Categories > Anime/Manga > Vampire Knight > A Light in the Dark
Zero shoved Yuuki onto a small sofa outside the auditorium when they reached the main floor.
“Do up your shoes,” he ordered tersely, and threw her her second flimsy, long-ribbon-laced slipper.
Glaring at him from under her fallen curls, Yuuki cooperated while he waited with his arms crossed in front of him, looking at the doors to the main seating area.
She finished in record time and stood, ready to re-join the rest of the students. An angry sound erupted from Zero’s throat and he grabbed her arm when she reached for the doors.
“Now what?” she asked with a huff.
He took off his jacket and held it out to her.
“Give me the one you’re wearing. It’s too obvious.”
Automatically she clutched her sempai’s jacket closer to her, as if wrapping him closer to her heart.
Zero waited nearly half a minute before his lips pulled back angrily from his mouth and he bared his teeth at her; he tore the jacket off her shoulders and spun her out of it, then took his own off and threw it back at her. Fair exchange.
But the look of hurt, betrayal and disbelief in Yuuki’s eyes at his rough treatment would haunt him for a long time.
“Put it on now. The play’s over and everyone will be getting up soon. Make sure you’ve covered everything.”
With that he slapped Kaname’s jacket over his arm and pulled the doors open to the auditorium.
Left alone, Yuuki’s head fell forward and her hair covered her face, hiding the wetness that stained her cheeks. Zero was making her feel like a… She couldn’t even say the word to herself. But it made her feel dirty that he saw her so.
Fists clenched tightly, the petite young woman shoved her arms through the sleeves of Zero’s uniform jacket and used his handkerchief to wipe her eyes and nose before following him. When she emerged on the other side of the door, she was her usual cheery, energetic self.
Only two men noticed the change in her.
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The rest of the evening passed for the most part without incident.
The students followed their directions back to their transportation to Cross Academy, everyone arrived smoothly back at the dorms, and the Night Class even bid goodnight to the Day Class students who lingered on, a gesture meant more to help Yuuki than Zero. Kaname must have asked them to behave politely for her sake.
It was after midnight when Yuuki started her final circuit of the campus, still wearing the oversize uniform coat Zero had thrown at her over her rumpled, now-worn silk gown. Her feet ached from the unusual shoes, she was emotionally exhausted, and she wished she had her sempai’s jacket instead of Zero’s, so at least she’d have an excuse to go see him to give it back to him face to face.
Stopping at an elegant terrace that opened up to the sky, Yuuki stared at the moon sadly for a moment, going over again in her mind how close she and her sempai had been. So close to…
But there was no one around to hear her confession, so why bother? Sighing, she felt her shoulders slump and her feet drag and she continued on.
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Zero looked darkly at the aristocratic vampire across from him.
“Please return Kaname-sama’s garment,” said Ichijou politely, holding out his hand.
“Here,” he dropped it in the other man’s hands as he passed him by. “It’s after curfew. Return to your dorm.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Kiriyu-kun,” smiled Ichijou.
“Go,” he scowled.
Turning his back on the vampire (he knew he was gone within a few seconds), Zero continued on the circuit that followed Yuuki’s. Normally they took opposite paths, but tonight… he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that the earlier incident wasn’t over yet. He had to protect her from what the Pure Blood intended to do with her… didn't he?
He followed her. Had to keep her in sight. Wanted to walk beside her to make sure she was ok.
Thanks to the light of the moon above he saw her disappear past a terrace around a far corner of the building, towards the Moon Dorm. It was part of her normal route, but what if…
Picking up his pace, he started into a jog to meet her.
Not that he didn’t trust her. But there were some Pure Bloods he wouldn’t mind blocking.
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Of course, Yuuki ignored him when he reached her on the path that ran under the large, widespread tree branches. The trees themselves were very old, their trunks wider than men twice her breadth. The night was quiet, and their foliage smothered most of the night creepers’ noises. She pretended he wasn’t even there, and continued on for some time under the leaves’ canopy.
So he walked just a step behind her, and continued until she whirled on him, cheeks flushed, pain clear in her eyes.
“What are you doing, Zero?”
“Patrolling.”
“Go patrol somewhere else. I don’t need you here.” She turned away and started walking again, but stopped when he kept up his shadow routine. Fists at her side, shoulders heaving from how hard she was breathing trying to remain calm, Yuuki clenched her eyes shut and counted to ten and willed her rushing thoughts to slow.
You jerk. How could you do that to me tonight? I have every right to my privacy – how do you think it made me feel when you saw me like that? The weight of his jacket on her shoulders irritated her further then, and without saying a word, she started shrugging it off to fling it back at him.
