Chapter 10

Rose stomped up the gates of the moon dorm with one thought in mind. Anger swept through her as she tried to control the growing rage building up inside of her. She was greeted with Adiou who looked at her in confusion. "Rose?"

Rose tried to push fast him and muttered "I need to see Kaname."

Adiou frowned and put his hand on the door frame, stopping her. "I can't let you do that."

Rose was not having his games, looked him directly in the eye and hissed. "Let me through."

Adiou felt a chill run through him and for the first time, he felt afraid of the hunter. The look in her eyes was one of a murderer. He shakley removed his hand and stepped aside to let him pass, almost like he didn't have a choice. She quickly strolled past him without an apology and descended the stairs. Then without bothering to knock, she shoved open the large doors to reveal Kaname.

Closing them behind her she stomped up to him and muttered. "What the hell are you doing? Why is she here? Why did you allow her to come here?"

Kaname stood up and put his hands out, reaching for her. "Calm down, it's alright."

Rose pushed his hand away in frustration "It is not ok! Why did you bring her here?"

Kaname moved his hand back and sighed "It's easier to deal with her in a contained environment."

Her thoughts were not put at ease with that, in fact it made it worse. "Then why is she here? I don't think you understand how dangerous this is for me...for us."

She took a step closers and harshly whispered "What if someone get's to close? What if they get to close? Then everything we have worked for, everything you made this chess game for will be for nothing and I will be shipped away."

Kaname shook his head and responded back "I won't let that happen."

She turned her head and scoffed "It's seems like you already did."

Later that day Yuki, Zero and Rose were waiting by the gates of the Moon Dormitory. Zero hadn't spoken to her about the accident involving the almost kiss and she kinda thankful about it. Mentioning it would only make things messy. There weren't as many students today and Yuki concluded that it must have been because exams were coming soon. The door opened and the night class walked past them one by one. Rose turned away when Kaname walked by her and the rest of the night class questioned what might have happened. She turned back when she felt a familiar prickling sensation on her arms. Maria walked past the group before stopping in front of Yuki. She put her hand out and was about to touch her hair when Zero pulled her back. Maria smiled at her frustration and skipped away. When she was gone Rose turned back toward the dorm and muttered something like "I have to go study."

After she was gone Zero turned to Yuki and stated "Stay away from that transfer student, please."

Then he left Yuki by herself and walked away.

Later that night Rose had agreed to tutor Yuki for her exams. She had been sitting there for about four hours and Yuki still wasn't getting it. Rose gazed at the window and thought about Maria. How was she going to fix this? She came back to earth when Yuki waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Rose?"

Rose sprung back to life and grabbed the paper out of her hand. "Sorry! Now, let's see your paper."

Yuki examined Rose and asked her "Are you ok? You and Zero seem to space out a lot. Is there something wrong?"

Rose glanced up from her paper and wished she could tell Yuki the truth. Honestly she hated lying to her in this way. She gave a fake smile and answered "I'm ok Yuki, I guess I'm just nervous about the ball coming up."

Yuki didn't believe her story but gave up anyways, she knew that if the hunter didn't want to tell me something then she wasn't going to hear it.

Silence insured for quite some time until Rose handed her paper back to Yuki. "Everything is almost correct, except here where you used and exponent instead of a variable."

Yuki read the problem and nodded her head in agreement. "I see. Wow! Rose you're so good at school work."

Rose smiled and responded. "Thank you. Being home schooled with nothing else to do will do that to you."

Yuki tilted her head to the side. She was finally finding something out about Rose. "You were home schooled?"

Rose twirled her pencil around in her hand and answered. "I was, for a short time. Before that I went to a public school with a bunch of delinquents. But after some personal events everyone thought it was wiser to train me and home. That's all I could really do actually, study and train. I didn't have many visitors so it was a way to keep busy."

Rose realized that she had been rambling and quickly shut her mouth, brushing off the topic. "But now because of that I can be here as you're day class president. That has to count of something right?"

