Vampire Knight 1. Chapter 1

_Have you ever had the nagging sense that something was about to happen or something was terribly off? Well, welcome to my world. My name is Lisa, I'm eighteen- and currently I seem to have forgotten who I am, where I'm from, who my family and friends are (if I happen to have any) and also appear to be defying gravity._

_That's right. I'm falling._

_I don't know why, or where I'm falling from or if I'll even survive hitting the ground since I've been falling for a while now. All I know is that there is a knot in my stomach that is telling me that something is about to happen that I'm probably not going to like._

_But then, I rarely like what destiny has in store for me..._

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Kaname Kuran tipped his head back for a moment and sniffed the air in his room and wrinkled his nose upon smelling the setting of the sun and something most peculiar and unfamiliar in the air. His focus temporarily taken from the stack of papers that others of his kind had sent to him ranging from complaints, to pleas, to marriage proposals (all unwelcome in his opinion) to laws that have yet to be passed and likewise couldn't be passed without his permission as the last pureblood vampire in existence.

Curious to know what it was exactly that he was smelling, he silently got up and stretched lazily for a moment, trying to work out the soreness in his back, neck and shoulders before he moved across the spacious living quarters he'd been given to him by the headmaster of the school and walked over to the door and pulled it open. And frowned a little bit upon smelling that peculiar scent even more.

As if it were much stronger out here.

Stepping out into the hallway, he sniffed again and took a moment to actually try to identify the smell. It took a second considering that he had to filter out every other scent in the dorm but he managed.

The scent was a combination of something sweetly floral and human.

Scowling for a moment, he wondered why it was that he was smelling a human. Especially a possible female human, here, in the dorms when he heard a loud almost girly shriek (was that Hanabusa's voice?) coming from the sitting area which was just a little further down the hall from his room. Moving quickly, he made his way to the sitting room and found a rather...odd scene.

There was a human. And yeah, he had been right. It was a female.

A very unconscious female, laying sprawled on the expensive Persian carpeted floor. And then there was Hanabusa- up in the arms of Akatsuki, Scooby-doo style. His expression shocked. Akatsuki's blank, although Kaname knew from personal experience from dealing with the teen that he was at least a little bit curious about _why_ a human female was unconscious on their sitting room floor.

"What happened?" Kaname asked as he came further into the room and cast a quick calculating glance at the human. Taking note of her features (or rather what he could see of them) since her long dark brown hair just happened to be in the way of letting him see her face completely. But from what he could see of her, she was smallish. Delicately boned yet her body was eerily similar to Ruka.

The only major differences despite her being human, having a pulse, exct... Was her color, her height if he calculated right was almost shoulder level on him which would make her about one hundred and twenty...five-ish.

"We don't know!" Hanabusa all but wailed in Akatsuki's ear in reply to Kaname's query before he just started babbling a bunch of nonsense about how he had come into the sitting room to read and wound up stepping on a dead body at the same time Akatsuki entered the room.

Kaname sighed, already getting a headache from this foolishness and asked very calmly, "Are you sure that she's dead? Have either of you really checked her for a pulse?" Granted there were a lot of people in the Hunter's association that would love nothing more than to expose them as the blood thirsty killers that they were, but planting a supposedly dead body in the dorm without being seen- but even that was a tad bit far fetched.

Akatsuki looked at him as he unceremoniously dumped Hanabusa onto the floor. "I was going to until _it_ nearly made my ears bleed with that horrible strangled cat sound and took up residence in my arms." The teen said as he glared at his friend on the floor.

Rolling his eyes as Hanabusa started in on his theatrics, Kaname moved over to the girl and knelt down and placed his fingertips on the side of a slender throat and felt the soft thudding of a pulse. "She's alive." He stated as he moved to turn the girl over onto her back and froze the instant he had her like he wanted.

There was a terrible purplish blue bruise that ran along one side of her face from her temple down to her cheek, her shirt was ripped in several places and he could see various dark smudges of color littering her skin along her collarbone, and chest. But the most pronounced bruises were on her face and those circling her throat. Where she had apparently been strangled by someone.

Perhaps even the same person who had left her in the night class dorms...

Reaching out, Kaname carefully slipped his hands under the girl and pulled her closer to him as he growled out, his eyes glowing red with fury- "Summon a doctor at once."


	2. Chapter 2

_The moment my body made contact with the ground, it with enough force to make me think that every bone in my body had just shattered. And every organ had just ruptured. Leaving me with nothing but an fireball of agony that made it difficult to even breathe. _

_Was I alive? I wondered. _

_Was I dead? I couldn't help but fear as I heard voices from what seemed like very far away. I tried to concentrate. To focus. But the more I tried the more difficult it was. I simply hurt too much. _

_A few moments passed. And I felt hands carefully slip under my sore back and drag me a short ways as a gentle voice snarled angrily, "Summon a doctor now!" After that I could feel my body being moved. Lifted and carried. And soon laid onto something soft, before my jacket and shirt was stripped away and I was then covered by something light and cool to the touch. _

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Kaname hovered back behind the doctor as he looked over the girl. The headmaster was just outside of his room, speaking with Hanabusa and Akatsuki about what had happened. Apparently he didn't know the girl anymore than anyone else did. He had even gone through the day and night class student's files just to see if he could find her picture, her name, anything at all. Only to come up with nothing on his end.

Kaname however, had found something in one of the girl's jacket pockets. A small black wallet.

Now normally the humans and vampire females that Kaname dealt with wouldn't be caught dead (or undead) carrying such an unfeminine item on them. They liked to accessorize with their clothing. Style their hair, paint their nails, wear jewelry befitting of their beauty or station. And wallets were pretty unfeminine unless someone was simply not that kind of girly-girl and wished to be far more practical than everyone else. But Kaname had never run across such nature defying creatures before so he was inclined to believe that like the mermaid and unicorn, they simply didn't exist.

But that was neither here nor there.

No- it wasn't the fact that he had found a wallet on her, it was what was inside of it that fascinated him. A few pictures of the girl. An I.D. stating that her name was Lisa Dellene Frost (a strange name to be sure but who was he to judge). A library card. And what looked like about fifty dollars cash. But that wasn't the only things he found on her that was fascinating.

He also found two rings. One a white gold band with flawless diamonds set in a scroll design band with vines intertwined. The other was an yellow gold ring with four princess cut emeralds surrounded by a ring of smaller princess cut diamonds. Both were antique, old- between the ages of fifty and eighty years if Kaname calculated correctly. They looked expensive. Far too expensive for this young human to have bought herself unless of course they were gifts from her family.

Heirlooms perhaps? He wondered as he set the two trinkets down on his bedside table so that he could return them to her later as the doctor sat back and sighed as he started to put his things away. "Well?" Kaname almost demanded.

"She'll live," The doctor said before stating, "Though due to the bruising she may later wish that she hadn't. I have no idea what could have caused such terrible wounds. I fear that it's a toss up between an accident, an attack or abuse. But whatever the cause- she may not recover fully for a while."

"How long?"

"A month, two- maybe even longer since I have no prior information about her to go by."

"I see..." Kaname said as he looked at the girl, sleeping soundly in his bed.

"I gave her something for any aches and pains she may feel. And I'll leave some more medicine for her with you-" Kaname started to open his mouth to ask why when the doctor practically cut him off at the knees. "She can't be moved until she's completely healed, Kaname-sama. I mean, you could remove her from your room, but you wouldn't be able to move her far. Just another room somewhere close by where you can keep an eye on her." Kaname's mouth snapped shut as it dawned on him what the doctor was really saying.

_Oh dammit! _He did _not_ just have this human female dumped on him by the doctor. And yet, even as his mind denied everything, he knew he was stuck as the man gathered up his things and quickly left him standing there in blatant disbelief. Outwardly looking serene when inside he was mentally pulling his hair out and baring his fangs.

Why was it that humans tended to believe that he was the type of person who would kindly take in a wounded puppy or kitten? And why was he suddenly being forced to make this human in his bed his next 'pet' so to speak?


	3. Chapter 3

Over the course of the next three days, Kaname alternated between being in a darker than black foul mood. And considering his current situation which behind closed doors made the pureblood vampire gnash his teeth and growl like a rabid dog. Don't get him wrong. It wasn't like he didn't like humans. In fact he found many of them as fascinating as he found others charming. But that was usually because there was mutual benefit to knowing them.

They supported his cause for peace between their race and his own. And he didn't rip out their throats out of sheer meanness. So they got to keep living. See mutual benefit.

