And there it was; the aura that Kaname had been waiting for. He lifted himself from the sofa in his room with a heavy sigh and put his Night Class blazer on. He had supposed from the twin's ambiguous aura that something as dangerous as this could happen. He sauntered down the corridor, fixing his blazer as he went, as cool and calm as ever. Kaname was not one to risk his carefully constructed façade for just anything.

"Takuma," he called gently, knowing that the aristocrat would hear him. Soon enough, Takuma was at his side. "You have sensed it too, I suppose."

"Yes," the other replied. It was then that Kaname noticed the katana strapped to Takuma's side. So he had presumed Kaname's thoughts correctly.

"Let's deal with this as quickly and unobtrusively as possible."

Together they descended into the foyer where Kuro's aura emanated from. As they spied him, Takuma was astonished. Kuro hovered behind Shiro in his pureblood form, his eyes red and fangs bared. His arms were wrapped around Shiro's neck as he held her possessively to him as if she was some sort of rare treasure.

"You will not touch my sister again," Kuro growled, clutching Shiro closer to him. Shiro appeared unafraid despite the furious pureblood behind her. Senri and Rima stared in awe as they struggled for comprehension.

"And I will not allow you to hurt any student of Cross Academy," Kaname interrupted, his voice firm and authoritative. Kuro shifted his livid red gaze to him. He gently pulled Shiro behind him as he moved into a surprisingly protective and confrontational stance directed at Kaname.

"What do you want, Kuran?" Kuro said. "What business do you have here; this is mine to deal with."

Kaname visibly bristled and his eyes flashed red. The glass of the window behind Kuro shattered, startling him. As Kuro foolishly turned to evaluate the threat behind him, Kaname gave the order for Takuma to act.

Takuma raced forward, unsheathing his katana to plunge into Kuro's heart. But before he could attack, Shiro raced forward, squeezing her eyes shut as she braced herself to accept the brunt of Takuma's force. It did not come.

As she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of Takuma's blade, held horizontally to her face, poised to strike. Yet it did not. She looked beyond the blade to see Takuma, breathing heavily as he held the blade still. He had nearly killed her, but had miraculously managed to control his blade before it could run her through.

"No!" she cried to both Kaname and Takuma. "Don't touch my…my…"

Shiro trailed off as she fought to find a word that described his relation to her. She could not say 'brother', for risk of painting herself as a pureblood as well. She did not have the same aura as Kuro, which would expose their secret immediately.

Takuma lowered his katana and looked to Kaname. His heavy breathing was the only sound that punctured the astonished silence. Kaname stood silent, calculating her motives for defending her brother. Yes, they were siblings…or were they?

Kaname stepped forward slowly, a knowing look about his face. They weren't siblings, were they? But they were connected – they looked exactly alike, and of no coincidence, he was sure. A pureblood and a hunter…what were they?

"Perhaps you meant to say 'brother'?" he provoked. Kuro fixed his wide eyes, still blazing red, on Kaname. He knew, didn't he? "But that wouldn't be all true, would it?"

Shiro shifted uncomfortably, watching Kaname with apprehension. She willed him not to say it – not to let Kaname give his own death sentence. But she could not. Kuro would have already figured out that Kaname was onto their secret. But would he be a worthy match for Kaname, the pureblood king? She feared that she could not hold against him, not in Kuro's form.

"The host and the parasite," Kaname said, a twinkle of comprehension shining in his dark eyes. "What a precious novelty."

So here's the seventh chapter! I hope you liked it. I found it a little hard in this one to convey Kuro and Shiro as two separate components of Shiro, so I hope it still makes sense. I'm really enjoying writing this. In the next few chapters, I'll be writing more about the intended pairings. It might be a little hard for Kuro's pairing, since he is Shiro, which kind of implies that she's bi, given she has a heterosexual pairing of her own...this is gonna be fun to write. Let's just hope I don't confuse myself ;)

Also, please review. I love hearing your thoughts about the story, and I'm open to any suggestions you might have about the future of the story. I'm kind of making it up as I go along, which means I'm more flexible to new ideas...

Plus I feel more connected with the rest of when people review and message me. I really want to talk with people who have the same interests as me (as you'll see on my profile), and side I'm guessing everyone reading this story like Vampire Knight, we have an official ice breaker! :)

3 Ellerosa