So Zero and his stupid tattoo that I forgot about hijacked this chapter which I had intended to be Yuuki maybe meeting Yori (though I hadn't been able to figure that friendship out and still haven't), and the Day Class discovering the Night Class during the switch. So this chapter is an amalgam of what I'd intended to do and what I ended up having to do because of my carelessness. As a side note, when I switch into the official timeline chapters, they'll be marked as Nights rather than as Evenings!
kiki8o, it isn't that she doesn't wonder, it's more along the lines that she is very purposely not thinking about it. At this point, he is her "foundation" (which, yes, was probably deliberate on Kaname's part), and she doesn't want to mess purposely with the status quo because a) it isn't obviously harmful or negative for her and b) because she, at least subconsciously, is aware that she has suppressed memories and that Kaname probably has something to do with them. In this situation, Yuuki is not consciously aware of it but she is being willfully blind and allowing herself to be manipulated in this way in order to maintain the relationships she sees as "ideal" (which is another trait from me, as I have a fear of abandonment and allow people to get away with practical murder so long as they don't leave me behind). She's pretty smart and not at all blind, so she's noticing more than canon!Yuuki, she's just not letting herself linger on them.
To pendora59, thanks for the reviews! They're short but to the point, and it's always interesting to have to translate them! Like a pleasant surprise.
One of you guests left me a delightfully long review, and in reply will receive a long answer! I haven't actually thought about periods or music in relation to this fic, actually. In the manga, we never see cellphones or TV's or overt signs of entertainment media beyond books and the occasional magazine in Cross Academy, which is where Yuuki spends most of her time in one way or another.
But to answer your questions: she'd probably really enjoy music with a heavy emphasis on instruments, unique sounds or music with a prominent bass? Classic rock would be one of the favorites, yeah, as well as indie, classical and genres like dubstep. Feeling bodyshame is unlikely, and I think vampires would be polite (and scared) enough to not comment on her period or react about it, as I imagine it wouldn't be the same as standard blood. I personally don't experience really bad cramps or mood swings (only crazy cravings like a pickle taco when I was thirteen that traumatized my entire family) and I'm stupidly irregular besides, so I can't relate well to that sort of thing and didn't have any plans on including that? (On a side note your assessment of Kaien is absolutely correct and sort of inspiring.)
The "Black Widow moves" you mentioned isn't likely to happen, though it does seem cool. That sort of thing requires specialized training for both the body in general and the moves specifically (that Yuuki doesn't have) to make sure that the user doesn't injure themself in the process. She could probably pull them off on the fly, but it isn't likely to be on purpose because the possibility of it being successful for someone of Yuuki's stature is low.
I hope to hear from you all again!
Yuuki watches quietly as Zero chugs his way through five water bottles in one sitting and less than three minutes, concerned and confused. Is this a part of a boy's process for growing up? A huge increase in food and water intake? Because Zero has been eating huge portions at all meals, and drinking almost constantly. Or is it something else?
Cross, who is standing a few feet away, is studying Zero with an expression she can't quite understand. Oh, she sees the resignation and worry there, but she doesn't understand why. Is this not normal?
Is something wrong with Zero? Cross certainly seems to think so, one arm crossed over his chest and cupping the elbow of his other arm, the palm cradling his chin as he watches Zero. He hasn't actually spoken to Zero, though. Probably because of the nearly visibly aura of "approach and die" that wafts from Zero anytime he makes the attempt or approaches. Yuuki has the feeling he said something that had set Zero into an even worse mood than normal. Zero throws away the empty plastic, grabbing onto his school jacket and slipping it on, prompting Yuuki to jump to her feet and do the same, the both of them slipping their shoes on at the same time.
"See you later, Cross!" Yuuki waves behind her distractedly as she and Zero leave the house, beginning the walk across campus that will take them to the Night Class main school building so they can escort the vampires to their dorms. She hears Cross' exuberant goodbye from behind them and then she's matching stride with Zero. Well, trying to match stride with Zero. He's over a foot taller than her now, so his legs are longer and therefore his strides as well. It takes maybe three of her normal steps to keep up with one of his, and two if she does something like a half-jog.
