My Vampire Heart

Vampire Knight 78 & Bonus Story

2012-01-07T13:44:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a great holiday and that 2012 is treating you all good thus far! My New Years resolution is that I'm going to get the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark done and posted this month even if it kills me, lol.

In the meantime, I have finally had a chance to catch up on some of my VK reading, such as the cute Volume 15 Bonus story and lovely pictures that Sagakure posted here. (Thanks!!)

SPOILERS BELOW

I find it very interesting that Takuma knew about Kaname being the ancestor, and has apparently known for a long time, maybe since they were kids. He really did know Kaname better than anyone. The way Sara says Kaname "confessed" these things to Takuma gives me all kinds of bunnies for how exactly that information came out... like for instance, I could imagine it possibly being some time when things are bad, and Kaname's lonely and hurting. Takuma's trying to cheer him up and it just makes Kaname ache more because he knows Takuma's relating to someone who doesn't exist, to a Kaname he thinks he knows, but doesn't. No one really knows him, and no one cares about him for who he actually is, they couldn't, because he isn't worthy of emotions like that. So to push Takuma away, Kaname tells him the truth. He's steeling himself inwardly for the rejection to follow, but it doesn't come, because Takuma's not like that. It could be kind of sweet, really. Of course, I have other bunnies on how it could have happened too... lol all of them angsty of course.

Oh gosh, and I love the awful little doodle Kaname drew of Yuki! XD That was so cute! *giggles* complete with flowers and a curiously dour, growling little dog! (At first I thought maybe that was his shade form with Yuki, but it would probably look happy to be with her, so given the expression, I think the doggie in the picture is Zero XD). For some reason Kaname drawing something like that just cracks me up. LOL and poor Aido, doesn't Takuma know that Aido probably would have thought anything Kaname drew was better than the Mona Lisa? ;D

Kaname and Zero's semi-cooperation in getting rid of that other unwanted suitor of Yuki's was also cute. Kaname may have been the one scaring the guy off, but Zero stood there and covered Yuki's eyes so she wouldn't know what was going on. LOL

I also finally got to read Vampire Knight Chapter 78! There's a scanlation here. As usual, I don't know if this is the best version of the scan, etc. If you know of others feel free to post them in the comments.

AND MORE SPOILERS...

A lot seems to be happening now! It was fun seeing Yuki, Aido and the others working together in the beginning. Nice touch that her blood restores sanity to those who have taken the tainted blood tablets. Makes sense, but it also sets up an interesting situation reminiscent of the past, depending on how it plays out.

Okay, I just have to say it. Takuma and Shiki. I swear, if those two didn't scream "pair me!" already, they most certainly do this chapter (to me, anyway). There are different ways you could read what Shiki said, but it sure seemed to me that he intentionally took the tainted tablets so he could be by Takuma's side. I also wonder if he has the underlying motive of wanting to try to save Takuma from Sara. I think Shiki is smarter than most people assume, and just seems otherwise because he was trained to act like a "good little doll" due to his upbringing.

I really feel for Takuma this chapter. Sara so obviously has him trapped, snared by both his nature and her ability over him as a pureblood and by his good heart. Takuma seems uniquely able to see buried pain and hurt in others, even (or perhaps especially) in purebloods. He saw it in Kaname, and I think he sees it in Sara. I don't pity her, but I think he does in a way. Of course, she's also addicted him to her, creating the kind of servant that she exactly wanted. *glowers at her* It's well painted, kind of like an abusive relationship and a drug addiction mixed into one, and exactly how I imagined it would be if an unscrupulous pureblood wished to dominate someone else. It's a trifle scary that Sara reminds me a wee bit of Nasser from my fics at times.

I like that Yuki wanted to go save Takuma from Sara. I don't know how that's going to work out since things have suddenly taken quite another turn, but I hope that someone does eventually. (Is now having all kinds of angsty bunnies for what might happen if Shiki does stay by Takuma and therefore both of them are with Sara. The manga keeps things clean, but of course my mind doesn't. So the idea of Shiki witnessing Sara using and abusing Takuma and the whole resulting tangle of angsty emotions is interesting to contemplate. I wonder what Takuma would do if she started doing the same to Shiki? I think he would try to stand up for him, but one wonders how far he could... *cough* okay, sorry, back to the actual chapter... *watches the bunnies gnawing away on her carpet*

I'm glad that Yuki finally learned the truth about Sara being the one to kill that other pureblood and not Kaname. Maybe she'll realize that Sara did Ouri too.

I'm a little worried by some of Zero's actions in this chapter, especially regarding his lying to Cross and that one escaping vampire girl. Um... Zero... you really don't want to be listening to or protecting Sara, trust me, if you want to talk about people who want to use you for their own purposes, that would be her (by her own very clear admission in this chapter).

I'm not sure if he didn't tell Cross about Sara's connection to the tainted tablets because of Yagari's instructions to keep Cross in the dark about some things and not interfere with Kaname's plans, or because he's temporarily protecting Sara due to whatever she's been telling him. Or, because he doesn't entirely trust Cross anymore. I think he was trying to find out if Cross knew what Sara told him about Kaname's past actions. Cross did know a lot about the past that he kept from both Zero and Yuki, so I can see where his suspicion comes from, but I fear that Cross didn't get what Zero was talking about, but that Zero probably takes what was said between them as confirmation of his fears. He must feel very alone right now and adrift on who to trust.

I'm similarly not sure of Zero's motives for telling Yuki not to touch Sara. I find it hard to believe that he would really protect any pureblood (other than Yuki) at this point, but I wonder if in his own way he would rather see her stay around as a counter to Kaname and let them deal with each other, or something. Especially since the association is pressing on him to not interfere with Kaname himself. So many tangled possibilities, it's all really quite an interesting mess! :)

The ending of the chapter is quite promising for some interesting times next chapter! Zero's interaction with Yuki when he pinned her to the wall and the way he spoke was really angsty and compelling. It was so good to see some of his real emotion on the surface again instead of that mask he's been hiding behind, even if it is hurt and angry emotion. What he says about Kaname destroying everything definitely reinforces my notions about what Sara probably told him. Whether or not it's true is another matter we'll have to wait and find out. Good time for Kaname to show up. :D Interesting, angsty times possibly just ahead. I know I'm an idiot, but I'm so happy to see Kaname and Zero in the same physical space again, been much too long. XD

Hm, I just had a really disturbing thought. The way Sara was talking to Takuma about Zero "degrading" (becoming her servant I'm guessing) just like him... and the fact that the Hanadagi guardian seemed to indicate that Zero had come to Sara or visited her combined with the conversation Yuki and Maria had earlier about Zero's probably needing blood... I'm wondering / worrying about whether he's had the tainted tablets too or something.

You know, on a completely unrelated note I wish the Hanadagi guardian and the Hooded woman had names, it would make referring to them so much easier. lol.

Anyway, it was all around an interesting chapter. Looking forward to seeing the next one!

Merry Christmas and Egregious Rambling

2011-12-18T15:28:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody! Hope you are all having a good one! Just wanted to let you all know that due to the natural craziness of the season, it's unlikely I'm going to have time to get the next chapter of "Secrets in the Dark" done and posted until after Christmas. I'm sorry for the continued delay, but I am going to try to work in time to write during the holidays at least, so hopefully I will have something done or at least close to done after New Years.

In honor of the season (yeah right, good excuse anyway lol) I shall share this totally random picture I found that looks kind of like it could be Zero all wrapped up in vines (to the left). XD Unfortunately, it's not Zero, it's from a completely different manga, but it really made me think of Zero.

Actually, the whole manga that this came from keeps giving me these great VK vibes without being at all related to anything LOL. It's called "The Betrayal Knows my Name" and it's not about vampires, although it is about the supernatural. The very sweet main (guy) character's name is Yuki and he is looked over by a gorgeous, tall, dark beautiful guy named Luca (or Zess) who is very pureblood-like in how strong his power is as compared to others.

Then there's this one guy, Hotsuma who is like a three way cross between Zero, Kain and Aido if you can imagine that mix co-existing. XD That is to say, he looks like Kain and has the ability to burn things, but his temperament is a cross between Zero's stand-off tsunderness and feelings of being a monster and Aido's impulsiveness and tendency to act without thinking. :) The whole thing has distinctly yaoi vibes and several possible couples, although nothing happens (at least not yet anyway).

<= Luca / Zess looks a very little bit like Kaname at times and although Yuki doesn't really look much like Zero most of the time, it's enough to make me like it LOL. Actually, it's amusing because there's yet another boy in the story who looks even more like Zero, carries a gun as a weapon and works closely with his sister, a girl who uses a staff-like weapon which yet again brings my little obsessed brain back to VK (as does the fact that they're usually all running around in school uniforms). ;)

Also doesn't hurt that Luca has a painful history of having been owned by the Demon King (with some non-con hints/overtones), memories of which seem to be destructive to him, and a fate from which he is apparently saved only by his contract with Yuki. Those scenes totally made me think of Secrets in the Dark. :)

Full cast photo below, although in the actual manga some of the characters look more or less like others, as I mentioned. I think it's an anime too, shall have to try to look it up if I ever have time.

Well, enough rambling for me. Going to go see how much more I can get done on "Secrets" before I have to start picking people up at the airport. :)

Short Rambles, VK Pillows and Pics

2011-12-09T22:03:00.001-05:00

Well, the past month or so kind of vanished into the mists, but I am around and I am trying to finish "Secrets in the Dark" so thank you all for your continued patience and for your sweetness and support and all the lovely comments after my last post, I really appreciate it. Sorry I'm still a bit behind with my responses, I'm catching up slowly but surely.

A while back I posted about some cool Kaname and Zero body pillows, and I was delighted to see this post by Sagakure which tells about how they have released a new and delightfully more partially-naked version of the Zero pillow. 0:D Click on the link to go see pics of it. :)

Also, I have been enjoying all of the lovely works being posted over on VKO! So much wonderful creativity from everyone! Was just drooling over several of mochifight's latest pictures, you should definitely go check them out if you haven't seen them yet. :)

I keep wanting to post about the last chapter of VK since there is so much interesting stuff happening, but that will still have to wait for a later date as I have to go right now. Hope everyone is having a good holiday season!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:43:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween to everybody who celebrates it! Hope you're all having a good one. Anyone doing anything or dressing up as anything fun? You may have already seen this, but Sagakure made some adorably cute Kaname, Zero and Yuki Halloween chibis!

Here's one of the Kaname and Zero sets... :)

Check them all out here.

I'm sorry I haven't updated my story "Secrets in the Dark" in so long. I am more than half-way done with the next chapter, but there's been a lot of different things happening that have been keeping me from having time to get it done.

A few of you already know, but for everyone else who doesn't, my fiance and I broke up back near the beginning of the year. It was very hard for me and for a long time I just didn't want to talk about it. Honestly, I guess in a way I still don't, which is why I've put off really mentioning it online until now. It was a major contributor to my writing funk this year because it's hard to write romance when you're feeling the way I was feeling. Time marches on and I feel like I'm mostly in an okay place about it all now, but it has caused a lot of changes in my life, including my living arrangements - which is the reason why I'm boring anyone reading this with the uninspiring details of my personal life. :P

For the past little while I have been sharing a place with a friend of mine and her two kids, all of whom are dears. I won't compromise my friend's privacy by going into details, but there has been a situation over the past couple weeks which has resulted in me temporarily needing to be in charge of the kids and has soaked up a lot of time for other reasons. I'm confident everything will work out, but right now it's all a little crazy. On the up-side, I'll be helping the kids with their costumes and taking them trick-or-treating tonight, which is an experience I've not had in years and I think it will be fun. :)

Sorry for dumping all that out there, but this is what has been happening to my writing time lately and it was beginning to feel lame to just keep saying that life was getting in the way, even though it's true. You all are very patient with me and I wanted to let you know it's not for a lack of wanting to get it done that it's been on hold so long. I am working on the next chapter, have it halfway done, actually. I will get it finished as soon as I am able.

Hope everyone has a great day, whether Halloween is a holiday in your country or not! :)

Vampire Knight 76 Raws

2011-10-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

URG!! Life seriously needs to be put in the corner for a timeout right now. :( BUT popping in really quick to put up some links for Vampire Knight Chapter 76!

Chinese Raws on Baidu: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1253925816

Rough Text Translation by Witless Fool: http://witlessfool.livejournal.com/14885.html

Extensive Summary / Translation by SGK: http://sagakure.livejournal.com/371796.html#cutid2

(SGK also has scans of a GREAT trio picture from the LaLa magazine and some other cool stuff on the above link) <3<3

Don't have time to say much right now, but loved Takuma fighting Sara's hold to try to not hurt Shiki (aw!) and slightly want to clonk Shiki on the head for not understanding what's going on. Also loved Zero and Yuki's moment and Kaname's angst (you can't tell me that him sort of kissing / licking the ground like that in his nightmare wasn't just a little hot!!). And YAY for Yuki finally realizing that Sara is up to no good.

Will write more when I have a little more time. sigh...

Vampire Knight Novel "Noir Trap" - English

2011-10-15T16:45:00.001-04:00

I could have sworn I made a post about this several months ago, but looking back I can't find it so I must have only intended to do so. O_O Total fail. :P Well, it's old news now, but better late then never.

Anyway, as everyone is probably aware there are two Vampire Knight light novels - "Ice Blue Sin" and "Noir Trap". Ice Blue Sin has been officially translated, so it is hopeful that Noir Trap will be too, eventually. In the meanwhile, Witless Fool did a fan translation of the novel which can be found here: http://vampire-knight.livejournal.com/933365.html

Support the series and buy the book if and when it ever comes out in English!!! But, in the meantime, yay for non-Japanese speaking fans being able to share in the goodness. :) Thank you for the translation WF!! :)

In other random VK news you can also find a scanlated version of Chapter 75 here on mangareader. As usual, I'm not sure if it's the best version out there or not, feel free to post links in the comments if you know of a better one.

One thing that strikes me after reading the scanlation which I hadn't noticed so much before is Ruka's background presence during Cross and Kaname's fight. Cross never acknowledges that she's there - which isn't surprising since he's focused on Kaname, however, I'm now wondering if it's just coincidental that she's there, or if she was part of the deception. Remember - although we've never really seen much of it, Ruka's power is the manipulation of visions and perceptions (this was stated in the Fanbook some time back). I am now wondering if she helped Kaname with the illusion and is part of why Cross didn't realize what he was seeing wasn't real. Actually, the more I think of it, the more I'm almost sure of it. It would make a lot of sense, and explain her presence there as an observer.

Another thing that came to me more clearly, is that this was obviously a diversion. Kaname had no intention of going after Isaya at that time, but he knew Cross would show up there and engage him if he thought he was, leading Cross to actually take care of that other vampire for him. (I wonder if Isaya, being another pureblood, saw through the illusion or not. There is a moment when he's looking out the window and Ruka looks up towards him which makes me wonder). The question is, if it was a diversion - why did Kaname need Cross out of the way? Interesting questions... :)

I am still working on the next chapter of my story Secrets in the Dark. The past week has been unbelievably hectic, but now it is Saturday and I am locking myself in, unplugging the phone, not answering the door and hopefully will get some serious writing done today. Thank you all for your continuing, saint-like patience. :)

Vampire Knight 75 and Other Stuff

2011-10-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

VK Chapter 75 raws are out and about, and there's a ton of different links you can check out regarding it!

Raw Scans Here - on Baidu (translated into Chinese I think, as they usually are on Baidu).
Text Translation based on the Baidu scans by WitlessFool
Summary and other info over on Sagakure's LJ

According to a post on the VK LJ, it's also been scanlated on mangahead, but I can't load that site because my malware protection software throws a fit over it - so, not sure I can recommend checking that out, could be something dangerous on the site, just FYI.

SPOILERS AHEAD....
I will probably ramble more about it after it's scanlated and I have a little more time, but it looks like things are heating up again! It also sounds like my guess that Kaname's planning to sacrifice himself for his goals, one way or another, is probably correct.

It's kind of ironic that it sounds like most of the hunters except Cross are actually on board with letting Kaname do his thing. I mean, it makes sense... let a "rouge" pureblood take care of the others, then they just have to take care of him, very tidy. Kaname, no doubt, knows they would feel that way.

The encounter between Aido and Kain is interesting and a trifle angsty. Aido, already having much cause to feel adrift, also being kind held at arms length by his cousin/big brother and not able to contact him all this time's gotta be hard and confusing for our dear blonde. You know, it's interesting, because it's clear that Kain and Ruka are helping Kaname and you know Kain's not a fanboy and he's not a fool, so I wonder what he knows or suspects about everything that's going on which brings him on board with it all. I mean, I think in a large part he's there for Ruka, but Kain's made it very clear before that he would defy Kaname to protect her, so his participation tends to lend credence to the fact that there's more at stake here than I think most people yet realize. My opinion / guess anyway.

Speaking of more going on - the whole thing with the suspicious blood tablets is VERY interesting, and holy crap, that last bit with Takuma showing up at Shiki's door all smiley with the tainted tablets is just CREEPY. It's awful because you know if anyone could get Shiki and Rima to take them, he could, but I wonder if they will since it sounds like there's already doubts in Rima's mind at least. Poor Takuma, I totally want to kick Sara for what she's done to him.

The Yuki and Zero interaction looks to be interesting and significant too. I think I will understand it more after I read it again, or possibly when the next translation comes out.

Another holy crap moment in the chapter is the point when we find out that Cross has actually been fighting Kaname's shade form (sorry, using my own term for it, I don't know what else to call it) and it dissolves into bats to reveal that kid-looking vampire that attacked Yuki some chapters back. WHOA... sneaky, sneaky, Kaname! That was unexpected and I like the twist. Kind of brilliant, chilling and impressive all at once that he could control another pureblood like that, and that Kaien didn't even realize what was happening.

You know, going back to the tainted blood tablets and all, I wonder what exactly they do to the vampires who take them? Are they putting them all under Sara's control? Are there other side effects? Sara seems to have the ability to take over people, like she's done with Takuma, and I'm suddenly wondering if that's what happened with Aido's dad. I wonder if she'd done something to him. This is random, probably crazy and way off base, but I wonder if she like, put something inside him that was going to kill him or use him for some terrible purpose, and that's why he was okay with having Kaname kill him, because he didn't want to be used by her that way. Dunno, thought just suddenly came to mind so I spit it out here. Like I said though, I'm just stabbing in the dark and probably totally wrong.

Anyway, I look forward to reading the chapter when it comes out.

In other news, I made some updates on VKO, just some small stuff. You can check it out in the news update on the home page.

I am working on the next chapter of "Secrets in the Dark", I swear. Sorry for the really long delay, but I'll be posting again soon, honest.

On another random note I came across these two Kaname and Zero Pillows online on someone's LJ (http://jpsalenwishlist.livejournal.com/). I hadn't seen them before. Nice. :D I don't believe I've seen that picture of Kaname before. Very nice. ;)

Vampire Knight Chapter 74

2011-09-02T20:42:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this is VERY long in coming. I've been meaning for a while to post a few thoughts about Chapter 74. It's been out for a while now, but since the manga skipped a month, at least I'm not terribly behind. ;)

So here's a link to a scanlated version...

Read Vampire Knight Chapter 74 Online

I don't know if it's the best version or not, if someone knows a better one let me know.

Okay so a lot of my thoughts on this chapter revolve around the delightful drinking scene between Yuki and Zero. :D Seriously, someone straddling Zero like that in the woods with his clothes kinda disarranged and drinking from him... oh yeah, hotness. :D :D Naturally, I'd prefer Kaname in that role, but absent that possibility, Yuki will do. ;D

Zero's expressions were really well done. He's absolutely delicious in this chapter. *heart* What Yuki saw inside him through his blood was very interesting. I wonder what it all means. She saw a representation of herself there (hehe acting as a guard for Zero even in that capacity) as well as Ichiru, which leaves me wondering who it is that Zero's subconsciously trying to keep locked in that coffin - what and who is he afraid of? Since it seems like this is the representation of people whose blood he's had, we're possibly left with Kaname and Shizuka unaccounted for. :) He didn't directly drink Shizuka's blood, but Maria said she felt her inside him, so it's possible. It could also be Kaname, since that's another connection I can imagine Zero wanting to suppress, although it's possible that the possible shape of the dog we see behind ghost-Yuki in that one scene could represent Kaname's presence, no way to know for sure. Of course, it could be something else entirely, like his own vampire nature or something like that. Anyway, I hope we'll find out for sure eventually, I find that interesting.

I also find it interesting that apparently drinking someone's blood leaves little bits of them inside you like that. Gives me all kinds of plot bunnies. ;D

You know, I've realized that Aido tends to find out all kinds of things that other people don't know - such as what really happened to Shizuka, the fact that Zero was a vampire and now seeing what Yuki and Zero did. He's really surprisingly good at keeping secrets. I thought his reaction was rather interesting and different from what it would have been earlier on in the series. He indicated to Shiki later that he feels Yuki is safe because Zero is keeping an eye on her, which means he's got a much better grasp of the situation than one would expect.

LOL and Zero finally seems to grasp that he and Kaname actually have the same goal! *snickers* I liked his line about why he wasn't using the excuse of Kaname's being wanted now to go after him. Although I think there's more to it than that.

Poor Ichijo, his change was a little creepy. Sara obviously did something to him. :S And what is up with those blood tablets?!?! I wonder if she's lacing them with her blood or something to get it into lots of people and get control over them. Ohhh hey, Zero is on the tablets now, I wonder if she's the presence he's unconsciously trying to suppress? Hm, who knows?

The confrontation between Cross and Kaname is interesting and dramatic and a little sad. Kaname's face when Cross spoke of not returning Yuki made me tear up. Because it's clear that Kaname already knows, damn it. He knows he's chosen the path that no one else will understand, one which makes him the "bad guy" to many people and takes him away from Yuki and everyone else. I think after a fashion he's choosing to become the martyr that he intended to be centuries ago had not the hooded woman preempted him and taken his place as the sacrifice to create the first hunters.

It seems to me the only thing that swayed him for a while and perhaps made him think he could have some different, less desolate kind of fate was being with Yuki. This is all just my impressions and opinions of course, but I feel like her innocent love made him think that maybe there was some other path he could walk or that he didn't have to always be alone, but when it was clear that she could never be happy the way things were, could never be happy with just him, then he went back to his original plan so that she could be free and happy, even if it was in a world without him. I really think at this point he more at less expects, if not flat out intends for her to end up with Zero because a) Zero is capable of protecting her and b) her feelings for him are rather apparent.

It's so sad and frustrating because Kaname doesn't seem to care what he wants, he'll sacrifice himself and his desires for what he thinks is right and has to be done to protect Yuki (and sort of the rest of the world too). *sniff* It kind of makes me want to hug him and slap him all at the same time. I want to tell him to care about himself a little, lol, he's kind of like Shiki in that way. What is it with these Kuran men? I get where he's coming from, yet I have to think there's some other way to go about it, that all the purebloods don't really have to die... but who knows, I suppose Sara may yet prove me wrong on that and illustrate his concerns very eloquently. :P *wishes he'd just start with her* lol

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens next with Kaname and Cross.

