Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Vampire Knight aside from the plot of this story!

A/N: And here is the next installment of Rescue Me. I am so happy that you have all stuck with me this far. I hope you all enjoy!

A/N2: We are back with Zero and Yuuki in this chapter, just to clear up and confusion!

Punishment

Zero grunted as he was slammed into the tree behind him by Kain. The ice already imbedded into his shoulder was wedged in deeper. Hearing Yuuki scream for Kuran made him look slightly to the side, ignoring the nobles before him. She stood there in Ruka's arms staring at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"Zero watch out!" she screamed.

Whipping his head back in the direction of his attackers, he was barely able to dodge the blood whip that lashed at him. A sharp cracking sound made him turn his head back toward Yuuki. She was limp in Ruka's arm with a bruise forming on her cheek as the female noble slowly lowered her hand.

"Yuuki!" he yelled, trying to run toward her.

He hissed in pain as a whip hit him in the middle of his back. With eyes blood red in rage, he continued to move toward Yuuki as she was dropped onto the cold ground by Ruka. Before he could reach them though, he was thrown back into the tree once more by Ruka's wind.

This seems so familiar…Why does it feel like this has happened before?

Zero shook off his thoughts as he moved to defend himself. Standing with his arms braced in front of him, he studied the opponents in front of him. They all had the powers of nobles so he needed to figure out a strategy. A glint in the moonlight caught his attention; it was Bloody Rose. Yuuki was out for the count and they were all around him… So if he got to his gun and back in front of Yuuki in time, he would be able to defend both of them. The only problem he encountered was that he needed to dive for the gun, and in order to do that he needed one hand to grab the gun as the other braced his weight on the ground. His right hand was nearly useless and there was no way it would support his weight. Quickly weighing his options, he acted.

Leaping forward, Zero scooped up the gun with his right hand and his left slammed into the ground to propel him forward into a roll and back onto his feet. Hissing in pain and his broken bones grinded together as his hand clenched around the gun, Zero pushed through the pain and slight tears in his eyes. He couldn't afford to be delayed by any weakness.

Quickly transferring the gun to his left hand, he fired several shots as he ran to stand in front of Yuuki. His aim wasn't as good with his left hand so all the shots were just diversions so he could get to Yuuki. Standing in front of her, he stared down the sight of his gun at the nobles.

"I will forgive this trespass and won't tell Kuran if you all leave right now," Zero warned.

Ruka laughed curtly, "He already knows were here since that pathetic human had to go and yell like that."

Zero clenched his finger tighter around the trigger, "Fine then, if you leave now I'll beg him to have mercy on you for hurting Yuuki."

"No deal!" Ruka yelled as she leaped forward.

Moving his gun to center it on Ruka, Zero missed the vine coming toward him. As he pulled the trigger, the gun was pulled up toward the sky and the bullet went off course. Cursing, Zero yanked hard on the gun as he knocked Ruka away with his right forearm. Zero bit his lip hard, drawing blood, as he felt the bones shift in his hand from the movement. However, in his focus on Ruka, he missed the others coming toward him.

Aido fired icicle projectiles at the hunter while Kain threw mini-fireballs at him. Dodging the projectiles, Zero cursed as he was once again backed against the tree. At least if he had to be away from Yuuki's side, none of the attacks would accidently injure her. As he weighed his options, he hoped that Kuran actually had heard Yuuki's scream. If that was the case, at least Yuuki had a chance of getting out of the clearing alive. If not, they were both screwed.

Why does it feel like I've been here before… Waiting for Kuran to save me?

Shaking his head to clear away all his wayward thoughts, Zero forced his mind to focus on the fight. Making to leap away from the tree, he fell to a knee as a vine wrapped around his left ankle. It seemed to happen in slow motion has his right hand hit the ground to brace his weight. His eyes screwing shut from the pain was all the Night Class needed to overpower him.

A swift kick to his left hand from Ruka sent his Bloody Rose flying from his hand. As he raised his head, a knee to the jaw made his head snap back into the tree trunk behind him. With dazed eyes, he could only stare helplessly as the Night Class converged around him. Their eyes seemed gleeful, he supposed, from the thoughts they had of causing him immense pain.

"You will pay for what you've done to Kaname-sama," Aido warned.

All Zero could do was chuckle, "I find it amusing that you want to exact revenge for your prince when I don't even know what the hell I did."

Zero's head snapped to the right as Aido swiftly backhanded him, "Silence you insignificant level D!"

He spat blood onto the ground from where his teeth split his cheek inside his mouth. He would be damned before he showed these vampires any sign of weakness. Zero would willingly submit himself to death before that happened.

Leaning his head back to rest on the tree, Zero stared at Aido with half-mast eyes, "Since you seem to know so much, why don't you tell me exactly what it is that I did to offend your precious pureblood bastard?"

