Hi! It's me again. After a frantic night of typing and editing, I have come out with Chapter 9: Road to Recovery. As a side note, there may be a larger time lapse between this chapter and the next few, due to a large, multi-stage project that I'm doing for a class. I will try to post often, but I have to slow down. I'm using this story as a procrastination tool, and that's not a good thing right now. Anyway, I want to thank my reviewers (who will get mentioned in the next chapter, I promise. You all have been so amazing, and I cannot thank you enough) and anyone else who reads this for their time and attention.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight, or anything else that is referenced in this story, besides Asraella and the plotline. Those, I covet.


The door to the chairman's office banged open and the man sitting at the desk looked up in surprise at the intrusion. His expression quickly turned to horror as he viewed the figures standing in his doorway. Zero, a boy he considered to be almost a son, stood there, staring back at the chairman with dead eyes. The prefect's chin, neck and shirt were dotted with blood, its dark red trailing into the scarlet form of the girl he held in his arms. The girl's exposed skin was covered with blood, as well: Her dress was torn to the hip and the exposed leg was scratched and cut; her arms, hands, and feet were raw and bleeding; and there was a bloody mess on her throat, with trails of crimson spreading out onto her neck and chest. Zero took a step into the room, and fell to his knees. What he spoke came out as a whisper—a pained, tortured wisp of breath that threw Kaien Cross into action.

"Chairman…"

The former vampire hunter kicked into gear, standing and racing to where Zero kneeled. He checked the girl's pulse, and gave a small inward sigh of relief when he discovered that it was there and relatively steady. He reached to take her when suddenly Zero's grasp tightened. What he said came from Cross's worst nightmare.

"I did it."

The two men looked at each other for a long moment, the chairman with an unreadable expression and Zero with nothing but despair and pain etched onto his face. The older man broke the silence, and proceeded to take an unconscious Asraella from Zero's arms and place her on a sofa that was against the wall. His usual flighty facade had disappeared.

"We need to get her cleaned up, and get some fluids into her; she's lost a lot of blood. You also need to get clean, Zero, you're—"

The sharp click resounded in the enclosed office and the chairman spun, dashing the few feet to Zero and disarming him with one upward swing of his arm. The vampire gun went flying. Zero's eyes were blank, and his hand was still where it had been while he was holding the Bloody Rose, level with his head. As his failure registered, he went limp, falling to the ground at the hunter's feet. He looked up, pleading.

"Please. I've…I've…"

"No, Zero!" The responding shout was unnaturally loud in the insulated office. "You are still in control of your faculties, as evidenced by the fact that she isn't dead and you are here! You will not die by my hand or your own tonight! Now get up and help her, if you feel so damn guilty!" Cross turned away, picking up the Bloody Rose from where it had fallen and then returning to Asraella. He spoke quickly, not looking over to see if Zero would obey. "We can't take her to the infirmary, because we don't have a story for why this happened. We're going to need an IV, several rolls of bandage, antiseptic, and blankets. I think she's in shock…and also, get Yuuki. She's going to need to be here." He glanced over his shoulder, and saw Zero not moving. His voice took on a biting edge. "Go, Zero! Now!" With this harsh encouragement, Zero finally moved to get up, stumbling to his feet and walking out the door. With him gone, the Chairman went to his personal bathroom and retrieved wet towels, and as he slowly started to wash the unconscious girl's arms, he thought about the dilemma that now faced him.

Zero walked slowly down the hallway, lost in his own mind. I…I…I bit her. I'm a monster. A monster. A monster that doesn't deserve to live. I don't know what to do. He could taste Asraella's blood still, making the inside of his mouth tingle. He had lost control. He had hurt an innocent, and worse, it was an innocent who knew nothing about vampires, nothing about his vile nature, and didn't give any sort of consent. Not that it would have been much better. Even Yuuki, who gives so much of herself, won't forgive me for this. Zero stopped, and just stood in the hallway. His chest felt like it was constricted. He looked up at the ceiling, eyes burning. Yuuki won't forgive me. I've lost two people today, both important. He didn't pause to think why he considered Asraella to be important, but just took it in stride, accepting. He didn't care anymore. He deserved to die, wanted to die, for what he'd done. He started walking again. Asraella needs help. I will wait to end my life, until… He couldn't finish the sentence, even in his thoughts.

He looked up from the floor when he saw a flash of pale fabric come up in front of him. Yuuki. She had been at the dance still.

"Zero! Oh my lord, what happened? Are you alright?" Zero could only shake his head, and he collapsed onto Yuuki's shoulder. He stayed there for several seconds as she propped him up, shocked by his reaction. She pushed him upright and shook him.

"Zero. What happened? Why are you covered with blood?"

He stared at her. He couldn't keep it from her.

"Asraella."

