Zero looked around his surroundings and shook his head. The flowers in his hand bobbed in the wind, up and down, as if nodding yes. He needed this, or he could never accept what had happened so long ago.
A young woman walked past Zero at the cemetery gates. Her hair sparkled in the dim light, its color like a dark cherry wood color; her eyes were swirled gray and blue, like a sky about to storm. She was the same size as Yuki, just taller. She was dressed slightly dressy. She wore a black ruffled skirt with gray tights and a white dress shirt. Her coat covered most of her outfit, though.
"Hello, you know, mourning isn't the hard part, its accepting that you can't change it." The young woman had a voice like wind chimes, clear and beautiful.
Zero looked at her hands. She held a large bouquet of roses and lilies, roses seemed odd. She smiled and kept walking on towards one of the grave markers. She hadn't come just to replace flowers on a grave and Zero could tell that.
Zero walked on to his twin's grave. Ichiru had died one year ago, after Zero devoured what remained of him.
After all, even if you became a vampire, there must be a part of you that is still human, right?
The word rang inside Zero's head. Humanity had nothing to do with it, he found it hard to accept that everything eh loved was dying, leaving or something of the sort. He was sick of it and that girl he had seen wasn't helping. If anything, she had seen right through him. He didn't like the way it felt.
He found Ichiru's grave and shuddered. He saw the girl a few yards away, but shook his head and ignored her. Zero set the flowers down and lay down on the long grave stone. He looked quite pathetic if anything.
"Ichiru…I wonder if there is any human part left in me." Zero whispered, conflicted. "I can't remember."
I can't remember how it feels to be human.
"Hey, why are you talking to the grave?" A voice asked Zero.
"What?" Zero asked.
"I'm not even there, Zero, silly." Ichiru laughed and smiled.
"Ichiru…"
"Where I really reside is inside you. Did you finally listen to me; have you accepted what happened one year in the past? You know. Zero, what are humans anyway?" Ichiru asked Zero as Zero held tight to him.
The young woman looked at the grave and knelt down, despite her nice attire she laid down on the grown next to the grave. She looked at the sky and wondered whether it should have been her dying from cancer.
"Hey, you know, Aika, you were my best friend and you always understood me. You aren't even buried here; it's just a place in a graveyard. The overwhelming meaning of life. Okay, so you knew what it meant before you died, but can you enlighten me? I don't really understand. I can only understand what you had explained." The young woman said with tears in her eyes.
Mourning isn't the hard part, its accepting that you can't change it.
"I'm glad you remember I'm not underground. I would probably have to come haunt you. You are right though; mourning isn't hard, except for you. You used my words of wisdom on that guy at the gates. He's Zero, the guy from the Hunter's Association. You've seen him, he's buried in paperwork. You told me he gives the association a bad name. Well, I can't offer you more advice today; it's kind of hard to when you haven't asked more specific questions. If you asked what one main part of life was, like marriage for example, I could tell you, but you're being too broad. Narrow it down for me. If you have it narrowed down come visit me tomorrow. I'm always with you, Ayame." With that, Aika left Ayame and she sighed, knowing her friend was being difficult.
Ayame stood up and looked at the sky; it was turning stormy, like her eyes. She looked over to Zero and sighed.
"There are humans, humans that desire to drink the blood of purebloods, much like vampires. That's a human race, right? You have your head in a muddle again, come on and think objectively. No matter what now, you can't get one thing wrong. It's what I told you that day one year ago."
Live and do what I cannot.
Zero bolted upright and looked at Ayame standing in front of him. She smiled and knelt down next to him. She took his hand and looked him in the eye.
"He's resting in peace now. You have finally accepted what happened. I saw you talking to Ichiru, although it only looked like you. Yeah, I do that with Aika. She's my friend; she died of cancer eight years ago. We trained together as vampire hunters, I'm Ayame, and I've seen you around work. You're Zero and one of the strongest hunters. Yagari trained you well." Ayame stood and offered her hand to help Zero up.
"What did you mean when you said to me at the gates?" Zero asked.
"A little piece of advice from Aika. She always knew what to say to me. Hey, how about we go out to lunch and I tell you all about Aika?"