Dawn: Well, for those of you who I may or may not have scarred for life with my last chapter, I'm sorry for writing such things... I honestly didn't plan on having puppy!Kaname have oral sex with Zero until I actually started writing it.

Zero: Wait, he had oral sex with me as a DOG?

Kaname: You didn't tell him?

Dawn: *sweatdrop*

Zero and Kaname: DAWN!

Dawn: Gotta go! *runs off*

Takuma: They'll get tired of this in a few minutes...

Kat: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight!

Chapter Eight: Deception of the Usurper

Zero heard the whimpering and scratching at the bathroom door, but he couldn't find the energy he needed to open the door for Ren. He shifted his back against the door, the handle jingling in the lock.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the white-painted wood, Kaname sat down, withholding the whine in his chest as his tail thumped thoughtfully against the ground. Zero was hurting, he could smell the scent of suffering even through the door, and he wanted to help the hunter. Of course, he definitely didn't have the weight to push past the door, so he'd have to find someone human, hopefully someone who could understand him. He didn't want to crawl back to Aurora so soon, his pride didn't want him to even if it was for Zero, but that left him with scant few options. He couldn't ask Yuki, he didn't really want to be kicked again, and the Headmaster, while he meant well, wasn't exactly Zero's favorite person. He supposed Toga Yagari might have been able to help him, but the older hunter was off on an assignment. Maybe someone from the Night Class would be able to get through to the stubborn silveret; it was worth a try anyway.

Katsu perched on the windowsill of the hallway outside the room shared by Rima Toya and Ruka Souen, his claws biting into the wood as his yellow eyes glared at the vampire walking past the Moon Dorm gates. His tail lashed as he sprung down, stalking to the main foyer. "Fuck it all!" he hissed, claws scraping across the laminate and creating long scratches in the floor.

"Kat?"

All the anger left the kitten's system at the sound of that voice. "Kaname?" he mewed, his startled yellow eyes meeting the wine-red orbs of the pureblood. "What are you doing here? I thought you stayed at the shelter, or worse, that you were dead!"

"Zero adopted me, so I ended up at Cross Academy. He's locked himself in his bathroom, and I was hoping someone here would be able to talk him out."

"Ah," the kitten replied, sitting himself down on the floor now. "Zero's having problems, and you think it's your job to comfort him. I remember Zero Kiryu," he stated, his tongue running along the black fur of a paw. "Takuma said that he counts the hunter as a friend but isn't sure where he himself stands among Zero's own circle of friends, what with his extreme dislike of vampires. Don't worry though, I'll send someone to help him out. In the meantime, however, there's something I need you to do for me."

Aurora sighed heavily, her fingers tapping staccato against her desk. She'd left her laptop in the cushions like she'd foreseen she was supposed to, but with so many pieces coming into play now, she didn't like how easily her Sight had become muddled and confused. That was why she had drawn a healing circle with chalk and burned sage, to protect herself and try to exorcise the stress clouding her magic. True, her spells were working much better now, coming easier, but with the sparks dancing along her phalanges at the slightest fluctuation in her power or mood, she was getting worried. She lit the five candles with her lighter, settling down on the floor with eyes closed to let the magic flow through her. She didn't know exactly how long she sat there, a leaf letting the river take it where it may, but when she opened her eyes to a room covered in blood, she screamed. The candles instantly snuffed out in a sucking draft around her feet, causing her long black skirt to billow around her. Before her eyes, a clear message spelled itself out in the still-dripped liquid, the rest of the crimson flash-drying into a dark brownish gunk. Water water every where, the letters read, nor any drop to drink.

The little black kitten sitting formally in front of the abandoned Moon Dorm was certainly unexpected but by no means unwelcome. The girl bent down and picked him up, carrying him into the building. "Hello Masaru," she said, letting him step daintily out of her arms and onto the spotted marble countertop. He meowed at her, his tail wrapping elegantly around his hindquarters, and she frowned. "Come now, Masaru, there's no need to stand on formalities."

