Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight nor any of its characters =]

Sorry for the late update. Guess what? Just a few weeks ago it was the Common Tests... Now coming up very VERY soon is the Mid Year Exams... CURSE YOU SCHOOLLLLLL ~~~~ . Hope you enjoy this chapter!

XxNightShroudxX thanks for the review~! =] I hope you'll read this fanfic till the end (which is soon... I think. =.=''')

EdwardCullen-izor Hahahaha, thanks! I wonder if this one's dramatic... Personally, I think this chapter's more dramatic than the last! =DDD

blackarmor I.SI am very honoured that you like my style of writing and have requested for a HoukixIchika fanfic... =] However, as of now, I have no plans to make another fanfic till WWCP is done... Sorry! . More fanfics = late updates so I hope you understand! Nonetheless, I will try my best in my spare time to honour you with a one-shot! =D After all, I feel bad to reject you request... Either ways, thanks for your support and do look forward to my one-shot! =]

Well, as per usual... please enjoy!

The Pureblood Princess lay on the bed, caring not that her hair would go messy or her dress would get crumpled. Her body lied motionless, her eyes closed as she took in deep breaths of air. Suddenly, an array of knocks on the door resonated around the empty windowless room.

The brunette's eyes sprung open, but her body still remained unmoving.

"Come in," she answered, turning her head slowly to face her visitor.

"Yuuki," the ginger-haired girl spoke, the curly ends of her hair swaying up and down in excitement as she rushed towards the vampire, embracing her in a hug.

Yuuki smiled, returning the embrace. The twinkle in her eyes returned with the presence of her friend... Sayori Wakaba.

"Yori-chan, what're you doing here?" the slender girl asked, holding onto the hands of said girl.

"I wanted to see you. You came back to the academy only once, and we didn't even get to talk..." the girl's deep amber orbs widened as she paused, then continued, "After all, Aidou-senpai invited me here."

Aidou-senpai?

Then, the crimson-eyed girl heaved a sigh of relief. Kaname...

No wonder he had suddenly given her time to rest. A small smile brightened up Yuuki's features, the girl deeply touched by her fiance's actions. Her brother had noticed all the tiny things others didn't, like how she deeply missed her best friend and how she had felt uncomfortable at the function earlier. She silently reminded herself to thank him later.

With that, the two friends talked, both cherishing the moments they had with one another. Yori, after all, was given the role as Guardian in the school, being the only human other than Zero who knew of the vampires in their school.

"So I've heard..." the amber-eyed beauty drew a breath, "...Keira's your twin sister?"

The Pureblood vampire nodded, "Yeah, everything just happened so fast, its almost like a dream..."

Kuran Keira, her twin sister. Her thoughts drifted towards the curly-haired brunette. Why hadn't she seen the girl at the function earlier anyway? She pushed that thought to the back of her mind. Perhaps she was just making herself unnoticed. Yuuki hoped her sister's identity would be revealed fast. She hated the idea of being hidden away from the society - it had happen so many times to her, and much,much more times to her little sister. And she understood how that felt.

Painful.

"Yuuki... Yuuki?" her friend spoke, waving a hand in front of her face.

She flinched as her reverie broke almost instantly. A small tint of pink flashed across her cheeks. Oops... what did Yori say again?

"Ahaha... sorry, Yori-chan, I was just thinking about something..." she replied apologetically.

"Yuuki..." the amber pools of her eyes glistened as she spoke, "You should stop worrying about things. Its about time you relax. It's been hard on you. But now everything's okay. Kuran-senpai's nice to you, right? Things are great between you and Keira, right? Even Zero and you..."

At this moment, she pulled her best friend into a close hug. She could feel her body de-tensing. What Yori said was true... Its time she stopped worrying about everyone. Maybe she had been so caught up with things that she just couldn't accept that everything was really, really okay. The petite girl in front of her caressed the back of her head gently, calmingly.

Was it really okay for her to feel such peacefulness?

Blinking once or twice, the brunette attempted to open her eyes, succeeding only at the third attempt. She could feel the weight of her legs and arms. She tried to move them. She failed. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyelids. What had happened? All she knew was that excruciating pain was overwhelming her small body... and it hurt. A lot.

"Ahh...Uh...Aa," she tried to speak, but realised she was incoherent, speaking like a little toddler.

Every word she tried to speak turned out wrong, and her throat seemed to burn with each try. A single teardrop flowed down her left cheek. She wanted to go home. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, it reminded her of the first time she had arrived at the Crawford's household. Opening her eyes only to see an unrecognizable place. It felt cold and lonely, but she could only pull the covers over her head and weep silently through the night, as the dawn of realisation hit her and she knew she had been abandoned.

