A/N: Gomen for not replying to all of your lovely reviews! Uni has kept me so busy lately! With this chapter, I'll try to remember to reply to every one of you. It made me especially happy that you guys took the time to send me a review in a message since FF was being a butt and wouldn't let any formal ones be made. Have I mentioned how much I love you guys?

Zero: YES MULTIPLE TIMES.

Sorry. xDD And something to brighten your day: I fixed both chapter 6 and 7. Now Yori is officially "Wakaba-san." Thank you for pointing that out, because you're right, Zero wouldn't address her so informally! I always feel like an idiot when you guys point out something I did wrong but I'm really, really glad that you do! DON'T STOP! Imagine my humiliation if dozens of future FF readers saw my stupidity? Of course, they're also reading this AN right now… LOL.

Some of you have amazing foresight on these chapters. How do you know??? But I won't say who's right! =PPP Anyway, I digress...ahem!

Disclaimer: I do not own VK. In the event that Hino leaves it to me to finish…ZERO WILL BE KIDNAPPED BY MOI!!!! Mwahahahaha! Okay, maybe not, but a girl can dream, right?

--o--[Chapter Start]--o--

Yori smoothed her skirt down before clasping her hands in front of her patiently. While her mind was in a jumble, attempting to figure out the purpose for this impromptu meeting, her body was very still. She watched a few stray birds take flight from the edge of the school property, eyes following them as their small forms left black trails of memory behind, like Yuuki had done almost an entire year before.

She continued to stare after the birds, long after they had faded from sight, feeling rather forlorn. She was the only one she knew who was rooted to the school, incapable of flying somewhere else. Anywhere else. Even Zero was allowed his freedom, being a part of the hunter's council and allowed to live off campus. She pursed her lips. It wasn't like her to sulk. Perhaps Aidou's behavior was rubbing off on her.

Once again, that name sent a shiver through her, though this time it wasn't from fear. No, this time, it was something stranger, something intangible, something…warm…? She shook her head, dismissing the notion. It was impossible to feel warmth for ice. Logic defied it, and her world was built on carefully structured logic.

"Wakaba-san," the greeting was brusque, but she turned her head and gave him a polite nod, grateful for the distraction.

"Hello, Zero-kun," she replied in her calm, even toned voice. "What did you want to see me about?"

"That…," his brow furrowed, darkening with emotions that she couldn't begin to describe. His eyes were barriers, impenetrable to her, but she could sense that there was some internal struggle occurring. Then he spoke through clenched teeth, "I want to know about Yuuki."

"You…," she paused, surprised by the request.

And then despair overflowed her veins. Zero had not read the letters. All the time that she had spent hoping, praying that he would have done so, had been wasted. All of Yuuki's glass dreams were about to be shattered. He hadn't read them.

But yet he was still asking.

"Maybe," she phrased the sentence carefully, "you should read what Yuuki has to say."

His eyes smoldered with anger, "I refuse to read the words of a demon."

"Yuuki's not a demon!" she protested softly, despite herself. In a more subdued tone, she continued, "If Yuuki's a demon, than every vampire must be. Including yourself. And if vampires are demons, then those who associate with them are no better. Therefore, I must be a demon, too. Is that really what you believe, Zero-kun? How can you remember Yuuki and think of her like that?"

He seemed slightly disoriented by her sudden reprisal, but quickly gathered himself, speaking sharply, "You are human. You are not a demon."

"Zero-kun, please. Read what Yuuki has to say. At least read the first letter before you ask me such a thing."

"I just," his fist clenched, unclenched, "want to know if she's okay." It seemed as though he had to force the words out, his mouth refusing to form them, though his mind was determined to fashion them.

Yori sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before saying, gently, "I would rather that you hear it from her, but I'll tell you this. Yuuki…she's doing alright. As alright as she can be."

A cloud seemed to flit behind his eyes, and he nodded once, taking in her words. Then, "Thanks."

She blinked. When did Zero ever say 'thanks?' But she answered simply, "I still think you should read the letters."

He said nothing to this, though the maelstrom of his eyes and posture told her all that she needed to know. A sense of defeat made her shoulders slump a little, and her gaze averted back to the sky, where the birds had disappeared only moments before.

He turned briskly, beginning to head back towards the more populated regions of the grounds, when Yori spoke suddenly, "Wait. I want to ask you something, too."

Zero glanced back at her, body tense with violence, though he had stopped, which was as open an invitation as she was likely to get. She took a breath, unsure. The question had suddenly popped into her head, unbidden, reminding her of how little she actually knew.

"How effective is normal food for a vampire?"

Zero's expression flickered, so rapid a change that she missed the emotion that it had revealed for that tiny interval, and then he responded harshly, "Not very." And with that, he strode away.

Yori bit her lip, picturing the familiar box of crackers sitting under her desk. An image of Yuuki, neck sporting a large and hastily adorned Band-Aid, flashed through her mind as she watched Zero's form recede and blend in with the jumbled crowd.

How much did she know about that other side of the world? That world that Yuuki was a part of, and had been, even as a human, for so long?

She hugged her arms around herself, noting, not for the first time, that she was standing alone. Solitude didn't bother her, but the loneliness that crept over her now was something that she couldn't shake. She found herself wishing, desperately, for the days to pass at a faster pace, until the time that she would receive the next letter.

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"No, that's wrong!" Aidou exclaimed petulantly, running hands through his hair in frustration. "How can she feel comfortable? Her father is about to lose his job and…do I really have to explain this all over again?!"

