Hello friends! Sorry I haven't updated much. I've been very busy, my schedule is still as packed as ever! Not to mention that I've started ANOTHER fanfic! I know what you're thinking: doesn't she already have five other fanfics that shes put off for far too long? Yes, yes I do.

I also know that some of you will be thinking: is she crazy? Yes, yes I am.

Enough about me, though. Please review some more! I was meaning to go through all the reviews and thank you separately, but my computer had other plans for me (it never seems to work right!) but, back to the main issue: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

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I woke up, to the sun shining through the window, signalling that a new day had already begun. For a minute, I thought that I had slept in, and missed school, before realizing that yes, it was Christmas break. I collapsed back into sleep. Taking in a deep breath, full of the scent of the wet grass outside, and Yuuki`s strawberry shampoo that I had used, and the smell of gunpowder and peppermint mixing to together to create something distinctly Zero.

smell of Zero??? my eyes snapped open, to see that I was laying in a bed that was definitely not mine. I rubbed my eyes, sure that it must be a dream. When it didn't go away, I panicked. What if Zero came in here and discovered me? What would I say? "Oh, I just got the sudden urge to crawl into your bed with my pyjamas still on. You know, normal stuff." I cringed. definitely not.

What if Zero had already saw me in here? I freaked out, and jumped off his bed. But, like I always seem to do, I misinterpreted the height of his bed, and fell right on my face. By now, I was used to cuts and bruises. I never used to be clumsy. I used to be the level-headed kind of girl who thought things through. I never used to trip over my own feet. That seemed to be a new thing since I'd come here.

I pushed myself up off the floor with a groan. "Dammit all!" I cursed, as I heard someone walk down the hall. I thought for sure they'd stopped at Zero's door, but they continued down the hall.

stop being so paranoid! I told myself. That wasn't new, though. Unlike the clumsiness, I had always been paranoid. But this time, I had a good reason to be. It wasn't exactly good for your image to be caught in a boy's bed.

I snuck to the door, and peeked around it. Still, no one. I relaxed. I slowly opened the door, wincing when it creaked. No one woke up. My moves became more sloppy. I pushed the door to my room aside, already beginning to pull my pyjama shirt off. I wondered where Zero was. Probably still with his sensei.

He'd been with his sensei almost everyday this week, much more than usual.

Then, I heard a muffled snore. I dropped my shirt, smoothing it back against my stomach.

Zero lay sprawled across the bed, his long legs falling off the side. I felt my cheeks heat up. Even if he hadn't been conscious, the fact that he'd still been in the same room with me whilst I was removing my shirt was a fire inside me that warmed and reddened my cheeks. If he'd woken up during it… I shook my head. Definitely not what I wanted to think about. My cheeks flared, and I pushed my hands across my face, whether in an effort to calm down, or to just hide from the world, I wasn't quite sure.

I peeked out the cracks in my fingers. He looked way happier in his sleep then I'd bet I'd ever see him when he was conscious.

Zero's legs hung off of my much shorter bed, and the blanket that I usually drowned in hardly covered him. He looked peaceful, far more peaceful than I'd ever seen him look when he was awake. His mouth pulled up into a half smile, and my heart leapt, and I felt like I was flying.

His lips parted, and he whispered a name.

"Yuuki."

And just like that, the flying feeling was gone. Instead, I was falling, and falling hard. All of my insecurities catching up with me at once, and crashing together like a train wreck.

Funny. I wasn't crying. Though I felt like I ought to be. I brought my hand to the corner of my eye, just in case. It was dry. I guess with all the crying and stress over the past few days, I'd used up all my tears. I guess I'll never catch up to Yuuki in his mind. I guess we'll always be on different levels. I was sick of playing second fiddle.

I stopped myself. Second fiddle? I'd never even been a fiddle. To Zero, I was little more than a friend, if that. Just some chick who lived in his house. Okay, it probably wasn't THAT bad, but still. I was like the perfectly good fiddle sitting of to the side, gathering cobwebs and dust, waiting for someone to pick me up. All I could do was watch the other fiddles being bought, and hope that maybe somebody would want to buy me, too. The other, perfect fiddles that didn't have any broken strings or scratches.

I felt my left eye twitching. Had I really just had an entire inner monologue about fiddles?

I had a better imagination then I had first thought. Either that, or I had finally fell of the deep end. Right now, I wouldn't really care either way.

Suddenly, I knew exactly how Zero must feel. Everyday, having to watch Yuuki and Kaname. I felt bad for him, felt bad for me.

