T W O

She woke up to the sound of glass being set on the bedside table beside her, but couldn't find the strength to open her eyes. Her lips parted, taking in her first sweet breath of Cross Academy air. Her brown bangs curled around her cheekbones and flowed across the pillow like a river. Voices spoke above her, and they were the most unfamiliar yet familiar things she'd ever heard. She had to open her eyes if she wanted to be sure where she was. This smell… it smells like… her face twitched as a familiar presence walked through the infirmary door.

"She's finally coming to," a nurse said. "We injected a numbing agent into her bloodstream about an hour ago; her body was under extreme pressure and pain and wouldn't allow herself to be lowered onto the bed. She's going to be a little air-headed, so bear with her for now. She's going to be sick if she talks too long or if she tries to take in everything at once. Her medication will be wearing off. Keep the reunions to a minimum, alright?"

"Understood," a calm, wavering voice spoke, and she could just barely feel her hand be grasped. She opened her eyes slowly, even though her lids begged to close again from the intense blandness of the room. She locked eyes with the light eyes of Headmaster Cross, whose eyes had begun to tear already. "Yuuki… how are you, dear daughter?"

"H-Headmaster…?" 20 year old Yuuki felt her breath catch, and she smiled at her adoptive father. "Wh-Where… am I?" her head was spinning, and she swallowed. The immediate taste of blood, dirt, and glass made her gag, and she very slowly sat up with the help of her father. "I… can feel it. I'm home… Cross Academy." She spoke slowly and felt tears burn her eyes. "It's… it's been five years…" the tears started to flow down her face, and even though she was numbed, she had no intention of making herself look more pathetic.

"Yuuki, there's no need to exert yourself too much," her father smiled, wiping her tears for her. "You're home now; you're always welcome back at the villa. Nobody has touched your old bedroom, as the villa hadn't been touched in the battle five years ago. Welcome, Yuuki."

Yuuki nodded her head, letting her smile flutter back onto her face. "Thank you… father."

Before Headmaster Cross could get double-y emotional, Yuuki asked the pressing question. "So… Zero isn't here anymore, right? I wouldn't think so; he wouldn't want to see me anyway."

Headmaster Cross looked at his daughter and put a hand on her cheek, feeling her rest her face in his hand. "He is. He used to only come around during the fall and spring. After all, Cross Academy is also his home. He travels as a Vampire Hunter, only leaving when there's a desperate call for a Hunter. Which, truthfully, hasn't been in about a year."

Yuuki felt her heart skip a beat, and she leaned forward as her father sat down on her bed, rubbing her cheek. "So… is he at the villa, too?"

"He is. But you aren't going there until the numbing agent wears completely off and you adjust more. After all, there's more people who'd like to see you before I bring you home. I'd give it a few days, a week at most." Yuuki nodded as her father spoke, and she sighed. She winced as the numbing agent started to fade in her chest. "Yuuki, what is it?"

"M-My chest, it… it hurts…" she dragged her hand up to her chest and tugged on the hospital gown, revealing a bruise on her collar bone. Headmaster Cross gasped, staring at it, and Yuuki gasped. "P-Please, father… I just… I want to go home." She let her head fall, the feeling in her cheeks coming back as tears flowed freely onto her other hand closed tightly in a pained fist. "I just… I want to go home!"

Before she could take another breath, the Headmaster had turned to let his back face her and was lifting her onto his back. "It's funny; you're a whole seven years older, but you're still as light as you used to be. I'll have Zero make you some food. Nurse, I'm taking her early! Send the necessary medication to my villa!"

"Err, wait! Mr. Cross!"

"Yuuki, don't you love me anymore?" Kaname's voice was slick with hurt, and Yuuki felt her breath hitch. What kind of question was that? Did she love him anymore… how stupid he was to ask such a thing.

"I…" the words caught in her throat; it had only been three months since they'd left the academy a destroyed mess. She had made her decision knowing she was destined to be with Kaname Kuran. After all, he had saved her ten years before, and didn't let anyone hurt her without his being there to defend her. But… it wasn't just him who protected her from the dangers of Level E's. It was… It was Zero, too.

Hanabusa and Ruka were out of the abandoned house they had inhabited as a temporary shelter, most likely taking a stroll, patrolling the premises. That meant she and Kaname were alone, two betrothed siblings finally having a serious conversation. Yuuki bit her lip delicately, so her fangs wouldn't break the skin.

