I know my class with Yuki set up the place did this, but I didn't expect it to turn out so great.

"That place looks fantastic," I studied my surroundings.

"Yeah. Which class did this all?" Zero also looked around the place.

I giggled. "Our class, Zero-kun. But you never showed up for preparation."

"Oh. Uh. Sorry," He mumbled.

I checked out the outfit he was wearing. He was still wearing his Day Class uniform, but all too casual. I shook my head and walked up to him carefully, fixing his collar and tie. "Zero-kun, this is one night you should look proper. Try to impress some girls. I know that girl with the glasses has a crush on you."

His bottom lip stuck out in a concealed way. "I don't care about the girls. Nor about my appearance."

Then, as if on cue, the girl with glasses, Shindo, walked up to us with caution. "U-Um… Excuse me… Zero-kun?"

I smiled at her and took a step back, letting her ask what she needed to. Zero looked over at her. "What?"

Shindo, with a blush that covered her entire face, asked quietly, "C-Could I dance with you tonight?"

I looked up at Zero and grinned. Zero rolled his eyes at me and glanced at Shindo. "I can't. I'm busy doing my prefect work. I have no time to dance."

Shindo appeared heartbroken, and she quickly walked away without another word. I hit Zero's shoulder lightly and frowned at him. "Why didn't you dance with her?"

"Because I don't want to," He replied simply.

I shook my head. "You could've at least said sorry! Didn't you see how heartbroken she looked? Oh Gosh, Zero..."

He shrugged. "What? I have to dance with someone if they ask?"

"Well of course! Even if you don't like them, just bear with it. I saves you from hurting their feelings anyway." I explained in a slightly strict manner.

"So you would never say no to a guy who asks you to dance with him, even if you hate the guy?"

"Did you hear what I just said? I would always say yes to a dance, even if I hated the guy. That's how I am."

"Then… let's… uh… no. Never mind." He murmured under his breath.

My attention grew. "You were about to ask me to dance with you."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets as usual. "No. I wasn't."

If you saw how he looked like at that moment, you would immediately think he was cute. Unbelievably cute. I placed a hand on my hip and held my other hand out towards him. "I'll dance with you if you want to."

He stared at me, and then my hand. "What? Seriously?"

"I know. You don't want to. But I do. I'll do my best not to embarrass you on the dance floor," I smirked.

Zero stubbornly took my hand, and he muttered, "Geez. Fine."

We soon reached the dance floor, in an awkward hand in hand stance. I lifted my head to look at him as his hand took my back. I placed my hand on his shoulder and asked, "Do you know how to waltz?"

"Do I really have to?"

"Yes."

"….N-No."

I sighed. "So it looks like I'm not the one who's going to embarrass you tonight."

He grunted, and let go of my hand and back. Zero began to walk away in anger. I reached after him, grabbing his arm with accidental force. "No! Don't go!"

"You said you wouldn't be annoying tonight," He hissed.

I cringed. "I'm sorry! I don't know when I'm being annoying or not towards you. That's why I want to be closer to you so I can know more about you; to know what you're annoyed at and what you like and all that other stuff…"

Zero blinked, and exhaled, returning to holding my back and hand. "I don't like it when you tell me off. That's my job to you."

I gawked for a moment, and then nodded, realizing he was telling me things about him. "O-Oh, uhm, okay. I'll try to stop doing that."

He took a step backward and I followed accidentally. I whispered, "N-No… The man has to lead. You step forward and I'll go back."

He slightly glared at me. I defended myself. "I wasn't telling you off! I was just telling you what to do!"

Zero shook his head and did what I instructed, and eventually, he got the hang of the waltz, just when the song ended. And that's when Aidou approached me.

"Good evening, my cute little kitten. It's nice to see you again," He smiled, as if he didn't try to suck my blood a few nights ago.

I stepped closer towards Zero and looked at Aidou. "What do you want, Aidou-senpai?"

He noted my slight anger at him and he sighed. "I was only looking forward to dance with you, Shiori-chan. Or is Zero not willing to let go of you?"

I lifted my head to stare at Zero. He averted his eyes as if he were telling me it was my choice. Which, you know, it was. I glanced at Aidou, who was now bowing, and holding his hand out gentlemanly.

I mumbled. "…Only for one song."

Zero then gave me a look that said, "What-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing?!"

"I told you I never say no to a dance," I whispered, "Even if I don't like them."

Aidou then took a step forward to take me out of Zero's arms. Zero grimaced and watched from afar, leaning against a pillar. I didn't say anything to Aidou when dancing. Aidou only spoke himself. "I won't try to get your blood this time," He said quietly.

My grip on him tightened. "You mean you won't try to scare me like that again?"

He smirked. "Just this time. Because we're in a crowded room."

I felt disgusted that he would try to demoralize me like that. I pushed him away, and stopped dancing immediately. I shook my head at him, and without another word, I walked out to the balcony. I accidentally bumped into Kaname, and I apologized for my clumsiness. "Sorry, Kaname-senpai. Uh… Where's Yuki?"

Zero followed after me and he said, "What did Aidou do?"

I scoffed lightly, and said, "Don't worry about that. I don't really plan to speak with him any time soon."

Kaname answered my question. "She left. She has gone to the dormitory."

I turned my head to where Kaname glanced, and looked at Zero. He cringed, and he took off his arm band saying, "I've got to go."

I grabbed his arm as fast as I could and asked, "Where are you going!?"

Zero jerked away, as if he were a more aggressive person than before. "I'm going to get Yuki!"

"Does it have something to do with Maria?" I mumbled, noticing that I hadn't seen her at all that whole night.

He peered at me, and he nodded. I sighed. "Could I come?"

"It's too dangerous," He told me.

I took out my black boxed crossbow. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Zero shook his head. "Do what you want. Don't blame me if you're blood gets sucked."

I nodded, and we both headed off to Yuki's direction, and once we did, Yuki was on a smooth sofa, joined by a beautiful woman, whose fangs were about to dig in Yuki's neck. Zero pulled out his gun and yelled, "Stay away from Yuki, Shizuka!"

Yuki gasped, and the woman, supposedly Shizuka, looked up and smirked. "It's been so long… the both of you."

Zero's eyes widened as he looked down at me. My mouth opened slightly, and I said, "I… don't know you!"

I saw Shizuka's lips curl upward in a warm and gentle smile, but it had a sense of evil behind it.

"That's as far as you know… my child."

How was it? Did you expect that? I'm pretty sure some of you knew this was going to happen or something XDD PLEASE REVIEW! I know lots of people read this fanfiction, but not many actually review! That's why I want you guys to tell me how this is going! I thank the readers who are reviewing already, I LOVE YOU ALL TO DEATH! So, please, continue to support Guilty Temptations, and review review reviewwwwww!