Here, have almost 5k of subtle canon shifting.

Before I start though, thanks, everyone who reviewed! bunnyxstar especially, that was very nice to read. That said, to that guest who i think might have given up around the ninth part, if you're still here, why? You obviously don't like my story. I'm writing it the way I want to write it.

I don't have to completely change my characterization of Yuuki to change the story, and I don't have to change anything drastically if I don't want to.

With a yawn and a stretch, Yuuki's arms go high in the air above her as she trails behind Yori through the department store. It's the weekend before the final week of school before Cross Academy lets out for break, and Yuuki would be lying if she said she knows why Yori (and the hundred or so other students) returned to the Academy at all just to take some tests and then leave again. But, anyway, Yuuki was allowed to go into town only after a promise was extracted from her that she would not harass the Ramen Stall Owner, who was threatening to get a restraining order against her.

Which was rude, but she'd promised, so no ramen for her.

"Thanks for coming with, Yuuki," Yori repeats for maybe the fifth time in the last hour, and Yuuki flicks an amused glance at her friend. Yori gives her another look over before turning back to the shelf of shoes they're looking over.

"It's okay, I didn't have anything planned for today, anyway," Yuuki shrugs a little and then lifts the brown paper bag hanging off one arm. "I needed to do some shopping today, too."

"I noticed," Yori acknowledges before continuing. "I have to ask, though… have you and Zero-kun worked everything out?" Yuuki can't quite hide her full body flinch. "Because you told me you wanted to talk, and at this rate, I'm going to find him and interrogate him about it," she admits. "It'd probably be fun, actually."

"I talked to him some, but I'm not sure yet," Yuuki answers. "He has something to do today and tonight, anyway. You wouldn't find him." Zero's in fact going to a hunting thing- he hadn't had time to tell her much about it and with Cross acting so suspect lately, she hadn't felt like asking him before Yori had come around and asked if she would be willing to go into town with her.

"You've also been distancing yourself from the Night Class lately. Not that it's a bad thing… Those people are… a bit scary." Yori is interrupted by a childish sniffle and a yank on Yuuki's arm.

"Mommy…" Yuuki turns with slightly widened eyes, looking over to see the small child clinging onto her coat sleeve. His hair is ruffled and he's bundled into a nice, if a bit old-fashioned, coat, sniffling and sounding like he's trying not to cry too loudly, eyes creased closed.

"Is he lost?" Yori asks, walking a bit closer, and Yuuki bends slightly down to look at the boy's face.

"Did you get separated from your mommy?" Yuuki asks. The boy nods his head rapidly, sending his hair flopping and a breeze wafting into Yuuki's face. Her jaw shifts and it takes a conscious effort to not clench her teeth.

Vampire. Is this a hunting tactic? She can't tell if the boy is the vampire, or if the scent of vampire is just all over him.

"Please bring me back to mommy," the boy cries, and Yuuki straightens up, turning slightly in place to look at Yori.

"Yori, I'm going to go and find this boy's mother. I'm sorry I have to leave before we've finished."

"That's okay. See you later?"

"Yeah," Yuuki nods before turning back to the boy. "Did you lose your mommy close by?" There's another frantic head nod, and Yuuki sighs, feeling pretty certain that the boys mother isn't anywhere nearby at all. "If we can't find her in an hour, I'll take you to the police so the nice men can find your mommy, okay?"

"B-but-" the boy gapes and hiccups, crying almost stopping, and Yuuki glances down to see two mismatched, teary (emotionless) eyes peering up at her. "Y-you're gonna leave me, Big Sis?"

"I'm going to have to," Yuuki tells the boy as unease and familiarity crawl up her spine with icy, trailing fingers. A sense of dread settles imposingly on her shoulders, and her eyes flick up to the sky to see that it's probably early in the afternoon. In an hour, it will still be pretty solidly daylight. "The police are good people, though, so they'll definitely help you," she reassures, bending slightly to look the boy in the face and offering him the best smile she can manage.

He sniffles and eyes her with an expression of uncertainty, though the emotion in his eyes doesn't seem to change.

"What's your name, hm? And what's your mommy look like?"

"Mommy… is very tall," the boy eventually answers, not giving her his name before going on to ramble a description of a woman who is very certainly not in this store, at least. Yuuki stares at the child for a minute before realizing very sharply that she's acting suspiciously.

"Can I pick you up?"

"I- I- okay," the boy agrees after some confused stuttering, so she kneels down and hefts the boy up, lifting him past her hips and shoulders until he rests on her shoulders, his legs dangling on either side of her chest. Her hair, pulled into a ponytail, is pushed into her skull and she pulls the tail of hair out and to the side of his body as he reflexively grips onto her head, fingers wrapping around the strands of her hair that he is able to pull up from against her head.