"This better, Shizuka?" Moon pale skin over jet-black hair hid his modesty, a line of yellow ribbon around a slender neck matching perfectly with shining yellow eyes.

Her eyes flickered over his figure appreciatively. "Much, Masaru."

His fingers, which were splayed against his cheek and neck, slid down to the ribbon, tapping it as he activated some kind of innate magic. "Nice try, Shizuka, but I'm not stupid." He shifted, the golden fabric of his kimono rustling and ruffling with his movement. "Anyway, I came here on business, Shizuka, or would you prefer I call you Maria?"

She waved away his question. "Do tell, Masaru. Your propositions have always been... interesting to say the least and for lack of a better word."

As the ones in the room closest to the servants' quarters, Akatsuki Kain and Hanabusa Aido were the first two on the scene of the upcry, but both recoiled violently when Hanabusa opened the door, the stench of blood turning their eyes bright red even as the taller pulled the redhead out into the hallway. Takuma skidded around the corner, having recognized the scream as Aurora's even as she trembled against the two blonds. "What happened here?" he demanded, then he caught sight of the disaster zone. "Oh. My. God."

Hanabusa frowned, leaning in to sniff the crook of her neck then away for the room. "I can't be certain because of all the adrenaline in your blood, Aurora-chan," he said, his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion, "but that doesn't smell like your blood in there." At the three questioning glances, he elaborated. "She has a natural horse-like smell about her, likely an ancestral hangover, and then her own personal scent of rosemary with a hint of hemp. If we exclude the hemp as something she likely picked up from you, Takuma, the blood in her room can easily be ruled out as hers since it reeks of roses and rosemary with a strong aftersmell of hemp, which doesn't seem similar enough to hers to call them one and the same, but then again, the adrenaline could be screwing with her scent."

"What I'm more concerned about," Akatsuki stated, "is the message. It's clearly a threat to her. Blood doesn't dry like that."

"I'll take care of it," Takuma said tiredly. "Thank you, Hanabusa, Akatsuki." He put his hand on his forehead, his fingers rubbing over the flesh. Once the two had turned the corner and were out of earshot, his emerald eyes opened once more. "What did you, Aurora?"

"Nothing!" she vehemently replied.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Aurora, your room looks and smells like an accurate recreation of a massacre. Would you like to revise that statement?"

"I didn't do this, Takuma. Look into my eyes and tell me I'm lying."

He sighed heavily. "I believe you, Aurora-chan. I'm just worried about everyone else who won't."

"Zero, can I come in?"

The hunter gave pause to that voice, his hand automatically reaching for the doorknob. "Ichiru?" he breathed in surprise. "I thought you were dead."

"I've been in the company of the dead more often than I have the living. Does that count?" Zero couldn't help chuckling dryly in spite of himself at the statement. "I'll take that as a no. May I come in?" Slowly, his hand pushed down on the handle, letting his younger twin into the bathroom, where he promptly sat down on the edge of his bathtub. He couldn't stop himself from greedily drinking in the sight of his twin, taking in the elegant clothes adorning his slender frame, including a white mask that hung from a ribbon he'd pulled down around his neck, and the general glow of health emitting from him. Lavender eyes met their counterparts, twinkling in amusement. "I take it you had a rough night," Ichiru stated, gesturing to the broken mirror with one hand.

"More like a rough several weeks," he replied, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position on the tile floor. "Tell me, Ichiru, why did you betray your own family? We loved you. Why did you side with Shizuka Hiou, a pureblood vampire, over us, your own flesh and blood?"

Ichiru sighed. "I'd like to say I did it because I hated you and my parents, and I guess in a way, I did, at first. But that's not why I did it." His eyes moved to the hands he had clasped in his lap, watching the play of skin over finely-tuned muscles. "I could say that Shizuka was the first person who truly understood what it was like to be loved so much that you were placed in a gilded cage for your own safety, or that I resented you and our parents for treating me like I was breakable. I could even say that I didn't want to be one of the great Kiryu hunters anymore, so when the chance came to break away from the legacy, to just be Ichiru instead of a son of Kiryu, I took it. But I would all be lying if I said any of that. I'm sure that, at the time, those thoughts were floating through my mind, but the reasons only really came as an afterthought."