I also wonder how Zero's holding up now that Yuki drank from him. Isn't that going to make his thirst worse? I wonder if he'll drink from her again any time soon. :) This is also the first time he's been bitten since Shizuka I think, right? I wonder what he's feeling about all that, and I wonder how hard he's trying to pretend to himself that he didn't like it. 0:)

Speaking of Zero, there's this song that was making me think of the current situation between he and Yuki. It's "Walk Away" by Five Finger Death Punch.

Listen:

Lyrics:
I'm sorry for the demon I've become
You should be sorry for the angel you are not
I apologize for the cruel things that I did
But I don't regret one single word I said

Just walk away make it easy on yourself
Just walk away please release me from this hell
Just walk away there's just nothing left to feel
Just walk away pretend that none of this is real

Could you forgive me if I told you that I cared?
Would you be sorry if I swore that I'd be there?
Please forgive me for laughing when you fall
I'm so sorry, but I never cared at all

Just walk away make it easy on us both
Just walk away there was never any hope
Just walk away you already know the deal
Just walk away, pretend that none of this was, none of this was real.

Originally, I thought of Zero and Kaname when I heard it (as I so often do lol) but the other day it struck me that it could also relate to Zero's attitude and confused feelings towards Yuki at present. A lot of it works very well coming from Zero's point of view, especially if you factor in a heavy dose of denial. ;)

Fun New Vampire Knight Website

2011-08-14T13:42:00.007-04:00

At long last, I would like to unveil a fun new website completely devoted to all things Vampire Knight!

Vampire-Knight.net - Vampire Knight Online

I have been trying to bring this site into fruition for the better part of the last two years or so XD. It's taken a lot of time and at least one vacation's worth of money to get it to where it can do what I wanted it to do, so I am really excited to finally be able to open it up for use!

The purpose of the site is to have a place dedicated just to VK, where people can come to find or to share all types of Vampire Knight related works.

The site has sections for Fanfiction, Fan-Art, Videos / AMVs, Doujinshi, Games, Recipes, Plot Bunnies and Challenges.

You can search and browse them all by character, pairing, rating, genre, warnings or kink, so there's a lot of options to help people find exactly what they want to see. All ratings are allowed, but you have to be a registered member and verify your age to view anything M and above. Registration is completely free of course.

There's also Character Bios, info, and a Store (products link to where VK stuff can be purchased elsewhere online, the site itself doesn't sell anything). I'm still trying to flesh some of those areas out, but they're there.

Because most of us (like me) already have our work spread out across a variety of sites - FFN for stories, Deviant Art for pictures and so on, the VKO website is set up so that you don't have to duplicate your efforts. You can create entries for your stories, pictures and douji that link to your work on another site, but it will still be searchable on the VKO site. My hope is for the site to become a kind of central repository for everything VK related, so it's easy for people to come and find exactly what they're looking for, no matter where on the web it's stored. You can choose whether or not to allow reviews/comments on your work (only registered users can review).

The site has some fun, unique features (at least I think they are):

Bunny Adoption Center - you can put plot bunnies up for adoption or adopt ones posted by others (you even get to choose a bunny pic to represent it ;D) You can see who has adopted your bunnies as well as the results of them. Bunnies can be posted for stories, pictures, videos or doujinshi.
Challenges - kind of like bunnies, only where bunnies are idea starters that can be used in many different ways, challenges have certain set criteria that the person accepting the challenge must try to meet and include in their resulting work. Post a challenge or accept one. Challenges can also be for stories, pictures, videos or douji.
A special rating system for fanfiction, pictures, videos, douji, challenges and bunnies. It's not a rating system that tries to say how good the submission is, because I find those tend to be abused and cause conflict - rather, this one just focuses on letting people know more about the kind of work it is.

There are three "meters" - Tissue Meter, Sweetness Meter and Nosebleed Meter, each of which is rated on a scale of 1-5. So for instance a tear-jerker story might have a high tissue rating, while a fluffy story or a cute picture might have a high sweetness rating and a drool-worthy lemon in any medium would get a high nosebleed rating. So whether a particular work has a high or a low rating in any category is never a negative thing, it's simply a reflection of what type of work it is. Registered site members can each rate an entry once and the work's overall rating is the average result of those votes. When you're in the fanfic, picture, video, douji, challenges or bunnies galleries there are links in the side-menu that let you sort the entries by the three different ratings types, so if you're looking for a little hotness or for a good cry, it can help you find something to suit your mood.

Right now, it's mostly my work on the site since it's just opened. I hope you will all take a few minutes to sign up and add some of your own to help the site start growing. :)

The site also has some basic sort-of Facebook-like features. Nothing nearly so complex as FB of course, but each member does have their own profile and a sort of a wall feed that shows their recent activity on the site. You can post status updates and send/accept friend requests. Like I said, very basic, but kind of fun. It also has it's own internal "like" system, as well as most content also automatically getting Facebook "Like" buttons so you can share your works and your friends works on Facebook too.

Each user's profile page has tabs for all their different work submitted on the site, so you can quickly view all their stories, pictures, etc. etc. right from their profile page. There is also a PM system and a way to send invites to your friends to join the site right from your profile page.

You can join fan groups to support your favorite characters and invite others to join as well. There is a strict no bashing policy on the site, btw.

So, anyway, there's a lot of stuff you can do on the site. Some of you may remember way back when I first got the URL and was getting ideas from everyone on what kind of a site you'd like to see (although if you don't remember, I don't blame you, it was a fairly long time ago). I tried to incorporate as many of the suggestions as I could into the website, so hopefully everyone will find something to enjoy.

Sorry about there having to be ads on the site, but I tried to make sure they were as as noninvasive as possible. I'm still paying off people who helped me with different parts of it and there's the monthly hosting and all too. It's been a fairly costly endeavor, but I feel it's worth it. :) 'Tis a labor of love for the VK community and I'm really looking forward to being able to use it too, so it's all good. But if you would like to take a moment to check out some of the different sponsor links / ads on the site, that would be really nice and appreciated.

There is inevitably things I wish I could add or handle slightly differently and I'm sure you all will find such things too - but please keep in mind before writing me about them that this site is pretty much offered as is for your use and enjoyment. I would certainly love to add or tweak features as time goes on, but I can't promise I can do anything more with it than what's there and I can only offer very limited technical support for any issues. A very nice person who does awesome work helped me a lot with the customization and set-up of the management platform back when I first started the project. We're not in touch anymore and she prefers to remain anonymous, but I thank her a lot for all the help. I'm on my own now though, so hopefully everything will just continue to work. :)

Well, this post is ending up super long, but I guess I'm just all happy and excited to be able to finally share my shiny new baby with everybody. I really hope you all enjoy it! Please, please, please sign up and share your work!!! :D

Secrets in the Dark Update & Picture

2011-07-27T19:02:00.003-04:00

Just updated at long last! Thanks for all the messages, comments and emails. Sorry for not responding to all of them yet, but I am working on it. I also haven't been able to update my fanfic recs page yet, but I have some new stories to add to it next time I have a chance.

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Thirty-Six: "Aftermath"

Read it on FFN
Read it on AO3

I already rambled extensively in my author notes on FFN, so I won't repeat all of that here, but I will add that it's been fun to have watched Zero kind of blossom in this story. We know Kaname has always needed him, but at the same time Kaname's always so strong and on top of everything that it can be somewhat intimidating. I think that even as difficult as everything's been, it's been good for Zero to be able to step up and realize that Kaname needs him for his strength, skill and brains as well as for the emotional factors. They both certainly needed one another to survive this latest situation! :)

I drew a picture that goes with this chapter. It takes place about midway through, just after the end of the fight and before Kaname drinks from Zero. Click the thumbnail to see the full sized image on Deviant Art.

There's always stuff I wish I could do better, but I'm actually fairly pleased with it for the most part.

Also, the Vampire Knight chapter 74 raws are out! I haven't had a chance to check them out yet, but you can find them here and a loose translation of them here. Thank you everyone who sent me the links!! I shall probably make a more proper post about it when I've had a chance to look it over.

Well, hope you all enjoy the chapter and the picture and thanks as always for your continued patience with my slowness.

Sorry for the Silence

2011-07-11T10:22:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note to say I'm sorry for the long silence, the past couple weeks and weekends have been pretty hectic. It was nice to get an extra day for the 4th, but I ended up spending most of that weekend dealing with some drama brought on by a couple friends who are good people but made some seriously bad choices. Then this past weekend my cat needed minor surgery and my sister got food poisoning, so I spent most of my time between the vet and the hospital (both of them are fine and in recovery now).

I'm hoping that next weekend no one gets ill, needs surgery or gets themselves in any serious trouble so I'll have some time to actually relax and get some writing done. ;P

Sorry I haven't responded to comments and emails yet, I'll catch up soon as I'm able. Hope everyone else is having a better and less crazy time! :)

Vampire Knight Chapter 73

2011-06-23T13:32:00.001-04:00

All right! Seems like things are starting to move a little again in the latest chapter! Or at least there was a couple of interesting developments. :) The raws for Vampire Knight 73 have hit the web. They were posted on Baidu and there is a post about it with the link and a downloadable version (which is much better quality) on the Vampire Knight LJ (thank you Isilen for letting me know!!). There is also a rough translation in the comments posted by nana_kramer (thank you!!).

Get links to the Chapter Raws on the VK LJ

Read the rough translation in the comments

SPOILERS AHEAD.....

Several interesting moments in this chapter. I found the interaction between Yuki and Yori cute. It's good that Yuki has a friend like her, who isn't afraid and treats her normal.

I really like the parts with Maria and Zero, that was quite interesting and kind of sweet in a way. It was cute that Maria tried to stand up to Sara to get her to back off of Zero (not that Zero isn't plenty capable of that himself LOL - AS IF he'd take your blood you creepy scheming woman you, shoo! go away...). Mostly I liked their interaction because it shows the gentleness that Zero hides under his tsundere attitude. I'm sure he would say he was just doing his job in protecting the school by taking Maria back to where she was supposed to be, but him carrying her like that after she collapsed was still kind of 'aw', especially since Ichiru used to carry her that way. I bet Ichiru felt a kinship with her, both of them naturally weaker than they were supposed to be and all and I wonder if Zero is a little more kindly disposed towards her for the same reason - because in a way she is a bit like Ichiru was. It was good of Zero not to drop her when she said she felt Ichiru and Shizuka inside him... o_o Maria meant it as a good thing, but it can't be easy for him to hear that. I also found it very telling that when Maria implies that Yuki sort of betrayed him by having led him to believe she was human all that time, he responds something to the effect that he has never felt betrayed by her. Which is not how he acts, but it's good to know that's what he thinks deep down.

The parts with Takuma and Yuki and Takuma and Sara were both interesting and ominous! :D Is it just me or is Takuma's smile tinged with a hint of sadness most of the time now? *wants to hug him* I'm very glad Yuki said she does ultimately believe in Kaname, like I said last time he really needs someone to. Of course, I'm right there with her on being concerned about her starting to be the only one who does LOL. Although of course, I daresay Takuma does since he knows what Sara is doing. It's so sweet that he still wants to help Kaname, even though it's obviously getting hard. I liked the part where he was wistfully jealous of Yuki and mentioned about he and Kaname always having been together, it's obvious that growing up with Kaname meant more to him than just having a guest in their house.

I hope Yuki will recognize Takuma's attempted warning about the new blood tablets. I have no idea what Sara's done to them, but she's obviously tampered with the latest batch, using Takuma's family connections to gain control over the people who make them. :S It's possible she's putting her blood in them in order to get control over people somehow, or maybe it's something else. But she does seem to want people to take her blood, after all she was trying to give it to Zero and has given it to Takuma and says that it mustn't be enough since he's still disobeying her. So I wonder! Ouch... poor Takuma, getting slapped around for trying to tattle on Sara to Yuki. :) Naturally, I like it. Sara should realize that her pet is not very tame. Takuma is really very strong to resist her the way he does when she's obviously got her blood in him and her influence over him.

Speaking of giving blood... Squee! The Zero and Yuki scene at the end was veeeery interesting. :) Zero dragging her out into the woods and offering her his blood... what is not to like? XD Very fun role reversal from their early relationship in the manga. Also *cough* I can't help but note that what Zero's doing here is so much like what Kaname did with him - cutting himself, putting his blood in the air, trying to get Yuki to drink when she's telling him no (and obviously doesn't mean it). ;D Yuki going for his neck in the last panel is a very dramatic scene. Nice little cliffy there. Will Zero let her drink from there or not? He ought to IMO, I mean fair's fair, how many times did he drink from her? We'll see.

I am of course a die hard Kaname x Zero fan, but since that'll never happen in the manga, I'll take sexy drinking scenes with either of them and Yuki as a still yummy alternative. :)

I have a feeling Kaname expected this to happen. Interestingly, I don't feel like Yuki would be betraying him by drinking from Zero, just like I've never felt she was betraying Zero by drinking from Kaname. Weird, but that's how I feel. It's probably mostly my oddness since I like both Kaname and Zero so much, but I think it's at least in part the way Ms. Hino's so intricately and emotionally woven this impossible love triangle. Yuki with harem would probably work out best for everyone XD too bad it's completely unlikely. ;)

Morning Surprise

2011-06-13T10:48:00.001-04:00

I had quite a surprise this morning; I was woken up by Kain and Aido. Okay... I better back up and explain that, huh? ;D

What actually happened is that I woke up and there was something warm and fuzzy on my face. I almost freaked out until I realized it was just one of the kittens I’m pet-sitting for my sister. You would think I would be used to this, but my cat Ash isn’t much of a snuggler. He’ll sit in my lap while I’m watching TV or writing, but only if he wants to and he doesn’t get in bed with me. The kittens are different, they’re clingy-affectionate and always under foot.

Sadly, Kain and Aido aren’t their real names, but I call them that in my head because of their coloring and because although they are the same age one is big and placid and the other is small and hyper. Besides, that makes saying they woke me up seem so much more interesting, ne? ;}

Aido is the one peeking inquisitively over Kain’s back. :) They’re so cute I almost wish I could keep them, but I think Ash would disown me. He seems to want nothing to do with the strange, invading little furballs. *sighs*

Secrets in the Dark - New Chapter Up

2011-06-12T11:28:00.004-04:00

Drum roll please! dadaddaddadadadda.... um, okay, that was just a figure of speech... *pushes the annoying drummers out of her room and gets a tylenol* Anyway, I finally have the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark done! :)

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing (Zero x Kaname)

Chapter Thirty-Five: "Blood on the Walls"

Read it on FFN

Read it on AO3

There's a parts of the chapter that don't flow as smoothly as I would like and it's hardly proofed at all, but hopefully you will find it enjoyable anyway. Nasser finally starts getting his ass kicked :D although of course he doesn't go down easy and will do a lot of kicking of his own along the way. *winces for poor Zero and Kaname* but on the upside they will end up victorious. :) It's tough on Kaname (on many levels) the way it ends up needing to go down, but ultimately I think some it is stuff he needed to face and push through. Running has been causing him too much trouble. LOL of course Zero doesn't exactly have a walk in the park either... *winces again and hits Nasser a few extra times for what he did. Hands off, bub, that neck is Kaname's property!!!*

The whole chapter probably encompasses maybe a half hour or so of time in total, yet it still manages to be 26 pages long LOL*shakes head at herself*. I swear it feels like this story will never let me finish writing it. ;P Kaname and Zero are not quite out of the woods yet, but I didn't break it at too awful a place this time I think.

By the by, as a side note, it's funny how things write themselves sometime. I've gotten a lot of positive comments on this, but I actually had no original intention of creating a Aido x Seiren possibility. I'd never even thought about them as a pairing, but I will admit that as I've been writing their interactions I have found a totally unexpected chemistry there. I'm not going play with it too much or push it too hard, but it is what it is and I'll probably leave it at that - a possibility (one of many dear Aido has I'm sure LOL - or rather, will have once we get his illness issues taken care of! o_o).

The chapter title comes from the song "In the Middle of the Night" by Within Temptation.

Listen:

Read: Lyrics

Parts of that song work really well with Kaname's feelings in the chapter, especially these bits:

I’ve been walking this road of desire,
I’ve been begging for blood on the wall.
I don’t care if I’m playing with fire,
I’m aware that I’m frozen inside.
I have known all along.

So much more going on, no denying,
But I know I’m not standing alone.

You’ve been playing my mind through my wishes.
You can feel that we’re haunting the truth.
Don't know why, can't hold on, always losing control.

...
No more tears, no, ‘cause nothing else matters,
I’ve been closing my eyes for too long.
Only vengeance will make me feel better,
There’s no rest 'til I know that it’s done.

Another song that fits the general mood well for both Kaname and Zero is "Murder", also by Within Temptation.

Listen:

Read: Lyrics

AND!!!! GASP!!! I have actually finally updated the Fanfiction Page here on my blog! XD Sorry it's been so long and I'm sorry to anyone whose story I may have missed.

NEW OR NEWLY ADDED STORIES:

Competing on Ice - LeaNicolaie

Nutmeg - LeaNicolaie

Cross Academy Kindergarten - LeaNicolaie

Unavailable - LeaNicolaie

Buttermilk - LeaNicolaie

Find Your Wings - On-These-Wings

For The Past or For The Future? - On-These-Wings

The Unread Letter - On-These-Wings

Beyond My Reach - On-These-Wings

All in Good Time - On-These-Wings

24 hours - On-These-Wings

Kill Me Softly - PhoenixWhite1120

A Distant Memory and a Real Problem - KittySkywalker

Need - Ravyn Skye

Yuki's Kiss - Vamphire

Yuki's Heart - Vamphire

Misunderstanding - Vamphire

Mathematical Solution - sweetsour-bublegum

Wonderland - sweetsour-bublegum

As always, links to all those and more are over on my Vampire Knight Fanfic Recs page.

I'm not including an "Updated Stories" list simply because there have been so many stories updated since the last time I updated my fic page that I've lost track of them all I'm afraid, and some would have been updated so long ago that I'm sure everyone's already read the updates anyway.

Vampire Knight 72 and really long rambles

2011-06-09T18:44:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while again. Busy as usual. :P At least some of it was fun this time! :D More on that in a minute.

First, I want to post some links for Vampire Knight Chapter 72. Not sure if there's been an official scanlation yet or not, but the raws are here: Read Raws on LJ and if you scroll down through the comments there's a scene by scene translation. I've also heard that there may be a scanlated version here but it requires you to sign up, which I haven't done, so I don't know what the quality is like.

I don't know exactly what this picture is, I think it was either a preview for 72 or one for 73, but I like Kaname and Zero's heads close together like that. :) ...Oh yeah, and Yuki's in the picture too. ;D LOL

From the LJ rough translation, you can get a pretty good idea of the content of the chapter...

SPOILERS AHEAD ALERT

A little more action in this chapter and some definite (although ominous) furthering of the plot, which was nice! The idea of an auction at the beginning was interesting. As is the fact that both humans and vampires seem to have been involved. I'm actually a tiny bit disturbed that Zero just shot the guy like that, although the girl was threatening Yuki (as useless as that is against a pureblood really).

Seeing Zero and Yuki interact was nice, even though they just keep going in the same circles. *wants to knock them both on the head sometimes*. I found the part where Zero is practically baiting Yuki to use the taming mark on his neck kind of *cough* hot for some reason. 0:) I think it's the look on his face. *drools* (Of course, being me, I'd rather change Yuki out for a certain someone else in that situation, buuuut... *is shot*) It's a little mean though of course. I wonder if he realizes how mean, since Yuki is thirsty, he's one of only two people whose blood would probably do it for her, and he's got her hand against his throat, drawing her attention right to it. (As an aside, you would think Yuki would start to get an appreciation of what Kaname and Zero have gone through over the years wanting her blood).

The bit with Kaname is interesting, if cryptic and a little confusing. Lava? Huh? Where did that come from? I'm kind of worried about the tone Kaname was taking about everything. His enigmatic, lonely resoluteness is kind of hot and sad at the same time. I have this terrible feeling that he doesn't have a place in the world he's trying to create and he knows that. Honestly, it makes me want to bop him on the head too. I feel so bad for him. You can't deny that he kind of makes some of his own problems, but I still feel so sad for him. I begin to think that for all his outward class and eloquence, he just doesn't know how to express himself to other people when it comes down to it, or perhaps has simply decided long ago that they would only reject him if he did (which given his history, is unfortunately not too hard to understand). Everybody in VK is so freaking angsty and either self sacrificing or in denial right now. sigh... ;P

I like Kain for being protective of Ruka even if I almost wish he'd give Kaname a break sometimes, but I like the way Kaname reacts to the things he says. The fact that it always seems to please Kaname that Kain will stand up like that, even to him, says a lot.

Sara is a lying b**ch. Just had to mention that. I totally hate her. I liked Rido to be honest, he had some pathos as a villain, but Sara is conniving in that unlovable way that grates on ones nerves. Ms. Hino did a good job of giving us a villain we could really despise this time. :) I'm delighted and furious with her at the same time for the trouble she's causing. Obviously, angst and trouble is good and necessary to an exciting story, so that's all good, yet at the same time I could just punch her for putting HER crimes on Kaname like that. He may have killed Hanadagi, but she tried to do it first, and Ouri was all hers.

Okay, actually, if I can go off on a tangent for a moment (feel free to get glassy eyed and skip ahead lol) what bothers me most is not really that she's lying and playing everyone, that's to be expected. I think what actually irks me about it is that people who should know better are acting like they believe her. Cross and Yuki should know better. Well, Cross may, we don't really know what he's thinking but I have to be honest, it kind of irritates me that Yuki acts like she doubts Kaname so much (although maybe I'm misreading some of her reactions because she also is really thirsty and that's messing with her).

