AN: Hey look, an update! I'm sorry, I've been really neglecting this story compared to the other 2. I hope you can forgive me... There's not much of Aidou in this one, but definitely a lot more Yuki! It's probably a bad trade... XD
It was just before dinner on Wednesday, and Yori was shocked that both she and Yuki were actually in their dorm room together for once. Yuki had been far too busy lately showing around the transfer student, Maria Kurenai, and if she was being honest with herself, it bothered her just a bit that Yuki had time for a stranger and still no time for her... Actually, even Aidou had been preoccupied with this Maria. He'd been investigating her in his spare time, stating that she was "suspicious." Yori didn't doubt his words, but she was a little jealous that this new girl was stealing away both of her friends. Not that it was any fault of Maria's, of course... It was simply that Yori was still feeling a bit lonely when she realized how little time she and Yuki spent together anymore.
"Are you excited about the dance?" Yuki asked brightly from where she was lying on her bed, doodling in the margins of the book they'd been assigned for their literature class.
Yori cringed, trying her best to ignore the sacrilege taking place on the adjacent bed as Yuki folded the corner of the page she was currently on and closed the book. "It will be fun. Even if I'm wearing the same dress as last year."
"Oh, I am too. Has anyone asked you to go yet?"
"No..." That wasn't precisely true... The previous night was coming back to her, the memory curving up her mouth into a slight smile.
"I know we can't go together, but do you think you could sneak away from your fans to dance with me?" she teased.
"Of course. Even if no one can know, you're still my date, Yori-chan." The blond vampire grinned, white teeth flashing in the orange light of a nearby streetlight.
"If we can't be seen together, how does that work?" she asked, hands on her hips.
"Hmm... Well, I'll want to dance with you all night. I'll certainly be looking at you all night. And I'll be thinking of you all night..."
"I guess that's acceptable," she relented with a smile, twining her arms around his neck.
"Save a dance for me," he murmured.
"I will," she promised as she rose on her tip-toes to kiss him.
"Hello, Earth to Yori-chan." Yuki was waving her hand in front of the other girl's face. At some point, she'd joined the taller girl on her bed.
"Huh?" Yori started, snapping back to the present.
"What were you thinking of?" The prefect raised an eyebrow. "A boy?"
"No, of course not," she chided, preoccupying herself with straightening her bed to hide her flush.
"I'm sure there are boys interested in you... Especially now that you're growing out your hair. It looks so cute on you." Her friend reached out, playing with the ends of Yori's hair.
The caramel-haired girl blushed again. She certainly wasn't growing it out because Aidou had suggested it...or anything... "Thanks," she replied.
"Hey, we match!" Yuki said suddenly, gaze zooming in to the bandage that decorated Yori's neck, and gestured towards it as she giggled. "Matching Band-Aids!" She lifted her hair from her neck to reveal her own bandage.
Yori forced a laugh. "Yeah, that's so funny...!" Internally, she winced, hoping Yuki didn't press any further into the topic. Actually, they shouldn't have matched, considering Aidou's determination to bite different places each time, but Yori had been feeling a little selfish...
"I'll see you as soon as I'm able," Aidou told her, and she knew the night was drawing to its inevitable end.
"Take some blood before you go?" she asked, the question leaving her lips with much more ease than it would have a month earlier. Aidou had been spending so much time investigating Maria Kurenai, for reasons he refused to divulge, that she had barely seen him. When she did, their meetings were usually brief and bittersweet. She wanted the feeling of his arms around her and his fangs at her throat again, even if only briefly.
"You don't have to ask twice." He chuckled, pulling her close, and questioned, "Where?"
"Here," she said, tilting her head to the side and touching her fingers against the artery that rushed just beneath the skin. "Next time you can pick somewhere new."
"You may regret letting me choose," he warned her, lips tracing down her neck as his fingers threaded through her hair.
"I haven't regretted anything yet, with you," she confessed softly.
"Or I, with you." He smiled against her, pressing a kiss against her skin. And then his fangs were sinking down inside her, and the familiar rush of painful pleasure was blossoming along her nerves.
"You've had a lot of injuries lately." The comment roused her from her thoughts, and she blinked, clearing away the haze of the memory, to see the petite brunette frowning.
"I've gotten clumsier," Yori explained, and in a way it was true.
