Author's note: I do not own Vampire Knight or any of its characters. I simply borrow them to use in my own sick, twisted fantasies. ^^ I do, however, follow very closely with the plot from the manga. That does not mean, however, that I'm claiming it as my own. –Nira

P.S. I hadn't realized when I was handwriting the story that I'd never given a description of what Yua looks like, so I tried to compensate by doing so in this chapter. Sorry it took so long to reveal that to you. I might go back and change it so you get a description sooner in the story, but this is what I have right now. Thanks for being so patient and understanding. :)

Chapter Ten

After class just like the night before, Yuki ran after Zero but she ran into Maria first. I saw everything happen, but I didn't do anything about it. Instead, I went to help our class prepare for the ball since Yuki had significantly lowered our average by only writing her name on the answer sheet, and Zero hadn't taken the test.

As I was handing a girl a roll of tape that she'd dropped, Zero burst through the doors, demanding to know if Maria had been there. He was covered in blood and when I shook my head "no," he stormed into the next room while I slowly followed after him. There were muttered conversations about Zero and me, but I ignored them. Zero was more important.

"You were there last night, too, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah… but I didn't see what happened."

"Stay away from that woman…"

"I know… I'm more worried about you, Zero. You lost a lot of blood, right?"

"I'm fine…" he said, turning his head away and glaring at something.

I tied my hair up into a ponytail, loosened my shirt and took a step closer to him. One look at me and he knew without me saying anything. He pinned me against the wall by gripping my wrists and plunged his fangs into my neck while I breathed, keeping myself calm and patiently waited for him to finish. When he was done, he licked my neck, trying to clean up some of the blood that he'd spilled and apologized. I faintly smiled and gently held his cheek in my hand.

"It's not your fault… It's all right," I cooed. "I'll see you at the ball."

I walked off to get ready to be security at the ball since Headmaster asked me to. I took a shower and watched the blood run down the drain. When I was done, I got dressed in a black form-fitting strapless dress with a big white bow tied in the back around my waist. There was an intricate white rhinestone floral design on the chest and I was wearing a white shawl, white silk gloves, and a pair of white baby-doll heels.

My long, blue-black hair was left down in loose curls and my bangs were clipped back with a white rose hair clip. My silver eyes were accented with black eye liner, mascara, and smoky eye shadow. I also wore pearly lipstick, and a little blush to accentuate my high cheekbones. I finished off the outfit with a silver sakura printed white ribbon necklace and silver sakura dangling earrings, and a few sprays of my favorite perfume.

I checked my image in the mirror, smiled, and left to the ballroom. When I got to the ball, I looked around at all of the beautiful dresses and people, and I was quickly whisked away with the elegance of the festivities. Yuki smiled as she walked over to me and complimented my outfit, so I smiled and complimented her back. We started walking arm-in-arm when we heard the headmaster gasp from behind us. We looked at him and I noticed Zero leaning against the pillar next to him.

"My girls are all dressed up!" he squealed. "Dance with Daddy later! Look at my daughters, everyone! Aren't they gorgeous?"

"Uh… sure," I half smiled, so he ran off saying that he'd come find us later.

"Well, everything seems to be under control, so I'll see you two later, okay?" Yuki smiled.

"Have fun, and be careful," I smiled and waved as she walked away.

After a moment of awkward silence, I turned to Zero and took a step closer to him. I adjusted his uniform so he'd look more presentable. I glanced him over, thinking that there was something missing and smiled when I realized what it was. I unclipped my bangs and clipped the rose to his jacket pocket.

"There. That's better. And the flower is so big that nobody will notice that it's a hair clip," I grinned up at him.

"I don't get it… How can you keep smiling?"

"Because I want you to smile, too…"

There was a long stretch of silence as we both scanned the area for anything bad but it was really boring because nothing seemed to be out of place. I blushed and twiddled my fingers as I tried to talk myself into asking him to dance. Just as I was about to sigh and give up, chickening out, Zero spoke up.

"If there's something that you want to say, say it and stop stressing out about it…" he said, irritated.

"When you say it like that, it makes me not want to ask at all… You don't realize how intimidating you are," I blushed.