Still he would be lying if he didn't say he foresaw problems ahead for 'his' little human. Why already he'd had to hold a meeting with the headmaster of the school and pretty much blackmail him into letting him keep the girl in the night class dorm where he could keep an eye on her. The only real drawbacks to this were that the headmaster could only agree if she were a student.

And while Kaname had understood this. He didn't really understand how she had wound up placed in the night class with himself and the rest of the vampires attending the school. So yeah...

Problems, problems, problems...

And then there were the lesser issues. Like her clothing for instance. She needed new clothing, personal items, hygiene items, a few school uniforms, books- He'd seen her room in the night dorm yesterday. It had been devoid of any and all furniture. So there was that as well. The kitchen in the dorms, which had never been used by anyone for anything since they rarely ate human foods- would need to be stocked up on everything he could think of to keep the poor girl from starving to death.

And there was the thing referred to as 'the monthly visitor'. He would have to make arrangements for something to be done for her then since vampire females didn't have monthly cycles. They had once every decade cycles. And those were embarrassing enough to notice. But with humans- the blood smelled that much sweeter and all the more tempting to those of them who craved the taste of blood like dying humans in a desert craved water to drink.

It was a horrible thing to cave into the cravings for human blood. Especially when one was trying to promote peace between two races.

Sighing he propped himself up on his desk, his elbow resting on the dark wood, his chin resting in his palm as he scribbled a few more notes down in his notebook before realizing that he'd just run out of page space. _Crap._ He thought in annoyance as he turned the page then started another list- this one indicating what all he would have to do to ensure that his kind kept their hands off of the poor girl.

For starters he would have to send out a mass missive to the aristocrats and nobles stating that he would be the guardian of a human female for a while (or until her real guaridan's were found and she was returned to them) and that she was _off limits_ to everyone. Not only that but he would have to also include in the letter that she may or may not be seen with her at specific vampire social gatherings.

All in all it was looking to be a most tiresome and somewhat challenging job. Kaname thought as he looked back and forth between the two pieces of paper, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. This was certainly going to take some creativeness on his end, that's for sure. How fortunate that he was the type of person who loved challenges.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaname had been exhaustingly busy the third day, and stayed up well into night. After finishing everything that he'd been able to think of, he decided to go by the room he'd had the girl moved into for the time being to check up on her. Noting through the open doorway that she still wasn't awake yet. Which he would admit, had been somewhat disappointing since he was curious to know what sort of person she was. As well as what kind of personality she had. After all, if he was going to be her guardian- and a decent one at that- then he needed to know just _how_ close of an eye he'd need to keep on her.

After all he was the last living heir of the Kuran family, the most influential pureblood family that had ever existed.

He needed to know how much time and attention he needed to dedicate to Lisa's health and wellbeing without taking his attentions away from his other obligations for so long that something snowballed out of control that a civil uprising between vampires and the few humans who knew of them, occurred.

Moving away from the door to go deeper into the room and firmly tuck the comforter that was on the bed around her shoulders from which it had fallen, he leaned over her and noted that even in the darkness- under the nasty bruises littering her body, her skin was eerily pale. Reaching out he placed a hand gently against the side of her face and noted that she didn't have a fever. In fact, from what he knew of human's- her skin felt unusually cool against his palm.

So maybe she was okay...

But he wouldn't hold his breath.

Removing his hand from her cheek, he grasped the comforter and absently pulled it up over her bare shoulder and tucked it as tightly as he could around her without choking her with it. Once that was done, he moved back to the door and slipped quietly out of the room and closed the door behind him and nearly jumped out of his skin when his friend, Ichijo (who had apparently been standing just yards away waiting to scare the life out of him), spoke suddenly.

"You looked like a proud father tucking in his child just now," Kaname turned his head to glare at the blond vampire for a moment for even daring to refer to him as a father to that girl, however Ichijo had never been impressed by his glares or his patented_ I-will-kill-you-if-you-open-your-mouth-any-further_ looks before. So why did he expect any of that would change now? "Does this mean that you will no longer walk around the dorms acting like an angry bear that had just been poked in the eye with a stick?"

Kaname bared his fangs at the teen threateningly- not that he would do anything. He knew Ichijo well enough to understand that he was just pulling his leg. Just like Ichijo knew enough about him to know that he wouldn't raise a hand to him. Not really anyways.

Although if that changed anytime soon, he might sneak into his room later while he slept and beat him with a sock full of soap or possibly even drag him outside and stake him to the ground for the sun. But even those wouldn't really hurt him. Give him a suntan or possible burn, yeah. But no real harm. And Kaname would rather rip out his own heart than actually harm him anyways since he was the one vampire among the night class that actually dared to question Kaname, and speak his mind.

Something that was rare in Kaname's world.

A world where the aristocrats and nobles tried to manipulate, cozy up too, and win his favor for their own selfish gain through various means. None of which were any good. "I think I'm insulted that you would ask me such a thing." Kaname said as he lifted a hand to brush back his unruly dark shoulder length hair before asking, "Have you gone over the missive I drafted?"

"Yes." Ichijo said, trying to keep his expression as carefully blank as possible given what he'd found within the drafted missive that his lord planned to send out. He had no desire to embarrass the usually unflappable pureblood, but he was curious where exactly several words and phrases in the missive had come from.

"Good. Were there any mistakes?"

Ichijo had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from snickering. Had there been mistakes, indeed. Of course there had been. Kaname had been more than a little distracted while writing out the draft for the missive, and as usual- it had really shown. Words like, 'what the hell' and 'why me' as well as 'dammit I'm frustrated.' and 'damn humans, I'll bite one one day. I just know it.' had cropped up everywhere along with every imperial order and old country phrase that was usually used for Kaname's missive's.

"No." Ichijo finally said, waiting only as long as it took to keep him from busting out laughing at his lord's expense.

"Have you rewritten it?"

"Yes." Ichijo replied, he'd rewritten the entire document personally. Although just to be a little mean, he'd left one or two mistakes in there. It wasn't like any of the vampires and clans that received the letter would say anything.

They might offend their lord. And he just might wipe them out for it if he was offended/embarrassed enough.

"Good. What about the other things I asked to be done?" Kaname asked as they both started walking. Ah the other things, Ichijo thought in faint amusement. The other things that his lord had just mentioned consisted of several things.

1) Furnishing the bedroom that the girl would be staying.

2)Making Ruka give up one or two of her outrageously expensive day outfits as well as two nightgowns so that the human didn't had to run around naked. He'd had to wrestle her for them just to pry them from her grasp.

3) Had been gathering all sorts of human foods and beverages (something that had been laid strictly on Ichijo's shoulders because he had once had an human great aunt) which had not been easy since he had stocked up on everything that he could think of. However this had proved to be a rather _daunting_ and _traumatizing_ task given that his Aunt had died when he had been very young and he didn't recall much about her. So most of what he had gotten was red meat, a few vegetables. Some pasta... And that was as far as he'd gotten aside from the fruits and sweets and he'd already caught Hanabusa and Shiki sneaking into those.

The jerks.

"Ah, right. Well the room is furnished via you're specifications. I had to wrestle Ruka for some of her clothing since she wouldn't part with them willingly. But I managed to get two day outfits. And two night gowns. The kitchen has food...but it could use more. So tomorrow before classes start I'll go into town with Akatsuki and get more since some people who shall remain nameless have already started sneaking some of the cookies and fruits that I specifically bought for your human. Aside from that, everything else is going smoothly."

"I see." Kaname said as he cracked his knuckles. "Then I guess the only thing to do right now is go stop our resident cookie thieves from continuing their little crime spree and then it's off to bed for some much needed rest."

Ichijo smiled at his friend. "Yes, lord Kaname."


	5. Chapter 5

_I was stuck in a never ending dreamscape where everything around me was pitch black with the exception of the glowing whitish grey outlines of alien peoples. My heart clenched painfully in my chest as it skipped first one beat. Then two. And on the third, I could feel those alien peoples moving in closer. I could almost feel their breath on my face. _

_The adrenaline must have finally kicked in. Because one moment I was scared and trapped. And the next... I was sitting up in a strange room with pale white walls with my hands tightly clasped over my mouth- trying to clamp down on my need to puke._

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The fourth evening started for Kaname much like any other night since the human had appeared. He got up early in the day to do some work after sleeping for about two in a half hours. And after close to five hours of nothing but work and looking over requests and demands from the nobles and aristocrats of his race- He was more than a little ready for a break.

