AN: Hello, my pals! I can't tell you how much I've missed you all!

I know it has been a while, and I have the same excuse that I always give. School + work + other obligations = virtually no time to write. However, school is out for the Spring semester, and I am not self-sacrificing or tenacious enough to take Summer classes, so...I now have time to write (hence the new chapter).

Anywho, this Deleted Scene takes place during Shadow Kiss. And despite my story summary claiming that I have oodles these, this is actually the first unoriginal/familiar scene that I've written from someone else's perspective. (I'm a failure, I know.) Oddly enough, the idea to rewrite this scene from a different perspective was what inspired Deleted Scenes in the first place. It just took me eight chapters to work up the confidence to write something in this particular character's POV (oops).

So, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or its characters. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead.

Frenemies: Christian's POV

I was happy when my culinary class ended. It wasn't that I didn't like the class (it was actually rather interesting, not to mention useful), but I liked my girlfriend more. A lot more. And since said girlfriend was in the library at that moment, there was no place I'd rather be.

Unfortunately, the path to the library was a perilous one, and not just because of the impending threat of "Strigoi." Ice slicked the walkways in dangerous sheets, making progress slow. I would've had the confidence to go faster if I thought Rose Hathaway, my pseudo-guardian for the next six weeks, would deign to catch me if I slipped. We'd come to a mutual truce in our constant bickering no more than a half an hour ago, but unless the guidelines for this guardian exercise required them to protect their charge from the elements, I didn't doubt that I'd end up flat on my rear with Rose in near hysterics standing over me. I'd never live it down, so I didn't take any chances.

"Can we stop at my dorm real quick?" I asked. "I have something I need to grab."

She shrugged. "I go where you go. What do you need from your room?"

"None of your business," I said, rolling my eyes. Did she always have to be so nosy?

"Condoms, then."

I missed a step and slipped. Lightning fast, she reached out a steadying arm, but I quickly smacked it off once I regained my balance.

"NO! What is wrong with you!? I'm not grabbing" – I glanced around before lowering my voice – "condoms. We're going to the library for God's sake."

She raised an eyebrow; well, she tried to raise an eyebrow. "So, a church, the house for the Big Guy who condemns such premarital activities, is alright, but the library is where you draw the line?"

So much for that half hour of peace.

I scrubbed a hand down my face. "Of course, Lissa told you about that."

"Yeah, um, that's how I know. She told me."

It was probably my imagination, but I could've sworn she was blushing.

Thankfully, Rose dropped the subject. I had expected her to tease me (or threaten me) for the rest of my days, but the topic seemed to almost make her uncomfortable. She lost some of the pep in her step and wouldn't look at me, turning her head to stare at what I think was the guardian building. Funny, I never would've taken Rose for a prude, especially with the reputation she used to have. Through Lissa I'd come to learn that most of the rumors about Rose's exploits were either untrue or greatly exaggerated. But you didn't get a reputation like that without doing something, right?

I was going to say something more to lighten Rose's mood, and get rid of this awkward silence, but Brandon Lazar beat me to it. "Hey, Ozera," he called, rushing toward us, heedless of the ice under his feet.

Brandon was one of the few people who lived in my hall that I could stand, so I smiled and said, "Hey, Brandon. What's up?"

He reached us and put his hands on his knees, huffing and puffing, but his eyes were excited, almost giddy. "You guys…won't believe…what just happened…in my math class!"

Apparently, it was quite the fight. Guardian Petrov threw the novices guarding the class off momentarily by climbing in through a window. She managed to "kill" one of them before the remaining two could take her down. Brandon's dramatic retelling had all three of us laughing, and with the awkward gone, I felt that Rose and I were officially back to our truce.

"What I want to know," I laughed, "is how Guardian Petrov got to the second story window in the first place."

Rose snorted. "Hey, she might be old, but she could take on almost any of us." I didn't doubt it.

We had just finished crossing the quad, nearing the Moroi dorms, when Rose suddenly stopped and squinted at Brandon. "What happened to you?" she gasped. "Have you been fighting the Guardians too?"

She reached for him, but he pulled away and started walking again, faster. Rose and I picked up our paces to keep up.

I'd noticed the bruises, of course – they partially covered the left side of his face and ran down his jaw and neck to his ear where there were some familiar looking burn marks – they were kind of hard to miss. But I hadn't really thought anything of it. Dhampirs may be the warriors but fights among the Moroi were not unheard of. I'd assumed Brandon had gotten himself into a fight with a fire user who'd gone way, way overboard.

"Nah," he replied, averting his eyes, "just fell."

