Title: The Hardest Choice

Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Vampire Knight

Authors Notes: I'm so sorry for keeping you all waiting for this chapter. Busy week. The next, and maybe last chapter will be up in a couple days, I promise! Enjoy!


Yuuki felt the world around her start to slowly move back into her mind. She felt her conscious grab on to everything around her, trying to hold her there. She felt weak.

She tried to open her eyes, but the light blinded her.

She heard voices, muffled by nothing.

The images around her were blurred.

Her head pounded with dull throbbing pain.

"Yuuki?"

The soft velvety voice was laced with worry. It felt comfortable against her. She tried to move towards it.

"Yuuki, can you hear me?"

She opened her eyes again, squinting in the light for a moment before the lights were dimmed for her.

"Kaname?" She choked out in a whisper.

"I'm here," he said stroking her head lightly. His eyes looked down on her, full of emotion. "You're alright now."

The events of her last memory slowly played in her mind, reminding her of what was happening. It took her longer than a moment to process it. When she did, she felt tired. It was to much.

"Zero is also safe," she heard Kaname say. "The headmaster has taken the Bloody Rose and made sure couldn't harm himself."

Yuuki didn't respond. He was going to kill himself for her. A few hours before that he had looked at her with clear and longing hope in his eyes, realizing that he had a chance to love her. And then he had decided that death was better then feeding from her. How could a person go from one to the other in so short a time?

"How do you feel?" He asked.

She felt like she was in a small room and knew it was because there was more then one person looking at her, worrying about her. The feeling was odd, like she was in a quilted blanket in the middle of summer. The heat was stifling.

She didn't answer. Instead she pulled him towards her, trying to get closer to his warmth. He quickly brought her to a sitting position and wrapped his arms around her tightly. She buried herself in his chest and felt the tears come.

Once she started crying, she couldn't stop. All the hurt and pain just seeped out of her and she couldn't control it.

Kaname just held her, rubbing her back gently and whispering in her ear.

Nobody else moved.

They waited for her to calm down, every one of them. Every one of the people around her waited for her to stop crying, patiently. It seemed like forever, but real time just didn't seem to matter anymore. She was losing everything and she was completely away of it.

"The headmaster has no choice," Kaname said soothingly. "He must close the school."

Yuuki nodded into his shirt, holding him against her.

"The students are being sent home. Parents have been called. By tomorrow they will all be gone. The snow is almost completely gone. It's started to rain."

He rubbed her back gently, caressing her.

"Yuuki, what did you see?"

She breathed deeply, breathing in his scent.

"Do you remember?"

"Blood," she said softly.

He waited for her to say more, but she didn't. He nodded lightly.

"When did the visions start?"

"A few weeks ago," she answered.

"She was trying to hurt you Yuuki. I'm sure she thought that if you were to afraid of us to come close, I might stop thinking of you. It was all based on jealousy." His voice was calm, soothing her. "I didn't think she had that kind of power, but I should have seen it happening. I'm sorry Yuuki."

Yuuki finally moved to look up at him. Her eyes were stained with tears and her hair stuck to her face gently. He reached up, tracing his fingers along her cheek to move the hair away. He smiled softly.

"Who?" Yuuki asked.

"Someone was controlling Rima," Kaname said softly." She was in love with me and thought to prove her love by proving we could not live with humans. The fault is mine."

She sniffed lightly, trying to calm herself. "Will they stop now?" She asked.

"Yes. Your visions should be a thing of the past. I promise you."

She looked at him with eyes close to tears again. "If I choose to be with you, this is the kind of danger I will always face," she said sobbing. "I will be a target for anyone who thinks that I am not deserving of you. Hundreds of eyes will look up to me in hate."

Kaname shook his head. "I will protect you."

"Can you?" She asked sadly. "You couldn't this time."

She felt his sigh as his back seem to fall with defeat. His dark hair fell across his eyes, hiding the mask of hurt there.

"I have failed you," he said softly. "But I won't again."

She hesitated, her heart beating nervously in her chest.

"I'll stay with the headmaster," she said quietly. She felt his quivering breath as he rested his head against hers. "There is no danger with him. He has protected me my whole life and I trust him."

She felt him shaking slightly against her.

"If the headmaster can find a way to re-open the school, then maybe one day you can come back to me."

Kaname finally looked back up at her. She could see the sadness in him as if he wore it on the outside.

"Will you go too him?" Kaname asked.

It took a moment for Yuuki to understand his meaning.

"Yes," she said softly. His hands clenched her clothing at her back. "Kaname I love him. He has been there for me my whole life and I can't turn my back on him now. I have to help him through this. I have to help him beat it. He was going to kill himself to protect me."

Kaname didn't say anything. His eyes were dark.

"I want both of you," she whispered.

Kaname barely turned around and slightly waved his hand, dismissing everyone in the room. She didn't look at them. She didn't want to know who else was there. She just stayed as close as possible to him trying to will herself to have more courage.

"And if you can't have both of us?"

"Then I want neither of you," she answered.

"I'm not in the habit of sharing," he said with a slight edge to his voice.

"In a few years the school will re-open, and then you'll come back," she said. "Maybe then we can start again."

"And until then you'll be with Zero."

Yuuki nodded.

"He might kill you," Kaname said.

"No he won't. Nothing you can say will make me believe that."

"I should have let him die," He said angrily.

"Then I would have hated you," Yuuki said. "For letting my heart die along with him."

Kaname held her tightly to him until she could smell his scent all around her. It was comforting. It was smooth and warm and safe.

"Three years," he softly whispered. "I give you three years with him. By that time it is likely that he will be a level E anyway and there will be nothing more you can do for him."

Yuuki looked at him curiously. "You would let me go to him?"

"Not forever," he said with hurt in his tone. "I have never hated anyone as much as I hate him and the idea of you being with him makes my blood boil in anger. But…….." he hesitated. She had never heard him hesitate. "I might……I can wait for you, if your promise me your future."

To have a present with Zero and a future with Kaname, that was the answer.

"Three years," he said again.

Yuuki nodded.

"He must let you go," Kaname said.

"Thank you," she said.

He kissed her, softly. The aggression of the previous times they had kissed had been replaced with a frantic longing. She could feel all the pain in him at this moment and she felt it pull harshly at her heart.

"I promise to heal the pain I've caused you," Yuuki said after he pulled away. "I promise that I will spend my future making you happy and letting you know every day how much I love you," she sobbed.

Kaname stood up and gently pushed her so that she was no longer leaning on him. She continued to cry, looking at him through her tears. His eyes were clouded with pain and he looked at her with a darkness only formed through sadness. He stood so tall and regal, like royalty.

"Goodbye, my Yuuki," he said in his velvety smooth voice. She could only watch him go. She could only sit there as he walked away from her, out of her life. She felt alone and broken, and she knew part of her wanted to change it.

But Zero needed her and now she could help him.


End of Chapter Seven