Chapter Ten

AN: Sorry that the chap's a bit late. I really wanted to update earlier, but I got caught up in homework. This chap's a bit longer so it'll hopefully make up! Anyway, thanks a ton to.... queen34, GomenTillTheEnd, xxgabigailxx, maytoaugust, Ruetamagnikcuf, DofD, and kc !!!! Thanks to you all! Enjoy the chapter!! Oh and sorry that I didn't make it clear enough last chapter. It was Zero who saved her, not Ichiru. PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Disclaimer: If I owned Vampire Knight, I would pair together Yuuki and Zero instead of Yuuki and Kaname. GO ZEKI FANS!!!!!

Zero's Past

Zero narrowed his eyes in anger at the scene in front of him. Ichiru parted his lips from Yuuki's (to her relief!) and he raised his head to look at Zero.

"PERVERT!!" she shouted angrily, wiping her lips with her sleeve in utter disgust.

"Oh, hello Zero." he said smugly, ignoring Yuuki. "Long time no see. So how's your school life? Made any friends yet?" He laughed. "I doubt that!"

Zero gave him dirty look, his fury clearly rising to the surface. He turned his back on them to leave the room in a huff.

"Wait, Zero!" Yuuki called, pleadingly. "It's not my fault! Listen to me!"

"Ichiru!" he said, turning about face abruptly and looked straight into Ichiru's eyes. Zero's eyes were a stormy purple, not at all like the usual light violet Yuuki usually saw. "What do you want from Yuuki?!"

"Me?" he smirked. "Well I did save her when she got beat up back there. I do have a right to be here if I saved her life, don't I?!"

Yuuki's eyes widened. "That was you?! Not Zero?!"

Zero's fist was tightly clenched and he was looking at the floor. "He's lying." he mumbled in an extremely annoyed voice.

"What did you say, Zero?" Yuuki asked. What was with him?

Ichiru took this opportunity to cut in. "I brought you to the hospital when you were all bruised and in an unconscious state." he smiled, hiding his ever present smirk.

"HE'S LYING!!!" Zero shouted. He looked toward Yuuki his eyes begging her to believe him.

"How would she know?" Ichiru said slyly. "We do look alike after all! So Yuuki," he turned to her,smiling. "Who do you believe?"

Yuuki stared. Zero had a look of pure anger, like none she had never seen before. Ichiru's face on the other hand was smug. It was a bit difficult to decipher who was telling the truth. She looked into Zero's eyes once again. He had the aura of someone who was telling the truth. Ichiru's eyes on the other hand, were self-satisfied and arrogant.

"I believe Zero." she mumbled and looked up at Ichiru. "How can I trust you after you just attacked me, clearly in order to get Zero mad."

Ichiru's face fell. "Please Yuuki, you have to believe me! I knew Zero for a long time. If you hear what he did to everyone in Junior High, you'd believe me! He's lying. He's just going to get you to like him and then dump you easily."

Yuuki glanced at Zero. He didn't deny any of Ichiru's words. "Is that true, Zero?" she asked hesitantly.

The room was silent. Finally, Zero's voice broke the ice. "I am not going to tell you anything about my past until you trust me completely. I will not tell you when you have those doubts in your mind." Ichiru laughed evilly at Zero's almost desperate words. Zero turned again and made his way out of the room.

"Wait Zero! Please!" Yuuki called. Zero didn't stop. "I believe you. Didn't I tell you already that I trust you?!" Zero froze.

But Ichiru didn't give up. "Yuuki, listen to me! This guy's despicable!" he pleaded.

"SHUT UP!!" she shouted. "Stop saying things like that. Zero will tell me what he wants me to know. Now GET OUT!" Ichiru glared at her.

"Well you can be sure I'll never save you again." he snapped.

"That won't be necessary," said Zero. "Because I saved her. Not you. And love her. Not you" He reddened slightly but his face remained defiant.

Yuuki eyes widened with surprise at those words and she blushed deeply. Her surprise quickly changed to happiness. Zero looked deep into her cinnamon-colored-eyes. They were beaming. And for the second time in a long while, Zero smiled.

Ichiru, seeing his attempts were hopeless, got up in a huff. "Don't come crying to me when he dumps you." he said as stormed out of the room.

There was silence for a few minutes. It was soon cut off by Zero's deep sigh. "So....Do you want to hear about my past?!" he asked with a sigh. Yuuki nodded enthusiastically. "And you'll believe my every word?" she nodded again. He smiled. "Well, here goes...... But I'm warning you. It's not very pleasant." He laughed sadly and began his tale.

* * * * *

FLASHBACK

Zero strode down the hallway listening in a carefree manner to the sound of swooning girls around him.

"Look! There's Zero!" came a girl's squeaky voice.

"He's soooo hot!" said another dreamily.

"Ichiru looks like him but he's not even half as dreamy!"

"I hear he's really sweet and loyal!"

"I don't think he has a girlfriend." a blond-haired girl said hopefully.

Zero ignored them, already used to all the attention. and continued walking to the classroom.

"Hey, Zero!" he heard Ichiru from across the classroom.

"Hey, Ichiru!' Zero slapped him five on the hand and smiled. "What's up?!"

"Kiryuu! You're finally here!" Yuu came running towards them. "What did you think you were doing, you idiot!?!" he demanded. "Spreading rumors, that I once beat up a girl for rejecting me?! What nerve you have!" he said furiously.

Zero looked at him with a mystified look on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about. I never spread such rumors about you."

