AN: It's not very Christmass-y a chapter, but considering that some people awaited the promised "bathroom" scene – it could be considered a present nevertheless. Many thanks to YenGirl for beta-ing it!

Besides – everybody who reviewed me: I have finally answered all the reviews you've written for my story – the answers are in a special thread in My forums – will post the link on my profile page, so that it's easy to find.

And – I do not own VK – and maybe it's for the better…

It wasn't long after that that the vampire passed out again into something borderline between unconsciousness and deep tired slumber, the fact apparent to the hunter by the small residual shivers – nothing like the previous shudders – that started passing through his limbs again, gradually diminishing, as soon as the pureblood's tight control on his body slipped. It was good – the boy needed his rest, now that he was out of immediate danger of dying from overexposure, and it was still early afternoon – the time when vampires were supposed to sleep… but even though the air within the room was warming a little – Touga knew that to absolutely ensure no lasting damage came as a result of his young charge's freezing he had to ascertain that the vampire was thoroughly warmed – through and through – before he could allow him to just sleep off the after-effects.

"Sayori-san," he called softly, careful to not awaken Kaname, even if such a possibility seemed extremely unlikely, "turn on the water running in the bathroom, will you? Make it not very hot – just so that the tiles and air warm a bit before I bring him in. And put the blanket and bedcovers before the heater here, when I do".

As the girl nodded and went into the bathroom…

"Bathroom!" The hunter chuckled. "Seems too grand a word for a simple combined affair lacking even a shower-cabin as such."

Still, he knew that even though the small boiler was only able to provide about ten minutes of hot water running at best – the small room should fill with enough of vapor, which would be warm enough even after he switched the shower off. And at least – in there he could undress the pureblood safely to check that no part of him suffered any serious damage… both from frost-bite and whatever had caused him to succumb to one in the first place.

Tiredly he got one arm out from under the heavy mound of cloths that the girl had covered them with and started slowly removing them, preparing to get up. From the size of the mound he seriously suspected the girl had taken his order to throw "all possible cloths" on them all too literally – he'd wonder if she had even went as far as taking down window drapes for that purpose if the subdued lighting filtering into the room from the afternoon didn't prove that it wasn't the case.

God, he felt tired… even sitting in the recliner didn't help – his muscles only grew heavier from their switch from overuse to disuse and he took extra care in getting up slowly with the unbalanced weight of a deeply sleeping vampire in his arms, giving a wider circle around the pile of covers lest he tripped on them, sliding sideways into the bathroom through the door that the girl held open to him…

"Stay close by," he cautioned the girl as she was closing the door from the outside, "so you hear if I call for you…"

He wasn't planning to – not with the naked vampire inside – but Touga felt even his mind was starting to succumb to tiredness now… what if he had forgotten something? What if he needed something? What if the boy was wounded after all?.. Just… in case…

"It is sure cramped in here", he sighed as he gently lowered the vampire on the tiles in a half-sitting position, the youth whimpering a little in his slumber as the stray droplets fell on his silken shirt and the water on the floor started filtering into the fabric of his pants.

And pray he doesn't wake…

He wasn't sure at all what would be the vampire's reaction to being undressed by a hunter – were he awake… hell, he wasn't sure what his own reaction would be – were his charge to awaken now, while he was undressing him… so… completely… it was way too embarrassing to do so while the boy was out cold.

Yeah, cold all right…

The young vampire's skin wasn't quite so frighteningly frozen as it had been when the hunter found him back by the lake, but it was still rather cool to the touch and the teacher felt more confident in his decision to get him hot-showered, his fingers hurrying up through the long line of buttons on the front of the boy's shirt. He tugged the sleeves off gently then, leaning the kid's head onto his own shoulder, and threw the half-wet shirt into the far corner to keep it out of the way.