She was on a small yet sturdy bed, with thick blankets covering her. At a corner, she could see a small fireplace, lighting up the room and filling her body with warmth. Turning her head slowly to face the window, she realised it was snowing. With much effort, she lifted her right hand towards the cool glass surface of the window, flinching slightly from the pain of moving. Her fingers grazed the glass lightly. Lifting her finger off, she could see the imprint of her fingerprint left on the fogged glass. Somehow, this amused her and a light smile descended on her lips. With what strength she had left, she wrote a few words on the window, three in fact.

"Kaname, Yuuki, Keira..." she silently read in her mind, eyes shifting from the top word to the bottom.

With a sigh, she wrote another last word in capital letters underneath.

KAZOKU.

FAMILY.

A series of knocks reverberated around the tiny room. She tried to say 'Come in' but no words came out. Nonetheless, the door opened to reveal a tall dashing young man, with silver hair slightly wet at the ends. He didn't speak a word to her, only staring at her as she, too, stared at him, wide-eyed with fascination. With each breath of air, a small white fog escaped his lips. The amethyst-eyed boy wore a long trenchcoat, which seemed like the only source of warmth he had. His skin was frighteningly pale white.

Zero approached the bed cautiously, then sat right at the end of it, next to her feet, the bed creaking as it bore his weight. The crimson-eyed vampire merely stared at him. She would speak if she could but she couldn't. He let out a long sigh, looking away from the red orbs of her eyes. She felt compelled to do something but she didn't know what. Finally, after much contemplation, she lifted a hand off the bed then slowly, carefully, she placed it on the top of his left hand. Cold.

She grasped his hand a little tighter. She was hoping her warmth could be transferred to him. He turned to look at her once again, eyes widened at the shock of her sudden action. She looked at hiis face clearly this time - the chiselled features, the lilac eyes, the wide shoulders, the silver gray hair that seemed to perfectly fit his face. Suddenly, the corner of his lips curved up faintly, almost not there but she saw it alright... He smiled. She couldn't help it either. A faint smile appeared on her lips.

He looked away. Why? She wondered. The smile from his face disappeared. He faced the ground, closed his eyes.

"You're not Yuuki..." he asked, pausing a while, before he continued, "Are you?"

A loud cracking sound could be heard. Visible crack lines could be seen on the glass window beside the bed. Then, suddenly, the entire glass shattered into a million pieces, shards of glass flying into the room. She turned her head at the wrong moment. A small shard of glass slided across her left cheek, leaving a long cut. Blood trailed down the visibly deep wound, sliding down her cheek, down her chin, down her neck, into the already stained black dress that she wore. Her eyes remained listless at the question asked by the boy in front of her. Almost instantly, the cut healed by itself, shrinking slowly, slowly until it eventually disappeared.

She felt a someone touch her. She turned to find the silver-haired boy leaning closer towards her and with a finger, wiping off the trail of blood on her cheeks.

"Vampires..." she could hear him murmur under his breath, "So impulsive,"

Suddenly, she saw his eyes glow a bright red as the smell of her blood on his finger tips aroused him. He struggled, body shaking violently, his voice cracking. Level E vampire, she thought to herself, head jerked up in surprise at his reaction to her blood. His breathing was jagged and despite the snow falling hard outside, she could see beads of perspiration on his forehead. The fingertips of his right hand were still stained with her blood. Using a free hand, she saw him struggle to get something from under his trenchcoat. A metal clank, then she saw him pull out a gun. No, wait, she shouted in her head. She tried to speak, to say something but nothing seemed to work. The lilac-eyed vampire lifted the gun to his neck. Was he going to do what she thought he was? His fingers clasped themselves against the trigger. The crimson orbs of her eyes widened progressively, she still trying hardest to speak.

"No!" she finally managed to utter, in a soft frantic whisper.

A loud bang resonated around the room. His hand shivered non-stop, as he stared dumbstruck at the Pureblood's face barely inches in front of his, his body thrown onto the bed. Both of her hands held his, which were still tightly clasped on the gun's trigger. She had managed to stop him, using all of her strength to lunge atop of him. Both of them were breathing uneasily, her long curly hair brushing against his cheeks. His hands were above his head, held tightly by her against the bed. He couldn't move them. She was strong for her size. She saw his eyes return back to their exquisite amethyst colour. All of a sudden, he felt a warm transparent drop of liquid drip on his cheeks. She was crying. Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes, her face scrunched up in an agonizing expression, a shade of red on her cheeks.

"Don't do it, don't do it," she thought to herself, trying hardest to convey her thoughts to him.

"Ahn..." again her words were incoherent as she spoke in a quiet whisper.

Perhaps it was just his thankfulness, or the fact that at that moment, she looked so similar to Yuuki, but then, the silver-haired boy unclasped his hand from the gun, and closing his eyes, he embraced the crying girl in a warm hug, arms tight around her back.

"Gomen-na..." he whispered into her ear, as she stroked her hair gently, calmingly.

I'm sorry.

YAY, CHAPTER 20~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Ehehehehehehhe XD*

On this note, I wanna say I love ALL OF YOU GUYS! Without you, this would not have been made possible... THANK YOU! =]