"Come on," Rose scoffed. "That's the lamest, most unoriginal excuse in the world."

"It's true," he insisted with a bite to his words.

"If someone is screwing with you, I can give you a few pointers."

Brandon suddenly whipped around to face Rose. He made eye contact and looked at her intently, almost like he was concentrating. A trickle of sweat ran down his temple even though it was freezing outside. "Just let it go," he said firmly. He wasn't asking her to let it go; he was telling her.

But for the life of me I couldn't remember a single time Rose Hathaway had ever done something she was told to do if she didn't want to do it.

She laughed. "What are you trying to do? Compel me –"

Almost as if a switch had been flipped, Rose cut herself off and the smile vanished from her face. Despite the now grim expression, excitement shone in her eyes as she grabbed both Brandon and I's wrists and hauled us behind her. It was then that I took the rustling in the bushes for what it really was: a Strigoi.

I knew it was fake. Brandon knew it was fake. Rose knew it was fake. But as Guardian Alto, clad in black, jumped out of the bushes, that knowledge didn't stop her from lowering into a defensive position and reaching for her stake, it didn't stop my heart from pounding as if a real Strigoi were here for my blood, and it certainly didn't stop Brandon from taking an additional step back, making me a second barrier between himself and our attacker. Typical.

I didn't bother telling Brandon that he had nothing to worry about. Nothing was getting past Rose. He might have never seen her in action, but I had. I knew that she'd faced down two Strigoi – real Strigoi – and won. I'd seen how fiercely determined and protective Rose could be when it came to the lives of others. Regardless of all our fighting and teasing, I knew Rose was strong. Rose was skilled. Rose was…

Terrified.

Guardian Alto made a move to come at her, but she didn't bother putting her hands up to protect herself, she didn't even flinch. Turning back to Rose, I noticed that her eyes weren't even on Alto, as far as she was concerned, he didn't even exist. Instead, Rose was looking somewhere beyond him at…nothing. I tried squinting to see what I was missing, but it didn't help. There was genuinely nothing there, yet Rose kept staring. Eyes wide and filled with tears. Lips parted and trembling. Cheeks drained of color, white as a ghost. Whatever she was seeing, her expression had me more scared than Alto's arm circling my neck did.

Once both Brandon and I were secured, and Rose still hadn't made a move to stop him, Alto let out a growl of anger and actually slammed his boot into Rose's shoulder, knocking her out of whatever trance she'd been in.

She fell forward and caught herself right before her face would have hit the ground. "Hathaway!" he yelled, angry spit flying from his lips. "What are you doing?"

Dazed, Rose pushed herself up and faced a fuming Alto, then looked back at the spot that had captured her attention so fully. I tried squinting again, but I still couldn't make out what she was seeing. What could she possibly be looking at?

Turning to Alto again, she finally seemed to realize the position Brandon and I were in, and what that meant for her. While it went unspoken that she had just failed her first test, Alto helpfully informed her that we'd be dead if he had been a real Strigoi, and rather than slinging a fiery comeback like I'd come to expect from her, Rose actually looked down and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Guardian Alto."

Releasing Brandon and I, Alto stepped forward and barked a laugh. "You're sorry? Well that just makes everything alright now, doesn't it? Because a real Strigoi won't attack your Moroi if the guardian tells him that she is super-duper sorry that she's incompetent."

Rose clenched her jaw and returned Alto's glare. "I'm not incompetent."

Through his teeth he growled. "I know you aren't, Hathaway! You just wanted to add to your little temper tantrum from this morning by allowing me to get to them on purpose!"

Her jaw dropped. "I did not do this on purpose. I just…I just made a mistake."

"Tell that to the disciplinary committee."

"Discipli-"

"This isn't up for discussion," he said, spinning on his heels and walking away. "Follow me, Hathaway. Mr. Lazar. Mr. Ozera." He nodded to both of us in turn. Clearly we were dismissed. I tried to catch Rose's eye as she passed me, but she avoided my gaze as she fell in line behind Alto, letting him lead her to an unknown punishment.

"Well," Brandon started, breaking the silence that followed, "that was…"

"Strange," I finished. Rose wasn't one to back down from a fight, especially a fight against a Strigoi, fake or otherwise. She and I might not be close, but I knew her well enough to know that becoming a guardian was one of the few things Rose took very seriously. She would never do anything to jeopardize achieving that goal, like say, purposely failing to protect her Moroi during the field experience. Something wasn't right. Recalling the look on her face when she froze only confirmed it. I didn't know what it was, but something had definitely prevented Rose from attacking Alto.

