We stood in the hallway on top of a large staircase that led down to a massive ballroom.

All of our face were identical, stone and serious. We waited silently, motionless, for the vampires to arrive.

This was an important negotiation regarding the future our two kinds. We were to be formally introduced to the new ruler of the vampires, the pureblood, Kaname Kuran. In addition its purpose was to re-establish our coexistence and cooperation. The ball was to reinforce the idea to the vampire society that both sides are working together towards peace. It was needed after the year's turmoil, but it was a delicate situation where the smallest thing could break this tiny amount of compromise that had created this event.

The steps of the incoming group echoed throughout the high ceilings. Tension filled the air as the vampires arrived in front of us and eventually the ballroom become soundless again. Kuran lead the pack and his red-brown eyes remained expressionless, his lips curving downwards. He was beautiful in an eerie way, so were many of the others that stood behind him, but I pushed the thought away, they were all beats in human form after all.

Kuran tilted his head in acknowledgement to Cross and he mirrored his actions. The older blonde man beside Kuran headed to the ornate wooden double doors that was in between the two parties. He opened it and the click resonated through the marble floors.

We filed in the room and Cross and Toga took a seat across the long table from Kuran. I stood behind Toga next to Zero, he wore a small frown much like me and all the other hunters in the room. It wasn't an act of intimidation but the natural reaction of us when in the presence of bloodsuckers such as them.

Kuran placed his hand on top of the table and started first, "The position of leader of our society may have moved to me, but that is all. It naturally does not mean that the lifestyle or the principles of our race would have changed as well."

He spoke eloquently, like a true politician. I shuddered inwardly.

"Is it not the same with your Association sirs? The one common point of change we have is that both sides got to 'drive the pus out of their wounds' with all of this."

The lightness he put onto the prior ordeals we had to face made me want to call him out on it, but Toga did it for me instead.

"'Driving the pus out,' huh? You don't say!?" I could hear the irritation that laced his voice, "We are still busy like hell driving out the 'pus' that came pouring out of the former vampire government because of that!"

Kuran responded coolly, "I am deeply sorry that I could not be of further assistance to you in all that. Your ancestors a long, long time ago, were so determined to get their hands on enough power to exterminate vampires, that they went as far as devouring a founding ancestor of our race to gain it."

Toga's eyebrows knitted in annoyance, "Can you get any more blatant than that in your implications that we ought to take care of the exterminating process to atone for in the sins of our ancestors?

Kuran replied with a chuckle, "I apologize, my words were inappropriate." His gaze shifted towards Zero.

Zero stared back looking like he would very much enjoy shooting him straight in the face. I had only a brief understanding about their past and I wondered about the things that had happened between before when Kuran had attended the academy. The three second interaction seemed like three hours.

Kuran broke the trance, "Headmaster, no sorry, Mr. President," he turned to Cross, "Yuki is doing well. She'll be at the party later, so you'll be able to calmly spend time with her."

Cross held his hands together and raised it to his chin and nodded, "I will, thank you. Moving on…" His hands lowered, "In conclusion of this meeting, our societies will go on working together for the sake of co-existence on a higher level of cooperation than ever before and unless we have a legitimate reason, the Hunter Association will pose no threat to your lives."

I was surprised by his cordial demeanor which clashed with his usual cheerful self. His serious expression is one that I've only seen a handful of times, and more so after his "daughter" had awakened to join the people who stood before us.

"As for us," Kuran continued, "we believe that collaborating with the association is the best choice for both of our races to be able to go on existing together and so our race will also take upon itself to deliver eternal sleep to any of our kind unduly presenting a threat to human lives."

His eyes narrowed, "The true complete 'co-existence' as you envision it, is still a long road away, because before it can become a reality, all of us vampires will have to first manage to overcome our violent nature and become a different sort of creature, sincere and capable of relying completely on reasoning and logic instead."

Kuran got up from his chair and began to walk away.

Cross stopped him, "Representative Kuran, I have one last question to ask you. The way you solved the senate problem was too drastic. Are you certain that despite that, the rest of the vampire population will accept you as their leader? Especially the other purebloods?"