"Now you're tall, and you can tell me if you see your mommy anywhere, right?" Yuuki asks in as cheerful voice as she can manage, bouncing a little.

"So tall!" The boy gasps, sounding amazed, tears apparently forgotten, and Yuuki feels his legs flex on her shoulders and around her neck as she grips onto his ankles, letting her bag fall down to the crook of her elbow. "I can see so far!"

The apparent childish wonder does not get rid of the feeling that Yuuki is playing with fire, here, and is absolutely risking her life. There's not really anything else she can think to do, though. She'd been targeted, and either she took care of this now or someone else would be targeted. Or it had been her specifically, and avoiding this would just paint a bigger target on her back.

This close to his legs and his skin, the skin exposed due to the fact that the boy is wearing shorts, Yuuki's somewhat reduced sixth sense can confirm with confidence that the boy is a vampire.

There's a chance that this is a trick to isolate her or lead her into an isolated area, but there's also a chance that the little boy is, regardless of his species, actually lost. She doesn't know why he would be outside during the day if there wasn't some ulterior motive, but she's certainly not going to ask.

"Remember to let me know if you see your mommy," Yuuki reminds as she starts to walk around the aisles of the store, eyes scanning for a woman fitting the description he had given her. Tall with a fuzzy coat, short shiny hair, red eyes.

Somehow, she doubts that the woman will be anywhere in the store.

Fifteen or so minutes later they've searched the entire store and there's no sign of the woman. Yuuki is reluctant to leave the store all together with the little boy, as if the boy did lose his mother in the store, she doesn't want to accidentally seem like she's kidnapping him.

"Are you sure you lost your mommy in the store, kiddo?" Yuuki asks, giving the boys calves a gentle squeeze. She doesn't get an answer for awhile as they wander up and down along the front of the store.

"I dunno," the child finally tells her. "Maybe she went outside, and I lost her then?" He asks with something like uncertainty, sounding honestly unsure. Yuuki takes a moment to inhale slowly, careful to keep her body untense, and turns away from the rest of the store, walking towards the doors.

"Maybe she's outside looking for you there, then," she says in as optimistic a tone as she is able. The hands on her head loosen around her hair, beginning to run small fingers over the strands, fingertips digging slightly into her scalp in places but thankfully not pulling on it. The legs around her neck flex just slightly, and she very pointedly does not swallow as she stops in front of the doors. "Are you too tall to fit through the door, or will you fit?" She calls up.

"Hu?" The tone is distant before the childish tone returns. "Might be too tall," he reports after a minute, and she walks closer.

"Still too tall?"

"Yep," the body bounces a little and she reaches up to settle her arms on the boy's sides, lifting him over her head and then settling him onto her hip instead.

"I'll carry you until we get outside, then I'll put you back on my shoulders, okay?" She asks, glancing aside and trying to pretend her blood isn't frozen in her veins as those heterochromia eyes study her face. She can feel his breath against the side of her exposed neck, her sweater only coming up to her collarbones.

"Your hair is very pretty," he tells her instead of acknowledging what she said as she walks out of the store. "Why do you tie it up?"

"I like to keep it out of my face," she reveals idly.

"Take it down?" The question is phrased strangely, and almost as though the request part of it is only an afterthought. She pauses, stopping on the road outside of the store with a confused look.

"Eh? Why?"

"Please?" He asks after a long pause, and she looks back down into his eyes to see something intense there that she doesn't quite understand but is unnatural in a face so young. She breathes out slowly before setting him down on the ground, reaching her hands to pull her hair out of the tail. It shouldn't hurt anything to accommodate the boy, though doing so leads to an increased risk of hair pulling.

Several chunks of hair fall into her face instantly, one falling directly along her nose, and she grumbles before tucking what she can behind her ears. The boy's eyes don't move from her face and nothing in them changes, and she looks around as she slides the hair tie onto her wrist.

Still no sign of the woman he had described. The sun is just about mid-way past noon towards night.

"I can keep looking for you mom for one more hour, and then I have to take you to the police, okay?" She tells the boy as she leans back down to look him in the face. It shifts between expressions too quickly for her to identify them all, and then he lifts hands up towards her. She pulls her hair over to the front of her shoulders to prevent too much pulling and reaches out obligingly.

"Don't leave me," is said almost too quietly for her to hear it, and she doesn't react to the words, landing her hands around his ribs and hauling him into the air. It's a little effort to turn him correctly but he settles on her shoulders again soon enough. He wraps his fingers around her hair as she begins to walk through the crowds again, pulling up the mental image of the boy's mother once more as she scans through the dwindling crowds.