"I was going to say disappointing," Brandon said. "I mean, all anyone ever talks about when it comes to Rose Hathaway – beside her smokin' hot body, of course – is how deadly she is in a fight. I was expecting something amazing, but that was just pathetic, am I right?" He tried to nudge my arm in comradery, but I stepped back. It didn't seem to faze him. "Bet she made the whole thing up about taking out those two Strigoi too."

Every word out of his mouth fueled my anger and something else I couldn't say I'd ever felt before: a protectiveness of Rose.

"Brandon," I gritted out, "you're an idiot. I was in that house with her, remember? I was there. Rose did kill those Strigoi, and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have made it out of there alive."

As a general rule, royals don't like being told they're wrong, and they certainly don't like being reminded of their less than ideal brain functioning capacity while being told they're wrong, so Brandon's snarl of anger wasn't wholly unexpected, but his words, and the audacity it took to say them, were.

"As I recall, not everyone made it out of there alive. So, either Rose isn't as skilled as everyone claims she is, or this isn't the first time she purposely left someone to the mercy of the Strigoi."

For all of my animosity and general dislike for the people around me, for all of the whispering, rumors, and hurled insults, for all of the ostracizing and blatant hatred toward me and my family I'd never thrown a punch…until this moment.

Brandon's head snapped back, and I grimaced as I shook out my throbbing hand. I definitely threw that wrong.

"How dare you!"

"No. How dare you. You have no right to talk about things you know absolutely nothing about." He wasn't there. He didn't hear her offer up her neck, her blood to the Strigoi so her friends wouldn't have to. He didn't smell her burning flesh as I melted off her cuffs. He didn't witness her resolve and leadership as we made our way up the stairs of the house that still haunts my nightmares. He didn't see her throw herself into the arms of an ancient Strigoi, providing a distraction so we could all escape. He didn't know what I knew: that Rose was the best guardian this Academy had.

He looked like he wanted to punch me back, but somehow, he also knew that he'd crossed the line with insinuating that Rose would purposefully let Mason die. The punch was deserved, but that didn't stop him from spitting on the ground near my feet and storming away with a, "Screw you, Ozera," thrown over his shoulder.

Unsurprisingly, the People I Can Stand list remained in a perpetual state of steady decline.

I dropped onto a nearby bench and forced myself to take a few deep breaths. I needed to calm down. I mean, I'd just punched a guy, and for Rose's sake no less. There had to be something wrong with me.

Yet…I didn't regret it. Normally, Rose would be the last person I'd come to the defense of, even the last person I'd think needed someone to come to her defense. I don't know what she saw minutes ago, but I know what I saw. She was scared and vulnerable, someone who very much needed an ally in her corner. I used to think Hell would freeze over before Rose became that person, yet here we were. Spokane had cracked something inside of her.

"Hello, Mr. Ozera."

I looked up to see Guardian Belikov walking by, heading to or from one shift or another. I gave him my patented head nod of acknowledgement in response, and he continued on his merry way. However, he didn't continue very far, coming to a quick stop only a few paces beyond me and spinning back around. I also noticed he was no longer merry.

"Mr. Ozera," he started suspiciously, and for a split second I thought he was going to call me out on hitting Brandon. Even if Brandon had told someone about what I did already, news probably wouldn't have traveled quite that fast, but my purpling knuckles could give me away just as easily – guardians were perceptive like that. Instead he asked, "Where's Rose?"

Crap.

If Alto's reaction was any indication, Rose was in huge trouble. And while watching her get chewed out would usually be something I'd bring popcorn to witness, this situation was different. I didn't want Rose to get in trouble at all, so telling another guardian what happened probably wouldn't be the best idea. On the other hand, Dimitri would be hearing about it anyway, either from Alto, Rose herself, or both. Alto would probably tell him that she'd refused to protect me. Rose would just repeat the bull crap she spouted earlier about making a mistake. Neither of those things would be the truth, though. But Belikov needed the truth. He was Rose's mentor, and if anyone was going to be an effective ally in her corner, it would be him.

"Rose is with Guardian Alto," I told him. No use beating around the bush. "She failed her first test."

His brows furrowed. "Novices fail these tests all the time, that's not a reason to take her away from her charge."

"He mentioned something about a disciplinary committee."

His eyes widened, showing me a brief moment of shock and concern, before his face slammed into neutrality. "What did Rose do that would warrant bringing a committee together?"

"I guess he didn't like the way she failed the test."

"How did she-"

Saved by the bell, or, more accurately, the phone ring. Dimitri took the cell phone out of his pocket, and a muscle in his jaw ticked at the caller ID.

