Disclaimer: i do not own Vampire Knight or its characters, i only own Ayaka, Shuhei, Daisuke and Ragan

Chapter 4

"So the answer's five right?"

"No, it's four."

"...Oh."

"Okay, that's it Ayaka" Aido said as he got to his feet angrily, ignoring the papers that he sent scattering to the floor. "What's wrong with you? You haven't been acting like yourself all week! Did something happen?" When she didn't reply he put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the face, "Ayaka?"

"It's none of your business!" Ayaka snapped as she slapped his hand away, "I can deal with it myself!"

"Well you obviously can't!" Aido snapped back, "If you were dealing with it you would be acting like normal, instead you've barely said one word to anyone, even Shuhei! Just talk to me Ayaka!"

"I already told you that it's none of your business!" Ayaka snarled as she surged to her feet, turning on her heels she stormed angrily out of the room. Aido waited a moment before following her; he knew where she was going without having to see her. He was halfway down the corridor when music started flowing out of the music room. He left her to play and calm down for a bit, there was no point in trying to talk to her at all when she was in a state like that.

"How long are you just going to stand there?" Ayaka asked as she finished one song and moved onto another.

"Until you've calmed down" Aido replied.

"Since when has the word calm ever been associated with me, I'm not Shuhei you know." Aido smiled, that sounded much more like her. Aido walked into the room and sat down on the bench beside her, he watched amazed as her hands moved fluidly over the keys. He wasn't going to ask her to talk to him again; he knew that she and Shuhei both had always been the kind of people who kept everything bottled up inside them.

"I keep having dreams," she said without missing a single note on the piano, "about my past, it's got me pretty on edge, sorry..." Aido stared at her, without thinking he leaned forwards and wrapped his arms around her. She paused in the middle of her song, completely confused on what she should do. After a long moment she started playing again, relaxing into his arms as she regained the rhythm of the song. Aido sighed and rested his chin on her shoulder, watching as her hands moved skilfully over the piano keys.

"My families having a party next week," Aido said.

"They are?" Ayaka asked as she turned her head slightly.

"No chickening out!" Aido thought frantically as he hesitated, "ask her!"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"Huh?" Ayaka replied, she turned to face him, forcing him to release her so that they could sit face to face. Ayaka was amazed to find that it disappointed her greatly. "Di-did you just say what I think you said?"

"What did you think I said?" Aido asked sheepishly; Ayaka's cheeks burned bright pink as she replied.

"It sounded like you were asking me on a date."

"So... What's your answer?" Ayaka hesitated a moment before leaning forwards and hugging him in reply.

"Did you really think that I would let you go on your own Petal-kun?" Aido returned her embrace and sighed in relief, glad that he had finally asked her the question that had been nagging at him for months.

OOO

"What do you want Shuhei?" Shuhei's eyes narrowed as the tall vampire materialised in the middle of the blood drenched living room, his golden hair and white eyes skilfully masked the slight resemblance between the two half-brothers.

"You like it?" Ragan asked as he spread his hands out, indicating the room in general. "I thought it was more than appropriate, I hope you appreciate the effort that I am putting in to make you feel comfortable."

"Don't you mean uncomfortable?" Shuhei asked evenly.

"Hmm, that's almost exactly what Ayaka said, except her version contained a lot of words that are not suitable to be repeated."Ragan slung himself casually into one of the many armchairs scattered across the room, sitting with his legs dangling over the arm of the chair and his hands resting behind his head."Now what do you want, little brother?"

"I want you to leave Ayaka alone."

"Oh?" Ragan swung his legs around so that he was sitting facing Shuhei properly; he smirked as he held the silver haired vampires gaze. "Why should I do that? You have no right to tell me to stop seeing my future bride."

"Answer a question for me Ragan, in these dreams; have you drunk my sister's blood?" Shuhei bared his teeth angrily as Ragan's smirk widened.