I mean, I do get it, she recently saw Kaname kill Aido's father and has no idea why or what's going through his head (none of us do). So it's understandable and expected that Sara's accusations shake her. Kaname did finish Hanadagi off, he did kill Aido's father and is doing some rather cryptic things right now. I get that. The fact that Kaname is a killer is not to be disputed. So is Zero. So are Cross and Yagari. So are all hunters and many vampires in this story. I think what bothers me isn't that Yuki thinks him capable of such things - because quite frankly, he is - but that she doesn't spend a little time trying to understand or find out why he might be taking the actions he is. He's always had reason behind the things he does, she's already seen that in the past, is it so hard to imagine that might be the case again? She's lived with him for a year. She's been inside his very mind and memories. She should understand him better than anyone and should realize that there must be a reason for whatever he's doing, or should at least be hoping there's one. That's what friends do for one another. Even if it seems stupid, they still hope and look and try to make sense of things. Yuki's always done that for Zero. She stuck up for him when he was accused of things. She just saw Zero blow that vampire away in front of her and even if she wasn't happy, it didn't exactly tear her up. To a certain extent, she understands him, which is really good because he needs someone to understand him - he doesn't do a great job of it after all (understanding himself I mean lol). But that's the the difference I think - she doesn't understand Kaname. That's not really her fault I suppose, one can't help what does and doesn't make sense to them, but, I guess it just makes me feel sad for Kaname because he and Zero are very alike really, he needs someone to understand him too and it seems like in a way he's kind of right to feel all alone. *sniff*

Okay, rambling tangent over, lol! *pokes everyone to wake them back up, only to find that several have actually expired during my lengthy pontificating... oops... tip-toes-away trying to look innocent* ;) By the by, I want to punch Sara for taunting Zero like that too... *glowers* Her plan to set Zero and Kaname up against one another is going disturbingly (and interestingly) well I'd say, although hehe it's not like they need that much prodding.

Takuma's desperation to get in was interesting. I love that he had to send his message via Zero, and that Zero delivered it. Poor Takuma, not free to move about because of Sara. I wonder what role he's intending to play right now and what he wants to see Yuki about? Is it on behalf of Sara, or will he tell her some of the truth he knows? I very much look forward to finding out. :)

Maria's involvement in this chapter is quite interesting as well. I'm sort of, but not entirely surprised, to see what an apparent interest she's taking in Zero. I wonder if she's really interested, or if she was just saying those things to prod Yuki to consider her own feelings? It's a little provocative to just say something like maybe she'll take Zero for herself aloud like that after all. I certainly wouldn't blame her for being interested (hehe) although I kind of think Shizuka having been in her body might be a biiiit of an obstacle, not to mention the whole vampire thing... lol Interesting twists and turns in any event.

In other meandering news, I have some new Vampire Knight goodies which I shall have to take pictures of to share when I have a chance. :) I went to a Con with a friend of mine a couple weekends back and I had a lot of fun with her, her hubby and kids. The kids were such sweeties. :D The little girl was like 6 and she cosplayed Sailor Moon - sooo adorable and quite the star of the Con. I swear we were stopped every five feet by people asking to take pictures of her. :D I meant to blog about it all properly, but life has continually conspired against me since I got back. Although maybe that's a good thing since "watch out, she has a blog..." was such a well used phrase of warning... mwaha ;D. Air hoses and uh... things we won't mention and giggling like children at 2am in the morning... that's all I'm saying. 0:) *cough* at any rate, I had an AWESOME time.

I am very close to getting the next chapter of "Secrets in the Dark" finished. Sorry for the delay, it's turning out to be another really long one, so I'm looking at possibly cutting it into smaller parts in order to get it out faster. Keep your fingers crossed and send me well wishes for speedy writing and maybe I'll get it out late this weekend. *hopes*

Looking back at this not terribly coherent ramble, I can't decide if I've had too much coffee or too little, but I think I'm going to say too little anyway and go get some more to see if that helps. :)

peeks out from under rock (and Vampire Knight 71)

2011-05-17T21:10:00.001-04:00

Hey all! Sorry for being so quiet the past couple weeks. Life has, as usual, been doing its best to make me imitate the Energizer Bunny. :P I am working on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark. I have large parts of it written, but they are not necessarily in order LOL :P (a hazard of the piece-meal way I often write things) and I haven't gotten them all connected up yet. I was hoping for last weekend, but that didn't happen. I know it won't be this upcoming one either, but I promise I will get it done as soon as I can.

In other news, Vampire Knight 71 has been scanlated. Has been for a while, I just haven't had time to read it or post about it yet. :P I know you can find it here:

Read Vampire Knight 71 Online

But I don't know if that is the best version of it or not. Sometimes lately it seems like the best versions are only on LJ rather than the aggregator sites, but I don't know, I haven't had a chance to read the scanlated chapter yet or look on LJ to know. If anyone out there knows please feel free to comment and provide links if there are other versions out there. :)

Mleh, gotta dash again, catch you all later! *exits stage left making robotic-drum-beating motions ala the aforementioned bunny...* ;P

Vampire Knight 71 Raws

2011-04-29T14:35:00.001-04:00

Sorry I've been so quite for a while, end of the month is always a hectic time for me at work. Apologies to everyone waiting for a response or an email from me, I'm working on it. :)

I did want to mention that the Vampire Knight 71 Raws are out - sort of. As far as I've seen I don't know that the Japanese raws are out there yet, but you can find the Chinese version in Islilen's post here. There is also a sort of rough summary translation - although as the author states, be aware that it's a translation of a translation so there's probably some loss happening along the way. Read Part 1, Read Part 2.

Thank you everyone who sent me links and info about this!

When the chapter is actually translated, I'll be able to form a better opinion of course, but right now from just looking at the scans, I'm feeling a little mleh about it. I mean, I like the idea of the Night Class coming back, and having Zero and Yuki both back at the academy again is cool, but other than that I feel like we're not really going anywhere right now, or if we are we're going backwards instead of forward.

I don't know, I'm probably being more critical than usual just because I'm stressed or something. I know there needs to be set-up in a story to get things into position, etc. and there's always going to be chapters that feel a little more filler than others, I guess I'd just really love to see more movement in the story. Although possibly moving back to the school means we'll be getting some soon, so it could be a good sign. :)

Anyway, I shouldn't really judge the chapter until I've actually read it, so I will wait and see, it might be more interesting than I expect. :)

Okay, gotta get back to work. Sorry again to everyone waiting for a response or an email, will catch up soon as deadlines are over.

Secrets in the Dark Update

2011-04-17T17:00:00.005-04:00

Okay, as promised, got a Secrets in the Dark update for you all! Thank you all for your patience and encouragement! :)

Secrets in the Dark
Chapter Thirty-Four: "Confrontation"

Read it on FFN
Read it on AO3

Monster length chapter this time. 30 pages in Word! :P Maybe that can help make up for the long wait. Starts out a little slow (although trust me that those parts are important in their own ways, as we'll see soon) but it heats up towards the end. At least one long awaited question is finally answered now, although I think many people have already guessed by now. There's at least one little twist yet left to it that has yet to be completely revealed though.

We're definitely about to go into some full-on heavy action sequences, so lots of action, whumping and peril next chapter. :) Oh, and I have to say thank you to Lo for helping prod my muse... ;) She's still MIA in Alaska or wherever, but at least I get satisfaction from prodding her with pointy sticks from a distance... LOL XD (Too much coffee for me yet again, obviously)

Well, I have to run. Darn it, I wanted to do a full fanfic update, but I've run out of time so it looks like it's going to have to wait again. Anyway, hope you're all having a great weekend! :)

Vampire Knight Plushies, Doujin and other Stuff

2011-04-15T18:24:00.004-04:00

Lately I've gotten a bunch of questions about where to find various Vampire Knight merchandise stuff, specifically the plushies I mentioned in a previous post, as well as things like Doujinshi. So I thought I'd make a quick post with links to the places I'm currently aware of. Amazon and Ebay seem to be the best sources generally.

The Takuma plushie seems to be the newest, he wasn't there when I got mine - so it's possible they may eventually do the entire Night Class, which would be cool! :D They have cool key chains and patches on Amazon too, just do a search for "Vampire Knight" and see what pops up.

Over on Ebay, there's seems a record number of Vampire Knight Doujinshi available at the moment. It's pretty hard to find some of these (VK Doujin in general is pretty rare it seems), so if you're interested you might want to check them out.

I have all of them but the first one, "Secret Garden". I'm sorely tempted, but I really haven't got the funds right now sadly. They're all more or less Kaname x Zero, although Iridescence Jewel is more Trio-based. If you're looking for mostly *cough* porny *cough* reasons, I recommend "Hunter, Hunted" and "Beast's Garden" as they're the most graphic of the ones I have. :)

With ebay you have to act fast though, a couple of these are going to expire soon and you never know when someone else might buy it. You can find other VK stuff on ebay too, of course.

For physical stores, if you have an FYE in your area, they often carry Vampire Knight stuff, as does (less frequently) Hot Topics. Okay, that's all the places I can think of right now. Feel free to list more in the comments if you know of any. :)

Oh, as a small, unrelated PS... keep your fingers crossed, but I think I might be able to finish and post the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark this weekend! I will certainly try!! :)

Vampire Knight Plushie Orgy

2011-04-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, post was more delayed than I thought, but here's the VK goodies I got myself for my birthday. :D

Vampire Knight Poster, Kaname, Zero and Aido plushies and Kaname and Zero keychains. :D (please ignore the cutlery holding the poster down, I couldn't figure any other way to make it stop rolling up when I was trying to take the picture XP)

I already have Kaname and Zero plushies, but they're a lot bigger, more like doll size, and they weren't official. The new plushies are smaller, probably about six inches tall I guess, and they're official merchandise, or at least I think they are. They're awesomely adorable in any case! And I was delighted that they had an Aido one too! Even if his hair is kinda too dark, but that's okay.

Kaname has the sweetest little wistful smile on his face, Zero's scowling cutely and Aido is smirking heh *huggles them all*. In the picture above I decided that Zero is pointing his gun at the smirking Aido because Aido's making fun of the fact that in the poster above them (although you can't see it so good in the photo unfortunately) Zero is blushing and looking kinda sweetly uncertain. ♥

There was a Yuki plushie too which was also very cute, buuut... yeah *cough* I was more interested in getting the boys so I saved my money and instead I got these keychains.

Which I thought were very cute. :D

So of course I was playing with my plushies and Kaname and Zero started getting frisky....

WARNING: Please do not scroll down if you do not want to see plushies in compromising positions - just saying. It's all in fun, but if you don't like, don't look, 'kay?

Then Aido came upon them and had a violent nosebleeding fit... ;D

Kaname and Zero sweetly decided not to make Aido feel left out...

Room for one more? :)

And then it pretty much turned into a Plushie Orgy... :D

*cough* okay, sorry, total insanity, but what can one say? Plushies are irresistible. 0:)

Vampire Knight Novel Arrived!

2011-04-07T12:49:00.003-04:00

My copy of the Vampire Knight Novel "Ice Blue Sin" arrived yesterday! :D Earlier than I thought since I didn't think it would be released until next week, much less shipped here all the way from Australia. :D

I already sort of knew the thrust of the first story "Ice Blue Sin", although it made a bit more sense now with a few translation issues smoothed.

The second story "Season of Transience" about Zero and Kaito was very interesting in light of their current relationship in the manga. It is really interesting (and sweet) to see Zero as the gentle little boy who doesn't really want to kill and wishes that Level E's could be saved. It shows clearly how much Shizuka changed him, and not just physically. You can just imagine that his encounter with Kaito's fallen older brother had a huge impact on him later in his life too. Having seen a turned hunter reduced to madness and knowing their ultimate fate had to have been horrible as he felt himself sliding that way slowly but surely in the beginning of the series. :S No wonder he was just sitting there waiting for Yagari to shoot him. *huggles him*

Really, it's sweet, heartbreaking and interesting to realize how much alike Zero and Kaname were as little children. Both were so friendly, trusting and innocent. It makes me wonder so much what might have happened if they had met then, before Shizuka stripped Zero's innocence and Kaname's returning memories and Rido stripped his. I honestly think that if they'd met before then, they probably would have been friends.

I mean we see in the senario when Kaname was little and his interactions with Aido, Kain and Ruka that he was almost a bit shy and really wanted to make friends. Zero as a child seemed especially attuned to looking out for others because of Ichiru and inclined to gravitate towards people who seemed to need him. I could just imagine him actually being the one to make the first move if Kaname was kind of by himself, unintentionally shunned by the other children who simply think he's too above them to interact with, and trying bravely not to look lonely. Zero would know what he was of course and he'd be a bit cautious, but at that point, Zero held no emnity towards vampires, and Kaname is around his age, does not seem at all threatening and is obviously not ever in danger of being an E. I could see it happening. *sighs and pats the cute, errent little baby plot bunnies rubbing against her ankles*.
...oops, okay, sorry, total tangent there. 0:) Yeah, you know the direction my brain always wanders off.

I also have some other Vampire Knight goodies to share that I got for myself for my birthday last week. :D But I shall have to wait until I get home tonight because I didn't bring the pics with me to work.

Vampire Knight 70 Scanlation

2011-04-06T13:45:00.007-04:00

Just a quick post to say that the Vampire Knight Chapter 70 Scanlation has been posted on the VK LJ! :D Big thank you to the Mousou team and akikoaugnj for bringing it to us! :)

Read it Here

SPOILERY RAMBLE AHEAD

I find it interesting that the other vampires don't seem to be recognizing Yuki as a pureblood right off the bat if they don't know here. It seems that with others like Kaname, Sara and Shizuka the other vampires tend to catch on a lot quicker. I wonder if it's because Yuki doesn't act like a pureblood and probably doesn't have the same instinctive way of putting her presence out there that they do. LOL of course considering the fact that she caught the vampire she was after by throwing her purse at his head... maybe that answers the question right there. XD

Seeing the fully cleaned up version of Zero and Aido's conversation was also very interesting. I love that A) Zero is sort-of checking on Aido and B) he's also sort of like: soo... if you're concerned about Yuki at all... because I'm not of course you understand... you might want to go find out what she's up too... yeah... XD And of course I'm just loving Aido to death right now with everything he's going through and his earnest mix of pain, confusion, dedication and determination. Also still loving the fact that he sees something enough alike between he and Zero now to say what he said. :)

Aido is generally rather great in this chapter I think. Like his entrance on the scene later with Yuki. :)

Aw, darn it, I have to go actually do work stuff. Well, gotta run.

Vampire Knight Novel - Ice Blue Sin

2011-03-24T16:43:00.003-04:00

Okay, very cool news!! An English version of the Vampire Knight Light Novel / Novella "Ice Blue Sin" is soon going to be available in Australia! I don't know why the US is so behind :P but w00t for it coming out in English anywhere in the world! :)

It is supposed to be released April 10th and is currently available for pre-order. I already have my copy ordered. :D The book is only about $14, the international shipping costs just about as much as the book itself, but it's not too bad. It will be cool to finally be able to really read those stories. I hope they do the second novel soon as well!

Pre-Order Vampire Knight "Ice Blue Sin" from MadMan.

Big thank you to liza-beth1 for letting me know about the upcoming Australian release!

Vampire Knight Chapter 70 Raws

2011-03-24T14:26:00.007-04:00

Raws for Chapter 70 of Vampire Knight have shown up on baidu! :) Thank you Isilen for sending me the link and to whoever posted the pics! The quality of the pics isn't great, but it's workable.

Vampire Knight 70 on Baidu

I can't really tell what's going on most of the time, this looks to be one of those chapters where you definitely need a translation to get what's happening, but there are some interesting instances of character interaction that I'm very much looking forward to reading eventually. Especially Yuki and Zero's conversation and Aido and Zero's conversation. Aido looks soooo dang angsty and miserable... :) *wants to huggle* I'm interested about Yuki, Shiki and Rima's interactions too, and the glimpse of Sara we get at the end.

Looks like it will be interesting!!

--------------------------------------

EDIT / UPDATE:

There's a rough translation up on LJ, the link was posted in the comments (Thanks!!) and I thought I'd go ahead and add it to the post.

CH 70 Summary / Rough Translation

I want to huggle Aido even more now. He's so obviously struggling with his feelings over what's happened, but ultimately decides to support Yuki anyway - which has the potential to possibly carry some weight with other Vamps it looks like. :) He's such a dear. Yay for Shiki and Rima supporting her too.

I found it really interesting that Aido said to Zero something along the lines of "I don't want to be like you" in regards to dealing with his current feelings of anger and hurt. If you think about it, that means he understands now where Zero is coming from (since he's struggling not to go there himself). From a character perspective I find that all really interesting and wonder if all of this will eventually have any kind of impact on Zero as well.

I also liked that Zero seemed not entirely thrilled by the notion that Cross might be letting Yuki wander around in dangerous situations in order to draw out Kaname. Heh... eye-sore my foot... not at all worried, are we Zero dear? Hmm? 0:)

--------------------------------------

On a different only semi-related note, I'm sure you're all aware of the situation in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. It's a tragedy of a massive scale for any nation and it somehow hits especially close to home for me since I've become so interested and immersed in certain aspects of Japanese culture over the past few years. I know that's a pretty insignificant connection in the grand scheme of things, but still... anyway, I just wanted to include this link to the official Red Cross donation page for Japan.

Donate Here.

If you haven't already donated, and if you're able, I hope you'll consider doing so. Thanks. :) Okay, PSA over, LOL sorry. ;)

New Secrets in the Dark Chapter!

2011-03-06T21:07:00.002-05:00

*does a small drum roll* Ba-da! Next chapter of SitD FINALLY posted. Geez, if I write any slower I'll be writing backwards, right? :P Oh well, at least I got another one out finally! :) That is not to say that it's necessarily any good... *sighs* It might totally suck. I've been looking at it too long I think.

Anywho...

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Thirty-Three: "A New Wrinkle"

Read it on FFN
Read it on AO3

I know we get yet another wrinkle in this chapter, but the story's actually just about over, so we'll be getting all the answers, and all the final action *glances menacingly at Nasser* in the next few chapters. :D

Sorry I still haven't updated my fanfic page yet. There's a lot of great stories that have been updated and that I want to add. I'm working on it! :)

Vampire Knight Chapter 69 Scanlation

2011-03-02T19:26:00.004-05:00

Vampire Knight Chapter 69 has been scanlated!

------------

*EDIT*
Hey all, it has been brought to my attention that there are some errors or problems with the scans of Chapter 69 that are posted on the manga sites I usually frequent such as manga2u and mangareader. To be honest, I haven't had a chance to read it yet since I'd read the rough translation earlier and assumed it was the same, but glancing through it quickly I do see some oddness in the versions on those sites that make the chapter kind of confusing.

This one on LJ is supposed to be more correct: http://community.livejournal.com/vampire_knight/904894.html
So it's probably better to check that one out instead. :)

----------------

Sorry this is a short post and suuuuuper sorry to everyone waiting for an email or reply from me. :S Still behind, but will catch up! *pant, pant*

Vampire Knight 69 Raws & Transcripts

2011-02-25T11:15:00.005-05:00

Wow, were did February go? It's like I blinked and missed it somewhere. :S

Anyway, the raws for Vampire Knight Chapter 69 have hit the net! :D And there's a rough translation transcript to give an idea of what's happening too. Big thank you to Isilen for sharing the links to both of those with me, to akikoaugnj for the transcript and to whoever scanned and posted the raws! :)

Download link for the VK 69 Raws can be found here

Transcript of the pages can be found here

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD...

:D nice, bondage-y inner color spread. XD Of course I would prefer to see Kaname there instead of Yuki, but... yeah, totally just me. 0;D

I find it very interesting that now that Yuki's a vampire (and has peeked inside Kaname's memories), she can feel the presence / influence / aura / whatever of the hooded woman from the past at Association headquarters now. It's probably the same thing that Aido felt when he was brought there a few chapters ago, he of course just didn't know who or what it was he was feeling. Given what Zero's response to Aido on the topic was, the hunters consider that feeling to be coming from the "mother metal" below them in the forge, which makes sense, but I wonder if they realize or ever really think about the fact that it is actually the lingering touch of a pureblood vampire. :) Kind of ironic really.

I wonder if Kaname has ever been to Association headquarters? I don't know if any of the meetings he's been shown having with the Hunters took place there or not - but since apparently only tamed or chained / captive vampires can enter it seems somewhat unlikely? If he has or ever does, I wonder how he would feel about that sensation of her presence?

I am also intrigued by the fact that this feeling / presence has been brought to our attention twice now, both when Aido entered and when Yuki entered. I wonder what role, if any, it may play in future events?

Zero and Kaito's interactions in this chapter continue to be interesting and Zero and Yuki's lack of interaction and semi-mutual ignoring continues to be head-slap inducing. If anyone else watches NCIS, you'll know what I mean when I say I want to Gibbs-slap them both upside the back of the head sometimes. Mostly Zero, since Yuki's really only keeping her distance because he's made it abundantly clear that's what he wants. *sighs* ('sides... I'd rather touch his head any day... *reaches for lovely silver locks and then ducks to keep from getting shot* ;D)

Seems the vampire world is going into a tizzy again what with Kaname disappearing - word certainly travels fast in the vamp community apparently! It's very interesting to realize just how much power and responsibility Kaname's obviously been holding over the vampire race as a whole the past year since the instant he's not officially on the scene to keep everyone in line the bad apples start acting up. Makes one realize how important the power structure within vampire society has always been.

From what Kaien said, it sounds like the responsibility of keeping things together is going to fall to Yuki now, which honestly I don't think is going to be a problem. She has it in her to fill that role, but I don't know that she'd ever figure that out if she wasn't thrust into it.

Oh, and I was not surprised to eventually see Kaien acting a bit more like his former self at one point later on and feeling all bad about being a 'terrible parent' and feeling sure Yuki hates him LOL.

We get to see Maria again for a moment in this chapter, and Isaya too. I wonder if we're going to be seeing more of either of them? Looks like we also finally find out Aido Sr.'s name: Nagamichi.

Yuki and Aido's interaction was kind of touching. Aido looks so angsty and of course Yuki's gotta be the only pureblood that would be kneeling by his feet like that ;). I give our dear blond big props for the fact that he intends to stick with Yuki and honor Kaname's request to take care of her, even under these circumstances. It's interesting that from what he says he too seems to have gotten the vibe that his father accepted / allowed his death in that manner and he can't understand why. Yuki hugging his head was very sweet. :) (I'd love to see some other certain people hug him that way... *cough* but, uh, with that not being a possibility this was good. ;D)

I wish we got to see more of Zero and Kaito's hunt, the snippets were cool and it's so fun to watch Zero in hunter mode. He's so deliciously hot and badass. :D I wonder what happened though... It seems like it was unusual for Kaito to come back alone, and for them to have not defeated their objective. Actually, LOL I love the fact that the other guy said it was rare for Zero to let a target get away, totally unintentionally ignoring the fact that Kaito was there too. XD

It was nice that Yuki was able to help the little girl Kaito brought back by "sucking" her memories and with it the mind control being exerted over her by her former captor, even though Yuki obviously didn't actually know what she was doing until it happened. XD She's getting very calm about having people point weapons at her all the time, I see lol.

Her seeing Zero in action in the little girl's memories was cool. Although I'm very, very curious about what exactly happened and why Zero got a look like that in the lower panels. Was he responding to the fact that the child was bleeding and that distracted him? Or was something else going on? Again, the fact that they apparently didn't eliminate their target and that Kaito is there alone, and refused to tell Yuki where Zero was / what happened is making me veeeery curious. Could mean nothing, since Kaito saying Zero would probably hurt him if he told Yuki about him would be true enough under normal circumstances, but I can't help trying to read more into the situation anyway. :) The fact that Yuki is now going to go after that vampire which got away is also interesting. I'm glad she intends to look for Kaname too, it will be intriguing to see how things eventually all come together.