"Thank you for letting me know about this. Have a nice day, Mr. Ozera."

"Wait," I said before he could turn away or answer the phone. "Listen, I'm sure whoever is on the other end of that line is going to lay out all the details of what happened very nicely for you, but you should know that no matter what they say, no matter what Rose says, she didn't do it on purpose, and this definitely wasn't a screw up. Something…something happened to her. I don't know what, but…you should've seen her face." I shivered a little at the memory of it. "Something is happening to her, but I think she's too afraid to say anything."

Dimitri nodded, a quick movement that told me he didn't like my observation, but he was glad to have it. "You're a good friend, Christian."

I rubbed the back of my neck. I really wasn't. Good friends didn't wish other good friends would get swallowed by a black hole every time Lissa gave them her attention instead of…well, me. "I'm not sure about that. I just think Rose could use some support against that disciplinary thing."

"Don't worry about that," he assured me, the corner of his mouth twitching upward for the briefest of moments. "Rose will always have my support." And then he was turning away and bringing the attention demanding phone to his ear.

After retrieving a textbook from my room, I was finally able to meet up with Lissa in the library. I thought for sure that I would be getting a similar lecture to the one I got last Fall when I'd set Ralf Sarcozy on fire, about how violence is never the answer and attacking people is wrong yaddy yaddy yadda. But it turned out that Brandon didn't even tell anyone that I'd punched him, and if he did, then that gossip was overshadowed by Rose's refusal to protect me out on the quad.

Everyone in the library, including Lissa, was talking about it. I tried to explain to her that everybody had been misinformed, but she was still stuck on the fuss Rose had made earlier about being assigned to me. Giving up and figuring that Rose would be able to plead her case later, I decided to enjoy my semi-alone time with Lissa. Eddie was still with us obviously, but he was a lot quieter and less intrusive than Rose. Six weeks was a long time so I'd take what I could get.

A little while later, Rose did catch up with us. Unfortunately, she also brought Ivashkov with her, which did unspeakable things to my mood. That guy was too arrogant for his own good, and he was completely obsessed with Lissa and the element she wielded. Needless to say, I didn't trust him.

However, my mood soured further, turning from annoyance to rage, when Rose told our group about a trial that would be happening at the royal court. More specifically, Victor psychopathic-man-that-kidnaps-children-for-his-own-personal-gain Dashkov's trial. Rose didn't elaborate on how she got the information, but she did tell us that we, being the people who were actually involved in the whole ordeal he was being tried for, were not invited. Without us there to testify against him, there was a chance that he could go free, and this terrified Lissa. Which, let me tell you, had all of my hackles going up and all of my protective boyfriend sirens wee-wooing. Studying became impossible after that.

Eventually the librarians told everyone to pack up and head back to our dorms in time for curfew. I groaned internally because even with all of our brainstorming, we still hadn't come up with a viable solution that could get us to that trial.

Lissa and I continued to discuss the matter as we walked to the dorms hand in hand, but all to soon we were at the crossroad that dictated which dorm building one was heading to, and with a kiss we were forced to go our separate ways.

Despite knowing that there was a good chance I'd be assigned a guardian for the field experience, I hadn't actually prepared for it. Clothes and books and other belongings created what I considered a healthy, protective layer over my floor. Rose snorted when she saw the mess, but I wasn't embarrassed. Her room probably wasn't much better.

Not even bothering to do the "chivalrous" thing and offer her the bed – because we both knew she would decline, I would insist, then she would decline again, and we'd be back to square one (also, I just didn't want to give up my bed) – I began to clear a place for her. By the time we both finished brushing our teeth, Rose had made herself at home in the blankets on the floor.

I turned off the light and eagerly got into bed. Mentally my brain hurt with the news of Victor's trial, emotionally I was on edge and worried about Lissa, and physically my hand still ached from connecting with Brandon's jaw. Today had been…exhausting to say the least.

Sleep had almost pulled me under when I heard a quiet, "Christian?"

Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, "This is the time when we sleep, Rose." I didn't have the energy for an argument or whatever draining conversation she was trying to start.

"Believe me, I want that too. But I have a question."

"Is it about Victor? Because I need to sleep, and that's just going to piss me off again."

"No, it's about something else."

With a sigh I rolled to my side so I could look down in her general direction. Moroi eyesight, from what I'd heard, is heightened compared to humans. Even the smallest amount of light would help my eyes adjust so I could see her clearly, but my black out curtains and tinted windows did their job well when it came to keeping any and all sunlight out, so all I could do was face the talking dark blob on my floor and hope I was looking at her face and not her feet.

