-- Chapter 7 - Different kind of hurt - part 2 --

The next morning, both Zero and Yuuki overslept, worn out with their adventure and subsequent emotional outburst.

Zero awoke first, opening his eyes and glancing around him. He frowned a little at the surroundings which, while very familiar, was clearly not his room. Surrounded by Yuuki’s soft sweet scent, he recalled a second later where he was – in Yuuki’s bed with his left arm wrapped around her shoulders as he cradled her against him, her cheek resting against his bare chest. He could feel her soft regular breathing against his skin and knew she was still fast asleep. Their legs had somehow gotten rather tangled up with her blanket as well as with each other.

Zero yawned, wanting to stretch but at the same time loathe to wake Yuuki. He arched his head back to glance at the clock on Yuuki’s nightstand beside her bed – shit! It was already half past eight? Classes started at nine, they were cutting it rather close… He was surprised that the Chairman hadn’t knocked on her door yet…

As if on cue, his ears caught the sound of familiar, slightly shuffling footsteps outside the door and he froze. Moments later, there was a knock on the door and he heard the Chairman’s voice “Yuuki? Are you still sleeping? You’re going to be late for class…”

Zero slid his left arm off Yuuki and levered himself up onto his left elbow, causing Yuuki’s head to slide down and rest against his forearm. She stirred and opened sleepy eyes. “What…” she mumbled before her eyes snapped fully open, focusing on a bare chested Zero braced on one elbow, looking down at her with a small and very, very tender smile on his lips, long silvery strands half obscuring his amethyst eyes.

It was a rather nice picture to wake up to, and an enchanting blush started creeping up her cheeks as Yuuki stared up at him. “Zero? What are you doing in my bed?” she whispered. A second later, she closed her eyes, sighed and mumbled “Never mind, I remember now…”

Sighing, Yuuki opened her eyes again and reached up to place her hands on his shoulders, preparing to push him off so that she could get up. Her fingers curled onto warm supple skin covering lithe shoulder muscles as Zero gave a slight shake of his head, pressed a finger to his lips and nodded at her room door.

The doorknob rattled and the Chairman’s voice sounded again. “Yuuki? Get up, today is Monday you know…” The affectionate voice was slightly laced with exasperation now and Yuuki gasped in shock, fingernails digging unconsciously into Zero’s shoulders. Her wide eyes locked onto his. Zero raised his eyebrows without saying anything.

Yuuki glanced back at the door. “Yeah, I – I overslept…” she called out. “I’ll be ready in five minutes…” Zero pulled them both to a sitting position, her hands still on his shoulders.

“You really should go to sleep earlier, you know…” came the slightly reprimanding tones of her adopted father from outside the door and Yuuki shot a rather guilty look at Zero as the sound of footsteps died away. Unfortunately, he looked annoyingly unrepentant and Yuuki huffed, letting her hands slide slowly off his shoulders before remembering his shirtless state and snatching them back instead.

“So… did you have a restful night?” asked Zero softly, roundly ignoring the clock and enjoying the soft bloom of colour on Yuuki’s cheeks as she stared down at her blanket with rapt attention.

Finally, Yuuki peeped up at him. “You know I did…” she said just as softly. Then, shoving at him, she added “OK, get out of here, Zero, I need to change…” Zero took a couple of seconds to untangle his long legs from her blanket before standing up. Linking his fingers together, he stretched both arms straight above his head, yawning.

Yuuki found herself staring at the play of muscles across his broad shoulders before she caught herself and glanced away. A glimpse of her clock had her swiftly unbuttoning her pyjama shirt as she leapt out of bed, almost tripping herself up on her blanket. Hurrying to the clothes cupboard that stood adjacent to her bed, she wrenched open the door. Pulling out fresh underwear from the top drawer, she shrugged off her shirt at the same time – her shower would have to wait until this evening.

A muttered curse sounded at the door and she gasped, clutching the shirt to her chest – she thought Zero had left her room by now.

In the long mirror attached to the inside of the cupboard door she’d swung open, Yuuki saw Zero striding back towards her, jaw clenched, eyes staring intently at the back of her bare shoulders. Yuuki frowned as he neared her, still staring at her shoulders, then she twisted a little from side to side, checking her own reflection in the mirror before her.

Twin rows of small round bruises stood out on her creamy pale shoulders and her heart sank – they’d been caused by Zero last night when he’d unconsciously gripped her shoulders hard, haunted by the thought she’d been suffering in silence each time he pierced her with his fangs.

