MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Two chapters within the same week! (I think...) Anyway, Vampire Knight and it's characters aren't mine, i just like to bend them to my will. 3:)

ENJOY CHAPTER 4!

Lea sat curled up on her bed, her legs drawn up to her chest, eyes blankly staring at the wall, completely exhausted. By now, three or four days after what happened with Zero, Lea had pretty much given up on sleeping; every time she fell asleep her dreams either forced her to relive the scene – being thrown against the wall, the argument on the stairs, falling down the stairs – or, even worse, just running through the school halls. Running from and running to Zero.

Two different Zeros: One, black-eyed and hate-filled, chased Lea down the hallways. He was always snarling and growling and occasionally he'd yell Lea's fears at her. "You're nothing but an IRRITATING little FLEA!" "All you EVER do is make my life DIFFICULT!" "Why would I WANT to spend my time with YOU!?" And the worst of them all, "I HATE YOU!"

The other Zero was the one that Lea was trying to find again; He'd appear at the very beginning, laughing and holding her hand. But then, eventually, he would disappear around a corner or into a classroom. Sometimes Lea would only have to blink and then suddenly he'd be gone, instead, standing before her was the black, hating Zero would be in his place and the chase would begin...

Lea shuddered and mentally pulled herself away from the dark thoughts. She glanced at the clock, five in the morning. Lea's stomach growled and she carefully unfolded herself from her stiff position and started to quietly make her way downstairs. It hadn't taken her very long to figure out the rough schedule the the Night Class followed for food and such, as well as when Zero normally returned from his rounds and went to bed. By now Zero should be asleep for another 2 hours or so and the Night Class students were either in the library still doing homework or were in bed. This way Lea had time to go down to the dorm kitchen for food.

Quietly, quietly Lea opened the room door, trying to not wake up Isabel, and started creeping down the hallway.

While it was true that Lea was avoiding Zero, she found it easier to just avoid everyone than just one person and while Lea knew that her doing this made Isabel a bit more than a little upset with her, she also knew that this was the best way – that she could think of – to give herself time to heal.

Lea leaned against the kitchen counter and munched on cereal bars, fruit and a large protein shake, trying to be quick. Briefly Lea considered slipping into the library for some books but, since she'd taken longer than she meant to eating, discarded the idea.

Suddenly her head shot up and swiveled to look at the kitchen entrance. Before anyone could say "Sup, Ging?" Lea quickly scurried over to where some of the cupboards jutted out from the others and curled her small frame into a ball.

"Leanna?" A tired voice groaned. "S'that you?"

Lea cautiously peeked around the corner and relaxed. "Isabel. Sorry, I thought that..." she trailed off as she stood up. She cleared her throat. "Sorry if I woke you up earlier." She grimaced and then stuck her tongue out at her. "I tried to trip over your books quietly."

Isabel pouted. "It's not my fault that my bookshelf caught fire after Kain visited!"

"No, but you haven't exactly tried to get a new bookcase, have you?"

Isabel couldn't fight that logic so, rather than try to argue her point, she went for the puppy-dog eyes. "Food?"

"Second cupboard next to the fridge." Lea smiled and rolled her eyes as Isabel uncovered her not-so-secret stash of Cheeze-Its with a quiet but happy "Nya!"

The two friends settled down on the barstools that lined one side of the island in the kitchen – Isabel gleefully munching on her 'cheesy goodness' and Lea drowsily rested her head on her arms but did not try to sleep, rather she tried to see past the hate-filled Zero that filled her vision. She'd long since given up on not seeing him.

Isabel watched as the redhead blinked rapidly and sighed. She'd seen Lea do this multiple times and she still had no idea why since Lea could never bring herself to explain and Isabel had no way of guessing. Isabel tried to speak quietly so she didn't startle her small friend. "You look like hell, Lea."

Lea jumped slightly, startled anyway, and then rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks for the ego boost, Izzy." She elbowed the brunette weakly and Isabel couldn't be sure if she just didn't want to rib her too hard or if she just didn't have the energy to spare for a better effort. Isabel was scared that the second option was the truth but kept her face calm. "I mean it, Lea; when was the last time you got a decent amount of sleep?"