"You would know if I had, because you wouldn't be standing there talking to me right now, you would be dead. The main problem with this power of mine is that I can get injured to, and I must admit Ayaka sure lives up to the rumours about her fighting ability. I wonder if the same can be said about her brother."

"Why have you convinced yourself that she is going to be your bride?" Shuhei asked suddenly, "you can't be interested in continuing your pureblood line, since she is not a pureblood. So what is it that you want with her?"

"I love her" Ragan said quietly, his tone became darker as he got back to his feet; he stood a couple of inches taller than Shuhei. "She is one of the only things that I have left in this world."

"Then why are you trying to destroy her?" Shuhei growled as he stepped forwards threateningly.

"I'M NOT!!!" Ragan snarled as he brought his hand down on the back of the chair, splitting it in two. "All I'm trying to do is make her realise how much she wants me to."

"Haven't you been reading the messages Ragan? She wants you to leave her alone, the only reason that she would want you is so that she could kill you herself." Ragan roared with rage as he raised his fist above his head. "You can't hurt me here" Shuhei told him evenly, "you may have a remarkable amount of control but this is my dream, I am the ultimate master of his world." Ragan snarled and lunged for Shuhei's face. There was a blinding white light as Shuhei ended the dream abruptly...

Shuhei sat up in bed sharply, instinctively blocking an attack that would never reach him. He put his head in his hands and concentrated on breathing evenly and calming himself down. He couldn't believe that he had been so stupid, he knew that provoking the pureblood was the worst possible thing that he could have done, but he went ahead and did it anyway.

"I just did everything that she warned me never to do" Shuhei said quietly to himself as he kicked off the covers and clambered out of his bed, going for a walk would help clear his head. He turned down the corridor and followed the sound of the music; he needed to make sure that his sister was okay.

When he reached the music room the door had been left slightly ajar, looking in he was surprised to see Ayaka sitting in Aido's arms, playing the piano as if the scenario was the most natural thing in the world. He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the window quickly and only just glimpsed a shift in the leaves as a figure darted away through the trees.

OOO

The ball room in the Aido's mansion was packed full with noble vampires all standing in pairs or small groups, dancing and swaying in time to the music. Aido and Kain stood by one of walls; Kain looked slightly bored as he scanned the room while Aido shifted nervously beside him.

"Are they here yet?" Aido asked for the hundredth time.

"Not that I can see" Kain replied once again. Being taller than his cousin Kain was the first one to see the two silver haired vampires making their way over to them through the crowd.

"Whoa..." Aido said quietly as the twins came into view. Shuhei was wearing a white suit with a dark purple shirt and black tie, Ayaka was wearing a backless dress with fabrics of varying shades of green and black. Her eyes were decorated with green eye shadow and black eyeliner, her silver hair was half held up in a loose bun with the under layer falling in waves over her shoulders.

"Hey" Ayaka said to him as she pocked his forehead, "put your eyes back in your head."

"Please tell me I'm not the only one here without a date" Shuhei asked as he looked around the room, suddenly wishing that he had followed his sister's advice and found someone to ask after all.

"I did tell you to ask Seiren, didn't I Brother? But nooooo, you thought there would be more people here without dates didn't you?" Ayaka grinned innocently as Shuhei turned to Kain.

"Akatsuki-san, please tell me that you don't have a date either," Shuhei looked almost pleading as Kain ran his hand through his hair.

"Well, actually I'm waiting for Ruka..."

"... I'm going to go and find Seiren."

"What if she already has a date?" Ayaka called after him as Shuhei turned and walked back into the crowd.

"I'll find someone!" Shuhei called back as he disappeared into the sea of people.

"So... You want to dance?" Adio asked Ayaka after half a minute of awkward silence. Ayaka nodded as he took her hand and led her into the crowd. It didn't take her long to prove the fact that she had no idea how to dance at all. Ayaka frowned in frustration, wincing when she accidentally trod on Aido's foot.