The pureblood remained sleepily pliant during the removal of shirt and then the socks, but when Touga unzippered his trousers and started to pull the back of them down his butt the vampire's body recoiled so sharply away from the hunter that the latter had barely time enough to stop him hitting his head on the toilet bowl and lower him softly onto the even surface of the tiles. In the first moment of shock Touga thought the pureblood had awakened after all – conceding that it could be unnerving to awaken to someone removing your pants and underwear… but that seemed to not be the case. So far he could tell – the boy was still asleep or unconscious – yet he continued to whimper and trash a little in distress, curling almost into a fetal position on his side, as the hunter tugged the by now thoroughly wet and clingy pants from his legs…

…makes one feel like a damn violator – him reacting like this…

The boy calmed somewhat when the clothes were finally off though – lying there under the gentle rain of the shower, and Touga found himself reluctant to touch him for fear of further distressing the boy, even though he really needed to turn him over to see that the other side of his body was as unharmed as the topmost side…

"At least if he had a wound that was only closed by cold that would be bleeding by now", he thought, and it most thankfully didn't. He stood to pick the muzzle of the shower, and started passing it over the vampire's body – head to toe, gradually increasing the warmth, and was gratified to see the pureblood relax under the streaming water to the point where he stretched full length finally on his back, nearly taking all the floor-space of the tiny bathroom, and allowing the hunter to see that he seemed indeed unharmed.

Nor did he seem to have any telltale white spots of lasting frostbite visible – his skin still pale but gaining a warmer hue under the flush of hot water, though his toes and hands and the very tip of his nose shone bright red, and the hunter wondered momentarily if they would peel afterwards as they would've if the boy was human. The idea of a pureblood peeling as a mere mortal appeared ridiculous, but Touga figured that in his current weakened condition there was a fair chance that he would, and for some reason it saddened the hunter… and something else… ah, that memory again that he was sure was something important… something he should've remembered… and he guessed that if so – in time he surely would…

As the shower water spilled along the vampire's body the hunter found himself fascinated with it despite himself. It wasn't what he expected… he didn't know how to put it better, but in a way – that was as good a way to express what he saw - looking at it now - as any other… Somehow – always dressed in those impeccably tailored clothes, surrounded by that powerful pureblood aura and wearing that "been here too long and seen it all" expression – the vampire had always seemed so very grown-up and mature – it was a revelation to see him now – uncovered – as the teenager he really was. In a way his body was less developed than the one of the hunter's other charge – Zero, which only made sense if one considered all the rigorous training the younger boy started even as a child, and then continued at the Academy – both to better fulfill his duties as a guardian and as an attempt to tire himself beyond feeling anything – meaning blood lust, however counterproductive this technique really was. Kaname on the other hand always had his vampire powers - both mental and physical - to rely upon, and the hunter doubted that he'd ever been inside a fitness-center in his life. As a result – where Zero's body was that of a budding Apollo, Kaname's was one of Endimion or maybe St. Sebastian – his bone-structure slender, shoulders less broad, and the waistline almost impossibly thin… Such fragile, tortured, ethereal beauty…, who'd think… yes, St. Sebastian…

A slight whimper escaping from the pureblood snapped Touga out of his contemplation, and he hastily checked the water on his wrist… ah, yes, it was cooling off already, the small boiler having extended its limit… Reaching over the boy he turned the water off now, and covered the vampire with a clean towel, letting him gently cool in the still warm vapor filling the bathroom.

If anyone could hear what you were thinking just now…

He raked his hand through the mane of his own dark hair, sliding down the bathroom door to sit on the floor beside the vampire.

Yeah… they would've been mightily surprised…

That was a period of his life that but a few people knew about. The period he preferred to shut out of his own memory. Yet the period that Cross obviously had heard of since he appointed the hunter as an ethics teacher for the Night Class – of all subjects…

God, what a foolish youth he was back then… shying his responsibilities as a hunter of one of the supreme lines… running off to Europe on a stupid assumption that Japan was the only place where the beasts dwelt… as if one could shut the beasts to just one corner of the world… as if one could shut one's own nature to live as a mere human… to study something as entirely peaceful as philosophy and arts… the awakening was brutal – when he instantly recognized a vampire in the guy his own girlfriend had left him for… stumbling on them in the evening twilight by one of the Amsterdam channels just as the bastard was nuzzling her neck – his fangs extended – looking at the young hunter with this ugly smirk over the shoulder of unsuspecting girl… he shot him on this very spot – without thinking – his aim as usually precise… and fled back to Japan on the first available flight – to be appointed as a teacher to Kiryuu-twins upon his return…

Damn, stop it, Touga… you haven't thought about that part of your life for years…

Because it was a lie… a foolish dream… you're really not so far removed from Cross, are you? Another idealistic fool.

He looked at the boy on the floor.

Yeah, aren't we all?

