1. A painful night

It was a cool autumn evening, and Yuki and Zero were just checking into a hotel, since the headmaster had decided to send Zero on another hunt, yet, Yuki had insisted that she should go to. When Yuki had the card key, she turned to face Zero. He looked bored.

"Hey, Zero. What's wrong?" Yuki asked, picking up her bag. When they got wind of the fact that they were out late, the headmaster sent them their bags from the academy so they wouldn't have to go all the way back to the Academy so late at night. (Currently, 11:30 p.m. and Zero had to hunt a Level E vampire on the far side of town and they were about twenty miles from the school, and were too tired to go any further. They were sent on the mission at around twenty after eight in the evening. You get the idea!)

Zero looked up at Yuki, she had dark shadows under her eyes from the lack of sleep she has been getting, having being a guardian at the school and helping him all the time. He, on the other hand, didn't feel tired that much. Although, coming to the hotel was mostly his idea, since Yuki fell asleep a few times while he hunted the vampire."…Nothing, well, where's the room?" he asked sulkily. Yuki looked at the card key and moaned.

"The second floor…" she said. Zero sighed, but he picked up his bag and he led Yuki to the elevator.

"What's wrong, Yuki?" he asked in concern. She looked up at him.

"I'm fi-fi-fine, Zero." she yawned as they got into the elevator, which was empty of people. Suuure, you are. Zero thought, rolling his eyes. He hit the number 2 button and the elevator went up.

As the elevator climbed the one story it had to go, Zero looked down at Yuki, he noticed her sag a bit before she steadied herself. He smiled down at her, as though he was about to chuckle. Then, the doors opened to reveal an elderly couple in their night gowns. They looked ancient to Zero. So, since Yuki didn't move, he grabbed her bag, which she dropped, and he threw it over his shoulder and he began to shove Yuki out of the elevator. By the time they were out, Yuki tripped over her own feet, but before she hit the floor, Zero caught her with one arm around her tiny waist. He tried to get her to her feet, but this time, she was asleep. Zero rolled his eyes. He leaned down toward her.

"Hey, Yuki, where's the card key?" he asked. She whispered drowsily.

"Inside…jacket pocket…right side…" she mumbled. Zero knelt down on one knee, his arm still around her waist, he set Yuki on his knee so he could dig into her duster jacket so he could find the irritating piece of plastic that was in the shape of an ipod. When he found the card key, he happened to pull out a small pink thing with white wiring. It was Yuki's ipod with her earphones. How ironic! Zero thought. (I love that line! Ha ha ha ha!) With the card in his hand, he picked up Yuki bridle-style, and he looked at the room number on the card. 217.

Zero, with a sleeping Yuki in his arms, looked toward the corner of the hallway, where there was a plate that was in an ugly orange peach-like color with black writing on it. The plate read;

Rooms 210-225 and there was a black arrow pointing in the left direction. So, Zero turned to the left and he walked down the narrow hallway. The doors were a faded red color with deep mahogany colored plates with their numbers in gold on them. The even numbers were on his right while the odds were on the left. Then, as he looked to the left, there was the faded red colored door, in all of its greatness, with the mahogany colored plate that had the golden number 217 on it. He slide the card key into the slot and the door opened. Zero walked into the room. It was small and there were two, grey couches on each side of the big window on the other side of the room, there was only one bed. There was a TV on top of a pine-looking dresser, in front of the one bed. The bathroom was right next to the door. Zero groaned to himself as he walked into the room. He dropped his and Yuki's bags onto the floor by the pine-dresser and he gently put Yuki on the bed. When he stood upright, he went to grab his bag and he went into the bathroom.

When Yuki woke up, it was dark and she found that she was laying in a bed. She couldn't remember how she got there. Then, she saw a large shape move on her right side. She turned to see that it was Zero, who was still awake and he was looking out the window, his face was lit up by the moonlight that poured into the room. She sat up in the bed, she was still in her clothes and her duster jacket was over her body. But, she noticed that the duster reached her ankles. It wasn't her jacket, but it was Zero's!

"Hey, Sleepy…" Zero said. Yuki turned to look at him.

"Zero, how did-" Zero interrupted her.

"Hmmm, let's just say that, by the time we reached this floor in the elevator, you crashed in the middle of the hallway, so I grabbed the key from your jacket pocket, and I had to carry you the rest of the way." he said matter of factly, like it was obvious to everybody.

"Oh, well, thanks Zero." she said, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips.

When Zero looked at her face, she was smiling. He also took note of how beautiful Yuki really looked, with the moonlight filling the small room. Then, catching him off guard, a searing pain in his neck made him look down.