Look forward to seeing how things develop! :)

New Theme

2011-02-11T19:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally got rid of my Christmas theme LOL. By now it's redundant to say, but I am still truly sorry to everyone I haven't responded to yet and that I haven't gotten another chapter out.

I'm hoping this weekend will allow me a little time to start trying to catch up on things and get some more writing done on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark.

Thanks as always for your patience.

Vampire Knight Chapter 68

2011-02-02T13:26:00.004-05:00

Sorry!! Gomenasai!! Imagine me one of those anime girls in hyper-apologetic chibi mode bowing and apologizing repeatedly, okay? I'm sorry I keep dropping off the face of the earth, but the end of the month is always a rough time for me with work. I'm SOOOOOo sorry to everyone who is still waiting for an email or response from me. I'm not ignoring you and I'll catch up soon as I can, I swear. *hugs all around*

I did want to make a quick post with a link to the scanlated version of Chapter 68! :) It's probably in many places, but here's one:

Read Vampire Knight Chapter 68

It's interesting, because reading it now I still can't help wondering how exactly Kain and Ruka are involved in what's happening. They seem to know what's happened when Kaname showed up, and I still wonder why there were there. Hm.

It is also interestingly unclear to me now whether Yuki actually did just calm down and disengage her powers on her own, or if Cross did something hunter-ish that made her do so. The text could kind of be read either way, at least when you're reading fast. 0;) I'll have to give it a proper read later when I'm at home.

Anyway, just wanted to post the link and apologize for the dearth of communication!

Vampire Knight 68 Raws

2011-01-23T18:36:00.004-05:00

Life is continuing to seriously kick me in the ribs, especially as end of the month deadlines loom, but I wanted to quick take a moment to note that the raws for Vampire Knight 68 are now online!

Thank you Isilen for letting me know and sending the link! And to whoever posted the link originally (they were posted in an Anon comment on SGK's LJ I believe). And of course to whoever scanned them! :D

Vampire Knight Chapter 68 Raws

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD....

Can't understand a thing about what's happening, naturally. But it looks like we get to see people's reactions to what happened last chapter. Poor Aido looks completely shell shocked and devestated which is quite to be expected. *wants to hug him*

Yuki and Cross actually have a mild confrontation of sorts - I get the feeling Yuki wants to follow Kaname (or try to) and Cross won't let her go. He actually slaps her. o_O Of course, she also accidentally hurts him a bit when her pureblood powers start fluxing too, so the whole thing seems rather angsty. I really like her blood butterfly wings though, they're cool. :) Cross also apparently arrests her, although I'm certain it's actually to try to keep her safe. I don't know whether Cross guesses what Kaname is up to, or whether he's concerned because Kaname's going off script, but I definitely get the feeling he's worried about Yuki getting pulled into whatever's starting to happen. Aido is apparently still along for the ride with Yuki and the hunters, although he seems pretty out of it.

Kaname shows up where Kain and Ruka are, although I'm not sure where they are in relation to everyone else, or what they were doing. Were they just out for a stroll and he popped in, or did they know to expect him? It looks kind of like Ruka's worried about the way the hunter sword Kaname is holding is seems to be hurting him, although I'm just guessing.

Zero and Kaito are in the chapter and have a conversation, but I'm not sure what it's about. A summary I saw said that Kaito mentions that Kaname's been labeled dangerous and Yuki's been arrested and Zero is pretty much like: Okay, I should care... why? *bops him on the head for his skilled tsunderness* You know, seriously, he wears masks just as good as Kaname. They're so much alike in some ways.

You know, I'm slow, and I'm sure it was obvious to everyone else a while ago, but it just really dawned on me that it's probably the plans that Sara has set in motion which precipitated Kaname's current action and his returning to his "original goal" whatever that is.

Betcha Sara ultimately would like to see a return to when Vampires ruled as they did way back when with humans under their thumb, etc. Although it's probably just her that she would like to see ruling. Kaname, having fought against that very thing ages ago and having helped shape the balance of power as it now exists can't possibly want to let that happen, and given his age and past experiences, it's got to create a kind of feeling of futility to see that the present would repeat the past if given the chance.

Anyway, those are just my theories. Looking forward to the scanlation!!

My apologies to everyone waiting for a response or an email from me, I'm behind again, as usual. :P I'll be trying to catch up after the end of the month insanity.

Kaname and Zero with Baby Picture

2011-01-17T22:10:00.008-05:00

Kaname + Zero + Baby = AWWWW! ♥♥♥

...at least, that the idea behind this little fanart of mine. ;)

Family Bath Time

Click the thumbnail to see the full sized, uncropped image on Deviant Art. :) For once it's actually general audience friendly too, save for the implied established relationship I suppose.

I got this image stuck in my head a little while ago and couldn't get it out, just had to draw it. ♥♥ I don't know what it is about combining shirtless men with babies that turns me to goo, but... *shrugs*.

This is loosely set sometime in the future in the world of my fanfics, where Kaname and Zero are a couple. Yes, that's their baby. No, don't ask me how. XD Details, details. LOL Actually I do have an idea (and no, it doesn't involve mpreg :D). I don' t know that I'll ever actually get around to writing it though, so I won't bore you with the particulars just now. But in my head, Kaname, Zero and baby have just finished bathing and are sharing a little together time as they dry baby off and get ready to change him or her. Baby wants to play with Daddy Zero's necklace, which is of course the memory stone necklace that Kaname gave him, so it is no doubt busy recording this whole sweet little moment away for posterity. *sighs happily and continues to feel incredibly mushy*

As always, there's things I wish I could improve or do better, but I'm fairly happy with it for the most part.

Anyway, just thought I'd share it and I hope it brings a smile.

Secrets in the Dark Update!

2011-01-16T15:16:00.005-05:00

W00T! Finally got the next chapter of my Zero x Kaname story Secrets in the Dark completed and posted! *pants* This is taking so much more effort than it should, and I'm sorry if it shows, but at least the story is continuing. *hopes it's not too bad*

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing
Chapter 32: "Zugzwang"

Read on FFN
Read on AO3

Things are finally looking up for our boys. :) By the end of the chapter anyway... *eyes Zero sympathetically for the earlier parts* Still a few twists yet to come though. :D

The oddball chapter title comes from a chess term which refers to a situation in which a player is forced to make a move that does not necessarily benefit them, or may in fact be damaging to them, simply because they must move to continue play.

-----------------------

Also, I hadn't had a chance to post about it yet, but Vampire Knight Chapter 67 has been scanlated and is available in several places. One of the least add-infested ones is here: http://urupload.com/Vampire_Knight/67/1. Thank you to Abby for the link.

-----------------------

Haven't had a chance to add any new fics yet, but here's a bunch of the ones that have been updated lately. Sorry for any I've missed...

Updated Fanfiction
Unholy Matrimony - Penguita38
Hold Me Now Its My Turn - YenGirl
The Stranger - LightPathetic
A Place For Us - LightPathetic
Winter's Chill - Kafunshou Queen

Links can be found on my Fanfiction Recs page.

Vampire Knight 67 Raws and Translation

2010-12-28T19:11:00.001-05:00

The full scans and a page by page summary / initial translation of the chapter has been done! It explains some things and leaves others even more a mystery, LOL.

Vampire Knight Chapter 67 Scans & Translations

Not all the raws are on the same page as the translation. There's a link at the top to where all the scans are so you kind of have to jump between them after a point. I'll post the link when the actual scanlation is done of course, but for now this gives a fair idea of events.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

So it looks like the person Sarah attacked was that sleeping pureblood back from chapter 52. Apparently she could trespass like that because she'd taken Ouri's strength. She seems to be trying to "power up" by going after other purebloods. Seems pretty low to me to attack someone while they're sleeping like that. I'm confused on how exactly it goes down since it seems like Sarah gets his heart, but he's still alive afterwards, so maybe it was the guardian girl's heart? Or maybe it was his heart, but he's still alive because she didn't crush it? But he dusts when Kaname stabs him in what was presumably his heart so... yeah, I have no idea.

I also don't get exactly what Aido Sr.'s role in all this is. It seems like he's just kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets pulled into the middle of it, but I'm not sure. I can't begin to guess Kaname's reason for executing him either, although I trust we're going to know all in time. I wonder if Sara or the Hanadagi Pureblood had done something to Aido Sr. that we didn't see that contributed to it or if it's something completely different that I can't even guess at yet. It's interesting that Aido Sr. seemed pretty quietly resigned/accepting about it. That could be of course because Kaname's a pureblood so he hadn't much choice other than to accept his decisions, but I also wonder what (if anything) else Kaname may have said to him during the time they were both "off screen" so to speak and if perhaps he understood why he needed to die, and that's why he was so unflinching about it? LOL again, not a clue. I'm just having fun spinning theories that are probably all way off. XD

We know that Purebloods are all consummate chess masters though, so no doubt both Sara and Kaname's moves are being thought out and carried out on a larger-than-we-can-quite-see scale where little stones create big ripples to move things along. Aido Sr.'s death must be one of those type of moves, but I'll be darned if I can figure out the why and how of it yet. Actually, it probably sounds wrong, but I kind of like that. Not that he died (sniff!) but that I can't figure out why or what's going to happen. I like mysteries that I can't puzzle out right away. :D

I'm concerned about Kaname though. :*( His goodbye to Yuki is worrisome, as is the fact that he let the two people in the world who arguably care most about him (Yuki and Aido) see him do something that I'm certain he knows is going to shake them both. He has a tendency to internalize everything and not explain himself, even when he it leaves people thinking the worst of him (like when he let Yuki see him drinking from Ruka even though he knew it would make her afraid of him). The sad thing is that in a way I think it's because he thinks the worst of himself so he expects the same from others. It's as if that picture he formed of himself years ago - the outcast monster that no one could accept or love, is too much a part of his self image. He and Zero are SO much alike. Ironically, I am beginning to wonder if they both have the same goal in mind too. I could be completely wrong, but the way Kaname's acting, he's behaving as if he wants to see the end of the Pureblood race as well (except for Yuki of course).

Whatever he's planning, I'm somewhat sad and worried for him. He wanted so much to just be with Yuki for a while, but now it feels rather like he's gone back into self-sacrificing self-destructive mode like he was in the past when he planned to give his heart to create hunter weapons. I fear he doesn't really expect or plan to survive past the end of whatever his goal is, although I hope that either I'm wrong or that it doesn't happen that way, just like it didn't happen that way in the past. :) Oooh... I just had a nasty thought. It would be terrible if history repeated itself and Yuki tries to get in the middle like the Hooded Woman did. That would totally kill Kaname. Although I don't really suppose that we'd lose the main female heroine in a story like this, but then, you never know I guess. :S Of course, *I* would like to see things go down in such a way that Zero ends up the unlikely reason that Kaname doesn't sacrifice himself and they end up defeating the baddies together, but yeah... you know how hopeless *I* am. ;D

Speaking of Zero, the scene with he and Yori in the stable was cool. SOMEBODY needed to talk to him about Yuki and Yori is definitely one of the few who could. *nodnod*

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T10:17:00.003-05:00

Only have a moment, but I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Hope the season is bringing you much joy and fun. :)

*big hugs to all*

Vampire Knight Chapter 67 Teaser

2010-12-22T21:49:00.006-05:00

Okay, what with all the Christmas bustle I forgot that it was the right time of the month for us to be getting a new VK chapter soon. :D Apparently it is out early in some places and there are some spoilery pieces of it on Baidu. Thank you Isilen for passing on the link!!

Check out the teaser scans here.

I say "teaser" because it's not the whole chapter, just bits. I don't know if they're actually in order and naturally, it's not translated, so I pretty much have no clue what the frak is going on, but it seems like a lot his happening!

SPOILERS BELOW... DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILERED

There's not much to see yet, so there really isn't that much to say or spoil but Zero looks angstily hot in the beginning and he's in the stables... I'm not sure why he's there, but if it's because he's unsettled after seeing Yuki and all, then I think it's kind of sweet that he always seems to go to Lily at times like that.

Sara looks like she is proving herself nice and evil, although I can't quite tell who it is she's being mean to. That girl is vaguely familiar, but I can't place her, and I can't see the guy (or girl?!) whose heart she rips out too well.

Kaname with the sword is kinda hot. I *cough* have to admit that while I am in love with his sweet, gentle side, I am quite captivated by his deadly and unflinching vampire side as well. :) That first person he dispatches looks like the same one Sara was messing with, so I wonder if she sent him or something. No clue. Even less clue about the last few pages, which appear to take place a little later I think, but am not sure. OOOOOMG. I did not see that coming. Kaname appears to execute Aido Sr. and I am really, really dying to know why.

Poor Hanabusa... Poor poor baby. Naturally, as luck and the author would have it, he ends up there in time to see it. I'm sure there's a (probably very angsty) reason for it all, but no matter the cause, seeing your father executed in front of you is something you are not likely to forget. Seeing Kaname execute him might just scar our poor noble for a long time. O_O

I really wonder how he's going to react. Part of it depends on why it happened of course. I mean, as I said I gotta believe Kaname had to have a good reason to do that and it kinda looks like Aido Sr. was expecting it. If it turns out his dad was a traitor or something (whether willing or coerced) that's going to be incredibly hard on Aido, but he was still his father. And if the reason is less clearly defined, or not immediately explained... that would make it even worse. All of this coming on the heels of what Aido's just been through with the hunters... well, let's just say our poor blonde noble must be thinking about now that it's too bad he's such a well loved character and gets so much attention. LOL.

Well, it's too early to be able to tell much from those little bits and pieces yet, but I think this is going to be quite an interesting chapter when it comes out, I can't wait!

Vampire Knight Picture and Mirror

2010-12-20T21:31:00.004-05:00

I was in the mall again today and I stopped into FYE to see if they still had the blanket and lamps. They didn't unfortunately, must have sold out, BUT they did have some new cool Vampire Knight merchandise! I got pictures, and this time my camera didn't dump them. :D

They had a neat framed picture of Yuki, Kaname and Zero... you can't see it in the photo, but it's actually one of those 3D / lenticular kind of pictures that "moves" or "hovers" when you shift your head back and forth.

They also had the same picture in mirror format! With the background knocked out and the foreground picture printed over the mirror. It was actually a really pretty effect, but again, it doesn't come out as good on film because camera flash + mirror = lousy pictures, but it can't be helped. At least it gives the idea.

So cool that there is always new VK stuff floating around lately! :D And they weren't too expensive either, I think they both were around $20.00 each.

In other news, I do want to let everyone know that I am working on the next chapter of "Secrets in the Dark". It's coming along slowly to be sure, but I do actually have a good portion of it done. I'm not going to be online much over Christmas and then again with the New Years holiday, but hopefully I should be able to finish and post sometime shortly after. *keeps fingers crossed*

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas / Holiday season! :)

Vampire Knight Bonus Chapter Translation

2010-12-08T10:47:00.011-05:00

Yay! A scanlation for last month's Vampire Knight bonus chapter has been posted!! Thank you Laura for letting me know, Elaine for posting it on the VK LJ and a big thank you to RavynSkye / I Eat Manga for the translation! :)

Read the Vampire Knight Special Bonus Chapter Online
(LaLa November 2010 Bonus Story)

RAMBLISH SPOILERS....

This chapter was very interesting and had a lot of fascinating insight into Zero. It's fascinating the way he acknowledges his need/urge to hunt vampires as an addiction. This gives me so many plot bunnies, it really does. :D Not to mention that there's something really hot about seeing him with shoulder holster for some reason that I can't quite explain. :)

I love how sneaky clever he is, knowing what to say to the Chairman and that if he hangs around Cross' office long enough, trouble will eventually pop up and he'll get to see some action despite Cross refusing to give him any more lists to clear. Devious Zero, devious... :D

I find the premise of their problem with the singer interesting and more than a little amusing as well. LOL so apparently you don't want to be a human in a vampire mosh pit, then. XD Although I actually felt kind of bad for the vampires, they just want to fangirl and fanboy their favorite singer after all... although I can see where it would be bad if they got all caught up in the moment and hurt or freaked the hell out of the humans. I can't help thinking that the singer might just not be performing in the right venues to suit her fanbase. I've been to plenty of concerts where I'm pretty sure no one would have batted an eye at a bunch of people looking or acting like vampires... 0:)

Yagari was clever in how he handled it. I like that it showed how despite his gruff manner he was quite capable of distinguishing real threats from young vampire kids just getting over excited and the way he used psychology on them to make sure they wouldn't act up and damage the reputation of their idol. :)

LOL Zero's disappointment at not being able to kill anybody was kind of funny and, er, creepy at the same time. I love that by this point we have been drawn to care so much for his character that it's possible to completely understand where he's coming from, and sympathize (even if not agree) with his driving need to hunt.

This is completely just my opinion, but I can't help thinking that it's at least in part because that is the only way in which Zero will allow himself to express his own vampire nature and desires. He can't accept them, can't reconcile those urges, but he can't really get rid of them either. Mix that with his equally strong hunter nature which is naturally drawn to hunt and kill vampires, and it's no wonder that it's something of an addiction for him, because that one channel is the only one through which he lets himself find any outlet and release.

Poor messed up baby *wants to hug him*. His reaction to being told that the hunters were as bad as the Vampire Council was interesting and slightly chilling. I'm not sure I get what's up with the last few panels and who was being spoken about there, but then I had to quick read the chapter at work so maybe that will make more sense when I read it slower at home later. If anybody else knows, please do tell. :)

Okay, back to the grindstone for me... *rubs her nose ruefully* ;)

Vampire Knight Blankets and Lamps at FYE

2010-12-06T15:14:00.002-05:00

While I was Christmas shopping over the weekend I was in FYE in the mall and saw the awesome Vampire Knight fleece blankets that Audrey mentioned in the comments a little while ago. They're so cute! And they had Vampire Knight Lamps there too!! I'm bummed because I thought I got a picture of them on my phone, but it mustn't have taken or I must have accidentally deleted it or something because when I just tried to find it so I could post it, it wasn't there. :( Oh well, I'll have to try again! I want to get them both so bad! Well, I have no idea where I'd put the lamp, but at least the blanket! They're not terribly expensive actually, but sadly, my budget is completely expended due to gift buying at the moment. If there's still some there after I get my Christmas bonus check next week though... I might be bad. 0:D

So, if you have an FYE store near you and would like to put some VK under the tree for someone (or yourself! :D) check it out and see if your location has them! I've been googling, but haven't found any online places selling them as of yet, so it seems like in store is currently the only way they're available.

Hope you are all having a great holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T14:09:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving (a day early) to everyone who celebrates it! And if you don't, well... um... happy day anyway! :) Probably won't be online much during the holiday (Thursday through the weekend) so I figured I'd get my well wishes in now.

Sorry to everyone who is still waiting for a response or an email from me, I'm catching up slowly but surely... slowly being the operative word. ;S Thanks for your patience.

At the risk of sounding sappy, I must say that one of the things I am very thankful for this Thanksgiving is all the wonderful people and friends I have met over the past few years through our shared love of Vampire Knight. Thank you all for being such fun, creative, insightful, kooky and enjoyable souls. My life is better with all of you in it. :)

New Theme Finally :)

2010-11-21T21:27:00.005-05:00

I've been sick this weekend. :( But in and around throwing up and wanting to die, I managed to get my new theme done for the winter / holiday season, LOL. *points up at the banner* I wouldn't mind having those two under my Christmas tree. :) Although it almost looks as if we've accidentally interrupted them when they were just about to kiss... *is shot*

I'm working on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark too, it's coming along slooowly but surely. :S

Vampire Knight Bonus Chapter!

2010-11-12T11:03:00.005-05:00

I just found out that there is a new Vampire knight special/ bonus chapter out! Thank you to Isilen for letting me know and providing the link and to Daria for posting the original link on SGK's LJ comments and, uh, to anyone else who should be thanked especially including whoever did the scans! :) I guess there isn't going to be a regular chapter in November, so there's this one instead. Makes up for the lack of Zero in the recent chapter in spades since it seems to be all about him and Yagari and Kaito and the other hunters. It hasn't been translated so I can't read it or understand what's happening, but it looks kind of like a "day in the life" sort of thing, showing Zero going about his work.

See the VK Bonus Chapter Raws

I find that quite interesting since I like to try to imagine what daily life would be like for them. :D It also reminded me that Zero's actually still in school, too. Hehe I think Teacher!Kaito enjoyed hitting him on the head with that book in the beginning for dozing way too much.

Mmm... and I have no idea what is being said or what context it is in, but that sexy smirk of his at the end of the chapter is very nice eye candy. Bad Boy Zero is such lovely mental fodder, yes?

(I edited/smooshed the pics together for viewing ease)

Now if I just imagine that he's actually looking at Kaname there and... *drools and is shot* XD Ha! Hopeless, yes, I am hopeless.

Secrets in the Dark Update

2010-11-07T08:26:00.003-05:00

Nope, haven't fallen into a black hole and died, just seems like it. ;D Finally got another chapter done!!

"Secrets in the Dark" (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Thirty-One: "Make Our Move"

Read it on FFN
Read it on AO3

This is now officially my longest story to date. :) And my most reviewed, thank you all so much!! :)

And so it begins! The plan is in motion and we shall have to follow along and see how it plays out! :D Don't worry if you don't get all of what's going on just yet. It will all make sense as it unfolds and we finally get to see what exactly Kaname's plan actually is. It wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything up front, right? ;D

Poor Zero... *winces mightily for him* but you have to admire his indomitable spirit (and his skills! :D). And don't worry too much, he'll eventually be okay... *huggles him*

I'm sorry about the massively long wait for the latest chapter. I have to be honest, I'm struggling with a severe lack of inspiration and desire to write right now. My muse has departed for parts unknown and I'm stuck struggling along without her. I'm sorry, it's terribly frustrating for me too, but I can't seem to do anything about it. There's this part of the creative process that seems like it's either there or its not and you can't force it. :P HOWEVER... not to worry, I have no intention of stopping, I will finish "Secrets in the Dark" if it kills me! LOL Okay, so that's being a bit over dramatic, but you know what I mean. The story will definitely continue, it just may take me a little longer between updates for a while, especially with the upcoming holidays and all. I'm hopeful though that this weird writer's block thingy is temporary and any time now my muse will return and I will nail her feet to the floor and threaten her with bodily harm if she ever tries to budge again... hehe yeah, if only it worked that way. ;)

I'm really sorry that I once again didn't have a chance to do review responses. :( Because I'm finding it so hard to write right now it seems to be about all I can do to get the chapter out for now. I suck, I know, but if it's a choice between managing to get the next chapter done or trying to wait until I can catch up with my review responses, I kind of thought you all might prefer the former. I'm so sorry that I can't seem to do both right now. Please forgive me, you all are so wonderful and your reviews make me so happy. You all are quite literally the only thing keeping me writing right now, so I'm sorry I'm not able to impart that on a review by review level. But please know that I treasure each and every one and can't tell you how wonderful I think you all are. :) *massive group hug*

I can't seem to find my list of updated fanfic and fics to add this morning grr... but as soon as I figure where I put it and on which drive it's hiding from me (I have a nasty suspicion I left it at work and forgot to put it on my flash drive to bring home) I will update the fanfic page too.