"Sorry!" She said exasperatedly as she moved farther away so the she wouldn't stand on his foot again.

"You're just not keeping in time with the music" Aido said as he took her hands and pulled her closer to him. He took one of her hands and placed it on his waist while he held the other one out to the side. "Just follow me and you should be fine." Ayaka blushed as they moved across the room; she wasn't used to being so close to someone else.

"Do you want to go out for a walk? I could take you around the mansion; a lot of it has changed in the last couple of years." Aido hadn't even finished his sentence before Ayaka dragged him away from the dance floor and out of the room.

"Seriously, if you ever make me do something like that again I'll actually throw you out the window. That was so embarrassing!" Ayaka stopped by the tall window and looked out at the night sky which was full of sparkling stars rimming the bright full moon. The light glowed off of her skin turning it almost as silver as her hair.

"Ayaka-chan, it wasn't that bad" Aido reassured her, hoping that his staring wasn't too obvious. "Do you want me to show you around?" Ayaka turned and grinned at him.

"Petal-kun, it's our first date, I can't have you stealing me away to your room so soon now can I?"

"Huh? Wh-wha-what?! N-n-no that's not... I mean... I wasn't..."

"... I was kidding." Ayaka turned bright pink as she turned back to the window, she didn't think that the night could have possible gotten more awkward. "Huh?" Ayaka said as Aido took her shoulders and turned her towards him. She couldn't help but gasp, the kiss was so unexpected that she just stood there unmoving in complete shock.

"Too soon?" Aido asked as he pulled away and looked at her nervously.

"What is?" She replied, he hesitated a moment before smiling and leaning in to kiss her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she moved closer; she should have noticed when his eyes started glowing red but she was too distracted. She was a bit confused when he pulled out of the kiss and rested his chin on her shoulder, against her neck. "What are you doing?" She asked shakily as he licked the side of her throat. "Hey!" Ayaka could hear her voice cracking slightly as he pulled her closer to him, pressing further into her neck.

"You smell so good."

The jumble of flashbacks rushed by so fast that Ayaka couldn't separate individuals out, but they all carried the same instinctive message. "Get him off! Get him off! Get off, get off, get off, get off, get off!"

"GET OFF!!!" If she had been at a better angle she would have probably broken his jaw, luckily for Aido all that he staggered away with was a bleeding mouth and I very red mark where Ayaka's fist had connected with his jaw.

"What's wrong?" Aido gasped as he spat blood out of his mouth and looked at her, his eyes were full of concern. Ayaka backed away holding her hand against her throat, too confused to think of anything else to do.

"All the same," she said as she started to back around the corner, "it doesn't matter if you're pure bloods or not, YOU'RE ALL THE SAME!!!"

"Ayaka-chan wait!" Aido called as she turned and sprinted around the corner, it didn't take him long to reach were she had been standing but when he looked down the corridor she had completely disappeared. "How the hell?..." Aido said to himself as he began to make his way back to the ballroom, hoping that she had gone straight back there.

"Hanabusa-san? Where's Ayaka?" Aido froze with his hand on the door to the ball room, after what had just happened Shuhei was the last one he wanted to see. Ayaka's twin was looking a lot happier than he had at the beginning of the night, but that happy presence evaporated swiftly when he saw the blood around Aido's mouth. Shuhei's eyes narrowed dangerously as he turned and motioned for Aido to follow him. Aido hesitated, Shuhei was more than capable of killing him, and if he believed that his sister had been hurt he would more than happily do it without a second thought. Aido gulped before turning his back on the safety of the ball room and following Shuhei back into the mansion.

Shuhei waited until they were a safe distance from the ball room before he grasped Aido's neck and threw him against the wall. Aido cried out and clawed desperately at his throat, trying to make the stronger vampire let go.

"It's not... Ayaka's blood..." Aido gasped.

