Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Knight, if I did there would be way more Takuma because he's the best vampire ever. He likes manga, he's funny, and he doesn't sparkle, because that's just weird...

Chapter 10

They're Here

Since rooms had not yet been prepared, Zero, Cross and Yagari were taken to the parlor to wait and have some tea. They talked amongst themselves about how things were progressing for the Hunter's Association as well as for Kaname.

Everything seemed to be mending itself slowly for the Association, Kaien was likely going to be named the next president which would be beneficial not only to the Association but to the vampire world as well. There would be many changes that would have to take place, new rules and training methods, but Kaien believed it was possible.

While the Association was changing and morphing for good, it wasn't quite the same with the vampire community. Though outwardly things seemed to have gotten better, there were now hardly ever any unwarranted attacks on humans or families that supported Kaname and the vampires that supported the Council had quieted significantly. It was what was going on beneath the surface that worried them. The Takamora's had begun to strengthen ties with several aristocratic families that had had strong ties to the Council as well as with another pureblood if the rumors were correct. It was unknown who the other pureblood was since there was no proof, only hearsay. They were gathering a massive number of vampires to them and that didn't bode well for anyone.

Knowing his family rather well, Ken felt that it was highly likely that they planned to attack Reina first in hopes to eliminate her and to draw out Kaname since they knew he wouldn't ignore the murder of a woman he had loved and her unborn child. Drawing Kaname out also meant that Yuuki would be drawn out as well, they would be able to dispose of the Kuran bloodline and try to take power from there.

"There are three purebloods left to the Takamora clan, not including you, right?" Yagari asked, he was seated on one of the lavish couches, his arms folded over his chest and slouching with one foot resting on his knee, he looked rather out of place in the clean and elegant surroundings with his disheveled appearance and worn clothing.

"Correct," Ken answered, nodding. "My father and two elders who usually don't get involved, but it seems that they too are moving and helping my father in winning over the aristocrats that served or just supported the Council."

"What do you think the odds are that Reina will be attacked as Kaname believes," Cross inquired, pushing his glasses up on his nose absently.

"I think it's highly likely. Her pregnancy makes her a prime target since they'll think she won't be able to defend herself and they don't think I'm a threat to them. To them that makes her virtually unprotected since those gathered here would only be considered nuisances that could be easily dealt with," Ken replied.

"He really wants to make sure she's protected, doesn't he?" Cross sighed tiredly. "Not only does she have several powerful aristocrats and a pureblood guarding her, she now has us."

"Yeah, how nice of him. He ruins her life and then sends a bunch of idiots to look after her since he can't be bothered to do it himself," Zero snorted.

"You're one of those idiots too, you know," Yagari retorted.

Grunting, Zero shoved himself off of the couch. "I'm going outside," he grumbled.

"Oh, that's my cute son, make sure the perimeter is clear, you're so-" Cross was cut off when Yagari shoved a pillow over the man's face with a sigh.

"You'll have to excuse my idiot apprentice, he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Yagari said.

"He has every right to hate Kaname. Not only has Kaname used him, but he doesn't like to see him hurt Reina again and again. It's odd that that boy cares so much for Reina, but I suppose it's a good thing, if it weren't for her I somehow doubt that he would have accepted his fate. Kiryu hated vampires, but now here he is willingly living alongside them while struggling to accept his existence as one. Must be very hard for him," Ken mused.

Though the presence of the three newcomers hadn't gone unnoticed no one had cared enough to get up and investigate, even Aido remained comfortably in bed, mainly because he thought he was just having a very bad dream in which Kiryu, the headmaster and even Yagari had all shown up to torment him and steal his pocky. Even though their auras lingered when he woke up, he brushed it off as if it were nothing and proceeded to take a nice cool shower and then get dressed before sauntering downstairs where he could sense Reina so that they could curl up on the couch.

With a silly grin in place, Aido practically skipped down the steps and to the a room down the same hall as the library that had a large television in it that everyone had taken to watching since there wasn't much else to do to fling the doors open and walk inside, prepared to cuddle with Reina and talk to her stomach. He stopped dead in his tracks however when he noticed that Reina wasn't alone as he had thought, but that she was leaning against someone else who had an arm around her and his hand on her stomach. It wasn't so much that she was so comfortably sitting with anyone but him that irked him and made his face turn redder than a tomato, it was who she was getting comfortable with.

Spluttering out a long string of nonsense as he raised a finger to point at Zero, Aido couldn't contain the fact that he was not happy with what he saw. "W-what the hell are you doing here?!" He finally managed to shout. "And why are you touching Reina?"

Zero looked over at the red faced noble with a raised brow and a clearly bored expression before choosing to ignore him and turn back to the television that was on the History channel, one of Reina's favorites since she liked to compare history as the humans knew it to what the vampires knew and many had lived through.

"Don't ignore me," Aido snapped, stomping his way over to stand in front of Reina and Zero. "And get your filthy hands off of Reina-sama."