Not bothering to ask him to slow down because she knows he won't, Yuuki jabs an arm forward and moves, snake quick, to constrict his arm, gripping onto it with as much strength as she can manage. She then rotates her legs and feet just slightly so as not to scuff any part of her shoes other than her heels, letting him drag her along. He gives her a quick glance- the familiar exasperation and mild annoyance lurking in them- but doesn't falter in his pace. She makes a poutily-annoyed face at him in response, and he scoffs under his breath, returning his attention to the path in front of them.
Yuuki looks up to the sky, feeling kind of tired, and watches as it slowly brightens from black to deep blue, then to purple with distant hints of red, orange and yellow. Finally they make it to the building just as the doors open and the vampires come into view. Yuuki releases Zero, her body almost tumbling to the ground if not for her quick hip rotation putting her in a half kneeling position, her arms outstretched just slightly to protect her balance. She quickly straightens and moves to the other side of the path as Zero, so they're surrounding the vampires.
Kaname is towards the back of the group, with his familiar entourage of seven vampires, the rest of them going ahead, talking quietly amongst themselves. Zero and Yuuki receive the suspicious and mildly-irritated stares as usual and, as usual, ignore them. Yuuki nods and smiles to some of Kaname's group, who she has not spent much personal time with but who she knows nonetheless.
There is Ruka Souen, the girl who she is fairly sure likes Kaname romantically, with her light tan colored hair and brown eyes. There's the girl who she thinks is named Seiren walking just behind Kaname and slightly to his left- just enough to be in his peripherals, with purple hair and eyes. There's Rima and Senri, two lazy students who almost always have a snack food on hand and don't really like sharing, Rima with her orange hair and pale blue eyes, and Senri with his reddish hair and even paler blue eyes. Then there's Takuma, who she would not admit to avoiding. There's Aidou Hanabusa, who had been the blonde complaining about the entrance exam that first day, and Kain Akatsuki, that vampire from when she had fled Kaname's room.
Of all of them, Yuuki is probably closest to Akatsuki after Kaname. She isn't close enough to call him by his first name or spend time alone with him, but he actually acknowledges her and sometimes draws her into conversations during switch times. She catches him watching her sometimes, but it never feels invasive or annoying, so she hasn't said or done anything about it. After him would probably be Senri, then Rima, as Senri had given her a stick of pocky one morning when she'd felt particularly dead on her feet, and Rima had patted her head as she walked past.
Zero had watched the entire interaction like a hawk, but hadn't interfered or threatened anyone, which Yuuki had felt was a large step to eventual peace between he and the other race.
She's the least close to Souen and Hanabusa, though. Souen because of the girls bullheaded refusal to see Yuuki as anything but a "human child" who is "getting cozy with Kaname-sama", and Hanabusa because of his casual dismissal of her as anything but a human girl, and his inability to treat her kindly or even respectfully, always taunting her and being casually threatening with his vampiric nature.
She's already had to stop Zero from shooting him several times due to his comments on her scent, which apparently annoys and confuses him, if his veiled barbs of "what, do you snuggle with his clothes every time you sleep?" that she really doesn't want explaining, and remarks on how he wants her blood.
Usually, Kaname doesn't say anything during switches, content to listen to those around him and very rarely contributing anything unless someone says something inappropriate to the guardians, Yuuki in particular. Today, his reddish eyes watch Zero for long enough for Yuuki to feel apprehensive. It isn't until ten minutes later, as they're approaching the Moon dorm gates than Kaname looks away from Zero, who had been visibly bristling after only thirty seconds of focused intent.
"You're looking a little sick, Kiryuu. Maybe you should take some medicine?" Yuuki's eyes fly to Zero, searching for the sickness Kaname claims to see, but she can't see anything other than his suddenly bloodless face, his eyes frigid and blank as he stares at Kaname. She doesn't quite understand why, as there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Zero from what she can see right now- but maybe it's a vampire thing? She'd read somewhere that dogs could smell sickness, can the same be said for vampires?
Then the vampires are gone, behind the now closing gates of the Moon dorms. Yuuki is immediately at Zero's side, staring at his face and looking for any sign of sickness or weakness that may have led to Kaname saying such a thing.
