Brief synopsis from the last few chapters: Kaname has checked out due to images conjured in his mind by another pureblood with a vendetta against him leaving the others lost and desolate. Zero and Seiren sought comfort in the arms of one another while Yuuki and Kaname fought and Kaien accidently alerted the noble vampires to Kaname's condition.

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"Hey, can I talk to you all?" Takuma asked walking up to where Ruka, Kain, and Aidou were sitting. He had intended to include Seiren in the discussion, but he was unable to find her and figured that she was already aware of the situation. The other nobles shrugged and looked at him impatiently waiting for him to continue.

"In private?" he specified. Thought they were shocked, they knew that he would never come to them and request a private chat if it wasn't important. They stood and followed the blond noble out of the moon dorms and into the woods. Though they didn't understand his secrecy, they knew that he had to have a reason especially as he wasn't smiling. Takuma always smiled.

"What is this about?" Ruka asked after they had been walking for a while. While she did not object to nighttime stroll under normal circumstances, in the middle of a war zone this did not strike her as the best plan.

"Just a little further," Takuma replied. Not only was he trying to make sure that they were not overheard, he was also trying to put off giving the nobles the bad news. Eventually he knew that he could put it off no longer. He took a deep breath before he turned to face the others, sadness in his green eyes.

"I'm not sure what happened," he began slowly. He hadn't really thought through how he was going to say it. "All I know is what I overheard from Headmaster Cross talking to Yagari-sensei."

After the pause had gone on too long, Aidou decided that Takuma might need a prod to continue. "And what did you hear?" he asked. He didn't understand the need for all of this cloak-and-dagger behavior if Takuma was never going to tell them what he wanted them to know.

"Well," Takuma began deciding that it was best to just tell them. "I overheard them discussing the fact that we are in this war alone."

"We knew that," Ruka snapped. She couldn't believe that he had brought them out here to tell them that they were in the war alone. Everyone knew that!

"No," Takuma said. "You don't know this. There is no easy way to say this . . . but they were saying that Kaname-sama. . . that he's . . . well he won't be able to help us."

"What do you mean?" Ruka demanded. She didn't understand. Had something happened to the pureblood? Or had he just decided that he had had enough fighting for now?

"I mean that, well they said that Kaname-sama is broken was the word he used," Takuma explained.

"No," Ruka breathed. "That can't be true. He must be mistaken." She couldn't believe that Kaname could be broken. He was such a strong person. It just made no sense.

"Was he sure?" Kain asked seriously. They needed to be sure before they took any kind of action at all. And even if Kaname was broken, there was still Yuuki. She may be untrained, but she was still a force to be reckoned with.

Takuma nodded wordlessly. He remembered the desolation in the Headmaster's voice as he had told Yagari about Kaname's condition.

"No," Aidou said stubbornly. "You said yourself that you don't have the full story. I can give you a bit more of it. When the hunters attacked earlier Kaname-sama stopped them. He's not broken, he's exhausted. In a few days or less he will be fine. You'll see."

Takuma smiled at him sadly. He hoped that Aidou was right, but given the words and tone of the headmaster he doubted it. He, too, realized that without Kaname—as a powerful fully realized pureblood—that their chances of winning had just dropped dramatically. He also understood Aidou's determination to refuse to believe it. There was much comfort in denial.

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Yuuki looked up at the man she loved, the red mark left by her hand standing out livid against his pale skin. She worried her lip with her front teeth, her breath coming in sobs and angry tears flowing down her face.

"You're an idiot," she said, her voice full of tears. "Possibly the biggest idiot I have ever met." He couldn't argue with her. She was right about him. And even if she wasn't, he deserved her anger and her hatred. Even so, he couldn't' stop the sorrow from showing in his eyes as he absorbed her words.

"Why do you insist on blaming yourself for everything?" she asked reaching up and gently stroking the spot where she had slapped him in an attempt to soothe it. "I know I was little, but I remember what happened that night. You were only a child, Kaname. Even if you could have faced Rido, it was good that you didn't. I remember Father telling you not to go. How do you think they would have felt if you had and had been injured or killed?"

He stared at her in shock, unable to believe that she was focusing on that after he had just revealed to her that he had been responsible for the death of her parents. He couldn't understand why she was talking about what might have happened to him had he done what he should have. He was more shocked when she continued speaking.

