Notes: This story was written for the 1sentence community on Livejournal and is based on the community's 50 prompts from the "Epsilon" table. This is my first attempt at Vampire Knight fan fiction, so I would be more than happy for some constructive criticism. Tell me what I did well and what I could improve upon in the future. Are there flaws in my characterization that I should be aware of the next time I take a stab at Kaname/Zero stories?

Summary: The gradual progression of their relationship one sentence at a time.

Love Comes Softly by Angelike Riddle

#01 – Motion

Zero acted on instinct, shielding the already heavily wounded pureblood from the worst of the rogue hunter's attack as best he could, gritting his teeth against the agonizing shock of irony at its best: he had threatened to cast that same charm on the arrogant bastard just that morning.

#02 - Cool

Nothing could have stunned Kaname more than seeing his rival in love – an ex-human vampire who had little reason to love him or his kind – take a blow meant for him with the exception, perhaps, of his own reaction: the earth moved.

#03 - Young

Zero woke slowly, soothed into wakefulness by a warmth he had not felt since childhood – the feel of fingers fingers tracing carefully over skin, of someone hovering quietly nearby (Mama?) – but as his eyes eased open, blearily taking in the familiar face looming over him, the dream shattered in an instant: “For your information,” Kuran stated with an arched brow, “I'm not your mother.”

#04 - Last

A week had passed since he'd last seen him (there was the matter of the attempt on his life to be dealt with, the mastermind who had sent the hunter having continued to elude capture), but Kaname's mind continued to drift back to the sight of Kiryuu's battered face – innocent in sleep – and the alluring scent of blood spilled for him and he wondered why the fool had even considered endangering his life for someone he professed to hate.

#05 - Wrong

“It didn't have anything to do with you,” Zero said stonily, “like your offer of blood has nothing to do with me – it was for Yuuki.”

#06 - Gentle

The ex-human wasn't gentle at all the next time Kaname bared his neck, but his deliberate ruthlessness only served to affirm what the vampire lord was just beginning to suspect: Kiryuu cared more than he was willing to admit – not even to himself.

#07 - One

If he caught Kuran staring at him with those god-damned knowing eyes one more time, Zero swore he was going to determine once and for all just how many bullets it would take to kill a pureblood.

#08 - Thousand

There were a thousand reasons why Kaname shouldn't give a damn what Kiryuu thought of him (they were only using each other, right?), but for some reason the stubborn boy's spiteful insults troubled him – and that he could be so affected was troubling in and of itself.

#09 - King

When Yuuki had insisted that he and Kuran spend more time together (“It would mean so much to me, if the two most important people in my life could get along...”), Zero hadn't expected they would wind up playing a game of chess of all things – nor, he mused, lips curling as he made his next move, had he expected to actually enjoy himself: “Checkmate.”

#10 - Learn

Upon spending more time with him, Kaname was surprised to learn that Kiryuu was a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for – and that the sun paled in comparison to the brightness of his smile.

#11 - Blur

His days passed in a monotonous blur, but the evenings he shared with Kuran were always memorable – exciting, even, if he was being honest with himself.

#12 - Wait

Kaname was not in the habit of lying to himself, of denying what he wanted – and he wanted Kiryuu; however, his target was the stubborn sort and thus would require a slow seduction, carefully planned and implemented...

#13 - Change

Zero's utter mortification upon walking in on Kuran whilst the pureblood was in a semi-state of undress was compounded by the fact that he could forget neither the sight of all that smooth skin (pale and perfect and just begging to be touched) nor the warmth in Kuran's eyes when he turned to greet him.

#14 - Command

The vampire nobles were growing more and more annoyed with the ex-human for his perceived imposition upon their lord's time and patience, but they would not act on their animosity if they held any sense of self-preservation at all – Kaname would tolerate no threats to his chances of winning over the object of his desire.

#15 - Hold

The day class girls had actually been behaving themselves rather well recently, which probably should have set off warning bells in his head, but he'd been preoccupied with other things (that most definitely did not include that annoying blood-sucking bastard) and so didn't notice the danger until he was already off balance and braced to meet the ground; later, he would be hard pressed to say what surprised him more: the unusual ingenuity of the girls or the gentleness of Kuran's touch as he steadied him.