“Take it. Here, take it back,” she mumbled, thrusting the coat at him. She’d noticed right away that he was no longer wearing Kaname-sempai’s jacket. She hoped he hadn’t damaged it or just dumped it somewhere. She would have treasured it, or at the very least returned it.
“It’s cold.”
“I said take it!” she yelled, her thin arms shaking with anger.
Still he didn’t move. His face showed a flicker of hurt, but he composed it immediately.
Arms dropping to her sides, Yuuki looked up at one of her oldest friends.
Their eyes met for a long, quiet time.
Neither was sure what to say.
“It hurt,” she said eventually, glancing away before returning to face him. “It hurt a lot when you did that to me tonight.”
He nodded ever so slightly.
“You don’t need to protect me from Kaname-sempai. He would never hurt me,” Yuuki continued carefully, unsure how to bring up intimacy with… well… Zero. He was almost like a brother, but who wasn’t family exactly. And he never expressed his emotions. It made him so terribly hard to read sometimes.
Her friend’s eyes darkened at Kaname’s name, and narrowed.
“I’m not a fragile little girl, Zero. I’m growing up. I’m going to choose who I want to be with,” her jaw tightened and she jutted it out stubbornly.
Still, he did not argue; but there was that flicker of hurt in his eyes again.
Sighing unhappily, Yuuki took a step forward and held out his jacket to him again.
“I’m sorry, Zero. I didn’t mean to get mad at you. It was the whole situation that embarrassed me,” she took his hand and folded his jacket over his arm, patting it smooth before taking a step back to look up and smile at him. “But you need to respect my privacy, too! Someday you’ll have someone you love, and you wouldn’t want me to interrupt you, would you?” she teased, and slapped him heartily on the back to try and throw off his bleak expression.
Putting a finger to her chin, Yuuki teasingly pondered aloud, “Who would make a good girlfriend for Zero? Hmmm… It would have to be someone warm, because you’re so cold!”
He watched her mutely, and Yuuki skipped to the side and thought again, leaning forward to fake-examine him. “It would have to be someone strong, to bully you into doing the right thing.”
Still not getting a reaction from him, Yuuki groaned and rubbed her hands on her tired eyes. “What do you think, Zero?” she asked sleepily, turning back to him, and couldn’t stifle her yawn. She was exhausted. “Who do you want as a girlfriend—mph!”
His arms were on either side of her head, holding her where he wanted her while he took her mouth with his and showed her exactly who he wanted, what he wanted and how badly he wanted it.
Shocked to the soles of her shoes, Yuuki just stood there a moment, stunned. One of his hands moved from her cheek to her neck, pushing her hair away; Yuuki felt a flutter of panic in her stomach. Was this what Zero wanted? Was he hungry? Why was he kissing her?
“Ze…ro…?” she asked when his kiss shifted from her mouth to her jaw, and slowly made its way down to her neck. Still, she didn’t feel the expected tender scrape of his teeth on her skin. She couldn’t help but hear his harsh, heavy breathing in her ear. His habits always gave her a nervous thrill, but this was beyond that. This felt different. This felt… personal. Not the usual sharing of sustenance to alleviate hunger.
“Yuuki,” he whispered hungrily, and his kiss deepened.
Then his hand fisted in her hair and brought her head back, exposing her neck.
He must be hungry, her brain told her matter of factly, that’s why he’s doing this. That’s all he’s doing. He went too long without… without…
But this is far too exposed. Anyone could find out.
“Zero, we need to get inside,” she tried to shuffle towards the school building. “Someone could see this, they’ll find out,” she insisted.
He made an irritated, impatient groan in his throat, and raised his head. There wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere on his face, or mouth. When Yuuki raised a cautious hand to her throat, it came back clean – not a hint of crimson.
She was completely confused.
“You mean him,” he said quietly.
“I think he already knows,” she whispered, looking away. She hadn’t told Kaname, but somehow, she knew her closest friend knew Zero’s secret. She was sure her father knew; perhaps he’d felt honour-bound to tell Kaname about there being another ‘vampire’ at Cross Academy, but one who wasn’t in the Night Class…
But Zero’s eyes widened at her admission. “What do you mean?” he demanded.
“I think he already knows that you’re… that you need blood… and that… I… I’m the one who helps you,” she said awkwardly, glancing at the ground. This conversation was starting to feel more and more intimate.
The long, tapered fingers in her hair shifted, combed the loosened curls back gently from her face, and his hand came to rest on her cheek. The other trailed down her back to rest on her hip possessively.