Deciding that now was as good a time as any to go check on Lisa and perhaps hide from his responsibilities for a little while since a majority of them were enough to give even _him_ bloody nightmares. So a nice reprieve in Lisa's 'room' where he could hole up inside and pretend that there was nothing just beyond the door- was exactly what the lord needed.

He wasn't sure what exactly clued him in on the fact that something was wrong. Perhaps it was both a scent and sound, both small in nature. All he knew was that he got just outside Lisa's bedroom door and froze, his head tipping back for a moment as he sniffed at the air to assure himself that he wasn't smelling blood. And he wasn't. God knew that blood-especially human blood, would never smell so acidic and awful.

No what he was smelling was...

For a moment he couldn't place it. Truthfully he'd never been around many ill humans before so he had never known what bile smelt like. And it wasn't so much thanks to the smell that he finally figured it out as it was the little choking and gagging sounds coming from the bathroom inside.

Quietly slipping into the room, he first checked to make sure that his ears and nose weren't playing tricks on him by glancing over at the- very large empty bed. Hn. How about that. It appeared that Lisa had finally awoken.

Either that or someone in the dorm had made a snack out of her and was at present regretting his/her action while trying to stuff her body down the toilet in the bathroom across the way. Deciding he should check just to be absolutely sure that she was still alive and kicking. He moved silently over to the door across from the one he'd just entered and gently laid his hand against the solid wooden door, and carefully pushed it open a bit and found his little human in the process of starting up the shower and for a moment his mind just sputtered to a stop as she pulled the overly large blue silk shirt he'd dressed her in the other day after she'd been seen by the doctor- and watched as she dropped it to the floor before she seemed to notice him.

And let out the most ear piercing scream he'd ever heard before in his life as he tried over and over again to apologize. Honestly his ears felt like they were bleeding. Her voice was so loud that it was simply more than his vampire sense of hearing could take. As he quickly backed away from the door with his hands up, deciding that leaving her alone for the moment and letting her do whatever she needed/wanted to do would be for the best.

Both for her and for him.

And in the meantime...well, maybe he should go cook something for her to eat since she'd likely be hungry by the time she came out of the bathroom.

_Yeah..._


	6. Chapter 6

The kitchen was everything that a non cooker like Kaname could possibly expect. It was nice, clean, boring... Mundane- but most of all it was safe.

Yeah that was the best word to describe it. It was safe. A nice cozy place far, far, far (though not too far) from Lisa's bedroom where she was currently naked and- _Okay whoa! Whoa! _What the hell was he doing thinking of her naked? He wondered almost wearily as he tried to busy himself making something for his little human so that she didn't wind up a little skeleton.

After taking a second or so to go through the cabinets, the fridge and so on- he pulled out a few things here and there and laid them all out on the counter to go over what little he knew of human's and their delicate digestive system. After all it wasn't like she was like him. A vampire well into adolescence/adulthood whom could take care of himself with ease just by taking some blood tablets or going hunting out in the city.

But then neither could he just feed her scraps of food like an animal. She wasn't a pet despite how he had come to dub her 'his' in his mind. Nor did he wish her to suffer food poisoning at his hand, especially since she seemed to be sick enough at the moment and likely wouldn't survive one of his infamous hand made dishes.

So his services on the food front were very limited that after he went through everything all he had left was a can of tomato soup and some jello or pudding... Depending on which way one's taste ran.

Thinking for a moment, Kaname decided that since Lisa had been sleeping ever since her mysterious appearance at Cross Academy that perhaps both the soup and some pudding would be the best way to go. He recalled eating some tomato soup once in the city that had been spectacular. So much so that he had asked for the recipe so that one day when he took a mate that he favored (or could at the very least stand) he could fix it for her.

And though the current situation wasn't ideal for the vampire, he would at least do this simple thing for the young human he'd taken responsibility for. He would see to it that she was fed, clothed, and given a place to stay regardless of the many who would be against it-er- him.

He felt that after the way she had been injured and dumped in the night classes dorm's, this was just one small way out of many that he could apologize for the savagery of others.

Working quickly, yet almost absently, Kaname pulled a small pan from where it hung above his head...over the island in the middle of the room and then opened the can and stood there for what felt like a ridiculously long time waiting for the condensed soup to fall out of the can. In fact there had been a brief moment where he had almost held it up to eye level just to make sure there was really anything in there. But eventually the soup came out of the can with a soft 'splut' causing him to curl his lips back from his teeth a bit as he eyed it with a suspicious look on his face and tried to tamp down on his need to shudder at the sight of it.

Ew.

_This_ was the human version of tomato soup?

It looked like paste... Was that normal? Shouldn't there be- ya know, actual tomato's somewhere in there? He wondered as he went over to a drawer and pulled out a spoon and came back and then started to poke at the alien substance until finally- with a disappointed sounding huff- he picked up the pan and made his way over to the nearest window and tossed; or rather he _tried_ to toss the substance out. But it was rather stubborn and in the end he wound up scraping it out of the pot with an annoyed growl.

Thanking god that no one was presently awake to see him in his current state. Especially since he'd never live it down.

Turning around to head back into the kitchen to wash out the pot, he maybe got half way to the sink when his sharp ears picked up on a barely whispered, "So cute!" And he turned red. And he saw red. And while on the subject- he probably tasted a little bit of the color on his tongue as well as he turned his head and looked directly towards the source of the sound.

Oh that had better not be who he thought it was. Cause if it was- he was going to stake Hanabusa to the ground outside for the sun.

Everything was silent for a moment as he tried to pull his frazzled nerves together and shrug off the fact that he had no idea how long the younger vamp had been standing there quite possibly watching him. Finally after a few moments he managed to say without growling, "Hanabusa."

There was a thud loud enough to be deafening in such silence. And it was all he needed to confirm his worst fear. Damn the boy. Kaname thought as the vamp peeked slowly around the corner where he'd been hiding, just outside of the kitchen. His blue, blue eyes catching the faint light from the window. Making them seem as if they were glowing.

"Y-Yes my lord." The boy answered meekly.

"Good timing," Kaname lied before saying. "I need someone to run an errand for me."

Always one to jump at the chance to please his king, Hanabusa didn't disappoint. "Yes my lord, name it." I'll do anything, was left unspoken between the two as Kaname made quick work of washing the pot before then saying.

"Good. Go steal some tomato's from Cross's vegetable garden."

Hanabusa's smile faltered, failed, and disappeared as he paled and begun to stutter. "B-But Cross guards that garden as if it were made of pure gold!"

"I'm aware."

"H-He'll kill me."

"I'll give a lovely eulogy at you're funeral service." Kaname said flippantly as he set the pot aside and then picked up the two little boxes. the jello box and the pudding box and gave the back of them both each a quick look. The jello would take hours to fix. the pudding however- would be much easier. You just mixed the powder with milk and stirred.

Any simpleton could do that.

And ten minutes later... Kaname stood there with a dripping whisk in hand and a somewhat less than half empty bowl in front of him. His once pristine white silk shirt stained...there was even stuff on one of his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose and in his hair!

Sighing, he made a mental note to take some damn cooking classes somewhere remote when he heard a tsking sound from behind him and flushed to the roots of his hair and slowly turned his head to look at the person standing there and nearly made a choking sound when he saw Hanabusa standing there.

Dear god, of all the people who had to see him in such a sorry state...why did it have to be Hanabusa? The boy was a worse gossip than the fangirls! Kaname thought as he snapped at the boy, "Didn't I send you on a deadly errand?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you here?" Kaname hissed from between clenched teeth. Hanabusa just stared at him for a second then replied,

"Just because you sent me on an errand doesn't mean that I agreed to go."

At which point Kaname felt it would be in everyone's best interest if he managed to take some of his frustrations out of something. And what better way to do so than to beat the stuffing out of the younger teen who seemed to sense danger and immediately bolted from the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Lisa stared at the door to the bathroom for a long while after it had shut. Trying to disconcert whether or not the incredibly beautiful brunette would be coming back in or not. And after about thirty minutes or so, figured out for herself that he wasn't a peeping tom.

Which was good to know since at the moment her body was in such poor shape that she wasn't anything worth peeping at. Not that she was disappointed or anything. Because she wasn't. As far as she was concerned only crazy people enjoyed being peeped on.

Looking away from the door to the large ornate oval mirror hanging above the sink, she inwardly cringed at all the scrapes and bruises she saw covering her skin.