Vampire Knight 66 Raws

2010-10-24T15:35:00.004-04:00

Yay! The Vampire Knight Chapter 66 Raws have hit the net!

See the Raws on Baidu

This is one of those chapters that seems pretty conversation heavy and as such I can't really tell much of anything about it without being able to read the dialog, but I look forward to it!

I've also switched my blog over to Halloween mode. :) Sorry I'm using the same one as last year. I wanted to make a new theme but I haven't had time.

Erm... I'm also sorry for not posting again this weekend. My muse is still giving me fits, but I am working on the next chapter of SitD and will get it done eventually, promise. :)

Vampire Knight Fan Book!!

2010-10-18T19:07:00.004-04:00

WEE!!!! Just got the Vampire Knight Fanbook (in English!!) that I pre-ordered through Amazon today!! Finding that on the doorstep created a happy bright spot in an otherwise incredibly crappy Monday, so yay! (I am creating further relaxation by enjoying a nice Smirnoff Ice while I type... mmm... the day is getting better and better... *cough* er... but that's neither here nor there. 0:D)

ANYWAY... FANBOOK!!!! I've only read a little bit of it, I will read more before bed tonight, but it looks AMAZING!!! So many wonderful pages of info and details and fun about VK! *is in fan heaven*

(sorry for the lousy pictures once again :P)

When it first came out a year or so ago, I was bummed because I didn't think it would ever make it to English, but it did! It makes me so happy that this fandom has grown enough to support the translation of extra books like this! I really hope it means they'll someday translate the novels too. :)

Anyway, if you haven't already bought or pre-ordered your copy of the fanbook I highly recommend it. It's only around $10, it really looks awesome and is a must for every obsessed fan like me. :D Here's the linky to it on Amazon if needed: Vampire Knight Official Fanbook

Ah, Amazon, feeding my many addictions and emptying my pocket book one package at a time... XD how I love thee and how my credit cards hate thee... hehe okay, sorry, obviously the Smirnoff is kicking in. Hum... better stop while I'm ahead.

FYI, I am of course working on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark. It's coming along slooooowly but surely. :) Eep... poor Zero... *tries to hide all the blood behind her back so as not to disturb anyone prematurely* 0:)

Kaname and Zero Chibi Key Chains

2010-10-13T19:07:00.006-04:00

KYAA!! I found the cutest Chibi Kaname and Chibi Zero key chains on Amazon a little bit ago and had to get them. They arrived today and that are toooooooo cute!!!! (Naturally, I had to get both Kaname and Zero... :D)

Sorry for the crappy picture. ;P Here's better pics with the linkies to the key chains on Amazon in case anybody else wants them, they were pretty reasonably priced, only around $8 each and they shipped really quick. :) (Just click on the picture)

My apologies to everyone who is waiting for a response or an email from me, life continues to keep me running, but I'm working on it!

Secrets in the Dark Finally!

2010-10-05T22:02:00.009-04:00

Finally got the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark done! Didn't quite make the weekend, but better late than never. :)

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing
Chapter Thirty: "Spreading Ripples"

Read it on FFN
Read it on AO3

AO3 (Archive of Our Own) is an awesome new-ish site that is much nicer towards authors than FFN. It allows all ratings and has a lot of neat features. You can port your existing stories over fairly easily from FFN via some handy URL import features and there's a lot more options for what you can do like organizing stories into series, etc. It's pretty cool.

It's still small, but in light of all the goings on with FFN lately, I definitely recommend people check it out. I would love to see the VK presence there grow, it's pretty small right now. It's by invite only at the moment, but if you request one they send it to you within a couple days. If you want one quicker, I have a bunch of instant invites I can give away, so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll email you one.

Here's some more of my AO3 links:
My AO3 Profile
List of all my stories on AO3
My Series on AO3 (this is a very cool feature of theirs)

Okay, moving back to the chapter itself... I really have to apologize for two things: First, it was a struggle to write the chapter because of lack of time, an abundance of writer's block, a dearth of inspiration and my muse deciding to take a temporary hike to parts unknown. :P Terrible timing for all that to happen because this was one of those difficult chapters anyway where I had to try to explain a lot of things and show what was happening in several different places. *sigh* It was really hard to write and I'm not at top form, so I apologize in advance if it drags or sucks or is confusing. Next chapter should hopefully be better.

Second, I'm sorry that I didn't do review responses again and that I haven't caught up yet from last time. I have enjoyed each and every wonderful review I've received, they have meant a lot to me and helped to keep me doggedly trying to write away despite my ailing muse. So thank you all SOOOOO much, truly. I wouldn't be writing without you. Please know that. *hugs everyone*

I did finally get my fanfic list updated though, although I'm certain I've missed and forgotten many stories that should be on here...

NEW or NEWLY ADDED STORIES
Hot Chocolate - Nineorchids
The Affair - LightPathetic
Thicker Than Water - LeaNicolaie
Inescapable - LeaNicolaie
Bad Puppy - LeaNicolaie
Life Starts Now - TheSicklyRoseVamp1229
All Work And No Play - Pink Bead Girl
Sweet Refreshment - Pink Bead Girl

UPDATED STORIES
Hold Me Now, It's My Turn - YenGirl
Devil's Pawn - IncaGold27
Unholy Matrimony - Penguita38
AU for Cradle of Blood - kanshou87
The Stranger - LightPathetic
A Place For Us - LightPathetic
Entwined - Eilara

Links to all these and more over on my Vampire Knight Fanfic Recs page as always.

Vampire Knight Chapter 65 Scanlation

2010-10-01T10:44:00.007-04:00

Yay! Vampire Knight Chapter 65 has been translated! Thank you to the lovely person who let me know, and thank you to the hardworking scanners, translators and cleaners who brought it to us! :)

Read Vampire Knight Chapter 65 Online

I can't ramble too much now because I'm at work and on a deadline, but it was nice to be able to read the chapter and get a better idea of what's going on! Alas, I again am having trouble understanding certain things and some parts make a little less sense than others. Guess I've either been taking stupid pills or I didn't realize how much I rather depended on the way Sagakure had of making things very clear and easy to follow, LOL. But it was still lovely to read the chapter and it seems like a lot of interesting things are indeed beginning to happen!

SPOILERS AHEAD

At least it makes sense now why the hunters were questioning Aido, they basically wanted to know why Kaname wasn't doing anything about Sara since he's gotten a reputation for taking care of problem purebloods LOL. Poor Kaname, to be suspected of involvement or complacency just because he wasn't immediately solving the problem. Really, it kinda sucks to be him if you look at it that way... XD. I like how Aido's like - uh, hello, have you not noticed that in every instance Kaname was acting to protect Yuki...? Zero's reticence to explain who Touma had been fighting with (er - you mean attacking since Yuki wasn't actually fighting him) and thus why Kaname would have "punished" Touma like that was somewhat amusing.

LOL omg, I love Zero's line to Aido when he's locking him up... "My deepest apologies that the linen isn't lavender scented..." *snork* Zero darling, your biting sense of humor still lives! *giggles* I wish I could follow Zero and Aido's conversation in the cell a little more easily. I really do think I must be a bit thickheaded today since I'm distracted by work and all, so I'm going to read it all again this evening. :)

Eepers... the parts with Sara made a lot more sense now, with the translation, though! :S Haha and I like that the chapter itself was referring to harems. XD Seriously... the way Sara was acting with, talking to and kissing those girls, it's impossible to have innocent thoughts about it. Which further reinforces my statement that if the girls can do it, why not the guys? huh? Huh?!! *cough* okay, sorry, moving on.

You have to feel bad for Takuma. He's in a bad position, having to be Sara's lackey like that. Like the cover rather hinted, he's lost a lot to her. He can't feel good that she seems to be using his connections and the Ichijo name and empire to do her dirty work. His distress when she forced him to leave her alone with that CEO guy was obvious and it seemed to really upset him later when he found guy down in her dungeon. Sara OBVIOUSLY turned him against his will... so... yeah, so much for keeping to the rules. ;P

I'm curious about what she means at the very end of the chapter about pureblood's using pieces to take other pieces, etc. It's probably intentionally vague and doesn't really mean anything much, but because of what Takuma had just said and because of the imagery used, I couldn't help thinking it would be interesting if she meant she intended to try to play Zero and Kaname and Yuki against one another, since as of this moment both Zero and Kaname are probably the only real threats to her, so it would make an evilly clever kind of sense to try to get one of them to take the other out instead, especially given the history there. I DO NOT want her to succeed! D: But it would be a clever plan. Although, again, no idea if she's actually thinking any such thing or not, we'll have to wait and see what plans she does have.

The part with Aido's dad and Kaname was also very interesting! I like that Kaname told Aido Sr. that he would make sure Hanabusa was rescued, although he seems quite aware that the hunters aren't going to really hurt the young noble. And it was kind of sweet when Kaname told him he was a good father.

I'm terribly curious about what Aido Sr. meant when he said Kaname had seen the most terrible sin in pureblood history...? I would think he was talking about what Rido did to baby!Kaname since they were just talking about fathers and their children, except that he shouldn't know about that, since everyone except Yuki still thinks Kaname is her brother. He could be refering to what happened with Rido and Haruka and Juri (providing he is one of those who realizes that they did not actually commit suicide like the story was told) but I don't know... the fact that he prefeced it with "before Shizuka went missing" makes me wonder if there's things we still don't fully know about yet or if it has something to do with her situation. We never have found out why or when little Kaname met little Shizuka in the cage. Perhaps we never will and it's not important, but it does make me curious.

Okay, and I've rambled way more than I intended to already and had better get going!

Oh, I am working on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark, by the way. Sorry it's taking so long, I've had a bit of writer's block going on and a lack of time. I don't know if I'm going to be able to update this weekend or not, but I'm trying! Thanks for your patience and support. :)

Vampire Knight 65 Scans / Raws

2010-09-24T09:53:00.017-04:00

WOO! Vampire Knight chapter 65 raws have hit the net! Great way to perk up an otherwise crappy week. :) Big thank you to Isilen for the link and for letting me know! :D And a big thank you to whoever scanned and posted these on Baidu! :)

See the Vampire Knight 65 Raws

MUCHO SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay, so I can't really spoiler it exactly because I don't know what anyone is saying. LOL but there are many things that don't require words to convey. :)

Things start to be picking up again I think plot wise, although again, it's hard to tell without knowing what people are saying. But it looks like we're starting to get movement on all fronts. We see a lot of Sara and Takuma in this chapter. Poor Takuma seems to me to look generally uncomfortable a lot of the time. Mm and yummy... oh, right, sorry. *cough*

For some random reason this chapter I found myself admiring many of Ms. Hino's gorgeous men and thinking how beautifully her drawing style has evolved since the series started. I mean, it's always been lovely, but it seems to me to be even more delightfully detailed now then it was in the first chapters. :) *drools* But I digress randomly. Back to the chapter...

It's kind of funny, Sara SO has a harem of school girls! I mean, come on, she was practically kissing that one girl on the couch. *chuckles* If we can have yuri fanservice, does that mean we can have some more yaoi fanservice too at some point? Hm? Hm...? Please...? *makes puppy dog eyes* XD LOL okay, sorry, I'm digressing all over the place, but I did have to smile at that.

I don't entirely get what's going on with Sara and Takuma and then that other older guy in the rest of the chapter though. I kind of have an idea, but until I can read what they're saying I can't be sure. Yikes, the bit at the end when Takuma sees that guy in the cell (definitely looking like he's been bitten) and Sara shows up was kind of foreboding for sure. Looks like Sara's plans, whatever they are, might be starting to come together.

Moving on to one of the other major threads in the chapter: AIDO AND THE HUNTERS! Eep! XD hehe okay, I'm terrible, I should be so much more worried for him, especially since I can't read what's being said when the hunters are interrogating him (Yagari can look quite scary when he wants to :D), but I'm an evil angst lover so I find it all very interesting/exciting instead. Aido + Yagari, Zero, Kaito and Cross in the same room while they're trying to get him to talk or whatever they're doing is too interesting a situation not to enjoy. And I can't help it, it was kind of amusing at points too. I don't know how serious the hunters were actually being in their (obvious) threats, some of that scene is hard to judge until we know what's being said, but at least some of the hunters present know Aido and they *know* how he's going to react and freak out... poor kid :) Must say, our dear little blonde seemed to make a fairly good show for himself though. He was obviously scared at points but managed to keep looking pretty stubborn for the most part I'd say.

Of course, my mind is easily derailed and Yagari was looking hot and having way too much fun playing with that whip, so my little gutter brain is now infested with all sorts of sexy SM images of him with various people. XD I did mention that for some reason I was drooling over everybody this chapter, right? Geez, must be hormonal or something. :)

It was of course no surprise that it was Cross who eventually untied Aido, I'm very interested to see what he's saying in this chapter, and Zero too.

Zero and Aido have an interesting conversation of some kind afterwards, when Aido's been moved to a cell. I REALLY want to know what they're saying there, because they have some kind of exchange, then Zero starts to leave, only to end up bursting back in, grabbing Aido by the shirt and saying something very emphatic to him. The play of emotions across Aido and Zero's faces in the following panels is incredibly interesting and I'm dying to know what's going on.

Zero looks SO freaking hot there for some reason. *sigh* And Aido manages to as well. *double sigh*... :D Zero is so yummy when he gets passionate, even if it's passionately angry, which is pretty much the only way we usually get to see him being passionate. Here... this pic, see what I mean? :)

*drools* You know, I think the reason I like this burst of emotion from Zero, even if it's just anger, is because come to think of it, we've seen very little emotion from him since the whole thing that went down with Rido the previous year. He's been very cool and distant for the most part, so seeing a flash of fire in him again is oddly nice, no matter the circumstances.

And Aido's looking so cute too...

Then of course, there's the other thread in the chapter which is Yuki and Kaname. Yuki seems rather in a panic at having woken up to find Kaname gone. LOL I wonder if she was worrying about some of the same things I was. XD It's sweet how she rushes to find him. I wish Kaname wouldn't emotionally pull away like he seems to, seeming so certain that he is unworthy of her care. Theirs is another conversation that I'm very much dying to read so I can understand what's really happening. It's sweet when she hugs him from behind though. :)

I like when Aido's father shows up. His and Kaname's conversation is yet another one that I really, really want to read. (Okay, so I am pretty much just dying to read the whole chapter LOL). From the pictures, I can't tell if the elder Aido is more consternated at the moment because he presumably knows that his son is a captive of the hunters, or because it looks as if Yuki might have reacted strongly to finding out that Aido was taken after she kind of abandoned him in hunter territory and he's mortified over having seen a pureblood act that way XD. Possibly both. ;D Although again, I'm just reading the pictures so I might be reading them wrongly. Still, 'tis kind of amusing and I very much want to know what he and Kaname are saying.

Wow, okay, I've been rambling for way too long, I need to get back to work. But anyway, the chapter definitely piqued my interest! I can't wait to read it. :D

VK Journal, Hulu & the Flu

2010-09-18T16:34:00.004-04:00

Ooooog. I am sick. :( *clutches head and moans* 'Fraid that means I'm not going to be online much this weekend, but hopefully it passes quickly.

On a slightly more interesting note, I was at Borders earlier in the week and they're selling these neat Vampire Knight sketchbooks and Vampire Knight journals. I bought one of the journals, just had to...

Sorry the picture is crappy, I should have taken it out of the plastic first. Oh well.

Anyway I just thought it was cool that there was more Vampire Knight merchandise showing up in stores!

Also, can't remember if I've mentioned this before or not, but the first season of the Vampire Knight Anime is available for free viewing on Hulu!

http://www.hulu.com/vampire-knight

I love Hulu. I am a Hulu addict, LOL. So I was super happy when they added VK. They say they'll have the first season available until the end of October, so if you want to check it out there, check it out soon.

Okay, I'm going to go crawl back to the couch to curl up and moan quietly for a while now. :S

Finally, a Secrets in the Dark Update!

2010-09-12T17:36:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the loooooong delay, but I finally have the next chapter of my Zero x Kaname story "Secrets in the Dark" ready to go! :D

"Secrets in the Dark" by Blackened Wing
Chapter 28: "Control of the Center"

As I mentioned in the author notes on the chapter, the chapter title comes from a chess analogy. In chess, gaining control of the center squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board more easily and can also produce a cramping effect on the opponent. That is, in effect, what Kaname is in the process of trying to do as he works to wrest control of the center away from Nasser. :)

As a result, there's a lot of set-up and maneuvering going on in this chapter which I hope doesn't make it feel too slow or anything, but it might. :S Sorry for having too much of Diachi and Seiji in it too, I didn't want to have to write so much about them because, but it was necessary to the plot. We're all done with them now though, so we can focus back on the people we actually care about. :D

I'm sorry I didn't have time to do review responses before posting this time. I usually try to do that, but this chapter is already so long in coming I didn't want to possibly hold it up a whole nother week while I try to get my responses done. I will do them as soon as I can! Likewise, I haven't had a chance to update my fanfiction page either, so I have a bunch of awesome other stories and story updates to add which I will do as soon as I have time.

Vampire Knight Chapter 64

2010-09-08T20:41:00.012-04:00

Read Vampire Knight Chapter 64

Thank you to love332 and KanameZero4Eva for sending me the link and to Malionette, Saphine and company for the scanlation!! The site MangaReader, seems to be fairly safe although I haven't used it extensively yet. It hasn't given me any virus warnings or anything else yet though, so that's a good sign! ;) (Still missing OneManga *sniff*)

I'm not sure if Sagakure will be doing the chapter too or not. I kind of hope so and I definitely look forward to it if so since her scanlations are always awesome. I shall link to it as well if and when that happens. But I know things are super crazy for her right now, so whatever is best for her is totally cool. *sends long distance vibes of support* :)

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay, don't know if it's just me or what, but there's a few bits of the chapter I don't entirely understand. I think maybe it's just the phrasing tripping me up, or maybe I'm having a super retarded evening. I totally suspect it's the latter. LOL. On the whole though, we certainly just found out a LOT of very interesting information!!

Wow... like the fact that Kaname apparently is the one who figured out how to make hunter weapons to begin with. (Oh GOSH how I would like to see Zero's reaction to finding that out!! Major bunny infestation over here XD). As well as the fact that he intended to ultimately be the one to sacrifice his heart and life to become the source of them himself, except that the hooded woman (whose name we STILL don't know... :S) did it first. *clings to Kaname, selfishly rather glad that he didn't get to carry through on that even though it obviously hurt him a lot to lose someone when he'd just finally started to let himself get attached.* :'

His conversation with "vision" Yuki was kind of cool. I like the slightly mind-boggling intertwining of time and reality that occurs by crossing over her presence in his memories now with his vision of her in the past. It's kind of sweet that he apparently had been seeing visions of her / glimpses of the future like that for a long time. LOL so Yuki named Artemis, huh? hehe... of course, she only called it that because that's what it was already called... which begs the delightfully confounding and cyclical chicken-or-the-egg question, but I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about that. ;D

I do have to mention however how devastatingly hot Kaname looked standing there in that lovely coat-thing, holding Artemis and looking out across the desolation so angstily. :) YUM. Got to love the fact that he obviously used both Artemis and the Bloody Rose extensively during all this fighting... well, okay, actually mostly have to love the thought of Kaname doing battle with the Bloody Rose because of what Zero would think of that if he saw it. Yes. Sorry, it does all come back to my hopelessly star-crossed yaoi brain. 0:)

I hope though, that Yuki understood the fact that Kaname doesn't love her because she replaced someone else. I hope she gets that it's her he cares about and has since the day she was born (haha or possibly before, considering how long he'd apparently been seeing visions of her) :S I'm kind of concerned that Yuki was alone when she woke up, although maybe Kaname is nearby? I hope he has has not gone off in a sad funk somewhere to do anything foolish, convinced that now that she knows the truth, Yuki will want nothing more to do with him... *hangs onto his leg just in case... and tries to pretend that this is not just a very good excuse to cling to him like a little leach... ;D*

Over to Aido and Zero, I like the way that when Zero says something along the lines of how he supposes Aido wouldn't think he has a right to speak that way (about how their hunter blood stirs in them the desire to destroy vampires) and which of them is more inhuman, etc. Aido does not in fact take a jab at Zero's vampire-hood at all, but instead treats it somewhat carelessly and only says he thinks Zero's more inhuman because he's pointing a gun at him. Aido's just being Aido, but there's the writer in me that sees a moment when he could have cut at Zero pretty sharply depending on what he said (although given their situation, that would have been rather stupid LOL) but what he said instead was actually pretty thought provoking, even if it was unintended - that it's actions which determine 'humanity'.

Haha had to smile over Kaito and Zero teaming up on him though. Poor Aido. LOL although Kaito being all like: aren't you supposed to be resting? to Zero amused me as well. XD

It's so totally ironic that they're worried that Kaname might eventually oppose them, while at the same time we're getting all this history that shows Kaname was fundamental in creating them and has probably killed more vampires than both of the two hunters combined.

Well, I'm anxious to know more, as always, but I had better stop rambling now and try to answer a few more of the million emails I have yet to respond to. LOL thank you all for your continued patience. :)

Oh... FYI... for reasons I can't fully articulate, this picture KILLS me... *drools angstily*

Happy Labor Day!

2010-09-03T21:50:00.004-04:00

Happy Almost Labor Day weekend to everybody in the US! LOL

Just a note to apologize, I won't be able to post this weekend after all. :( A mix of RL and online issues have combined to conspire against me having time or inspiration to work on the chapter. I won't get into whining about the whys of it all at the moment as I don't have time and it's the kind of thing I don't want to bring up in a public forum without being able to fully explain, but at some point I'll explain the whole sad tale.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend and I promise I will work on the chapter as much and as swiftly as I am able. :)

Vampire Knight 64 Raws

2010-08-25T19:47:00.008-04:00

I'm back! :) Several days late... but that's another story entirely... :P My inbox is crammed and I am seriously behind on everything both work and life related, but I had a great vacation. :D

I am going to try to start responding to the many lovely messages and emails that I have, but be patient with me, it's probably going to take me a bit to catch up. *hugs everyone for good measure*

BUT I did have to quick share the lovely news that the Vampire Knight Chapter 64 raws have hit the net!! :) Thank you love332 for letting me know and Isilen for the link!