"Aghhh!" he groaned in pain, trying to not scream. Yuki was right beside him, still on the bed.

"Zero?! Are you alright?" she asked anxiously. He could feel her hands on his shoulders, he looked up at her face. Her face was turned toward the open curtain, her eyes were full of fright, because within seeing range, were about four pairs of red eyes staring in their direction.

Yuki felt her heart stutter in her chest, as she saw the four pairs of eyes, although they were several yards away, outside in the darkness of the night. Then, she felt herself shake a bit, feeling the familiar terror that she felt ten years ago.

Zero looked at Yuki's face, it was fearful. He turned toward the window, despite the pain he felt in his neck, and he glared at the eyes out the window. Then, one-by-one, the eyes began to back into the shadows. After another minute, the last set of eyes had vanished into the darkness. Zero took a deep breath, due to the relief he felt, now that the pain in his neck had faded. When he looked back at Yuki, she had her Artemis Rod in her hand, prepared to use it.

"Hey, Yuki..." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, she gasped and she jerked her head back to see him. She heaved a deep sigh, before she turned back to the window.

"Yuki...don't worry..." he said soothingly. "They won't come near you." he said and he gently began to rub her shoulder so as to calm her.

Yuki's heart was stuttering in her chest, she placed her hand on the window sill and she bent her head down. She could feel Zero's hand on her shoulder. Then, in the corners of her eyes, she felt tears. When one solitary tear began to travel down her cheek, she felt pathetic with herself. Then, she began to sob quietly.

"Yuki?" Zero said in concern. Yuki was sobbing quietly, her body was shaking as she sobbed.

"Yuki? What's wrong?" he asked as calmly as he could. Yuki sniffled before answering.

"I just...It's just that..." she struggled for the words before she closed her eyes in defeat. "It's just so...I feel so pathetic, Zero!" she cried out, this was when a new onslaught of sobs hit her.

Zero felt his heart beat in his chest, it was as though it was trying to reach Yuki's heart. Then, Yuki threw herself into Zero's chest, her sobs continued.

Yuki buried herself into him, hoping to find comfort. Then, she felt Zero's arms wrap around her back, his hands rubbing her back, slowly and softly.

"It's alright, Yuki. Calm down. It's okay." he said quietly, trying to soothe her sobs. Yuki felt herself calm down, but only by a fraction. She began to speak.

"It's just that...it's so pathetic!" She said through her sobs. "I mean, I should be over this by now! That incident ten years ago should just be ancient history! In the past, and gone!" she cried through her tears.

Zero was silent for a moment. He couldn't find himself to speak, he couldn't find the right words to say. He continued to rub her back in a soothing manner, trying to calm her sobs. After a few minutes, Yuki's sobs had quieted. Zero still had his arms around her, he couldn't speak. All he knew was that he didn't want to let her go. But, he felt that if he did, his vampire instincts would awaken and force him to attack her. He didn't want that, especially for Yuki. Then, before he could move her, she began to sit up on her own. When she was upright, she wiped her eyes dry on her sleeve. Zero finally found his voice.

"Are you alright now, Yuki?" he asked. Yuki looked up at him, his eyes showed concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay, now. Thank you for being here, Zero." she said, then a small smile lit up on her face. Zero couldn't speak for a few seconds until he found his voice again.

"You're welcome, Yuki." he said turning toward the window. He could feel Yuki's movements behind him, since he was sitting on the bed right next to her. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the world outside, although it was pitch black. Then, a bumping sound from behind him caught him off guard.

"Ouch!" Yuki yelped from behind him. He turned to see that she gripped the back of her head, and that her head was on the wooden bed rest. Zero had to keep himself from laughing as he went up beside her. He grabbed her arms and he pulled her off of the wood.

"You klutz, what did you do?" he asked, trying to keep from laughing. Yuki positioned herself so she was sitting upright and she began rubbing her head.

"Well, I was feeling very tired and I fell back. I was hoping to hit soft pillows, not a wooden slab!" she said, she could feel her head throbbing in pain, even as she rubbed it the pain just wouldn't ebb away. Then, she felt Zero pull her into him again, and he laid down with her in his arms as he ran one of his hand through her hair in a circle-like movement. Yuki, however, felt shocked at first, but she found that she didn't mind at all. As a matter of fact, she liked it. Then, she felt Zero chuckle as he ran his hand through her hair.

"You dummy, hitting your head like you did." he chuckled. Yuki didn't answer, all she did was giggle in reply.