When a girl is carried into the hunters association terrified and covered in blood, Zero and Kaito take it upon themselves to find the vampire responsible for the tragedies in this girl's life, but could they lose more than what they bargained for.
SilverMew22 does not own Vampire Knight, but I do own Ai Hayashi.
AN: This is rated T at first but may change to M for blood, death and maybe a curse or two in later chapters. This starts after Yuuki is turned into a vampire and Zero starts to live in the chairman's old apartment/reunites with Kaito Takamiya, but old characters might appear but it's mostly about Zero and Kaito.
Chapter 4 Mistakes
Inside of the old building of the Hunters Association, as night fell upon its restless occupants, Zero Kiryuu's superhuman speed, allowed him to turn every corner of the large rustic building at an almost blinding speed.
He was currently trying to find Ai Hayashi, who disappeared right after Zero went to relieve himself in the small bathroom, inside of the small privet recovery room.
"I told her to stay put and she leaves the second I close the door, how troublesome."
Zero thought to himself, realizing that he may not be able to fully trust the girl to actually listen to him, or stay out of trouble if he turned his back for just one second.
"Doesn't she understand how dangerous it is to walk around this place alone?"
Zero was trying not to think of every horrible thing that could have befallen the small girl after she left.
Zero's sharp senses allowed him to briskly walk past the other agitated hunters, without so much as a single word or glance. He glided past the dimly lit stone walls, who's lights barely helped him see into the distance of the long hallways, thanks to his nocturnal vision.
Zero stopped at a corner, swearing that he'd already been here before.
He looked towards a fellow hunter who quickly walked past him, it's not like they'd help him find her anyway, but unfortunately for both Ai and Zero, Akihiro Yamaguchi, an old hunter who barely carried his weight around this place, found the missing girl first and was in no way happy about it.
"Ouch, hey wait, I need to find someone first!"
A small voice familiar to Zero squeaked towards the larger man, who was practically trying to attack the small girl, as he grabbed her frail arm and dragged her towards the wooden front doors of the Hunters Association, in an attempt to toss her out.
"Annoying little brats like you, shouldn't even be wandering around this place!"
He grunted through his thick brown beard, as he tried to open the doors, while Ai squirmed to get away from his vicious grasp.
Zero saw the two from the floor above and jumped down from the railing boarding the higher floor to help Ai, she was so small in size, how could that manhandle her in such a way!
"What the hell do you think you're doing with that girl, Yamaguchi-San?"
Zero snapped as he confronted the hunter, who let go of Ai in surprise.
Ai quickly hid behind Zero Kiryuu, the potential future president of the Hunters Association-if all turned out in his favor... which was, unfortunately, quite rare for him these days.
"What's it to you, vamp, was I throwing away your meal?"
The older male smirked when he saw Zero starting to ball his fist in anger, but if Zero did anything threatening, he would be viewed as a dangerous vampire... again.
Everyone was watching his every move, waiting for a chance or reason to intervene.
Suddenly Zero felt someone pressing against his stomach, he looked down to see Ai's small hands trying to push him back from the older hunter who was trying to antagonize him.
"Come on Zero, it's not worth it!"
Ai pleaded, as her pushing barely caused Zero to budge even an inch from his spot, but she didn't want a fight to happen between the two men.
Ai turned towards the other man, who was about to throw another insult at the silver-haired hunter until she stared him down.
"If you want me to leave then I'll go, I don't want any trouble okay, I am sorry for angering you, sir."
Ai bowed to the older man.
The man stared the smaller girl down and chuckled.
"So, you got your girlfriend fighting your battles, huh, well I got to admit, unlike you, she actually knows her place."
The older man reached over to touch the girl, as she closed her eyes and cringed but before he could, Zero slapped his hand away.
"You're just trying to piss me off now, aren't you?"
Zero said with a calm yet satisfied expression etched into his handsome features.
The man backed away in anger and astonishment as he drew a sword from his sheath, which was hidden beneath his worn trench coat. Zero pushed Ai to the side, out of the way of the man's attack and reached into his inner coat pocket, to block the sword's oncoming swing with his Bloody Rose.
Hayashi backed away, as the men tried to overpower each other, just before a second sword with a jagged edge clanged against the older man's sword. Its wielder was Kaien Cross, who quickly and skillfully disarmed the old hunter before the sword could impale Zero.
Kaito subdued Zero by holding him back by the arms.
"Listen Zero, you want every hunter in this place screwing with you or something, being so careless and fighting some no-name hunter."
Kaito whispered through Zero's silver locks and into his pale pierced ears.
Kaito walked over to the older hunters with a swagger in his step.
"Listen, we're all civilized men here, so there's no need to waste our energy with such childish fighting and think of all the paperwork, now, you don't want to spend the entire night filling out some long-ass report about some, he said, she said nonsense right?"
Kaito held his hands up in defense, as the hunter stared him down before backing off, murmuring about Zero Kiryuu under his breath.
Zero started to walk off in anger before Kaito said he needed to talk to him, alone.
They walked out of the Hunters Association and waited until the large wooden doors slammed shut.