See the VK Chapter 64 Raws

The link goes to Baidu, that Chinese site that often has the raws. As usual, I don't know who to credit for the scans since I can't read a word of anything, but thank you to whoever scanned them! :) There is another site that has them, called mangahead, but it tried to give me a virus when I went there, so I don't recommend it, the Baidu link is safer.

POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

The chapter looks very interesting! I can't begin to figure out what's happening most of the time, although I have my suspicions, but we get to see lots of yummy, angsty looking Kaname as well as some more Zero and Aido interaction. LOL I'm such a sap, even without understanding a word, I had tears in my eyes when it transitions from the sad past to young!Kaname with baby!Yuki holding his finger. The look on little Kaname's face right before he pulls her into his arms and holds her so tightly and the memory doors slam shut... I swear, it honestly almost made me cry. *dabs her eyes*

I liked the visuals in the beginning when Kaname's doing whatever he's doing with all the old fashioned lab type stuff, it pleases the pseudo-sciency side of me that likes to show itself in my stories sometimes.

Oh and here... great pic. Seriously great... Kaname looking angsty with Zero's gun... :D Well, okay, the Bloody Rose wasn't Zero's yet and Zero wouldn't even be born for thousands of years yet, but hey... I can pretend. :D That is the Bloody Rose Kaname's holding, btw, even if the pic quality makes it a little hard to tell when it's shrunk down like this. Actually, the pic is tall and skinny and looks weird by itself, so I added the pic of little Kaname hugging baby Yuki on the other side, just cause it fit, even though they're totally unrelated, LOL. Sorry they look kind of crappy, I don't have time to try and clean them properly.

*wants to hug Kaname so badly right now*

Looking forward to being able to read this!! :D ...and to catching up with everything I have to get done, if and when THAT ever happens...

Secrets in the Dark Fan Art :D

2010-08-11T10:33:00.008-04:00

Okay, I'm running around trying to get a ton of things done before I take off later today (was supposed to leave yesterday but there was a delay). BUT!! I just had to quick post about this. :D

Jeza.red did an awwwwesome picture of the Zero and Aido scene from my last chapter of "Secrets in the Dark". And an awesome one of Aido from the moments right after his attacker died too! *bounces and hugs her so much*

They're lovely, so I just had to post about them! Click on the little thumbnails below to go and view the full size pictures and leave her lots of comments and favs :D. (if the links don't work, go to the yaoi.y-gallery.net homepage first, login, then try them again and they should work. The site acts wonky if you're not logged in sometimes.)

They're so cool, thanks for drawing them!!

Okay, well this is probably it for me until I return week after next. You all take care and I'll catch you when I return. :) *hugs all around*

Fic Updates and Stuff

2010-08-08T21:34:00.005-04:00

Alrighty! Really had to push for this one *yawns - didn't sleep much last night from staying up writing* but I got the next chapter of my fic done! I'm going to be away over the next few weeks, so I really wanted to get this out before I left. It's at least not quite as evil as the last cliffie. :)

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter 28: "Unexpected Revelations"

Review Responses for Chapter 27

I was a little rushed because of trying to get it out before I leave, hopefully it doesn't show too much. :S *keeps her fingers crossed* We don't move along too far in the timeline, but we do get a few more answers and another little twist. :)

Listen, I know I'm always apologizing for this, but truly, I'm sorry to everyone who is still waiting for a response to me, sometimes on things that are over a month old. On both a personal and professional level, my life lately has been crap. There have been a lot of things draining my time, and a lot of problems draining my emotional energy and focus. I'm sorry, thank you all for hanging in there with me. If I haven't responded to you on something, please know it's nothing to do with you and everything to do with my crappy life. :S

On a happier and less whiny note, on with the other wonderful fic updates...! :)

Updated Stories:
Unholy Matrimony - Penguita38
A Place For Us - Lightpathetic
The Stranger - Lightpathetic
In Silence - YenGirl
His Eyes - ScarletMist
Salvation: Legend of Silver Fangs - kanshou87

New or Newly Added Stories:
Catalyst - Penguita38
Two Heartbeats and the Red Sin - KahneCrescent
Cold Roses - KahneCrescent
Forever Yours - KahneCrescent
Marked - LeaNicolaie

As usual, they're all over on my Vampire Knight Fanfiction page. :)

Sorry

2010-08-01T22:41:00.005-04:00

I'm sorry for not posting a new chapter this weekend. The end of the month is always super busy for me at work and the chapter is coming along slowly, so it just isn't done yet. :S

But I am working away on it as fast as I can, and will post as soon as it is done. Thanks for bearing with me. :)

Vampire Knight Chapter 63

2010-07-28T20:52:00.003-04:00

Yay! Sagakure completed the English scanlation, so Vampire Knight 63 is here!

Such an interesting chapter, and so many awesomely drool worthy pictures of Kaname, Zero and even Aido. heheh ♥♥

Unfortunately I can't ramble, I am in a rush, but I wanted to quick post the link up for anybody who hasn't seen it yet. :)

Also, sorry to everyone who is STILL waiting for responses and replies from me... *sighs and struggles to move under the mountain of unfinished things she has to take care of* I'm trying!

Vampire Knight 63 Summary

2010-07-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

w00t! Vampire Knight Chapter 63 Summary This way... (Thank you SGK!! :D)

Wow, okay, having a little info about the chapter makes me want to know more SO much now! I like that we're finally finding so much out, even if (or perhaps especially because? lol) it only seems to open up more and more questions.

I like the way Ms. Hino uses the juxtaposition of scenes between what's happening with Kaname and Yuki and what's happening with Zero and Aido. It's a good way to fill us readers in on different parts of the past at the same time, while keeping a foot firmly rooted in the present so we don't forget what's happening now-a-days and get to see some of our favorite chars in the same chapter. :)

SPOILERS AND MIND NUMBING RAMBLING AHEAD

I'm very interested to find out more about the hooded woman in the past, especially as it relates to Kaname's past and the creation of the hunters. I also want a name so I can stop calling her 'the hooded woman' LOL but I'm sure that will come in time. You know, I wonder... a while ago, Ms. Hino said that there was a new female character in the second half of the arc. There are several people that could apply to, but I wonder if she meant the hooded woman? I don't know, maybe not since she's actually in the past and not the present, but it seems like the hooded woman (THW from here on out lol) had a huge impact over the state of the world today anyway, what with her influence on Kaname and the creation of the hunters and all, so I can't help wondering.

Character-wise we haven't seen enough of her yet for me to really form an impression, although there's a lot of interesting potential for her to go many different ways. From the little bit we have seen of her thus far, she reminds a tiny of Juri. I'm certain they're quite different in actuality, but I just mean on the level of having a strong personality and her own very definite set of plans and goals that she's both willing to sort of use others to accomplish (like Juri and Cross / THW and Kaname) and go to extreme personal lengths obtain (THW using her own heart to create whatever hunter related things she created and Juri dying to seal Yuki). And of course lol, picking up with a man who is pretty much willing to follow her around and do whatever she wants him to. ;) Anyway, that's just what struck me on the surface until we know more about THW and all that. I wonder if we'll get to find out more from the past or if the flashbacks are ending? I hope not, because there's still so much we don't know, but I guess we'll see.

It's interesting about how Vampires came to be, and the idea that they were actually evolutionary anomalies born from human parents, but not at all human themselves. Kind of makes me think of the spontaneous proliferation of the mutant gene in the X-Men world. Perhaps the sudden climate change they keep referencing might have caused or in some way facilitated or exacerbated the mutation/anomaly to cause so many of this new race to be born over the years following whatever happened? That would kind of make sense, and explain why humans aren't still popping up with pureblood babies today. Unless they are and we just don't know it LOL but since there's so few purebloods now, I doubt it. Seems like it was a limited time deal. All the vampires and hunters alive today seem to be descended from those early generations, meaning that for whatever reason, the evolution ceased instead of spreading, which further fuels the mutation-caused-by-external-factors theory. Unless of course, whatever happened in the wars that followed is what changed things and somehow destroyed the ability for any more pureblood to evolve somehow. It doesn't really matter of course, and Ms. Hino may have completely different ideas about it, but I'm a sci-fi fan so I can't help puzzling over all those little pseudo-science-y type details. :)

Back to the present, it's fun to find out that Aido actually has been 'arrested'. :D Tsk, tsk, Yuki kind of got/left him in trouble again, poor Aido. XD I should be more worried perhaps, but I can't help being amused and inspired by the situation instead. I'm very interested to see what's going to happen with Zero and Aido now that Aido's in the Association's hands. Honestly, I rather expect that nothing much of anything will happen and Zero was just sweating Aido because he knows how Aido will react, but we'll see, I could be ~~pleasantly~~ surprised. ;) LOL *ducks* not that I want anything to happen to Aido mind you... well, nothing life threatening anyway... 0:D If you've read my stories, you know how I am and I'm sure my innocent act is useless ;)

I personally just really can't imagine Zero being involved in anything that went much beyond your typical police-style wear them down type interrogation and/or detainment/imprisonment (maybe drugs of the truth serum-ish variety if the need was great enough, but not much farther). At least, not with someone who hasn't presented any kind of immediate threat to anyone else and not unless there was a desperately urgent reason. I'm sure Ms. Hino is skilled enough to prove me wrong and make me understand how it could happen, but at this point I just really can't imagine it, so I'm not terribly concerned.

Although I can imagine lots of interesting and unfortunately highly unlikely scenarios where Zero doesn't realize exactly what the other hunters do intend to do to Aido, so bad stuff happens and he only finds out afterwards and then has to struggle with conflicting feelings of hunter loyalty, prejudice, guilt, responsibility, his own innately good nature and the ethics of it all, etc. and he eventually ends up helping Aido instead... which would be extra fun if say, Kaname had been trying hard to spring Aido through official channels (because the current political situation made it impossible for him to place too much direct pressure on the HA), so when Zero helps a weakened and scared Aido escape, he takes him to the only place he'll be safe, which naturally is with the Kurans... *stops before she works herself into a full blown fic bunny* Hahah okay, see, give me even a hint of an inch and my twisted little brain will instantly cook up drama, angst and whump. *rolls eyes* Sadly, I doubt anything that interesting will happen, although as I said, I could always be wrong. 'twould make a great fic though, ne?

OMG it's almost lunch time and I have a crap load of work to get done. O_O I seriously need to quit playing around and get to it, so I shall drag myself off. Hope you all are having a great Friday! :)

Vampire Knight 63 Raws

2010-07-22T11:05:00.005-04:00

I ought to be working. Of course I'm posting instead. LOL *keeps glancing over her shoulder for bosses who walk more silently than vampires* ;D

I was just commenting on a pic on SGK's blog (instead of working *cough* oops...) and I saw in the comments that somebody posted a link to the VK 63 raws, so of course I had to check it out at once and of course I had to rush over here and bounce and ramble about it. ;D

Here's the linkie: Vampire Knight 63 Raws
The site's all in Chinese (I think), but just click on the pics and it's not hard to navigate.

Please note that these are not my scans and full credit and thanks should go to whoever did scan them. Not sure who that is since I can't read the site, but in any case it's not me. Only thing I'm doing is posting a link to it so that other people can enjoy it too and I have an excuse to ramble about it unforgivably and find further reasons to continue not working. 0:)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Um... so as usual these aren't really spoilers for what happens at this point so much as spoilers for what I think might be happening since I can't read the raws. LOL.

Looks like we get a lot of Zero and Aido interaction in this chapter, which should be fun! :D I like those two together and am very much looking forward to finding out what they're saying. It looks like Aido is more or less in Zero's custody at the moment, although I'm not sure in what capacity or for what exact reason. LOL given some of Aido's (over)reactions and the look on Zero's face it should be an interesting conversation.

Yuki is still inside Kaname's memories it seems, even though it looks like she's not drinking his blood anymore. Actually, unless I'm misinterperating the pictures, it looks like she's sort of living his memories as if she was him, although she's obviously still herself, seeing them through his eyes. If that is indeed what is happening then I just have to giggle and grin stupidly because of course that's the exact same kind of senario I had Kaname and Zero go through a few chapters back in my fic "Secrets in the Dark" when Zero was living through Kaname's painful memories from the past (albeit, a very different past, naturally since my fics are AU). I adore the fact that the ability to do that is now more or less canon in at least some way. :D ♥♥♥

I have a harder time figuring out exactly what's happening in the memories without being able to read the text, so I look forward to finding that out eventually, but there's some very touching and tender-ish moments between the hooded person and Kaname that make me go awww... and feel all soft and sad for Kaname's air of lost lonliness in those memories. I think Yuki might have felt similarly, since she was crying... *wants to hug everybody very much now*

Anyway, looks like it will be a very interesting chapter and I look forward to when we can read it! :)

SERIOUSLY has to get back to work now. Eep. :S

Vampire Knight Artbook is LOVELY

2010-07-22T10:23:00.003-04:00

I got my Vampire Knight Artbook and it's BEAUTIFUL!!!!

*happy sighing and drooling commences*

It is SO worth getting! It's pretty much all pictures except for a bit in the back, so there's no real issue or barrier on the language side of things at all. It's wonderful to have so many of these amazing pictures in such lovely, glossy, full resolution quality. ♥♥♥♥

I got it from HMV Japan and even with international shipping it wasn't too expensive and the shipping was surprisingly quick. *hugs her book lovingly and continues drooling over the pics*

Random Yummy Vampire Shounen-Ai

2010-07-21T21:57:00.016-04:00

Quick random post because I'm feeling random... LOL. Just read one of the recent spin-off mangas from Blood+. It was called "Blood+: Kowloon Nights" and it was primarly about Hagi and a young (human) cop named Sei who isn't part of the rest of the series. Since Hagi is my favorite part of the Blood+ world, I enjoyed it. :)

Reason I mention it is because the whole thing has distinct if subtle shounen-ai tones throughout and even a slightly implied yaoi between two of the sub-characters, which pleasantly surprised me because those aren't normal themes for that series, and... like I said, I like Hagi, so... ;D

Of course, since I'm so obsessed with VK, I couldn't help thinking Haji and Sei made me think a very wee bit of Kaname and Zero in certain ways, i.e. - lonely, dedicated vampire who doesn't like to drink blood and has hidden issues with what he is and good hearted, tsundere cop/protector whose goal is to protect people... :) (They call them chiropterans in that series, but basically they're sorta like vampires.)

SPOILER AHEAD: Hagi is weak because he is refusing to drink blood and Sei ends up taking care of him although he wasn't sure why he was drawn to him (and didn't know what he was). Hagi ends up being protective of him, and Sei eventually manages to see the difference between what makes a monster and what makes someone who is just different and ends up giving Hagi his blood at the end. :)

Anyway, it's kind of sweet, and yes, I am hopeless and just about everything makes me think of VK. LOL

You know, it's funny though, it's the second time I've seen the word Kowloon pop up in vampire related manga/anime. They used that word for a faction in the "Black Blood Brothers" anime too. I wonder if it means something particular, or if it's just a common Japanese word or something? Huh.

Well... *wraps up rambling and goes back to folding laundry... sigh*

Vampire Knight Anime - English Dub

2010-07-19T11:52:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous post yesterday, the first season of the Vampire Knight anime has been dubbed in English and is available for purchase on iTunes. I bought the whole season and am happily enjoying the excuse to watch it all the way through again. :)

Here's the links again:

Download Vampire Knight Anime Dubs

First Ep FREE
All other eps $0.99

$10.99 for the whole season

I love that I can watch it on my iPod now. :) So if I'm waiting in line or for the doctor, or for my ride, etc. I can pull out a little Vampire Knight to keep me company and spend my time drooling over Kaname and Zero instead of wondering why its taking so long. XD Yes, I'm a dork. I'm addicted to my iPod and to Vampire Knight, so for me the combo is awesome.

Anyway, I'm sitting here being bad at work so I can take a little time now to comment on the dubbed version after having watched a few episodes last night.

My initial reaction to the new voices was mixed. The original Japanese cast was just SO perfect that no one can ever quite live up to their sexy awesomeness, especially when it comes to Kaname and Zero's voices. However, I personally don't think that the English voices they used are too bad. It took me a little while to get used to them, but by the third or fourth episode they no longer seemed so out of place to me. So if you're trying to watch the dubs and are initially weirded out by the different voices, do try to give it a little time and see if the initial feeling fades after a while.

I'm certain there are a lot of people who will have different opinions on this, since in my experience dub voice casts can gain a very strong reaction (positive or negative, but usually negative LOL) from fans of the original show. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people who totally hate it, and that's a perfectly valid opinion. The sense of sound is one of those things that effects people differently, so for some people the change in voices will probably be more distressing or disturbing than for others. And some people might actually like them more I suppose. I still prefer the sound of the original voice cast myself, by far, but to me the dub seemed solid and fairly well executed.

For me, it was great to be able to just watch the show and listen to it unfold without having my attention divided between the subtitles and the actions. I've mentioned this before and I know its terrible of me, but I really don't like subtitled shows that much. I only watch them when there's no other options, because my pathetically limited brain has a hard time mixing words and visuals like that. The words pull me away from the visuals and vice-versa, so either I miss what they're saying or I miss what they're doing. Since I've gotten into anime, obviously, I've had to try to train myself to be better at it, but it's still very nice and relaxing to me to be able to just watch, hear and understand. I find myself catching things in the anime that I never did before. So for me, having both the original and the dubbed series is totally worth it. Even if I don't like the voices in the dub quite as much, I very much like being able to understand what they're saying. ;)

Here's some of my rambling thoughts on the voice cast... (yes, run away now or prepare to be bored to death LOL)

Amusingly, when I first started watching, Yuki's voice actually irritated me more than any of the others, which is surprising because I didn't expect to care what she sounded like (LOL) but I got used to it.

I had to try really hard to not be too critical of Kaname and Zero's voices, just because they're my favs and therefore I am very particular about the way they should sound. But after a while I decided they were both okay. Not great, but okay enough to make watching the dubbed anime enjoyable. Keep in mind that I haven't watched the whole season through yet, only some of it, so if the voices change and get better or worse towards the end, I don't know yet.

Kaname's voice was okay, although a little off tone/timber. Sometimes it was a lot more noticible than others and it really bugged me, but there were other moments when it was actually quite close to good too. For the most part it was kind of in the middle. I wish he had a little more inflection when he spoke (I love the way the original voice managed to sound so smooth and sexy all the time hehe *sigh*) because I think that would have helped a lot. But overall I didn't cringe too much, so... LOL

Zero also seemed all right to me. Again, could never be as deliciously brooding and perfect as the original, but it was passable. There were more points when he sounded off to me in timber and tone then Kaname's new voice did actually, because the new voice was a little higher than I felt it should be sometimes, but on the other hand he did much better with having inflection/emotion in his voice, so... upsides, downsides. I think my biggest issue with Zero's voice was just familiarity because I'm also a big Fullmetal Alchemist fan and Edward and Zero have the same voice actor. But to be honest there were only a few times when Zero sounded too much like Ed for my liking, so it wasn't a huge problem for the most part.

Aido's voice took some getting used to, Takuma's was actually pretty good and I was somewhat indifferent about Kain, Ruka, Shiki and Rima.

Honestly, my biggest pet peeve in the whole thing was the way they pronounce Kuran. Ironically, they might be pronouncing it correctly and in my head I prounounce it wrong, but it sounded weird to me. They say it KOO-rhon which is fine, but I felt the KOO was stressed much too hard. It didn't sound like that in the Japanese dialogue, or maybe it did but it sounded normal because of all the other words and tones surrounding it, I don't know. That never stopped bugging me, but I try to ignore it.

Well, I will stop rambling now and get back to work, but all in all, complaints and peeves aside, I am very happy that they brought the anime over and dubbed it, even if for no other reason than that it means VK will continue to grow a larger and stronger following in English speaking countries *is obessive about wanting her favorite fandoms to grow lol*. And I personally am really enjoying watching my new vids in my ipod, so I hope everyone at least gives them a chance and a try in order to support the series. :)

I'd love to hear what you all think as well if you've seen them!

Fanfiction Update

2010-07-18T19:15:00.008-04:00

Okay, finally got the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark done!

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing

Chapter Twenty-Seven: "Falling Hard Upon Us All"

Review Responses

[EDIT - FYI: fanfiction.net seems to be acting very flaky. I checked a few minutes ago and the chapter was working fine. Now it's saying it can't find any chapter 27... it seems to be going back and forth, I don't know what the @%$! is going on, but hopefully they will get themselves sorted out soon! :P]

We start getting a lot of answers in this chapter, at least enough to let our dear boys know how much trouble they are now in, LOL. More info yet to come next chapter!

I'm hoping that there's not so much information coming out that it's difficult to process, but it is rather a lot all at once, so don't worry if it feels kind of overwhelming and jumbled, that's sort of what Kaname and Zero are feeling right now, things will take shape more clearly as they progress.

I apologize to everyone still waiting for an email from me, I'm really behind on everything, but I'm trying to catch up. Thanks!

More Fanfic updates...

UPDATED STORIES:
The Stranger - LightPathetic
That Which I Crave - YenGirl

NEW OR NEWLY ADDED STORIES:
New Dog Old Tricks - KittySkywalker
The Gift - Pink Bead Girl
Chickpea - BloodXlust
The Courting of Zero Kiryuu - freya kurenai
Forever Yours - freya kurenai
Ambrosia - freya kurenai
Astrological Advice - freya kurenai
The Night Class Album - freya kurenai
Find Me Somebody To Love - freya kurenai

Head over to my Vampire Knight Recs page to find the links.

Vampire Knight Anime in English on iTunes

2010-07-18T18:18:00.004-04:00

Okay, just had to share! The English version of the first season of the Vampire Knight Anime is available on iTunes! :D I just bought and am downloading the whole first season. :)

Vampire Knight on iTunes

It's really inexpensive, the eps are only $0.99 cents each and if you buy the whole season it's only $10.99, which is a great price for iTunes. Anime doesn't usually stay that low, so it's probably an introductory rate or something, so you'll want to get it fast while it's still low!

The first episode is currently free even. :) So do definitely go over there and check it out! I will be posting about it again no doubt once I've had a chance to watch some eps and see how I feel about the voices, etc. But just the fact that I can buy the anime on iTunes is awesome to me. :D Yay!

Also, on a fanfic note, I'm working on fnishing up my review responses now and hope to post the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark this evening, so stay tuned. :)

Reporting in from the Darkside of the Moon

2010-07-13T09:19:00.003-04:00

Sorry for going silent for a while. There's been some RL stuff happening with me that's not so good, but I'm working my way through it. Working on the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark too, so hopefully I'll be able to update by this weekend. *keeps her fingers crossed*

In the meantime, for fun stuff, check out the awesome pics from the new VK Artbook and VK12!

Awesomely Droolworthy Threesome Pic

Kaname and Zero in dresses! Alice in Wonderland Dresses no less!