All the Night Class's eyes narrowed at the insult thrown at their prince. It was inconceivable for a vampire to show so much disrespect to someone of such a higher class. Even as nobles, level Bs, they dared no question or insult the purebloods, level As.

With another backhand, Zero's head whipped to the other side, "Don't you dare speak of Kaname-sama that way!"

As Zero went to speak, a scream of pain flew forth from his lips as Aido smashed the heel of his shoe against his already shattered right hand. When he stepped back, Zero glared at the blonde as he panted from the excruciating pain. Aido smirked as he wrapped his hand around Zero's neck. Picking the prefect up, he slammed him back into the tree trunk with his feet inches from the ground. Zero just stared at the noble with eyes that spoke of disinterest while inside he was scrambling for a way to get out of the current situation.

Since when has Aido backing me into a corner felt so recent?

Aido leaned forward, his nose almost touching Zero's, as his smirk grew, "You have been disrespectful for too long, even after all the trouble Kaname-sama went through to save you. He even gave you his blood, the most precious of our kind, and you just spit his kindness back in his face."

Zero's eyes widened at what the noble said. The only time he could remember Kaname giving him his blood was when they were all alone in the pureblood's room. He was certain that none of the other Night Class members were around to witness that event. Now, he was truly starting to believe what Takuma had said to him… There seemed to be a huge gap in his memory.

"Now, since Kaname-sama won't waste the effort to punish you properly, we nobles of the Night Class have decided to take the duty onto ourselves. You will be punished, as we see fit," Aido's eyes and voice told of horrible things to come.

Bracing his other hand beside Zero's head, he turned Zero's head sharply to the side to expose the side of his neck that didn't bare the sealing tattoo. Leaning closer, Aido breathed on the side of Zero's neck and chuckled at the goose bumps that spread across his neck. That one simple action of Aido's had the entire clearing filling with the scent of Zero's fear.

"W-Wait! D-Do-!" Zero cut off sharply with another scream of pain.

Aido viciously dug his fangs into the side of Zero's neck, endeavoring to cause as much pain as possible. Zero twisted against the hold that Aido had on him, clenching his left hand around the one around his neck and pulling, but he was already weak from the fighting they did earlier; he didn't have the strength to dislodge the noble. All his struggling did was make the wound hurt more as it caused Aido's fangs to rock into his neck, producing pained whimpers from the prefect. Flashes of a silver-haired woman digging into his neck flashed before his closed eyes; her calm, crimson eyes staring at him as she smirked at his fear before finally delivering the animalistic bite that changed his life forever.

As the images passed through his mind and the blood passed from his body, Zero's struggles slowly became weaker until he hung there limply, only producing pathetic whimpers periodically. His blood flowed quickly into Aido's awaiting mouth as his heart was racing in his chest from fear. He could no longer struggle as his arms felt like dead weight hanging beside him; he hardly had the strength to open his eyes. But he did manage to open them to mere slits as he looked at the other members of the Night Class behind Aido. They stood there, crimson-eyed and with fangs protruding, with sadistic grins at his suffering as well as the scent of his blood. Finally giving up, Zero let his eyes slide shut and just let Aido hold him there.

His heartbeat began to slow down as the amount of blood it had to pump lessened. Just before he was about to lose consciousness, Aido was ripped from his neck. Zero screamed softly as the noble's fangs tore from his neck as he sunk to the ground beneath the tree. With great difficulty, he managed to open his eyes slightly, somewhat surprised at the sight that greeted him.

Concerned crimson eyes surrounded by chocolate brown locks stared into his own crimson-tinted lavender as he whispered, "Kaname," before swiftly losing consciousness.

END!

A/N: And there you have it! Kaname has finally showed up on the scene. I know it took me forever to get him there, and with his vampire speed he should have gotten there sooner, but there is a method to my madness, I assure you. And also, I had slight fun with torturing our sweet Zero :D I hope everyone liked the chapter, I tried to make it longer but don't quite know if I succeeded. Please, let me know what you think, I super loooove reviews!

I was away from home, as I said previously, due to a family emergency and I just returned home a few hours ago. I did not have access to the internet but I was able to type this up while I was away so I am posting it before I crash. As such, I'm sorry to say that I don't have the energy to reply to everyone who reviewed separately, so…

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUBMITTED A REVIEW AND/OR ADDED ME TO THEIR FAVORITE AUTHORS, FAVORITE STORIES, AUTHOR ALERTS, AND STORY ALERTS! I SUPER APPRECIATE ALL THE COMMENTS YOU HAVE SUBMIITED AND HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO SUBMIT REVIEWS. I AM GLAD YOU HAVE ENJOYED THE STORY SO AND I HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO DO SO.