Disclaimer: Vampire Knight is not my creation. But this subplot is. Mwahahahahahaha!

Consideration

Cross Academy was in northern Japan, and even summer nights tended to be cool. Zero had left the window to his room open to air out the heat of the day and was just drifting off to sleep for his first night back at Cross Academy when a loud creeeeak jarred him from his peaceful slumber. He turned over wearily and gazed at the delicate silhouetted form standing in his doorway.

"What is it, Yuuki?" he groaned, slightly annoyed that she'd woken him when he was finally falling asleep.

"I just…sort of…" Yuuki flushed. Why on Earth did saying this embarrass her? Was it because requesting permission made her feel like a little girl? "…wanted…to sleep with you, Zero."

Zero cocked an eyebrow. "Am I to assume you mean that in the most literal sense?"

Yuuki's cheeks flared an even deeper red. "Well, um," she stammered, "that is, um, how I meant it."

"When I slept with you before," he teased, "it was like sleeping with a freaking fish out of water."

"It was?"

"I could set my watch by it. Every eight minutes you turned over. No, wait, you flipped over. You got more leverage then a pole-vaulter. And you kicked me and stole my pillows and blankets and nearly rolled me off the bed."

"Oh." Yuuki's entire face turned blood red and she turned to go. "Well, I don't want you to lose your sleep, so I guess I'll just—"

"Oh, get under these covers, you little monster," he demanded, throwing back the unused side's blankets for her.

Yuuki hesitated a moment, not wanting to keep him up all night with her activity.

"Now, Yuuki," he growled. "Or else I'll be forced come into your room and suck your blood in your sleep. Like a proper vampire."

"Proper vampires sleep during the day," Yuuki pointed out, hesitantly approaching the bed and lying down next to Zero.

"But I have college during the day," he countered, pulling her into his strong arms. Yuuki sighed contentedly, the safety of his hold calming anxiety caused by the raging emotions of the day.

Zero wrapped his leg around hers and rested his left hand over her growing abdomen—the talisman of their love. His eyes closed slowly and he deeply inhaled the rosy scent of her hair. Even if she kept him up all night, he loved sleeping with her. He loved feeling her tiny body in his arms. He loved feeling like he could protect her, completely shield her from the outside world. Like he could keep her safe in her most vulnerable state. Lust burned inside of him, and, without thinking, he leaned over and slowly dragged his tongue along the curve of her neck. Her skin tasted salty and sweet at the same time, and he nibbled her ear gently, careful not to prick her skin with his razor fangs.

"Zero, you're not hungry, are you?" she asked concernedly.

"No." That wasn't out of hunger for your blood, he thought bleakly. It was out of a different kind of hunger.

A hunger that had left an eighteen-year-old girl with a huge, HUGE problem.

And he still wanted more of it. More of her.

"Yuuki," he whispered.

"Yes, Zero?" she replied in a mouselike voice, enjoying his warm breath tickling her ear.

"I can't leave you now. There is no way I can leave you alone with our baby. Are you still planning to start at the local university this fall?"

"I think so. Although I may start in the spring because it's due in October and it's going to be impossible to keep up my studies with a brand-new baby. I may even take this year off. I just don't know yet."

"I'll transfer this fall. And we can take care of it together."

Yuuki's eyes widened in shock. "But you love University of Tokyo! You worked your ass off to get in. Why on earth would you give that up to go to this school for failures?"

"I don't mind, Yuuki. In fact, I want to. This last year has been harder than I thought it would. Do you know how much I went through every day I wasn't with you?" And wondering if you were sneaking off with that pureblood again. Zero thought better of voicing this part, but Yuuki must have heard it anyway, because she whispered,

"Dry up, Zero. It's over between Kaname and me. In fact, there was never much of anything to begin with. It was all words, no love. 'We're together. I guess maybe I should kiss him now.' It wasn't full, and it wasn't real. It wasn't what I have with you." It occurred to Yuuki that she and Zero had never really proclaimed themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. It had just sort of proclaimed itself. And maybe, Yuuki pondered, relationships were best that way.

"I think I should transfer. You can't possibly raise it by yourself, and I can't possibly live another day without you."

God, why was he always so stubborn? "Okay, but please think about it some more, Zero. Tokyo was important to you. I don't want you to throw it all away on me."

"Fine," Zero grumbled, lying to appease her. His mind was made up. He was never again leaving her side. And he was never leaving the side of his child, either.