He peered over his shoulder and gave a smug smile, "Indeed… I guess we will have the answer to that question by seeing the percentages of invitees that attends the ball tonight, won't we?" He stepped out of the room and his grouped followed after him.

Kaname Kuran was definitely a person not to be trifled with. He was sly, clever and clearly kept us in the dark on various things, which made him even more dangerous than before. That was saying a lot considering he had killed the whole senate, what more could he do?

The hunter's started to exit into the hall and the meeting was over.

A tremendous feeling of relief washed over me and I stepped out to walk behind Toga. He noticed and pivoted towards me with a slight grin, "You're wearing a dress."

"And heels too, thank you." I looked him over and reached out to straighten his shirt and jacket, "You're wearing a mess."

"That's my style," he argued, but let me continue.

"Messy isn't a style."

I started to brush his hair out if his face, but when I got to his eyepatch he moved away, "Leave it, Seina."

"Right," he preferred that part of his face more covered than, "Sorry," I tentatively touched his sleeve.

Toga acted like it wasn't, but his eye was still a sensitive topic for him. It wasn't the loss of his eye itself, but my previous reaction to it. I had gone mental, ready to kill that student that I've never met before for bringing harm to my brother. I knew it wasn't actually Zero's fault and we were so young at the time, but after seeing his wounds I freaked out. First it was anger and violence that flooded my mind, but after I calmed down, I became distant and recluse for a long time. I was terrified by the thought of losing another family member and Toga took it personally.

He covered my hand with his and nodded with a much warmer expression, "It's fine." Toga quickly gripped my hand tightly and let it go.

"Get downstairs, they are arriving now."

I watched the vampires glide across the ballroom, mingling and dancing with each other. Objectively, it looked elegant, the very image of class and high society. I saw many familiar faces, some prominent celebrities and business men in the human world and I frowned in distaste. They could so easily interlope with their prey, hidden in plain sight, it was disgusting.

I peeked to my left and caught the end of the conversation Kaito was having with Zero, "...you get violent and I think you might harm me… I'll definitely kill you."

Zero looked on ahead, unalarmed and I acted the same way. Kaito did really care about Zero, but we were all aware that if one us turned into a level E, we wouldn't hesitate pulling that trigger. Kaito had already done so, years ago, to his own brother. It was the price to pay, being a hunter and we had live with it just like everyone else.

Kaito stuck his hands in his pockets and caught my eye, "Well, well. It's time for the ever so boring surveillance job."

The corner of my lips rose and I was going to say something when someone came behind him rolling a large trunk, "Here's the luggage you had left with us earlier, sir."

"'Ah, thanks," Kaito answered.

My eyes widened, remembering Yori and I went over to it.

He hummed as he started to undo the latches. It opened, "Your patience has paid off, you can come out now," he said into the trunk.

Yori carefully crept forward, looking nervous. I offered my hand and she took it giving me a look of appreciation.

Zero jumped and grabbed Kaito's collar in surprise, "Kaito! What the!"

Kaito retorted calmly, "Relax I can protect a single human no problem." Zero hesitantly let go of him. "How about you watch over her too, if you're so worried?"

Zero's lips became a hard line and he didn't object, knowing that he couldn't do anything about her being here now.

"Alright Wakaba-Kun," Kaito turned his head to her, "Go ahead and go look for that friend of yours. The only condition is that you remain where Seina or I can see you."

"Yes," responded Yori and she went into the crowd.

Our eyes followed her and Kaito chose to comment, "And now we have a little lamb joining the party."

I tugged at Zero's arm, making him look at them, "Take a look Zero, do you see the bloodsuckers' eyes changing color as she passes?'

Zero grimaced and Kaito finished my thought, "If by any chance one of those vampires make a move to harm Wakaba, you'll have have right there a perfectly legal reason to make your move." The room became noisier and every head shifted to address the arrival of someone, "And to kill that vampire."

Yuki and Kaname Kuran had finally made their entrance.

