I've just figured out that my capitalization is really sketchy, and I'm sorry about that! This chapter is a little shorter than my last ones but here you go, lunarlegend11, the Aidou confrontation!

moonlightstriking, my answer is no. I've explained it before? I personally find that sort of "plot twist" to be overused, and if I were to put myself fully in Yuuki's shoes (which is what would happen) things would go very badly.

To everyone favoriting, following and reviewing with compliments, thank you so much! I'm happy you're liking my story!

Dragging Zero along with her to Cross' office so he won't skip or isolate himself again, Yuuki tightens her grip on his fingers when he starts to lag behind once again. She's really not going to let him out of her sight, not at all.

"Where were you even going to go?" She finally asks, turning her head just enough so she can look at Zero, whose eyes are locked on her hair. It's out of it's braid for right now, as she'd started to pick at it at some point and it'd unraveled. She's pretty sure he wants to re-braid it, but is suppressing the urge for some reason. Maybe because of the proximity to her throat?

"To settle this whole thing," Zero eventually answers. Finally getting to the headmaster's office, Yuuki pushes the heavy doors open with a single hand, unwilling to release Zero, who already looks rather reluctant. They both freeze in the doorway, staring as Cross swirls around his office in a fur lined parka and wearing some sort of animal pelt around his neck, complete with it's head and wide, glassy eyes. At first, they are unable to see what he is holding, but then he stops to greet them, facing their direction and shifting about in place.

"Good morning! You've come at just the right time!" He says cheerily, looking as though if he could, he would be sparkling. "Just in time to see this! The Night Class uniform made for Kiryuu! It will look so good on you!"

Zero takes two steps forward and slaps Cross soundly across the face. Yuuki sort of wants to reprimand him, but she's also restraining herself from getting angry with Cross, who seems to be getting even more oblivious, lately. Zero turns on heel, his face dark, and Yuuki just barely manages to grab a hold of his arm at the elbow.

"I'm leaving!" He shouts, trying to continue walking. Yuuki manages to dig her heels in, knowing that she has to talk to Cross as soon as possible, and also knowing that there must be some reason for Cross to act so exuberantly.

"Wait, Zero!" Turning her annoyed gaze towards Cross, she scolds, "don't purposely go stepping on landmines!"

"Look at it from my point of view! I'm not joking!" Cross denies, one hand cradling his abused face, his pinkie curling to brace beneath his nose to stem the little bit of blood flow she can see. His face eventually softens from it's exaggerated emoting and he studies Zero. "You look like you've recovered… I'm glad." Zero stops trying to leave, but keeps his back to Cross.

"I'm not going to permit Zero into the Night Class," Yuuki denies as soon as she can devote her attention to speaking. "That would be cruel and unusual for both he and the vampires, and so I am going to use my power as a school guardian to prevent this!" She insists, referencing a rule that Cross, himself, had insisted on being created. As school guardians, she and Zero had the ability to remove a student or veto the entrance of a student if they had valid concerns, as they were the main security force for the academy. They also could punish students as they please, though usually they did not do so, either because of Kaname taking charge or because of their inability to pin definitive rule breaking on students.

Yuuki, mostly, had been disallowed that exact privilege due to "a lack of proportional justice", which she doesn't think is correct but never really argued against, because those girls were annoying criers and she did not want to deal with something like that personally ever again.

"Ah, you have a point. Even with Yuuki as a guardian, Kiryuu is still necessary as a guardian. If he were to enter the Night Class, he would no longer be allowed to be one…" Cross sighs, dropping his hand to open a long, thin box on his desk. Blinking as he opens it with gloved hands, he pulls out something shiny and metallic.

"Yuuki, come and put on this bracelet," he bids, beckoning her closer with his free hand as the other holds the bracelet like it might bite him. She approaches his desk and accepts the bracelet, but does not yet put it on. It's silver, with a small square piece of metal in the center. On the metal is a familiar crest- it's just like Zero's tattoo. A bad feeling prevents her from putting on the bracelet, so as she holds it in one hand, she looks up at Cross suspiciously.