"Just ask. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm not sure. I'd be really embarrassed if you said 'no,' but I'd probably have a panic attack if you said 'yes'…"

"Then the answer is 'maybe.'"

"You can't do that!"

"I'm not going to answer a question that hasn't been asked."

"Okay, okay!" I blushed and worried at a piece of fabric from my dress. "W-Will you… Zero, will you dance with me?"

"That's it?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Hey, it took a lot of courage to ask you, so a straight answer would be really appreciated before my imagination gets any more vivid and I run out, crying," I pouted and chewed on my bottom lip.

He sighed and grabbed my hand, walking toward the dance floor and my blush deepened in shock and ecstatic embarrassment. As we pushed our way toward the middle of the crowd, everyone around us stopped what they were doing to stare and whisper. A huge smile was played across my face and when Zero placed his free hand on my hip and placed my hand on his shoulder, it felt like the world stood still for a moment and it was just the two of us. I stared up into his eyes and he stared back into my silver ones as we waltzed to the music. My heart was racing and there were butterflies going crazy in my stomach. Neither of us said anything, but we didn't avert our eyes, either.

"Hey… Zero, do you… like me… as in more than a friend?" I blushed, finally breaking the bridge that our eyes had made by averting mine.

It was silent for a while and he'd stumbled in the steps of the waltz that we were still dancing to, but he quickly recovered from it. I still wouldn't look at him because I was too afraid of seeing the expression on his face, but when I did muster up the bravery to look, I was both shocked and suddenly overcome with sorrow. His face was stony, but his eyes were a turbulent storm of confusion, anger, and grief.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because I want to know…" I mumbled, embarrassed.

"Does the answer really matter? Either way, you said so yourself that there's a line that we could never cross."

"I don't care what I said before. Zero, we've already overstepped one line, and it was a major line. What would be the difference if we overstepped this one?"

"My answer doesn't matter," he growled and pushed his way out of the crowd just as the song was ending.

I felt so hurt and rejected that I wanted to cry. I stood there in the middle of the dance floor for a moment, composing myself. I decided that I needed a distraction, so I'd go check on Yuki and see how she was doing. I'd seen her dancing with Kaname on the terrace earlier, so I checked there first. When I saw Kaname leaning against the banister alone, I knew that something was wrong.

"Kaname, where's Yuki?" I demanded.

"Have you forgotten your duty already?" he glared at me.

I glared back and ran to the building that the night class used to live in before the moon dorm was ready for habitation. I burst through the doors and saw Shizuka Hio, one of the famed pureblood females about to bite Yuki. I snatched Yuki away from her and held Natsuhiboshi to Shizuka's neck.

"Yuki, tell me what's going on right now while I can still keep my temper," I growled, glaring murderously at Shizuka.

"Yua, don't kill her! She's the one who attacked Zero's family!"

"That gives me more reason to kill her," I snapped, pressing the tip of Natsuhiboshi into Shizuka's neck and drawing blood.

"She's the only one who can save Zero!"

I paused, glancing briefly at Yuki. When I looked back at Shizuka, she was looking at me with bored eyes. "Why did you use Yuki? She has nothing to do with this or Zero…"

"Yuki and I made a deal. It was something only she could do. If she could bring me the body of Kaname Kuran as a gift, I would save Zero… If not, she would have to offer herself to me," Shizuka explained. "… but now I can see that you are the one I need, not her… It's your blood that I seek, not Yuki's."

"Then take it. Just let Yuki go and save Zero… please…" I offered, lowering Natsuhiboshi. "Yuki, get out of here… Kaname is waiting for you."

"I'm not leaving you…"

"You're a good girl, Yua…" Shizuka said as she leaned in to bite me.

I tensed up, closed my eyes, and swallowed hard as my heart rate skyrocketed. The door burst open again and Zero stood in the doorway, panting. He looked angry to begin with, but when he saw how close Shizuka was to my neck, he glared and drew Bloody Rose, pointing it at her head.

"Shizuka, let Yua go!" he yelled.

Yuki jumped between us, Artemis drawn and ready, telling Zero to stay back. When he saw the determined look on her face, he glared at her as if she was stupid.

