Hi there…

**Waves shyly from behind her laptop**

How is everybody? This is my attempt at a Vampire Knight fanfic and I'm a little nervous as to how it will be received. I used to be a huge fan but my interest rather dwindled after Yuki left Zero for Kaname. Sigh. I have always been an avid supporter of KaZe and a secret lover of Aido/Zero ^^ they seem like they could actually be the best of friends, yeah? Anyway, this will remain a one-shot if no one is actually interested, I just had to get it on paper, figuratively. Phew. So please be kind and tell me what you think. Pairings – KaZe, AiZe, side!YuMe, onesided!Zeki.

-II—

Book of Kaname: Chapter 1

The Change in the Knight

I don't know when this obsession began.

With wanting to know more about him.

With wanting to know why a part of her still pined for him.

I just couldn't understand it.

Granted he had physical attributes that may be appealing to the human eye but she was no longer human and she had something far more worthy now.

She had me.

But perhaps the history they had shared was the cause of her inner turmoil; her human heart still wanted him.

The twisting in my stomach did not lessen; the hatred flowing through my veins like venom pulsed harder with each beat this cold heart took.

Kiryuu, Zero.

How quickly he had become the bane of my existence.

I hated everything about him.

His eyes that were condescending, defiant and hard.

His demeanour that was stiff, uninviting yet strong and offensively self-assertive.

His tone biting, his words impertinent and crass.

A recalcitrant being showing no form of respect.

And yet here I was…

Trying to decipher him as if he were the greatest enigma in the world.

All because she still pined for him.

But something had changed.

Something pivotal in the once used to be proud hunter.

The being who used to oppose everything and anything that wasn't part of his moral jurisdiction, to a fault…

Had stopped caring.

So I suppose my true obsession with his person began all those days ago.

The night I met him in the graveyard.

-II—

The King of Vampires was fuming.

Never outwardly.

That was not an option. His face was always to be composed in a veil of calm and cold deliberation, an affectation to deceive the eye into believing the pureblood was unaffected and always in control.

Yet here he was.

Standing under the black stretch of the perpetual heavens that were guarding the buried dead around him, trying to overpower his desultory thoughts.

As he looked further into the disconsolate darkness of the graveyard, he wondered if the night was starless, only to mock him. To laugh at the fact that nothing would shine bright in his life.

What could be so damning as to make even the great Kuran Kaname succumb to such trivial emotion as anger? Of course there was only one person important enough to cause any change witnessed in the vampire king.

His beloved sister, his betrothed, The Vampire Queen.

It was not that he was angry with her, no. Never her.

It was the fact that someone had tried to hurt her.

Some creature who had no appreciation for its own life, for if they had, they would have never even dreamed of challenging someone from the ancient and purest house of Kuran.

He had tried to track the culprit down who had attacked Yuki at their engagement party but still to no avail. Even his trusted Seiren had found nothing of significance yet.

This cemetery was the last place the being in question had been sighted before disappearing without a trace, into nothingness.

Kaname had gone through numerous possibilities in his mind, multiple names of culpable vampires, organisations and humans included but could point the finger at no one with sufficient suggestion. He had believed that with the death of his uncle and the fall of the Elder Council, others had gotten the message that Kaname was now their equivalent to God.

And who would be deranged enough to defy His Grace, The Almighty?

The only thing he knew for certain at his point in time, was that the criminal arrow that now sat on his desk had become as much motivation to find the blasphemous creature as it was a constant reminder.

Reminder of his failure in protecting his precious sister when the vile object impregnated with poison had pierced her delicate skin bathing it with liquid crimson; setting off the senses of every walking- dead creature of the night that had been privileged enough to attend the event of the century.

And every minute that went by where he remained unsuccessful in finding the creature was a message to the vampire world that he may in fact be touchable. That idea was something the Kuran ancestor could not entertain.

Who knew how long he had spent in this damned graveyard trying to look for something he may have missed, some intimation that would set him on the right path.

Yet his efforts were fruitless - all of it was deplorably fruitless.

As he felt his composure beginning to crumble, there he saw him.

Silver hair catching the light of the pale moon; the infamous ex-human part of the now deteriorating Hunter Association.

He walked swiftly past, some distance away from the pureblood, only to reach two white tombstones a few feet up ahead.

He was supposed to be one of the hunters in attending assigned as a member of security the night of the engagement, yet he had not shown his disgraceful face.

At any time during the night.

Kaname's blood boiled.

How could the dastard boy turn up here after having hidden like a coward all this time?

If he had been anyone else, the brunet vampire may have even been suspicious of the once Cross Academy student yet he knew that that the only other person's welfare Kiryuu, Zero cared for more than his own-self's was Yuki's.

The silver-haired hunter was here to pay his respects to the dead apparently, Kaname thought bitterly as he watched the boy kneel before the tombs and clasp his hands in a silent prayer.

Anger raged within him like a violent whirlpool, sucking in, wrecking and drowning any and all coherent thoughts.

Before he could even stop himself, words started to spill out of his defiant mouth without control. "You. You have some nerve showing your face here."

The pureblood's treacherous feet started to carry him to where Zero still lay kneeling.

His fingernails were digging into his flesh as he clenched his hands fiercely to stop them from trembling. How could this disrespectful creature own part of Yuki's heart? He thought with disgust as he looked down at the Level D. Kaname repeated his verbal assault. As if finally having noticed Kaname's presence, silver lashes fluttered open and with a final bow of the head, the tall teenager languidly got to his feet.

He turned to face the brunet; amethyst eyes appearing disinterested. "It's a cemetery," was all the lips, pale from the cold, spoke; as if that was all the reason he needed.