Yuuki's eyes widened in a flash, multiple emotions running across them like words on a page, fear, confusion, puzzlement, as she computed the information just given to her. Zero's face, all the blood, his obvious breakdown. In an instant it all clicked, and she could only stand while she gazed at Zero with a horror-struck expression. Suddenly she let go of his shoulders, and enveloped his chest in a hug. Zero just stood, amazed at her response.

"Zero." Her voice was sad, but resigned. "Is she alive?"

He nodded, his chin brushing her hair and getting flecks of blood in it. Asraella's blood. Yuuki is…too kind, she doesn't hate me…Asraella's blood…Asraella's blood… Suddenly Zero was nauseous. He broke away from Yuuki and leaned against the side of the hallway, his hand over his mouth. He was going to be sick. The scent of Asraella's blood on his clothes went from cloying to sickening in an instant. Yuuki went over to him, concern evident on her features.

"Zero, what is it?" He realized she was beyond concerned. Hysteria edged her voice. Zero tried to answer, for her sake, and found himself spilling the story, his breath coming in ragged gasps between sentences, as he tried not to vomit.

"Asraella left with Ichijou. She went outside with him. He was suspicious from the start. He knew her name. I could smell blood and couldn't look away. I tried to stay inside but later I couldn't anymore. She was outside alone with that bastard! Then I followed, and found him seconds away from biting her. Pinning her up against a tree. I shot him. Kaname arrived before I could kill the son of a bitch. She ran, because I told her to. She fell when I was trying to find her, and so I went to pick her up—oh god, the blood! She was covered in it! I couldn't—I couldn't—" He was hyperventilating by now, and Yuuki slowly pulled him to his feet.

"Zero, hush. Its okay." But Zero kept talking.

"I brought her here when I stopped. She's alive. Cross thinks she's in shock. I have to get things." Yuuki grabbed Zero's hand, holding it in both of her own.

"Zero, what did the chairman tell you to get?"

"IV, blankets, bandages, and antiseptic."

"Good. We'll go together."

The two walked down to the infirmary, Yuuki leading Zero by the hand. They reached it quickly, neither saying a word. Yuuki zipped around, gathering what they needed and then she started to run back towards the office, dragging Zero behind her again. He was still in the empty space of his head, reliving the last hour over and over again.

They arrived at the office to find the door locked. Yuuki pounded on it, and the Chairman quickly opened the thick door, visibly relieved to see the two of them. A quick look at Zero told him that the teenage vampire still wasn't back to normal. He instead spoke to Yuuki, his normal cutesy tone still missing.

"Yuuki, drop that useless thing at the door and bring those supplies over here. She's shaking and her body temperature's dropped considerably."

He returned to the couch, where several bloody towels lay on the floor. He picked one of them up and went back to work on Asraella's feet. Yuuki stared after him in confusion until she realized that the 'useless thing' was Zero. Her indignation was dulled by the fact that she completely agreed. She slipped her hand out of Zero's and went over to the couch, kneeling by Asraella's face. Her breath left her in a hiss as she surveyed the damage to the beautiful girl. Her face was bruised on both sides, and she had a black eye. Yuuki's gaze slid downward until she stopped at Asraella's neck. She cringed. Instead of one neat set of puncture wounds, there were two or three messy sets. She had never seen that before. Zero had been out of control. She looked back at Zero. He had slid to the floor and was sitting there, just staring, directly at Asraella. A low groan brought her head around front again. Asraella's eyes opened a crack, but then closed. The Chairman had inserted the needle for the IV, which had evidently roused her. A hand landed on Yuuki's shoulder.

"Is she okay?" Zero's voice cracked.

"Yes, she's fine. The needle upset her, I guess. It probably hurt a little bit." The hand disappeared.

"She's already felt enough pain for one night." Zero went back to his spot on the floor.

After an hour, Asraella was all cleaned up and bandaged, with an IV dripping fluids into her starved body. She had lost a lot of blood. She was still dressed in the dirty, ripped gown, but that couldn't be helped. With all the bandages, the IV, and the fact of her being unconscious, getting her undressed was impossible. The chairman got up from his position by the couch and stretched.

"That's all we can do for now. Give her a day of two, and she should be fine. Until then, I'm moving the office to the first floor. No one is to come in here besides us three. One of you should stay; I can't, because I have things to take care of. Understand?" Yuuki nodded, but Zero didn't move. Cross took this as a yes. He gathered his papers and left, softly shutting the door behind him. After he was gone, Yuuki turned to Zero.

"Zero, you need to get cleaned up."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Come with me." Zero didn't move, and so Yuuki tried to pull him up, but failed miserably. Zero was definitely larger than her, and when he didn't want to move, he didn't. She gave up with a huff and went by herself to the bathroom to get another wet towel. She came back and started wiping the blood off Zero's face and neck. Faster than she could see, his hand was around her wrist, stopping her. There was no pressure, but she couldn't move.