"Yeah but it's..." Yuki trailed off, frown deepening. "Just like me..."
Yori smiled thinly. "Not really. It's from riding."
But Yuki was staring with a frighteningly intense gaze. "Let me see it," she demanded.
"What?" Yori's hand rose to cover the wound defensively.
"Let me see it. Your wound," her friend repeated.
"No, it's gross," she denied.
"Let me see it anyway."
"No, trust me." Her pulse picked up in alarm. Yuki was oblivious. She wasn't supposed to notice these things!
"Just let me see," Yuki insisted, reaching over.
"No." She took a step back, hand clapped over the Band-Aid.
"You're hiding something!" Yuki leapt at Yori, who dodged to the side.
"I'm not!" she cried, running around the edge of the beds, away from the chocolate-haired prefect.
"Are, too!"
Yori scuttled over the bed, heading towards the bathroom. Before she could reach it, however, she felt something collide with her back. She tripped, falling to the floor with Yuki on top of her. As she fell, the girl's hand tore away the Band-Aid, revealing the obvious puncture marks that Aidou's teeth had left in the tender flesh of her throat.
They hit the floor, and a moment of dreadful silence filled the dorm room.
Yuki sucked in a small breath. "What is this?"
Yori was frozen in horror. If Yuki let this slip, if Yuki told anyone, anyone at all, it was all over. She forced her locked jaw open and murmured, "It's...like you said... The same..."
Her friend's eyes widened. "Z-zero?" She scrambled back, off Yori, hands fluttering in apparent shock.
"Huh?" The taller girl stared at the prefect, baffled.
"You as well, with Zero... That. That jerk!" Suddenly incensed, Yuki strode to the door. "Ooh, just wait until I find him!"
"Yuki-chan. No." Yori chuckled mournfully, her soft tone stopping the petite girl in her tracks. "It's...not Zero-kun..."
"W-what?!" Yuki's mouth dropped open.
"It's the same, but not with Zero-kun."
"There's another Level E on campus?" Yuki blinked, rubbing her head, and frowned. "Who?"
"No... I..."
"Who is it, then?"
"Can't I keep it a secret?" Yori asked weakly.
"Absolutely not! Wait, how did you know about Zero?" she gaped.
"I've known for a long time, Yuki-chan. I saw him...drinking your blood."
"Oh." The shorter girl sat down on the floor with a quiet thud. "Well, who is it, then?" she pressed, undistracted by the new question.
"Don't panic, alright?" Yori sighed, knowing her friend's reaction would probably be less than satisfactory. Nevertheless, when Yuki nodded her assent, she stated the name, "It's...Hanabusa-kun."
"Hanabusa?" The prefect shook her head in confusion. Then, a moment later, understanding dawned on her. "Hanabusa Aidou?!" she squeaked.
"I told you not to freak out," she reminded her friend.
"But! But, you can't just let Aidou-senpai bite you! That's totally different! Oh, Yori-chan... We'll have to tell my adopted father..."
"No!" Yori exclaimed. "Please, Yuki-chan," she pleaded. "If you tell anyone, I'll never see him again. Kaname will erase my memories..."
"It would be for the best, Yori-chan. Aidou-senpai is a womanizer. He's probably just using you."
"I can take care of myself," she insisted. "And...he's my boyfriend..."
"What?!" Yuki practically shrieked.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you any of this before..." Yori picked at a spot on the floor. "But...I really, really like him...and I think he feels the same about me... Just...give him a chance?"
"I don't know..."
"Please? For me? Just this once?"
Yuki huffed. "Fine. I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. But if he does anything wrong-"
The caramel-haired girl cut her off, "Yes, I know. You'll tell your father."
"Yes."
"Thank you, Yuki-chan." She blew out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and scooted over to hug the tiny prefect.
"You're welcome," the other girl answered warmly. Then, in a slyer tone of voice, the prefect inquired, "So, he's your boyfriend, huh? Just how many times have you let him bite you?"
"Yuki-chan!" Yori gasped, scandalized, and a moment later the two girls were giggling breathlessly, the discarded Band-Aid lying forgotten on the floor beside them.
It was a relief that Yuki had agreed to keep her secret, but Yori wondered just how Aidou himself would react when she told him that Yuki knew...
AN: And now Yuki knows...