If a picture took a photo and cut it into pieces- they'd be able to make a jig saw puzzle out of her picture. That was how miserable she appeared to be. Her skin reminding her of watercolors all bleeding together to create one fantastic monster or something.

And painful... Dear god her wounds were painful. So much so that moving even in the slightest of ways was difficult for her.

Still...after so much longer she decided that waiting around for the beautiful brunette wasn't something she'd like to do after all since she could smell herself and could almost feel what little bit of her skin that wasn't injured, fairly crawling from disgust at being so dirty.

Even if she couldn't see it, she knew instinctually that she must have gone some number of days without bathing. So moving incredibly slowly, she somehow managed to undress and at first dropped the lovely shirt that she had been wearing before pausing and seeming to think something over and bent down, at great pains to her, and picked it back up and took a few moments to neatly fold the overly large blue silk shirt and carefully lay it on the counter next to the sink.

The very action seeming to tire her out somewhat since her limbs began to feel like led as she moved over to the overly large shower and cautiously, almost as if afraid it would spew acid instead of water- turned on the tap for the warm water and watched in some fascination as the water came from not one place- but from five different areas above her head.

Making her stare in awe for several moments before remembering what she had been about to do and after adjusting the water to lukewarm temperatures, stepped under the nearest spray and sighed.

Oh that was good. That was very good.

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Kaname stood a foot or so back from Hanabusa, watching the vampire noble like a hawk as the blond finished making some butternut squash soup with a smidge of extra garlic and a dollop of sour cream in it, and a perfectly cooked grilled cheese sandwhich, and some nice fattening pistachio flavored pudding or Lisa.

And felt the nearly overwhelmingly insane urge to do as he had threated earlier and stake the younger male out in the yard for the sun.

Not for any truly particular reason that he knew of or could place. But because he was overly annoyed that the male- a male of a noble family- could actually cook when he couldn't.

I mean, he was a male of a noble family as well. Well, okay he needed to think about that one for a second- he was not just any noble male- but the king of their proud race. However even a king wasn't above cooking for himself or another if he deemed it appropriate.

After all, one day if he should take a mate to continue his bloodline- he would be expected to hunt and cook his kills to feed her as part of his courtship of her.

_Note to self...take cooking classes. Far, far, far away from the school. _So he'd not be found out and laughed at, Kaname thought in annoyance as Hanabusa turned to him after finishing putting everything on a tray. "Here." He said, his expression blank though Kaname could still read him like a book.

He could almost see his classmate's open disappointment at knowing that the food was for the human that Kaname had taken in and was caring for. Though he would not speak of his feelings against such an action since he knew how his king cared about the damnedable creatures.

"Go on, take it. This is for her, isn't it?" Kaname took a moment to consider his classmate, and then looked down at the tray of food and wondered briefly if Hanabusa may have taken advantage of his ignorance of human foods and their preparation to perhaps poison them.

However the thought quickly passed and he thanked his classmate as he took the tray from him and began to leave the room to go see how Lisa was faring. He had been away for far too long without meaning too and doubted that she had gotten much done due to her wounds.

Reaching the bedroom, he peeked inside for a split second, just to be sure he wouldn't accidentally be walking in on her naked or something- and found her in the bedroom floor, propped up against the bed looking very much to him like a wilted flower in her slight sideways droop.

She was wearing his blue shirt again, undoubtedly not having much presence of mind upon awakening to bother checking the dresser across the room or the closet not even five feet from the dresser- for fresh clothing. Not that he minded any.

He'd sacrificed several of his most expensive silk and satin shirts to the cause ever since her arrival and for some reason he didn't fathom, every time he saw her in one- he got the urge to go through his shirts in his room- pick out only the most beautiful and fetching ones and take them to a vampire tailor to have dresses made for her.

He'd bet she'd look adorable in a kimono style Lolita dress that went down to her knees and hung off of her slender shoulders and clung to her body's every curve. Why he'd even bet that she would look amazing in a sapphire blue summer dress with a deep V or perhaps even a square neckline that clung to her bust and had a slit going down one side that he could slip his hand under and stroke the soft supple skin of her thigh...

He felt his fangs lengthen a bit as he bit down on his bottom lip to hold back the moan he felt coming on, and mentally shook himself.

That was _not_ a very gentlemanly thought.

Bad Kaname. _Bad. _He berated himself silently while a small voice in his head laughed and practically purred, _Oh but you love it, you wicked, wicked man._

However Kaname knew that now of all times was not a very good time to have his teenage and hormone riddled brain hijacked by his inner pervert.

Lisa was still suffering from her wounds and in need of his help. And in his book help didn't include scenario's like; 'Hi, I'm Kaname the king of the vampires and you are now officially my sex kitten. Now get on your knees and let me hear you meow for your milk.'

Shaking his head, Kaname pushed the bedroom door open and stepped inside, drawing Lisa's eyes to him from her semi hiding place under the wet towel that she had placed over her head.

Dear god she had the most beautiful electric turquoise colored eyes that he'd ever seen.

They reminded him of the eyes of a Siamese kitten that he'd brought home with him once as a young boy. Affectionate little creature that she was, she'd liked to share his bed when he slept at night. Choosing to sleep either right up against his side where he could stroke her while he slept or choosing to sleep right neck to his ear so that he could doze off listening to the sound of her purring in contentment.

He'd had her with him for many a year. Ten, if he recalled the exact number. But then she had gotten sick and one night while he lay sleeping she had died curled up against his side so that he could stroke her fur... and had died purring for him like she had always done when she was happy.

Or at least that was what he liked to believe.

That she had known she had reached the end of her days and had wanted him to pet her and hold her while she did.

He supposed that the very idea, no matter how peculiar or insane was comforting to him since she had been his only friend for those long lonesome ten years when he had been alone.

Moving further into the room, he set the tray down on the small table next to the bed. He could feel Lisa's eyes on him, curious and wary all at once and still he waited for her to say _something_. Anything really since he knew that she must have questions about who he was (unless she already knew, that was)and where she was, how long she had been there and so on.

And after letting her stare a hole through his back for so many minutes, he figured enough was enough and turned to face her. His expression showing that he was frustrated and perhaps a little bit annoyed with her. Still... she had gone through something traumatic and while he wanted to demand she speak- he knew that gentleness would be far more appreciated than temper.

So reigning in his feelings, he sighed and went over to the dresser and pulled out a clean pair of panties and another of his sacrificed silk shirts. This one an lovely emerald green, and then returned to her side and tossed the clothing down on the bed and then knelt down and slipped his arms around her slender body and as carefully as he could- lifted her so that he could place her on the bed next to the clothing and said in a kind tone, "I'll give you five minutes to get out of that so and redress in those. After which I'm coming back in and will dress you myself," He wasn't saying it to embarrass her or to be mean or even cruel. He was merely giving her fair warning that if she was unable to dress herself then he would help. There were no ulterior motives behind his gesture but his concern for her. "Once that's out of the way, I'd like you to try and eat something while I brush your hair and speak with you a little bit."

She looked up at him, still as silent as a grave, and seemed to consider his words for a moment before looking away at the fresh clothing and studying it with a small frown on her face as if she had never seen such things before. Before nodding her head in confirmation.

Yes, she felt she could do it.

Or perhaps she was simply saying that because he had told her that he would return to dress her himself if she couldn't, he didn't know and right now he didn't care. Smiling at her like a father would his young child, Kaname nodded his head and then turned and left the room and begun counting.

After all, five minutes would pass far more quickly than she was aware of.


	8. Chapter 8

Lisa had just finished the painful task of changing into the lovely emerald green silk shirt and panties that she had been given and was just sitting on the bed panting from overexertion when the door to the room that she was in- opened and the young man from before stepped back into the room looking pleased for some reason.

Moving across the softly carpeted floor, he stopped in front of her and stared for a moment before smirking slightly. "Green is a good color on you, Lisa." He said gently as he took in her softly flushed pink skin and took a moment to inhale her scent. Making sure to imprint it upon his memory just in case he should ever need to track her by scent should anything ever happen.

Like having Lisa becoming separated from him in unfamiliar territory, or if a rouge vampire should ever attack her. That way, he'd hopefully be able to find her before anything too terrible happened to her. After all he didn't want her being turned or killed. Or worse.

Turned and hunted by him for disposal purposes.

Lisa tipped her head back to stare at him for a moment as he quietly collected the dirty clothing that she had just shed and tossed them in the hamper a few feet away and then sat down next to her. Noting that despite her dazed/pained expression, she refused to let her eyes leave him for more time than it took to blink her eyes.