"Are you still looking out for your mom?" She asks after ten minutes of the boy simply quietly touching and fiddling with her hair. She's definitely going to have tangles in it.

He doesn't answer her, and she decides to drop the subject for now, wandering down another main road and looking for the woman with shiny blonde hair and a "fluffy coat", which probably described a fur coat.

"Say, aren't you tired?" She asks eventually, the boy's silence really starting to dance along her nerves. That acute feeling of danger hadn't lessened in the least, and it's taking a lot of her concentration to not simply put the boy down and leave as fast as she can.

"Tired? But it's daytime," the boy says slowly, a hint of confused suspicion in his voice.

"Well, yeah, but I know that when I get upset, I get tired," she reveals conspiratorially. "I get tired very easily, sometimes," she continues.

"... I guess I'm kind of tired," he eventually agrees. "But I can't sleep or anything yet. We're going to a party, and I have to be awake for it."

"That makes sense," Yuuki admits with a small bob of her head. "That's very mature of you."

"I- there's mommy!" The boy jerks on her shoulders, and she sees him fling an arm out towards a side street. The figure is gone before she can get a good look at it, and Yuuki shifts her shoulders so she can lift the boy off of them, tilting him so she's holding him to her side again.

"You're sure that was her?" She checks, and he nods, wriggling in her grip. Yuuki hums and tightens her arm around him before setting off at a jog, not confident in her ability to hold onto the boy in a full sprint.

They round the corner and she sees the woman this time just before the disappears, and her senses are trying to tell her something, but she can't tell with the boy so close to her face and her awareness of them dimmed down. She narrows her eyes and hesitates to continue following the woman, and the boy renews his struggling.

"Mommy!"

It's like she's been electrocuted, her entire body going still before breaking into movement completely out of her control as she continues to pursue the woman who continues to be somehow just beyond her reach. Anytime she thinks the woman might have stopped for the boy in her arms, or that something about this situation is strange, the boy will cry out again and the woman will disappear around another corner and her head will go foggy with a need to pursue.

Standing in front of an old building she'd just watched the woman enter, Yuuki finally releases the boy as he insists that this is where the party is. She has no idea how she got here, or where she is exactly, and a glance at the sky tells her that the sun is already starting to set, disappearing and taking the natural light with it.

The buildings around her loom up into the sky, cutting off most of the skyline and casting the street into shadow, and the boy hops partly up the stairs before turning towards her with mismatched eyes wide.

"She's definitely here! Thank you for helping me find mommy! I was very scared when I was alone," he says chirpily before waving his hands at her, trying to get her to come closer. She almost doesn't, but then she's moving again, bending slightly to look him better in the face.

"Do you kno-"

The boy leans close and plants his lips against her cheek, near her lips, and her vision goes grey.

"You're so kind…" She hears him say before her legs give out beneath her, and she feels the side of her head impact with the stairs before she loses consciousness completely.

"What a troublesome child…" Echoed in Yuuki's ears as she dragged her eyes open. Her entire body felt weighted down and lethargic, as though she has no energy, and the ceiling above her spins ever so slightly, the elaborate detailing blurry at the edges. She's reclining down on something that feels vaguely comfortable in the way nice furniture does, but it doesn't feel like something meant for laying flat down on it, her legs hanging down the sides, the tips of her toes against solid floor.

Trying to make sense of her slightly hazy memory, Yuuki blinks sluggishly at the ceiling before flicking her eyes to the side, spotting Kaname sitting in a chair next to her, one leg crossed over the other and arms crossed, dressed formally.

"I'm glad you've recovered quickly," he tells her, his face serious, vaguely displeased. Maybe tired.

Part of her wants to jerk up into a sitting position, but everything is still spinning somewhat, and she doesn't want to risk sending herself toppling to the ground. There's a nudge at her subconscious, a twitch in her instincts. "I won't acknowledge you at all!"

She looks away from Kaname before slowly trying to lean up into a sitting position, carefully getting a grip on the back of the chaise she's sitting on. He reaches out a hand towards her, ready to assist her if she sways or starts to fall, but she doesn't and ignores it, looking around the room. Her hair falls into her face, still loose, and she huffs to get it out of her eyes.

The room is empty of much furniture, but the decor is nonetheless rich and gaudy, the walls white with golden accents, the floor polished to a shine. The furniture is very high quality as well.

"Are you still not acknowledging me?" Kaname asks quietly, and she doesn't so much as twitch. If she speaks to him now, looks at him, it will be giving up on her word. "I do feel bad about doubting Kiryuu so often, and we did find the vampire truly responsible in the end..." He starts to tell her, and Yuuki flicks her eyes in his direction, trying to think about if that's enough of an acknowledgement of his wrong-doing for her to forgive him.