"What?" Shuhei snapped as he released his neck, Aido held his throat as he tried to catch his breath, but doing that reminded him of Ayaka, which reminded him of the dangerous situation he was in with both twins. "Where's Ayaka? What happened?"

"She... Ran away from me..."

"Why?" Shuhei's voice was a lot darker than normal, making Aido cringe slightly against the already cracked and dented wall.

"We were kissing" Aido said as he felt his cheeks begin to go pink, this wasn't exactly the kind of conservation that you would have with your girlfriend's over-protective brother, especially if he was more than ready to kill you at any second. "I guess I read the signs wrong, I thought she would be okay with it..." Aido backed into the wall nervously as Shuhei's hands began to glow purple. "I... tried to drink her blood."

There was a crashing sound as chunks of brick and wallpaper went flying across the corridor and smashed into the opposite wall.

"BAKA!" Shuhei snarled before disappearing down the hall, going in search of his sister himself. Aido was shaking visibly as he looked up at the claw marks just above his head, and the pale purple fluid that dripped down from the shattered bricks. He raised his hand and touched his jaw where Ayaka had hit him; suddenly he knew exactly what he had to do.

OOO

The last splinters of the tree settled on the ground. Shuhei stood over the remains of the small tree, gasping angrily, why couldn't he find her?!

"It's not like you to lose your temper like this Shuhei-dono, did something happen?" Shuhei turned sharply in surprise as Daisuke walked out from the shadow of one of the larger trees. He bowed dramatically as he entered the clearing, knowing that it would be more than enough to get Shuhei even more aggravated. "Now there's no need for that," Daisuke said evenly as Shuhei clenched his fists threateningly. "All I did was come out for a nice leisurely walk in the moon light, and the next thing I hear is have the forest being destroyed."

"Enough of your crap" Shuhei said quietly as he started to walk forwards.

"Ooooh scary" Daisuke said with a fake fearful expression on his face, "I'd forgotten that you aren't the talkative type."

"Where's my sister?"

"Huh?" Daisuke replied, looking genuinely confused, "she's at the Aido mansion... Oh, that explains why you're tearing all of the trees apart." Daisuke smirked smugly as another voice rose from the shadows.

"That's an interesting bit of information there little brother; don't worry about looking for Ayaka, I'll go and find her."

"STOP!" Shuhei made to run into the trees after the voice but was stopped as Daisuke darted in front of him.

"Not so fast" he said happily, his smug smile still firmly in place, "I need your help." Daisuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a razor sharp knife, he twirled it around his fingers casually as he circled the clearing. "You see, I haven't had a chance to do any practice in ages, I need to make sure that my fighting skills are still up to scratch. Besides..." Shuhei blinked and Daisuke was right in front of him, the blade of the knife aimed directly at his face. "You still owe me for my right eye."

Sparks flew into the air as Daisuke darted back quickly; he switched the knife to his other hand and rotated his wrist carefully, making sure that it wasn't broken.

"You're pretty fast" Shuhei said as he brought his arm down; the moon light shone against the silver edge of the knuckle-blade that he held in his hand, "you're almost as fast as Ayaka. Almost." Daisuke's smirk, which had disappeared after Shuhei blocked him, returned instantly.

"What about you? You're pretty strong, almost as strong as Ragan-sama. Almost." Daisuke jumped to the side as something span past his head, barely missing his ear. Connected to Shuhei's knuckle-blade by a long chain was a small ring with three small blades connected to it, it's size and shape made it a more than affective long range weapon. Daisuke dodged a second attack from the ring and used the opening that it created to dart forwards and lash out with his knife, only to be blocked by the other half of Shuhei's weapon.

"Venom Darter is quite impressive" Daisuke said as he backed away and began to circle again, though he tried to hide it he was starting to become out of breath, unlike Shuhei who had barely had to move from one spot through the whole fight. "Is there something attractive about that spot?" Daisuke asked, trying to find a way to gaud Shuhei into moving.