On a sudden impulse – just because the boy looked so damn weak still – so fragile… just because his lips were slightly opened under the wet tousled curls – providing an ideal opening… he opened the door a fraction and asked the girl to give him the cup.

Just a little bit more. Won't hurt me any… and may help him recover…

"Sensei," the girl suggested softly, "you can just put your hand to this side of the door, and I'll hold the cup. This way you wouldn't have…"

"Wouldn't have to watch the blood?" He finished when her voice trailed off uncertainly. "Thank you, Sayori-chan, I can manage. The bathroom will chill too quickly if we leave the door open for so long. Just give me the cup. And be prepared to spread the blanket here by the door when I ask".

The logic behind his refusal was sound – even the few moments of opening the door cooled the air inside the bathroom considerably, he just didn't figure it would be so difficult for him to watch his own blood trickle into the cup out of reopened wound without gagging. He closed the eyes, but it only made him feel the warm liquid more – feel its warm disgusting stickiness on his skin… made him remember how only more disgusting and sticky it became when it grew cold…

There was cold sticky blood everywhere in the Kiryuus' house on that morning… and Zero was covered with it… Good thing the boy had crawled almost to the door before loosing consciousness… Good thing his hunter senses told him there was no one alive in the house besides the boy… Because that time he not only threw up, he actually fainted… he actually lost it for almost thirty minutes… and it took an immense power of will to take the bloodied boy into his arms and carry him the mere pair of miles to the nearest village…

Oh shit…

He scrambled hastily over the pureblood's legs and bent over the toilet bowl retching helplessly… Good thing he hadn't eaten for almost two days now too…

Bad thing – as he found out soon enough - was that he had obviously pushed the cup in his scramble – judging by the stain on his jeans and the spreading rosy stain around the cup itself – which had previously been almost full and was now half empty…

Worse still – that the sight made him dizzy again.

I'm not gonna be able to feed it to him…

"Sayori-chan", he called, closing his eyes to fight the dizziness, "spread the blanket by the door, and turn away, please".

On the girl's soft knock, indicating that all was ready, he opened the door, gathered the pureblood from the bathroom floor and put him onto the waiting blanket, which – he was glad to feel – was pleasantly warm from being kept by the heater for all this time. Only – as he bent to wrap the sleeping vampire into the blanket completely – the world swirled again, almost making him fall on his knees.

"Yori-chan," he asked, breathing slowly through his nose, and patiently ignoring a worried look on the girl's face. "There is blood in the cup. Can you feed it to him, while I'll take a shower?.. Then I'll get him into the bed, alright?"

"Sensei…"

"Just do it, will you?"

Reluctantly, the girl nodded and went to fetch the cup.

An almost cold shower made him feel fractionally better… or so he thought when he put on the robe (a loan from Cross – too short for him and with a disgusting little kitten on the pocket). But "fractionally" was an operative word there as he discovered after bending to pick the blanket-wrapped Kaname into his arms, and in the end he was glad when a small warm hand pressed into the small of his back, guiding him to the bed gently as he concentrated on carrying the vampire without dropping.

"Let me bandage your wrist," Sayori insisted when he sat on the side of the bed, wearily reclining on the backrest by the sleeping vampire's side.

"There was barely half a cup," he protested weakly, "Take some more for him, before you bandage it".

But the girl shook her head.

"There was half a cup, but there used to be almost a whole again, no? You've already given too much, sensei, you need a good rest and a cup of strong sweet tea now."

She went to the heater to gather a remaining bedcover from there and returned to the bed.

"Put your feet up now, do, or you'll get a cold – sitting here barefoot after a shower. Here," she spread the bedcover over both him and the vampire, still wrapped in his blanket cocoon, "that's better. And now I will go and prepare the tea for you… You see," she continued in an explanation, as she started bandaging his wrist tightly, "my mother is a nurse, and sometimes she would take blood from people, so I know what's to do. In fact," she smiled shyly, "I couldn't cut your wrist, but I think I could have done the bleeding – if you had a syringe…"

The hunter chuckled, his eyelids drooping for sheer exhaustion.

"Bad thing I didn't know that. I think I actually have a syringe in my pack…"

Half-sleepily he watched the girl disappear into the kitchen.

And if she can make a decent cup of tea she would be just beyond perfection… yes, hot and sweet, something to wash down that taste of bile in my throat…

But by the time Yori returned with a cup of steaming tea – Yagari was already asleep…