It doesn't seem like he's admitting he did anything wrong, but he isn't quite done speaking, either, so she's going to wait for him to fall silent before making any decision. She will give him the benefit of the doubt.

"But, Yuuki… Being told that you're not going to acknowledge me… don't you think that's a little upsetting for me?" He reaches a hand out, fingers outstretched, before curling them back towards his palm, eyes flashing slightly with an emotion she can't catch. She looks at him more completely, actually turning to face him, and her arms and legs tingle just slightly as feeling begins to return to them.

She's curious about why he stopped before touching her. Did he remember her flinching last time, or was there some other reason?

"You're mad at me for how I acted, right? Well… who do you think is the one that made me act that way?" Yuuki's stomach drops and she can't help but feel as though this is familiar. Kaname is blaming her for how he's been acting? How does that make any sense?

He leans back away into his chair, face going neutral once more, and he looks towards the doors of the room.

"Come in," he calls out, and Ichijou steps into the room, also dressed formally but in colors completely opposite to Kaname's. "So it's you who they've sent to get me?"

"Kaname… you don't have to say it like that," Ichijou smiles a little, tone mild if a little strained. "The head of the Aidou family is waiting to meet you tonight, you know. Besides, Yuuki-chan is awake now, so do you really have to stay? She'll be fine if she stays in this room, nobody would dare barge in here." Yuuki keeps her mouth shut, though Ichijou is speaking about her as though she's not in the room.

"Speaking of which…" He turns his eyes on her for the first time since he entered the room, "why did you collapse there, Yuuki-chan? We brought you inside so the guests won't see you, but you were right in front of the entrance. We already contacted Cross to let him know we found you, but could you tell us what happened?"

Yuuki tries to organize her memory in order to explain, but the specifics are beyond her.

"I remember… a little boy. He was lost, and asked me for help finding his mom," she says slowly, "my memory is hazy, though, at the end. I think… he kissed my cheek."

"That must have been one of the guests' children at tonight's party… Vampire children steal energy from people through acts of affection. Yuuki-chan, we're in the basement of the building you were in front of- it's owned by the Aidou family. Tonight, there's a party for the vampires that live near here," he explains seriously, "so there's a lot of vampires here. If they find out you, a lone human, is here, you'll be in great danger."

"So," Kaname speaks up in Ichijou's trailing silence, pushing himself to a stand, "please stay in this room, Yuuki." They leave, then, and Yuuki tilts her head back to look at the ceiling again, eyes skimming the walls in boredom. The room is remarkably similar to the rooms she can remember spending her childhood in, and she idly wonders if the style is really so common among vampires.

The door creaks, and she turns as the boy from before starts to slide into the room, face twisted into an expression of soft regret.

"Human-nee-san, I'm very sorry about earlier."

"Ah, did you find your mom?" She asks, carefully pushing to a stand. He shifts a little in his spot before red blotches along his cheekbones and he turns on his heel to walk away. "Wait, you can't tell anyone I'm here-"

When she approaches the door, she hears the low rumble of chatter, and she pokes her head out, looking up and down the hallway. The little boy is nowhere in sight, despite that he hadn't been going very quickly and the hallway doesn't really have anywhere to hide. There's an exposed area, likely an overlook to the party, the lighting low, and Yuuki feels curiosity welling up.

Her scent isn't exactly going to be subtle, but it doesn't feel like there's much of a breeze, so if she's careful, maybe she could get a glimpse of the vampires? Then she could go back to the safety of the room. It's a risk, though, and she doesn't want to risk her life just for… Who is she kidding?

She slides low to the ground and makes her way carefully over to the railing, kneeling on the ground and then poking her head up over the wall to look at the party down below. She spots Zero and Yagari among the crowd quickly enough, and she looks Zero over instantly by reflex. He looks alright, if not a little tense, and there's a small bit of relief for it.

This must be the assignment he'd tried to tell her about earlier in the day.

There's a sudden pause in all the talking as a door near the side of the room opens, and Yuuki slides down somewhat as Kaname walks into view, all the vampires in the room below barring Zero bend down into bows or curtseys.

Yagari and Zero don't so much as bend their heads, and it's almost a startling contrast as Kaname also remains entirely upright, not that Yuuki'd expected otherwise.

"I did not mean to disturb you all," Kaname speaks, "my apologies."