"Why?" She asks. He waves her off, reaching over and clasping the bracelet around her wrist himself. Frowning at him, she watches as he picks up a small art knife from his desk and holds it towards Zero, handle first.

"Kiryuu, cut open your fingertip," he instructs.

"Ah?" Zero frowns, turning and approaching Cross' desk with a confused and wary frown.

"Cut it. I need your blood," Cross insists, pushing the blade towards Zero. Yuuki, getting a feeling that she should know what's going on but the knowledge being just out of her recent memory, turns towards the books in his office and peers over the titles as Zero accepts the blade from Cross.

"Zero, wait," Yuuki calls behind her as she finds the book she's looking for and pulls it out. Walking back towards him, she opens it and begins flipping through the pages, standing next to Zero so he can see the book as well as she finds the page she'd been looking for. "Your tattoo, I found it here, about two months ago," she explains to Zero, who gives her a shell shocked look. Probably at how long she's known his secret. "And this bracelet has the crest of your tattoo on it."

"Why must you be so suspicious?" Cross cries, but does not prevent them from looking in the book. Yuuki and Zero both give him harsh looks, and he quiets down sulkily.

"Your tattoo is the mark of a "Tame Vampire", which means that this bracelet should be here somewhere… Ah," she frowns in realization when she finds it before looking up at Cross sharply, pointing to the passage for Zero's benefit when he bends slightly to get a better look. "Cross, how could you?!"

"The tattoo and bracelet are a method of control," Zero begins to read aloud, "used to immobilize or incapacitate out-of-control vampires upon contact with each other."

"It's necessary! And it will only immobilize him!" Cross insists. "If Kiryuu loses control and tries to bite someone, this can be used to stop him." Before Yuuki can protest, Zero looks up from the book to give him a level stare.

"I thought this tattoo controlled the turn from human to vampire and prevented it?" He prompts with a deadpan voice.

"Yes. Even though it can't prevent it completely, it can help you suppress it," Cross explains, finally straightening from his sulking hunch, lifting a finger towards the ceiling slightly. "That's why I didn't tell you about this earlier. I had hoped that it wouldn't become necessary. But, now that your vampire nature has fully awakened…"

"There are other options than this!" Yuuki finally protests, not feeling right about doing something like this. "You could get me a high powered taser, or an anti-vampire weapon suited for restraint!" Zero looks at her quietly for a second before using the knife he's holding to slit his finger. Cross snatches the book out of her hand instantly, dropping it onto his desk before seizing their hands. The drop of blood hits the metal just a second before she can pull away, and in a burst of indignant anger, she kicks his desk, sending the heavy wood sliding and impacting with Cross, who releases them with a shriek.

"Yuuki," Zero calls, resting a hand on her shoulder as he pops the cut finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding. Yuuki turns to him, feeling a little betrayed by his allowance of her control over him in this way, and he offers her a placating look. As he distracts her, Cross uses the opportunity to creep closer, seize her wrist, and send the bracelet to Zero's neck.

There's a spark of something, similar to the anti-vampire weapons, and then an explosion of light, four pillars of blazing electricity forming as Zero is jerked backwards and into the ground. Once the lights clear, Yuuki sees four daggers of deep purple, two based over Zero's knees and two in his arms, pinning him to the ground, spread eagle.

Zero stares straight at the ceiling, looking dazed, and Yuuki feels revulsion for the jewelry on her wrist and the tattoo on Zero's neck as Cross begins to speak.

"My condition for allowing you to continue in the Day Class, is that neither class can know of your true nature, Kiryuu," he says gravely. "This is for your protection as much as it is for the academy. I hadn't wanted to use this method, but…"

"Yuuki," Zero calls for her attention. "This… is fine."

