Yuki's POV then Zero's. This chapter may provoke questions more than answers, but they'll be answered soon, I promise. Enjoy =)

I was wondering what it was that Aidou wanted me to see in the gardens when I spotted something familiar.

"Yori!" I smiled; the first genuine one I've had in months. Yori was just as I had remembered, still with the short carrot red hair and that warm smile. She hugged me fondly, then held me to take a good look. "You look well enough. Why are you in the hospital?" We sat down on the bench. "It's nothing, nothing... How have you been?" Yori had been Zero's downstairs neighbour. It's funny how I found my true love and true friend, both in the same building. The true love refuses to acknowledge me now, but at least the true friend is still here.

"I've been okay. What about you? You left without a word. Where have you been? Why didn't you call or write?"

I bowed my head, "I'm so sorry. It was… unexpected…"

She peered at me, "You didn't want to leave, did you?"

I kept quiet. But she has always been able to see through my silence.

"You loved him too much to do that. And he loved you too much to have let you go without a fight. What happened? Tell me."

I remained silent.

"You're awful you know that. You came and didn't even look for me. Your cute friend there had to bring me here himself," she chided me.

I smiled faintly. "I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing. You can tell me exactly what happened last year to make up for this."

I didn't know where to start.

"He suffered, you know. You may have no idea how badly."

I bit my lip, hearing his scream last night in my head, the agony contained in it.

"Do you know how he was before he met you? Hmmm… You could say it was like a Beauty and the Beast story. I had never seen him smile, always with that frown on his face. Then you came along and I saw his first smile in the 3 years I've been living in the same building as him."

I heard his voice in my head, telling me that I was the best thing that's ever happened to him.

"Then you left, and he went back to how he was before, probably even worse. So tell me, Yuki, how can a love like yours turn out this way overnight?"

I finally broke my silence. "Since the very beginning, it would've ended that way."

She stared at me quizzically, and then I realized that Zero was not the only one I had betrayed. I had betrayed Yori too. Both of them had taken me into their lives and I had left them. No number of apologies can make up for that.

"I was not who you think I was, Yori. I didn't meet Zero by chance. It was all an act…" it felt good to finally admit it out loud. So even though I couldn't admit it to Zero, at least Yori would listen.

"What about now? Is it all still an act?"

I bowed my head. How do I admit that I never knew how empty my life was until Zero? How do I admit that it was Zero who was the best thing that had ever happened to me, not the other way around? How do I admit that the act became the most real experience of my life?

I didn't have to. Yori knew. "It isn't is it? Maybe it was at first, but you ended up loving him, just as much as he loved you."

How much is that exactly? Our love is strangely complicated, perhaps tragically so. Our love is tainted, impure, an abomination. A Level D and a Pureblood. The last time that happened, the Level D was killed and the Pureblood went mad, killing Zero's family, damning him to his life now. Isn't it ironic then, that Zero would be following this path too; that he, too, fell for a Pureblood.

Yori hugged me. "He tried, you know. He tried to forget you, tried to remove you from his life. I think I didn't see the both of you for two weeks. Then one night, I think I saw Zero going up and when he came down, he was holding a large big bag of stuff. After that, when Chairman came, he asked me who had cleared out the apartment. I asked what was missing and he told me that everything of yours was gone. Photos and everything, he threw them all out. But he still couldn't move on."

"How do you know he didn't?"

Yori looked at me, as if she was assessing me. "I just do. It's not something he can manage to hide entirely. So tell me, have you moved on? Is there another man in your life?"

There was, Kaname. The man I thought I loved. Of course, that was when I had been confined all my life and he was the man I was told to love, told to marry. The man who had been the reason I consented to staging the act in the first place. The man I convinced myself was a good reason for lying to Zero. The man I left Zero for. The man who gave me a large, empty manor; while Zero had given me a tiny single bedroom apartment that he came home to every night, returning to the bed we shared every night.

"Yes. He's a good man." I answered, as firm as I can, convincing Yori as much as I was attempting to convince myself.

Yori didn't buy it completely but humoured me anyway, "Well, men come and go. But if you need anything you know where to find me. So tell me all about your new man." She smiled.

Kaname isn't new. He's been there since forever. Before, during, and after Zero. He's the reason for everything. But how could I tell her that. So I tried to divert her attention.

"How's Shota?"

"He's good. He misses you too. He kept asking about you and Zero when you first left. Zero still buys the occasional sweet or toy for him. So now, he mostly asks about you."

"How about you? Any men?" I grinned at Yori. It felt surprisingly refreshing to be talking so casually, not to be wary like how I had to be cautious around other vampires.

She laughed, "Shota's the only man in my life right now. But life's been good. I'm happy with Shota. I'm content." And she was genuinely happy. And I was happy for her. I envied her. If only life was so simple, I would have been contented with the little pleasures.

So we continued chatting, and for the first time in ages, I felt relaxed.

I stared out the window, watching as dusk covered the passing scene. I'm leaving, just like how I was supposed to then. And this time, you're not here to stop me. You're not here to hold me and promise me that you would always be there, promise that you would keep me safe. Those empty promises of yours. Your gentle hands holding me back. Your kind words, promising all those things I wanted.

Would it have been better to have never met you? To have never known how warm a woman's arms can be, to have never known how it felt like to love and be loved in return. If I could ask you one question, I want to know which parts were real and which parts were lies? Tell me, did you once, even for a split second, love me the way I loved you.

But these are questions that will forever remain unanswered. I'll never see you again. Never again.
I promise.

Hope you liked it and stay tuned for more to come =)