Zero had been acting strangely for the past few days. He seemed to always be in deep thought, his face set hard in concentration.

" Zero... Zero! ZERO!" I yelled his name, running after the wandering Ken that he was supposed to be watching.

He looked up," Oh, sorry." he mumbled, throwing me an apologetic look.

I shook my head sadly. " Focus Ze... you don't want him getting lost do you? That's not good parenting."

Zero ran a hand through his silver hair. " Sorry. I'm thinking about something. Here, I'll take him." Zero held his arms outstretched towards Ken, who giggling, leaped into his embrace. I couldn't help but grin and imagined my own child doing just that.

" What are you smiling like that for?" asked Zero with a smile of his own.

" Huh? Oh, nothing..." I trailed off turning away, my smile grew even bigger.

" AANNAAAAAAA!"

My smile instantly vanished. I moved quickly to avoid a falling blond.

" Yes headmaster?" I growled.

" Kaito-kun needs help with teaching tonight... Is that blood on your face?"

I panicked. " N-no."

Cross dusted himself off and gave me a leveled stare. " The Night Class..."

" They were going to hurt Ken! I had to intervene."

He sighed. " Alright. You heard what I said about your brother?"

Remembering, I groaned. " Yes, fine. I'll do it, but I don't want to..."

" Thank you Anna."

~~~ Later that night~~~~

I angrily stormed about in the front of Kaito's empty class, gripping my hair. " Why... WHY!" That familiar agonizing pain ripped through my body. I gasped and fell to my knees. I shuddered violently as it came in waves. " It hurts.." I whimpered. A pair of footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor and I scrambled behind Kaito's desk to sit in his chair. Right when I was seated the door opened to reveal Kaito with a book tucked under his arm.

" Hey there kiddo."

" H-hey." I hoped he didn't notice the crack in my voice as I tried to swallow the pain my body was producing.

Kaito strolled over to the desk, set his book down and ruffled through the drawers for the papers for his next class.

" The night class is a little ' free lance' I guess you could say. Since that pureblood girl isn't here."

" I'll keep a close eye..." The pain slowly melted away and I leaned into the chair with a huff.

The high shrill of a bell ran throughout the school and the volume of voices and distant shuffling filled my sensitive ears.

The door opened and students bean to file in. Some were in small groups, others walked in by themselves. These were first and second year vampires, so they were younger than me. Its better than oler ones, that's for sure. They tossed me a glance, unsure of why a wolf was in the room. Much less an older attendee. Maybe a rebellious student? I laughed to myself at the thought, too amusing.

" Alright, hurry up! Moonlight is wasting away!" Growled Kaito. He walked in front of the class and introduced himself, the lesson went on for a good 15 minutes before voices from a couple different students began to rise to a low murmur.

' HEY! PAY ATTENTION!' I yelled into their heads, no doubt scaring them. They jumped and the talking girls shrieked. I laughed aloud. Kaito tossed me a look but continued as if nothing happened.

The night continued without any incident. I hit my head on the desk as the last class of the night walked out the door.

" Thank goodness this is all over. Can I go now?" It was almost midnight and I had semester finals to study for.

Kaito sighed and walked around the room, picking up loose papers and worksheets left on the desks. " I know that you have studies to final for , but I need help grading some large essays. The Association called and needs help with another outbreak of Level E's. Besides, tomorrow's Saturday. You'll have plenty of time to sleep and study. After Saturday is Sun-"

" Okay, okay! Yes I know! I'll help you, but Ken needs to be looked after and Zero is doing duty. Let me go grab Ken and I'll be back."

Moving sluggishly from my seat at the front desk, I made my way to my room to fetch Ken. He was already asleep so I wrapped him in a blanket and carried him back to the classroom. When I got back Kaito was already cracking down on a three page essay on Evolution. Without glancing up he reached with a blind hand and shoved an essay towards me with a red pen. Setting down Ken in my lap I began to correct it. My pen moved to correct grammer mistakes and spelling errors swiftly. With as much practice as I had last year after I was staked the memories of correcting papers was burned into my brain, as were many other things. My mind began to wander. My life wasn't one to talk about, much less my experiences. Though only a few knew my life story, they only knew the crust of it.

I had heard many over told stories of my encounter with the dangerous and powerful Kuran Pureblood vampire. Lots of people had witnessed my " courage". I hadn't ever felt courageous at every deed I had done. I only did it for others not caring about my own life. My life had and still has no meaning. I sounded suicidal. Though honestly half the things I did were. But I was also weak. My vulnerability was always at a high. This caused me to just shut my emotions off, but those cases were extremely rare. Zero had caught me on one of those days, he kept bugging me but I completely ignored him. Even though I loved him as he loved me, that kind of thing was always to be kept a secret.