--

At around two AM, Zero woke, feeling a deep tension nagging at his back. Turning over, he saw Yuuki's eyes staring fervently at him, the blood red glowing intensely beneath her irises. Alarmed, he flipped over to face her.

"God, Yuuki, you're parched!" What the hell is she dehydrated in the middle of the night for? he wondered savagely.

"Zero," she panted. "I…can't…breathe…" The red glow pulsed in her eyes as she gasped. Horrorstruck, he bolted up, reached for her arm, yanked her into him, and cupped the crown of her head in his hand, forcing her mouth against his neck. Her sharp fangs pierced his throat before the momentum from his push was even gone from her head. Zero cringed, but, in his usual manner of masculine pride, refused to cry out in anguish. Each excruciating suck sent daggers of pain through his body and he clenched his fists, doing all he could to bear it. What the hell was going on? This was so un-Yuuki-like. They'd shared blood a lot after defeating Rido, and Yuuki had always been gentle, tender—she enjoyed piercing his skin softly and then teasing her thirst by licking the blood up as it flowed from the wound. Bringing him as little pain and as much pleasure as possible. But tonight she was biting with as much force as her tiny jaw could manage, sucking as strongly as her lungs would allow. It was like she had no mercy—all spirit and rationality had fled like rabid ghosts, leaving her just the monster of her bloodlust. Her fingernails clawed desperately at his back, leaving long, stinging scratches in his skin.

He gritted his teeth against her assault. It's fine. I deserve this. I did the exact same thing to her. Yuuki clenched her legs around his as she drank. Yanked at his hair so hard a few weak strands ripped out. But why on Earth is she so desperate?

After a few minutes, Zero's head began to swim and his vision blurred.

"Yuuki…stop now…" he gasped. He was shocked at how little breath he had left. She clutched at his back ever harder, and the room tilted around them.

"Yuuki…please…I can't…see…"

Her knee dug into his leg. Her fangs ripped even deeper into the punctures.

"Goddamn it, Yuuki, STOP IT!" He held her silky pajamas in a death grip and yanked her off him. She sat upright, her arms supporting her on the mattress. Blood stained her beautiful lips bright crimson and trickled slowly down her chin and over the contour of her jaw. The red-hot intensity of her eyes pulsed another moment, then slowly began to wane. She dragged her hand across her mouth and greedily licked all the fluid away. Zero fell back on his pillow, panting, the force of his shout having left him gasping for even the tiniest hint of oxygen.

As the last trace of lust disappeared from Yuuki's eyes, and her soul broke as she realized what she'd done to her love. Strands of his long silver hair were still clutched tightly in her hand. Blood flowed liberally from the deep wound in his throat. "Oh, no, Zero," she whimpered. "Oh, I swear to God, I didn't mean to…"

"It's…okay…" He wheezed and clutched at the sheets.

"No, it's not…oh, my poor Zero, I'm so sorry. Here, you can replace it…." She held out her wrist, but, ignoring the hellish thirst burning in the back of his throat, Zero pushed it away. The sheer despair of the incident screamed she needed it more than he.

"Go back…to sleep…" he breathed. "I'll take some blood tablets." His stomach lurched against the dizziness as he sat up.

"But—"

"Shut up, Yuuki," he spat.

Hurt shot through Yuuki's heart. He's mad at me. Oh God, he's mad at me. He's mad that I took so much from him. He probably hates me now. I am shit.

Ignoring the violent spinning in his head as he stood, Zero got out of bed and limped off to the bathroom, where he'd stashed his blood tablets with hers. Yuuki buried her face in her arms and wept.

Yet she was wrong. Zero wasn't mad—he was terrified. What in Heaven's name was happening to his Yuuki? He ran a sweat-soaked hand through his raggedy hair and wrenched open the mirror above the sink. His tablets were in an old painkillers bottle on the top shelf.

The thirst began to subside as he threw a group of pills in his mouth—without so much as letting them marinate in a glass of water first—and gulped them down. As he waited for his strength to return, he stared into the mirror at his own frazzled expression.

His hair hung in matted tangles around his face, and the tips of a few locks were crimson wet. A lot of blood had streaked over his shoulders and was now running over his abdomen. River by river, he drew the blood onto a tongue depressor and licked it hungrily off the stick. A basket of old rags sat on the top shelf of the bathroom closet, and he grabbed one and held it to the wound and returned to their room to comfort the sobbing girl.But nothing could quell the fear in his own heart. That just wasn't his lover he'd seen back there.

Something was desperately wrong with Yuuki.

--

I love them, I love them, I love them.