"Zero? Are you sick? Do you need to go home?" She pesters worriedly, poking his stomach when he remains rigidly stone still. "Are you pushing yourself?" She frowns, pushing to her tiptoes to see his face better. His pupils are constricted and there's a light sheen of sweat just along his hairline and near his temples. Yuuki reaches up to feel his forehead and he swallows and clenches his jaw, moving back and away from her just before her palm can make contact.
"I'm fine," he tells her, his voice suspiciously flat. Recognizing the tell, Yuuki frowns at him in disapproval. He plants a palm atop her head, fingers digging in slightly as he pushes her away from him. "I don't need medicine. I'll be fine." There's a stubborn and truly angry note in his words, and while it isn't directed at her, she draws back anyway, stepping obligingly out of his personal space.
"...You're sure?" She asks, just the one more time, still worried. She really doesn't want anything to happen to Zero.
"Yeah," he gives her a rare half-smile, as though it will cover up the lie she heard in his voice. But taking him at his word, because she's not going to call him a liar to his face, she nods and moves to stand near him again.
"Let's go, then, or we'll be late," she decides, gesturing to the brightening sky before yawning slightly. Due to their duties as "Guardians", which kept the vampire and humans safe from each other, she and Zero both got maybe four hours of sleep. Zero glances at her before making his way toward the Day Class buildings, leaving her in his dust without any warning. With an indignant shout, she rushes after him, deciding last second to jump and land on his back, grappling close like a koala. He stumbles and his hands instinctively wrap under her knees, which are on either side of his ribs.
"Honestly…" He complains under his breath. She makes a mockingly loud snicker right above his left ear, quietly taunting, and if she hadn't been prepared for the possibility, his knee jerk reaction of flipping her bodily over his shoulder and into the ground would have succeeded. As it stands, though, she just constricted her limbs and hunkered down as he made the twist-and-grab motion but failed to move her. She makes a few more taunting noises before stopping, as she knows Zero isn't above bodily throwing himself to the ground in order to either injure or dislodge her.
"We're seriously going to be late," she points out. With a few choice mumbles that are too garbled by volume, Zero sets off toward their class building at a jog that she would have had to run to keep up with had she been on the ground. It isn't that it's fast, but it's once again to do with his legs, which just eat up the distance in that unique way only tall people ever really seem to manage.
"Eh? Zero- you got a tattoo?!" Yuuki shrieks, startled as she wakes up to find Zero in her room.
He and Cross had disappeared for three days, and he comes back with a tattoo?! And are those earrings she can see in his ears? They are!
Scrambling out of her bed she stumble-lunges toward Zero, one hand grabbing onto his face and the other landing on his right shoulder to man handle his head. The tattoo is a stylized symbol that's vaguely familiar to her but that she can't place, looking fairly fresh. Ignoring how complacent Zero is being, she rotates his head and looks his ears over. There are three silver hoops in his upper left ear, and teo hoops on his lower right.
Then she notices how tired and stressed out Zero looks, his eyes slightly unfocused and with bags beneath them, his skin paler than usual. She flexes her hand where it rests in the side of his face and focuses on the sensations she's receiving from it, recognizing that he's clammy.
"Zero?" She repeats his name carefully, peering at his face worriedly. His pupils contract slightly when she sways her head a little, so she is pretty sure he's registering what's in front of him even if it's only barely, but other than that he doesn't move. "Zero, I'll be right back, okay?" She tells him. He doesn't twitch, and she straightens and leaves the room, looking for Cross. He must know something about this, she's sure of it.
She finds him in his personal office, staring down at something despondently.
"Cross! What happened to Zero?!" She demands, planting her palms down forcefully on his desk. It gives a sharp and ominous creak but otherwise nothing happens, and she stares down her "father" as he looks up at her in surprise. "He has earrings and a tattoo, and he's also unresponsive again!"
"I can't tell you," Cross admits to her. As she's about to open her mouth, he cuts her off. "If Zero-kun wants to tell you, he will, but I can't tell you." He insists. She stares at him for awhile before lifting her hands off the desk, crossing them over her chest.
"Does his tattoo need treatment?" She eventually asks. "Cleaning to prevent infection, bandaging, anything like that?"
"No," he shakes his head, not bothering to ask why she knows about tattoo care. "All that has already been taken care of."
