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Kaname sighed. He had known that teaching magic was going to be difficult, but he hadn't expected it to by this emotionally trying. He really had been spoiled in teaching Yuuki first. For some reason he had thought that all the other vampires would catch on as fast. That was not how things were going. He had also assumed that the vampires coming to him would have some idea as to how to use their magic. Again, he had been wrong. He had even had vampires come with them that had no magic. He found himself wishing he had started his day off with something stronger than coffee . . . like grain alcohol.

Trying to prevent some of his headache, he had appointed some of more advanced students as teachers of the exceptionally slow. They had only agreed when he had promised to try to show them some new techniques later. A few had actually been so practiced with their element that there really wasn't anything he could show them. These—he somewhat reluctantly—sent to guard the perimeter of the school, knowing that an attack was possible at any moment. He was thinking that he should have sent some of the others as well, since he doubted they would ever get the hang of wielding magic.

"They are getting better," Yuuki said from beside him.

He glanced down at her with a wry smile, "Yes," he agreed. "Now they can almost hit the target."

She swatted his arm. He raised an eyebrow in response to her swat; no one had swatted him in a very long time. "You're being cruel," she chided in an undertone. "Not all of us have had millennia to learn how to use magic. They are making progress. Besides, we're not entirely sure how to help. Their magic is somehow different than ours so of course it will be slower." Her nose wrinkled at the word "different" and he couldn't help but laugh.

"The only real difference is that there is not near as much of it," Kaname said dismissivly.

"No," Yuuki replied. "I just feels different. I'm not saying that there isn't less, but theirs feels somehow different than yours does to me, I can't explain how, but it does."

"Different how?" he asked intrigued. He had taught her how to feel magic in the air earlier and had begun teaching her how to tell what a spell was before it was activated, but they hadn't gotten far.

"I'm not sure," she said thinking. "It feels less . . . wild. But that doesn't make any sense."

He shrugged in response. "You may be right," he finally said. "Their magic is a little more controlled since they do not have the same limitlessness that we do. They are bound to one element, or in rare cases two elements. I have never paid any mind to the powers of nobles since they are not generally powerful enough to do me lasting harm."

That last thought gave him an idea. He had been wondering how he could teach Yuuki about barrier spells without risking harming her and this was the perfect way. The only foolproof way to test a barrier was to attack it, and he was worried that if he attacked it the attack would be to strong and either hurt her with the magical recoil of her spell breaking, or directly as it passed through. But the nobles, they should be able to test a barrier without this risk. It was perfect.

"Yuuki," he said, hearing in his own tone the calculating quality that he hoped she missed. Judging by the look she gave him, she hadn't missed it. Her next words confirmed his suspicion.

"What are you thinking, Kaname?" she asked warily.

"Do you remember the barrier spells that Sara and I used?" he asked, hating to bring up the battle, but knowing that was the only time she had seen them. She nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to figure out where this was going.

"Would you like to learn how to do that?" he asked innocently. "I can teach you."

Yuuki was ecstatic at the offer. She had wanted to learn how to do it since she had seen it done. If she could put up a barrier that no one could cross, she could protect others without killing anyone.

Kaname saw her eyes brighten at the prospect and knew even without a verbal answer that she wanted to learn. "It's simple enough in concept," he said. "All you need to do is envision a solid wall between you and whatever you what to separate."

"That seems easy enough," she said happily. "I think I can do that."

He didn't want to crush her joy, but it wasn't near as easy as it sounded. Even though the initial spell didn't take much energy to enact, maintaining it was another matter . . . especially if it was attacked or specialized. That was the other reason he had been so careful in the start of the battle with Sara, she had erected a doubly specialized barrier and maintained it without breaking a sweat. That alone had showed him she was more powerful than he had originally counted on.

"Do you think you're ready to give it a try?" he asked. She nodded eagerly. "I just need to set up one more thing first."

He walked towards one of the more powerful nobles and tapped him on the shoulder. The vampire looked at him. "I need you to do something for me," Kaname said simply.

"Anything, Kaname-sama," the man replied, his face was full of pride at having been asked specifically to do something for a pureblood.

"I will hold you to that," Kaname replied. "I need you to attack Yuuki when I say so."

The man's face filled with shock. Why did Kaname want him to attack his sister? It made no sense. Was this a trap of some kind? Everything in him wanted to ask why, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Realizing that the noble was about to have an aneurism, Kaname decided that he needed to explain himself. "I am teaching her how to form a barrier," Kaname said. "But for her first time, I feel it would be better if she was not defending herself against an attack by another pureblood. No harm will come to you for doing as I ask, I promise."

The man still looked wary, but he nodded his head in agreement. Whatever else Kaname had done, he had heard that the pureblood always kept his promises. Besides, there was no way he was going to break her shield anyway. Or at least that was what he told himself.