I can't wait for my copy of the Artbook to arrive! :D Don't forget to order one for yourself too! You have to order it from Japan, but it's not actually very expensive, even with the shipping. I've paid more for doujinshi, so it's definitely worth getting and supporting the series. (Besides, if the stores see lots of overseas orders, I can't help hoping it might make the powers that be find the idea of someday translating the book into other languages more attractive too... or so I can dream. :D)

A number of sites have the book, these are the only two that still seem to have it in stock at the moment: HMV and Amazon Japan

Vampire Knight Artbook Previews

2010-07-03T11:19:00.006-04:00

WOW, I cannot WAIT to buy the VK Artbook! :D Check out this link that someone lovely sent me: VK Artbook Previews

It's a Japanese blog, so I don't know what it's saying, but the pics look awesome! Here's a few thumbnails below that I wanted to comment on, the link above has bigger / full versions and more pics.

PLEASE NOTE that I don't own these pics and I didn't take them, they were taken by the wonderfully lovely person whose blog is linked to above. I am using these thumbnails only because I want to squeal about specific pictures and it's kind of hard to do that without showing the picture I'm talking about. But please, go and check them out at the source, and if you speak Japanese, tell the person who posted them a big thanks from me too! :)

THREESOME AWESOMENESS

Love the way it looks like they're all kind of tangled up in a yummy kind of chaos. XD *drools endlessly* This is one of those pics you have got to go over and see the bigger version of, it's amazingly delicious!

TOO FUNNY! I've seen the Kaname doc pic before, I can't remember if I've seen the Zero pic before, but that's got to be Yuki putting his hair into ponytails... He's got such a great long suffering look. XD And Kaname + baby = OMG CUTE!

Okay, I just had to pull this one out to mention too because if you look at where Kaname's eyes are, he is SO looking at Zero in this picture! Heheh don't know if it's an accident or intentional, but the fact that he's looking at a cutely sleeping Zero with such a sweet little smile on his face obviously does all kinds of good things for my yaoi obsessed brain. 0:)

Everyone must buy the artbook as soon as it's available!!! I know I will, it looks awesome!!

Edit: SGK posted a list of places you can get the artbook, so here are the links. They can also be found in her LJ entry here along with prices and other info. Thanks!!

HMV Japan.
YesAsia World / YesAsia US
CDJapan
Amazon Japan

I am definitely getting it from one of these sources! :D *can't wait* I already have my English fanbook pre-ordered as well. That one's easy, you can get it on Amazon: Buy the Vampire Knight Official Fanbook.

Well, I have to go, I probably won't be around much for the rest of the weekend due to the holiday and all sorts of guest and family craziness. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you live in the US and celebrate the 4th, then I hope you have a great holiday!

Vampire Knight Chapter 62

2010-06-30T13:54:00.005-04:00

W00t! VK 62 has been scanlated! Yay! Thank you SGK!!! :D

Read on SGK's LJ
Read on OneManga

Super busy so I can't ramble much today, but check out the chapter, it's terribly interesting being able to finally find out so much about Kaname's past! :D

VK Fanfic Update

2010-06-28T13:48:00.004-04:00

Not too much of a wait this time. :) Got the next chapter of my Zero x Kaname fic ready to go!

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty-Six: "Here Comes the Rain"

Read Review Responses for Chapter 25

Part of this chapter will relieve some people... just not the last part. :D There was a little more set-up than I necessarily wanted so the first part of the chapter moves slower than I'd like, but things are starting to come together now and we'll get all kinds of twisty things next chapter. :)

Sorry for skipping over events in the car LOL but that was something of an unplanned side-jount that the boys threw at me while I was writing. XD Spending too much time there wasn't really necessary for the story and if I went into detail I would never have gotten the chapter ended in a reasonable length. ;)

More Fanfic...

UPDATED STORIES:
Unholy Matrimony - Penguita38
Hold Me Now It's My Turn - YenGirl
The Stranger - Lightpathetic
AU for Cradle of Blood - kanshou87

You know the drill, you can find the links on my VK Fanfic Recs page.

VK 62 Summary

2010-06-23T18:08:00.002-04:00

Sagakure posted a summary of VK 62 - You can read it here.

I find it SO interesting that we're finally getting a lot of history and background on everything now! I love back story.

More spoilers by way of me rambling pointlessly and hideously ahead...

I have to admit that I found the idea that Kaname could actually physically revert from an adult to a baby as a bit odd at first, but then I decided it was no more odd than him being able to be bats or wolves LOL! Actually, I confess I kind of like that Kaname is in fact himself, in his own body that has just gone through different stuff, it's a little less sad that way, and it means that he and Yuki really are more distantly related. :)

I think it's very interesting and telling about both Kaname's character and Haruka's and Juri's that things worked out the way they did. Kaname chose to make himself helpless and put himself completely in Haruka's (and Juri's) hands rather than the alternative, which apparently meant he would have likely been driven to attack and kill them too because of his condition. He certainly must have been aware that they could in all likelihood kill him once he was in that helpless state. After all, that's what Rido wanted to do and he certainly wasn't above killing babies. Since he mentioned having wanted to die previously, I almost wonder if some part of him thought that might be the outcome, or at least was okay with it if it was, as a kind of atonement perhaps.

Haruka and Juri on the other hand, have just lost their child via a truly hideous betrayal by their own brother, and now there's this new helpless little baby that's come about as a result. They could have ended him, could have taken his blood as Rido wanted to and considered it just recompense... but of course, they weren't like that. Instead they raised him like a son, or close to it. :) Like I said, I think the actions on both sides say a lot about the kind of people they all are/were. Sorry for going on about it, but I find things like that fascinating. :)

And then there's the long ago past... oh my! Poor Kaname! I feel so terrible for him, living with humans, caring about them, helping them like that, and then having them eventually turn on him when they realize he is not like them. Can you imagine how much that must have hurt? No wonder he seems so lonely and has a pretty low self image. How lonely is it to know that you are different from almost everyone else, and they hate you for it? Awesome way to bring out some of how and why both he and Zero have that deep down "I'm a monster" mentality.

And OH MAN is it giving me fic bunnies stampedes for situations where they could come to realize that about each other and how they both feel that way and share that pain... *bangs her head on the desk* why are there not more hours in the day? Why? *jiggles her leg, trying to shake off the bunnies chewing on it*

I was re-reading my new VK Volume 10 book the other night and in light of the latest chapter, I suddenly find the moment when the Day Class girls get over being scared and accept Aido and Siren as vampires even more kind of touching. Looking at how the humans responded to Kaname in the past, it shows that Cross Academy was effective, not just for the vampire students, but for the human ones too. :)

Anyway, I will shut up now, for which I'm sure you're all grateful, LOL. ;D

Vampire Knight 62 Raws

2010-06-21T13:26:00.008-04:00

A lovely anonymous person posted a link to scans for the latest chapter of VK! (No doubt the same person who has been doing the same for the past few months, thank you whoever you are! :D)

Vampire Knight Chapter 62 Raws link:
http://sagakure.livejournal.com/363586.html?thread=8998978#t8998978

They posted a rapidshare link for the scans and imageshack links for a couple of other things. *bounces* Lala has a VK cover again, yay! AND it's a pic of Kaname and Zero, double yay! AND they're both wet...! *passes out* :D Nice... so nice...

Here's a thumbnail, check out the raws/scans download for the full version. (you can see the water dripping from their hair and Zero's hand a lot better in the bigger pic)

I was bad and took a quick look through the raws even though I'm at work. Shh... *glances around* 0:) It looks like it's going to be really interesting! I can't understand a word, obviously, but it looks very much like we finally get to see the beginning and rest of what happened when Rido took baby Kaname as well as something that looks a lot like it must have happened in the much more distant past! :D *is excited*

SORT OF SPOILERS AHEAD...

I say 'sort of' because it's just me rambling about what the pictures looked like. Obviously, I could be interpreting things wrongly at points since I can't read the words. Basically this is just me being all hyper about the new chapter and having to ramble... Feel free to ignore me completely. ;)

LOL it kind of looks like Rido literally just ran off with the baby, although I won't know until I can understand what they're saying. Oh gosh, Haruka's face when he found them... heartbreaking. Little baby Kaname was so cute though!! *coos* I am really looking forward to finding out what happened there, since the baby is alive and the ancestor is nowhere to be found by the time Haruka appears. I wonder if it was some accidental or unforeseen thing and Ancestor!Kaname's body was too damaged or something, or if Ancestor!Kaname was trying to return the life to baby!Kaname and that was the result, or...? Interesting!

There's some lovely scenes where Yuki is drinking from Kaname too (she's "seeing" all this in his blood). Kaname ends up on his back on the coffin with Yuki over him and I have to admit that pose gets me. :D Of course *cough* I would prefer if it were Zero leaning over him and drinking (especially if they were both all wet like on the cover!), but uh... *gets shot* Ummm! okay, sorry, moving on! :D Anyway, that part is really kind of sweet and angsty and tender at different points. Haha, I'm so pathetic, I'm worried about what they might be saying because this is probably a lot for Yuki to take in and Kaname looks so vulnerable. I'm such a sap. ;)

The other intensely interesting part is towards the end when some confusing stuff starts happening which I think might indicate that Yuki is breaking through even farther back in time. I'm not sure if she's still in Kaname's blood memories, or if these are old memories of her from long ago because she's also a reincarnation of someone else? Not sure, that's one of those things I'm just wildly guessing at and am probably all wrong about. I just wonder because of the whole breaking through glass and falling thing that happens in there, it's a lot like the visual imagery used when she broke out of the spell that was making her human. But that could have been something inside Kaname's memories too, I don't know.

Guess we'll have to know whose memories it is she's seeing, but in any case, to me they looked like they were from a longer time ago then the current timeline. There were carts and people looking like villagers, etc. so I could be wrong, but my guess is that we're seeing events from the ancestor's time perhaps? Again, we'll have to wait and see, but I'm very, very interested to find out what's going on! :D

Okay, well, enough rambling, I need to get back to work, but I just had to share! :) *drools over wet boys on the cover again* :) mmmm...

Fanfic Update

2010-06-20T15:10:00.004-04:00

Hey, this is me, calling in from the dark side of the moon. :) LOL well, okay, not really, it only seems that way. Sorry for the wait, finally got the next chapter ready to go!

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty-Five: "Gathering Storm"

Read Review Responses for Chapter 24

I hope the chapter doesn't drag or seem too short, it's almost 15 pages long LOL but I didn't cover as much ground as I wanted to. If I pushed any farther though it was going to end up another monster chapter and I've had too many of those in this fic. Sooo... consider it to be continued. Hopefully it doesn't suck. I'm totally brain dead at the moment so I can't tell. Thanks for all the awesome reviews on the last chapter, you all make my day repeatedly! :)

More Fanfic Updates...

Updated Stories:
Hold Me Now It's My Turn - YenGirl
What About Us? - kanshou87
The Stranger - lightpathetic

New or Newly Added Stories:
A Thin Line - KittySkywalker
Barely Breathing - KittySkywalker
Like an Art - KittySkywalker
Midday Lessons - KittySkywalker
Sledding Adventures - KittySkywalker
The Devil's an Idiot - Avie Raze
A Part of Me, A Part of You - Tsarchov
Paroxysm - kabukiconcoction

They all can be found on my Vampire Knight Fanfiction page, along with many others.

Vampire Knight Pureblood Drama CD

2010-06-11T10:22:00.003-04:00

Hey all! Just a quick note to say that there are some great pictures, summaries and the audio download for the recent Vampire Knight Drama CD over on SGK's site. Very cool!

Vampire Knight Pureblood Drama CD Pack

Yaoi in the Throne Room (Zero x Kaname fanart)

2010-06-03T17:07:00.016-04:00

Wow, okay, time flies. I meant to try and post this a couple days ago but life keeps randomly getting stuck on fast forward, apparently. ANYWAY... here's a picture I started on forever ago and finally managed to finish. As always, it isn't great and I'm not about to call myself an artist anytime soon LOL, but I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out for the most part, although I'm very shy and nervous about the two very nude versions of it. XD *sweatdrop*

This pic is inspired by the idea of Kaname ending up King of the Vampire world and Zero ending up President (King) of the Hunter World. *Cough* oh yeah, and they're together. ;D In case anyone is wondering (or even noticed) yes, that is the "memory stone" necklace from my stories that Zero is wearing in the first two pics. None of the other stuff they're wearing has any particular signficance, I just made it up because it looked cool. :) I also had a lot of fun playing with the ambient lighting conditions in the pic.

I have several different versions of the picture with varying levels of nakedness and both with and without the crowns. I posted one of the 'safer' versions on Deviant Art, that's the first thumbnail. None of them are entirely work safe, but the last two contain full nudity so they are definitely NSFW. The last three images are all on different parts of the same page, so if you look at v2 and don't want to see the nude ones, don't scroll down the page.

Please note that these images depict implied yaoi - male/male intimacy - and the ones that are marked as such contain nudity. If any of that bothers you, or if you are under the legal age to be viewing such images wherever you live then DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE BELOW IMAGES.

Otherwise... click away! :D

In the Throne Room -v1
(DA version - with clothes and crowns)

In the Throne Room -v2 (clothes, no crowns)

In the Throne Room -v3 (no clothes, crowns)

In the Throne Room -v4 (no clothes, no crowns)

I'm INCREDIBLY self concious about the last two because it was really, really hard trying to draw, um... the anatomy bits. *blushes* I probably screwed it up.

Also forgive me if the crowns look stupid, I did my best but for some reason they were incredibly hard to draw. :S I wanted to give them both the puffy kind of crown like Zero's wearing, but I realized there was no way gravity would allow that to stay on Kaname's head given the angle (to be honest, I have no idea how the one perched on Zero's noggin is hanging on LOL XD) . But I think having them different ended up kind of visually interesting too. *crosses fingers*

Well, they're not perfect, but hopefully they're fun. Let me know what you think! :D

Secrets in the Dark Update

2010-05-31T16:39:00.003-04:00

Happy Memorial Day everybody! Well, um, everybody in the US anyway I guess. The long weekend has enabled me to get the next chapter of my Zero x Kaname fic "Secrets in the Dark" finished and posted, so yay! :)

I've also just about finished up a picture I've been working on FOREVER... so I may be posting that later this evening or tomorrow if I have time. *keeps fingers crossed*

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty-Four: "Bring You Back Home"

Read Review Responses for Chapter 23

See, I didn't leave you all on that cliffie for too long, right? :) I'm sorry the chapter doesn't cover more ground, it took a little longer than I expected to get through those events because apparently I am compelled to over describe everything. ;P

Those of you who have been following the Manga scanlations will recognize the new element I decided to play with in this chapter. I couldn't help it, I've been wanting to to do something with that ability since Ms. Hino showed us it was possible. 0:) As I say in the author notes on the chapter the way I use it and the names I give it, etc. are probably different from canon though, so don't expect it to be exactly the same. But... I mean, honestly, it was just too good to pass up. ;) Hopefully you all enjoy it too.

MORE FANFIC UPDATES...

Updated Stories:
Unholy Matrimony - Penguita38
Pleasure Dome - Nineorchids
The Stranger - LightPathetic

New or Newly Added Stories:
Replay - Penguita38

Head on over to my Kaname x Zero / Zero x Kaname Fanfiction Recs page to check them all out.

Vampire Knight Chapter 61 Scanlation

2010-05-28T19:36:00.004-04:00

Yay!!! Chapter 61 has been translated!!

Read VK 61 on SGK's LJ
Read VK 61 on OneManga

Big, BIG thanks and hugs to Sagakure for getting that out despite RL being so difficult. (((hug)))

SPOILERS AHEAD
Sadly, I literally only have a few minutes before I have to run out for a while, but I have to say that it was a very interesting chapter. Poor Kaname, it seems to me like he's rather hopeless over the idea that Yuki will reject him once she knows who and what he really is. It's kind of interesting to think that this is in a way his response to Rido's tormenting of him earlier - he chooses to give Yuki the freedom of truth, even when he fears he'll lose everything. Aw... (my take, anyway ;D).

Will be interesting to see what happens now! A few quick other impressions...

Title Page - SQUEE! I love having Zero and Aido both on there, and unless I'm taking the text out of context, I love the fact that it seems like it's referring to the two of them as knights, which for some reason I think is precious. :D Gives me these great mental images of the two of them getting thrown into some mess and having to work together. :D

Rido killing baby - GRRRRR not cool. *lops his head off*

Rido awakening enslaved ancestor - very cool. ;D LOL

Amazingly drool worthy preview / teaser picture of Kaname with his eyes closed and his head tipped back / laying in Yuki's arms - AWESOMELY cool and, as already mentioned, drool worthy. *is hopeless and mentally makes it Zero hovering over him instead* Mmm, that's right, lean down a little more Zero and kiss him... *is shot* ;D

Eep, okay, out of time, gotta run. Sorry this is so rushed and disjointed. Catch you all later! :)

Vampire Knight Chapter 61 Raws

2010-05-20T12:26:00.006-04:00

Vampire Knight Chapter 61 scans have hit the net! :)

See the Scans
Read the Summary

Sort of Spoilers Ahead...

Not really spoilers since the chapter hasn't been translated yet and I have no clue what's actually going on most of the time LOL. But wow, it looks like we might be finding out more about what happened when Rido awakened Kaname (is that Kaname with long hair?! SEXY! XD - I'm assuming it's him for obvious reasons, although without knowing the words I could be wrong of course LOL). AND it looks like Yuki is probably finding out for the first time about the whole Ancestor thing. *feels nervous about how she will react*

Also looks like Kaname (via bat-form) soundly trounced Touma (or whatever his name was) for what he did to Yuki. That's right, don't get on his bad side or hurt people he loves... ;) *grins* I'm sure I'm evil, but a protective/vindictive Kaname kind of gets me going. I love his sweetness, but I have to admit I love his bad-ass vampire side too.

I'm very much looking forward to when I can read the chapter and find out what all is really going on! :)

Secrets in the Dark Update - At Last!

2010-05-18T20:44:00.005-04:00

Sorry for having been off the grid so long. RL issues suck. :(

BUT I finally have the next chappy done! :) Thank you all for the awesome, wonderful reviews on the last one!

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty-Three: "Troubling Convergence"

Review Responses for Chapter Twenty-Two.

As the chapter title suggests, many different (and somewhat troubling) threads begin to converge in this chapter as we dive back into the plot with a splash... and a turn of events that is likely to make me have to hide from at least some people... *hides in advance* XD Yes, bit of a cliff hanger. Sorry. But don't fear the worst just yet, we'll get some resolution next chapter.

Hopefully the chapter isn't too hard to follow. Due to the stress I've been under lately I'm not sure my writing has really been as good as it might be, but well... something's better than nothing. Hopefully it's okay.

And in Fanfic Updates from other wonderful authors...

NEW OR NEWLY ADDED STORIES:
Unexpected - KanamesLover89
Sugar Rush - SasuHiroki
Unlovable - Kai's kitty
I'm Never Leaving You - TheSicklyRoseVamp1229
Scene - Alex Antidote
I Never Meant To Love You - AsBefore
Guard Duty - KittySkywalker

UPDATED STORIES:
Hold Me Now, It's My Turn - YenGirl
Midnight Ascending - IncaGold27
Gaining Peace - LeaNicolaie
Rose for the Dead - Withered Black Rose

All those stories can be found on my Vampire Knight Fanfiction page.

Mleh :P

2010-05-09T00:12:00.005-04:00

My apologies to everyone waiting for a response or email from me. I've had some not very fun personal stuff going on this past week, so I've been short on time and pretty much emotionally exhausted. :( Unfortunately I haven't gotten much writing done for the same reasons, so I won't be posting this weekend, but I'm working on it and will when I can, of course. :)

Well, pretty much a useless post, but I just wanted to let everyone know what was up and why I've been so quiet. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Secrets in the Dark Fan Art

2010-05-03T21:05:00.006-04:00

ImagineBlue posted some awesomely lovely sketches from a fan art she's working on for my fic "Secrets in the Dark"! *Squee!* That is so cool and the pics are so lovely!! Hopefully she doesn't mind, I just had to share links to them!

Full pics can be found on Deviant Art, click the DA thumbnails to view them and leave her comments. :)

Lemon, Anyone? ;D (Secrets in the Dark Update)

2010-04-30T18:58:00.005-04:00

Okay, well, hopefully you're all up for a long, sweet, sappy lemon, because that's what this entire chapter is. XD

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing (Zero x Kaname)
Chapter Twenty-Two: "Your Arms Feel Like Home"

Review Responses for Chapter 21 Here

Chapter title comes from the lovely 3 Doors Down song of the same name, which I've used before, but not as a chapter title, soo... couldn't resist using it here. The chorus of the song is so perfect for Kaname and Zero in this chapter. *dreamy smile*

There's a life inside of me
That i can feel again
It's the only thing that takes me
Where i've never been
I don't care if I lost everything that I have known
It don't matter where I lay my head tonight
Your arms feel like home
They feel like home...
(hold on, you're home to me)

More Fanfiction Updates...
I apologize in advance because I know I lost some off of my list and have probably forgotten and missed others that should be on here as well. My organizational skills seem to have gone to hell lately. LOL. :P

UPDATED STORIES:
Hold Me Now, It's My Turn - YenGirl
Blood, Ink and Ecstasy - Kagamichihime
A Place for Us - LightPathetic

NEW OR NEWLY ADDED STORIES:
Against All Odds - Kanshou87
Vermilion Heart - SakuraGirl25
Can I love him? - magz21
Grey Flower - KahneCrescent

Links to all of these and more are on my Vampire Knight Fanfiction Page

Vampire Knight Chapter 60 Scanlation

2010-04-27T18:41:00.004-04:00

Vampire Knight Ch. 60 has been translated! (Thank you SGK!) :D

Read VK 60 on Sagakure's LJ
Read VK 60 on OneManga

SPOILERS AHEAD

Lovely, angsty chapter all around! :) I was dying to hug Kaname when Rido was tormenting him about being conflicted and hopeless, but I also had to incongruously smile at the fact that Kaname was apparently gripping his own face so hard his nails cut into his skin and made him bleed, since I had him do something similar recently in my story "Secrets in the Dark". So sorry, Kaname-sama, but apparently you and Zero both are just far too sexy when you're angsting.

Speaking of Zero... man, I would pay a lot to know what's going through his head in those few moments when Yuki almost bites him! *sighs and fangirls Zero's sexy and bite-able looking neck* You know, I have become unusually obsessed with people's necks ever since I got into VK. I should probably be worried. XD

Well, there's other things I want to ramble about, but I'm out of time and have to go. The end of the month is always crazy time at my job and I've been having to bring work home with me and work over the weekend too to meet deadlines. Which is why I haven't gotten the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark posted yet, sorry!

I actually have it pretty much done now, there's just a few more tweaks to go and then I just need time to do review responses and post it. Will update soon as I am able.

