Here's the next chapter! I do not own any of the characters from Vampire Knight, except two new characters that I made up. Hope you enjoy the story! Please comment and review the story.

Chapter 9: The Ball

I woke up groggily and almost went back to sleep but the chairman was being loud and I couldn't ignore him. I got up and looked at the date on my clock. I sighed, tonight was the ball Zero and I am supposed to go to. Even though I tried to get out of this once or twice, the chairman wouldn't allow it. He said if I went to the ball, Zero and I could take a nice long break from school and even be allowed to leave the campus to go somewhere with whomever we wanted.

So, we agreed to that condition and made the chairman keep his word. Takeshi and Kuroki were going to hang out with me until I had to get ready for the ball. When I had finished breakfast, gotten dressed, and put on my shoes, I went outside to wait for Takeshi and Kuroki but they were already there. They smiled up at me and I smiled back while I walked down the stairs. I took Kuroki's and Takeshi's hand and lead them toward the forest. They probably knew where I wanted to go, so they took hold of my arm and carried me to the place.

I didn't struggle while they carried me and waited till we got there to jump out of there grips and walk over to the tree. This tree was special to us, Kuroki, Takeshi, and I, we loved this tree. It was huge, with long branches you could climb and sit on, and the leaves were a brilliant emerald and when the sun hit the leaves, they made the colour of everything around it green. I sat under the tree and laid my head back, closing my eyes. I heard Takeshi and Kuroki sit next to me but I was lost in my thoughts.

I was thinking about how beautiful this tree was in the summer, but how dead it looked in the winter. The leaves would be gone and it looked like the tree's spirit had left and was gone forever. Whenever I was little and came to see the tree in the winter, I would cry to see my beautiful friend...dead. I didn't know back then that that was only in winter and that the tree would be green again in a few months, but that was how I felt. Whenever I cried for the tree, Kuroki and Takeshi would be there, holding my hand and looking up at the tree with sadness. I knew they loved the tree as much as I did back then, so it was kind of like our own private funeral for our friend when we went to see the tree in the winter.

Then my thoughts drifted to what I was doing tonight and that Kuroki and Takeshi wouldn't be there. I sighed, the chairman had explained this to me a million times and Takeshi added a few hundred to the list. Werewolves and vampires cannot be in the same room at the same time or they might just rip each other's throats out. I told them that Kaname would not let that happen because it would be an embarrassment to the vampire race, but they still didn't want to go.

"Besides, even if we did go, Kuroki and I don't have any tuxes and don't have enough money to rent some." Takeshi said and that was his second explanation for me. I sighed and opened my eyes, staring up at the tree.

"Hey, Takeshi, do you remember when we were kids and your uncle first met me?" I said. Takeshi turned his head toward me and I saw him nod in my peripheral vision.

"Do you remember when he tried to attack me and that you-... our mother protected me?" I saw him nod again. "I remember hearing him talk to mom about me and I heard him say, "Why is a person like that in our den? She doesn't belong here! She should be with her own kind!" Then when I told you two what he said, you guys got all mad at your uncle and made a promise to me." I looked over at them and saw they were waiting for whatever I was getting to.

"The promise...that we'll never let anything separate us and that if something that might hurt us, we would protect each other, but -..." I was about to go on when Takeshi interrupted me. "I see where this is going, we already told you, and we can't go to the ball with you. You know what will happen if we go." He said and sighed. I looked down and nodded. I knew what would happen, but I still wanted them nearby.

I heard something hit the ground with a loud thud and then I felt Kuroki wrap his arms around me. "I'm sorry we can't come, if we could hide our scent, we could." He said. I nodded and sighed, pulling away from Kuroki. I got up and walked away from the tree, leaving Kuroki and Takeshi by themselves. I walked around the school for a while before going back to my room to get ready. I fixed my hair into a bun and then put on my black dress. I grabbed my shoes and put on my stockings before putting on my shoes.

I picked up Adonis and put it in the strap on my thigh underneath my dress, keeping it close just in case. I looked at myself in the mirror to make sure I looked ok and nothing was out of place. My eyes drifted to the corner of the mirror and saw a picture of Kuroki, Takeshi and I. We were in front of the tree and Kuroki was standing next to Takeshi while I was in the front. All of us were smiling, Kuroki and Takeshi holding one of my hands, while I laid my head on Kuroki's shoulder.

I sighed and picked up my purse before leaving. Zero was waiting for me outside the building. He was dressed in a black tux, with a black tie and a red rose. He looked up when I came out. "Do you have Adonis?" He asked and I nodded. We walked over to the ballroom and saw the lights were on. The chairman was at the front welcoming vampires as they came in, when he saw us; he nodded and then welcomed another vampire. We went inside and Zero thought it was a good idea if we went to different ends of the ballroom.

I went to one side and he went to the other. I saw a couple female vampires look at Zero but when he glared at them, they looked away. I looked around and saw some vampires staring at either me or Zero. The vampires turned toward the entrance and bowed. I looked and saw Kaname and the Night class coming in. When I looked at Kaname, my heart beat sped up. He was dressed in a tux, like Zero's, but when I saw him... I stopped myself from letting my thoughts drift any further.

Kaname greeted everyone and then as if someone had called him, he turned his head in my direction. He said something to someone and then his eyes met mine. I felt a blush come up in my cheeks and I looked down. I heard people murmuring and I looked up just in time to see Kaname walking toward me. He stopped in front of me and bowed slightly. I was frozen for a second before my mind snapped and I curtsied. I felt his hand touch my chin and lift it up so I had to look at him. His eyes were gentle and he was smiling at me, my heart skipped a beat when I looked at his eyes.

"May I have this dance, Yuuki?" He asked, staring into my eyes. It took me a moment before I could nod. Kaname led me to the dance floor and we danced slowly. I looked forward, not able to meet his eyes. I saw that everyone was watching us and Zero was also watching. I looked at Zero momentarily before looking forward again. I noticed we were dancing at a slower pace than the others and I wondered if he had watched me practicing two days before.

After the song was over, I pulled away, so others could dance with him but he pulled me back to him and we danced to the next song. I looked up at him and he nodded in the direction that he wanted me to look. I looked and there were female vampires, looking like they were about to pounce at any chance Kaname was alone. I looked back at him but he looked like he was concentrating on dancing. I kept my eyes forward, not looking down at my feet like Takeshi had told me.

Suddenly, everyone was whispering and the music faded. Kaname looked over at the entrance and didn't look surprised. I frowned and looked toward the entrance and felt my eyes go wide. There, standing in front of a surprised chairman who was trying to convince them to leave, was Takeshi and Kuroki. When they spotted me, they smiled at me for a split second and then they were glaring at Kaname. In that one second, it was like they were telling me, "We kept our promise."

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