Ten Years Today,

Chapter 7

Vampire Knight © Matsuri Hino

Walking towards the moon dorms, he could feel his usual stone cold composure almost slip away with the anger that he was currently feeling. His jaw was clenched tight and he could feel his fingers clasp into a fist in an effort not to allow any of his emotions show on his face. That was his trademark; his emotionless face. It kept people away from him. It kept people unconsciously on edge so that they felt too uncomfortable to approach him even if they didn't understand why. He needed that; he needed people to stay away from him. He relished in being alone, it allowed him to focus on the hate that he felt. The loathing for the Night Class and their entire kind. The vampire race. And mixed in with all of them, himself.

He refused to identify himself as one of them, would kill anybody who dared to compare him to one of those demons. But he knew. He knew that, deep down, he was no better than any of them. He had been corrupted into being like them. To suffer from the almost disease that entailed being a vampire. His insides burned with the poison that was the awakening blood sucker inside of him and he could feel his self-hatred growing with the desire to taste human blood.

But it helped. It assisted in his need to keep people away. The underlying evil within him boosted people's hesitance to get close to him. For humans and vampires alike, those that didn't know about his condition, it lit their unconscious desire for self-preservation. It caused him to have an air of danger about him and that was enough for people to keep their distance.

Except for her.

Nothing that he ever did in the four years of knowing her managed to push her away. There was no fear in her eyes when she looked at him, nothing to throw off the smile that she always gave him. He had been horrible to her when they first met and even worse when he found out of her alliance with the monsters. He had said some detestable things to her in the past; things that should never be forgiven.
But she always did. She always forgave him. Her smile never left, and that stubborn little girl always did everything that she could to break down his defences. And she did, to an extent. When he was alone with her, he felt a little calmer. He almost felt comfortable. She was an absolute beacon of brightness that not even he, the inaccessible Kiryuu Zero, could completely block out. To him, she was the thing in this dark world that he could consider beautiful. The only sign that made him think that life could ever be better. Her smile was the only thing that had the power to reach his cold heart and give it some foolish hope that things could ever be okay.

Cross Yuuki.

Those two words, that one name, had the power to make his heart feel the warmth that he was sure had been stripped away from him after that incident four years ago. He knew that she was the only thing, aside from his hatred, that kept him clinging to the last shreds of his humanity. If it wasn't for her, he was sure that he would have already succumbed to becoming a level E. She kept him human, or as close to human as he could be. He detested the thought of seeing the disgust in her eyes when she became aware of the monster that he had been fighting for so long to conceal. He knew that she would never smile at him again when she found out; any warmth that she had directed towards him would evaporate and she would feel for him the same way that he felt for himself. She would hate him.

He could never be one of the vampires that she associated with. When he fell, he would never have the control to be like them. He would be just like the thing from her nightmares. She would be just as scared of him as she was the beast from her past and she would run screaming from him as he tried to devour her just like that beast when she was a child.

That was his nightmare. Watching her run from him. That was what made him try so hard to stay as he was now. He never wanted to hurt her, or to be the cause of any pain that she may suffer. She deserved to be happy. The smile that she had deserved to remain as it is; perfect.

Besides, whilst she kept him grounded, he could continue on with his plan to find a way to rid the world of the plague of vampires. To find a way to eradicate those beasts in human form. To keep her safe.

That's why he was here, walking towards the residence of those he hated, to keep her away from the very worst of the vampires here- Kuran Kaname. The pureblood. The most dangerous man that had ever stepped foot into the grounds of Cross Academy.

The conceited leader of the Night Class had taken an unnatural interest in Yuuki, and he hated it. And he was going to put an end to it. Kiryuu Zero was going to protect Cross Yuuki at any cost and if he managed to take down one of most evil creations in history in order to do so, even better.

The monster that ruled the Night Class did not deserve any of the attention given to him by Yuuki. Watching her fawn over that monster made the silverette want to vomit. Seeing Kuran place his hands on her gave him the desire to reach over and remove them from the rest of his body as painfully as possible.

The emotionless Kiryuu Zero was indeed jealous, but that was a feeling that he could usually deal with. He always had a minor element of jealously about him when watching the way in which people could run around without a care in a world. To be happy. To be human. But he was over that, he had accepted that that was never going to happen in his life. But to be jealous of Kuran Kaname was something that he could not handle. He was the very definition of evil and he was so much more unworthy of Yuuki's affection than anyone else.

So he was doing this for her. As he approached the front door to the Moon Dorms, he was content with that idea and as he left himself in without bothering to knock, he felt a minor feeling of happiness at the idea of keeping Kaname away from Yuuki, even if it was for just this one occasion.

"Ehhhh….what are you doing here, Kiryuu?" Zero heard Aidou's question upon his sudden and unannounced arrival, but chose to ignore him. Instead proceeding to walk across the main hall of the dorm towards the stairs.

He continued to ignore the annoying blonde's questions and blundering as he made his away to the dorm President's quarters, almost enjoying the increase in pitch as they got closer.
The door opened before they had managed to reach it, and the Pureblood did not seem phased at Zero's presence, but the prefect managed to capture a glimpse of the distaste that the beast clearly had for him before the brunette turned the blonde who was now rushing to try and come up with an excuse to explain the scene.

"It's fine, Aidou. You can leave," the sickingly smooth voice of Kuran sounded as he addressed Hanabusa, ignoring his protests and silencing him with a single look that caused the 'idol' to mope away. "Won't you come in, Kiryuu?"

Ignoring his disgust at the idea of entering the living area of his new enemy, Zero walked into the room and idly noticed how unnecessarily lavish the room was. For Zero, the overly luxurious layout of the entire Moon Dorm just made him hate the vampires more, it just screamed out how they thought themselves to be more worthy than the humans they shared a school with.

"What can I do for yo-?"
"What are your intentions with Yuuki?" Zero cut Kaname off mid-sentence, walking over and rudely throwing the paperwork that the Chairman had given him onto the desk before turning and staring straight into the devil's eyes, noting how his head inclined slightly with curiosity to the prefect's question.

A/N; Oh, Zero T_T So much love for that character. He also needs to be happy.

I know it's been forever, but please review!