"No. I'll do it myself." With that, he took the towel out of her hands and placed it on the floor beside him. Without much care for Yuuki's presence, he took off his shirt, exposing a toned chest. He then began to wipe the blood from his pale skin. Yuuki looked on, at a loss for words. He had pushed her away. She turned from him, and went over to Asraella.

"I think she's sleeping, now. She must have regained consciousness sometime." The only response she got was silence, and the sound of a towel being moved over skin. "Anyway, I need a shower and a change of clothes. This dress isn't working for me. I'm going to head back to my room and get cleaned up, okay?" Silence was once again her only answer. She proceeded out of the room quickly, glancing back to see that Zero still hadn't moved.

He sat there, staring at the sleeping figure of the girl he victimized. He watched her breathe, and with every breath he thanked god she hadn't died. He glanced at the clock. 12:45. It was Sunday, then. For people who believed, it was a significant day, a day of redemption; for some religions, that is. Not for him. It was only another twenty-four hours of useless life, for him.

She spoke.

At least, that's what Zero thought he heard. He stared at her again, waiting for her to make another sound.

"…Who…coming…wait…" Incessant mumbling broke apart the words Zero could make out. Asraella's voice was low and throaty, as if she was speaking as softly as she could. He crept closer to her spot on the couch, trying to hear more of what she was saying. As the distance between them closed, her mumblings became more distinct.

"No…No please please I'm sorry I'm sorry I want to help." Her voice grew louder, a rasp adding to the soft tone. "Stop! Stop!...Oh god, no no no no no!" Zero smelled salt water, and realized she was crying in her sleep. His face twisted. What is she seeing? What's hurting her so badly? When he had come across her in the woods, after she was attacked, tears had sprinkled her face, but she hadn't been actively crying. When the Level E dragged her into the alley, she hadn't cried. What could make her shed tears now? He found himself leaning over her form. He dragged a fingertip down her cheek, smearing the tracks of her tears together. He was cognizant after the fact of what he was doing, and hurriedly moved back to his spot against the wall. His eyes, however, their violet depths confused and tortured, never left her face.

Her dream had repeated multiple times that night, each time making her cry, and every time the words Zero heard were mostly the same. That's how he figured out the dream was repeating. Once, she moved, an attempt to raise herself that ended with her falling backward, not waking from her deep sleep. Yuuki never came back, but Zero wasn't surprised. He knew that she trusted him, as misplaced as that may be, and he also knew she had been tired. Her yawns while she and the Chairman had cleaned Asraella hadn't gone unnoticed. So he waited, never leaving, and never moving, after that one time he got up to see her face.

Dawn was breaking when Zero was woken up by his name being called. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until his eyes fluttered open at the whisper.

"Zero?"

He raised his head to find Asraella looking at him, eyes cracked open just enough to see, and her voice once again hit his ears, quiet and hoarse.

"Zero."

As his violet eyes met her sapphire ones, he realized how relieved he was she had woken up. Now, he was consumed by the uncertainty that surrounded this whole event. What did she know, and how would she react to her first run-in with vampires?

The sound of glass breaking filled the Moon Dorm as Takuma Ichijou was thrown into a mirror, shattering it into millions of tiny pieces. He struggled to get up.

"Kaname, I'm sor—"

The glass around him flew into the air, and then went in every direction, like bullets, embedding themselves in the furnishings and anything else they hit, including flesh. The Night Class president walked toward Takuma, rage that he had suppressed back in the woods showing in his red eyes. The blond on the ground literally cowered in fear, pressing himself into a ball against the wall the mirror had previously been hanging upon. He expected another attack, but was surprised when it came in the form of a backhand slap across the face. He opened his eyes to see Kaname Kuran inches from him. He spoke, his voice low and controlled.

"You disgust me. You will report to your room, and not leave. I haven't decided what to do with you yet. Things are in motion that you could have ruined!"

He stepped back, and Takuma scrambled to his feet, racing as fast as he could to his room, and locking the door behind him. He wouldn't have come out if the building was burning down.

Kaname Kuran watched the broken noble vampire dash up the stairs with a peculiar gait, almost as if every muscle, every bone, hurt. He knew for a fact that he was indeed injured, but also deserved everything he got. It was within Kaname's rights to kill him for the offense committed tonight. With a small sigh, he pondered his options. He couldn't send Ichijou home currently; too many things were up in the air, too many people unaccounted for. The stupid noble would just have to remain under house arrest. With this decided, the pure blood reached for the phone and dialed Kaien Cross's personal line.

Ta-Da! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have comments, suggestions, or opinions, please review! TTFN, Slomiti Andeo