Hey everyone, sorry I took so long! I've been trying to make my chapters longer, but the longest I've gotten is this one (6 pages... sigh). Anyways, I've already started about 2 pages of Chapter 5, so if I just mayyyybbeeee get enough reviews, I'll post it up within this week! BTW, the winner of the poll is introduced at the bottom.
Kara sipped in silence. She took a quick peek at the young man across the table and tried as hard as possible to restrain the shudder she felt running down her spine. It had been three days since their little "confrontation" and Zero had barely spoken to her since. He hadn't even met her eyes when he did. Kara dropped her eyes back to her chicken noodle soup and carried on eating. She tried to remember what their longest conversation had been. Oh, right, she'd remembered. It had happened two days ago…
Kara had been absently flipping through the channels on her small, but efficient plasma screen TV. She hadn't been able to do much else after hammering away at the piano for hours. She felt so… tempestuous. She wanted to be angry at Zero but a stronger part of her was demanding that she be patient with him. Whatever had happened to him must have been really hard. Her silent, but hardly peaceful reverie was broken when Zero came down the stairs and leaned against the banister between the dining room and the living room.
"How about I make lunch today?" he'd offered. He somehow managed to make his voice sound cold and indifferent, even while he was making an offer. Kara gripped the arms of her chair but tried not to look too shocked. She had heard him coming down the stairs. She just hadn't thought he'd be talking to her again.
"How about we alternate on kitchen duty?" Kara replied, trying to sound as normal as possible. "I'll cook, you clean then you cook, I clean…"
"Okay," he replied, his voice still flat. "I'll take lunch today, then."
"Okay," Kara repeated, keeping her eyes on the TV. She sighed in relief when she heard him poking around the kitchen for the right utensils and ingredients. He'd settled on making a simple, spicy noodle soup. Kara had come in halfway to help but the look on his face had scared her away. She settled for making some lemonade to wash away the spiciness of the noodles and set the table. That cycle had fallen into a routine these past few days with her and Zero trading places every other meal. Kara had to admit, he was a good cook. He was pretty much limited to stir-fry's and basic curries though. Kara's kitchen was outfitted for a pasta girl and she was proud of it.
Kara broke away from her musing and took a gulp of her iced green tea. Zero seemed to enjoy it, or at least he didn't seem to make any odd expressions when she made it. She was glad he hadn't complained about anything but she couldn't quite decide if that was an up-side of the silence or not.
"Umm, Zero?" Kara asked.
Zero looked up at her, frowning. He looked like she'd startled him out of some tumultuous train of thought. In fact, he'd been wrestling with not thinking about Yuuki again.
"Tonight, I'd like to take you to meet some people," Kara said. "I want to show you how we work."
"We?" Zero asked blankly.
"Us vampires," she replied. "The vampires here, as opposed to vampires where you come from."
"Oh," he replied. "Okay."
"Be ready in an hour?" Kara asked. "I'll do the washing up tonight, if you want."
"No, it's okay," he replied, keeping his eyes on his noodles.
"Okay," Kara said. She washed her bowl and chopsticks then ran upstairs to take a shower and change. She dressed quickly in a simple brown sweater and blue jeans and tied her hair back into a pony tail. She could hear Zero in the shower, he was going to take his time. He still had 45 minutes left. Kara reached for her small black cell phone and hit speed dial.
"You've reached the Chicago City Morgue, how can I help you?" said a voice from the other end.
"Very funny, Mel," Kara replied. "Anything new happen?"
"Why don't you tell me?" her best friend replied. "Apparently, you're hiding a very gorgeous someone in that den of yours."
"How did you know he's gorgeous?"
"Your mother said he's hideous," Mel replied. Kara could almost hear her eyes rolling.
"Well, he's alright, I guess," Kara laughed.
"Whoa…. Okay, then he's got to be like a Brad Pitt-Orlando Bloom hybrid on legs."
"Nah, think something like that Cedric guy from Harry-"
"Robert Pattinson," Mel interjected.
"Right," Kara continued. "-meets a bleach blonde Hugh Jackman. Only without the body hair."
"Ooooohhhhh," Mel sighed. Now it was Kara's turn to roll her eyes.
"Stop drooling, Mel, I can hear it dripping," Kara teased.
"Oh, shut up, you're so drooling over him too," Mel retorted.
"Actually I'm not," Kara replied.
"Oooh, what does he smell like?" Mel gushed.
"Mel, do I even have to tell you how gross that is?" Kara was glad that this was just a phone conversation. Her blush would tell Mel everything she needed to know.
"Ooooh, and you have to meet this cousin of mine," Mel went on. "I swear, you'll love him!"
"Mel, I told you, I don't do blind dates."
"Since when have you EVER let me set you up on blind dates?" Mel retorted. "Look, just meet him, he's great!"
"Okay, okay," Kara heard Zero coming up the stairs and lowered her voice. "Hey, I've got to go get ready, I'll see you in about half an hour, okay?"
"Mmkay, babe," Mel replied. "See ya. Oh, and don't forget to bring Hugh-dric."
"Right," Kara rolled her eyes again. "See ya, Mel."
Kara showered quickly and pulled on a gray, elbow-length sweater and a pair of black jeans. She opened the door and smiled before she could stop herself.
"What?" Zero said, rolling up the sleeves of his gray sweater.
"We match," she replied, glancing down at his black jeans then up to his eyes again.
He blinked at her and for a moment, she could almost see a smile in the corners of his eyes, then he was back to business again. "Are we going, or what?"
"Yeah, sure," Kara replied, still smiling slightly to herself. She might just be breaking down the barriers around the Ice King's heart again.