I envied Yuuki, and tried very hard to remind myself that she was a very kind person. It wasn't her fault that she had everything I would never have. I ran my hand through my hair. At least it wasn't greasy anymore. Some of the shine was back in it, and when I had realized that fact, I'd ran to Yuuki's room to show her. She had told me that it looked beautiful, and said she wished that her hair was that pretty. Even though I knew it wasn't true, I had still felt good. Really good. Now I understood what an idiot I'd been. A little more shine, a little prettier, it meant nothing. There would be no difference. Yuuki knew this, but she still smiled and complimented me. I used to think I was pretty, until I'd come here. I guess I'd thought I was pretty because it didn't really matter to me before I came here. And, I'd really had no one to compare myself to but my dogs.

I looked at the mirror across from me, and analyzed my features, picking out every small imperfection. I tried not to, but it was like a reflex for some odd reason. My heart shaped face was framed by dark tendrils that had come loose from my ponytail. My blue-green eyes looked back at me disapprovingly. My small lips were set in a frown. I smiled, and it looked a little better.

Then it hit me: What the hell was the point?

Even if I was as beautiful as Yuuki, she would always hold the key to Zero's heart. And Kaname would always be her soul mate. And I would always like Zero. No one here was getting quite what they wanted. I laughed at the obscure love square that was my life. I'd seen plenty of love TRIANGLES, but never a love SQAURE. Betcha not many people get to be in one of those. I laughed darkly.

Guess all I could do was try to except myself for who I was, and what I looked like. Until then, I could never be truly happy. No one can love you until you love yourself.

Once again, I stopped myself. One more speech like that, and people would start mistaking me for Mother Teresa.

Zero rolled over, and the cover fell off of him and onto the floor. I picked it up, and threw it across him. I tucked it in at the sides, trying to keep him under it. When I gave up on trying to cover all of him, I stood back and gazed at him. I didn't want to like him. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to hate him with every ounce of my being. I wanted to hate him for all of the trouble, all the tears and stress he'd caused me. But I knew I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough.

He mumbled something again, and I leaned forward to hear. Then, Yagari's voice drifted from the hall. "Is he up yet?"

"Ah…no." the Chairman responded. I could almost see him rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Then, a set of footsteps began down the hallway. "Ah!" I squeaked, trying to push off of the bed. Before I could get away, a white hand snaked around my wrist, and pulled me until I flew onto Zero's chest. I pushed away and successfully slid off his chest, but couldn't unwrap his long fingers from around my wrist. They were long enough to wrap around once and then overlap. "C'mon, Zero!" I said quietly, glancing towards the door. The footsteps were getting closer. I pried at his fingers, and they loosened. I tried to push out of his grip. Then they tightened again. I held back a groan of frustration. The footsteps were too close. Even if I did somehow manage to wriggle my way out, I would never have enough time to sneak away. Then, I remembered a fact that had been in the back of my mind. This was my room, not Zero's. why would they come to my room to look for him? I breathed a sigh of relief. The footsteps went past my door, then stopped. "Um…Yagari-chan, why don't we try looking in Bree-chan's room first?" the chairman squeaked.

I froze.

Yagari answered haltingly in a tone that reminded me of the way a cat squeaks after it's been dropped in a pail of water. "Why the hell would he be in there?"

"Oh…I just have a feeling."

The footsteps turned around. I cursed silently, trying desperately to slide my hand away.

I glanced below me, to where there was a few inches between the bed and the ground. It was worth a try.

I kneeled down, lifting up the covers. It was way more of a squeeze than I had first thought. I was just about to stand up when the door knob began turning. I dove into the small space.

Wow, it's such a great thing that I have chronic claustrophobia.

I held my breath to keep from hyper ventilating. Through all of this, his hold on me remained strong. My hand was hanging out from beneath the mattress, and I tried to pull it in closer. No such luck. The door opened, spilling light into the room. I threw the covers over my hand, successfully concealing it and part of Zero's, which was still clutching it. Yagari's voice boomed out from above me. "What the…?"

Chairman cross laughed nervously. "I thought so."

How the hell did the Chairman know everything? He was, like, omniscient! Everywhere at once.

"Get up, Kid!"

The covers receded a bit, and I guessed that Zero was pulling them closer. I slid further in. then, the covers disappeared entirely. I peeked out slightly, and saw that Yagari was holding them. "Get Up!" he said, louder.

Zero woke up, and his hold on me loosened. In his stupor, I slipped my hand out from his. I hissed as the blood rushed back into it. I rubbed where his fingers had been. It was indented. I closed my eyes, my lips repeating a silent prayer.

'Pleasedon'tfindmepleasedon'tfindmepleasedon'tfindme'

I swallowed, and held my breath, trying to calm down. It's not like they're gonna kick you out if they find you, I reasoned with myself.