"Okay." She turns and leaves the room determinedly, heading for the kitchen and heating up some water in the microwave, grabbing the instant hot chocolate packages down from the cabinet. It isn't as good as homemade, but it has mini marshmallows and will be warm, so should be helpful regardless, right? She used to just sit with Zero when he got like this, but he's been so thirsty lately that having something to drink should help.
When she gets back to her room carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, Zero is still in the same exact place.
"Zero," she tries to catch his attention as she sets the mug down on the little table next to the chair. He doesn't move and she folds downwards, sitting on the floor with crossed legs and cuddling her mug close to her chest, staring at his shattered expression. "Cross won't tell me why you're like this, or where you guys went. But I'm here, okay?"
Something in his eyes changes, and she has barely a few seconds warning to set her mug to the side as Zero limply slips downwards in the chair, sliding until he's free and his knees impact with the floor. Then he's collapsing forwards towards her, and she falls under his sudden weight and his size. His face is pressed into her left shoulder, most of his body covering her own, and he goes limp.
For awhile she's frozen in place before lifting her hands, one landing on his back and the other pressing against the back of his neck, carefully avoiding where she knows the tattoo is. From what she knows of tattoos, touching it would probably be painful for him.
Her shoulder feels tingly and numb, but she manages to feel a few cold drops of water sliding over the curve towards the ground, and she realizes that Zero's crying. Not a lot, there's only a few tears before he stops, but to cry at all… She'd never seen Zero cry, or seen any sign that he had done so. Even in his first days staying with Cross and her, she'd seen no signs of tears- only blank distance, and hate.
"Zero…" She whispers sadly and begins to card her hand through the hair near the nape of his neck, not really sure what else to do. She really hadn't expected Zero to come to her for comfort, or to do something like this, as he's usually so calm and mature. But, she supposes, everyone needs to be weak sometimes.
Zero doesn't come to their classes for the next few days, and he simply lurks around the house in that time. Yuuki is initially worried, as she finds broken glass in his room, and Bloody Rose often finds its way into his grasp despite there not being any real need for it, but eventually he seems to come out of it.
"Yuuki," his voice is startling- unexpected and from right behind her. Jumping in shock, she accidentally pulls on her hair from where she'd been dragging it into a high ponytail. She turns to find Zero standing in the doorway to her room, his shirt only half buttoned, his hair somewhat ratty and his feet bare. Bloody Rose is in a loose grip in his right hand, a new chain dangling from the end of the handle and leading to his belt loops. "Fight me."
"Eh? Right now?" She questions, letting her hands drop to her sides.
"Yeah. Get Artemis. We'll fight in the yard." And then he's gone, disappeared from sight and walking down the hall. Yuuki blinks, looking down to check her clothes and see if she's wearing enough or if she should risk stalling a little to get dressed. If Zero thinks she's taking too long, he just might come back and physically haul her out of her room, Artemis or no.
She's dressed in gray shorts that end halfway down her thighs, a black tank top and her white ankle socks. This is her sleepwear, and a glance at her window reveals the setting sun. Deciding to peel off her socks, she stumbles a little as she grabs Artemis in the process before making her way out of her room and then down the hall to the back door.
Zero is out there waiting for her, and she stalls for a second seeing that he'd taken off his shirt. The stark black tattoo, raised slightly with some red skin at the edges, is obvious against the pale skin of his neck, and for a moment she sees blood covering his throat in that exact area. A mirage, her memory from when she had first seen Zero. Then she's moving again, Artemis extending in her grasp with hardly a thought, and she swings at his torso.
He doesn't dodge, and Artemis connects with his upper left ribs hard enough to send him stumbling slightly. For an instant, almost too fast for her to see, she thinks she's somehow seeing stars, then things are back to normal and Zero is staring at Artemis. His expression is something between disbelief and confusion. Yuuki pauses, Artemis twirling in her grasp to it's pressed against the back of her arm and legs at a diagonal.
"Zero? Why didn't you dodge?" She asks carefully, taking a few steps to the side and watching him with a hawklike gaze. His gaze remains on Artemis for another moment before he seems to get irritated.
"It wasn't like you really hit that hard," he baits in a deadpan. Yuuki kind of can't believe he's expecting her to fall for such an obvious ploy. A minute of him staring at her expectantly has her giving in and swinging at him in a straight horizontal, but only at half strength, as she suspects he won't dodge again.