"If you don't resist, you will be able to move in minute," Cross tells Zero. Yuuki narrows her eyes at Cross before walking over the the desk and grabbing the book off of it's top, a vague idea of finding loopholes and information driving her to do so. "If I can do anything… when you are really in need of blood, Kiryuu, feel free to take mine!" Cross whips off his neck wrapping and pulls down his shirt collar, posing dramatically to show off his upper chest and neck.

A feeling of absolute mortification flows over top any anger Yuuki might have felt, and Zero surges to his feet and slugs him as hard as he can in the face.

"I feel like I'm being sexually harassed!" Zero shouts, face red, as Yuuki lunges forward to drag him backwards so he won't stomp on the downed mans face. "It's fine so long as there are blood tablets!"

"Ah, Zero, if you kill him-"

"Let's go, Yuuki," Zero grabs a hold of her collar and drags her behind him as he turns and heads for the door. The familiar gesture is warming even if it shouldn't be, and from where he lay on the floor, Cross pipes up.

"Ah, Kiryuu, aren't you forgetting something?" Zero pauses and releases Yuuki, glancing over at her. Understanding the quiet prompt, she gives him an understanding smile and turns to leave the office.

"I get it! I'll just go now, and talk to Kaname about not spreading this information," she informs them both before leaving, closing the door behind her and ignoring Zero's immediate protest about going on her own. The door cracks as she turns to leave, probably Zero preparing to chase after her, but then does not open further.

Yuuki has a second to contemplate remaining behind and eavesdropping. To ensure no more secrets will be kept from her. But with a firm mental shake she lopes off towards the Moon Dorms, deciding to complete her self appointed task instead of violate Zero's privacy.

Arriving to the back gate, which is a more functional entrance and exit for when it is not switch over time, Yuuki pauses at the sight of the old gate keeper. She isn't completely sure where Cross found him, but despite the fact that she has never gone to the official Moon Dorms, she greets him amiably.

"Ah, hello. It's fine if I pass, right? As a guardian?" She inquires. He looks up at her from beneath his cowl, face old and weathered with slightly bulging, milky eyes, and his face contorts into a grin.

"It's nice to see you, girl. You'd be the second to come here today, and the first I allow through of my own choice!" He greets, waving her through grandly with a slightly trembling arm. Offering him a bright smile and small incline of thanks, Yuuki makes her way through the gate and then across the grounds to the front doors of the Moon Dorm.

Pushing open the doors and stepping inside, she makes a point to not allow too much sunlight in as she begins to close them behind her.

"Yuuki-chan?" A shiver of dread and disgust makes its way across her skin at the familiar voice, and Yuuki turns on the spot to look behind her, leaving the doors still partially open. The Moon Dorms are incredibly ostentatious, like a mansion rather than a dorm, and everything is polished to a bright shine. Sitting on one of the couches, amidst a great big pile of plush pillows and across from two older men, is Aidou.

"Aidou," she greets stiffly, deciding not to use the appropriate honorific in a split second of thought. He pushes to his feet and drags the men up with him before bodily hurrying them out of the dorm.

"Okay, you guys go home now!" He insists, getting light in his face as he is closing the door. Yuuki takes several steps away from him in response to his proximity as she realizes that she is now completely alone with Aidou in the vestibule. "I'm tired and it's all their fault," he complains childishly before pausing and looking at her, one hand pausing from where it had begun to fist against his eye. "Why are you here? Everyone else is asleep right now."

"Sorry for disturbing you. I'm here to see Kaname," she informs in as polite a tone she can manage, not nearly as fight happy as Zero tends to get when facing vampires.

"Is that so?" He asks blandly, tucking his arms behind his head and striding for the stairs. "Come this way!"

"You're taking me there?" She checks, staying where she is. Halfway up the stairs. Aidou stops, turning slightly in her direction but not moving his hands from their position.

"Because dorm leader Kuran is kind to you alone, everyone just follows his lead. But, Yuuki…" He turns completely to look at her, "who was it that drank your blood, the other night?"

A jolt goes through her, and Yuuki feels alarm beginning to build.