"Are you ready, Yuuki," Kaname called.

"Yep," she replied, closing her eyes and concentrating on the wall she was supposed to be forming. She felt her magic flow out and form a semicircle around her, but something wasn't right. It wasn't a free-floating circle like the one around them during the battle had been. This one was still connected to her, and it was still pulling on her magic current.

Once Kaname felt the barrier go up and he checked it and saw that it was solid, he nodded to the vampire next to him. The noble took a deep breath and sent out an attack, which rebounded off the barrier and into the tree behind them. Kaname nodded to the noble again in thanks and approached Yuuki, whose eyes had shot open when the attack hit.

When the attack had hit the shield, it had vibrated through Yuuki as if it had actually hit metal. In surprise she opened her eyes, wondering at once who had attacked her and why. Had it been Kaname? As her emotions sloshed, she lost the tether to the barrier and it crumbled around her. She felt her knees wobble a bit, but managed to stay on her feet.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded of Kaname, meaning the tether, the attack and the sudden bout of weakness that was beginning to slowly fade.

"The best way to test a barrier is to attack it," he explained.

"And what if it hadn't been a good barrier?" she asked.

"I checked first, it was solid or the attack would never have happened," he replied. "And your energy seemed to be holding."

"What do you mean my energy seemed to be holding?" she asked more interested in that than in why her lover had just had her attacked.

"Barriers feed of your energy to remain active," he explained before continuing into more general topics since they still had an audience. "All magic does, but most spells or attacks are over so quickly that you will never notice the drain. If you use enough of them, they will eventually wear down your reserves, but it takes many attacks to do that since your reserves will refill from those small drains quickly. The more magic you use, the faster these reserves fill. Like any muscle, if they are not used they lose strength."

"So the larger the magic . . . the more reserves are used and the longer it takes to recover," Yuuki said.

"Exactly," Kaname nodded. "And magic that requires a sustained drain on those reserves take longer for them to replenish fully. I am going to assume that this principle holds true for non-pureblood magic users as well?" Kaname asked.

Some of the more experienced of the nobles nodded while the novices were glad that there was an explanation for the exhaustion they were beginning to feel.

"Yes, Kaname-sama," one of the braver nobles said. "We do weaken if we use too much magic at once, but the amount it takes to cause weakness does increase over time. I wasn't aware that it was also true for purebloods."

"It is, but we have naturally higher reserves so it is not surprising that you have never seen it," Kaname replied. "Most vampires haven't." or at least not to the point that we couldn't cover it up, Kaname thought. Or when it couldn't be attributed to something else. As he though the last bit he was reminded of Yuuki after her attack on Rido. At the time he had thought it was stress, but now he realized that her exhaustion was actually from her massive use of magic.

He wondered at his blindness that he hadn't realized it sooner. Not that it would have changed anything if he had. He realized that he had been silent for too long, since the nobles were beginning to shift restlessly but were afraid to do more since they hadn't been dismissed from the conversation. He was trying to figure out how to dismiss them without seeming rude—for Yuuki's sake—when Yuuki walked to his side and leaned on him, resting her head on his arm which she had also wrapped an arm around. He noticed that he was supporting a good deal of her weight and looked down at her in curiosity

"Everyone's been working hard," she breathed looking up at him. He felt his chest constrict with regret as he saw the weariness in her eyes. "Why don't we all break for lunch and pick this back up later." It was then that he realized that her latest experiment had taken more out of her than she would ever admit.

He nodded and turned to the nobles. "I think it's time we all had a break," he said clearly. "You have done well for a first try. There are food and blood tablets available in the cafeteria and there are signs on campus to direct you there. We will find everyone lodging this evening, but for now I must ask everyone to remain in common areas. We will meet with those of you that I spoke to earlier later this evening, the rest of you may return early tomorrow and we will begin again. I will post the exact time later."

The nobles bowed and made their way back along the path to campus. Once they were gone, Kaname turned to Yuuki. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't expect it to take that much out of you. Would you like to go back to your room, I can take you before I take care of some of the organizational tasks."

She read between the lines and knew that "take" actually meant "teleport." She shook her head. The feeling that he should be careful how much magic he used had not gone away, in fact it had gotten stronger. "I'll be fine to walk, but going to my room does sound nice," she said. "I could use a nap."

He smiled at her affectionately. "I'm sure you could," he replied. "It has been a rough week after all." He turned to go towards the headmaster's house when he heard a sound in the undergrowth of the forest. Thinking it was an animal of some sort, he ignored it and continued along the path, still supporting Yuuki's weight, though not as much now as before.