I did not notice a hand that wrapped around mine, a voice breaking through to me.

" Anna..."

I jumped and blinked, looking up at him. He looked at his hand that was covering mine and I looked down discovering my pen gripped in my hand and its tip pressed against the essay creating a giant red spot over a couple of words. Immediately I let go, watching the pen roll a couple inches before coming to a standstill. " Oh, sorry..."

" Are you alright?" asked Kaito, hand still over mine." You've been staring at your paper for almost fifteen minutes..."

" Y-yeah. Must have drifted off...er... what about the paper. I ruined it."

He removed his hand and picked up the paper. " Well you had one sentance to go and I'm pretty sure the student won't mind. Good lord... that many mistakes?!"

I nodded, Ken shifted in my lap but continued to sleep. " You should get a shower and go to bed..." said Kaito, who stood up and walked over to me to ruffle my hair affectionately before sitting down again. I nodded and stood up, giving him a smile before leaving. I got to my room and found Zero asleep on Ken's bed. I set Ken on mine and tucked him in before walking over and pulling a blanket over the uncovered Zero. Stepping into the bathroom I shut the door quietly and turned on one light of the two so the bathroom was half lit and turned on the shower. I got in once the water was decent and leaned my head against the cool tiled wall of the shower. My nose suddenly got a warm wet feeling and I lifted my hand to my nose, pulling it away to see blood. I sighed and pinched my nose shut tilting me head back to stem the flow. I stayed like that for about five minutes and let go of my nose. Blood poured from it in a gush and covered the shower floor in bloody water. My lungs filled with blood and I coughed violently as some went down the wrong pipe. I grabbed a towel and shut off the water, about 5 minutes later the blood stopped and the towel completely ruined.

My breathing became normal and I stared at the towel in horror. It was getting worse... much worse.

A pounding at the bathroom door made me jump. Zero's voice called my name. " Anna! I can smell blood, what's going on in there!"

I wiped my mouth and threw the bloody towel out of sight, wrapping myself in a clean one I cracked open the door. " Shh! Jeez Zero... I just cut myself while shaving. Relax! You'll wake up Ken."

Zero's shoulders eased from their tense state. My eyebrows furrowed, he usually wasn't this calm about things. I would have suspected his eyes to be red and breathing hard from no blood. Nothing.

" Zero.. are you... alright?" Zero frowned. "Yes, why?"

" Are you hungry?"

" ... No."

" Huh... nevermind. Let me get dressed and I'll be out in a minute, go back to bed please!" I shut the door and got dressed in pajamas. Switching off the light in the vanity I walked into the room and climbed into bed with Zero. An arm wrapped around me as I pressed my back to his chest, his legs came up to spoon my body. I sighed and closed my eyes as I felt his lips peck my cheek and then rested his forehead against my shoulder. I felt his warm breath caress my skin and started to fall asleep.

" I love you..." he whispered. I smiled. " I love you too, Zero."

" More than anything?" he asked.

" More than anything..."

" Forever?"

" Yes Zero..."

" And ever?"

" Yes Zero!"

I heard him laugh quietly as I smacked his side with a hand. " Now go to sleep!"

He was still laughing as I settled back down into the sheets finding myself slippping peacefully in a deep sleep.

. . . . .

Saturday morning came and I woke up to find myself facing Zero. His face was calm and peaceful as I gazed at him. Reaching up a hand, I moved some hair out of his face. Zero's eyes opened and stared sleepily at me, mouth smiling. I smiled back and sat up to look at Ken who was also beginning to awaken. I pulled him out of bed and gave him a bath and got him dressed in a new pair of clothes. I had to go to town today to find new clothes for him, Zero had agreed to go with to get some air. All three of us grabbed breakfast and walked into town. Ken swinging from our hands, laughing as did we at his antics. Zero and I shared a smile, I turned to face forward but could still feel his eyes on my face.

We stopped at a crosswalk, that was heavily trafficed with people because it was one of the busiest streets in town. I let go of Ken's hand for a few seconds to root for my wallet , making sure I had it and found it. Reaching a hand back to Ken I looked down and he wasnt there. Panic filled me. I looked around and he was no where near me.

" Zero! Where's Ken!"

Zero looked around, eyes going wide. He cursed and the walking light turned to go. As people started to clear out I scanned the ground for any sign of tiny feet or a small head of brown hair. I saw nothing.

Zero came over and took my face in his hands as I began to hyperventilate. " Anna, calm..."

