Yuuki watched in mounting alarm when his face turned into the pillow his head was resting on and his mouth opened, revealing his teeth. She drew in a sharp breath when his fangs sunk into the down filling and began shredding it.

"Onii-sama!" she cried as she gripped his shoulders and began shaking him. "Wake-up!"

Shaking him wasn't working. Instead of waking up from whatever nightmare he was suffering from, his fingers turned to claws and sank into the softness of the pillow and he clamped down harder with his fangs, his low moan now turning into a loud snarl.

Yuuki pushed aside the surprise she felt at this unimagined animalistic side of Kaname and acted quickly. Her muscles bunched with the effort, but she managed to yank the pillow from his mouth, ripping it in the process because his jaw was firmly locked upon it.

The young vampire took no notice since her attention was completely focused on the look of agony on Kaname's sleeping face. Without the pillow in his mouth, his jaws now snapped on nothingness, and in the process, his fangs punctured his bottom lip. Despite her fearfulness at his behavior, the desire to help him was more powerful and gave her courage to act. She applied pressure to his shoulders and pushed him on his back from his current position on his side. It took all of her strength given his state and his weight, but she finally managed it.

Lowering herself on top of him, she noted his body was vibrating like a live wire and his chest was shining with perspiration. It hurt her to see him like this when he was always so cool and in control of himself. Pity squeezed her heart painfully as she saw a small white feather clinging to the corner of his mouth, adding another surreal quality to the moment.

She leaned forward and grabbed Kaname's wrists which were tearing at the sheets and forced them over his head, pinning them with difficulty. "Onii-sama, I am here," she murmured into his ear, straining to keep his wrists in place, "Yuuki's here and you are safe, so, please wake up." She wasn't aware that she had reverted to referring to herself in the third person as she did when she was a child because her words had apparently had an effect the unconscious Kaname. She felt his body relax beneath her and she allowed herself to breathe deeply in relief.

Pulling back a little, she saw Kaname's fine features were once again smooth and as she allowed herself to take them in, transfixed for a moment on his thick eyelashes fanned out on his cheeks and his full lips. He didn't seem to be awake, but he certainly wasn't in the grips of whatever nightmare he had been suffering through. Certainly he would come to soon, with her weight on top of him. This thought calmed her impatience to find out what had happened to him and her lingering anxiety about him. Would he be okay when he awoke? What had he been dreaming about that had made him act like a feral creature?

Despite her worries about what she should do upon his awakening, she felt a surge of pride that she had helped him instead of it being the usual case of him soothing her. He doesn't always have to be strong. I will comfort him, too. Maybe I can be a worthy mate for him. She paused at the choice of the word 'mate,' since it had reminded her of something Kaname had said to her not long ago… something about beasts.

A terrible question followed naturally from this. His violent sleeping interlude… what if Kaname was so deprived of blood that his instinct had made him seek nourishment while he was unconscious, since he refused to do so while awake? The blood tablets he downed constantly were not enough since he had lost so much blood to her constant feeding.

For an excuse to touch his lip's inviting curves, she plucked off the offending feather at the corner, but not before running her finger along his bottom lip where beads of blood had welled up from his biting. Her attention narrowed to a sharp point, her body instantly begging for her to lick this tempting drop of his precious blood from his lips.

Her body's imperative drove her to move closer. The rational side of her told her that this would rouse him up finally and that he would enjoy waking up this way as much as she would enjoy doing it. Yuuki unconsciously moistened her lips as she drew near, her mouth filling with saliva in anticipation. She decided after taking this tiny bit of his blood she would offer hers to him. 'Drink until you are satisfied, Onii-sama, all you desire,'she affirmed silently. A yearning warmth bloomed in her abdomen as an image of him reversing their current position so that his body was pressed down upon hers as he kissed and licked the skin of her neck before his fangs penetrated deeply into her jugular.

Yuuki hovered a fraction of an inch away from his lips, his slow respiration bathing her face as she inhaled the copper-iron scent of his blood, but as she extended her tongue towards his mouth, something strange began to happen. She startled and sat straighter as a spate of clicking and high-pitched squeaks filled the room. She flinched as she felt something move her hair as it whizzed by. Trying to look everywhere at once, she finally pinpointed a small black something fluttering near the bedpost. Its tiny ruby eyes glittered as its wings beat the air, and its small face seemed to be regarding her with some rudimentary awareness before its tiny countenance turned towards Kaname's sleeping form.

A bat? What the-? Before she could finish her thought, the animal darted towards Kaname's face. Yuuki moved to slap it away, but instead of her hand connecting with a small furry body, it landed on nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. She felt like she had plunged her hands into a pocket of cold fog and as she tried to recover from this surprise she watched helplessly in horror as the bat became transparent, melting into Kaname's features.