Zero followed her mutely down the stairs and out into the car. He slipped on his seatbelt and returned to doing what he had been doing for the past 3 days. He stared blankly into space, determined to think about anything except what he really wanted to think about. He watched as the driveway slid out of view and closed his eyes to the flashing road around him. He sighed and focused on being blank, being empty and being utterly alone. Feeling like he had company only made him think…
Zero pocketed the Bloody Rose gun and made his way to ground level, looking for the object of his worry. There she was, Yuuki was on top of the roof of the main building. She appeared to be fending off the other vampire's attacks relatively well, but the bursts of energy from her minute form were significantly weaker and more erratic compared to the tall, hulking figure of the other pureblood. Where the hell was that idiot Kaname?
Zero ran towards and building, power building in his muscles. He jumped onto the wall and used his built up momentum to scale it. The stone and glass parted easily under the tips of his fingers. He grinned, despite his worry and anger. He felt alive. He vaulted himself over the edge of the roof and tensed into a crouch.
"Ah, Kiryuu-kun," a voice said. "We were just talking about you."
The dark haired vampire sent another blast of energy at Yuuki, pushing her onto her knees. A low growl escaped Zero's lips.
"Now, now, Kiryuu-kun," he continued. "I was just convincing my niece here that she deserves to marry me."
"Leave her alone," Zero snarled.
"I'm terribly sorry," he fluttered his fingers and a pair of heavy boulders began revolving violently faster and faster in the air above Yuuki's head. "I just can't do that."
He flicked his fingers in Zero's directly and the stones shot in his direction. Zero dodged them, trying to get as close to Yuuki as possible in one leap. He got halfway there. "Who the hell are you?" Zero asked.
"Oh, forgive me," the pureblood bowed, his voice almost dripping with cynicism. "I seem to have forgotten my manners. I'm Rido Kuran."
"All you vampires," Zero muttered under his breath. "Incest, politics, murder… what next?"
"Did you say something, Kiryuu-kun?" Rido asked "politely". He sent another pair of boulders spinning in Zero's direction. "Isn't it a pity that you don't have your dear Kaname-sempai to help you?" He gestured to the opposite building. Kaname looked furious. His normally chocolate eyes were burning a deep, bloodthirsty red and he was thrashing against invisible barriers that seemed to be cutting into his skin. Zero knew the feeling, it had been horrible to fight against the need to obey the Wildly Blooming Princess. She had been both a pureblood and his master. He almost felt a twinge of sympathy for his senior.
"Zero, look out!" Yuuki screamed.
Zero dodged another set of boulders and landed in front of Yuuki. He jumped at Rido, drawing the gun. Rido batter it away with one hand and closed the other around Zero's throat. "No, no, Kiryuu-kun," he said, leaning in to Zero's face. "That's no way to play nice."
"Zero?" Kara asked quietly, breaking into his reverie.
"Yeah?"
"Would you like to go to a picnic the day after tomorrow?"
"A picnic?"
"Yeah, there's this park that's beautiful in the day time. There's lots of shade and my friend Mel said she'd like to show her cousin around. I'm sure it'll be fun. Would you like to come?"
"Sure." Anything to take his mind off what happened that night.
"How about we make lunch together? We can go shopping for things tomorrow evening. We'll have to wake up earlier though," he heard the little strain of effort behind her voice. She was trying to make him happy. He felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. He should be trying to make her happy. She hadn't kicked him out of her house, let alone asked him anything about why he'd appeared out of nowhere, bloody, tattered and silent.
"Sure," he said. Kara could hear the cold edge returning to his voice. She sighed internally, she'll make some headway eventually.
"And… we're here," she said as she pulled into a parking space. She stepped out of the car in front of an old, derelict shoplot, covered with overgrown plants and mould. It looked downright post-apocalyptic next to its posh and trendy neighbors. "It doesn't look like much, but it's meant to be that way."
She stepped out of the car and walked up to a metal grille that partially obscured a flight of stairs leading to the second floor of the shop lot. Zero watched as she ran her finger along the top of the grille before she leaned into the handle and whispered "Kara Rai". Zero raised his eyebrows at her as she pushed it open without a squeak and started climbing the stairs.
"Fingerprint, voice and iris recognition," Kara explained. "It's not as dingy as it looks."
Zero nodded, impressed though he didn't show it. Kara stepped onto a welcome mat at the head of the stairs and was immediately engulfed in a mass of curly blonde hair.
"Kara!" Mel squealed.
"Mel, I may be a vampire but I do need to breathe," Kara gasped.
"Oh, right, right, right," Mel stepped away and turned her attention to the young man standing behind Kara. "Oooooh, so this is the specimen. Sedap pun, nampaknya!"
"Hardy har har, Mel," Kara rolled her eyes. "This is Zero Kiryuu."
"Hi Zero," Mel grinned. You could almost see the emoticon over her head. "We're going to get along so well." She waggled her eyebrows at him, but he didn't seem to respond. He was frozen, his eyes wide, and almost… furious.
"Zero?" Kara asked. She could feel Mel's hands on her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Mel asked.
"Mel-chan!" A voice drawled from somewhere along the well-lit corridor visible through the door. "How could you leave me there all alone? As your cousin, I…"
A blonde, blue-eyed vampire came to a stop in the doorway.
"Kiryuu?" he asked, his eyes flitting from casual arrogance to outright shock.
Zero wanted to run, he wanted to hide, he wanted to burst into a million tiny fragments and be burnt to cinders then left to blow away in a strange, unnatural breeze.
"Kiryuu," Aidou Hanabusa's eyes glowed a brilliant red.