Vampire Knight 60 Raws

2010-04-21T11:22:00.005-04:00

w00t! A friend of mine just alerted me that you can find the Raws for the next chapter of Vampire Knight (chapter 60) here: http://community.livejournal.com/vampire_knight/795540.html

Isilen posted them to the VK LiveJournal. I'm not sure who originally scanned them or where they are from. I will include appropriate credit and links to the source if and when I find out. Thank you everyone involved! :)

WOW... it looks like it's going to be a very interesting chapter! I am SO looking forward to reading it when it's translated!! :D

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The first pic, of Kaname kind of hugging himself, leaning against the wall and looking all rumpled and angstily hot - mmmmmm! Very nice. Very. It's hard to tell at first glance, but it looks like he's partially wearing a coat that's half falling off, and that's also so yummy. XD Gotta love the mere suggestion of something coming off... ;D~ And the little batwing on his shoulder...! Okay, so I'm sure I'm weird, but I find that disturbingly cute for some reason. ;)

Here's a tiny, cropped version of the pic I'm talking about:

LOL okay, I'm sorry, but to digress here for just a moment - totally AU from the manga, but because of the part of "Secrets in the Dark" that I've been working on currently, I see Kaname kind of hugging himself and looking all angsty like that and I can't help immediatly imagining Zero standing behind him, looking over his shoulder with his arms around him. *dreamy sigh* Okay, okay, sorry. Back to reality. *cough*

We get to see more of Kaname and Rido, which is awesome, and the interaction between Yuki and Zero (and Aido! :D) looks really interesting. I'm terribly curious about what Kaname and Rido are talking about, especially in relation to the two different views of Yuki we see, the one where she's happy and smiley and the one where she's in chains. I have a pretty good guess on the vein of what's being said, but I look forward to seeing if I'm right or not.

I think I managed to feel a little bad for most everybody in the chapter, even though I'm not entirely sure what's happening. I felt bad for Kaname because he looks so sad and torn when talking with Rido, I felt bad for Zero because you can tell that being near Yuki is harder than he maybe expected it to be, and I actually felt kind of bad for Yuki too because of the way (it looks like) she instinctively reacted to Zero and then felt all guilty about it. *sighs* those three really need to just decide on a threesome, LOL it would solve all their problems. ;D

EDIT: Sagakure has done a quick summary of the chapter! :D http://sagakure.livejournal.com/359691.html

VK Bonus Chapter & "Secrets in the Dark" Art

2010-04-20T16:01:00.007-04:00

Hi everybody! I'm back. I had a wonderful weekend. :) Still catching up on all my mail and replies, but I have two very cool things to post about.

First off, Sagakure did an incredibly lovely little picture / page for me from the last chapter (Chapter 21) of my story "Secrets in the Dark!" :D

(Click the image for full sized view)

It's SOOOOOO awesome, isn't it?!! *beams and bounces and huggles picture tightly* Thank you again so much m'dear!!!

Secondly... Vampire Knight La La DX Bonus Story!
YAY! I came home to an adorable and very interesting VK bonus story! Sagakure has once again been kind and awesome enough to scan and translate it.

Read the Bonus Chapter on SGK's LJ
Read the Bonus Chapter on OneManga

Little Zero & Ichiru and young Kaname and Takuma are all so cute! And wow *drool* it is once again proved that Cross can be incredibly hot when he's not being a cute flake, like in the flashback bits. I love how much like Zero he was back then, and the way that seeing Juri and Haruka interact started to change him. It was also very cool to me to find out that he is definitely over 200 years old and the information about how the vampire genes can present more strongly in some hunters, enough so that they were concerned about whether he would start to desire blood, etc. at some point. That spawns so many plot bunnies LOL.

It also makes sense why Zero said it was sometimes hard for him to distinguish Cross from a vampire, especially since, as we see yet again in the chapter, Zero's knack for sensing a vampire presence seems to be especially keen. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Zero is like Cross in more ways than one, since being a super-strong hunter seems to (ironically) go with naturally having more vampire genetic material in you. But of course he is also an actual vampire, which makes him even more so now.

And OMG, cute little boy Yagari! *giggles* I had no idea Cross was that much older than him. Terribly interesting what he said too, that everybody at the Association pretty much seemed to think Cross was as good as a vampire, which no doubt led to that chip Cross was obviously carrying on his shoulder and his desire to destroy all vampires... LOL did I mention that he and Zero have so much in common? No wonder he can understand and feel for Zero so much. :)

I also like the bittersweet note that the otherwise light chapter ended on, as to why exactly Cross liked to take pictures. *soft, sad smile* And I LOVE his use of the 'dear ones' phrasing. *heart*

Away for the weekend

2010-04-15T20:25:00.002-04:00

Hi everybody, just a quick note to say that I'm going to be away from tomorrow until Tuesday. My birthday present from my fiance this year was a lovely, long weekend retreat together at this great hotel / spa place. *is looking forward to it very much*

It means I won't be posting this weekend I'm afraid, but I have been working on the chapter and it is coming along nicely. And by nicely, I mean multiple pages of sweet and gratuitous yaoi. ;) Yes, the whole chapter will probably be a lemon. *rolls eyes at herself*.

Hope you all have a great weekend, sorry for all the comments I haven't responded to yet and the email or replies I still owe people, I'll try to catch up when I get back! :)

Vampire Knight Anime Dub Voice Actors

2010-04-11T19:55:00.006-04:00

Okay, so it's not new-news, but I've been meaning for a little bit to comment on the fact that on March 25th, VIZ released the news that they will be dubbing the Vampire Knight Anime and bringing it to the US market. I was very happy to hear this, since there was a lot of doubt when the Anime first came out about whether it would ever actually make it to the US market or not (many don't as I understand it).

While I am afraid no other voice cast could work as perfectly as the original Japanese one did (looove their voices, even though I can't understand a word they say LOL) I am definitely looking forward to the English version, and pleased at the fact that it means VK will get a wider fan-base in the States and other English speaking countries. *cheers for anything that makes the fandom grow* :)

Right now we know the voice talent for the three main characters:

Yuki Cross - Mela Lee
Kaname Kuran - Ethan Murray
Zero Kiriyu - Vic Mignogna

I've been looking all over trying to find voice clips for all of them. Didn't have any luck with Mela (although maybe I didn't try as hard... oops.) but I did find Vic and Ethan.

Not the greatest clips, there are probably better ones, I just couldn't find them. Also, bear in mind that voice actors sound very different when they are talking as themselves and when they are talking as characters, but here's what I found.

Vic Mignogna
This is taken from his website intro.

Ethan Murray (real name Ezra Weisz)
This was taken from a documentary series about voice acting.

According to the VIZ website:

VIZ Media sought out a cast of talented voice actors and the recording expertise of Bang Zoom! Entertainment to bring this series to life. Yuki Cross, the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, is played by Mela Lee. Veteran anime voice actor Vic Mignogna plays Zero Kiryu, a student who is a year older than Yuki Cross and comes from a family of vampire hunters. Finally, Kaname Kuran is portrayed by Ethan Murray. In the series, Kuran is a pure blooded vampire and the current Head of the Kuran Clan. He once saved Yuki from an attack by another vampire when she was seven years old and also serves as the president of the Night Class and the dorm leader. Kuran is both feared and respected by the other Night Class students.

“VAMPIRE KNIGHT is an important series that demanded skilled actors who could portray these complex characters without sacrificing any of the intensity and emotional drama each one exudes,” says William Germain, Director, Programming & Music Sales, VIZ Media. “We also know there are a lot of fans of the manga that have been waiting for this series so we wanted to bring in some very talented people who we know will take VAMPIRE KNIGHT to a whole new level. Look for more news coming soon about the North American debut!”

Read the full article and bios for the three main voice actors here: http://www.viz.com/news/newsroom/?date=2010-3-25

New Chapter Posted

2010-04-11T17:11:00.005-04:00

Well, got a pretty quick update done for once! :)

Secrets in the Dark (Zero x Kaname) by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty-One: "Rest My Head Under Your Light"

Read Review Responses for Chapter Twenty

More comfort and TLC. :) Still some angst, but it's a lot calmer than last chapter.

Chapter title once again (unsurprisingly) comes from a song I found somewhat inspirational for the chapter. ;)

Already Home
by Thousand Foot Krutch

The trouble with truth is it never lies
And the trouble with wrong’s
That it’s never right
So I rest my head under your light
The trouble with peace, is it never fights
And the trouble with love’s
That it’s always blind
I want to walk to the edge of it
Tonight, and I fall down

I am on my knees
‘Cause you’re everything I need
And I’ve made a mess of myself
On my own
Now I am on my face
And I’m calling out your name
And I won’t run away
‘Cause I’m already home

The trouble with tears is that they dry
And the trouble within
Made me wanna cry
I’ve never felt so much like I’m alive
I wanna open my eyes and see your face
If I have to wait a thousand days
I’ll still be right here, right next to you
And I fall down

And I know I haven’t always been
Where you wanted me
I’m standin’ here, arms out
Broken down
Before you

Listen:

There's actually part of another TFK song that works for the chapter, called "Look Away":

I, will not look away this time
Take all these cuts, and make them shine
And all this pain I’ve held inside
So I can find my way home again
I will not look away this time
Take all these cuts, and make them shine
Don’t want to be perfect, just alright...

Usually I would have a list of further fanfic updates here, but I am a dip head and managed to erase the file I keep track of them in, so... um... sorry! I'll have more for next time.

Secrets in the Dark Update

2010-04-03T15:39:00.006-04:00

Well, I wasn't able to get it done during the week like I wanted to, but I am finally ready to update my Zero x Kaname story "Secrets in the Dark"!

Secrets in the Dark by Blackened Wing
Chapter Twenty "Never Gonna Be Alone"

Review Responses for Ch. 19 This Way

Another long chappy LOL but the boys need it. Kaname has too much hurt to be comforted easily, so be patient with him, but I think that Zero finally got through. *soft smile* It's not done, there's going to be more TLC next chapter too.

Chapter title comes from the Nickelback song of the same name. The chorus and some of the verses work really well for what Zero is trying to make Kaname see in this chapter. :) This part of the song in particular:

You're never gonna be alone from this moment on.
If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall.
You're never gonna be alone.
I'll hold you 'til the hurt is gone.

And now, as long as I can, I'm holding on with both hands,
'Cause forever I believe that there's nothing I could need but you.
So if I haven't yet, I've gotta let you know,

You're never gonna be alone from this moment on.
If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall.
When all hope is gone, I know that you can carry on.
Were gonna take the world on.
I'll hold you 'til the hurt is gone.

Zero's flashback may seem a little unexpected in this chapter, I'm not sure. I think some of you probably guessed I was going to take it there though. :)

I didn't really want to have more angst in there, or sidetrack too far from the situation at hand, but in this case it was actually helpful because of what it demonstrated to Kaname. I also think this is probably the only kind of situation in which Zero would ever be likely to share something like that, so it was kind of now or never, lol. I focused more on his feelings and impressions than the actual events because we're all quite aware of what happened from the Manga and there was no need for me to re-write all that, although I did add a little here or there *hides*. (Interesting side note, when going back over the various chapters which deal with Zero's past I realized there are some fascinating discrepancies in the timeline and location of events which could indicate that the whole thing took longer than might be initially supposed).

I didn't dwell on it too much because Zero wasn't dwelling on it since he was just using it to try and help Kaname, but we'll be touching back on that shared knowlege again in times to come and it will play into the future at a later date. :)

More Fanfiction Updates...

UPDATED STORIES:
Hold Me Now, It's My Turn - YenGirl
The Stranger - Lightpathetic
A Place For Us - Lightpathetic
Gentle Affections - LeaNicolaie
Feathers, Leather and Lace - Kagamichihime

NEW OR NEWLY ADDED STORIES:
Poisoned Kisses - HeavensBrokenAngel
And Then There Were Three - LeaNicolaie
A Not So Innocent Lesson - Kagamichihime
AU for Cradle of Blood - kanshou87
No Boundaries - kanshou87
Aftermath - kanshou87

Links to all these stories are on my Kaname x Zero / Zero Kaname Fanfiction Page.

As always, I probably missed scads of things that should be on the list, so my apologies to anyone I accidentally skipped.

VK t-shirt in the mall!

2010-04-01T18:56:00.004-04:00

Okay, getting ready for dinner but had to post this super quick. Stopped by the mall on the way home from work to pick something up, ended up drifting into a store called fye for a minute because it's one of my favs. They do CDs, DVDs and movie / tv memorabilia. They have tons of Twilight and Alice in Wonderland stuff right now for example (shirts, posters, dolls, etc.). They usually have some anime and manga stuff as well. Typically around where I live if a place has manga/anime stuff it's mostly Bleach, Naruto, Death Note and Pokemon.

SO!!! Imagine my surprise when I'm glancing over the t-shirt shelf and I see Yuki!

They only had the shirt in junior sizes unfortunately, way too small for me. I was tempted to buy it anyway just to support the fact that they're selling VK merchandise, but they were kinda pricey for something I couldn't actually use. Now if Kaname or Zero had been on the shirt... I probably would have bought it anyway. LOL

But I thought it was super cool to see Vampire Knight merchandise just randomly at the mall like that. YES! Go VK! Spread and become popular and bring us US fans more cool stuff! ;D

Happy Birthday to Me :)

2010-04-01T09:52:00.003-04:00

It's my birthday today (yes, yes, I did actually have the misfortune of being born on April Fool's Day lol) and Sagakure sent me an awesome piccy present I just had to share! :D

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Looks like the boys are having fun. :D Mmm and it looks like Zero's kind of unwrapping Kaname for me, how thoughtful... 0;) Thanks again dear, I love it!

It's funny/pathetic, I actually almost forgot my birthday was coming up until my guy reminded me yesterday. *blushes and chuckles* It's been that kind of week.

FYI, I'm still trying to get the next chapter of Secrets in the Dark ready to post. It's turned out to be another loooong one, so I wasn't quite as done with it as I thought I was. I'll post it soon as it's done.

*sends everyone virtual birthday cake and martini's*

Blub, blub!

2010-03-28T09:35:00.005-04:00

*sloshes her way to the computer and drips all over as she sits down*

Water pipe in our apartment burst last night and everything's a mess. :( I'm trying to get it all cleaned up and salvage things while we wait for management to get somebody out here to assess the damage and start repairs.

Fortunately, it happened near the water heater, so there's no water damage to the bedroom, any of our computer stuff or, heaven forbid, my Vampire Knight stuff. ;) The kitchen, laundry area, hall closet and part of the living room is a mess though.

*sighs and rolls up her sleeves*

Unfortunately, this means I'm not going to be able to post this weekend as I had intended. The next chapter of Secrets in the Dark is *thiiiiis* close to being done, but it's not quite there yet and I doubt I'll get to work on it today. BUT I will try to work on it at work (shhh!) if I can, so if possible I'll try to get it out before next weekend. *keeps fingers crossed*

Vampire Knight Chapter 59 Scanlation

2010-03-26T20:47:00.006-04:00

Vampire Knight Chapter 59 Scanlation is here!

Read on Sagakure's LJ
Read on OneManga

Once again translated by the wonderful Sagakure! Thank you!!!!!!!! ♥♥

MILD SPOILERS...

I loved Zero and Ichiru in this chapter, their exchange was sweet, and (I think) exactly what Zero needed to hear. Especially right before bumping into Yuki again... (and when her blood is like, everywhere, too. :S)

Poor Zero though... Kaito wasn't being intentionally mean or anything, and I can understand where he's coming from what with his heritage and history and all, but still, Zero really doesn't need anybody adding to his identity crisis and emphasising the whole us vs. them thing, which is always going to leave Zero in a bad spot since he is both in one. *hugs him*

Aido's reactions to Yuki getting hurt were also awesome. :)

This has to be one of the best pics in the whole chapter - so sweet and sad and... *nosebleeds* hot. XD Okay, okay, sorry. In context, it's sweet and sad (and still a little hot 0:D) because Zero is kissing Ichiru's grave. Out of context, if you imagine him, say, kissing somebody's stomach or something like this... *dehydrates* well, you gotta admit it's hot, right? ;D

Vampire Knight Chapter 59 Summary & Raws

2010-03-21T16:41:00.008-04:00

There's a partial summary of some of the major events from Vampire Knight Chapter 59 up over on Sagakure's LJ! And one of the nice people over in China has posted some pics / scans from the chapter. It's not the complete chapter, but the pics are nice. :D

Read Sagakure's Summary

See the Pics on Baidu

Big, BIG thank yous to Sagakure for the summary and to the wonderful person who posted the pics too!

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Zero apparently going to Ichiru's grave is so sweet and sad. I am also a sucker for angsty Zero lying down curled up pictures, of which there's another good one in this chapter. I swear, nobody should be allowed to look that good when angstily curled on their side like that. XD *is shot*

I couldn't really tell in the pics if he was lying on his bed, or what, but depending on what's happening at that part, it's possible he was actually lying on or by Ichiru's grave, in which case I find it very interesting and ironic in a kind of a sweet way that last chapter we had Kaname sitting on a tomb feeling down and this chapter it's Zero. :)

Poor Wolf!Kaname, getting squished like that!! O.O Very creepy but cool that it could happen. :) Yuki getting hurt was an interesting turn of events! Aido's reaction was great. I am very excited and interested to see what happens next chapter, what with Zero coming at just that moment after Yuki's been hurt and all. *wonders if it's too much to hope that it will inspire those latent protective urges in him from the past and help start him getting past his all-purebloods-are-evil kick* :)

I also wonder if Kaname is having a heart attack somewhere what with his wolf gurdian having been destroyed and Yuki possibly being in danger. XD Or if he knows somehow that the situation will be under control. Hmm... LOL the chapter hasn't even come out yet and I already have many questions for the next installment! Hehe good job, Ms. Hino!

Hey, is it just me, or did the glimpse we got of that powerful, creepy kid-like pureblood look a lot like Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji? ;) It's probably just because of the age, the Elizabethan clothes, the fact that we only saw him with one eye visible and the bit of similarity in Hino Matsuri and Toboso Yana's art styles (the reason I started reading Kuroshitsuji in the first place XD), but for some reason that's what I thought when I saw the pic of him. *shrugs*

Well, I have to go make dinner now. I don't have the next chapter of "Secrets in the Dark" done yet, so I won't be posting this weekend, but I'm working on it and hopefully I will be able to next weekend. *keeps fingers crossed*

Who Wants to Live Forever?

2010-03-19T14:42:00.008-04:00

I always liked the Queen song "Who Wants to Live Forever", but I haven't heard it in a really long time and, not too surprisingly, it has some pretty strong "Highlander" associations for me. Then recently I heard Breaking Benjamin's cover of the song off the "Killer Queen" tribute album and was entirely struck by how well it works for Vampire Knight.

It works great for the whole vampire / immortal thing. Canonically, it could work really well for either Kaname and Yuki from Kaname's point of view, or Zero and Yuki, from Yuki's point of view. (Song really has to come from a pureblood's point of view IMO, since they're the ones who truly have forever).

Of course, I personally like it for Kaname and Zero... :D I happen to think it works incredibly well for the two of them, especially with the potential for angst because of their different life-spans and because they come from such different worlds. And of course, the best part is that it transitions from angst to the hopeful love conquers all feeling at the end. :)

There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away
From us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever....?

There's no chance for us
Its all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?

Who dares to love forever?
When love must die

But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever

Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today

Who waits forever anyway?

Listen:

Okay, that's my random ramble for the day. ;)

New Theme!

2010-03-16T22:23:00.003-04:00

Okay, much as I liked my last layout, I figured it was about time to lose the Valentine's theme, lol. So here's my new springtime moonlight theme. :) It feels more like a summer evening, but whatever...

Kaname and Zero relax on a lovely moonlit night out in the garden, Zero's playing with his DS and Kaname's ignoring his book in favor of watching the pretty butterfly-like moths and fireflies. :) I think one of the moths want to know what Zero is playing.

My Vampire Heart

Vampire Knight 78 & Bonus Story

Merry Christmas and Egregious Rambling

Short Rambles, VK Pillows and Pics

Happy Halloween!

Vampire Knight 76 Raws

Vampire Knight Novel "Noir Trap" - English

Vampire Knight 75 and Other Stuff

Vampire Knight Chapter 74

Fun New Vampire Knight Website

Secrets in the Dark Update & Picture

Sorry for the Silence

Vampire Knight Chapter 73

Morning Surprise

Secrets in the Dark - New Chapter Up

Vampire Knight 72 and really long rambles

*peeks out from under rock* (and Vampire Knight 71)

Vampire Knight 71 Raws

Secrets in the Dark Update

Vampire Knight Plushies, Doujin and other Stuff

Vampire Knight Plushie Orgy

Vampire Knight Novel Arrived!

Vampire Knight 70 Scanlation

Vampire Knight Novel - Ice Blue Sin

Vampire Knight Chapter 70 Raws

New Secrets in the Dark Chapter!

Vampire Knight Chapter 69 Scanlation

Vampire Knight 69 Raws & Transcripts

New Theme

Vampire Knight Chapter 68

Vampire Knight 68 Raws

Kaname and Zero with Baby Picture

Secrets in the Dark Update!

Vampire Knight 67 Raws and Translation

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Vampire Knight Chapter 67 Teaser

Vampire Knight Picture and Mirror

Vampire Knight Bonus Chapter Translation

Vampire Knight Blankets and Lamps at FYE

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Theme Finally :)

Vampire Knight Bonus Chapter!

Secrets in the Dark Update

Vampire Knight 66 Raws

Vampire Knight Fan Book!!

Kaname and Zero Chibi Key Chains

Secrets in the Dark Finally!

Vampire Knight Chapter 65 Scanlation

Vampire Knight 65 Scans / Raws

VK Journal, Hulu & the Flu

Finally, a Secrets in the Dark Update!

Vampire Knight Chapter 64

Happy Labor Day!

Vampire Knight 64 Raws

Secrets in the Dark Fan Art :D

Fic Updates and Stuff

Sorry

Vampire Knight Chapter 63

Vampire Knight 63 Summary

Vampire Knight 63 Raws

Vampire Knight Artbook is LOVELY

Random Yummy Vampire Shounen-Ai

Vampire Knight Anime - English Dub

Fanfiction Update

Vampire Knight Anime in English on iTunes

Reporting in from the Darkside of the Moon

Vampire Knight Artbook Previews

Vampire Knight Chapter 62

VK Fanfic Update

VK 62 Summary

Vampire Knight 62 Raws

Fanfic Update

Vampire Knight Pureblood Drama CD

Yaoi in the Throne Room (Zero x Kaname fanart)

Secrets in the Dark Update

Vampire Knight Chapter 61 Scanlation

Vampire Knight Chapter 61 Raws

Secrets in the Dark Update - At Last!

Mleh :P

Secrets in the Dark Fan Art

peeks out from under rock (and Vampire Knight 71)