But I didn't believe it. It hadn't made sense for them to take me in from the start. Every morning I woke up surprised to find myself here.

Zero's voice came out groggy, and I imagined him rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Wha?"

Yagari's voice was still stern, but it always sounded like that, so no one could ever be sure what was going through his mind. "Get dressed. We're leaving in five minutes."

Zero made a confirmative grunt. The door opened and I watched from under the bed as Yagari left, with The Chairman following close behind. I let out a silent breath of relief…before remembering that Zero was still in the room with me and currently unbuttoning his shirt. I felt my face heat up, and pushed myself as far back as I could. Suddenly I felt like a stalker. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, shutting my eyes and trying to ignore the fact that Zero was standing in the room with me. Possibly in just his boxers. I slammed my hands down on my head to get rid of the thought.

After a couple of minutes, I peeked through the cracks in my fingers. Thankfully, Zero was fully dressed. He also appeared to be looking for something. He looked down, and a small, triumphant smile played across his face. He reached down, to the base of the bed as I squished further back against the wall. For once I was glad of my petite body. He grabbed his Bloody Rose Gun, and shoved it into his belt. he lingered there for a second, and I held my breath. I was sure that he was going to look, but instead he stood up. But I still held my breath until he left. When he opened the door and walked out, I sucked in huge lungful of air.

I waited for a good ten minutes after he left before I came out from beneath the bed. I crawled on my hands and knees until I was at the door, then I stood up, my knees aching in protest. I stretched my back, wincing as I hit a kink. Great. Now I was going to look like the hunchback of Notre dame. I'd stayed hunched over under the bed for too long.

I opened the door, and stepped out into the unbearably cold hallway. You'd think with the sun shining outside it would be warm. But no such luck. I grimaced and tried to straighten my back out again. It actually worked this time. I continued down the hallway. By the time I got to the kitchen, my feet were solid blocks of ice. Or, at least, it felt that way.

I sat down and began rubbing my feet. Yuuki stumbled out of her bedroom, her hair dishevelled and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She yawned.

"Did you just get up?" I asked her. It wasn't like Yuuki to sleep in so late.

She gave another infectious yawn. "Ya, for some reason I was really tired."

I nodded. Yuuki went to the fridge and began rummaging around. I answered her unspoken question. "We're outta milk."

She sighed, a drawn out sound. "I'll go get some." she said, her eyes sparkling, signalling that she was awake.

I waited until the click of the door signalled her leave. I went to the fridge and grabbed a box of cornflakes. I poured them into a bowl. Without milk they wouldn't be very good, but they were the only thing and I was really hungry.

I looked back in the fridge. Maybe orange juice… I poured it into the bowl, and took a spoonful. Before gagging it back up.

Okay, I learnt something new today. Don't eat orange juice with cereal. I sighed and settled for a glass of water.

I noticed that I hadn't seen the Chairman yet. "Chairman?" I called. No answer. I shrugged. Then remembered. He'd told me he would be out at a meeting of some kind today. Seems like everyone's at meetings lately. The VAM must be giving them trouble.

Suddenly the house seemed big and eerily silent. Usually at my old apartment my dogs would be making a racket. That reminded me. I hadn't seen my dogs since I got here. The Chairman had decided to keep them in the garage.

I got up, and opened the door to the garage. My dogs rushed at em, barking and wagging there tails. Ratter jumped on me, forcing me to catch him. "I missed you guys!" I shouted.

I sat down on the step and began petting them. Yodel licked my cheek, leaving a line of slobber. "Yodel!" I scolded lightly.

I had missed them. Ratter was the only thing I had left of home. Mom had bought him for me when I was two. The other ones where strays that I had picked up over the years. I'd felt connected to them, because I was a stray too. And, I'd always had a soft spot for dogs. That was something I'd gotten from Mom…

And once again I found myself thinking about my Mother. It hurt, but I liked remembering her. The dogs always made me feel closer to her.

I really hadn't known how Mom had died. The last memory I had of her was her being taken away. Her body had shown up in the lake west of the Orphanage I had been staying in. I wasn't supposed to know about it. I'd been a rebel spirit even back then. I'd eavesdropped on the Nuns, though I kind of wish I hadn't.

After that, I was tossed around between foster homes and orphanages for a while. The Foster Homes had been alright, if awkward, but the orphanages had been absolutely unbearable. The people who ran them didn't really care about our feelings, and had tossed me to the children/monsters and let them tear my self esteem down. I was never much of a fighter. Mom always told me that. Rebellious, yes. A free spirit, yes. But a fighter? I just couldn't see myself as one. But one good thing had come from that. I'd built a skin as thick as steel.

