Helllooooo everybody….

…..it's been a very very very long time….. I'm very sorry….

But I am determined to continue this fanfic til the end, now that I have gotten all the fiddley details in place. If you guys also follow or read my other fanfics, I'm planning to do a rewrite, so please give me some more time for those. Please check my profile for updates! .

I apologize for being gone for so long and I hope that you guys will still enjoy the chapters that will be coming soon.

~yuki973

A syringe broke through her skin, drawing out a vial of her crimson blood from her already weakened body. Kaname took the vial from the Chairman and slowly released some of her blood into my mouth. The sweet smell made my head cloud up in desire, but my concern forced me to focus on the taste and the texture of the fluid. I frowned. Looking up to Kaname, I said, "It's hard to tell. Most of her blood has morphed and merged together."

I looked down, placing my hands on my knees and shuffled in my sitting position on her bed.

"But something that should be there is definitely missing."

I glanced over to see the Chairman drip some of Aiko's blood into his mouth, a trail escaping down the left side of his mouth. I turned away quickly from the luscious scent, a rugged breath escaping as I held onto Aiko's clammy, shaking hand. As Kaname swallowed, I pushed the stray hairs from her face, wiping the sweat from her face off with a small cloth, listening as she struggled to meet each breath.

Kaname wiped away the stray trail of fragrant blood away from his chin and shook his head slightly. "I can't tell either."

"But she is in a state where she is no longer human nor vampire"

He walked up to the bedpost and gazed over Aiko's weakened form. He gently lifted her hair. Over the last few hours, her hair had grown rapidly, but unusually. The top half of her hair fell in soft beautiful waves of brown, flowing down to her shoulders. But, once it hit her shoulders, her hair was straight and still silver.

"Stuck in a form that is half vampire, half pureblood." I tightened the grip around her hand.

The Chairman cleared his throat.

"I must return to the school. I can try to get the sample analysed but I'm unsure whether I will be able to borrow the right equipment from Headquarters. And there is the matter of Zero. He's bound to have smelt Tsuki's blood in the air."

Looking down, he muttered under his breath, "And something must be happening to his body as well."

My eyebrows narrowed, knowing and hating that someone had been draining her of her blood. My gaze fluttered over to Kaname. Though his face didn't fathom any emotions, his stance had stiffened, expressing his suppressed hatred.

The Chairman turned to Kaname, forcing Kaname to relax. "If Takashi doesn't need to do any tasks, I want him to stay here with her. Especially since the news of Rido have grown more frequent."

My eyes met with Kaname's now narrowed ones. Recognising Kaname's steely glance, I waited patiently as he forced back the anger he had for Rido. He took a small breath before smiling.

I nodded. "Thank you."

The Chairman moved to the bed, caressing her head, his eyes sad. "I wish I could have kept the promise with your mother, both Kuran and Kiryu."

With that, Kaname and the Chairman left. After shutting the door after them, I felt the the muscles that I had kept tense suddenly release. There was no way I could let them see this. I sat down in a chair in the dining room, my hands trapping themselves in my hair, struggling to keep my anger under control. This was all my fault, my unforgivable guilt. If I hadn't lost her after Mother took away Yuki and Aiko's memories, this wouldn't have happened. It was my responsibility to take her into my care and bring her over to be with the Chairman and Yuki. My grip tightened as I tore at my hair even more, the pain that I felt in my head was not even close to the pain I felt in my heart. Why had the Senate sent their vampires after me? That was what cost me Aiko, and Aiko her happiness.

Even after years of searching for her, I couldn't find Aiko. I was lucky that the Chairman had found her with Zero, but even then, she came to the Chairman scarred and broken. The innocent, familiar eyes that I knew were gone, the results of living with a Hunter family had causing her to stare at me with a mixture of fear and hatred behind the safety of Zero. She not only lost her human life to Shizuka, but she lost her parents, unknowingly, for the third time.

A scream broke through my thoughts and I rushed to her side. She had curled up feebly, convulsing. The sheets had twisted with her, entrapping herself in the soft fabric. Her eyes were wide open, her green pupils staring out at nothing.

I picked her up, princess style, pulling the sheets away from her small body. She was still shaking, struggling against my hold on her, but slowly that began to calm until she lay lifeless in my arms.

I propped her head on my shoulder and noticed that her breathing had become more laboured. Her eyes began to droop close, the green from her eyes disappearing as they returned to a woody brown. I sat down on the bed, still holding her where I knew she would be safe. A huge sigh of relief escaped, relaxing me, only slightly. As I sat down, her hair shifted unevenly behind her shoulder, allowing me to see her neck. My eyebrows furrowed when I saw something that wasn't there before. I gently brushed away the few stray hairs and brushed over the area where I had bitten her.

There was a mark.

Worried, I laid her down, replacing the sheet loosely over her delicate body. Rearranging her hair, I took a better look at her neck. There was a small mark in the shape of a small black rose.

But now wasn't the time to worry about it. Peering past my shoulder and out the window, I could sense the other vampires. They must have found out about Aiko's partial revival. I wrapped her up in the sheet, pulling it past her head and hid her face.

Scooping her up carefully, I took her to the next safest place I could think of and made my way discretely back to the Academy, the entire time watching her in her restless sleep. But when I arrived, all was not fine. At the Chairman's Office, Kaname was trying to calm down and comfort a fretting Yuki. A small glance from Kaname told me not to go inside. The sight of Aiko would only distress her more.

I took her to the guest room, planning to rest her on the bed until I found Zero lying there. As the door shut, he immediately sat up, defensive. But even that was pathetic.

His eyes were half-lidded, sweat clung to his clothes and skin and each breath came out as short gasps. He sat there, staring blankly, one hand behind him, supporting his body, the other tearing at his shirt collar, willing it to pull further away from the tattoo. However, it was the tattoo that caught my attention. An unusual green aura was being emitted from the tattoo, the same shade as Aiko's eyes.

I delicately placed her on the sofa, hiding the mark with her hair, before returning to the door. Looking back, I narrowed my eyes as I warned, " I trust that you won't do anything to her."

With his weak acknowledgement, I left the room.

"T-takashi-san?"

I met Yuki's anxious face, her eyes filled with worry and concern, Kaname at her shoulder. Taking a note of Kaname's expression, I smiled lightly and placed a comforting hand on her head.

"He's sleeping right now. Why don't we let him get his rest."

With that, Kaname escorted Yuki away to the nurse, the faint smell of blood coming from a scratch she had from rushing to find Zero. Before they left, I could see a hint of jealousy in Kaname's eyes. Chairman Cross came around the corner shortly after they left, his face grave.

"Seems the side effects from the transformation have affected Zero as well. Although the percentage of Tsuki's blood in Zero is small, it is more powerful than his own vamparised vampire hunter blood."

He shook his head, staring at the door.

"Right now, the state of his life is dependent on the state of Tsuki's."