Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight or any of the characters within this story but I enjoy manipulating them. Contains yaoi, OOC and all the other things purists hate. Rated M. Please Read and Review

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KanamexZero

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Le Chat Noir Chapt. 3

By

Hanamaru

Zero had only been working a few short weeks at Chat Noir but already reservations were increasing. The restaurant was small and, since the hunter loved to create new recipes, a new service was offered; on certain evenings, he would make custom meals with the diner's favorite ingredients. Clients phoned ahead with their list several days in advance when they made their reservations. He made one custom meal per evening and requests were already booked up weeks in advance.

Zero was also offered the luxury of a prep assistant. From 4-5 pm, he reviewed the night's recipes while overseeing the work of his assistant who chopped, ground, stirred and anything else that was required in advance. The pastry chef worked during the day, creating fresh pastries to be served that evening.

All in all, the boy was happy with the way things turned out. Although he received many kudos and "compliments to the chef", he stayed behind the scenes, never meeting the diners personally. It was so busy in the kitchen that there really was no time to spare on civilities.

This evening, the owner of Chat Noir had told Zero that a VIP was coming in for a late dinner. Evidently, his estate and mansion were the original fixtures in this area. The village and other mansions were on land, sold off by the original estate. The estate still had huge acreage and the current owner was fabulously wealthy and handsome although somewhat of a mystery. The handsome mystery man would be their custom diner this evening. His choice of ingredients was very sophisticated and included capers, lobster, saffron rice and wild greens.

The hunter was thrilled by the challenge and intended to impress the VIP; this would be easier than usual as certain dishes he had made for formal occasions at Cross academy had contained these same ingredients. As he recalled these were favorites of Kuran that Yuuki begged him to make for her handsome prince before Aido won her heart.

Kaname entered Chat Noir promptly at 9:30 and he was welcomed cheerily, but without formality by the owner, and ushered to his private table. He felt relaxed for the first time in days, the owner had seemed sincerely pleased to see him and did not fawn on him or seek his favor. The restaurant was small and cozy with a relaxed atmosphere and wonderful scents filled the air along with the murmur of pleased voices from the other diners.

The first dish to arrive was a Tapenade served with small rounds of freshly toasted French bread, still warm. Kaname found this to be delicious and somewhat familiar; he relaxed, further positive he had made the right choice in dining out tonight. Next came a salad of wild field greens and vine ripened tomatoes containing green and red leaf lettuce, arugula, kale, radicchio and a few edible flowers; begonia petals and pansies. This was topped with a fantastic warm hazelnut forest dressing which included dried shitake mushrooms and hazelnut oil among other luscious ingredients.

Kaname was astonished, the food was exquisite and vaguely reminded him of meals with Yuuki, Headmaster Cross and Kiryu. Yuuki and Cross were hopeless with food but Zero had been a culinary whiz and always cooked when others were invited for dinner.

The entrée was amazing; a Lobster and Chorizo Paella with Saffron and Squid Ink Rice. Kaname was once again amazed to find such an innovative and tasty menu, especially in a small village. He said as much to the owner who delightedly informed him that he had fresh ingredients flown in daily and that their new chef had mad skills. Kaname asked to be introduced to the chef only to find that he had left at 10:00 pm.

The vampire assured the owner that he would return soon for another fabulous meal and hoped to meet the chef at that time. Finishing up with an espresso, Kaname returned to his estate, content and relaxed. Yes, he would have to do this more often. The food was more sophisticated than at Cross academy but the undertones strongly reminded him of some of Kiryu's specialty dishes. Perhaps that was why he felt so comforted by the delicious meal.

The hunter was thrilled when the restaurant owner told him how the VIP guest had complimented his meal. Things were going so well it was kind of scary. He would be able to afford his tuition and buy textbooks. He was never one to worry about clothes and his few pairs of worn jeans would serve throughout the school year. It seemed strange at first to not wear a uniform but he was glad, one less reminder of Cross Academy, he would never admit to being homesick.

He moved into one of the dorms in late summer and happily was able to get a room of his own. There were four bedrooms radiating out from a shared living room, kitchen and bathroom. His roommates seemed OK, at least none of them were vampires. As far as he could tell, there were no vampires other than him on the campus. Probably the proximity of the Hunter's School would put off any vampire students. He was also the only hunter, again most probably went to the Hunter's School.

Zero couldn't remember the last time he had interacted in a society without vampires or hunters, actually never since his parents were hunters. He was learning a whole new aspect of society. Out of habit, he was still alert and on guard and was amazed at the naïveté and innocence of the other students.

He was pretty sure none of them had ever killed anything or been attacked by a vampire. They seemed unaware of hunters and vampires, wrapped in their cotton candy academia. The hunter felt jaded and old beyond his years in comparison. He was also unused to the constant attention he got from the female students and some of the male students. He had enough of shrill shrieking fan girls at Cross Academy and found none of his current devotees attracted his attention.

He felt more comfortable at the Hunter's School and went there almost daily to work out and learn new techniques. His class schedule, which started in a few weeks, was hardly challenging but lower division classes were mandatory. He had always excelled at school with very little effort and he anticipated the same, even at the college level.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Love

Hana

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