She didn’t have to look into the amethyst eyes to see the self-disgust coursing through him now. His warm hands came down on her shoulders again - gently this time, and she could feel them trembling slightly on her.

Yuuki met his tormented gaze as he looked into her eyes through the mirror. “They’ll fade, Zero” she said softly. “Please don’t think…”

She broke off as Zero shook his head and swallowed. “Don’t make me feel any worse than I already do…” he whispered. He started to say more, then stopped himself - what else was there to say that hadn’t already been said before?

Glancing down again at the bruises that marred the creamy soft perfection of her shoulders, Zero dipped his head and kissed each offending mark tenderly, running his tongue gently over the area at the same time. Yuuki blinked away sudden tears as she continued looking at the mirror, watching the silver head bent over her shoulder, his warm hands sliding down to hold her upper arms lightly. His warm lips were making her shiver again and she bit her lower lip in an attempt to stop its quivering.

When Zero had finished kissing each bruise, he straightened up and met her eyes again through the mirror. His gaze involuntarily slid down to her full lower lip still being held by small white teeth and his own lips parted for a moment before he wrenched his gaze back up to meet hers.

Both sets of eyes blinked and widened as they realised the same thing at the same time – the mirror was reflecting twin pairs of bare shoulders even though she was still clutching the shirt to her chest. Her breathing quickened in unison with his.

After a moment, Yuuki glanced away from the rather disturbing sight in the mirror, a guilty flush staining her cheeks. They were both half naked, they were going to be late for class – there were a million other reasons why they shouldn’t be standing here like this but she couldn’t seem to move away. She could feel the smooth warmth of Zero’s chest against her back and inexplicably, she wanted to lean back against that warmth instead of chasing him out of her room like she knew she ought to…

“Yuuki…” murmured Zero. He had bent his head again and was now licking the base of her throat where her pulse beat madly. Yuuki felt his fangs graze her neck. “Zero… now?” she whispered.

Turning her head to the left, she saw through his parted lips that his fangs had lengthened – for some reason, the word ‘refined’ echoed again through her mind - and his eyes were starting to glow red. “Now…” she answered herself somewhat resignedly, already thinking ahead of how to keep the Day Class girls away from the Night Class students that evening if they both got detention.

Zero was dropping kisses on her delicate collarbone now – it brought Yuuki back to the present with a jerk. “May I?” he murmured against her skin.

“Yes, of course, but - uh… shouldn’t we first sit…” She broke off as his strong arms snaked around her waist and hauled her back against his chest as one lean cheek nudged her head to the side.

Yuuki glanced hesitantly into the mirror and saw their reflection again – a petite girl with large brown eyes still wet with tears and a rather bemused expression stared back at her as she clutched at the pyjama shirt across her chest… a much taller boy with bare chest stood very close behind her, his face buried in the crook of her neck, his arms around her slender waist. His lips pulled back and she caught another glimpse of his fangs before he sank them into the soft skin at the base of her neck. Automatically, her neck muscles tensed for a second before she relaxed.

Fascinated despite herself, she stared at the mesmerising reflection in front of her – well, at least she finally got to see what it looked like, Zero drinking from her neck…

Her right hand shifted to hold her pyjama shirt in place as she reached up with her left hand to hold Zero’s head close to her, letting her fingers sift through the silky strands at the back of his neck. Leaning back, she let him support her weight, still blushing at the rather erotic sight reflected back at her. She tilted her head a little more to the right, granting Zero unconditional access to her sweet, life giving blood and he groaned in response, his arms tightening almost painfully around her waist as he let the precious red liquid wash through his mouth and down his throat, releasing him from the painful tightening sensation in his chest and the stabbing pain in his veins. Yuuki shivered as his mouth caressed her skin as he sucked and drank.

Long moments later, a trickle of blood escaped his lips and dripped down towards her breasts. Yuuki glanced wildly around – she had a box of tissues on her nightstand and another one on her desk, but neither were within reach at this moment.

“Uh… Zero…?” she said, releasing his head to try to stem the trickle before it could reach her top and stain it, at the same time letting her shirt drop a little lower to avoid the drip.

Zero pulled his lips away from her neck. He glanced into the mirror and saw the trickle of blood. “I’ll get it” he said, his voice raw. Releasing her waist, he swung her around to face him, rested his hands on her bare shoulders and bent his head, lapping up the small trail of blood from the top of her left breast all the way up to its source at the base of her neck. Yuuki shivered, eyes fluttering shut – the feel of Zero’s warm tongue as he swept it up her skin… aaah... that was… that felt…

Zero drank a little more before he stopped and licked gently at the wounds he’d made to stop the bleeding. After a few moments, Yuuki opened her eyes to see him looking intently at her, licking his lips clean at the same time. “Did you like that?” he asked huskily. Yuuki blinked, did she like him drinking her blood? Well, she didn’t really mind but – or did he actually mean whether she liked him dragging his tongue all over her -

“No, I did not!” she hissed back at him, clutching the dangerously slipping top more firmly against her chest and taking a step back. “If you’ve quite finished, why don’t you go to your room, I need to change. Now!”