Reina sighed, she hadn't expected him to be happy about Zero's presence, but she wasn't in the mood for one of his temper tantrums. "Hana, Zero's here because Kaname thinks that the Takamora's are going to attack me soon and he wanted me to have more protection since you and everyone but Ken and I would be useless against three purebloods."

Aido stood dumbfounded in front of the two, he thought being called useless was rather harsh. It wasn't his fault that purebloods could control lesser vampires after all.

"Would you mind moving, you're in the way?" Zero asked blandly.

"I'm not going anywhere until you get your hands off of Reina! And you're in my seat so you should move!"

"Gladly," Zero grumbled, preparing to get up.

"Oh no you don't," Reina said, grabbing onto Zero and tugging him back down, earning her a glare from both Zero and Aido. "As long as you're touching my stomach, she's quiet, you're not going anywhere. I want some peace from the constant jumping and kicking. It was cute at first, but after two weeks of it, it's just kind of annoying."

Rolling his eyes, Zero let Reina put his arm over her again, his hand on her stomach and her head back onto his shoulder. Reina had demanded that he put a hand on her stomach to feel the baby kicking and when he had the baby had stopped kicking and the next thing he had known he was sitting on the couch with Reina making herself comfortable beside him. "Does it matter what I want?"

"Nope. Sorry, Zero, but you're my new best friend so long as the baby keeps quiet while you're around," Reina answered flashing him a small grin.

Aido was speechless. Utterly speechless as he stood there and watched Reina make herself comfortable against Zero, who though he had seemed willing to leave and let him take his seat, looked quite comfortable with the beautiful girl in his arms. It took a few seconds for the shock to wear off, but when it did he growled quietly and stubbornly left the room.

"I'm surprised you're letting me use you as a pillow, Zero. You used to hate just being in the same area as a vampire and though you say you don't hate our kind, you have yet to fully accept them," Reina said after Aido had left the room.

Grunting at her remark, Zero tried to ignore her, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't let him no matter how hard her tried.

"I'm also surprised you don't hate me. I rejected you, rather harshly."

Continuing to try and ignore her, Zero stared at the television intently.

"Stop trying to ignore me, you know it won't do you any good."

"It was worth a try," he grumbled.

"Do you hate me, Zero?" Reina asked.

"I told you before that I didn't hate you."

"That was before I rejected you."

"And my answer hasn't changed."

"Really, why?" Reina asked curiously.

Zero was quiet for a moment as a frown settled over his handsome features. "It just hasn't."

"That's not much of an answer," she pointed out.

"So? You rarely answer my questions, why should I answer yours?" he shot back.

"Because."

"That's not much of an answer."

"I want to know why after all that has happened you don't hate me, why you're choosing to accept your fate that was unfairly handed to you and why you're here. You had a choice, you didn't have to come." She kept her eyes focused on the television as she spoke, watching but not really processing anything except for the reaction of the boy she was leaning against.

There wasn't much of a reaction from Zero, he too kept his eyes on the television, he didn't know how to respond to the question without likely upsetting her, but he also knew that if he remained quiet she would just keep prodding him for answers. "You."

"Hmm." His one word answer had been rather unexpected and the meaning was uncertain, she blinked and looked up at him to see that he was avoiding looking at her and he had a rather serious expression on his face.

"Are you really going to make me explain this to you?" Zero asked, a harsh undertone to his voice as he finally looked down at her.

The harsh undertone didn't match the look in his eyes though, there was a softness there, a fondness, that surprised her and made her gasp. Her last day at the Academy before leaving for the Winter break that ended in such a mess replayed itself in her mind. She remembered the look in his eyes and if was quite similar to the look he wore now, he still wanted her even though he knew he couldn't have her.

"I...I.."

"Don't worry about it. I owe you, so I'll protect you if that's all you want from me."

"Zero..."

"Just shut up and watch the damn t.v," he mumbled irritably, shifting his weight to get comfortable on the couch.

Glancing down at her hands that sat in her lap and then at the hand that she had forced Zero to place on her round stomach, Reina frowned. She didn't want to hurt him, but that didn't change the fact that she couldn't give him what he wanted. Not only couldn't, but wouldn't. They came from two very different worlds and though she did care about him, she felt nothing for him outside of friendship and she hoped that one day he could see her as a friend too and not just the woman he desired but couldn't have, but that he chose to protect anyway.

It was that night that the dreams started.

In them Reina was standing outside of the manor on a dark night where the only light was from the small sliver of the moon that hung in the cloudy sky. The scent of blood was everywhere and when she looked around she saw that there were bodies littered through the meadow.

Her heart began to try and pound its way out of her chest as her eyes went from body to body, identifying each one. Hanabusa, Kain, Ruka, Shiki, Rima, Ken, Zero, Cross and even Yagari were all there, Midori and several other of the household servants too, their bodies littering the area. A child's cry startled her and she snapped her head up and turned towards the manor, there was a figure in one of the second story windows with a baby wrapped in a blanket in their arms.