Lea shrugged. "Probably not since we moved here. Maybe I'm turning into a half-vampire, being around all you leeches" another weak, but playful, nudge. "is slowly acclimating me." Lea half-smiled and the bad attempt at a joke but slipped back into a grimace when she looked away. She knew that Isabel was right and that she really did look like hell – sunken, bruised and tired eyes, pale and sick-looking skin and, Lea hated to admit it, she had probably lost a good pound or two. She sighed. 'I'm more like a zombie than a vampire.'

Isabel bit her lip. "What if you just talked to him?" She hesitated before continuing – she knew better than to talk about him with Lea and was breaking a few unspoken rules but she had to open the idea to Lea if The Plan was going to work.

Lea glared but Isabel spoke again before she could argue. "Or at least listen to him? I know that Zero's sorry that he hurt you and -"

"Stop!" Lea commanded, her hand raised as if she was guiding traffic. "Iz, there's really nothing to say. I told you before what it would take for me to back off of Zero and, guess what! It happened." Lea's voice became angry and her expression was dark.

"But Lea!" Isabel argued. "You know how Zero is, better than even Yuki I'd wager. You know that he'd rather cut off his finger than to see you hurt, let alone hurt you himself."

"Fine!" Lea spat. "I accept the apology that will never come! Happy now!" Lea balled her fists in an effort to keep her hands from shaking.

A sad smile. "I'd be happier id you'd go talk to Zero."

"And say what!?" Lea's voice climbed an octave and she could feel herself losing control. Could feel it, but could do nothing about it. "I should just go up to him and throw what's left of my heart at his feet, is that what you want me to do?! Get down on my knees and tell him that I've been stuck on him since we met ten months ago!? Give him every chance possible to break me further?!"

Angry tears fell from Lea's eyes and she suddenly found herself standing, the barstool laying on its side on the floor. Fists clenched and shaking, Lea tried to catch her breath. "It's safer this way. If Z-Zero hasn't gone through the sketchbook then he's only lost an irritating hobbit." Isabel smiled slightly at that; Lea loved Lord of the Rings and had often described herself as a hobbit. "-If he has, then he doesn't have to deal with an irritating girl following him around like a lost puppy."

Lea nodded, pleased with her little speech, then righted her stool, huffing a sigh as she sat down. A long pause followed as Isabel tried to construct a new argument.

"How do you know for certain that Zero doesn't want you around? Seriously?"

Lea raised an eyebrow.

"I mean it!" Isabel insisted. "I can't see why you so easily believe that Zero doesn't want you around."
"Well... I guess it was sort of a subtext thing." Lea bit her lip as she tried to think about it objectively so her heart wouldn't scream at her in pain. "He always seemed like he wanted to get away whenever I was talking to him and nine-point-five times out of ten he got irritated whenever we talked, no matter what it was about." Lea continued to gnaw on her lower lip.

"Point-five?" Now it was Isabel's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"The, ah, last time we spoke it was as if he was a different Zero; more careful but happier at the same time." Lea sighed wistfully. "If it hadn't happened, I would have guessed that he'd been flirting."

"What if he had been?" Isabel challenged. "What if it had been a complete accident?"

Lea glared. "People don't accidentally throw others across halls and into walls!" Her voice was a dangerous hiss and, if she hadn't known better, Isabel would have thought her to actually be a vampire.

"This is Zero we're talking about, and he is a vampire. He does misjudge his strength sometimes."

"That doesn't mean-!"

"And!" Isabel cut her off. "He was raised by vampire hunters. Hunters who taught him hardly any mercy and who showed him how to always focus on staying alive."

More lip biting. "But I'm not a vampire. Surely I smell different or something, right?"

"Imagine you had Zero's instincts – the instincts of a hunter – and you were suddenly grabbed from behind while you were distracted. What would you do?"

"I would get out of their grip and then judge whether I or anyone else were in danger."

"Ah, but you're figuring in that you were the attacker. What if Zero didn't know that?"

"He would have known that I was trying to get my book back."

"He's distracted, remember? Say he'd been looking through your sketchbook and was busy pondering why he was the main feature.

"Taking all those factors into account, what would you do?"