It came as another shock when he gave her a quick tug towards him and pulled her hips to meet his. Slowly, he leaned part of his male body forward to make her understand.
“Yuuki,” he sighed, tipping his forehead to rest against hers, and closing his eyes. “You’re too trusting.”
“What do you…What are you…” She swallowed and tried to look away, but his hand moved to her cheek and held her still. Warning signals flowed through her body, particularly from the places they touched so warmly through their clothes.
“You,” he stated. “Only you do this to me.”
Thrust up against him as she was, Yuuki found it impossible to ignore what he was showing her, confessing to her.
Cheeks burning, she brought her arms up in front of her and did what she should have done when he first caught her in his kiss. She pushed against him to free herself, looking back towards the school. “I need to go back on patrol,” she explained, and pushed harder.
“Yuuki, stay,” Zero said, and held onto her wrist.
“No, goodnight Zero. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she yanked her wrist free of his grasp. Without looking back at him, she walked very briskly towards the last quadrant of her route, occasionally slapping her cheeks to cool them. Zero, what’s got into you?
He watched her run away until he couldn’t see her anymore. Even his vampire-sharpened eyes couldn’t make her slim figure out after a few minutes.
That was when he felt the menacing presence behind him.
He turned to face Kaname Kuran, completely expressionless.
The two men regarded each other, sizing up and knowing the other did the same.
“Thank you for returning my jacket,” said Kaname politely after an extended pause. He wasn’t wearing it, though; he was still wearing Kain’s jacket. Zero had noticed him wearing it as everyone had filed out of the theatre that night on their way home. But Zero had no interest in what the other man wore, and it was a peripheral observation, the same way he noticed the vampire kept his hands in his pockets now as he had then.
The far older man nodded faintly at Zero as he walked past him, but his Pure Blood eyes bore into the hunter’s and the threat was clear: Mine. Don’t ever do that again.
Without another word, Kaname blew past him and continued on his way, precisely in the direction Yuuki had taken.
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TBC.
AN: I know, I said this would be the last chapter, but I decided to break this one up instead of having it end up super-long. Please forgive me. The last chapter (the one you’re all waiting for with baited breath; you think I don’t know what you’re reading this fic for? 8D) is coming at the latest by Wednesday.
AN: Thank you for reading -- please let me know what you think in the comments.
AN: This chapter posted Oct 23 2008.
“Do up your shoes,” he ordered tersely, and threw her her second flimsy, long-ribbon-laced slipper.
Glaring at him from under her fallen curls, Yuuki cooperated while he waited with his arms crossed in front of him, looking at the doors to the main seating area.
She finished in record time and stood, ready to re-join the rest of the students. An angry sound erupted from Zero’s throat and he grabbed her arm when she reached for the doors.
“Now what?” she asked with a huff.
He took off his jacket and held it out to her.
“Give me the one you’re wearing. It’s too obvious.”
Automatically she clutched her sempai’s jacket closer to her, as if wrapping him closer to her heart.
Zero waited nearly half a minute before his lips pulled back angrily from his mouth and he bared his teeth at her; he tore the jacket off her shoulders and spun her out of it, then took his own off and threw it back at her. Fair exchange.
But the look of hurt, betrayal and disbelief in Yuuki’s eyes at his rough treatment would haunt him for a long time.
“Put it on now. The play’s over and everyone will be getting up soon. Make sure you’ve covered everything.”
With that he slapped Kaname’s jacket over his arm and pulled the doors open to the auditorium.
Left alone, Yuuki’s head fell forward and her hair covered her face, hiding the wetness that stained her cheeks. Zero was making her feel like a… She couldn’t even say the word to herself. But it made her feel dirty that he saw her so.
Fists clenched tightly, the petite young woman shoved her arms through the sleeves of Zero’s uniform jacket and used his handkerchief to wipe her eyes and nose before following him. When she emerged on the other side of the door, she was her usual cheery, energetic self.
Only two men noticed the change in her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the evening passed for the most part without incident.
The students followed their directions back to their transportation to Cross Academy, everyone arrived smoothly back at the dorms, and the Night Class even bid goodnight to the Day Class students who lingered on, a gesture meant more to help Yuuki than Zero. Kaname must have asked them to behave politely for her sake.
It was after midnight when Yuuki started her final circuit of the campus, still wearing the oversize uniform coat Zero had thrown at her over her rumpled, now-worn silk gown. Her feet ached from the unusual shoes, she was emotionally exhausted, and she wished she had her sempai’s jacket instead of Zero’s, so at least she’d have an excuse to go see him to give it back to him face to face.
