Okay, here is the next chapter of Red Rose. Hope you like-

Takuya: Wait a minute!

me: *sighs impatiently* What, Takuya?

Takuya: How did Masaki end up at the hospital?! How did he know that Zoe was there? And when did he have time to get there?!

me: First off, there is about an hour and a half of free time he had that I didn't go in depth into. So he had plenty of time to get to the hospital. As for him knowing that Zoe was there, I'll explain that later. Now pipe down and let the readers get to the chapter.

Takuya: Fine....

me: Anyway, enjoy this chapter. And I'll be gone for the next few days, but Dark Sanctuary will be updated when I get back, either Thursday or Friday.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters. I also do not own any Elfen Lied characters, except for the OCs I have created.

Red Rose

Chapter 21

Zoe stared at the young man with uneasiness, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that," he said apologetically.

"It's okay," Zoe replied monotonely. "Just don't do it again. I don't like it when people are lurking behind me."

"I understand, as I am the same way," the man told her. "I just noticed that you were looking at the flowers and decided to wander over to them myself."

The blond moved over, letting him look at the display of roses. "Well, here you go."

Masaki smirked, staring at the same two colored roses Zoe had been looking at. "Red and white roses are very special. Are you getting them for someone?"

Zoe shifted uncomfortably. "No, just browsing..."

"Shame that they don't have black roses," he mused. "Black roses are very...intriguing..."

"I'm sure they are." The girl glanced at the colorful array, her bored face hiding her true feelings.

Masaki took a red rose and twirled the stem around in his fingers, the thorns barely missing his skin. "It is said that white and black roses are born together. They represent good and evil, yin and yang."

"Let me guess," Zoe said in uncaring tone. "Black represents evil and white represents good."

"Correct." Masaki glanced at her, his navy eyes piercing into her emerald ones. "But the red rose has a different backround. With every innocent blood is spilled, the white rose and black rose die, giving birth to a red rose right in the middle."

"Is that so?" The female Diclonius asked, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"It is a myth, but I believe it," Masaki said, allowing one of the thorns to prick his finger. "A red rose is said to represent the blood of the innocent, and that is why it has thorns. The thorns signify that the innocent never die, as they are pure."

Zoe watched as a bead of blood emerged from his fingertip, sitting on his flesh like a glimmering jewel. "I see...."

The young man also stared at the drop of crimson. "The red rose is at its best when the owner of the blood lives. Both the life of the owner and flower are linked by fate and the rose will never die unless the one bound to it dies."

"Red roses die all the time," Zoe pointed out apathetically. "All flowers die at some point."

"True, but that is how the myth goes," Masaki told her, putting the red rose back. "And the rose may do something rare at times. If the bound innocent is killed by murder, then the rose may sacrifice its life and petals. The innocent will be given the chance to rise again, with renewed strength."

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm don't believe many myths," she said. "As I have seen hundreds of flowers die before me."

Masaki gave her a half-smile. "Yes, but you were not bound to any, were you?"

"Not that I'm aware of.... You seem to know quite a bit," Zoe remarked. "But may I ask you something?"

"Ask away," he replied, his eyes scanning over the twin ribbons in her hair.

Zoe immediately felt his gaze and grew uncomfortable. "What happens to the person who causes the innocent's blood to spill? What is their fate?"

"That I am not completely sure about. However, in my honest opinion, I think that if a person causes an innocent's blood to spill..." He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "They are doomed to slowly die and wilt, as if they are bound by a black rose, the rose that represents evil. They will die very painfully, dehydration and weakness being one of the factors, bound to that black rose until their agonizing death."

The blond continued to gaze at the flowery display, her stomach clenching. Suddenly she hurried past him, her eyes dark.

"I gotta go," she mumbled as she walked away.

Masaki smirked, releasing one of his invisible vectors. It went over Zoe's long hair, stopping at one of her ribbons. The vector tugged gently at the ribbon, untying it. Zoe gasped, feeling the silky material loosen around her horn. She immediately clapped her hand over the area, almost running from the gift shop.

The male Diclonius watched her leave, a satisfied grin on his face. "You must be like the black rose, Zoe...."

Zoe had not heard the comment, and was rushing to the restroom as quickly as possible. The restroom was empty, and she moved her hand away to find her ribbon sliding off the horn completely. For several seconds, Zoe stared at the horn, her eyes brimming with tears. By now it was now almost completely regenerated, as was her other one. Only a few more days and they would be as good as new.