Yuki stared at the hunter in shock. She didn't know much about her but from what she just said, Rose seemed to have a pretty tough life. Halfway through her explanation Zero walked into the room and he to was surprised at what she had said. He assumed that the personal events was when she was bitten but everything else was new to him.

Rose looked down at the people staring at her and blushed a bit. She always hated to be the center of attention. When no one spoke Rose thought it would be best to leave so she muttered something like "I have to go." and almost ran out of the house. But before she opened the door she felt a warm hand grace the top of her palm. She turned to see Zero standing before her. They stood frozen for a moment before she forced her hand away and walked out of the building.

Later that night Zero walked up to the old abandoned dorm and walked inside. Standing there was Maria Kureni. She smiled at his presence. "That's right, you can sense me. Because there is a bond between us. It fills the emptiness in my heart."

Zero walked closer and closer until they were only a few feet apart. Then he slowly pulled out his gun and pressed it to her chest. Maria smiled once more "Finally, you've come to kill me."

Zero tried to pull the trigger but fingers refused to move. Has hand shock as Maria took joy in his pain. "I could tell you why it won't work, or I can let her do it."

Zero turned his head around when he heard a familiar voice speak. "You can't kill her because you are bond to her. She is the one who turned you which means she is your master."

Zero's eyes widened as Rose finished her sentence. Maria gazed and her and giggled "Good girl. I knew you're gaurd dog would show up."

He tilted his head in confusion "Guard dog?"

Rose was about to speak out when Maria cut her off. "Oh, she didn't tell you? She's been watching over you since I killed your family, making sure you didn't get yourself killed. You're little pet as it were."

Rose had enough of Maria's words and spoke up against her "Stop this. Leave this academy and I won't hurt you. I don't want to."

Maria chuckled at this as she stepped closer. "Kill me? Can you really do it? You were always so weak Isabelle."

Zero whipped his head toward them when he heard Maria say Rose's past name. That meant that they knew each other before this. But how?

Rose gritted her teeth and muttered. "Isabelle is dead. That is not my name, and Maria is not yours, Shizuka Hio."

Rose placed her hand over her bow and quickly retracted it. Her hand reached for an arrow as she shot one directly for her heart.

At the same time a masked man dropped a sword in Shizuka's hands and she collided with Rose's bow. "Now this body isn't mine so I ask you to play nice."

Rose grunted at the impact and held her ground, pushing the bow towards her enemy. Maria smirked at this "Aww you're not using your true power. What a shame. Are you afraid?"

Suddenly Shuzika used her pureblood strength and pushed Rose into the wall behind her. It made a dent and Rose grunted in pain. Zero saw this and ran to save her when a masked man stopped him. "This is there fight."

Rose struggled to stand up and Maria stepped forward. "The game is over, it's time to stop playing house. You know what you are, vampire. Show me how terrifying you can be!"

Meanwhile, hidden from view Yuki watched the whole scene in horror. Millions of questions swarmed in her mind as she cried out. Trying to save her friends. That was until a strong hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her into slumber. She recognized the chocolate eyes of Kaname before she was carried away.

Zero tried to move past the masked man, towards Rose when Maria whispered. "Maybe you need some help?"

Then she reached out her hand and a slash mark appeared on Zero's chest. He slumpt to the ground in pain and Rose's eyes went livid. She looked at Shuzika with pure hatred and pushed her away, into the opposite wall. Shuzuki looked at her and cried "Wonderful! See, I knew you could do it. Why be a useless hunter when you can be something more, you can be like him."

Rose's eyes grew wide and before she could destroy Shuzuki, she felt a strong pain in her side. She looked up to find the masked man's sword, buried in her chest. Zero screamed out in fear at the sight and cried "Rose!"

The man quickly pulled out the sword and Rose fell to the ground in a thud. She began to breathe heavily and could just barely make out the blurred face of Maria standing over her. "You like it? This blade is laced with the same materials they make anti vampire weapons with. It's coated with a particular kind of poison for vampires so I don't think you'll be moving around to much.

Rose began to breathe heavier as she started to drift in and out of consciousness. "Don't worry about Zero, I will take good care of him."

Then without warning, Rose slipped into the darkness.