"That's not really an answer, Ichiru."

"Yeah, well, what if I don't really have one to give you, Zero? What would you do then?"

The hunter sighed. "By all rights, I should shoot you in the heart for what you've done, but I won't. I'd rather not have to bury another member of my family."

The silveret shrugged unconcernedly. "I'm not a vampire, Zero. Shizuka never turned me, so your Bloody Rose gun wouldn't kill me, just hurt like hell."

"Then why come back? Why now?"

He rested his elbow on his thigh, his hand coming up to pillow his chin even as his fingers cradled his cheek. "I have two reasons for being here at Cross and one for being here in particular." He ticked the reasons off on his fingers as he spoke. "I'm here because Shizuka wanted to meet with someone in order to confirm a task and because my heart told me I needed to be here. As for why I sought you out in your bathroom, well, that would have to be because I have it on good faith that you're in a bit of an emotional crisis."

Zero started. "What gave you that idea?" he demanded hotly, "And who told you that piece of bullshit?"

Ichiru laughed, pantomiming zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key like he was five years old again. "I won't disclose my original source, but your reactions have only been confirming it, Zero-nii. You've always hated vampires, but you don't flinch whenever I throw Shizuka's name out like you should. Knowing you the way I do, I'm going to hazard that you've fallen in love with a vampire, very likely a pureblood considering that you haven't yelled at me for following Shizuka around like a lovesick puppy, and by that logic and knowing the fate of those who love a pureblood as well as I do, I'd have to guess that you love the missing Kaname Kuran." At his brother's glower, he asked, "Am I wrong, Zero-nii?"

Before the exhuman could reply, a loud knock on Zero's door had both of their heads whipping to the boundary concernedly even as Yuki's voice floated through the wood. "Zero! You're late for class! Get your ass out here in five minutes or I'm coming in to drag you out, dog or not!"

The Level D sighed heavily, calling back, "I'm coming, Yuki, just give me a minute to pull my pants on."

Ichiru got up off the porcelain, theatrically stretching his back by pushing on it with his bent arms. "This conversation isn't over, Zero."

"I know."

"So," Shizuka stated slowly, her butt planted firmly on the polished mahogany coffin that held her real body as she turned Maria Kurenai's pale eyes on the male before her, "that's your situation?"

He nodded. "Normally, I wouldn't want that asshole within five miles of Takuma, but considering that if he leaves campus, it'll only be to report to our darling Rido, I'd rather have him remaining here for days on end than out of my sight."

"Hm," she murmured, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well, what you need is a new pureblood to run the Night Class, that way he'd have to stay in order to make sure the new pureblood would prove loyal to the Senate, but I'm in no state to do such a thing, I'd be killed on sight or dragged back to that hellhole of a prison, even if I revealed myself in a public setting, never mind that I'm too old to play school anymore. Finding Kaname Kuran's also out of the question since he was the original President of the Moon Dormitory and thus already perfectly suited to rule, and that leaves only two more true purebloods to use, Rido himself and Sara Shirabuka."

He growled at the last name, his yellow eyes flashing with barely-contained anger. "Sara Shirabuka is a slut who only cares about ruling. There's no doubt in my mind that she wouldn't hesitate to turn us over to Rido, if she isn't already part of his games that is."

"You know what this means then, don't you?"

He sighed heavily. "Yes. I'll have to create the persona of a pureblood, which means I'll need a proper aura and some good kick-ass powers to boot."

"I'll lend you my blood to create the former, but you'll be on your own with the powers, Masaru."

He thought for a long moment, weighing out his options. "That will work," he finally said, nodding slowly in confidence of his actions. "I have just the person in mind to give me the latter."