_She doesn't trust me_, A voice in his head hissed out. And he couldn't agree more with it. After all she had awoken injured in an unfamiliar setting full of strangers. So it was only natural that she be wary and suspicious of him. But to watch him to the degree she was...

It-It was somewhat disconcerting. Yet at the same time, some twisted part of him was oddly flattered by the fact that he had her undivided attention. Even if it was only because she was wary/suspicious of him.

"My name is Kaname Kuran. I know that you must be feeling very lost, and have many questions. And I will try to answer them once you ask me, however for the time being I believe it is in your best interest to eat something." He said gently, coaxingly as he pointed to the tray that he had brought with him earlier.

She followed his arm and finger and noted the food on the tray and frowned a little bit. Seemingly puzzled over why it was there as she slowly turned her eyes back to him.

_Okay_, she thought to herself, _I have his name. And his supposing willingness to divulge information. That's more than anyone in my position could have asked for. I think... _She thought to herself as he stood up. His every motion and action seemed sort of fluid with some kind of unnatural grace. All of which should have sent up warning bells in her mind, telling her of the predator that currently was sharing her room.

However due to the fact that she was still a bit dazed, so none of those warning bells went off as Kaname set the tray down on the bed between them and waited for her to say or do something. Perhaps make a move to devour the food since he knew deep down that her body had to be starving for sustenance.

He didn't know exactly what he expected of her, but he wished her to do something other than just sit there and stare at him. "You were asleep for a long time. Please- Try to eat something, and I'll leave when you feel the need to rest some more." He said gently when she finally managed to ask in a breathy, raspy tone of voice.

_"Where am I?" _Her voice sounded oddly sweet to his sensitive ears, making his normally passive expression, change slightly with the gentle smile that tugged at his lips as he answered her question.

"You are at Cross Academy. In the night class dorms to be exact. As stated before, my name is Kaname Kuran, and I am the president of the night class dorms."

_"A school? For kids?"_ She raped out, her expression confused. He made a non committal sound as he reached out and swept a few stray strands of her damp air that had fallen over her slender shoulder, back behind her ear before saying.

"The school is for educating children from high school through collage."

She continued to frown as he assumed she tried to make sense of things before asking,_ "H-How old are you?" _

Thinking it might be in everyone's best interest if he merely told her an partial lie rather than the truth since she didn't seem to recall ever hearing the name Kuran before, much less the name of the school. Meaning she probably didn't know that he and his fellow night class were all vampires- he replied, "I'm twenty seven." Which technically wasn't a lie since he was over two hundred and twenty seven years old.

She made a soundless 'oh' that was more like nothing but a rush of breath and nothing more before she stopped bothering to speak all together and turned her attention to the food and began to eat as he had bid her earlier. Apparently either having not caught how he'd been her by her name for the past little while, or just didn't care. For now her curiosity seemed to have been appeased.

Kaname sat there observing her as she ate, noting that she had better table manners than most humans he'd ever come into contact with. Meaning either she came from a rich and influential family, or she was possibly a noble herself. Either that or her parents had been far too strict with her as a child.

He didn't truly know which. But after about ten minutes or so- she carefully placed her silver on the tray next to the dishes and looked at him again. She didn't eat everything placed before her, he noted with some disappointment, however the reason for that could have been anything along the lines of not liking the taste of the food or perhaps even not being used to eating full portions when it came to meals.

Or it could even have something to do with her not feeling herself.

Whatever the reason, Kaname wasn't going to push her to finish everything off when it could make her ill like before. Taking the tray in his hands, he glanced at her, noting that she still looked strangely pale for a human on the mend and asked, "Do you want or need anything before I go?"

To which she slowly shook her head in response and he made a soft humming sound as he picked up the tray of left over food and stood again, making sure that he was as far away from the bed as possible since he had been crowding her without meaning too and watched as she carefully lowered herself so that she was curled up on her side on the bed and closed her eyes, completely dismissing his presence.

Something that he didn't like. But allowed due to how tired she seemed to be.


	9. Chapter 9

Over the course of the next few days, Kaname decided that he would spend more of his time away from his work and schooling to spend time with Lisa while she was on the mend. Believing that his presence would some how be better spent trying to help ease her into socializing with him so that she could act sociable with the others when the time came.

Because he knew that with every day that passed, the day when she would have to be social with others _was_ coming.

Today, unlike the other days before- he had woken up, showered, dressed and walked into Lisa's room expecting to find her still soundly sleeping due to how weak her body still was. Only to be disappointed a bit at finding her up on her feet wearing another of his long shirts- this one a lovely shimmery sapphire blue.

Her long dark hair had been combed and was hanging loosely down her back. Her bangs falling gently in her eyes and fetchingly around her lovely face. Her coloring was better today, he noted absently. Far better than it had been the day before, and the day before that.

In fact he could detect a subtle hint of a soft peach/pink color in her cheeks.

Turning away from the window that she had been looking out of, she looked at him. Her electric turquoise eyes locked with his own, sending a shiver of...desire? racing down his spine.

"You're up." He said almost stupidly before quickly recovering his senses enough to save himself from embarrassment. "Would you like to leave the room an have breakfast in the dinning room today?" He asked, hoping that she would say yes since he had been taking private cooking classes from the headmaster ever since the day of her awakening. And was proud to finally say that he could fix simple meals.

Omelet's, home made soups, fried and baked chicken, salads, pasta's and a few desserts.

Lisa stared at him for a moment or so, trying to put a name to the kind of otherworldly appeal that he held. But she kept coming up short on- well, how exactly did one explain an almost supernatural draw to a member of the opposite sex whom she was sure was a non human? She wondered as she slowly nodded her head in response to his question so that he didn't wind up repeating himself.

His dark eyes flashed in the sunlight, a brilliant red color that was almost a peculiar crimson/wine color mixed together as one with _oh-so-subtle_ hints of copper in them. It was only for a moment, and then the color was gone and his eyes were dark again and his expression was one that to her- seemed to come across as oddly predatory.

_What the hell? _She wondered with a small frown as he walked over to stand next to her and very gently took one of her small hands in his own and laced their fingers together in an action that was strangely intimate as he smiled down at her, his expression going from predatory to adoring as he said half jokingly, hoping to make her smile. "I'm glad that you wish to rejoin the world. I was beginning to worry that I had taken guardianship of an anti social person."

Lisa frowned at his words. What did he mean by guardianship? She was an adult. She didn't need anyone taking guardianship of her.

When she didn't really react or smile for him, he sighed softly and decided that he had spent enough time so far trying to get a reaction out of her. She was hungry. He could feel it as sharply as a snake's venomous fang biting into his skin. And while it wasn't exactly a pleasant sensation for him, he was simply glad that it didn't trigger his instinct to feed.

Because that would be awkward.

Pulling Lisa towards the door, he acted according to his breeding as the king of vampires- and opened the door for her and then escorted her through it and down the hall to the kitchen and sat her down on the opposite side of the island there, on a nice cushiony bar stool where she stayed as he went to the fridge and began pulling things out for the omelet.

Lisa propped herself up with his chin on her palm and watched Kaname. Still trying to place what sort of creature he was since she was fairly certain that he wasn't human. Or at the very least not totally one anyway.

And after several moments of watching him pull things out and then place them on the counter before her, she wrinkled her nose a bit as she looked away from him just long enough to give everything laid out a curious look.

Eggs, milk, cheese, sausage and ham. Some red and orange pepper... Oh, he was making her an omelet. She finally realized as she looked around for a second before noticing the knives, and while he was distracted- reached over and grabbed one and silently grabbed several of the items and absently began to cut them up. Causing Kaname's sharp ears to pick up on the subtle clicking sound of the knife as she did so, and stop what he was doing to slowly turn around so that he could watch her for a moment before she paused to look at him and asked.

"Problem?"

He blinked at her and shook his head 'no' and then reached out and took a knife for himself and grabbed a thing or two to help her cut up and slowly began his work.

The two of them worked in relative silence for several moments before Lisa's curiosity got the better of her and she finally asked, "What did you mean earlier when you said that you had taken guardianship of me?"

For some reason that little tidbit along with the fact that he wasn't human or at least totally human seemed to be nagging at her. So much so that she would bet almost anything that the reason he had taken guardianship of her had to do with what sort of creature he was.

Kaname set his knife aside for a moment to look at her. Trying to think of a way to explain exactly what he had meant. At this moment in time he doubted that she even knew about vampires. Like most human's she had possibly lived a sheltered life believing that his kind were nothing but myth and legend.

