Chapter 2. Suspect no. 1

Disclaimer: VK be not in my possession.

As the phone rang, Ruka woke up. Picking it up, she heard Shiki's voice. "Ruka?"

The haziness of sleep immediately cleared from her brown eyes. "Shiki? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah... hum..." He hesitated, before continuing. "Do you think you could pick me up from the photo shoot?"

That was strange. Didn't he and Rima usually come back together in a car with their agent? "Yeah, sure, but... you know I can't drive."

His answer was immediate and impatient. "Call for a taxi, anything. Just meet me here."

"Okay, see you." Ruka hung up the phone. Shiki sounded quite nervous, something she had never seen or heard. As she got dressed, she wondered what could be wrong. Maybe something had happened to Rima! She calmed herself. No, if that was the case, he would have asked her to take them to hospital, not to pick him up. But why didn't he just call for a taxi himself? Ruka closed her bedroom's door, and when she turned to the corridor, she found Kain. "Akatsuki? What are you doing up so early?"

Kain rubbed one of his amber eyes. "Hanabusa needs a glass of water and can't be bothered to get it himself."

The long-haired beauty roled her eyes. "You know, you should stop letting him take advantage of you. Your cousin's not a baby, even though he behaves like one..."

Kain merely smiled. "It's okay, it gave me a chance of talking to you. Ruka..."

Her eyes widened with terror at the thought of what he was about to say. 'No, please don't say it, Akatsuki. I can't deal with it now.' She cut him off. "Sorry, Akatsuki, but I have to go pick up Shiki. Talk to you later." She went around him quickly.

As he heard her foosteps, Kain sighed. Why did he have the feeling that she was hiding something from him?

"Hey, Akatsuki?"

Kain didn't turn around to see who it as. He could recognize his disheveled-haired cousin's voice anywhere. "What?"

"Instead of water, could you bring..." Aidou noticed how the red-haired vampire wasn't really listening to him, simply gazing at the stairs. "Akatsuki? What's up?"

Kain sighed, his shoulders slumping a bit. "It's Ruka."

"Is there anything wrong with her?"

"No... I mean, I don't know. She just walked off as I was about to tell her that..." Kain stopped the next words from coming through his lips.

Aidou knew exactly what Kain wanted to say. "Maybe it's not the right time yet."

"Maybe..." His voice became curious. "But it looked like she was hiding something from me, you know?"

"Hiding something? You don't think she's seeing someone else, do you? Because that's just silly."

Kain's eyes widened. "Seeing someone else? She said she was going to meet Shiki..."

Aidou could have slapped himself right then. By trying to make his cousin feel better, he'd just made him feel worse! By trying to expell a suspicion from Kain's mind, he'd just buried it there even deeper than before. "Akatsuki, she wouldn't do that."

"Why not? She has no idea of what I feel for her... What's stopping her?"

"Akatsuki, it's a stupid suspicion. Plus, Shiki's always with Rima, so..."

Kain ignored his words. "Hanabusa, I need your help."

"My help? What for?"

"I need to know if she's with him."

"I told you, she's not." Aidou sighed. "Look, I know I never really got along with her very well, but I know that she wouldn't do this. She like Kaname-sama, remember?"

Kain stroked his chin. "I know, but she's been acting strange. Come with me. It's the only way to find out. Please, I can't do this alone. You're always telling me to take the initiative. Well, that's what I'm doing now."

Aidou sighed. The things Kain made him do...

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As Ruka got out of the taxi, she saw him waiting for her. He immediately walked up to her. "That was fast."

"Well, it looked like it was something important."

Shiki gave her the smallest of smiles. "It is." He took her hand and started walking.

Looking around her , Ruka frowned. She didn't recognise this part of town. "Shiki, where are we going?"

"Somewhere where Rima can't see us."

She blinked. "Eh? Why?"

He turned to her and smiled a proper smile. "It's a secret. By the way, nice jacket."

Ruka looked at her jacket. She'd accidentally picked it up from Rima's bed in her sleepy state. "Thanks, it's the one from your last magazine."

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"Akatsuki, stay put!" Aidou was trying to stop Kain from beating up Shiki. How come he controlled himself around Kaname, but not when it came to other guys? "You're usually so calm, try to restrain yourself!"

Kain glared at him. "But they're holding hands! And he just complimented her clothes!"

Aidou sighed. "It's the jacket that Rima wore in their last photo shoot. Shiki is a model, so he'll appreciate good clothes, don't you think?"

Kain sulked, but also calmed down. "Fine."

"Good." The blond turned his attention to the people they were spying on. "Hey, look. They're going into a restauran..." Aidou's words got caught in his throat.

"A restaurant?" As soon as he saw it, Kain lost his mind. It was the most romantic restaurant in town. Everyone knew about it, some Day Class girls had even invited him to go there, but he'd refused, obviously. He stood up. "How dare he take her there?"

Aidou pulled him back behind the rubbish bin. "You're going to make Ruka angry if you storm in there!"

"Well, what do you propose we do then?"

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Ruka and Shiki sat down at a table in one of the more private areas. He played with his crimson hair, nervously. "So, what do you think?"

She looked around, examining his efforts. "Shiki, it's beautiful. No girl would resist this, you even got a table in a private area."

He swallowed nervously. "Really? Do you really like it?"

Ruka smiled. "I love it."

"Why is she smiling like that?" Kain looked over his menu, his eyes throwing daggers at Shiki. He would never do this to Kaname, but Shiki wasn't Kaname, so he could pour his frustrations on him for now.

His cousin shrugged. "Maybe he told a joke?"

Kain glared at him, annoyed. "She's smiling, not laughing."

Aidou returned the glare. "Maybe it wasn't a very good joke."

Kain sighed. "Couldn't you have gotten us better disguises?" Kain looked at himself. He was wearing a red wig and a stupid dress. It could hardly be called a disguise, and he wondered how he had let Aidou convince him to wear this. "We look ridiculous."

"Correction. You look ridiculous." Aidou was pretty happy with his outfit. A moustache, a monocle, a top hat and a cane. "I wasn't planning on buying disguises, so I didn't have enough money for something better."

Noticing weird looks from the other clients, Kain's vein nearly popped and his eyes twitched. "People are staring at us..."

Aidou put his index finger in front his his lips. "Shh..." And then pointed discreetly at Shiki.

Kain looked at Ruka's table and his jaw dropped. Shiki was putting a diamond ring on Ruka's ring finger.

Aidou felt his moustache getting warmer. Kain was definitely pissed off. "Right, time to go." He stood up and practically dragged Kain outside.

"She's with Shiki. I'm going to kill him!"

Aidou tried to appease him. "Calm down. Look, let's go back to our Dorms. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding." Aidou tried to believe his own words. It had to be a very big misunderstanding...

A/N:Quite a quick update, hey? Anyway, so Shiki's the first suspect. Could he be the one stealing Ruka away from Kain?

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