My Mom wasn't in good terms with her family, or at least that's what she'd told me. And my Dad…well, I never really knew my Dad. Mom told me that he had left to try and make things better for us. She said that when I was older, he would come back for us. She always got a wistful, faraway look in her eyes when she spoke about him. Like she was reliving all her days with him in the space of one second. Most of all she'd talk about the eyes he kept hidden behind glasses. She said that was her favourite part of him. And she said she couldn't wait until I could experience love like the one she'd felt for him. She said she couldn't wait to be there and see it.

But she would never see it now.

I felt warmth rolling down my cheeks, and wiped my eyes. I'd never been one for crying, but in the last few weeks, I'd really gone off the emotional charts.

A shadow passed outside the window. I felt my eyebrows knit together. What…? The shadow passed again. I slowly stood up, my heart kicking into high gear. I walked cautiously to the small dusty window. The shadow wasn't there anymore. I reached up to wipe some of the dust off of the glass. Then a face appeared. I squeaked and jumped, before seeing who it was. Adrenaline rushed through me, then left, leaving my limbs tingly. I sank down. I could hear laughter from out side. "Emma," I growled lightly. "Go ahead and let yourself in!"

Emma opened the door, her face shining brilliantly. I'd never seen a smile like that on her before…

"You're such a scaredy cat!" she giggled, brushing strands of loose brown hair out of her face.

I was suspicious. "What are you so happy about?"

Her smile never faltered. "I can't be happy when I have the luxury of scaring you out of your skin?"

I shook my head, and motioned for to sit by me. She plopped down on the step below me. She was wearing a floor length indigo gypsy skirt with dangling gold chains, and I had no idea how she avoided tripping on it. She had on one of those jackets that had puffed out sleeves, the things that were popular in the eighties', and her face…

"Are you wearing makeup?" I asked suspiciously. Emma NEVER wore makeup, and now I could see why. Her makeup skills were as lacking as her fashion sense. Not that I was one to criticize.

She giggled nervously, and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear again. "Just trying to look my best."

"Since when have you cared what you look like?"

She looked down self-consciously at her outfit. "What, you don't think I look nice?"

I could feel my eye twitching. Emma was definitely a teenager now. Touchy and emotional.

"Of course I like it." I told her.

She smoothed down her hair again, only to have it pop back up. I sighed. "Here, let me." I licked my hand and smoothed back her hair, a maternal gesture. This time her hair stayed down.

"Eww!" she squealed, waving her hands. "I don't want your saliva in my hair, Bree!"

"Well, it's staying down now!" I argued.

Emma looked like she was about to retaliate, then she stopped. Her eyes went blank and she leaned forwards. "Do you hear that?" she asked quietly.

"What are you-"

Then I heard it. A keen sound like a bullet passing overhead that dissolved into a rough grumbling. It took my groggy, confused mind a while to realize what it was.

A scream.

Someone was screaming for all they were worth outside. For a second, all we did was stare at each other like idiots. Then, Emma was up and out of the door in a split second. I shot up and took the stairs two at a time.

I swung open the door, to see Emma spinning in circles, looking for the source of the sound. I heard a splat, and turned to see Yuuki standing behind me. She'd heard it, too. Milk was pooling around her boots, and the empty bottle she'd dropped began tumbling away.

Then, the sound started again, before breaking off, in a thump, as if the person had been hit over the head.

Yuuki and Emma were already taking off in the direction of the dorms, leaving me stumbling behind, trying not to trip.

When I finally reached the dorms, Yuuki and Emma were already there, watching something. Yuuki arm shot out in front of me, and I ran into it, nearly being knocked over.

"Ow…" I began, but Yuuki made a motion for me to be quiet, then pointed towards the roof of the Day class dorms.

I felt my eyes widen.

"Oh, God."

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Dun, dun…DUN!!!!!! Cliff-hanger! My FIRST cliff-hanger!!! What do you think is going on????? What do you think is going to happen????? Only I know!!! FOR ONCE I AM HOLDING ALL THE CARDS!!!!! MWA HAHAHAHAHA!

*Ahem* alright. Author's momentary insanity is over. You can all come out from beneath the computer.

Heehee it's so much fun! Please review? Tell me what you think of this chapter?

But, if you want to…could you give me something deeper than the generic 'I liked it and/or I hate it'?

PLEASE????

What I'd really like to know is: what do you think of my OCs? Do you like Emma and Bree? Do you think they're realistic?

If this is asking too much, then you don't have to answer it. But I would appreciate it an awful lot! *Bambi eyes*

Serenity is outta da building!!!!! (Has obviously had too much Coffee today)