#16 - Need

“I didn't need your help,” Kiryuu grumbled as the girls had fled back to their dorms, heartbroken at their idol's vocal displeasure, but his voice lacked malice and his eyes were laughing – a step in the right direction, to be sure.

#17 - Vision

Zero hated everything Kuran represented – a world of blood and pain and unrelenting misery – but recently he was finding it harder and harder to hate the pureblood himself; naturally, this only served to make him more irritable than ever.

#18 - Attention

“You know,” Yuuki said pointedly, lips quirking as she followed her friend's gaze across the courtyard to the silver-haired prefect making his final rounds for the evening, “it wouldn't kill you to at least pretend that you're listening to me.”

#19 - Soul

“Vampires don't have souls,” Zero insisted as he had so often before, but this time even he wasn't so sure.

#20 - Picture

Kaname blinked slowly, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him, but no: Kiryuu was still glowering from the doorway, art supplies under one arm and looking more and more uncomfortable with each moment that passed: “For heaven's sake, it's not like I'm asking you to pose nude for me!”

#21 - Fool

Zero wished he could take back his words the instant they left his tongue, flushing with abject horror when Kuran pouted with mocking coquettishness and fell back on the sofa in a provocative sprawl: “Oh, but if it's for art, I surely don't mind – just tell me how you want me...”

#22 - Mad

Kiryuu was so cute when he was angry.

#23 - Child

“I swear,” Yuuki giggled, “sometimes you two remind me of children in a school yard – don't you know Kaname is just pulling your pigtails?”

#24 - Now

Kaname was trying to be patient, to wait until Kiryuu was ready to acknowledge this thing between them, but whenever the boy dozed off (on the sofa, on the carpet, wherever he happened to land when exhaustion took him) he found himself wondering if the gods were testing him – no one should look so sinfully delicious with drool pooling at the corner of his mouth!

#25 - Shadow

As the late afternoon sun cast its shadow, Zero stumbled across the girl he loved best cozied up with a Day Class boy he hardly knew and realized that his sudden impulse to give the presumptuous boy a hard time stemmed not from his own unrequited feelings, but rather from a simpler desire to protect his best friend from heartbreak; only later, when he realized how badly the news would affect Kuran, did his chest begin to ache.

#26 - Goodbye

“I relinquished my claim on Yuuki some time ago,” Kaname assured him, somewhat surprised that Kiryuu would be so offended on his behalf – and entertained, too, by his awkward attempts at comfort (“Anyone would be lucky to be loved by you, and if she can't see that then it's her loss!”), which were made all the more humorous by the irony of the situation.

#27 - Hide

Looking away hastily to hide his growing blush, Zero wondered what had possessed him to say such a girly thing, but when Kuran's hand grasped his shoulder with a fond squeeze and he caught sight of the happy glow in his expression, he found he could not regret it: “My dear Zero, I too would be pleased if we could drop the formalities between us – so, please, won't you call me Kaname?”

#28 - Fortune

“I think you can accept one expensive gift per year without fear of the gods striking you down or whatever other nonsense you have floating about in your head,” Kaname insisted, refusing to accept the birthday present's return, despite his friend's protests, “and, really, it's not like a couple of books on hunter charms, however rare, is going to make much of a dent in the pocket book of someone as 'filthy rich' as I am – so stop arguing.”

#29 - Safe

The day Shizuka Hiou came into his life was the day Zero ceased to feel safe; how strange that, years later, another pureblood should erase that all-consuming fear, replacing it with something he couldn't name, but welcomed just the same.

#30 - Ghost

Some ghosts cannot be banished by kind words or a gentle touch – but, still, it helps to know you're not alone; Kaname fancied he knew this better than anyone as he whispered away the troubled dreams (memories?) of his napping companion and wished Zero could do the same for him.

