Chapter 1 On the road
"Zero, you've been reading that same page for the last half hour or so. " A small voice whispered beside him. Zero looked up from his Japanese copy of 'Le comte de Monte Cristo'. He had indeed been gazing at the same page for quite some time, without actually registering a word in his mind. The reason for this had been simple. It was the first time he travelled by plane and his mind decided that it would make itself useful by supplying an endless list of different things that could go wrong with the plane. Common sense dictated that the chances of a plane crash were much slimmer than say, an accident on the road. And being a vampire, even if he had the worst luck in the world, he had the highest chance for survival. Still, he could not let go of the thought that a thin piece of metal separated him from….well, nothingness.
Yuki smiled at him. "What's on your mind? Afraid the plane's gonna crash?" She added jokingly. Zero's brow furrowed. Actually…
As the answer dawned on Yuki's face, the shock rendered her momentarily speechless. Zero, who faced mad vampires like it was a simple stroll through the park, was afraid of a simple means of transportation. Silence reigned for a whole ten second or so. Luckily, she recovered without any permanent brain damage. "There really isn't anything to be afraid of. We are perfectly safe. Look!" To demonstrate she wiggled and jumped in her chair. Zero's eye twitched.
"And besides, how often does a plane crash? You almost never read about it in the paper. Like this one" To support her arguments, Yuuki started flipping through a random newspaper borrowed from an elderly businessman. Her nimble fingers came to a sudden halt after going through the first few pages. Curiously, Zero threw a glance at the content. Yuuki quickly shut the paper and practically threw it back at her neighbor. She looked up at her fellow guardian and smiled sheepishly. "Never mind that paper. Let's look at it from another angle…"
But the damage was already done. A gloomy frown had just settled between Zero's brows, a frown that would stay in place for hours to come. Though he did not get the chance to properly acquaint himself with the content of the text, a picture of the burnt remains of an airplane said more than enough. Zero decided to tune out Yuuki's futile attempts to demonstrate the safety of public transportation and return his attention to his book and his silent musings. Within the next hour or so, he would come to the conclusion that this could be the promising start of a fear of flying.
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' La vache qui rit', a three storied, white walled, square shaped hotel located at walking distance from the beach of Marseilles. They had finally arrived at their hotel for the next three days. They were exhausted, they were hungry and even a seasoned traveler would be begging for mercy by now.
The travelling had taken more than a day, despite the time gained by crossing several time zones. There were also many things which caused unnecessary delays. Such as one teary Principle Cross, who took forever to say his goodbyes and in the end had to be manually removed by Yagari-sensei. And then there was the transfer in Amsterdam, a gigantic maze with signs pointing in non-existent directions and gates hidden in corners without any obvious display of the numbers. And last, but not least, was the French taxi driver who only spoke French and who almost certainly took the liberty to make many extra turns to ring up the bill.
Their only comfort had been that their miseries were shared, because they were part of a Japanese travel agency group. Their small group also consisted of one couple with their ten year old daughter, one college student and a retired widower. Though most travel agency groups also included a guide who travelled along, theirs would meet them at the hotel. So until then, they needed to survive on their own. After a quick survey among the group members, it was established that none of them spoke any French and only Yuuki and Zero spoke English. Yuuki, who barely passed her last English test, had then gladly volunteered Zero for the doubtful honorable position of replacement guide. While he found it no difficulty to take this responsibility, he also realized that his English may not be getting him that far in this country. After all, the French are proud of their language and abhor English. The travel driver had demonstrated a fine example of this mentality. So he sincerely hoped that the smiling young man headed in their direction, is their illusive guide.
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"Why did we have to follow her again?" Hanabusa muttered under his breath as he waited impatiently for Yuki and her travel companions to unload and check into the hotel.
The travelling had been horrible and endless. He couldn't wait to check into his own luxurious four star hotel room across the street.
"Because Kaname-sama asked you to." Akatsuki supplied oh so helpfully. Right. Hanabusa shot his cousin an annoyed look. Though it was considered the greatest honor possible to receive a request from Kaname-sama, his brains must have temporarily malfunctioned to say yes at the time. Now he was stuck on this two weeks trip with the duty to protect stupid Yuki Cross. Discretion was also requested.
The trip had started out terribly and the near future only promised to be worse. He had travelled Economy Class for the first time in his life, something he vowed he would never do again in his life. And there was no telling what other terrors awaited him still!
And on top of all this, incomprehension filled his head to the brim. Though history dictated that Kaname-sama always did things with good reasons, Hanabusa could not come up with a reason why that silly girl would need protection. And even if she needed protection, that silver haired freak was already with her. What else could possibly happen to her?
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Author: I'm currently looking for a beta. If you're interested in the position, please contact me before June 8th at
touga_kiryuu yahoo . com
Next: A visit to a prison. An awakening.