Zero woke up drenched in sweat. He had dreamed of that woman again. She was speaking so softly next to his ear, her words echoing in his mind: "Hurry up and become an adult. Nourish yourself from the hate I give you." Hate. The word almost seemed too soft. What he felt for her was beyond simplistic hate. It was so much more than that. She was the devil incarnate, the reason for all evil. She had taken almost everything from him: his parents, his brother, his innocence, and his humanity.

He looked down at the peacefully asleep girl next to him. Shizuka wasn't going to take that away from him. He'd rather die than let her have the last reason for his happiness.

Without a sound, he got up and made his way to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. The cold water washed away the sweat and dark thoughts. He looked in the mirror and saw his face. He has the same face, he thought. Ichiru, his twin brother had left with the pureblood vampire the day his parents died. He had smiled at their parents' death. That day had been the worst of his life. There had been so much blood….so much…blood.

The thirst. It was back again. His right hand went to his throat and the other one went looking for the blood tablet. He didn't know why he was bothering to take them anymore. They never stayed in his body for long anyway. Those eyes. So inhuman, so disgusting. How could he ever face Yuuki in this state? She would run away. Yuuki fears vampires.

"It is getting harder for you to control yourself, isn't?"

Kuran was near the window, stiff as he gazed around the room and smelled the air.

"Inadmissible. It's everywhere, the evidence of what you have been doing to her."

"I don't know what you're referring to."

"You may not be able to smell it as low class vampires have limited abilities, but I can. You've taken Yuuki's innocence. The air reeks of it."

Kaname's eyes turned red.

"I should kill you."

Zero felt his throat tighten under the pureblood command. Air was blocked out and fell on his knees in an effort to walk toward Kuran.

Suddenly Kaname let him go. He knew Yuuki would be sad if Zero died and he didn't want her to cry.

"You will never betray Yuuki"

With these last words, the pureblood disappeared into the night. Zero sighed and got undressed to take a cold shower in the hopes it would kill his thirst. Under the icy flow of water he couldn't think clearly and his eyes turned back to their original color.

After his shower he went back to bed as silently as he could. He was about to get under the covers when Yuuki turned and asked him:

"Were you talking to someone in there?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"I thought I heard voices."

"You must have been half asleep. After all, I was completely alone in there, Yuuki."

"That's true. You're probably right. Silly me!"

She reached out to touch his cheek and shivered.

"Oh my god! Zero, you're freezing! Get under the blanket."

She put her arms around him in an attempt to warm him up.

They went back to sleep.

The following day, class got cancelled because of a snow storm. The school ground were covered by a thick cover of pure white snow and the day class students took advantage of the micro vacation to have snow fights and make snowmen.

Yuuki and Zero woke up around ten in the morning at the sound of someone banging on the door.

"Zero, it's daddy! Wake up!"

Zero was the first one to react. He grabbed the half asleep girl and hid her in the bathroom.

He then proceeded to hiding her clothes before opening the door.

"What do you want?"

"Today's a wonderful day! You should go outside and enjoy the snow. I'm sure Yuuki would love to make a snowmen with you! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Chairman, I'm seventeen. Snowmen do not interest me in the least!"

"Oh. I was hoping to get a picture of my two children playing together."

That was ironic. Yuuki and he were playing together alright. Zero just hoped that Cross would never see any evidence of it.

"By the way, have you seen Yuuki?"

"I just woke up. How am I supposed to have already seen her?"

"She wasn't in her room this morning. Oh, well, I'm sure she's around somewhere."

Cross turned around and went back to his apartments to make some jasmine tea.

" Yuuki, you can come out, he's left already."

Sleepy Yuuki came out of the bathroom and went straight back under the blanket.

"The bathroom tiles are soooo cold." She shivered

Zero frowned and put his hand on her forehead.

"You don't seem to have a fever. How do you feel?"

"Tired and cold. They just turned up the heat. Getting a snow storm this early in the year is unusual."

"That's true."

Zero got back in bed and spooned her from behind.

"You're so warm, Zero. I already feel better."

"That's good; I can be your personal heater."

Two hours later, Zero got up to take another shower, warm, this time. While he was in the bathroom, Yuuki stared blankly at the ceiling.

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