Much like Yori she had an understated beauty which I had seen before through pictures. She would've been more accurately described as cute, but now her demeanor was much different. Her vampiric side brought out her inner femininity and she gracefully made her way in the horde of people.

Kaname tilted his head, whispering something into her ear and she smiled, going forward. She lagged as her eyes fixed upon Zero. They stared directly at each other as if a path had been made in their view. If looks could kill, Zero's glare would have made Yuki Kuran drop dead on the floor.

She tilted her head in a bow and continued onwards arm in arm with Kaname.

I realized Toga from the other side, had been watching the exchange in addition to Kaito and I. His head hung down and his chest rose and fell, a breath of relief I imagine.

Soon Yuki was swarmed by the aristocratic vampires who covered her small frame from view. Their faces were shaped by hunger and greed. Purebloods were the ultimate prey to vampires, blood even more valuable than their lovers. The only reason purebloods haven't all gone extinct was because at a moment's whim they could control each and every vampire in this room.

I changed my focus to Yori who was bravely getting through the masses. She was stopped by several vampires, leering at her, but each time in a clear voice she excused herself and pursued her goal of finding her friend.

The three of us remained still and alert, ready at a moment's notice to interfere if the situation go out of hand.

Yori was interrupted again and then a path was formed for a long haired woman. The murmurs of "Sara-sama" and "pureblood" filled my ears and I gripped the gun beneath my dress.

She started to talk to Yori and the noise level around them died down, "Were you trying to go greet the hosts of the party by any chance? If you'd like, I'd be glad to offer to take you to see them." Sara reached to take Yori's hand. I prepared to go intervene, but Zero appeared and grabbed it pulling her hand away from Yori.

"Don't go touching a human so easily pureblood," Zero stated, the undertone of anger seething out.

The murmurs changed to shock and comments were made about the audacity of that "rude" hunter.

Yori nervously tried to sooth him, "Zero-kun, you are mistaken, this person was just going to-"

"Please let me through," a voice yelled, Yuki Kuran pushed her way through the crowd. She looked at Yori in surprise, "So it was really you, Yori-chan. Are you okay?"

"Yuki," Yori smiled, "I'm fine really, this person was going to help me go see you, and-"

Yuki appraised the scene and placed her hand on top of Zero's, who was still tightly grasping Sara's.

"Would you please let go of her. She is one of our precious guests."

"Don't touch me," Zero said, his eyes shooting daggers.

Yuki looked down a I speculated, in hurt, "I'll stop touching you if you let go of her."

Zero tucked his hand away and grabbed Yori's, dragging her over to us.

She tried to defend Yuki asking if it was so wrong to want to talk to her. His face twisted, "The woman who offered to help you, she smelled of freshly spilled blood."

He pushed Yori to me, "Wakaba stay near these two, don't wander off."

Kaito leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed, "Good thing you didn't take my bait. Despite how you are practically dripping with the urge to kill them."

The corner of Zero's eyes watched Kaito, "I'm used to having my patience put to test."

A blonde and blue eyed vampire called out to us, "Hey Kiryu, Wakaba!"

We shifted our attention to him, "It's been a while. Would the two of you give us a little hour of your time? We wish for you to come meet Yuki-sama. It's a request from the host of this party, Kaname-sama."

Yori looked worried, "Aido-senpai, is that really okay?"

"Why don't you just go?" Kaito leaned forward, "Your friend is the little Kuran princess right? I got the feeling that she's a good girl. Nothing but a lion cub for now."

He pushed Yori forward, "It's fine, go! And hey, Zero will be there with you anyway."

"Ah," Yori glanced at me and I nodded, "okay."

Aido started to go, "Follow me."

They left and Kaito put a hand in his hair in frustration, "How annoying."

"What is it really okay to leave them like that?" I asked

He looked up at the above balcony, "It should be fine."

I followed his gaze seeing Cross and a few other people there.

"Reassuring."

A/N: This chapter was filled with a lot of quotes from the manga. I will say this once.

I do not own Vampire Knight, Matsuri Hino retains the rights to the manga.

The only thing I own are my OC's.

Thanks for reading and make sure to follow and review.

xo

Vanesky