spread this story to anyone and everyone who will like THe Way Things Are and the sequel :)

" Another day in paradise..."

My voice was pull of sarcasm as we sat in Zero's apartment.

" Just because we haven't had anything to do in the past week doesn't mean you have to verbally and sarcastically throw your feelings about in my home Anna." Zero put in.

I snorted and glared at the T.V non interestedly.

A small sharp pain hit my in the stomach and the position I was in aided it as i curled in a little, wincing. These stupid pain's hadn't stopped popping up at random times during the past couple of weeks. My heart sank as the pain went away.

What if it was a sign. That it was happening all over again. What if I was dying...

I shuddered at the thought and my eyes began to tear. Rubbing them furiously my gaze turned to Zero who was busy looking through files at the kitchen table. With a huff I got up and wrapped my arms around him, resting my chin on his shoulder.

" What type of files are those?"

He flashed a quick look my way and went back to studying the files. " Dead hunter files. Some of us didn't survive."

I uncurled an arm from his waist and picked up an already sorted file. Completely letting go over Zero, I kneeled next to him and opened it. Inside was a picture of a man who looked to be in his thirtys. He had a wife and three kids who were all still alive.

" We should do something nice for all the families that lost someone. "

" But, there's almost twenty people who died! Some kids are parentless and are living with far away relatives!"

I cuffed him on the head and glared. " Oh come on! Grow a pair, don't be one! It's almost Christmas so its perfect timing!"

Zero rubbed the offended area and sighed with a smile. He leaned in and pecked me on the cheek." I was just joking. It does sound like a pretty good idea. But what are we going to do for all those people?"

" You can bake, no? So we make cookies. Simple and easy."

" How many cookies?"

" Probably around one hundred and fifty."

" Grreeeaaatttt. I don't even have any dough or frosting..."

" Go buy it."

" Fine."

Zero had gone to the store, bought the dough and the frosting and came back looking slightly irritated.

" Something happen?"

" Several girls tried hitting on me while I was shopping. I think some stalked me home."

" Well it's not like we have rings to tell them off. You might as well have to deal with it."

" Deal with it?"

" Yes Zero, as in let them flirt. Did you tell them that you had a girlfriend?"

" Yes."

Out of curiosity I walked over to the balcony, opened the sliding glass doors and peaked over the over hang and to my surprise I saw a group of three girls standing across the street, trying to find where Zero supposedly lived.

" They stalked you home alright. Creepy." I confirmed, walking back inside. Zero walked over to the balcony and glared down at the girls.

" Jeez..." my boyfriend mumbled. I heard the sound of happy squeals and rolled my eyes.

" Looks like they spotted you. no doubt now they'll come knocking on our your door. But they'll get a surprise. Come on and help me bake these cookies, they can't bake themselves."

Eventually he came back in and about twenty minutes later had baked about three dozen batches of cookies. I was just about to set the timer for three more when a knocking sounded at the door.

I opened it and saw the three girls standing there. " Can I help you?"

The looks on their faces were priceless. " Oh! U-um... We j-just... we didn't know s-someone else lived with him."

" Yes. I'm his girlfriend."

" We're sorry!" The ran off. As soon as I closed the door I burst into laughter. " Zero you have seen the looks on their faces. They were indescribable!"

Zero caught me in a hug and touched our foreheads together. " Well, now they know i'm definitely not single..."

I kissed him on the lips and set the timer for the cookies.

About 5 hours later all the cookies were baked, frosted and in plates with tin foil over the top and put in the car.

" I don't know about you but I am exhausted." Zero chimed as we climbed in. Thankfully Zero had offered to drive this time.

" I know. Here's the list of names. Let's just work our way down, it will go by faster than you think."

The first seven houses were easiest to find since they located near the middle of town. The children's mother or father thanked us with kindness and sincerity.

As we visited the eighth house and knocked on the door, a small four year old girl answered.

" Hi, sweety. Is you're mother or father home?"

The girl nodded and disappeared, then came back with her mother and I saw two 8 year olds behind her. The mother recognized me right away.

" Oh hello Anna-chan! It's nice to see you!"

" Hello Ms. Saki! We were just going to bring you these." I handed her the cookies.

" Oh why thank you! Why are you doing this though?"

" We're doing it for the families who lost someone during the attack at the Association."

The woman's face went sad for a moment. " Yes... there were many who did. Oh!" Her face went surprised for a moment. " Zero? My dear, I haven't seen you in ages. You look so grown up!"

I smiled and looked at Zero who was smiling also. " It has been along time."

A smile creeped onto her face, a teasing twinkle in her eye. " Are you two dating?"

Our smiles grew as did a blush on both our cheeks. " How adorable!" She gushed. " I was hoping you two would end up together."

My mouth dropped open a little. " You were?!" She nodded.

" I'm glad to finally see it! You two are perfect together!"

" Thanks... I'm sorry but we must get going to finish our deliveries."

" Alright! Have fun! Come visit me sometime, I'd love to catch up on what you have been up to!"

We waved and drove away.

" That was interesting." Zero said.

" Very."

We had delivered the rest of the cookies and were driving home when something caught my eye in the back of an alley.

" Zero stop!"

He pulled over safely and I leaped out of the car running into the alley to a little boy about five years old. His shirt was dirty and his dark brown hair on the left side of his face was stuck to his skin with dried blood. And his dark blue eyes were wide with fright, tears escaping freely down his face.