"Kaname-sama," Aidou, who Kaname had sent to patrol the remnants of the wall, yelled as he ran into the clearing. Kaname looked up sharply at his name and he and Yuuki shared a glance as the blonde noble ran up to them. "They're here," he gasped. "We're fighting them, but I don't know how long we can hold them off."

"Take us to them," Kaname ordered, preparing to follow Aidou.

"Kaname," she said, "what can I do to help?" She knew what he planned and hoped that she would be able to help; surely his plan was too much for even him. He looked at her and the normal gentleness in his eyes when he looked at her was there, but it was almost completely covered by determination. Even though he said nothing, she could see it in his eyes. There was nothing she could do to help him with this, especially since her reserves were still low. She nodded her understanding and followed them anyway, running to keep up with the longer strides of the men feeling her body protest as she forced it to do more than it wanted.

Relief at how well she took the fact that she couldn't help him flowed through Kaname before it was replaced with desperation and a little bit of doubt. He hoped he could do what he was planning. He had originally planned to kill them all, but he had remembered how Yuuki had reacted to the senate fiasco once she knew about it and decided that, perhaps, total annihilation was not the best course of action. But this new plan . . . He just hoped he had the power to stop the hunters and keep both the vampires and hunters alive at the same time because if his new idea didn't stop them, he wouldn't be able to kill them.

Soon, they reached the place where the hunters had breached the quickly re-constructed walls. He groaned when he saw how many of them were already inside the walls and quickly added another step to his plan. He heard Yuuki gasp at the sight before them, but he did something that hurt him to his very core: he ignored her. He needed to concentrate to have any hope of accomplishing his task.

Yuuki looked away from the carnage in front of her, looking to Kaname for reassurance. He didn't glance at her, he only continued to stare at the battle field with a look of pure concentration on his face. Suddenly she felt his power wash across her skin and looked at the field to see that all the hunters were gone. She looked back at Kaname wondering if he had killed them or moved them, but he was still focused and she didn't want to break his concentration. She also wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

She felt his power flow out again, this time she sensed the barrier surround them. It ran around the entire perimeter of the academy just outside the wall. She glanced at him in concern, she knew what kind of power those barriers took to create and maintain. And her's had only been a small one while this one was massive she could only imagine the magical energy it took to maintain it. He had his eyes closed and was breathing a little heavily, but other than that he looked fine. The fact that he was mostly fine made her wonder what kind of power Kaname actually had, and how he had gotten it to that level.

Kaname had been expecting this to be an exercise in mental fatigue, but he hadn't been anticipating the physical fatigue that comes from releasing that much magic from his system. He hadn't realized just how small his "immense" reserves were until he wanted them to do the impossible. And he wasn't even halfway there. He wanted to pause for a moment and gather his strength, but he knew that every second he held the barrier the chances of him finishing this diminished. Taking a deep breath he forced the barrier out about five feet. Now for the difficult part, he thought wryly.

Yuuki glanced around in panic as she felt the earth rumble beneath her feet. She looked at Kaname and noticed that despite the movement of the earth, he still had his eyes closed. His breathing had become more labored and she wondered if she should attempt to rouse him or leave him alone. A grating sound pulled her attention from Kaname and she felt her mouth fall open at the sight of the ground sinking in as rock began to rise like a wave.

Realizing instantly that this was Kaname's doing she fought the urge to ask him what had happened to the ice dome they had discussed. She felt shock, worry, and what was almost amusement when she realized that Kaname was sweating. She hadn't known that he could do that. But the fact that he was showed that what he was doing was harder than it looked, and it looked difficult. In fact, it was amazing. She watched in wonder as the wall of rock kept growing until it was nearly thirty feet tall.

Then, as suddenly as it started, the rumbling stopped. Yuuki turned back to see Kaname swaying slightly on his feet. She rushed to his side and wrapped her arms around him attempting to steady him but he seemed incapable of supporting his own weight and she couldn't stop him from sinking to his knees. She held him to her as he leaned against her gasping for breath like he had just sprinted for his life. She stroked his hair and muttered reassuring things as she tried to think of a way to help him panicking as she drew a blank. Her panic only intensified as she realized they were attracting a crowd. She knew that Kaname wouldn't want anyone to see him this way, even after such an impressive show of power.

"Yuuki-sama, does this mean we're safe now?" one of the vampires around them asked in an awed voice.

"I'm not sure," Yuuki replied. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what Kaname just did. I have never seen magic like that." Yuuki looked down at the top of Kaname's head and continued stroking his hair. She was pleased that his breathing was beginning to return to normal, but worried about how he would react to being surrounded. She wondered if he was actually doing better or it he was forcing himself to look like it by sheer force of will.

"Nor I," added a blond vampire in the crowd. "It was amazing! He saved us all from the hunters."