Yuuki called Kaname's name into his ear, and finally he stirred, his reddish-brown eyes fixating on Yuuki without a trace of drowsiness. "Yuuki, what's wrong?" He briefly scanned the room for danger, frowning as his eyes caught sight as he stared at the pillow which bore the clear semi-circle of his teeth upon it, before homing in on Yuuki's face again, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "Tell me what happened," he questioned in an oddly flat voice. He broke eye contact as his eyes roamed over her body above him in a strangely dispassionate manner.

The youngest Kuran stared down at her older brother with her mouth hanging agape. "Kaname…" She watched him warily, replaying the incidents of the past few minutes and his current stiff demeanor. Why is he acting so strange? Did that bat-thing affect him… is he upset with me… no, he's-

While he waited on her answer, he licked the blood off his lip and he closed his eyes, but not before Yuuki detected the pain in them and perhaps the light of remembrance. "Did I-?"

Yuuki lifted his hand from the coverlet and brought it to her face, guessing why he was looking at her so clinically earlier and where he was directing his anger. A small smile tugged at her lips, "You didn't hurt me, Onii-sama."

Kaname opened his eyes, watching her for a long moment before he nodded, relief evident in his glance. He raised his other hand to carefully move a lock of her hair out of her wide eyes. "Tell me," he asked again simply, his eyes moving to fang-marked the pillow for emphasis.

Yuuki lowered his hand to her lap, but didn't release it. When she was silent for more than a minute according to Kaname's clock, he squeezed it to encourage her. She took a deep breath and began. "I woke up…"

Yuuki began narrating what happened, beginning with her kissing his hand to awaken him and ending with phantom bat. She occasionally stammered and blushed as she edited certain parts, especially the part where she planned on surrendering her blood to him. However, she did include her desire to lick the blood drop off his lips. A satisfied grin appeared on his face at this, but he remained silent throughout her stumbling account. As she spoke, her bewilderment and fear for him, and of him, were apparent in her shaking hands as she told him about her helplessness to ward off the strange creature that entered his body.

Kaname ran his hand through his thick hair, seeming deep in thought, and then brought it upwards to briefly massage the junction between her neck and shoulder.

Yuuki smiled weakly at him comforting her though he had been had gone through the ordeal.

"I can remember some of it, but not all." Kaname's brow furrowed as he seemed to consider before he proceeded. "I have the ability to send my consciousness in the form of a bat; it's something like a familiar. It emerges from my blood and it acts as sometimes as a messenger, and occasionally as a spy. When this happens, part of me becomes the creature and I am more like the animal with its simple thoughts and instincts. In a sense, we are no longer single beings, but are one. I can see what it sees and the reverse is true. When I do it consciously, it's fairly easier to control, but there are times when it happens, when I'm sleeping for instance, I am less myself and am more the creature, at the mercy to its shifting passions. So, simple emotions like happiness, fear and anger are shared between myself and the creature. "

"So… you attacked the pillow because the bat was angry?" Yuuki asked after a beat. She felt relatively calm after reminding herself that she had witnessed the powers of the Night Class on many occasions and had even demonstrated a few of her own. It would only make sense that Kaname's powers would be more potent and also more bizarre.

"Yes," Kaname confirmed, a relieved look on his face that she somehow understood.

"Why was it, or you, angry?" Yuuki asked after another pause.

"Because it witnessed something," he answered slowly.

"What was it?"

Kaname's expression became closed and she detected anger in the downward curve of his lips.

How can I tell you, Yuuki, that Rido is very much alive, as I suspected, and he's found an ideal accomplice in Kiryuu, Kaname thought, swallowing his rage and hoping his face betrayed nothing to Yuuki so she wouldn't ask more questions.

However, Yuuki wasn't going to be put off, especially upon seeing a flash of scarlet gleam in his eyes. "Kaname, what-"

Kaname's gaze flicked towards the bedroom door. He heaved a sigh and Yuuki was certain it was one of relief. "Aidou is approaching… Shiki is with him," he said.

A/N- Greetings to all after my long hiatus. It's good to be back. :D I apologize to those who have been waiting for an update. Why so long, you might ask?

To be totally honest, I've been rather uninspired. VK has lost a lot of its appeal to me. Instead, of feeling happiness and pondering plot ideas when I've just read a chapter, I instead feel drained and extremely depressed. Maybe it will get better. *hopeful face*

But oddly, my disappointment with the manga has motivated me to write recently because, hey, fan fiction is where we can make it right, damn it! :)

Thanks:

To Maddy, my most persistent and adored stalker, for encouraging me to continue.

To O-Mega Lead, for his supernatural betaing skills and being just generally awesome.

To Nilie, for daydreaming with me about Kaname and other crushes.

The biggest thanks goes to those who take the time to review. :D You'll never know how much the time and effort you take to write one means to an author. They definitely are huge motivation to update, so if the reception is good for this chapter, I'll make an effort to get the next installment up quickly--instead of moving at my usual snail's pace. ;)