Random Curiosity

 
Plot Summary:

Kain and Aidou spend the night guarding Yuki’s dorm as she sleeps restlessly, and Kaname meets with Rido (in Shiki’s body, tagging along with Ichijou) for the first time in 10 years. Rido is understandably a bit upset with this setback, but thanks Kaname for disposing of his difficult to control wife (Shizuka) while he was unable to return to his body. Kaname is grateful that his uncle’s personality hasn’t changed at all as he launches a powerful attack without holding back, but Ichijou blocks him to protect Shiki’s body. Kaname asks Ichijou if he’s on Genrouin and the council’s side (while showing off a bit of unexpected anti-gravity power), but Ichijou only says it’s fine if he wants to think so for now. Saying Kaname can’t kill him anyway, Rido thanks Kaname in advance for letting him stay in a room here for a little while, and walks out past Rima’s evil eye.

Walking with Yori and half the night class to school the next morning, Yuki admits she hasn’t been sleeping, and Rima becomes aggravated when Kain asks her about the sudden relationship between Ichiru and Shiki. Elsewhere, Ichijou is deeply troubled by his duty to oblige Rido, and in the classroom Yuki is somewhat less troubled by the lamenting Day Class girls who wanted to date Kaname than by her continuing bloody visions. Outside her classroom door, Kain walks off the job for a minute while guarding Yuki’s classroom with Aidou.

The door to Ruka’s room swings open to reveal this evening’s entertainment, and Rido makes some uninvited advances, wishing to make Ruka a “snack”. His dual-colored eyes frighten her, and she resists him only to find herself thrown violently against the wall. Before Rido can do any real harm, Kain shows up ready to retaliate, but Ichijou breaks in and orders Rido/Shiki back to his room. Because Rido isn’t fond of being told what to do, Ichijou suggests it would be better if he retired for the evening, and begs Kain and Ruka to keep quiet about this incident, even from Kaname. They apprehensively agree, and after they’re left alone, Ruka thanks Kain genuinely for saving her, but it looks like his chronic headache is bigger than usual.

In front of a fountain outside, Kaname invites Yuki to go on a trip tomorrow, but she isn’t listening. She begs him again to tell her the truth about her past, and even questions his true feelings for her. As a vision attacks, she recalls a boy telling her about a rose that blooms only once every 10 years, along with her more recent memories of Kaname and the special rose he gave her this year that she keeps in her dorm. She knows he is a big part of her past, but doesn’t understand what his true relationship to her is, or why he’s desperately protecting her. Before she passes out in his arms, she wonders out loud why he has always looked at her so sadly when they’re together. Kaname carries her to the headmaster, where Kaien refers to Yuki’s mother as “Juri” and promises to protect her daughter.

While the Night Class students worry about the real Shiki, Ichiru privately recalls Yuki’s puppy dog eyes while she was talking about his relationship with Zero, and stomps on Rido’s coffin, wishing for him to hurry and wake up. Outside, it begins to snow. Rido looks forward to getting what he wants soon, and Kaname asks him if he really thinks a tainted person like himself will ever be able to lay a finger on his precious Yuki, before he disappears dramatically in the snowy forest.

Unable to sleep, Yuki’s bloody visions now hardly cease long enough for her to take a deep breath, and her heart panics as she thinks the rose Kaname gave her becomes filled with blood. Zero comes in to check on her and she pushes him to the floor, choking him. Shocked at his total compliance, she asks why he doesn’t fight back. Zero tells her it’s because his life belongs to her, and he is deeply indebted. Strangely out of character, Yuki laughs at the notion that she is Zero’s victim, and tells him he’s dead wrong. It’s her fault for pushing Zero to take her blood, and it wasn’t for Zero’s sake, it was for her own. She thought if she became a necessary part of Zero’s life, she could forget about her past and move on. Otherwise, she would have never been able to ask Zero such a painful question on that day some weeks ago (about wanting to become a vampire to make her heart stronger). Interpreting her strange explanation, Zero thinks it sounds like she desperately needs him. But that’s not true. The one she needs, that she’s always needed, has been Kaname. Zero calls her weird, so Yuki suddenly jumps off of him and cheerfully apologizes for saying such strange things.

Blaming it on a bad dream, she pushes Zero out of her room saying she needs to change. Once the door is shut, she slides down and sobs in a panic because the bloody visions haven’t disappeared. Noticing a sudden cold breeze, Yuki looks up to see Kaname standing in front of her snowy window. She runs to him crying loudly, relieved to see him and exhausted from her painful visions. Zero hears her cries, and rushes back to her room in time to see Kaname cast a (shockingly fuchsia) spell to calm her down, and carry her out the window.

On a snowy rooftop, Yuki grasps softly at the falling red snowflakes as she lies in Kaname’s arms, and surrenders hope that the blood-stained world will ever go back to normal. Kaname tells her it’s alright for her to open her eyes now, before she breaks. Unable to keep her real eyes open any longer, Kaname leans in gently to bite her neck. As blood slowly trickles down, Yuki thinks to herself that it’s cold – but somehow very warm. She becomes panicked when she realizes what Kaname is doing, but he covers her mouth from resisting and continues to suck her blood while holding her down. Inside Yuki’s mind, a shell covering her body breaks open into a sea of blood, and she momentarily loses consciousness.

Kaname sorrowfully laments that somehow, she’s the only one.. and bites his wrist, filling his mouth with blood. Leaning in again, he kisses Yuki and forces her to drink his own blood. The entire Night Class is startled at the sudden smell of Kuran’s blood penetrating the night air. Yuki wakes up surprised in the middle of the long kiss, but unable to stop him. As he finishes, Kaname wipes the spilled blood from her lips and asks her if she knows who he is. Before she can finish her thought, a gun clicks. On the rooftop above, Zero points his gun down in a furious rage at the smell of two vampires instead of one, but before he can shoot, Yuki rushes to protect Kaname. She begs Zero not to shoot because Kaname is her dearest brother. As she apologizes to Zero and passes out from the ordeal into Kaname’s arms, he looks up and tells Zero it would have been better if he were truly born as her real brother.

ED and “Preview”

 
First Thoughts:

I have never been so satisfied after an episode of VK, for the minimal blender usage at Studio Deen, and the more or less greatest plot twist in the show to date being fairly well done. And for bonus points, I was right about saving up at least a little budget for this week, because for the most part, everyone looked fantastic. Yes, there were still only non-movement shots and lots of smoldering emotions floating about in perfect stillness, but they were pretty this week.

I’m also happy that Rido (in Shiki’s body) knocked Yuka out of her pity party and made her realize that there’s real danger going on around her. It’s about time she steps up to the challenge and becomes a better person, not that there’s much of an alternate choice. That’s why I love Aidou - He’s been dedicated to Kaname from the beginning, like a good friend (or as close as Kaname’s ever going to get).

I find it slightly interesting that Kaname chooses to wake up Yuki in the middle of the open air where everyone can “smell” the presence of both Kurans quite easily. They usually make it a big deal to do these kinds of things behind closed doors for privacy, but he advertised this for a reason.

Prepare yourselves for Zero-angst like you’ve never seen it before.