Stopping at an elegant terrace that opened up to the sky, Yuuki stared at the moon sadly for a moment, going over again in her mind how close she and her sempai had been. So close to…
But there was no one around to hear her confession, so why bother? Sighing, she felt her shoulders slump and her feet drag and she continued on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zero looked darkly at the aristocratic vampire across from him.
“Please return Kaname-sama’s garment,” said Ichijou politely, holding out his hand.
“Here,” he dropped it in the other man’s hands as he passed him by. “It’s after curfew. Return to your dorm.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Kiriyu-kun,” smiled Ichijou.
“Go,” he scowled.
Turning his back on the vampire (he knew he was gone within a few seconds), Zero continued on the circuit that followed Yuuki’s. Normally they took opposite paths, but tonight… he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that the earlier incident wasn’t over yet. He had to protect her from what the Pure Blood intended to do with her… didn't he?
He followed her. Had to keep her in sight. Wanted to walk beside her to make sure she was ok.
Thanks to the light of the moon above he saw her disappear past a terrace around a far corner of the building, towards the Moon Dorm. It was part of her normal route, but what if…
Picking up his pace, he started into a jog to meet her.
Not that he didn’t trust her. But there were some Pure Bloods he wouldn’t mind blocking.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course, Yuuki ignored him when he reached her on the path that ran under the large, widespread tree branches. The trees themselves were very old, their trunks wider than men twice her breadth. The night was quiet, and their foliage smothered most of the night creepers’ noises. She pretended he wasn’t even there, and continued on for some time under the leaves’ canopy.
So he walked just a step behind her, and continued until she whirled on him, cheeks flushed, pain clear in her eyes.
“What are you doing, Zero?”
“Patrolling.”
“Go patrol somewhere else. I don’t need you here.” She turned away and started walking again, but stopped when he kept up his shadow routine. Fists at her side, shoulders heaving from how hard she was breathing trying to remain calm, Yuuki clenched her eyes shut and counted to ten and willed her rushing thoughts to slow.
You jerk. How could you do that to me tonight? I have every right to my privacy – how do you think it made me feel when you saw me like that? The weight of his jacket on her shoulders irritated her further then, and without saying a word, she started shrugging it off to fling it back at him.
“Take it. Here, take it back,” she mumbled, thrusting the coat at him. She’d noticed right away that he was no longer wearing Kaname-sempai’s jacket. She hoped he hadn’t damaged it or just dumped it somewhere. She would have treasured it, or at the very least returned it.
“It’s cold.”
“I said take it!” she yelled, her thin arms shaking with anger.
Still he didn’t move. His face showed a flicker of hurt, but he composed it immediately.
Arms dropping to her sides, Yuuki looked up at one of her oldest friends.
Their eyes met for a long, quiet time.
Neither was sure what to say.
“It hurt,” she said eventually, glancing away before returning to face him. “It hurt a lot when you did that to me tonight.”
He nodded ever so slightly.
“You don’t need to protect me from Kaname-sempai. He would never hurt me,” Yuuki continued carefully, unsure how to bring up intimacy with… well… Zero. He was almost like a brother, but who wasn’t family exactly. And he never expressed his emotions. It made him so terribly hard to read sometimes.
Her friend’s eyes darkened at Kaname’s name, and narrowed.
“I’m not a fragile little girl, Zero. I’m growing up. I’m going to choose who I want to be with,” her jaw tightened and she jutted it out stubbornly.
Still, he did not argue; but there was that flicker of hurt in his eyes again.
Sighing unhappily, Yuuki took a step forward and held out his jacket to him again.
“I’m sorry, Zero. I didn’t mean to get mad at you. It was the whole situation that embarrassed me,” she took his hand and folded his jacket over his arm, patting it smooth before taking a step back to look up and smile at him. “But you need to respect my privacy, too! Someday you’ll have someone you love, and you wouldn’t want me to interrupt you, would you?” she teased, and slapped him heartily on the back to try and throw off his bleak expression.
Putting a finger to her chin, Yuuki teasingly pondered aloud, “Who would make a good girlfriend for Zero? Hmmm… It would have to be someone warm, because you’re so cold!”
He watched her mutely, and Yuuki skipped to the side and thought again, leaning forward to fake-examine him. “It would have to be someone strong, to bully you into doing the right thing.”
Still not getting a reaction from him, Yuuki groaned and rubbed her hands on her tired eyes. “What do you think, Zero?” she asked sleepily, turning back to him, and couldn’t stifle her yawn. She was exhausted. “Who do you want as a girlfriend—mph!”