Yuu glared at him. "Liar!!" he yelled. Many people around the classroom turned to hear their argument.

"Yuu!" Ichiru cut in. "If Zero tells you it wasn't him then it wasn't him! And besides, Zero would never spread false rumors about anyone. I've been his best friend for three years. I should know!"

Zero shot him a grateful look. Yuu raised his eyebrows. "But I heard that you were the one who said that he did that!" he said wildy.

Ichiru turned red in the face at those words. "How dare you tell me that I would spread rumors about my best friend?" he shouted. "You believe me, right Zero?!"

"Of course!" Zero said. "As for you," He turned towards Yuu dangerously. "I suggest you get out of my sight."

Zero started walking, with Ichiru close at his side. "Hey, Zero...." he said hesitantly. "You really believe me?!"

"Sure." he said casually. "You are my best friend after all. Hey, what are you smirking at?" he asked suspiciously.

Ichiru quickly turned to grin at Zero. "Nothing. I'm just happy you believe me."

* * * * * *

Zero sat on the bench impatiently. If she was going to confess she should at least be on time. She opened the small note indifferently to read again.

Please meet me at the back gate of the school. Right after school.

- XOXOXO

He heard the sounds of loud footsteps hurrying towards him. Zero folded the paper back into four and slipped it into his bag. He sat up straight to see who was coming. A pretty girl with long blond hair and bright blue eyes.

Hikaru?!?!?! Zero noticed in shock. But she was already Ichiru's girlfriend.

"Hi!" she said, breathing heavily. "Sorry I'm late."

"You were the one who wrote that letter?!?!" he asked incredulously. She nodded shyly. "But Ichiru's already your boyfriend!"

Hikaru looked up. "I only made him my boyfriend to get close to you." She looked down. "I love you Zero!"

Zero got up abruptly. "You really are dirty, aren't you?" he said with disgust "Making him your boyfriend just to get to me?! I'm sorry I cannot steal my best friend's girlfriend. And I cannot be lovers with such a girl."

Hikaru watched him go dejectedly, a tear falling from her eye.

* * * *

Bang! Someone's hand shook the desk vigorously. Zero looked up.

"What's up, Ichiru? What's wrong?" he asked curiously.

Ichiru's face was contorted with anger. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT'S WRONG? AS IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO HIKARU,YOU IDIOT!" he yelled on top of his lungs.

Zero scrunched his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Did you not like that I rejected her for your sake?!" he asked confused.

"Rejected her?! Ha! Don't try to cover up! I know what you did." he said furiously.

"Well, I don't!" snapped Zero irritably. "So could you do me a favor and tell me what I did."

"You beat up Hikaru because she rejected you! Beat up, you hear?! That's two huge problems. One: You confessed to my girlfriend. In other words, you wanted to steal her from me. Two- you beat her up when she was loyal to me and rejected you!" Zero laughed. "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING FOR?!?!?!" Ichiru yelled.

Zero glared at Ichiru. "She lied." he said matter-of-factly. "It was the opposite. She confessed to me and I rejected her because I knew she was your girlfriend. And I never beat her up." he now grew angry with each word he spoke. " You know, I can't believe you, Ichiru! I trusted you. A lot of people told me that you're spreading rumors about me but I didn't believe them because you're my best friend. But it's too bad you don't trust me." Zero turned on his feet and left the room abruptly, leaving the Ichiru and the room staring after him in shock.

* * * * *

Zero walked through the front gate to his house stormily. What kind of friend was that anyway? Didn't trust him for nothing. Their friendship of almost three years meant nothing to Ichiru.

He glanced at the mailbox. There was one small envelope perched neatly inside. Someone must've dropped it off after his mother already took out the mail.

He took at the envelope and held it shakily in his hands.

TO: Kiryuu Zero

FROM: Koyama Ichiru

He ripped open the envelope angrily. What did that idiot want? To apologize?! A little too late for that.

He unfolded the paper that was written in Ichiru's familiar handwriting.

Zero:

If you think I'm writing to say sorry you're completely mistaken. I'm not and I never will. I just wanted to reveal some mysteries to you. You know how you always got accused of things you didn't do? Everyone always thought you did things to them and I always defended you. Well you made a mistake in believing me. A big mistake. I was the one who spread the rumors. Yes me. After our fight last week, Hikaru told me she had lied. But that was okay with me. Now everyone knew what a big idiot you were. I didn't have to do it. Although, a lot of them held grudges against you anyway because of my rumors. So now Kiryuu Zero, you are perhaps the most hated person in the school. And I'm happy about that. That was my goal after all. To get you down from your oh-so-popular and oh-so-cool level in our school. You may be wondering why I did all this. I'll tell you since no one with believe you if you told them anyway. I was jealous. When you came to our school, you immediately became the most popular guy there. All the girls swooned over you and all the guys thought you were the coolest thing to grace the planet. So I became you friend to become popular. But I wasn't satisfied with being second-best. I wanted to be higher than you. How to do that? By bringing you down. It took a long time but I finally did it. You are now nothing. Secretly, everyone, hates you now. Kiryuu Zero is now a nobody. Well anyway, goodbye Zero. Or maybe there is no need for a goodbye. After all we were never friends, were we?!

Ichiru.

Zero's hands were shaking, his heart burning with anger. He ripped the note into a thousands pieces and stormed upstairs, slamming the door to his room behind him.

END OF FLASHBACK

* * * * *

AN: Now you know about Zero's past!!!Isn't Ichiru disgusting?!?! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. The story's almost done. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!