"The night before last," Aidou leans against the stair banister, "there was the scent of blood that drifted into the classroom. We were all alarmed, but dorm leader Kuran told us to forget about it, and everyone stopped being so restless." Yuuki feels a little warmed that Kaname had already taken steps to keep Zero's secret safe. "I was the only one, other than he, to know that the scent… was your blood."

Yuuki goes completely still, that warmth vanishing, and all the lights in the room go out, plunging them into almost complete darkness. Yuuki's eyes immediately begin to adjust, but the sudden change leaves her momentarily blind as Artemis drops into her hand and extends instantly.

"I'm… really irritated. Just what are you to Kaname-sama?!" Aidou demands with a snarl. Yuuki feels the temperature dropping drastically, and can feel ice encase her right leg up to the knee. Artemis immediately strikes downwards to try and shatter it as her eyes finally finish adjusting, but as Aidou appears in front of her, ice forms up around Artemis and her hand. The pain doesn't come immediately, her skin possibly in shock, but she knows that if she doesn't free herself soon, it will.

"Hey-!"

"Just what are you to him, Yuuki, to act with him so familiarly?" He questions, leaning close to her face. Her muscles strain as she tries to move but her only free leg is important for keeping her balance and her only free hand is unarmed. Somehow she doesn't think punching Aidou would help her any, right now.

"Kaname-nii saved my life ten years ago," she blurts out as the pain starts on the exposed bits of her hand and legs. There isn't exactly much she can do in this situation but answer his questions and hope for help to arrive soon.

"Oh, is that it?" Aidou questions, straightening up and blinking in apparent surprise. "I see. Then, to show your gratitude, shouldn't you offer him all the blood in your body as thanks for his kindness?" Aidou smiles sweetly at her, his tone just as sweet, and both fake representations of his current mood. "After all, if he saved you, it belongs to him. Don't you agree?"

"That's-" She's interrupted again.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'll take you to him once I've frozen you in ice," he says, ice encasing both of her legs and creeping up her already entrapped arm as he rests a hand on her shoulder. For a second she contemplates biting him in the arm, but then Kaname appears at the edges of her senses, coming fast, and his then his hand closes gently over her just-starting-to-open mouth.

"Don't, Yuuki," he tells her calmly. Around him, there's an aura of barely leashed anger. As her eyes meet his, she can see the promise of Aidou's punishment in them and so nods slightly in recognition. He then steps away, towards Aidou.

"Dorm leader Kuran…"

Kaname's backhand slap almost knocks Aidou to the ground, one leg crumpling beneath him. He recovers in time to turn the collapse into a kneel, the ice around Yuuki shattering into fine particles of dust and falling away as Kaname begins to speak.

"What were you saying just now?"

"I was being impudent… I really am sorry, Kaname-sama," Aidou apologizes subserviently, one fist over his heart as his face is directed to the floor.

"Leave." Aidou stands and leaves with a fast pace, not quite running but definitely not walking, and does not glance at either of them even once. Once he is out of sight, Kaname turns back to her with a slightly worried expression, stepping closer to her to peer into her eyes. "Are you alright, Yuuki?"

"Ah," she collapses Artemis and re-holsters the weapon, looking her hand over and shifting from foot to foot. Her skin is a little red, and her feet feel like painful pins and needles, but… "Yes, just a little temperature sensitive, right now."

"I see," Kaname plants a hand on her head gently for a second before his face darkens and his hand falls lower, to hold onto the side of her head. "I apologize for Aidou's behavior and his words."

"You got here just in time, so it's alright," she denies.

"It isn't… Only Yuuki can be Yuuki," he tells her, a thumb moving to rest beneath her left eye. Something in her stomach and chest feels like it's turned to stone and weighing her down at the look in Kaname's eyes- it's soft and warm, and she likes she should be happy that he can feel that way, but it being directed at her… "You're different from those of the fellow Night Class, who just follow me." The look in his eyes changes slightly, and if she hadn't been hoping for some kind of change she would not have seen it. But the change is not exactly a positive one for her, as they become sad and somewhat distant. Lonely. "That you are so filled with warmth for me… that is already enough."