The caged beast inside Kaname raged. Such arrogance. It was sacrilege.

Without another word the hunter turned to leave, as if the king of vampires was unimportant. Unworthy of his time.

How dare he?

The next thing that would have registered in Zero's brain was that instead of approaching the cemetery gates, his back had instead connected harshly with one of its walls, with Kaname's hand around his throat, a fraction away from crushing his windpipe. If the action had caused him any pain, the impassive pale-white face did not show it.

The pureblood waited for the satisfaction to come from humiliating the hunter once again, from venting all his anger out onto this unworthy outlet. Seconds went by, perhaps even minutes but as he looked into eyes that appeared colourless in the silver of the moonlight, no such gratification came. The once-challenging eyes seemed almost bored, as if its owner's life-death situation was a mere triviality. The hunter didn't even react.

For the first time in his life Kaname was almost dumbfounded. Where was the fiery retort from the insolent, acid tongue? Where was the struggle to prove his worth, where was the expression of pure loathing?

All the mahogany-brown eyes saw was a calm exterior and indifferent eyes. Kaname was sure that his own surprise from the reaction had not gone unnoticed but the hunter showed no signs of caring either way.

The older of the two felt his anger returning full force. Did the boy think he was superior somehow now? That his indifference made him better than the vampire king? The pureblood would show the Level D exactly where he belonged. He would make him react. His grip on the alabaster neck tightened.

"I suppose the Hunter Association finally realised what unworthy scum you are."

….

….

Seconds passed.

Still no reaction.

Kaname's jaw tightened.

He wanted to know why the hunter hadn't turned up that night. He knew it shouldn't grate him this much, knew it the moment he had realised it at the party but it plagued him nonetheless. He knew he couldn't directly ask the hunter - that would seem too desperate, henceforth he tried another approach; the one that always received a response from the ex-human, an almost violent one.

"I see. Jealousy is a sin after all. You tried to save your honour by not attending. You couldn't bear it that Yuki only wanted me, had always wanted me from the start. Our engagement would have only cemented the idea that she will never be yours. She will never want you. Why kick the dog while he is down?"

Kaname knew he was being callous yet he wanted to hurt; wanted to pour all of his hatred into this one vessel that he despised almost more than any other being alive today, just as much as the creature he was hunting.

"Your intelligence is comparable to a rustic fool. If you don't start talking, I will kill you. Is that what you want?"

Zero took in a ragged breath, pointed to the hand around his neck before choking out a response "Either you want to kill me or talk to me? Which is it? I don't have time for both."

Kaname ground his teeth but eased off his grip on the boy's neck nonetheless. Zero closed his eyes momentarily before taking in another breath, looking Kaname directly in the eye.

"What exactly would His Grace like to know?" The taller vampire felt heat rise to his ivory cheeks. He accepted that was his title, even demanded it be acknowledged at times but when Kiryuu said it…

It made the title sound condescending, almost abhorrent; though in all honesty the boy had not used it obnoxiously.

"His Grace?"

Zero simply blinked. "Isn't that what they call you now?"

"No," Kaname lied swiftly. He would never admit it to the boy. "Where were you that night? You were supposed to be Yuki's protection?"

"If I'm really not answering to His Grace, then I apologise if I don't deem it necessary to respond."

The branches of the nearby trees snapping and disappearing into nothingness was Kaname's threatening response. This low level ex-human had the audacity to mock him. His earlier predicament of finding the creature had momentarily escaped him.

"I don't know what anyone sees in you. What Yuki ever saw in you? I just don't understand." Anyone who knew the hunter well enough, and they were scarce in numbers, had always said that he was to be admired, he was caring and had a good heart, fought for those too weak to defend themselves. Yet all Kaname ever received from him was obnoxious retaliation for existing. Maybe for the vampires that knew him, it was the appeal of his hunter blood? Though now as he stood looking at the boy that he hated - with his pale hair, skin and eyes, multiple piercings and a discriminating tattoo - he saw nothing but resigned acceptance? A strange maturity? Where he had always looked down on the hunter for being petulant and crass, it seemed as if the roles were almost reversed.

Zero took another breath before looking toward the tombstones one final time. "I don't either. Perhaps you should go ask them for I cannot give you the answers you really want. Excuse me." With that said, the hunter turned toward the cemetery gates and vanished from sight, leaving behind a stunned Kaname.

The pureblood didn't know exactly how long he stood there just staring into the blackness, listening to the low whistling of the late night wind and the bristling of the remaining leaves, the hoot of an owl and the howl of a lone wolf. He had a lot to think about. Not just about finding his sister's attacker but it seemed life in general. His momentary encounter had left His Gr- no, Kaname, if he was willing to admit it in his own mind, a little unsettled.

As he looked down at the tombstones the hunter had been paying his respects to, his gut churned in a horrible way and cognac-brown eyes widened in shock.

"Here lies the bodies of hunters who became embodiments of skill and wisdom of their generation. May you forever rest in peace.

Kiryuu, K

Kiryuu, T"

The date of their deaths was the one shared by Kaname and Yuki's engagement.

-II-

I suppose now you have a better understanding of my predicament. The boy that I once knew had changed and I just couldn't comprehend it. In the times that I had known him, he had been nothing but a hindrance. I had never cared for his existence. Not the times that he had defied me nor the times he had challenged me.

Yet it all changed so simply, so quickly after that one night.

That was when my fascination with Kiryuu, Zero truly began.

- Kaname

-II-

A/N: What do you think? Should I continue?

Bye for now!