Really, really creepy myths and legends.

"It has to do with what you are. Doesn't it?" She asked in a tentative tone as she finished cutting up the two peppers, and moved on t one of the meats- actually snatching it from Kaname's side of the island before he could begin cutting on it.

He gave her a narrow eyed look for a moment. Not because she had actually dared to snatch the meat from him before he could go to work on it, but because of her question.

Cocking his head a little bit, he studied her. Most people when confronted with the truth of his kind's existence would display wariness, anger, more often times than not- even fear. So why exactly was it that Lisa was displaying none of these emotions? He wondered as he asked, "And what do you think I am?"

She shrugged in response to his question as she finished cutting up the meat and then set her knife down on the counter and said, "I have no idea. All I know is that you aren't human. Not completely at least."

"Oh? What gave me away?" He asked curiously since knowing what about him had tipped her off to his unnatural origins so that he could possible work on blending in better.

"All of that," She said motioning to him. All of him actually, which caused him to quirk a brow at her as she went on to say. "The face, the eyes, the hair, the voice- Even the way you move and carry yourself all practically scream _'predator_' to me. But it isn't just those things. It's the way that you try so hard to blend in as a human. I can't tell if it's your intention to simply hide yourself in plain sight or to lull others into a false sense of security. Or even both."

_Well, well, well-_ Kaname almost purred aloud. His little human a sharp one.

It was normally incredibly unusual to come across a human as sharp as his Lisa. Not that he minded though. He liked that about her.

Feeling his lips curve up in a slight smile he replied, "I see. All of that gave me away, hm. I see that I'll have to work harder on blending in."

"Hn. If you say so. But you haven't really answered my question about the whole guardianship thing." Lisa said, apparently not really interested in what sort of creature he was. Merely why he had guardianship of her.

"Ah that," Kaname said, deciding to get back onto the subject at hand and see what happened from there. "Tell me what do you know of vampires?"

"They drink blood. Hate garlic. And sunlight and wooden stakes and holy water are the bane of their existence." She deadpanned causing Kaname to give her an comical look before breaking down into a fit of nearly uncontrollable laughter that lasted almost a good three minutes before dying down to occasional shudders and slightly more subtle wheezing.

Once he had himself under control again, he eyed Lisa with a bemused expression as he absently wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes from laughing so hard. "Hn. I don't think that I've laughed that hard in a good long time. Thanks for that." Lisa gave him a weird little finger salute but otherwise didn't interrupt him. "As for you're knowledge on vampires- it's fairly basic. To tell the truth vampires are,"

"A highly evolved sub species. That that lives thousands of years, needs blood to maintain their youth and strength to a point, sunlight would burn you- but I highly doubt it would actually kill you since you yourself appear to be what is commonly known as a day walker. Which means that you have very powerful blood in your veins. Like sunlight, wooden stakes can hurt you- possibly even kill you if they hit the right organ. However holy water isn't terribly effective. Silver however would be." Lisa said in a somewhat bored tone as Kaname's jaw practically hit the floor and he gaped at her for several moments before pulling himself together again and asking in a low hissing tone.

"Are you a hunter?"

To which Lisa merely shrugged and said, "Dunno." Staring at her with a scowl on his handsome face, Kaname wondered if she was pulling his leg a bit for fun. But when she didn't say anything more on the matter decided to let it slip for the time being.

Just until she was better and he could question her properly.


	10. Chapter 10

Kaname sat across from Lisa at the table, watching as she slowly ate everything that he had made for her.

The omelet, the cut up bowl of fruit, and of course (the exception) of the charred and unrecognizable- and possibly unhealthy for any living thing's consumption- plate of toast that she was currently poking at with her fork as if she were worried the burnt pieces of bread would somehow come to life and seek revenge.

His lips twitching in amusement as she continued to poke at the bread every few seconds or so, Kaname could barely contain his amusement as she played with what was left of her breakfast.

"What are you doing?" He finally asked, his tone tinged with some unplaceable emotion as his dark eyes sparkled with mischief.

"I wouldn't swear to it. But-" She started to say before pausing as a piece of the burnt bread brushed up against one of her hands causing her to jump and accidentally throw her fork. Which sailed past Kaname's seat, missing him by a mile, thank god. And went straight into the dorm's collective living room and nearly took out his friend Ichijo if the sound of his alarmed shriek was anything to go by at all.

Both Kaname and Lisa cringed and peered out of the dining room to see the young noble floundering to pull his shirt sleeve free of the fork embedded in the wall.

Both vampire and human cringed as the noble fairly ripped his shirt sleeve to pieces before finally managing to free himself.

During which time Kaname slowly turned his head back to look at Lisa's horrified expression and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling as his long time friend yanked the fork from the wall and marched towards where they were. Either intending to give the stray eating utensil back, or maybe intending to commit murder with it as Lisa looked at him and mouthed.

_This is your fault. You and that damn toast!_

Causing him to cock his head a little bit as he smiled at her at the exact moment Ichijo entered the room practically brandishing the fork like a sword and he growled out, "Alright, who did it? Which one of you tried to murder me with this- this _monstrosity_?!"

His eyes with from Kaname to...good god, the girl was up and on her feet. All the anger of nearly dying by fork tin left him as he stared at her. He had been aware that she had awoken the other day, but she was supposed to still be weak and bedridden.

So to say that he was shocked at seeing her _outside_ of her assigned bedroom was a little bit of an understatement. Especially since she was still technically on bed rest.

"Y-Y-You're up." He stammered out as the girl cringed a bit and gave him a tight lipped smile as she reached out and very slowly took the fork from his hand and laid it down on the table next to her plate of burnt toast before he could even seem to register the action.

Turning to Kaname he pointed at her.

In a rude way that had the vampire king reaching out to forcibly pull his hand back down to his side. "You're being rude Ichijo. Lisa was just finishing up her breakfast." Kaname said smoothly. Not bothering to mention that it was her fault that he had almost been taken out by flying silverware.

Not that Ichijo would have noticed if he had right now anyways. He was too busy pulling up a chair and sitting down in the empty space between Kaname and Lisa so that he could introduce himself and speak to her a little bit.

"Hello," He said in his friendliest tone as he seated himself. "My name is Ichijo. I'm the night class president's secretary/best friend. How are you today?" He said politely, giving her his nicest fanged smile.

Kaname watched Lisa as she glanced at him, looking a little bit lost. Almost as if she didn't know what to do. But that couldn't be right. After all, all people knew how to introduce themselves. Especially those with manners.

And if there was one thing that he was sure of after observing Lisa during breakfast it was the fact that she had manners. Which despite her earlier playfulness with her food, was on par with his and every other vampire noble in the night class. Something that she must have spent countless hours working on as a child.

And yet...she looked completely at a loss as to what to do right now. So Kaname got up out of his seat and walked over to her and very gently told her to introduce herself to his friend while he cleared the table.

He picked up the small pile of dirty dishes and walked over to the sink where he placed all of them but the toast- he laid that on the counter since he had no idea what to do with the damn stuff- and listened as Lisa politely, and almost shyly introduced herself to his friend.

Feeling that her discomfort for the moment had been averted, he then walked back to the table and sat back down so that he could listen in on the conversation.

"So how are you liking it here?" Ichijo asked curiously.

"It's...okay." It was about as much of an reply as Kaname expected from her seeing as this was her first time outside of her room.

However his friend obviously didn't wish to take her replay as it was. He wanted to know if anything bothered her. Did she like her room? Did she need anything aside from the things that Kaname had given him a list of?

And as soon as he asked her all of those questions, Lisa had to bite back the response that she needed a loin tamer. Someone who could stand firmly between her and them if things got out of control.

However as soon as she started to say this- she realized how insulting it would be for them to hear and so she bit her tongue until the urge to say it passed and then simply said that everything was fine. Because she didn't truly know how to respond.

Ichijo's smile faltered a little bit as he looked at his king, his gaze questioning as Kaname looked at him for a moment and then back at Lisa before he said, "I'm planning a trip into town in the next few days. When you're a bit stronger. You need clothing and other things that you have yet to get. So I felt that taking you out for a bit would be necessary. If you think you can handle it, that is."