"Well?" Kaname demanded softly, making Yuuki look back at him. Finally, red met red, and Yuuki couldn't bring herself to say anything. Kaname crossed the room, standing above her and making her retreat a little, and he bent down to kiss her lips. He stopped before their lips touched. "If you don't love me, Yuuki, I'd understand."

"It's… not that I don't," she said quietly, her brother's breath warm on her lips. She licked her lips, tasting the very thing she knew she'd feel right now; regret. She took a step back, afraid if she spoke further, their breath would mingle and he'd kiss her. She swallowed and pressed herself against the door. "It's… just that… I do things because… I feel like I have to. Some things… I didn't even let my mind set that it was all on my shoulders. There's just too much happening inside me right now…"

What was she saying? "Are you saying… that you don't, Yuuki?"

Yuuki felt tears burn her eyes, and she shook them away before anything trickled down. "Kaname… if I asked you to seal my powers like mom did… what would happen to you?"

Kaname furrowed his brows and gave her a disproving look. "The power would be too great, even for a pureblood like myself, and I'd die. Are you saying that… you want me to die, Yuuki?"

"…d-die?"

-x-

Yuuki shot up from her spot in her own bed, panting and gasping and reaching out. Her forehead was coated with sweat, and her eyes wide. She reached to wipe her eyes and forehead and let her hands fall to her lips. She opened her mouth and put her finger onto her teeth, dragging it along the surface. She didn't have fangs anymore... just her canine teeth. So it wasn't a dream. Kaname really was gone, and she was still being hunted.

Even if she wasn't a vampire anymore, she was still the enemy of some people.

A quiet knock echoed through her room, and she slipped out from under the covers. "Who-Who's out there?" her voice was so horribly quiet that she barely heard herself, and another louder knock caused her to gasp and wipe a tear away as she got a headache. She stumbled over to the nightstand and grabbed Artemis, feeling it react and extend at her extremely nerve-wracked behavior. "Come… in!"

She prepared herself as the knob turned and the door opened, and she closed her eyes tightly and swung Artemis. She cried out in fear as she felt it stop abruptly, and she opened her eyes to stare into the tired lavender eyes of her past best friend, Zero Kiryuu. "Did you intend on killing me, Yuuki?"

Yuuki felt her eyes widen and stared at the young man, sighing in relief and pulling Artemis back. She threw the staff onto her bed, it transforming back into its smaller form in the air and rolling to rest on her pillow, and stared at him, folding her arms around her torso and hugging herself tightly. "You know I'd never intend on killing you, Zero… even if you transformed," she stated bluntly, and he stepped into her room, closing the door immediately behind him.

Both friends had changed in the past five years, and only some of it was for the better; Zero hadn't grown much taller, but his body was leaner. His chest and shoulders were broad and muscular, and his face looked older and pained more than it had five years before. Yuuki, on the other hand, had truly matured. As she stood there, she made it just barely under Zero's nose, and she had cut her hair to her shoulders again. Her eyes weren't as big, having narrowed just slightly with age, and her… endowments had also rounded. She had developed hips and delicious curves that Zero wanted to touch. But it wasn't fair that he was thinking this when she was feeling so delicate.

However, he couldn't be more wrong. Right now, all Yuuki wanted was to be touched. More specifically, embraced, or kissed where she for once actually felt like she was in love.

Zero crossed the room and rested his hand on her head, staring at her with worried eyes, and Yuuki forced a smile. "Why do you always have to force a smile with me, Yuuki?" Zero asked, bending over (and, to her triumph, not as much) to rest his forehead on hers and close his eyes. Yuuki relaxed, leaning a little upward and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Because I can't bring myself to smile right now, and yet that's all I want to do now that I'm home," she said simply, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. Yuuki's heart skipped a beat and she stood on her tiptoes to properly rest in his arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, and he led her backwards to her bed. He noted there was a bed across from her where Yori used to sleep, and he contemplated sleeping there until he realized he had to make his nightly rounds around campus.

"Zero, please don't leave me, okay?" he smiled and sat her down on her bed, kneeling in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his head and leaned forward, burrowing her nose in his light hair. He smelled lightly of cologne; a smell she hadn't smelled in five years, and had absolutely adored. "I… I can't take being alone again. It's been five years."

Zero nodded and wrapped his arms around her back. "I had no intention of leaving you, Yuuki."

And there's the second chapter. I'm having a lot of fun writing Zero and Yuuki as a pairing on a romantic level; so much that I have started another one-shot... though, I must warn you, it's a little... sexy.

Please review and tell me how it turned out! *heart*

~Cookie