When he saw me he cowered and whimpered. So I phased into a white wolf, and lay on the ground, inching closer to him.

" Anna! What are you doing?" called Zero. Immediately the child began to cry again and I nuzzled him with my nose. His cries became hiccups.

' It's a young boy Zero. I wonder if he has any parents. We need to get him out of here before a Level E discovers the smell of blood. '

" Anna. I think these are his parents..." Zero's voice cracked as he spoke and I turned to see two bodies hidden behind the dumpster. I got up and moved a little ways away from the boy to get a better look and almost gagged. The stench on my sensitive nose was almost unbearable. From the looks of the bodies, they had been dead more than a day. The bite wounds on their necks however where not torn open holes as a Level E's victim would have, but neat and precise. Sniffing the air, the scent was old but I could just recognize it. I couldn't believe it at first but there was no other guess as to who it might be.

Kuran.

' Zero... Kuran... he- '

" I know... lets get this child to safety and report this to the Association."

Zero picked up the scared child and I followed close behind, turning human once more before exiting the alleyway. A flash of silver caught my eye and I walked back to the dead bodies. I picked it up and examined it, pocketed it and went back to the car.

The small boy fell asleep in my lap on the way back to the apartment.

" What's going to happen to him. Do you think someone will take him?" I asked quietly.

" I don't know if the Association has anytime to take care of him. The chairman might but he seems to busy to do it right now."

" So I guess we'll see later today won't we?"

" Yeah."

We arrived to Zero's apartment and I got out of the car, careful not to jostle the boy in my arms. I set him on Zero's bed, taking of his shirt. His pants weren't too dirty so I settled for washing his shirt since Zero nor I had any small clothes his size.

Zero wet a dish towel and wiped away the blood. There was no injury nor was he bitten, and I was grateful for that.

A thought crossed my mind and I couldn't keep it to myself. " Zero? What if we took care of him?"

" Anna you and I don't know how to take care of a child this young. Let the chairman handle it. If you wanted we could visit him all the time. You still have to go to Cross Academy for another year."

Zero was always straight with his words. " Fine..."

" Mommy.." I heard the boys call from Zero's bedroom and walked in. He was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. He saw me and frowned. " You're not mommy."

" No, your mommy isn't... here any longer."

" Do you remember what happened?" i asked him, going to sit next to him on the bed.

" Scary monster..." The boy shivered.

" Did the scary monster hurt you?"

He shook his head.

" What is your name?" I asked

" Ken."

" Well Ken, we're going to take you to a friend of mine so he can help find what happened to your parents, okay?"

Ken nodded and i put on his clean shirt before carrying him out to the car. We arrived at the Academy and went straight to the headmaster's office.

The familiar happy voice invited us inside.

" Well who do we have here!" cooed headmaster.

" He's an orphan. We just found his parents earlier today... they're dead."

Cross sighed morosely and fixed his glasses. " Who did it."

" Kuran..." answered Zero, a fiery hate gleaming in his eyes.

" I see... I can take care of him for now. You two should go, I'll have a talk with him."

I set Ken down and gave him a gentle push towards the Headmaster. " It's okay. I'll be back to see you soon." As I went to stand up, Ken turned and hugged me around the neck, I hugged him back. Once he let go, I left hand in hand with Zero back to his apartment.

The ride home was quiet with not much to say between the two of us. " Do you think he'll be okay?" I finally asked as we shed our coats and shoes at the front door, rubbing our hands together to get feeling into them.

" I'm sure he will."

Again a stinging pain hit my abdomen and my arms this time. I hissed out a breathe and bent over. A warm hand descended onto my shoulder. " Are you alright?"

" Yeah, cramps." I lied and stood up with a smile. " I'll be fine." I walked over to the couch and gratefully sank into the plush cushions to get the weight off my cold and sore feet. Zero walked into his bedroom and shut the door.

A light snow fall caught my attention and I gazed outside watching the white particles stick to the balcony railing. A dull thud came from Zero's room followed by a low curse.

" Zero?" I called. No response. " Zero..?"

I got up from the couch and walked over to the closed door. Testing the handle I knew it was locked.

" Are you alright?" I tried again. Nothing. The thud came again and I kicked the door open.

Zero was lying on the ground, panting and sweaty. " Zero!" I fell to my knees at his feet and turned him so he was facing me. He looked at me with bright and hungry eyes.

" N-no! Go away, I-i'm fine!"

" No you're not! You're hungry, let me give you blood, please!"

Zero was always the stubborn type. He shook his head roughly. I grabbed his head and bent down so his mouth was next to my neck.

" I give you permission. It's okay..." Before I could finish, hungry fangs latched onto my neck, sinking into the skin to take my blood from me. I winced at how rough the bite was but I knew it couldn't be helped. I began to feel light headed and pulled on Zero's hair gently. " Zero... come on Ze... let go!"

Zero ripped his fangs from my neck, my blood running down his chin onto his shirt. The blood eyes slowly faded to the beautiful amethyst color. Realization slowly filled his eyes at what he had done and stared horrified at the bite he had created on my neck.

" A-Anna?!" He scooted over to me and hugged me. " I'm so sorry!" I hugged him back. " It's alright Zero. I let you. Don't think you attacked me."

" I don't b-but never let me do that to you ever again. Please..." His shoulders shook as he sat there hugging me.

" Okay..."