Lea looked down at her hands and reluctantly admitted defeat. "If I had Zero's strength and ability, then I probably would have done the same thing or something similar to he did." She sat still, practically frozen on her seat, as that sunk in. Her hands flew to her mouth. "Holy TARDIS of Gallifrey!" She nearly shouted her strange exclamation.

Flustered, Lea tried to hop down from the barstool but she seemed to have forgotten how to properly move. Instead of quickly jumping to her feet she ended up leaning on the counter, one foot caught on a stool-leg.

"I– ! I've got to- ! Zero!" Lea couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence as she freed her foot. She started to hurry to the kitchen doors, only to be stopped by Isabel.

"Wait!" She stood in front of Lea, hands firm on her shoulders. "It's barely six in the morning; Zero probably got in from his rounds three hours ago and probably has only gotten an hour of sleep after finishing his homework at four in the morning. Let's let him sleep as much as possible so he's coherent when you start bombarding him, okay?"

Lea nodded as she bounced from foot to foot, too keyed up to properly relax enough to calm down.

Isabel smiled, it was good to see Lea back to her previous energy levels. "Why don't you go clean yourself up?" Isabel suggested. "It's Saturday so Zero's not going to wake up until it's closer to ten. When you're done though, could we maybe work on Mama's sweets basket?" Isabel reactivated her puppy-dog eyes.

Lea laughed. "Sure." She playfully pretended to kiss Isabel's cheek before bouncing back to their room. "Thanks Iz!"

Isabel smiled again and shook her head. She knew that Zero would have agreed to waking up early if that meant that Lea was going to talk to him again but Isabel had a feeling that Zero would thank her for this.

Aido might be mad, though, since she'd deviated from The Plan and that he's not awake to see everything unfold. Oh well. She thought. Sucks to be you, Hanabusa. She giggled. Literally.

It was almost a full hour later when Lea came back to the kitchen and Isabel could tell that she'd most likely been doing her makeup and picking her outfit for most of that time. Isabel was always impressed at how Lea managed to somehow look as if she'd dressed in a hurry and as if she'd spent 3 hours in her closet: her skinny jeans, long sweater-vest and long-sleeve tee looked freshly laundered and preplanned while the messy bun and combat boots looked like a split-second decision. But what surprised Isabel was that Lea had swapped her usual choker-necklace for a short chain and metal pendant.

"Cute." Isabel commented and then nodded at the necklace. "Is that new?"

Lea blushed and covered the pendant with a hand, both holding it close and hiding it from view. "Well, you know how Aiden and Eugene expect a letter or a call every week or so..."

Isabel nodded, remembering the lecture those two had given Lea when she left. Protective brothers, everyone's got one.

"Well on one of the letters I sent them I had accidentally started doodling Zero's tattoo, so Aiden talked to one of his friends whose mother runs a custom-jewelry shop and he faxed over the design." As she spoke Lea unclasped the necklace and passed it to Isabel. "This came in the mail at around Christmas time, but I hadn't had the chance to wear it."

"Wow." Isabel held the square of silver close, angling it so the engraving showed clearly. "Real silver?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah."

Isabel whistled. "Since when do they have enough money to spare for something like this?"

"I know, right? Something like this would have cost them around fifty pounds. That's not very cheap for college bums."

"What's that in English?"

Lea smirked. "I think you mean American, pounds are English." She laughed. "Roughly seventy-five American dollars."

"Not cheap at all."

Lea laughed again, re-clasped the necklace, and grabbed an apron. "Shall we get started then?"

"Yes!"

For the next 2 hours or so Lea instructed Isabel on how to make assorted muffins, assisted in making cinnamon bread and made several dozen cookies in flavors from Chunky chocolate chip to raspberry jam.

As 10 o'clock got nearer Lea left Isabel with oven duty and started making waffles and sausages.

"Feeling hungry again?" Isabel asked, a mischievous smile in place.

"Something like that." Lea responded shyly, giving Isabel an innocent look that made the brunette groan.

"Don't tell me that you've already one-eightied."

Lea blinked at her. "I don't know what you mean."

"Lea, don't you play dumb. You know exactly what I mean."

"Do I look like a blond to you, Iz?" Lea asked sarcastically as she stacked waffles on to two plates.