"Okay," I said somewhat reluctantly, "shoot."

"Why didn't you make fun of me over what happened with Stan? Everyone else is trying to figure out if I messed up or did it on purpose. Lissa gave me a hard time. Adrian did a little. And the guardians…well, never mind about them. But you didn't say anything. I figured you'd be the first one with a snappy comment."

My knee jerk reaction to her question actually was a snappy comment. Something along the lines of, if you wanted me to give you a hard time, all you had to do was ask. But the way she asked the question, with such uncertainty and caution, almost as if she expected me to start accusing her like everyone else had, had me holding my tongue.

"There was no point in giving you a hard time," I finally said. "I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"Why not? I mean, not that I'm contradicting you – because I didn't do it on purpose – but why are you so sure?"

I thought back to what she'd said earlier, before this day had gone to hell in a handbasket, about how I held a piece of Lissa's heart that she couldn't touch. Those weren't the words of someone set on revenge, or someone who was about to live out her fantasy by letting her rival for Lissa's attention get "killed" by Strigoi.

"Because of our conversation in culinary science. And because of the way you are. I saw you in Spokane. And anyone who did what you did to save us…well, you wouldn't do something childish like this."

"Wow." Her surprise almost mirrored my own. At the beginning of the day, both of us had been so sure that the next six weeks would be about as fun as getting one's inner thigh hairs plucked by a praying mantis while being forced to listen to the newest hits in the mumble rap genre. Who knew we wouldn't even make it one night without having a heart to heart? "Thanks," she continued. "I…well, that means a lot. You're like the first person who actually believes I just messed up without any ulterior motives."

"Well, I don't believe that either."

"Believe what? That I messed up? Why not?"

For starters, if Rose really had messed up, she wouldn't be pushing for everyone to believe that she had. She'd be defending herself, or, at the very least, playing it off till the incident exited the rumor mill. But I didn't tell her that. Instead I said, "Weren't you just listening? I saw you in Spokane. Someone like you doesn't mess up or freeze."

"Killing Strigoi doesn't make me invinci-"

"Plus, I saw your face out there."

This gave her pause. "Out…on the quad?"

"Yeah." I brought up her face in my mind's eye. The sadness and the terror that overcame her because of something unseen had created an expression that was going to be hard to forget. "I don't know what happened, but the way you looked…that wasn't the look of someone trying to get back at a person. It wasn't the look of someone blanking out at Alto's attack either. It was something different…I don't know. But you were completely consumed by something else – and honestly? Your expression? Kind of scary."

She was quiet for a moment, contemplating. "Yet…you aren't giving me a hard time over that either."

"Not my business. If it was big enough to take you over like that, then it must be serious." I was hesitant to say what I wanted to next. The words would stroke her ego, especially coming from me, but I also had a feeling that after the day she had she needed to hear them, especially coming from me. "But if push comes to shove, I feel safe with you, Rose. I know you'd protect me if there was really a Strigoi there."

It was quite possible I was just seeing things, but I could've sworn the dark blob smiled a little.

"Okay," I said around a yawn, fully weirded out and trying to move on from the sharing portion of the evening. "Now that I've bared my soul, can we please go to bed? Maybe you don't need beauty sleep, but some of us aren't that lucky."

The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was a snicker and whispered words that sounded a lot like, "Ain't that the truth."

AN: Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter of Deleted Scenes! You guys are 100% the reason I keep writing these! So, please feel free to comment on something you liked to give yah gurl a confidence boost, or, you know, you could always tell me to quit while I'm ahead. I accept all forms of comment and critique:)

If you are one of the lovely people who decide to comment (not that those of you who don't comment aren't just as lovely), then I'd like to prompt you with a question (just as a suggestion for critical feedback purposes): what did you think of how I portrayed Christian's voice?

Christian is one of my all time favorite characters in this series, and we get a lot of amazing scenes with him in the first three books. However, while he is ever-present in the last three books as well, he kind of tapers off to the point where his very name isn't even mention in the first book of Bloodlines. My point is, I'm worried that I didn't get his beautiful, resentful, snarky little voice right while writing this. As you all know, Shadow Kiss held a lot of milestones in Rose and Christian's relationship (which, let me tell you, gives me so much life because I adore their friendship), but, that being said, the scene that I wrote above takes place fairly early on in the book. This scene was one of those milestones, yes, but they still aren't buddy buddy or anything, so it was really hard to balance Christian's changing attitude toward Rose while maintaining the degree of annoyance he has for her. What do you guys think?

No matter what, I appreciate you all, and I hope you have a sensational day!