"Move it, Yuki! Why would you—?"

"She's the only one who can save you! The only way to stop becoming a level E is for you to drink this woman's blood! I promised that I'd let her drink from me, but Yua wouldn't allow it, so some things changed, but…"

"Yuki," I called, so she looked back at me. "Please… trust me. I'll handle it… I'm begging you to go back to the ball…"

"But—!"

"Yuki, please…" I pleaded, so she nodded and left.

Zero's gun trained to Shizuka again, but this time it was me to get in the way. I stared at him, my mind racing, trying to figure out what I was doing and why, and what I was going to do next. Honestly, I had no right to stop him from exacting his revenge. I didn't want to stop him if it would give him even a little piece of mind, but I didn't want him to fall to level E, either. I also didn't want him to kill himself once he killed her, like I knew he wanted to.

"Yua, what are you doing?" Zero growled.

"I don't know… I don't want to stop you, but I don't want you to throw away your one chance to stop becoming a level E, either…"

"Then don't stop me!"

"I'm sorry, Zero," I sniffled, tears streaming down my face as I raised my bracelet to his tattoo.

He grabbed my wrist and glared at me. "Why are you trying to stop me? She should—!" he yelled, but stopped seeing that I was crying.

"This girl has tamed you…" Shizuka said, and Zero's eyes widened and he tensed up. "Are you happy to have finally heard your master's voice? You cannot help but obey me. I am back in my own body. Now my voice has the power to bind you… This is convenient… Keep holding Yua. I created you. I am your master. You cannot disobey me, Zero."

Zero's eyes glossed over and he turned me around she he was behind me, and his grip tightened.

"Please stop… You don't have to force him to do this. I already told you that you can have my blood…" I whimpered.

"For four years this body has been ravenous… Did you truly believe that your blood was enough?" she asked before pulling Zero's collar down.

She sheathed her fangs into his flesh and I could her greedily guzzling his blood from his body. He looked like he was in pain and my heart broke. Again, there was nothing I could do for him, and I hated it.

"Please stop! You've tortured him enough! Why are you being so cruel to him?" I screamed.

"I'm punishing him for becoming attached to you… Yua, you call me cruel, but you're being cruel, yourself. Your choices make Zero suffer… Even I can see that," Shizuka said, staring straight into my eyes before leaning in to take my blood.

"I know… I—… I thought if I was with him, everything would be all right…" I smiled, tears rolling down my cheeks. "I wonder if he'll ever be able to forgive me one day…"

Just as I'd said it, I felt Zero let me go, so I looked back at him in shock. He was covering his face and I could feel his pain emanating from him in waves.

"Don't…" he growled, grabbing Shizuka's neck.

"You can't do it, Zero… Just stay being my puppet for now. You can't even squeeze those fingers around my neck…"

Zero pointed the gun at his leg and pulled the trigger while I screamed. His grip tightened around her neck, and then he pointed the gun at her chest.

"…take…" he glared, shooting her twice, and she started laughing, jumping back from him.

"You want to kill me, but this isn't enough," she smirked.

"…anything… more… away from me," he finished the sentence tensely, glaring at her with so much hatred that it was obvious that he meant every word he said and had every intention of killing her. "I'll finish it. I'll end it all. Rest in peace, Shizuka. I kept on living just for this day."

I threw my arms around him from behind and he sighed.

"Let me go, Yua…"

"Not until you promise me that you won't do it… Promise me that you won't give up on life or yourself… that you won't give up on me, Zero…" There was a long pause of silence between us, so I hugged him tighter. "Zero, promise me."

"I promise…" he murmured, so I slowly let him go.

As he pointed the gun at Shizuka again, a katana went through his shooting arm, so I glared at its thrower. It was a boy about Zero's height with a white mask over his eyes and nose and long, almost shoulder length silver hair.

"Shizuka-sama, why are you playing with him?"

"Don't interfere. You keep out of this."

"I understand, but I cannot accept the way you treat us so differently."

"I thought you were dead… Ichiru," Zero said as he pulled the katana from his arm.

"You know who I am, Zero? My big brother remembers me," Ichiru smirked, slowly removing his mask.