I nodded. He stared at me. " Sniff him out... I know you can do it." I took a deep breath and inhaled through my nose. A million scents filled my nose but searched for one scent in particular. I caught a whiff and immediately followed it, my walking speed picked up to a slight jog.

Then I spotted him. His hand was grasped tightly in a man's. I could only see the back of this man's head but I rushed up and snatched Ken away from him. Ken smiled and hugged me, relaxing to my touch and the nervousness slowly leaked form him. The stranger turned around... it was Daisuke.

Hugging Ken close I glared at him. His expression read one of surprise.

" You idiot! How dare you walk off with Ken like that!"

" I'm sorry! He's yours? I didn't know, I saw him wandering and decided to take him. I never saw you!"

Zero was glaring daggers at Daisuke as he walked up to us, laying a hand on Ken's head. " Look around before you walk off! Moron..."

I could see Daisuke wilt under Zero's stern gaze, I immediately felt guilty and took a couple of steps towards him. " Hey, I'm sorry. You were doing the right thing. Forgive me for being a little over protective." Daisuke's face lit up slightly and he smiled, nodded and turned, walking off without another word.

Happily, Zero, Ken and I continued our shopping for the next few hours and got home. Ken asleep in Zero's arms. We left him with the Headmaster when we returned back at the Academy around noon.

" How did the shopping go?" asked Cross.

" Oh it was good. Nothing happened... it was a nice day." I avoided the run in with Daisuke.

" I'm happy you did. You and Zero are taking a very good responsibility for young Ken here. I'm pretty sure you two will make very good parents some day." I caught a look at Zero and saw a vein in his temple throbbing, I giggled. " I'm sure we will Headmaster... I'm sure we will."

Cross saw Zero's look. " Oh come, come now Zero. You know I love to mess you guys."

Zero rolled his eyes, huffing, and turned, walking out of the door but not before I caught his cheekbone lifting up in a smile. I followed him out soon after. I caught up to him and jumped on his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissed his neck.

" Woah! Hah, hey there silly." He chuckled, using his hands to hold my thighs. I grinned, " Hi.."

He carried me underneath a large oak, we sat behind it so no one could spy on us. I sat against the trunk of the tree with my legs crossed, his head resting on them, staring up at me. I moved my long brown hair over a shoulder then leaned down to kiss him upsidown. He kissed back.

I sat up but just enough to look into his amethyst eyes. We stayed like that for a while.

" You up for dinner out tonight?" he asked suddenly.

" That sounds nice, may I ask where?"

" It's a surprise..."

I frowned, then smiled. " Alright... I wish Yuuki was here." Zero's brow furrowed in confusion. " Who?"

" Yuuki... are you playing dumb? You honestly don't know who she is? What's wrong..."

Zero rubbed his forehead and sighed. " Nevermind."

. . . . . .

I shook my fur to get rid of a pesky itch as I trotted through a forest a little ways away from the Academy to get some air. It was around three in the afternoon by then. I turned human and straightened my long sleeve red shirt and fixed my jeans. I looked to my left and spotted Cross standing with his back to me... and Kaname standing in front of him. I flattened myself against a tree and listened.

" So you came..." Said Cross.

" So have you finished preparing the furnace?" asked Kaname. Furnace?! What furnace!

Kaname continued, " Its the responsibility of the last remaining member of the founders, so I will succeed Her. We must leave the Parent, and with it the power to butcher vampires, with the humans. I will use my own heart to fuel the furnace..."

" Before that I'm sure you have something to say to me." Cross said, straight faced. " Kaname-kun stop closing off the inside of your heart to everyone and stop making decisions on your own! Who will benefit from continually contaminating yourself only?!... It happened Yesterday. My followers and the students of the Night Class entered a specific empty castle while following a target. Its the castle where you put an end to the life of the head of the Hanadagi family, and Aidou-kun's father."

I gasped silently at his next words. " We found a coffin and inside was Aidou-kun's father who you supposedly killed sleeping soundly. Kaname-kun...Its because of acts like these that Yuuki went so far as to steal the memories Kiryuu-kun had of her! For Kiryuu-kuns sake... and also for your sake!"

I ran out from behind the tree and saw Kaname's shocked and horrified expression. " Cross! Why!" I cried. Yuuki appeared from behind another tree. " Chief Director! You had no need to say tha..." She trailed off as Kaname stared at her, still shocked. Then he stared at me with the same expression. Except it was laced with vulnerability.

I turned my stare to Yuuki, eyes burning with tears, shaking my head slowly and my lip quivering. " You... you d-did that...?! "

Yuuki opened her mouth to say something but I turned, phased and ran as fast as I could out of there.

How could you , Yuuki...