"Only temporarily," Kaname said his voice thin and weak. He stood slowly, leaning on Yuuki but trying to make it look like he was affectionately draping himself over her, not fighting to remain upright. He thought he was doing a good job, but no one was fooled. It was impossible for them to be with the fine tremor running though his limbs and the unfocused expression in his normally sharp eyes.

"They will eventually get though the new wall, but by then we will be ready for them," Kaname said, feeling like he was dragging the words from the very last of his reserves. He hadn't done anything like that in a very long time, so long in fact that he had forgotten the bone-deep weariness that followed. But he did remember that only time would cure this. He needed to rest. Maybe Yuuki's suggestion of a nap wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"I would appreciate it if you will take care of the clean-up here," he continued, "Yuuki and I must return to the meeting we left to come here so that we can prepare for the next lesson this evening." He didn't miss the look Yuuki shot him when he said they were going to return and felt a laugh go through him. He understood her concern, there was no way he could teach magic if he couldn't stand, but what was he supposed to say 'I would appreciate it if you can clean up this mess while I go take a nap?' He was sure they would really appreciate that.

Yuuki couldn't believe what she was hearing! Kaname actually thought she was going to let him go back and teach tonight? He looked like a gust of wind would knock him over. She glared at him, telling him wordlessly that it wasn't going to happen. She felt his laugh and wondered just what the hell he thought was so funny. She was about to demand an answer when she felt his pull on her shoulder signaling that she should walk. She almost refused to do it, but decided that probably wasn't best since she could attempt to convince him that he should go rest once they were alone. Besides, she had barely felt his pull and he looked so weak she couldn't fight him if he wanted to get away from the others.

Kaname was relieved when Yuuki complied. He was in no position to force her to go with him and incapable of leaving without her help. He wasn't sure that he would make it back to the house with her help, but he was going to try.

Shuffling together, they moved into the woods and away from the assembled vampires. Once they were out of earshot, Kaname noticed there was a felled tree that was about the right height to sit on. He could hear Yuuki panting a little next to him, and knew that she was struggling under his weight. They both needed to rest before they tried to continue further.

"Let's rest here," he suggested wearily disconcerted by how breathless his voice sounded after such a short walk. She nodded thinking the same thing and together they eased into a sitting position on the log. Kaname immediately stooped forward and placed his elbows on his knees.

"Kaname," Yuuki said kneeling in front of him so that she could see his eyes, "you are not going to go back to teach tonight." She heard steel in her words and hoped that he realized she wasn't going to cave on this. He was not going even if she had to tie him to the bed. She would even get chains if she had to.

Kaname felt a laugh bubble up his throat. She was trying to command him and he wasn't even sure that she realized she was doing it. Whether consciously or unconsciously there had been power behind her words and not just the force of an angry woman. It was also amusing since he had no intention of going tonight even before her command.

"Really, Yuuki," Kaname asked in a mock hurt voice, "you would try to compel me to stay against my will?" When her eyes widened in shock he realized that she hadn't know she was doing it. Which actually made the whole thing even funnier. Especially since he still had just enough power to negate her command and could just enjoy the fact that she had done it.

"I didn't . . . I-I wouldn't . . . Oh god," she stuttered. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I just did that."

"Yuuki, it's fine," he said laughing again. "And it might even be useful someday. It's good that you discovered how to use it."

"But I shouldn't have," she insisted. "It's wrong to have that much control over someone else."

"If it was wrong you wouldn't be able to do it," he insisted. She opened her mouth to argue further but he looked at her, his eyes pleading. "Can we talk about this later? I'm too tired to do this right now. And I need to gather my strength, we have to make it back to the main campus or people are going to panic, even with the wall in place."

"Speaking of the wall," she said, "what happened to the ice wall we discussed?"

"I changed my mind when I realized that we didn't have but two ice users who could help maintain it," he said leaning against a standing tree near the fallen log. "And this requires no maintenance. Come, sit with me for a little bit," he said patting the spot next to him.

Yuuki sat next to him and he wrapped his arm around her waist as she laid her head on his chest. "Just for a bit," she said snuggling into him. He made a noise of agreement and felt his eyes begin to drift closed as he enjoyed the feeling of sitting outside with Yuuki against him where everyone could potentially see. He felt her breathing become more even and felt his own match hers. Then nothing more.

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There we go y'all, a new chapter and this one finally explained the mysterious "plan B." Was that what you were expecting it to be? As always thank you for reading and please leave a review if you have time or just have something you want to say. Reviews are what make the writing worth it some days (others it is more out of need to keep my sanity). I love hearing what you think, even when/if you think I suck or should have done something differently.

Special thanks to everyone who favorited or subscribed this time around :)

Also thanks to Yue Matsunoki and KUKAIxAMU for your reviews. They made me smile.

Until next time,

Stickdonkeys