"No, but-"

"Who's cooking and what's it going to take for me to get some of it?" Zero entered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Lea immediately smiled. "I made waffles, how many would you like?"

Zero froze, his gaze centered on Lea. For a brief moment pure shock took over his expression before he regained control and continued his way over to take a seat. "Three please. Thanks, Lea." He smiled hesitantly.

Lea's returning smile was radiant as she quickly stacked and prepared the waffles the way her brothers always did on her birthday: whip cream in between each waffle and 2 spoons of apple and pear pie filling on top. She set one of the heaping plates in front of Zero and grabbed them both a glass of milk, pouring chocolate sauce in hers.

Several quiet but companionable moments passed as Lea and Zero ate and Isabel, watching from the other side of the counter, smiled to herself. It looked as if Lea was back to her happy, besotted self: she kept bouncing in her seat and smiling for no see-able reason. Isabel giggled as she watched Zero reach out and place his hand firmly on top of Lea's head in an attempt to make her stop bouncing."

"No more sugar for you if this is how you're going to react." Zero threatened even though he was smiling.

Lea grinned and angled her bounce so that she bumped against Zero's shoulder. "C'mon, Z! Don't be a spoil-sport!" Zero rolled his eyes but didn't try to stop Lea's bouncing.

Isabel caught Zero's eye and raised an eyebrow at him, as if to ask You gonna talk to her or what?!

Zero grimaced slightly and spoke quietly in Lea's ear. Lea's eyes widened slightly but she nodded and stood. "'Scuse me for a mo," she said. "I've got to use the little baker's room."

Once the door swung shut behind Lea, Isabel glared at Zero who put his hands up in defense. "What did I do this time?"

"How about what haven't you done?" Isabel snapped.

"Okay, what haven't I done, then?" Zero said carefully, having already guessed what had Isabel's feathers all ruffled. I was hoping we could skip this. He thought, mentally sighing wistfully.

Isabel growled quietly, her teeth bared. "So what then? Are you planning to act as if the past three days hadn't happened, is that it?! Going to pretend that Lea never locked herself in our room so she didn't run into you?! That she never woke up screaming because of nightmares that scared her so much she couldn't even tell me about?! That she didn't look terrified when you asked her to leave?!" She paused to gulp down some air so she could continue yelling at Zero.

"I didn't tell her anything!" Zero snapped before Isabel could resume. "I asked her if you and I could have a few moments to step out and talk; she's the one who left!" He lowered his half-raised hands.

Isabel took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm back down. "Are you going to talk to her or not?"

Zero groaned slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know, alright?" He looked up at her. "In case you forgot, I'm kind of shit with emotions, Isabel; it's not like I know what I'm doing!" Zero looked down at his hands. "She looks so happy again; so much like her old self. I don't want to upset her again by bringing up what happened."

Isabel gave him a stern look. "If you don't she'll-" At that moment Lea returned, bouncing into the room.

"I'm ba~ack! D'ja miss me?" She grinned.

Zero gave a forced smile. "Every second was utter agony."

Lea giggled and nearly skipped over to her seat next to him, swinging her legs up as she sat so her feet were braced against Zero's thigh. "Good." She looked at Isabel and saw the small crease between her eyebrows that was always there when she was worrying. Lea gave her a calm smile. "Chill Izzy, what are you worrying about? I'm sure your mom's gonna love the goodies basket."

"Huh?" replied Isabel, distracted. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I'm just thinking is all."

"Okay. Try not to give yourself a headache." Lea advised. She glanced at the clock. "Oh! It's already noon!" She pointed at Isabel. "Bedtime for the vampire. Go on, I'll box and mail the sweets."

Isabel frowned, first at Lea then at Zero. "No, I'm fine. 'Sides, 'tis not proper to leave a couple alone." She teased, sticking her tongue out at Lea who had turned bright red.

"We're not a couple! Now go to bed!" She ordered, not looking at Zero.

Isabel raised an eyebrow at Zero.

"Go get some sleep, Isabel. I don't want and angry, orange Aido on my case when you fall asleep during class."

"Fine." Isabel stuck her tongue out at them again, hopped off of her counter perch and walked out.