"I'm sorry!" Yuuki returned, nerves fraying. She felt close to tears. They had been working for hours, attempting to salvage some scrap of knowledge from her exhausted brain, as the test that was fast approaching.

"You-no," he inhaled sharply. "Take a break. Get some rest. This is getting us nowhere."

"A break?" the word seemed foreign to her, especially coming from him.

"Yes, a break, a rest, a respite. I swear the next thing we're working on is your vocabulary," he muttered.

"Aidou-senpai, does it really matter if I do well on this test? Kaname-sama knows that I've been getting good marks," she pleaded.

"Oh? So you don't want me to take another letter to Yori-chan? Or to deliver your Christmas present? And you want Kaname-sama to be disappointed during such an important holiday?" there was a desperate edge to his voice, and the way his lips moved over the name, 'Yori-chan,' alerted Yuuki to something strange, but she had couldn't place the feeling.

"Of course I do," she folded her arms. "It's just too much work."

"I thought you'd say something like that. You'll never get anywhere in life if you don't work or think. Just try a little, okay?" he sighed.

"I am trying," she whined, then rolled her eyes at his expression. "Really!"

"Sure you are," he grumbled, but let the subject drop.

Though it grated on her nerves to do so, she offered him a glass of water from the tray someone had brought in earlier. He accepted it with a mumbled, 'thank you,' taking a sip. She glanced at him, noting the dusty red that tinged the edges of his irises, and offered him a tablet, as well.

Aidou stared at her outstretched hand, his own wrapping into a fist abruptly, before he took it and swallowed it with clear fury. It was easier, that way, to take the tablet as a pill rather than drink it, though the effect didn't last nearly as long. And since he had been taking so many of them lately…

Some intuition tickled at the corners of her mind, but being so tired and with her head pounding so insistently, she was unable to fit the pieces together. Instead, she fell back into the chair, drinking her own water delicately.

The arrival of Kaname-sama loomed on the horizon, menacing and anticipated all at once. As usual, her thoughts spun out of control when she let her mind drift to his impending return. She was sure that he would praise her for her school work so far, despite Aidou's assurances that he would be upset at a slipping grade. He had seemed so pleased when he'd last heard of her progress.

"Yuuki-sama."

The respectful use of her name caused her head to jerk up. Aidou usually avoided saying her name aloud when he could help it, so his sudden use of it surprised her.

"Go to bed," the command was gentle, kind even, which further shocked her. She looked at him blankly, uncomprehending. He smirked, then repeated, "Go to bed. You're tired, I'm tired. You won't learn anything like this. Get some rest."

He stood, downing the rest of the glass and setting it on the desk with the soft click of glass against polished wood. She continued to regard him without understanding, but when the door had shut behind him, she realized that he had actually spoken compassionately to her. And more than that, he'd used her name and title.

She rubbed her temple. She really didn't know what was going on anymore. But, at least, she was able to talk to Yori. Even if the other girl's replies purposely avoided the subject she most wanted to hear.

Even if she was still left shrouded in darkness.

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The streets were thickly shadowed, not even the luminescence of the moon able to penetrate their obscurity. Footsteps echoed hollowly down the deserted road, disturbing only the dark silhouettes of houses and street lamps, whose lights had long since dimmed to a thin orange glow that barely illuminated even a faint circle around their bases.

Zero climbed the stairs to his small house, removing the key from his pocket and unlocking the door; the clinking of the metal was the only sound that could be heard. It reverberated loudly down the street, like ripples in a pond, meeting only silence.

The door swung open, and he crossed the threshold, moving from darkness to darkness as silently as the blackness itself. His hand brushed along the wall, finding the light switch and flicking it upwards, though his vampire eyes had no need of it.

Pale hands tugged at his tie, his jacket, his shoes, strewing them haplessly throughout the hall as he moved to his bedroom, where he was once again confronted with the sight of those faded envelopes, gathering dust in the disused corner. He pressed a hand to his forehead, fighting against the war that was continuously waged within his mind.

His feet took an involuntary step forward, towards the pile, and then he moved to take one, fingers sliding against the dry paper. He simply held it, gaze recording the neatly printed date on the upper right hand corner. The handwriting wasn't Yuuki's. He let the envelope fall back, landing with a muted thud on the others, and felt his resolve loosen a little more.

Wasn't he a monster, too? Why should it matter if he read the words of another monster, even if that monster was what he was sworn to kill? He was the same.

The same.

He wrenched himself away, enraged. But, in the back of his mind, he knew it was an inevitable truth. He could not resist the call of the letters for much longer. At some point, he would break. And that time, he knew, was much sooner than later. Already he could feel their strong pull with distinct clarity.

He was going to read the letters.

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--o--[Chapter End]--o--

A/N: This is really the most random thing but my new favorite band (for the moment) is Kudai. 333 I just keep listening to their songs over and over. Am I lame or what? I'm making an amv with one of their songs too. 8D And for another random note, if you're looking for a good Zeki song, One Day by Trading Yesterday is perfect. It made me cry. Yes, I'm pathetic. =D But don't try to make an amv with it, because an mmv has already been made. Oh, and if you steal my amv idea, I'll come after you. xD Have a nice day!

Zero: O____o You can't just say that. The police are coming after you. And your author's notes are too long. Do you actually think someone is reading this?

Me: Yes. I am, right now!

Zero: =.="

Me: REVIEW!!!!