He doesn't. Instead, he lifts the hand not occupied with Bloody Rose and catches Artemis in it. She immediately tries to yank it out of his grasp, but her efforts are futile and his grip remains strong. He stares at the hand holding the weapon and the weapon itself with an expression of anxious expectation, and Yuuki isn't 100% sure why but it makes something in her chest twist.
Yuuki collapses Artemis and it comes back to her, then she extends it again within the next blink. Watching Zero with a stern gaze, she inhales slowly and then twirls Artemis in her grip, having a feeling that Zero needs to see how he will do against her weapon more than her specifically, and judging by his white knuckled grip on Bloody Rose, that as well.
"Actually fight me, Zero. I don't want to just beat you, you know?" She tells him before shifting her weight and using her back foot to skid into a lunging form, going low and sweeping Artemis out toward his calves. He jumps backwards and fires at her instinctively, but she's already used her forward momentum to roll, Artemis collapsing and extending in the second it takes her roll to complete and her to jump to the side. She suppresses her immediate flash of pride at managing to do it so smoothly, focusing her attention on the fight. Zero tries to kick her as she moves towards him again, but ever since he'd gotten Bloody Rose he's been relying on it and his other skills are awkward without his hands completely free to act as counterbalances.
The kick is as though he's trying to kick down a door and is aimed for her chest, but she ducks and it goes over her shoulder as she gets in his personal space. The tip of Artemis hits him in the center of his throat just as she shoots into a straight stand, still beneath his leg. He chokes and his other leg flies out from under him as his inability to do a standing splits rejects the pose she'd provoked, and his back hits the ground harshly. His reflexive shot of Bloody Rose hits her in the calf, taking that leg out from under her and sending her down onto one knee.
Not letting that stop her and taking advantage of Zero's hacking coughs as he struggles to recover from such a hard throat strike, she uses her up leg to propel herself forward and twirls Artemis above her head before bringing it down on his torso with as much speed as she is able.
He manages to bring up an arm to block, and the strike causes the skin beneath the metal to split and bleed immediately. Artemis sparks in response to the blood, and Zero freezes in place, his eyes reflecting the electricity. Yuuki withdraws to look at the sparks, and remembers the last time that she had gotten blood on the rod.
"Oh, it did it again?" She wonders to herself, attention completely diverted from the fight that Zero hadn't really been participating in.
"Again?" Zero asks sharply.
"Yeah," she confirms. "When I first got Artemis, I didn't know how to use it because I was too impatient to let Cross explain. So I tried to extend and collapse it myself, and when I finally managed it I gave myself a bloody nose. It sparked for awhile but it stopped when I cleaned the blood off." As a show of her intent, she brings the end of the still extended rod and wipes the blood off on her tank top, the sparking winding down then the crimson liquid is cleared away.
"You gave yourself a bloody nose with Artemis," Zero repeats in a monotone, the look in his eyes bland. Yuuki can tell he's trying to tease her, though, and stands, collapsing Artemis.
"Should I give you a bloody nose, too?!" She demands before, somewhat contradictorily, twisting and dropping onto Zero's bared stomach elbow first and with her entire weight behind it. He makes a wheezing noise, immediately curling around his stomach as he pushes her away with the hand holding Bloody Rose. The weapon is warm against the side of her head as she's shoved away and she huffs at Zero in mock offense and over reacts to the shove, landing on the ground and splaying her arms out.
"Zero, are you okay?" She asks eventually when his wheezing dies out and he is simply reclining on the ground, seemingly have abandoned the idea of fighting her. There's no answer for awhile, and she's beginning to think he won't answer her at all, before he admits quietly.
"Getting there. Sort of." She wants to ask more. Demand answers and poke and prod until he either explains himself or lashes out- anything to get rid of the resigned and tired edges she can hear in his voice. But something niggling in the back of her head stops her. She knows she can figure it out on her own if she really wants to. She's been feeling the deja vu often lately, and it wouldn't be too difficult to find the sources and then research them. The question that's stalling her, though, is whether or not she wants to infringe on Zero's privacy with her need for answers. If he wants her to know, he'll tell her.
Right?