"Kaname-sama," a voice speaks up in the ringing silence, "is it true that you took a human's side at the Council meeting? The human's-"

"It is true," Kaname confirms with a nod, making the room burst into subdued chatter. Yuuki takes the chance to slide back to the room, carefully closing the door behind her and going back to sit on the chaise, leaning back and closing her eyes.

She doesn't know how long it is before she hears the door click open, but it does, and she opens her eyes instantly, watching as Kaname enters the room and then closes the door behind him.

"I told you not to leave this room," Kaname speaks in a blank tone of voice, not looking at her as she carefully stands up from the chaise, shifting on her feet as the hair on the back of her neck prickles up with unease.

"You did," she admits. He turns, then, eyes meeting hers for an instant before he appears in front of her, arms wrapping around her waist and jaw pressing against her temple.

"You're not going to apologize?" He asks almost silently before his arms tighten and he lifts her off the ground, walking a few steps before dropping her onto her back on the chaise once more, leaning over the top and staring down into her face. "Why did you leave the room?"

"I was worried about the little boy, and I was curious." With Kaname staring her straight into her eyes, she can't quite lie to him, so she doesn't try, ignoring her unease.

"I see… that person… they're not subtle at all," Kaname mutters with a sigh, expression dropping into something tired and resigned, before he seems to go boneless, knees dropping onto the ground and torso dropping onto her stomach and thighs. His head rests on her chest, breath coming out as a sigh.

"Kaname?"

"Before I can forgive you, please let me stay here," he says quietly, "just for awhile." One arm rests by her shoulder, a hand resting in her hair, and his other hand lifts to curl into a loose fist on her stomach. He remains in place for a time before, in a voice so quiet she wouldn't have heard him with human senses, she hears him say, "I'm so tired."

"... You're okay, Kaname-nii," she reassures after a startled pause, a softness that lingered in her psyche pressing forward as the hand on her stomach uncurls to wrap around her shoulder. Her arms lift, one resting on the back of his shoulders and the other moving her hand into his hair, running her fingertips gently through his hair. She feels his entire body relax as he shifts slightly, head settling more firmly against her chest and neck, his breath coming out in longer movements.

She almost freezes when she realizes that he just fell asleep, but she continues to pet him anyway, doing her best to keep her heartbeat as slow as she can make it and her breathing even. Kaname might not be so trustworthy, now, but… he was her brother once, right?

Surely she has enough gentleness in her for this, right? To shelter him when he's so obviously exhausted?

Her hand is starting to cramp when his breathing changes once more, eyelashes brushing against her collarbones.

"Humans… don't live for very long," he says into her chest, just below her right shoulder, "it seems like seconds." His voice is low, and he doesn't move off of her even slightly. "If I asked, right now, would you become a vampire? Live for eternity… by my side?" She doesn't say anything, taking note on how Kaname hasn't changed his position, has made no move to actually pressure her for an answer one way or the other, and feels a little reassured by that despite that he's a little late.

If she hadn't been bitten by Hiou, though... she has to think like she hasn't been bitten by Hiou.

"I don't know," she decides to admit candidly. "Right now, I don't know."

"I see," he murmurs, breathing out a long breath and pressing his face into her body once more without saying anything else for awhile. "It should be just about time to leave," he eventually says, tone reluctant, and she obligingly moves her arms. He almost doesn't seem willing to get up before he leans away, his knees still on the ground and untangling his arms from around her body.

"Alright," she nods, watching him stand up and brush himself off before accepting the hand he extends towards her, allowing him to help her up. He doesn't step away when she ends up chest to torso with him, so she has to step around and away from him to get a little distance, and when she sees him in her periphery, his neutral expression seems just a little sad and lonely.

"I will walk with you, of course," he speaks up, and she nods, offering a near silent,

"Of course."

Climbing out of the car, Yuuki barely has time to register that Yori is waiting for her at the gate before her friend is running towards her, expression relieved and happy to see her.

"Yuuki!"

"Yori, I'm-" Yori collides with her body, arms wrapping around her shoulders, and Yuuki jolts as her face comes into contact with Yori's freezing cold cheek. Her hands wiggle up from her back soon enough, wiggling into the collar of her coat, and ice-cold fingers press against her warm neck.

Yuuki yelps and jumps away, looking over at Yori's bland face.

"Why are you so cold?"

"Well, I was waiting outside for someone who got lost," Yori says flatly, extending her fingers demandingly towards Yuuki. She smiles a little in embarrassment, obligingly reaching out to wrap her hands around Yori's.

"I'm sorry about that," Yuuki apologizes before they're both distracted by snow beginning to fall.

"Eh? It's already that time of year?" Yuuki hears Cross wonder from somewhere to the side, and she glances up, lids fluttering a little so she is less likely to get snow in her eyes.