Author Note: I really am starting to feel guilty that I have no ShikiXRima project other than these one-shots. I have two RukaXKain projects, and these ShikiXRima one-shots, and that's it. And my string of fiction projects of course, but not counting them. Anyway! This is Shiki's point of view.
Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or make profit from this.

I was going to die for something I didn't even do.

When I was supposed to be in class, I was staring down the barrel of Zero Kiryu's bloody rose gun, a gun that would kill me if he shot me with it.

All because of my father.

My father, Rido Kuran, had possessed me, and had bitten a day class girl, nearly killing her. It was all my fault, after all, why didn't he just shoot me and end it already?

"Go ahead, Kiryuu." I prodded. "Pull the trigger. It would end my suffering."

"I should." Zero sighed, but he didn't put the bloody rose away.

"Don't you dare shoot, Zero!" Yuuki Cross's voice came from somewhere in the trees, followed by Rima's.

"Shiki, come here." Rima called, stepping into the moonlight. Her ribbons had been pulled from her hair and tied around her upper arms, something she did when she was extremely nervous.

"Are you going to let me, Kiryuu?" I asked, starting to shift to go to Rima.

Zero slowly turned the safety on the gun and tucked it back into his shirt.

I barely got two steps towards Rima before she tackled me. "Don't ever try to pull a suicide stunt like that again!" Rima was practically in tears, even as she screamed at me. "I swear to God, I will kill you myself, don't ever say you want to die again!"

All I could do was wrap my arms around her and hold her. She wasn't crying, not yet. Rima hadn't cried in public in years, not since she fell off the top bar of the swings at a park and broke her arm. But her left eye was twitching, a sign that she was going to start crying any second, and she was clenching her hands, another sign for the same thing.

"Come on, let's get you inside." I half picked her up, half led her into the moon dorms, then into her room. Lucky for us, Ruka had been sleeping in Kain's room as of lately and we had the room to ourselves.

Tears rolled down Rima's face the second the door was shut.

"I'm sorry I scared you..." I untied the ribbons from her sleeves and set them on her vanity. "I know this whole thing with Rido has been hard on you too."

"I'm pissed off, Shiki." Rima hissed, sounding a lot like a cat when you had stepped on its tail, hurt and angry. "You said you wanted to die. That's not something an apology can cure. I'm pissed off and worried."

"I'm sorry, Rima." I sighed and picked her up, laying her down on her bed. "If I was dead, Rido wouldn't have a way to get to you, and you wouldn't get hurt by him again. That's the only reason I wanted to die."

"I'm healed, ok?" She folded her arms over her chest, a defensive measure. "It's not a big deal anymore. I'd much rather give my life so you could live a not-possessed life than have you die."

I lay down beside her, clutching her against me. "How about we both just live as best we can the way things are? I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either. You can beat Rido at his own game, so don't tell Kiryuu to pull the trigger." Rima struggled against my arms, and I almost let go of her, but then she relaxed.

"I'm sorry I said that." I was genuinely sorry, mostly because I would've hated leaving Rima in this state without me here to calm her.

"You better be." She cuddled close to me, gazing deeply into my eyes. "Please... Shiki. Just don't leave me. I couldn't take it. All the Rido stuff, I can handle. But if you were really gone... no, just no."

We were silent for several moments. Rima closed her eyes, but tears still streamed down onto the pillow.

"Rima... I'm sorry... I'll never do that again..." I murmured.

I got no response, but then I realized that her tears had stopped falling, and her breathing had evened out.

I lay there with her, thinking about how she had probably just worn herself out. I dried the tears from her face with my sleeve, and then finally just lay there and watched my angel sleep.

Author Note: Now it's getting late, and I still wanted to do a chapter on Fireplace... Anyway! As usual, I love reviews and PMs, and thank you so much for reading this, it means a lot to me.