Yuki awoke with a start. She gazed around her bedroom and noticed something was off about her. She stumbled through the day and did pay any mind when The Headmaster said that Zero and Rose were off on a hunting job. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt she was missing something.

Rose gasped as she tried to sit up but was only met with more pain. A warm hand grazed her cheek as she realized who had carried her. "Take it easy."

She grunted in pain as she met the eyes of none other the Kaname. "You know this never would have happened if you didn't let her attend here."

Kaname looked down and gave her a sad smile "I never counted on you getting so involved. You should've let me handle it.

She began to cough as she tried to ignore the burning poison in her chest. "What what would've happened if I did that? Zero would be dead and…."

Rose's eyes widened in realization. She had left him alone with Shuzukia. "Where is he?"

Kaname tried to ignore the topic and changed the subject. "Don't worry about it, are you feeling better?"

But she wasn't having it and connected the dots together. "Oh my god. He's with her….I have to go and…" She moved to stand up but a shot of pain ripped through her body once more and she began to fall over. She was stopped by Kaname's hand, holding her steady. "You are not going anywhere until that wound will be fine."

Rose sighed in response and relaxed under his arm. She could feel her breath slowly leaving his chest and she felt more at ease. Kaname noticed this and started to rub the top of her head, like old times. He looked away for a moment and brought his gaze back to her. "So, the ball is tomorrow."

Rose lifted her head in question. "Yeah, Yuki, Zero and I are supposed to watch the students. I guess I'll see you there."

Kaname continued rubbing her head and spoke smoothly. "I was hoping that we could go together."

Rose's relaxation disappeared and she pulled her head up from his chest. "What? Zero may be dead, we have a insane pureblood on our heads and you're asking me to a dance?"

She took a step back as Kaname calmly explained himself. "Zero is fine as I said. I still don't understand you're concern for a Level E."

Rose tried to back away more but for chest screamed in pain from the poison. " Of course you don't understand, everything is a game. Even I am one of your chess pieces, do you think I'm stupid? You called me here to play in your game and I agreed for one reason, and you know it. I have a limited time of freedom and I'm using it helping you, do you understand?"

Kaname looked away with guilt. He knew he had said something wrong by bringing up Zero in front of her, but he held his ground. "Zero doesn't need to be protected anymore. You should stopping placing blame on yourself, he is not your responsibility."

Rose shoot him an impatient look and shouted. "Well you may not think that but I do! He is my responsibility. I caused Shuikza to go after the Kiryu's. Without me Zero would have his brother and his family. You can say that it's not true but I know, I have always known. So I suggest you stop acting all high and mighty and leave me the hell alone!"

Kaname looked and Rose and knew that now wasn't the time to question her. He slowly got off of the bed and moved over to the door. "I'll let you rest."

Then he disappeared from her sight.

Yuki was taking a walk when she saw Maria in the distance. Yuki's vision became blurry as she searched her mind. There was something she was missing and it was screaming at her in the back of her head.

Maria approached her and smiled "You're so cold Yuki. How could you forget that boy and the hunter?"

Yuki shook her head and questions "Who? Who do you mean? Rose and Zero?"

Maria narrowed her eyes and and cat Yuki was holding scratched her and ran away. Suddenly all of thoughts she lost came rushing back into her head. The conversation with Rose at the headmaster's, Zero's confrontation with Shuzuika, and Rose's secret. Vampire. Rose was a vampire? But that was impossible, she was in the day class. Zero didn't looked surprised, does that mean he knew? Was she the only one out of the loop?

She turned back to Maria and shakily asked "Where are they? What did you do to them?"

Maria smirked at her worry and turned away "They will be ok for the time being. But sooner or later Zero will be a level E and Rose will turn against you. She does have some nasty secrets. However...if you're interested there is a way to save him. Let's make a deal. I want you to do something that only you can do."

Zero gasped wake after having a dream about his old family and his brother. He looked around at his surroundings and saw the masked man sitting in the corner. He slowly stood up and walked towards Zero.

The dots connected and Zero knew who the stranger was. "I thought you were dead….Ichiju."