"And now," she sobbed. "Now that you are all that is left of my biological family, now you want to leave me too!? I understand why my parents did what they did. They felt that it was the best thing to do at the time. And they were right. It was the best thing they could do for us in that situation. But now, to ease your own conscience over something that wasn't your fault, you want to throw their sacrifices away. And leave me alone," her last words were little more than a whisper but they were a whisper that cut Kaname deeply.

"That's not what I want," Kaname said reaching for her and feeling pleased when she didn't pull away but instead wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly to her.

"I want to make the world safe for you. And to do that, I have to stop this war," he continued. This is why he had meant to slip off without a scene. He knew that it would only be more difficult to leave her now.

"If I have to sacrifice myself to do it, I will. You deserve a good life. A life of peace," he explained, sincerity dripping from his words. "This is the only way I can see to give you that life."

She looked up at him from the circle of his arms, her crimson eyes hard. "What makes you think that I would appreciate such a gift?" she demanded. "What good would a peaceful life be to me if I can't have happiness as well?"

Her words shocked him. He hadn't thought about it from that angle. He had never thought that she would not appreciate the life he would gift her with through his death. He had not realized that she would react so badly to the idea of him giving up his life for her. He had assumed that she would appreciate the gesture as the ultimate show of his love for her. The more he thought about it, the more sense her argument was making. Why had he thought that sacrificing himself would solve anything? The hunter's hunger for war was insatiable now. His death would solve nothing. He knew that the idea had not been his own. But as to whose it had been, he was unsure. The one thing that he was sure of was that the fact that someone had attempted to implant a thought in his head enraged him.

Yuuki watched his face as it moved from shock, to understanding to determination and then anger. As much as his anger frightened her—she knew what he was capable of when his anger was aroused—she was glad to see some emotion other than the sorrow that had been there since that morning in his eyes. Even so, she could feel the power beginning to radiate from him as his temper swelled.

"Kaname?" she said gently her voice quaking with her fear that she would not be able to reach him before he destroyed them all. "What's the matter?"

He looked at her and recognized the fear in her eyes. It hurt to know that he was the cause of that fear. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on the back of her head, threading his fingers through her hair and pulled her more tightly against his chest. Through his own stupidity and gullibility he had almost lost her. The most precious thing in the world to him and he had almost given it up over a planted suggestion.

"I'm sorry, Yuuki," he whispered into her hair. "You're right, I am an idiot. But I see the error of my plans now. I am sorry to have frightened you."

She tried to pull back to look at his face, but his hold on her refused to slacken. "It's ok," she whispered.

"No," he said sternly. "It's not ok. I should have known better. I should have realized. I am old enough to have known that my mind had been meddled with. But no! I gave in and almost played into their hands."

"Into whose hands?" Yuuki demanded. "I still don't know what's going on."

"Neither do I. But I intend to find out," he said pulling back to look into her eyes. She was pleased to see that they were a clear now as they had been before his spell. He was back.

"There is one thing that I do know," he offered though he knew that the news would not please her. She raised an eyebrow in query and he sighed before he said, "There is a pureblood working with the hunters."

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Here we are y'all, a new chapter. Now that school is over things should go much faster. I hope to have it finished on or before the second anniversary of its posting. . . but we'll see how that works out. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and would love to hear what you thought about it.

Thank you to the following people for their reviews:

Anne Fatalism Dilettante: Thank you. I hope this update was soon enough for you. And I agree. The manga has been so frustrating lately. And I would agree with you on the childish part. Sometimes in trying to make him seem more fragile, I go a little too far. And as to the war, I feel more like he was panicking about seeing himself clearly for the first time than the war itself (though I may not have communicated that well) and the only real reason he is worried about the war is for Yuuki's sake. I am glad that you continue reading despite these short-comings and hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Elliot Rose: Oh, trust me, it will come up :D they are too good of friends for her to let something like that go unmentioned. She may even let it slip over breakfast with Kaien. . . maybe. And I thought so. Sometimes a good slap is exactly what someone needs to make them come to their senses (not, of course, that I advocate hitting others). I hope this new chapter lived up to your expectations.

Akira 91: I'm sorry, Takuma didn't hear you. Lol But Kaname did at least do as you asked. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I look forward to seeing what you thought.

As always, thank you for reading,

Stickdonkeys