He releases her face and steps back, circling around her. That weight lightens, but does not disappear, as she's acknowledged it, and he continues to speak.

"Next time, please don't come to places such as this by yourself. Ask Kiryuu-kun to come with you. As long as there's something he took from you, he should at least be of that much use for you."

"Please, don't say things like that," she says after a moment, feeling as though she's walking on thin ice, but not understanding why.

"I say this," Kaname's hands reach out and grasp onto her wrist, though his eyes fall to her throat, "because, Yuuki, I cannot be indifferent about this as I had expected." His eyes track upwards to look at the opening Moon Dorm doors, and his gaze is angry. "Because my most important girl has been bitten by another guy." Yuuki takes a quick step away, freed from his gaze, and turns around to see Zero standing in the beams of sunlight coming into the dark room. "Return to the world of day, now, Yuuki."

Kaname turns and walks deeper into the darkness, and Yuuki trots off towards Zero without hesitation, the inexplicable sensation of prey narrowly escaping a predator. As soon as the dormitory doors close behind them, a knot she hadn't realized in her chest unfurled and she sags slightly in place.

"Yuuki?" Zero asks, noticing her sudden slouch. "Disappointed that you had to leave the one to call you important so clearly?" He jibes. Her eyes move upwards as she slouches to stand next to Zero, and she gives him a considering look, before deciding to be honest.

"It's not that…" She denies. "It's just… An uneasy feeling."

Her expression turns into a puppy dog face, and he rolls his eyes, not even having to hear her demand before crouching down on the ground, so she does not have to wrap her arms around his neck then hoist herself up and risk immobilizing him. She makes a happy noise and drops limply over his back, arms hanging loosely over his chest and legs collapsing out from under her. He grunts as he grabs her under her knees and begins to walk back towards the faculty building.

"Zero?"

"You had something you wanted to talk to the chairman about, right?" He asks, before shifting her slightly. Yuuki smiles a little, resting her chin on Zero's shoulder and letting her eyes fall half closed. "Did you have anything you wanted to say to me, though?"

"I… Kaname asked me about this awhile ago, and I wasn't able to answer," she finally begins to say once they're a distance from the Moon Dorms. "He asked if I was afraid of vampires, after you bit me."

Zero stiffens and stops walking.

"I'm not afraid of vampires, of you, but I'm afraid of you losing control. Of other vampires losing control," she finishes. One hand leaves her leg and Zero pulls something out of a pocket in his jacket, revealing it to her to be a small gun, the barrel in a holster.

"What?" Yuuki mumbles, lifting her head slightly in confusion. She hadn't known Zero had another gun.

"I borrowed this from Cross. It's also an anti-vampire weapon. I want you to have this… because I'm afraid of that, too," Zero admits to her. "When I lose the part of me that is human… I want you to use this and kill me." He lifts the gun slightly, and she wraps her fingers around the end. He continues walking once she has it in a secure grip, and Yuuki allows the heavy feeling that had settled disperse, studying the gun in her hands as she lowers her head onto Zero's shoulder once more. The gun is plain looking, probably intended for stealthily carrying such a weapon, and small enough that it's almost too small for her hands, which is quite a feat.

It somehow feels less "alive" than Artemis or Bloody Rose, she notices, and deduces that their weapons must be abnormal among anti-vampire weapons. That, or this gun is abnormal, itself.

"This gun…" Yuuki begins in a low voice, not worried at all about Zero hearing her, as it's intended for him to do so. "I understand, but I will only do so where there is no longer any choice," she tells him. Zero is silent for a minute before nodding in acceptance. She remains on his back until they're in front of Cross' office, and he sets her down. She looks over at him curiously once she is on the ground, and he pushes her shoulder until she turns, and then takes a hold of her loose hair.

With a smile as he combs his fingers through her hair, she makes her way into the office, tucking the gun into a pocket as Artemis falls into her hand and extends as she comes in swinging to make a point.