She tried to move but couldn't, tried to scream but had no voice and was forced to watch as the shadow figure elongated the nails of one of their hands and raised it above the child's chest. It was in the instant that the figure raised its hand that there was a flash of lightning and it began to rain, the lightning briefly illuminated the figure that held her child and she saw the familiar face that hovered above the baby. Unable to do anything at all, Reina stared up at the figure and watched as the hand began to descend.

"Reina!"

She woke up drenched in a cold sweat, her heart pounding in her chest and a scream stuck in her throat as several tears slid from her wide eyes as she sat upright, breathing rapidly.

"Reina," a male voice called again.

Looking up at the lavender eyes that were staring at her in concern, Reina breathed out a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her stomach. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Reina, what happened?" Zero asked.

"A dream," she replied hoarsely, shaking her head as she pushed herself up from the couch and wrapping both arms protectively around her stomach.

Zero stood up too, frowning at her as she shakily walked out of the room.

Reina made her way through the house and up the stairs to the room that Ken had taken, she didn't bother to knock as she opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Reina?" the brown haired man asked in concern and surprise, turning towards her from where he stood, about to pull a white undershirt over his bare chest.

"I had a dream," she stated as if that should be enough to explain her sudden appearance in his room.

And for him, it was. He pulled his shirt on, pulling his long hair that he hadn't yet put into a ponytail out of the shirt before walking over to her and taking her elbow to lead her to one of the two chairs in the corner of the room.

"What happened?" He asked after helping her take a seat.

"Everyone was dead. You, Hana, Zero, Midori, everyone. I was outside, surrounded by your bodies when I heard.." she trailed off her eyes flicking to her round stomach as she took a deep breath. "I heard a baby's cry and when I looked up...I-I couldn't do anything, I couldn't-"

"It's alright, Reina, just calm down. It was just a dream," Ken assured her, kneeling in front of her to take her hands in his.

"I know, but I swore to protect this child. His child and...and..."

"Shh." Gathering Reina in his arms, Ken held her as she started to sob. "Nothing is going to happen to your child, Reina. It was just a dream."

"Was it them?" She asked through her sobs.

Ken sighed. "If you mean my family, most likely. I wasn't paying enough attention, Reina, I'm sorry I let them get to you."

"It was Takuma," she whispered. "Takuma tried to kill our child."

"It was just a dream, Reina," he repeated, but the fact that it was Takuma she had seen trying to kill their child unsettled him. It made him wonder just what his family knew.

He and Reina left the room a few minutes later and were instantly confronted by Zero who was leaning into the wall directly across the hall.

"Hello, Kiryu, what can we do for you?" Ken asked with a small smile.

Zero ignored him, but his eyes flashed to the hand that was on Reina's back to help support her since she still seemed rather shaken by her dream.

"Dinner's ready," Zero finally said, pushing himself up from against the wall and walking away from the two purebloods.

"Do you want to go down or would you rather eat alone?" Ken asked Reina.

She shook her head. "No, I'll go down, I'd just like to wash my face. Mind keeping me company?"

"Of course. Though I'm afraid Zero is getting the wrong idea about our relationship."

"I don't really care what Zero thinks, he is a friend to me and nothing more. If he's going to accept that he is now a member of our race, then it's time he learned that that is all he can ever be."

Over the next two weeks, Ken rarely left Reina's side and the dream never returned to her, but it haunted her all the same.

Even with their new house guests, everyday life was rather dull and boring as they all waited for some form of news from Kaname or one of Cross' contacts. Yagari kept to himself, as did Zero though he had a tendency to shadow Reina. Cross was his usual much too happy self and had taken to helping out her staff and even gardening, Reina didn't mind, if the eccentric hunter was outside then he wasn't inside gushing over her stomach and talking in baby talk.

There had been little news in the past several days as to the movements of the Takamora's and those that had joined with them. Instead of making anyone more relaxed, it was putting everyone on edge. Reina only had about one month left in her pregnancy and if the Takamora's were going to use that as an advantage, then there was only so much time left before they attacked. With no idea when this was going to happen, everyone went into alert mode, even Rima and Shiki who usually spent their time leaning on each other and eating pocky while reading or watching television had begun to grow restless and found themselves in the parlor with Aido, Kain and Ruka. The five vampires spent most of their time quietly in this room now while Yagari and Zero spent more of their time outside. All of them were waiting for some news of what was going on because not knowing was beginning to make them all much too tense.

It was currently mid-afternoon and the sun was still rather high in the sky, but everyone was gathered in the parlor. Even Reina was there, leaning comfortably against Ken as the two of them read. Despite the number of people gathered in the one room, it was almost completely silent so when the phone in the hall rang, they all jumped and turned their heads toward the door.

In the same moment the phone rang, Reina was off the couch, Ken stood up to shield her and the doors to the parlor flew open to reveal Zero and Yagari, Cross was right behind them, his cheery demeanor replaced with a serious coldness. They had all sensed the same thing, the fast approaching auras of three purebloods and several powerful aristocrats.

"They're here," Reina said, staring out the window as the phone continued to ring in the hall.