I became aware first of the feeling of his soft lips against my temple, whispering my name softly against my skin. "Yuuki," he called gently, reaching across our bodies to touch my cheek. Then of the car seat beneath me. It was no longer being disturbed by the suble vibrations of the open road, lulling me into this restless slumber. "We're here."

Groggily, I forced my eyes to open up-wanting to sleep more, but wanting to see where I was more still.

My vision was blurred. I hastily rubbed the sleep from my eyes-shaking my head in minor annoyance, feeling the seat shift beside me as Kaname exited the vehicle. A rushing of fresh air whispered through my long hair. I looked over at Kaname when he moved to my side of the car-my vision clear now-holding my door open for me, hand outstretched to assist me. I stepped out, legs stiff, back sore. I stretched my aching limps, yawning.

"It felt like we were driving for forever." I complained through my yawn. I inhaled deeply, noticing the suble change in the air-welcoming as it was. Even if it didn't yet feel cold, the seasons were changing. My now heightened senses could feel it.

I wish summer would last forever.

"Sorry for keeping you locked up." Kaname said while removing my bags from the trunck of the car. He sounded a bit guilty with a subtle hint of self-loathing my new self was only now beginning to recognize as his usual self. "Do you recognize it?" He gestured behind me with a slight nod of his head.

We were standing in a large, circular clearing, surrounded all around by trees, dense and thick- almost like a sort of barrier, protecting us from unwanting eyes, from the outside world. Before me lay a small cobblestone path. In the center of that path was a glorious fountain. The water did not run, though. There were two figures-a man and a woman-tangled in each other's arms, both completely nude. The woman hanging slightly lower on the man's body, clinging to him. They each had one arm thrown skyward-marbled skin against marbled skin-fingers just out of reach of each other's.

"You were born in that house, Yuuki." Kaname went on to say, coming to my side. He set the bags down at our feet, to gaze up with me at the marvel before us.

I looked past the fountain, finally, at such a magnificent mansion, far too big for four people to have occupied, so long ago.

Purebloods lived forever. And apparently the Kuran line was so old...the oldest in Vampiric history. It wouldnt have required any effort at all for my parents to obtain such a home...probably. It was probably past down through the generations...they probably were generations themselves. Perhaps it shouldn't be so hard for me to grasp the concept of such magnificences. All the vampires I knew were Aristocrats...except for Zero.

"Do you recognize it?" he asked, seeming more like an eager child, so desperate for my answer, than the collected man I knew him to be.

I could still hear her scream...

How was this so easy for him?

He was there that night too.

"It seems a bit familiar, yes... Of course, I never did see the outside. Did I?" I walked forward, feeling emotional so suddenly, feeling almost angry out of no where. And at him. "Brother." it felt so unnatural, that word. Calling him brother.

I didn't look at him. I didn't want to see the hurt in his eyes, that I had hurt him with what I had just said-so easily, even though I was hurting too. And I didn't want to see that a part of me wanted him to hurt, wanted to see that I was successful in my endeavor, that the monster in me was real.

I had been kept locked away my entire childhood. In a windowless room, in the basement, under the pretense that it was for my own safety. And yet, both my parents were dead. So maybe I did have a right to be angry.

We walked up that path together, but in silence. I could feel Kaname's eyes on me the entire time. And when we reach the top of those stairs-all those stairs-and Kaname pushed open that door, there were no loving parents standing in the threshold to welcome us home.

How I wished there were.

Home.

It was so strange to call it that after so many years of living away with the Headmaster, so far away from here. The Academy had been the only home that I had ever known, having been raised as a human with no memory of my past. But that had been a lie, a false pretenses to keep me hidden and safe from my deranged maniac of an uncle. But Rido was dead. This was my home. This always has been. It didn't matter that I was once a human that was once a vampire that was vampire once more.

You can't erase blood.

And there were people inside that I didn't know.

She bowed to us when we stepped into the house-which I found completely odd, being bowed to. Her ash blonde hair fell around her face, hididng it from me.

"You know Seirin." Kaname said to me. "She was in the Night Class with me." he handed her my bags before stepping further into the house. "Show Yuuki to our room." he said to Seirin. "I'm sure she's exhausted after...everything that's happened."

I was still stuck on the fact that I had forgotten a Night student, almost missing such a vital detail. "Our...room?" I almost had to choke out. I was supposed to share a room with him?

I blushed at the thought, wholely convinced my entire body was bright red, all my anger forgotten when I contemplated the night ahead, alone in bed with him.

"Unless you don't want to share a room with me anymore?" he asked, peeking over his shoulder at me.

"Anymore?" since when had we even talked about it?

He kept walking though, not bothering to explain himself.

...

I followed Seirin up the winding staircase to our room, gazing at anything and everything along the way to keep my mind away from my dirty thoughts. There were pretty chandeliers, paintings, vases, but in the end I decided to just focus on her. Seiren didn't seem familiar at all to me, not even her name. Kaname said we went to school together and I know he wouldn't lie to me, but I just could not place her.

"So Seiren-san-"

"You're room, Kuran-sama." She rudely interrupted me. Throwing the door open and setting my bags off to one side. "Shall I unpack for you?"

Rude.

That's what she was.

Plain rude

Maybe I couldn't remember her because I pushed her out of my brain, because she was a rude person, not worth remembering.

"No." I walked past her. "I can do it on my own."

She left, closing the door behind her, leaving me defenseless to my perverted thoughts.

I looked around the room. It was definitely big enough for two people, there was no arguing that. There were two large dark cherry oak dressers on either wall. One stood tall, the other wide with a mirror atop it. The carpet was a deep, dark red, almost black. The were two small step leading up to the large for poster bed. Black curtains draped around it. A chandelier hung above the bed, crystals sparkling. There was a small end table on either side of the bed. Near the bathroom stood a tall wardrobe in the same wood as the dressers.

The whole room smelled like Kaname, which I found a little weird since he lived at the school.

Of course he didn't live there live there. But most of the year that's where he was.

I definitely wanted to live with him, there was no arguing that. I loved him so much that it physically hurt me to think about him. Sharing a room with him was a different story though...

My mind went straight to Hell when I looked at that bed-overflowing with pillows, imaging Kaname bursting through that door right now, scooping me up in this arms, taking those two very tiny stairs up to that very large bed and peeling my clothes off so slowly while he kissed me breathless, whispering my name against my skin while all the while, not wasting anytime at all as he slowly entered my-

I shook my head to clear the image, my face hot.

I tried to busy myself with unpacking my things. Going to the dresser with the mirror and pulling the top drawer open to deposit my underwear in.

How could those things not happen between us? Not that I didn't want them to, but was I really ready for them too? Did he want them too? Did Kaname want me that way? He told me that he loved me but...

I slammed the dresser drawer shut, catching my thumb in it's wake.

"Fuck!" I cursed, clutching my hand to my chest. Tears filled my eyes. I was such an insecure idiot.