Lisa blinked at him, but other wise simply nodded her head in understanding before saying. "If you aren't too busy today- we could go once I've changed." Kaname opened his mouth to tell her that that wasn't a wise thing to do, her body was still all battered and bruised. Being on her feet for an extended period of time could prove to be painful for her. Even more so that it was now. However she cut him off at the knee so to speak. "We don't have to stay out long. I know what I need and I'm fairly quick about getting things whenever I go out. So at the most we could be out for an hour maybe two before I tire."

Kaname thought over her words for a moment, carefully weighing the pros against the cons before sighing and running one hand through his wildly tousled collarbone length dark hair.

"Very well. But I want you to bring some of you're medicine with us just in case."

She nodded her head and Kaname stood up and looked at Ichijo as he too got to his feet. "I want no less than four others with us to help keep an eye on Lisa and protect her if we should encounter any level-E's."

Ichijo's eyes flashed scarlet for a second as he nodded his head and then ran out of the room to gather Kaname's guards.


	11. Chapter 11

Lisa sat next to Kaname as he spoke with the four people sitting across from them in the back of the luxury car that they were currently riding in as Lisa looked out the window at the scenery. Where ever they had been just a little while ago- was apparently pretty far out from the nearest town.

Calculating the general distance between the school and the nearest town to be somewhere between thirty to forty miles away, Lisa frowned to herself and jumped when she felt something warm settle around her slender shoulders and pull her off balance.

Causing her to flop over against Kaname's side.

"Lisa..." The man began to speak as she blinked up at him with a slightly perturbed expression on her pretty face. "The trip will take a while due to the speed that we are traveling at. Why don't you try to rest a bit more?"

"Is that your round about way of telling me to take a nap?"

Kaname gave her an innocent look in response to her question, causing her to smile sweetly up at him and say. "I don't wanna." And then took a moment or two to wrestle- er shrug, she meant to say shrug- his arm out from around her, messing up her nicely combed hair in the process as she then returned to her side of the seat and began to look out of the window again.

Realizing that he had more or less dismissed, Kaname blinked at the little human as his eyes narrowed a tiny bit at her back. _Oh what a brave little human you are. _He thought in bemusement as he watched her study the scenery intently. Apparently his sweet little ward was committing everything that she could to memory.

Though he could only think of one possibility as to why.

She was looking for anything familiar to her. Something that may help her/them fill in the blank spaces and unanswered questions left by her sudden appearance at the school.

"Do you see anything, little one?" He asked as he leaned over to her side of the seat and rested his chin on her head. This time she didn't jump at the contact as she had before, though there was still a noticeable little twitch of her body.

"I see tress, fields, lots and lots of wild life. You guys apparently live so far from civilization that no one can hear you scream." She wrinkled her nose a little bit before suddenly saying, "I'm almost afraid to ask what sort of protocols you have in place for when an ax murderer is on the loose."

Causing Kaname to bury his face against her shoulder just to stifle his laughter. Which was only made worse by Lisa saying, "Seriously, what do you do when an ax murderer is on the loose? Because if you don't have protocols in place just yet then you should change that before one moves in somewhere around here."

Unable to hold back his mirth any longer, Kaname made a weird sound low in the back of his throat that sounded strangely like a half snort/half husky chuckle as he wrapped his arms around Lisa's small frame to hold her in place just long enough to allow him to regain his composure before he finally released her.

Moving back from her a scooch, Kaname took a moment to clear his throat before saying in a teasing tone, There are protocols in place in the event of ax murderers running amok..." Lisa tilted her head slightly to look at him, her expression curious as he went on to say, "We eat them."

"Oh, that's right. Your a vampire. For a moment there I kind of forgot." Lisa said absently as she turned her head back towards the window before tacking on, "I blame Canada."

"Huh? Blame who?" Kaname asked curiously.

"Canada." Lisa said again. "I blame Canada."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"It's sort of a joke my family and I used to tell one another whenever something happened and we needed to distract ourselves. If someone got hurt, we blamed Canada. If the new people who moved in next door to us were jerks, we blamed Canada. The seasons changed, we blamed Canada." Lisa explained to him as she turned her head slightly to look at him again. "The joke itself is fairly harmless, and it just happened to make us smile and laugh through some really hard times."

Kaname's good humor fled him as he listened to her speak. His mind going a mile a minute as he mentally went over everything that she had said before finally asking in a tentative tone, "Your family still lives?"

Lisa was quiet for several agonizing heartbeats before replying with a simple, "No. Mom died along with two of my older siblings when I was three. They were caught up in a tornado and the winds not only ripped apart the car that they were driving home in, but it also picked it up and tossed it into a nearby house. Mom died instantly. And my sibling's bodies were found thirty miles away in the middle of a street and hanging from a tree. After that it was just me, my younger brother and dad."

"Dad died when I was sixteen. And we didn't have anyone left, so I quit school and started working several different jobs just to put my brother through school... I don't really recall what happened to bring me here, but I am certain of one thing. My brother is dead. I vaguely recall tripping over his body- eep!" Lisa was startled by Kaname when he suddenly reached out and grasped one of her arms and pulled her into his lap and trapped her there with his arms as he buried his long slender fingers in her silken hair and pressed his lips against her temple and made a hushing sound.

"Hush now. Don't speak anymore about it little one." Kaname said gently as he ran his fingers through her hair, combing it back away from her pale face as he subtly tightened his grip on her body, holding her as tightly against himself as he dared while trying to comfort her.

"You must be a very strong person to go through so much pain and loss and not let it affect you aversely. However as strong as you are, you haven't had any time to mourn. And since that is the case, once we are done getting you settled if you want, I'll see about helping you plan a memorial service for your family. How does that sound?" He asked as he kissed her temple again and waited for her to reply, but was met with only silence.

Curious as to why she was so silent, he glanced down at her and found that Lisa had dozed off on him. The only evidence of any sign of distress that she may have felt before was the one tear that slipped down her face before he gently wiped it away.


	12. Chapter 12

After settling Lisa down on the seat next to him and laying her head on his leg, Kaname grew quiet and thoughtful. And really it was no surprise to the other vampires present. After all their king had more than apparently taken a liking to his little human ward, so it was only natural that he would feel..._upset_.

Or perhaps the better word for what he was feeling was perturbed?

It certainly couldn't be easy for the young noble to hear of his human ward's traumatizing past. Especially since it possibly reminded him of his own losses of his parents and younger sibling, Lady Yuki. Whom had been murdered by another pureblood a little over thirty years ago while still in her youngling form which was akin to that of a human child.

It had been a terrible tragedy for the vampire king.

"Kaname-sama..." Hanabusa began to speak but his king silenced him with a crimson eyed glare as he gently ran his fingers through Lisa's dark hair.

"Hush," Kaname said after a moment or so of unnerving silence. "I don't want you to wake her."

Hanabusa flushed a pale pink and looked away as he muttered, "Yes sire." as Kaname looked back down at his young ward, his expression unreadable for a moment as he continued to stroke her hair.

This went on for the rest of the trip until the vehicle came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the nearest town. Upon which everyone waited for Kaname to wake Lisa (whom hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep) and upon waking, jerked violently as she bolted upright on the seat and simply sat there for a moment as her consciousness took a moment to catch up with her.

"What the-" She started to say when Kaname spoke very softly from next to her.

"You fell asleep."

Tipping her head back to look at the man- no, vampire- she meant to say vampire, she blinked at him for a moment before realizing what he had just said and shifted so that her feet were off of the seat and firmly planted on the floor as she looked towards the window and saw the tall brick buildings, the small shops and cafes and streets full of people.

_"Damn."_ She muttered in a somewhat disappointed tone before reaching up to push her long hair back from her face before moving to follow her vampire out of the car.

Kaname assisted her and once she was on her feet again, she felt him wrap an arm around her and pull her against his body in a protective manner. She tipped her head back and blinked up at him as he gently pointed out, "You were beginning to sway." His dark eyes were concerned as he carefully tucked a strand of dark hair behind one of her ears as he asked, "Are you sure that you wish to do this now? Today? You're still very weak."

"I know, but it needs to be done. And besides- we're already here. No point in wasting a trip right?"

"Very well. But I don't want you to go anywhere without either myself or one of the others. And if you begin to tire- we'll cut our losses for today and leave. Your health is more important than anything else at the moment."

"Calm down big guy." Lisa said as she patted him on the chest with her hand. The curiously charming action catching Kaname's attention unlike anything else he had ever seen could. "I'll be fine. An hour or two on my feet won't kill me. Besides, I'm a fairly quick shopper."

Kaname didn't say anything since his little human was proving to be most stubborn, but he silently decided to keep his eye on her anyways. Just in case.

