Chapter 3

The mere sight of Kaname Kuran was enough to send Zero into a bought of dry heaves once the pureblood vampire had disappeared. He clutched onto the edge of the stable and coughed out beside his horse, gasping to take in a full breath and attempting to calm his nerves. For the millionth time that day, the boy cursed himself; this time for allowing the person he hated most of all to have so much power over him. But it wasn't Kaname that had surged him into such a flustered state. Just hearing of Yuki's name, her nature, how she was doing... it set his head into a whirlwind. Her name had been banished from his vocabulary for the past year, for the internal conflict it carried was far too much for the fragile boy to handle. She needs you. She didn't need him, she made that very clear the last time they had seen each other. All she needed was her precious Kaname. The thoughts plagued his mind and only silenced themselves when the young vampire threw himself over the edge of the stable and vomited into the hay.

The nightwatch was cut short for Zero, for the grounds were quiet and his body was pleading all over for a release from these responsibilities. As he walked across the campus, he uncomfortably shifted in his uniform and reached up to fiddle with his neck tie. He loosened it and panted, the taste of bile in his mouth which was now dry. He was absolutely parched and had been for months. "What a mess I have become," the hurting vampire said aloud to himself. What a mess indeed, he thought as he found himself back at the boys' dorms.

That night he dreamt of her. Her long, dark locks draped around him as she pressed her crimson lips onto the nape of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and clutched onto her, inhaling her overwhelming scent and bringing all of her into him. There was no pain when her teeth penetrated his flesh and she fed from him. He had tangled his fingers in her hair, the hair he had forced himself to hate ever since it had suddenly grown. Yuki gazed up at him after feeding with crazed red eyes, lapping her tongue across her bottom lip and growling out his name. She was a monster. Zero awoke in a bed of sweat and began tearing his clothes off. His pale skin reflected off of the moonlight that was shining through his blinds and he clutched at it, breathing heavily and feeling his own drenched skin. How could he possibly love such a being? Again, he cursed himself. He needed to see her. Immediately.

The boy leapt up from his bed and ran to the window, yanking his fists through the blinds and twisting them in his grip. The moon was still high and sunrise wouldn't be approaching for at least another hour. It was just about time for the night class to be let off. This is your chance, he thought to himself. After dressing himself in his uniform and shoving his gun into his deep pants pocket, Zero Kiryu hurried out of the boys dorm and ran at full speed towards the main school building. He would wait for her at the gates. He would wait for her and say... He didn't know what he would say but he figured it would come to him. He would go for himself. Fuck Kaname Kuran, he had no control. He was seeing the monster of the girl he once loved because... He didn't know that either.

By the time he reached the front gates, he was out of breath. He still managed to gasp when he saw the silhouette of a frail girl. She was sitting along side the gate with her head down, her face hidden behind long brown hair and her fingers tugging onto the skirt of her white uniform. Zero quickly ducked out of view and waited at least five minutes to see if anyone else were coming. He was forced to silence his own breathing out of fear of her hearing. Fear of her hearing. He was a shell of what he once was; he was once strong and sure and could not even be touched by such a pathetic girl. But now, he was hiding from her. Hiding behind a bush from a little girl propped up against a gate alone in the middle of the night.

"I know you're there."

She spoke softly, lacking the usual excitement that Zero remembered to always be in her tone. It took a few moments for him to emerge from his hiding position and walk out into view. Yuki was still looking down at her lap, her fists clutching tighter onto her skirt and baring white knuckles. "He told you to come. Didn't he," she mumbled. Zero stood silently. A grimace spread across his face and he said in a low voice. "No." Anger was simmering in his lower belly; anger because she refused to look at him. She never had a problem looking in him in the eyes before; she was probably the only one who had the courage to that he knew. The small girl suddenly jerked her head up to face Zero and he was horrified by the sight.

Yuki's face seemed to have aged at least ten years. The skin underneath her eyes was puffy and dark, as if she had cried so much that she had no more tears within her. Her lips were pale as ice and they trembled as she spoke. "Then why did you come?" Her voice began to raise, "Have you come to keep your promise? As if I haven't been degraded enough!" She began shaking all over and Zero stepped forward just to get a better look. He was in absolute shock, and then disgust by the fact that she would possibly but that onto him. "You left," he said. "You left when you knew I wanted you to stay."

The two vampires' eyes met in a strong lock and the tension between them came to it's breaking point. "You left and now look at you!" Zero roared, "You are a shell of what you once were and for what? You could still be the girl that I knew a year ago, if only - why... Why would you possibly want this?" He suddenly charged at her and the girl barely flinched as he dropped to his knees in front of her. He placed his hands onto the small of her waist and leaned in, forcing her head to the side to quickly expose her neck. Yuki's breath began to come out in short puffs as she felt the all-too familiar feeling of Zero's tongue flick against her skin and trail up along the base of her neck. He shoved his canines into her flesh and she flinched, though the pain was something she should have become accustomed to at this point, as the vampire began to greedily drink from her.

The night was quiet besides the gentle gulps of Zero Kiryu as he sucked on the flesh of his love, Yuki Cross. She wasn't Yuki Kuran right now, for the long hair didn't matter nor this foreign taste of vampire blood, she was still somehow the Yuki that he had grown with and been pampered by in his darkest days. He slowly began to wrap his arms around her slim torso and instinctively lifted her from the ground, bringing her onto his lap and only drawing back to expose his own neck. There was a strange tension between them now and it wasn't broken until Zero grunted, "Drink." Without hesitation, Yuki placed her fragile hands on the white haired vampire's shoulders and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Her tongue lapped softly at the base of his neck, tasting his unique taste that she remembered from the year previous, and then she finally sunk her fangs into his stone cold flesh. She sucked gently at his skin and felt as his fingers trailed down the length of her hair, tracing against her back as if to tell her to continue. Gently suckling sounds poured from her lips as she laid her morbid kiss deeper onto Zero's neck, engulfing more blood than intended and allowing her belly to fill up with the overwhelming taste that she had missed so much. She drank steadily but unlike in the dream, she wasn't merciless. She would occasionally pull back to gently lick over the punctured marks and wait patiently for the boy to allow her to proceed. "Yuki..." he whispered through the thick air between them. He was panting from his mouth and she listened as a gentle groan escaped his lips. As she sucked, she waited for him to speak again but no more words left his lips. Just that one. Her name. And oh, how she missed hearing her name from those lips.

"Okay," Zero said in a husky voice. Yui slowly pulled back with her head bowed down, her hands still on his shoulders before he shook them off. He allowed the girl to slide off of his lap, feeling the beginning of the sun rise against his back, and rose to his feet. "You got what you wanted," he said. His voice was suddenly cold. Yuki remained at his feet, her knees tucked in underneath her and her palms hard against the cold Earth. "Maybe you need my blood," he grunted, "but what matters is that you want his. And you chose this." And with those parting words, the boy left her alone to weep silently at the gates.