Sorry it is short, but it is basically just the end of the previous chapter which I hadn't time to write before.

Many thanks to Hino Matsuri for the brilliant manga and characters (which I do not own - go figure), and many thanks to BlackenedWing, YenGirl, Sagakure and many other brilliant fanfiction writers for the concepts of blood bond and other useful things to know about the Vampire Knight universe which have grown to be "almost canon" and as such form the basis on which I elaborate in this story.

…your own fault… for clinging to what wasn't meant to be… to that tiny white lie of a hope that somehow… don't know how… the childhood's promise of happiness could yet be fulfilled…

maybe because it was the only thing that made life endurable?

he of all should've known what happens with the one who tries to step in one river twice… yet every time he fell for it… this promise of belonging… every time since before Rido ever awakened him to this body… he couldn't help but pretend that this one time it finally was for real… that this one time it could last…

even while his other – more rational – part acknowledged the impossibilities, the dangers of being lulled into this false security… and prepared for doom…

"wherever you turn there will be only darkness"… you got me right, Shizuka…

only for him it wasn't only the sinister future invited… for him it was also his present… and his past…

all the things that he's done… all the things that were done to him… enduring and surviving, and scheming, and planning, not stopping for anything, not stopping for things he now cringed remembering… all to save his loved ones, his only haven, his only promise of the acceptance he craved?

Was it just their different lives that drove them apart? Or was it I who have changed irreparably in the process?

Was it his pride that always made him be strong for her – her protector, her wall, her onii-sama… even if she didn't remember it until just lately… even if he wasn't her real onii-sama to begin with? Or was it him being an almost invincible pureblood? A higher creature? The strongest beast – bereft of human fallacies?

Or was it he who shut himself in a mirror-glass cabinet built out of pride and fear? Fear that whoever saw the depths of his soul would only abhor the ruthless survivor that he's become, wouldn't look deep enough to see the reasons… and the pain… or would only scorn it… or would only use it… And it was so much safer to let everyone believe that invincible pureblood was all that he was…

Yet sometimes he wished someone cared enough to bang on that glass-cabinet till it broke… leaving him exposed for once…

... and who is living in the garden of illusions now…

Maybe it was time to relinquish the stupid hopes and to move on. Now that there was a promise of a better world for them all, now that he had fulfilled his oath, now that Rido was gone and the curse of his shameful subservience lifted… Maybe it was time to just live?

Yet the prospect somehow failed to cheer him up… And the lifted curse lay heavy and brittle as Rido's dust in his veins…For – if truth be told – he never ever planned beyond the end of his chess game… For – if truth to be told – he wasn't so sure he was any good at "just living"…

He heard the soft footstep approaching him hesitantly from behind… wondering briefly whether it was because he was so caught in his thoughts to be not aware of anyone's presence there before - whoever it was - was almost upon him…

Wasn't it ridiculous just how much effort it cost him to keep his shoulders straighter, not shaking from the bone-wrenching cold that he felt…

Wasn't it ridiculous to feel so resentful of the intruder, where but a moment ago he almost whimpered for someone to please come and help him… his body felt so heavy and he was so afraid…

AN: And now is time to confess… You have read the author's notes to previous chapters, haven't you? (Well, despite the most frustrating lack of reviews *wink wink*, I presume someone has read those chapters. And whoever it was – has, presumably, read the author's notes as well… right? Right!) Now – forget them.

Because between there and now the author has been bitten by the most vicious vampire plot bunny (probably pureblood – for all the changes he wrought), or rather – an impudent character has crashed into my nice short elegiac story twisting it beyond recognition, and though I'm rather intrigued by the new premise – I now have absolutely no idea just how or when or where it will lead. The most I can promise – it is still, mostly, about our beloved pureblood…

Anyway – welcome to the ride. And while we are at it – there will be two VK characters appearing in the very next chapter, and I dare you guess who they are. Whoever guesses right will be awarded by a… cookie… and a deep satisfaction of own superior psychic abilities, because – frankly, if I wasn't writing it (dubious statement in view of recent developments) - I wouldn't guess them myself. Bu-u-ut, if you read the first chapter attentively – you can at least strike out those who can't be.