Kaname could not believe he'd been roped into doing what he was doing, all for Kat to help Zero. Right now, he was lying out across the entryway of the Moon Dorm, his muzzle resting on his front paws as he waited to be attacked, whether it was by the door itself or by someone stepping on him. And why was he volunteering himself for more pain? Because he needed a reason to let out a loud noise when those doors burst open as the cat had claimed they would, that's why. However, when he yelped loudly at the sudden pressure on his tail, yanking it back pointedly as his head whipped around in an instinctive growl, Kat merely met his eyes with a blink of her own and a swish of her slender tail. "Stay here for a while longer, Kaname," she mewed, sauntering off towards the servants' quarters. "I have one more errand to run tonight." As she turned, though, he couldn't help noticing that she had a little vial filled with a strange reddish-black liquid that was tucked under the yellow ribbon around her neck.

Dawn: *comes back* Okay, I apologize in advance for having to revert back into the whole "Kat's a girl" mindset for a little bit and potentiall throw you readers for a loop, but since Kaname is clearly an idiot when it comes to gender, I couldn't just suddenly have him thinking Kat was a boy when all he's known is that he's a girl.

Kaname: And if you haven't noticed before that Dawn's been pulling things from obscure poems for the past while, here's your proof! Last chapter we mentioned two Homeric epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, but here, the lines written in blood in Aurora/Dawn's room are a set of lines from another archaic poem. Please review if you know what it is!

Dawn: *smiles* I haven't read it, but that doesn't stop me from quoting it to suit my purposes!

Zero: *facepalms at her idiocy* And we still have that persistent mystery character from a few chapters ago, so keep reviewing to guess who he is!

Dawn: But that's not all I have to say. I also feel like needing to tell you the new pairings that may or may not be showing up in the near future! Right now, my brain is thinking some IchiruxShizuka with it turning to IchiruxAurora, and then some ShikixRima and AidoxKain/KainxAido, but if you readers want, that could be subject to change...

Takuma: With a solid 2700+ words this time for the actual chapter, I feel confident sending you off this time!

Kat: Thanks for sticking with us this far, and you're free to go now! It's only review-answering now.

Review-answering:

Saru-Sama' Sarukiji Sempai: I know! I liked it while I was writing it, and I know it goes against what most people think is right and/or ethical, but in my mind, it's justified because it's not really bad due to the fact Kaname is a dog, so...

blackfire1331: COOKIE! *dives for cookie* Well, I've already got that (yep, got a whole table at lunch who've creeped out with the fact they know I write this kind of stuff), and as for Aurora/me, well, I kinda didn't see me getting together with anyone until I began writing, so... *sweatdrops* To be honest, Aurora's sorta turned from being me to being her own character...

mpiedz: Sadly for us fangirls, no he didn't. However, I have a feeling Kaname'll tell him once he's back to normal...

irmina: Yeah, kinda hot, but hell yes it'll change their relationship (especially when Kaname gets back to his usual vampire self)! And of course Katsu can do email, he was human once himself. And you'll see who's coming next chapter, but Aurora knows Ren's really Kaname because she foresaw this whole thing happening (plus her witch powers are coming out, so... yeah).

ElheiM: Knowing Zero, probably not (probably because he hasn't seen Kaname/Ren since he left to go find help). And now that that's settled, I hope this should help you figure out who it is a little easier! (I didn't make it hard on purpose...) Katsu talking to Takuma is soon, I promise. As far as Aurora, Rido, and Kaname's transformation are concerned, however, I don't want to reveal all my cards too early!

OneStop: You're welcome! And that basically sums up my reaction to what I wrote: so hot, but so wrong. And trust me, he'll turn back somewhat soon! There's still some more pieces to be moved into play first though... And the answer to that last question is that they can TRY to mate, and it would be even more wrong yet possible, but I'd rather they didn't, if only because I take this to school with me and it'd be awkward explaining to my teacher why someone of my age and behavior would be writing such things... or why I'd have it in the pockets of my hoodie...