#31 - Book

Falling asleep with his face pressed into the open pages of a textbook was nothing new; everyone knew Zero kept strange hours (stranger still since he'd started spending so much time with the Night Class's beloved Kaname), so this tendency was rarely remarked on – until, that is, he disrupted the entire class when he jerked awake with a throaty moan: “Kaname!”

#32 - Eye

When Kaname heard the news, he laughed so hard he cried.

#33 - Never

Zero was never going to be able to look Kaname in the face again – ever.

#34 - Sing

Kaname was perhaps being a little optimistic in interpreting Zero's embarrassing outburst as a declaration of his feelings (however unintended), but he was determined to talk about it and he wasn't above making a spectacle of them both in order to coax Zero from his self-enforced exile: the whole campus was buzzing about Night Class President Kaname Kuran's impromptu serenade from below Prefect Zero Kiryuu's dorm-room window before he even finished the first stanza – and his beloved Zero was lunging for him with murder in his eyes by the end of the second.

#35 - Sudden

Zero had the presence of mind to drag the idiot pureblood to the privacy of the stables before launching into his angry tirade (Kaname had caused enough of a scene for one night), demanding to know what had possessed Kaname to act so foolishly; the response was not at all what he expected – lips pressing softly against his own.

#36 - Stop

Kaname had expected Zero to push him away, but it still hurt.

#37 - Time

“I-I think I just need – need some time to think,” Zero said quietly when the kiss ended, too stunned to manage even a blush, “about this, about us.”

#38 - Wash

The vampire lord stepped into the shower's icy spray and hoped Zero would come around quickly – now that he'd tasted him there was no way cold showers and his right hand would keep his desires at bay for long.

#39 - Torn

How could something so wrong feel so right?

#40 - History

“Our friendship is over,” Zero said and Kaname's heart stopped, but then the boy looked up, his expression confused and vulnerable, “so where does that leave us?”

#41 - Power

Standing in front of the other boy, trembling with tremulous emotion, he met Kaname's bleeding gaze and realized that he had the power to hurt him.

#42 - Bother

This time he didn't bother with subtleties or stolen kisses: “I love you – so, please, won't you be with me?”

#43 - God

Anyone – everyone – from his former life would have looked upon such a match as unholy; frankly, Zero didn't give a damn anymore.

#44 - Wall

Kaname hit the wall with a hard thud, but any protest he might have made died on his lips, overshadowed by the pleasurable sensation of eager hands pulling at his clothes, of a hard body rubbing delightfully against his own, and of a wet tongue tracing the curve of his throat.

#45 - Naked

Zero had never considered himself particularly self-conscious, but he found himself shying away from that stormy gaze, shame pooling in his belly as he imagined what Kaname saw – a body as flawed as any human's, imperfect and scarred, and without the otherworldly glow innate to the born vampire's physiology; how could Kaname ever be satisfied with someone like him when he could do so much better?

#46 - Drive

Kaname could sense his lover's reticence, his growing uncertainty, but he wasn't going to let him run away – not now, not ever again: “You're beautiful,” he murmured lustily and moved in for the kill.

#47 - Harm

The ex-human was startled by the strength of his desire as his lover urged him to a fever-pitch, but even more terrifying than the irresistible need boiling in his blood was the sense that he was losing control, that the primal instincts he'd so long suppressed would be denied no longer: the pureblood's scent was so strong, his neck bared and his to ravage and plunder – oh, heaven help him!

#48 - Precious

He could feel the lengthening of Zero's fangs against his flesh and shuddered at the thought of his lover penetrating his soul even as he penetrated that gorgeous body: “Please,” he gasped, thrusting madly, “please, Zero, bite me, mark me – I need you to!”

#49 - Hunger

Giving in was a blessing and a relief – for them both.

#50 - Believe

“We're going to be very happy together,” Kaname grinned, ignoring his lover's tired mumblings (“stupid vampire ... so god-damned sappy after sex ... gnnh!”), “for a long, long time” – because vampires were practically immortal, after all, and it would be an eternity before he tired of this stubbornly troublesome young man.

Please feel free to point out typos and the like. It would be very helpful. I don't have a beta, and I'm sure everyone knows how difficult it is to edit one's own work.