Zero’s lips twitched a little. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked.

“What?”

The dimple in Zero’s cheek appeared briefly. “This.”

He pulled her towards him and closed both arms around her. Yuuki hesitated for a moment then gave in, wrapping her own arms around him, turning her face into his chest and breathing in his familiar scent, smiling a little.

A minute passed.

“Yuuki?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, Zero…”

A knock on the door sounded again and Zero cursed under his breath – Yuuki was much too distracting for him to notice anything else. She gasped and pulled back guiltily. Her pyjama shirt dropped to the floor as their bodies parted and Yuuki stared - mouth open in horrified shock - at Zero who was quite simply frozen in place, eyes glued to her enchanting figure again.

“Yuuki! Still not ready yet…?”

Yuuki muttered a fervent curse, bending down to swipe the fallen top off the floor. She clutched it to her chest again, cheeks on fire…

“Sorry, Father… be right there, I – I promise!” There – she’d called him ‘Father’ again, she really wasn’t thinking straight this morning!

They both heard the Chairman grumbling good naturedly as his footsteps disappeared back down the corridor towards the kitchen. Yuuki swung back to Zero, her eyes narrowing at his unrepentant grin. She pushed at his chest hard with one hand, the other clutching at her shirt in a death grip, lest it should fail to shield her again.

“Get OUT, Zero!”

“OK…OK…” Zero sauntered towards the door, snagging his own pyjama shirt from her desk on the way. After unlocking the door and opening it an inch to check that the coast was clear, he flung a “See you in two minutes…” over his shoulder and slipped out, closing the door behind him.

Yuuki exhaled and turned back to the cupboard, steadfastly ignoring her red-cheeked reflection in the mirror as she hurriedly changed into her school uniform before rummaging for a band-aid to cover the twin punctures at her neck.

When she entered the kitchen three minutes later, Zero was already sitting at the table, sipping his coffee with admirable nonchalance. As the Chairman shooed Yuuki into her seat, Zero murmured “’Morning, Yuuki…”

Yuuki sniffed disdainfully and turned her back on Zero, ignoring him as she chatted with her adopted father instead, downing her breakfast with admirable speed at the same time. The Chairman's eyebrows shot up as he witnessed Yuuki’s cool response towards Zero but he didn't get a chance to say anything; Yuuki’s skill for eating and talking simultaneously – something that never ceased to amaze both him and Zero – had distracted him and he told her to slow down before she choked on her food.

Zero finished eating first and waited for Yuuki before they both rushed off, making it to class in record time and joining the last few students walking into the classroom. He tried to catch Yuuki’s eye as they joined the group of laughing and jostling students but she had engaged Yori in a whispered conversation that showed she was still not speaking to him. Reluctantly, Zero moved to his usual seat in the row behind Yuuki’s and forced himself to concentrate as the lesson started.

Both Zero and Yuuki didn’t fall asleep this time as they'd had enough rest the night before, and the morning dragged on slowly and interminably. Zero was feeling a little miserable at being ignored by Yuuki and suffering a couple of rather curious glances from Yori, while Yuuki was feeling a little guilty at ignoring Zero and suffering the extremely pointed stare he directed at the back of her head all morning whenever the teacher wasn’t looking in his direction.

It seemed ages before the school bell finally rang, signaling the start of lunch hour. After the students had bowed and thanked the teacher, chatter and noise broke out as they kept their books and started streaming out of the classroom, gravitating either to the washrooms or the school canteen.

Zero waited until Yuuki had walked to the back of the throng of laughing and jostling students at the classroom doors before joining her. Unobtrusively, he reached for her small hand and squeezed it briefly as he looked down at her. Yuuki half pulled back her hand, then hesitated for a moment before turning to glance up at him.

A casual observer wouldn’t have noticed any difference in Zero’s expressionless face but Yuuki caught the tentative smile in his amethyst eyes and she relented and smiled back at him. The dimple in Zero’s cheek appeared briefly and he gave her fingers another quick squeeze before releasing her hand, relieved that Yuuki was no longer annoyed with him.

-- Chapter End --