"I don't see the point in wasting energy by moving if I don't have to." Daisuke frowned angrily; deciding that physical attacks weren't going to work he decided to try using his telepathic abilities. Giving no warning at all he sent a mental attack crashing into the barrier around Shuhei's mind. Shuhei gasped and clutched his head, dropping his weapon and falling to his knees.

"What... the hell?"

"Gone and gotten pretty good at that technique haven't I? You had no time to guard against it at all this time did you?" Daisuke said smugly as he put his knife back in his pocket and strolled up to Shuhei casually, feeling no need for the weapon any longer. "I wonder what memories are all coming back to you right now."

"Don't talk bullshit" Shuhei snapped, "you know exactly what you dragged back up... Gah..." Shuhei fell forwards as he coughed violently and sent blood splattering across the leaf littered floor. Daisuke looked at him in surprise.

"Hmmm, I knew about your little problem but I didn't think that my abilities would be enough to cause an attack. Huh, you learn something new every day I guess." Shuhei snarled as more blood welled up in his mouth, causing him to gag and cough. "Does Ayaka know the truth?"

"About what?" Shuhei spat.

"You know what" Daisuke smirked, "does she know who killed your mother?"

"..."

"Well, I don't think she does, because I really don't see Ayaka-sama as the type who would travel with someone who killed his own family. I wonder how she will react to the news..."

"No!" Shuhei shouted desperately, "don't tell her."

"But she has the right to know doesn't she?" Daisuke said as he knelt down and took Shuhei's chin in his hand, forcing him to look up at him. "I think she has the right to know that Ragan-sama didn't kill your mother."

"Shut up..." Shuhei said weakly as Daisuke forced more painful memories to the surface of his mind.

"You know, my ability is pretty similar to Ragan-sama's, do you know what that means?" Shuhei froze. Daisuke smirked as he added more energy to his attack on Shuhei's mind. He flipped the younger vampire on his back and held him down as he added the next level of his ability to the assault.

Shuhei screamed as all of the memories seemed to become really again, he could feel his arms being ripped apart, claws racking down the side of his face, the same claws stabbing through his chest.

"I won't stop unless you start begging, oh and let's not forget that you have to admit the truth to," Daisuke said sadistically as Shuhei fought against him desperately. "you have to admit that Ragan-sama didn't kill your mother, you did."

"NO!" Shuhei screamed as tears began to roll down his cheeks from both pain and anger.

"Aww, crying is close, but I still won't stop until you beg."

"Actually" Kain said as he lit small fires in the air all around them, "it would be a good idea if you stopped now."

OOO

Ayaka watched the silver lit black water of the stream rushing by, wishing that she could be as care free yet purposefully as the water. She ripped a blade of grass out of the ground and split it with her nail, she watched solemnly as the seeds blew away in the wind. She put her head in her hands and sighed, she couldn't' remember ever being so confused. She didn't want anyone drinking her blood, ever. So why had she almost let him?

"What are you thinking about?" Ayaka was on her feet in an instant, her Venom Moon Scythe out and ready for work just as quickly. Ragan walked out of the trees as if it was something he did every night, he stopped in front of Ayaka, just out of range of her weapon.

"None of your busi..." Ayaka was cut off as a scream ripped through the trees. She stopped for a moment before she realised who the scream belonged to. The blood drained from face and she turned towards the sound, completely forgetting about Ragan. "Shuhei... SHUHEI!!!"

The slight distraction was all that Ragan needed, moments later he had one hand on Ayaka's neck and the other on her back.

"You shouldn't turn your back on me" Ragan said as he ran his nail down the side of her throat, drawing a thin line of blood. Ayaka shivered as he leaned forwards and whispered in her ear, "it's not a good idea."

Meh, too tired 4 comments, all i got ta say is this *ahem* CLIFFHANGERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please Review