His arms were on either side of her head, holding her where he wanted her while he took her mouth with his and showed her exactly who he wanted, what he wanted and how badly he wanted it.
Shocked to the soles of her shoes, Yuuki just stood there a moment, stunned. One of his hands moved from her cheek to her neck, pushing her hair away; Yuuki felt a flutter of panic in her stomach. Was this what Zero wanted? Was he hungry? Why was he kissing her?
“Ze…ro…?” she asked when his kiss shifted from her mouth to her jaw, and slowly made its way down to her neck. Still, she didn’t feel the expected tender scrape of his teeth on her skin. She couldn’t help but hear his harsh, heavy breathing in her ear. His habits always gave her a nervous thrill, but this was beyond that. This felt different. This felt… personal. Not the usual sharing of sustenance to alleviate hunger.
“Yuuki,” he whispered hungrily, and his kiss deepened.
Then his hand fisted in her hair and brought her head back, exposing her neck.
He must be hungry, her brain told her matter of factly, that’s why he’s doing this. That’s all he’s doing. He went too long without… without…
But this is far too exposed. Anyone could find out.
“Zero, we need to get inside,” she tried to shuffle towards the school building. “Someone could see this, they’ll find out,” she insisted.
He made an irritated, impatient groan in his throat, and raised his head. There wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere on his face, or mouth. When Yuuki raised a cautious hand to her throat, it came back clean – not a hint of crimson.
She was completely confused.
“You mean him,” he said quietly.
“I think he already knows,” she whispered, looking away. She hadn’t told Kaname, but somehow, she knew her closest friend knew Zero’s secret. She was sure her father knew; perhaps he’d felt honour-bound to tell Kaname about there being another ‘vampire’ at Cross Academy, but one who wasn’t in the Night Class…
But Zero’s eyes widened at her admission. “What do you mean?” he demanded.
“I think he already knows that you’re… that you need blood… and that… I… I’m the one who helps you,” she said awkwardly, glancing at the ground. This conversation was starting to feel more and more intimate.
The long, tapered fingers in her hair shifted, combed the loosened curls back gently from her face, and his hand came to rest on her cheek. The other trailed down her back to rest on her hip possessively.
It came as another shock when he gave her a quick tug towards him and pulled her hips to meet his. Slowly, he leaned part of his male body forward to make her understand.
“Yuuki,” he sighed, tipping his forehead to rest against hers, and closing his eyes. “You’re too trusting.”
“What do you…What are you…” She swallowed and tried to look away, but his hand moved to her cheek and held her still. Warning signals flowed through her body, particularly from the places they touched so warmly through their clothes.
“You,” he stated. “Only you do this to me.”
Thrust up against him as she was, Yuuki found it impossible to ignore what he was showing her, confessing to her.
Cheeks burning, she brought her arms up in front of her and did what she should have done when he first caught her in his kiss. She pushed against him to free herself, looking back towards the school. “I need to go back on patrol,” she explained, and pushed harder.
“Yuuki, stay,” Zero said, and held onto her wrist.
“No, goodnight Zero. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she yanked her wrist free of his grasp. Without looking back at him, she walked very briskly towards the last quadrant of her route, occasionally slapping her cheeks to cool them. Zero, what’s got into you?
He watched her run away until he couldn’t see her anymore. Even his vampire-sharpened eyes couldn’t make her slim figure out after a few minutes.
That was when he felt the menacing presence behind him.
He turned to face Kaname Kuran, completely expressionless.
The two men regarded each other, sizing up and knowing the other did the same.
“Thank you for returning my jacket,” said Kaname politely after an extended pause. He wasn’t wearing it, though; he was still wearing Kain’s jacket. Zero had noticed him wearing it as everyone had filed out of the theatre that night on their way home. But Zero had no interest in what the other man wore, and it was a peripheral observation, the same way he noticed the vampire kept his hands in his pockets now as he had then.
The far older man nodded faintly at Zero as he walked past him, but his Pure Blood eyes bore into the hunter’s and the threat was clear: Mine. Don’t ever do that again.
Without another word, Kaname blew past him and continued on his way, precisely in the direction Yuuki had taken.
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TBC.
AN: I know, I said this would be the last chapter, but I decided to break this one up instead of having it end up super-long. Please forgive me. The last chapter (the one you’re all waiting for with baited breath; you think I don’t know what you’re reading this fic for? 8D) is coming at the latest by Wednesday.
AN: Thank you for reading -- please let me know what you think in the comments.
AN: This chapter posted Oct 23 2008.
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