"What the hell is with you today Zero, you know if you need to talk to someone, that I'm here to listen, you can't be so unstable in front of the other hunters."
Kaito's soft brown eyes stared into the amethysts eyes of Zero Kiryuu, trying to look for some sense of understanding from his partner before Zero looked away.
"I'm sorry Kaito, I'll admit...I almost did lose control, but that man hurt Ai, I saw bruises forming on her skin, I won't just stand by and watch that man toss her out of the door."
Zero glared at Kaito with contempt since in Zero's mind he was in the right.
"Well, since that was the case, then I guess you had reasonable cause to defend yourself if it was solely for that girl's sake that is."
Kaito looked away in deep thought then looked back at Zero realizing something.
"Wait, that girl's name... is Ai?"
Kaito asked in a perplexed fashion before Zero calmly replied back.
"Yes, her name is Ai Hayashi and those boys were from her school, they followed her into the alleys."
Kaito started to think about her situation at the Hunters Association. They may have hunted vampires, but they were no saints and Zero could get her to reveal some more information if she spent a little more time with him.
Also Zero still hasn't taken a day off... she could occupy him, or at least keep him at home for a while.
Kaito then tensed, feeling as though he was being watched.
He looked towards Zero whose eyes were also roaming the bare streets, lined with its old lowly buildings and alleys that could be hiding any number of Level E's or common criminals.
"Hey Zero, are you going home soon because I want to go back to that spot the killings took place after I fill you in on what we found."
Kaito pressed his hand against the handles of the door but never pushed them open, instead he leaned on the wooden doors glancing around him before continuing his chat with his silver-haired partner.
"I know it's a rule, to not go alone on hunts, but I've noticed something quite disturbing... Zero, answer me honestly... can you smell the blood from here and if so... are you in the least bit tempted, to go to it and feed?"
Kaito asked Zero, who look a little ashamed, silently giving Kaito his answer.
He looked towards the sky, which was quickly turning bleaker and dark with every passing second, as large swirls of black and gray merged together in the sky.
It was going to rain soon.
The blood and any other physical evidence will be washed away soon and disappear into a maze of underground sewers.
Kaito finally stopped leaning on the doors to push the doors open and asked Zero to do something when he got home.
"Get some rest but before you go, I want you to take her with you."
Kaito and Zero peaked inside to see Ai looking at a portrait of the late Hunters Association president and shyly fiddling with the portrait.
"... Hey, the frame is crooked..."
Ai pushed the portrait to straighten it before it fell off of the wall. She caught it but began to struggle under its weight, as she stumbled back and forth.
"No way Kaito, why can't you or Cross take her, there is no way I can take care of that girl!"
Zero crossed his arms in a defiant gesture.
"Well, we talked about that before we got here, she scared of Cross, I'm too busy and the hunters at the Hunters Association-"
A crash and the sound of paper ripping caused everyone to look back at Ai, who was slumped over a small fallen table, holding a broken picture frame with a shredded canvas.
She had a look of shock on her face.
"Oops...my bad, I can fix it, I promise!"
Ai apologized as she tried to fit pieces together, while the hunters glared daggers at her for dropping and destroying the past Hunters Association's portrait of the late, androgynous, purple haired male.
Cross pulled her away from the mess and ushered her outside, wearing a nervous smile on his face as he looked back towards the aggravated hunters.
He told her to stay with Zero before shutting the doors on them.
"...Well, Zero, it's decided, she's staying with you!"
Kaito patted Zero on the back before whispering "good luck" to the brooding silver-haired man.
Ai Hayashi, however, was staring transfixed on something far off into the alley, as a strong wind blew it straight towards her direction.
The object wet with fresh blood, as it collected dirt when it was rolling on the ground.
"...Is that...a rose?"
She asked out loud, causing the hunters to look forward in confusion.
Zero and Ai stared at the rose; clueless as to why it was here and not getting its importance, as Kaito reached for the rose before jerking backward as a dagger almost impaled his hand.
They all looked up to see the silhouette of a tall slender man, the tails of his black trench coat swaying in the wind as he stood on top of the opposite building, his fangs glimmered in the moon's light before he took off.
The two other hunters followed after him, Zero from the rooftops and Kaito from the ground, as Ai stayed behind alone in the cold, before trying to follow after the two hunters as well, but losing them in the darkness of the alleys.
All three of them were separated, which was just what this man had wanted.
Ai slowed to a stop as she felt the presence of the same invisible pressure again. It almost took her breath away, when she was near the alley where the murder took place.
"Oh no, I have to get out of here-"
Suddenly, a muscular hand covered her mouth from behind as another arm, as strong as steel hidden beneath the sleeve of a brown worn trench coat, wrapped around her small body, binding her arms to her chest before dragging her panicking form into the depths of an alley and away from the direction of the hunters before she heard whispering in her ears.
"I'll teach you to make a fool out of me, you annoying little brat... then I'll blame it on that little vampire boyfriend of yours."
The voice chuckled into her ears before a shadow covered the both of them from behind, as her despite muffled cries to warn the old hunter went unheard.