Maneuvering his ward away from the limo and down the street to the nearest string of shops and stores, Kaname looked over his head at Ruka and subtly motioned for her to come and take Lisa into the nearest store to get some- er, well..._delicates _while he and the rest of the males waited for them outside.

Nodding her head in understanding the blond walked up and gently took her hand and led her into the store where they were gone for the better part of ten or twenty minutes before Ruka came stomping out in a snit, carrying two large bags that she quickly handed to Senri. Before she then rounded on Kaname and opened her mouth to say something to her king before seeming to think better of it and closing her mouth as Lisa finally came out of the shop.

At which point the said blond vampire turned on her and hissed at her like an outraged cat.

Causing each of the males to blink at her as Kaname narrowed his eyes at the exchange before reaching out and drawing Lisa back against his side while he cast a displeased glare in Ruka's direction before he began walking again. Lowering his mouth so that it was close to her ear, he asked curiously. "What was _that_ about?"

"Hn. Oh with that girl? It was nothing, just a difference in opinion." Lisa replied absently.

"Oh? What sort of difference in opinion?" He asked.

"Something about cute vs. comfort. She was of the mind that I should get something that was more cute than comfortable."

"And you naturally disagreed."

"Of course I did." She said somewhat heatedly. "I much prefer being comfortable than cute. Besides, everything she picked out for me was embarrassingly skimpy. And I have a very strong dislike such clothing." Lisa said as she blushed a bit. Kaname considered her words for a moment before saying,

"I could speak with her-"

"No. Just drop it."

"Are you sure?" He asked, worried that the two may grow to inevitably hate each other over time.

"Yeah. It'd cause too much trouble if you had a 'talk' with her. If that happened then it would feel far too much to her like I had tattled on her or something. Ya know."

Kaname was quiet again before sighing, "Very well. But if anything happens between the two of you because of this, let me know." He said, expecting her to fall in line like the rest of his kind did. For a moment Kaname had forgotten that Lisa was a human. And most humans, even the young females- were generally very willful creatures.

Apparently Lisa was no exception to this if her next words were any indication at all. "I don't need someone else to fight my fights when I can fight them myself. I'm not a child after all."

He wanted to disagree with her there considering that he was older than her by centuries. And to him, she was very much like a child- though he didn't speak the words because he didn't wish to offend or upset her.

"Very well. I will stay out of it." He said, albeit a little reluctantly.

The next hour or so practically flew by in a flurry of activity as he took his ward from one shop to another and bought her whatever she needed/looked at. Call him old fashion but wasn't it a man's job to spoil and pamper what was his? Kaname wondered as he purchased a pretty white porcelain tea set with white and blue and pink flowers and lilies painted on the dishes, along with six different tea blends.

He couldn't help it.

He had seen Lisa pause just outside of the shop and look at the beautifully intricate piece of artwork with such an expression of fascination that he had had to just had go and get it for her. Feeling that even if she never used it, perhaps she would place it somewhere where she could always see it at the very least.

Walking up to the group that he had left at a local café so that he could make the purchase without hearing anymore protests and whining from the rest of the males in the group (possibly due to the fact that he had made them carry everything), he stepped into the cozy little gem of a café to find Lisa, and Ruka more or less laughing at the others while they attempted to juggle the bags and boxes of clothing, make-up, perfume, shampoo, conditioner, brushes and combs, hair ties, ribbons, shoes, books, trinkets exct.

"You haven't touched your sandwich and drink," Kaname pointed out as he walked over, oblivious to the suddenly deafening silence surrounding him as he moved from the door over to the table where he had left his ward and gracefully pulled out the seat across from her and sat himself in it. "You should eat while we're here." He said gently as he set the bag containing Lisa's new tea set and tea's down next to his leg.

"I know, but I wanted to wait and see what you've gotten me now." Lisa said softly enough for the other vampires to have to strain to hear her. Her tone was teasing as she placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm as she stared at him.

He smiled at her, but made no move to hand her the tea set since it was quite heavy. "Eat your food." He said again earning an eye roll from her before she picked up half of her sandwich and took a bite just to placate him.


	13. Chapter 13

Sitting across from Lisa, Kaname watched her as she ate her sandwich and then began to drink her hot chocolate. He would admit, that there was something about his ward that was...well..._enigmatic_. He wasn't sure exactly sure what it was about her that made him think that- perhaps it was the strangely odd few moments of clarity before she seemed to forget everything about her previous life all over again.

Or perhaps it was simply that he didn't know the most basic of information about her. Her favorite color, food, drink, music ect. But then with her memory being affected by her injuries he wasn't all that sure that she would recall those things, at least not until he tried asking.

So that's what he did. He asked.

"What's your favorite color?"

He had absently noticed earlier that a majority of the clothing that she had picked out for herself was either black, white, different shades of emerald, jade, or mint green. Or scarlet, garnet, or light red. Powder blue, cream, lavender and violet. Different shades of sky blue, sapphire, azure, teal and turquoise. And while he knew that people sometimes had more than one favorite color, but he doubted that anyone would have so many favorite colors from both ends of the color spectrum.

Lisa put her drink down and seemed to think for a moment before saying, "White. But I also like turquoise, cream, lavender, violet, teal, and red. But I also like black and green too. What about you? What's your favorite color?"

Kaname blinked at her question and then gave her a tightlipped smile before replying. "I'm a fan of black. But I also like white and red." Lisa cocked her head a little bit as she looked at him as he then asked. "Now, what's your favorite food?"

"Dunno. But I'm not picky. Though I am fairly fond of salads, soups and chicken glazed in seafood scampi sauce with a side of caesar dressing." Kaname's lips quirked in amusement.

"That's very specific."

"It's one of my many default foods. Well that and sandwiches."

Kaname arched a brow at her as he asked, "Oh? Any other default foods?" To which Lisa replied without thinking.

"Chicken flavored ramen noodles with honey mustard."

"Sounds..." Well, it sounded somewhat nice and disgusting all at once to Kaname. But he didn't wish to offend so after a moment or so of grappling with his words, he finally said. "Interesting."

"Hn," Lisa hummed before saying. "I usually eat it if I'm feeling depressed, or if I'm on a diet."

"There will be no diets in your future. You're far too thin as you are." Kaname said with a note of displeasure in his voice.

Lisa blinked at him as she looked down at herself and subtly studied the slender delicateness of her wrists, hands and fingers. She knew that she had always been petite, a little bit on the small-ish and delicate side but she had always been a healthy weight. One hundred and twelve- fifteen pounds, depending on how often and how well she ate.

And the few times she did diet- it was usually only for a week or so and mostly because- because... Lisa frowned when it occurred to her that she didn't know why she did it. Maybe it was just a female thing. Maybe it was something else entirely. She just didn't know.

She felt a cool hand against her cheek, and nearly jumped out of her skin as her eyes flickered up to Kaname's face to find that it was his hand against her cheek, his thumb lightly stroking her skin. "Your upset." Kaname said softly as he removed his hand from her cheek before saying, "Forgive me. It was not my intention to upset you with my words."

"Huh? Oh. No your fine, really. I was just thinking that your probably right. Between the time I appeared here and now- I've obviously lost more weight than I should have."

"It's because you've been injured."

"I know."

"Speaking of injuries, are you in any pain?" Kaname asked her curiously. After all, she was injured and he had been expecting her to feel pain- if not a little bit of discomfort during their outing. Especially since she'd been up and moving around for a little over an hour now.

"No not really. Just some slight discomfort."

"Discomfort. Nothing more?"

"No."

Kaname peached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the small bottle of pain pills that the doctor had left behind for her and got one of the tablets out and broke it in half and gave it to her. "Here. Take this for now."

Lisa stared down at the half tablet for a moment before slowly saying, "I'd really rather not."

"And I'd rather you didn't feel pain when you could at least be comfortable. Now, please take the pill." It was an order, softly spoken velvet over steel. And the look that Kaname gave her was almost as if he dared her to disobey. After all, even if she did disobey him- he could force her compliance. He just hoped that it didn't have to come to that.

Sighing Lisa regarded him for a moment before reaching out and taking the half tablet from him and popping it in her mouth and swallowing it before looking away from him inwardly seething.

Christ she hated drugs.

Especially pain pills since they became somewhat addictive if one wasn't careful.

Sensing her earlier good mood beginning to change, Kaname looked down at the pill bottle in his hand and frowned a little bit wondering what he had just done wrong.


End file.