"But I don't want them," she muttered, tying the ribbon back around her horn.

Zoe wiped her eyes, then stormed out of the bathroom. She briskly walked back to the lobby, and promptly sat down on one of the seats. With a shudder, she shakily picked up a magazine and attempted to read it. However, her concentration was elsewhere and she couldn't stop thinking about the young man she had encountered.

Who was he? She thought to herself. There's something about him...something I can't quite put my finger on.... The blond shook her head and sighed, trying to ignore the so-called myth he had told her. Myth about the red rose...absurd...there is no such thing.... And what he said about the black rose and the person bound to it.....nonsense....

She didn't notice as Masaki crept out of the hospital, his navy orbs burning into her.

We will meet again soon enough, he thought to himself with a smile. After our little conversation, I doubt that you'll forget about me so quickly.

Masaki walked through the parking lot, his hood still pulled up to conceal his horns. He was satisfied with the progress he had made and smirked as he remembered what had happened less than a half hour ago to help him get to her...

Twenty-five minutes previous

By now it had been nearly an hour since Masaki had 'accidentally' decapitated the rude child. He felt no remorse, and would've done it again in a heartbeat if necessary. However, he was slightly impatient, as he wasn't sure where to find Zoe. The male Diclonius walked down the same road he had been taking for the past few days, already sick and tired of the same buildings he had been passing each day.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere," he mused. "But where? Maybe at home...."

Masaki continued his journey through town, hoping to catch a glance of the blond girl amongst the crowd. Suddenly, he head jerked up and the corners of his mouth twitched into a malicious smirk. His eyes averted to the road, where a line of cars was passing him. He glanced at each automobile, the sensation he had felt growing stronger each passing second. A black Mazda drove past him, and he let out a low chuckle. He had just enough to time to see a blur of blond hair through one of the windows of the car, and he immediately knew that Zoe was inside.

The young man watched as the car sped down the road, heading towards a sign. He saw it take a right, going right past the sign and upon further speculation, he discovered it to read 'Hospital'.

"So, she's going to the hospital, huh? Better make sure I get a ride there," he said to himself.

Masaki made his way to a nearby restaurant, heading towards the parking lot in the back of the building. From the lot, he was out of sight from the main road, aiding him what he needed to do. As he walked through the area, he spotted a young woman in her early twenties getting into her car.

"Excuse me, miss?" He called to her, hoping to get her attention.

Surprised, the woman whirled around to face him. "Uh, can I help you?"

Masaki stopped in front of her, a smile on his face. "Actually, you can."

With that, he released his vectors, slicing them across her torso. The woman's light blue eyes were wide with terror as her upper half crashed to the ground. The lower half of her severed body crumpled beside her, and her blood was splashed throughout the parking lot in a sickening mess. She died a second later, her intenstines hanging from her destroyed torso in a soggy clump.

With her car door open, Masaki pried the keys from her hand and started the engine. He then slid in behind the wheel and hurriedly left the parking lot, on a hunt for Zoe.

Masaki was now waiting inside the car he had stolen, his heartbeat rapid with excitement.

"All I have to do now is wait for Zoe and her friends to leave and then follow them home," he told himself. "Good thing that isn't slowing me down today..."

Meanwhile

"Are you serious? Did he really do that?" Kouichi asked with a laugh.

Kanae chuckled. "Yeah, my grandfather has a tendency of chasing people off the property with his cane."

"Wow, he sounds very....interesting," Kouichi finally said.

"Eh, he skips his meds half the time so he acts like a lunatic," Kanae told him. "It's entertaining, but it also gets annoying after awhile."

"Yeah, I know where you're coming from." Kouichi took a sip of his drink. "Kouji annoys me at least ten times a day."

Kanae smiled at him and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "I'm sure he thinks that you're annoying, too. I know that my brother and I annoy each other all the time."

"Nah, I'm not annoying at all. Kouji only thinks I'm annoying 'cause I'm not a crazed emo like he is," he said.

"Is he really that bad?" She asked with a half-smile.

"Well, I suppose he could be worse," Kouichi replied after a moment. "He's not the wrist-cutting emo type, but he likes to make sure everyone around him is depressed."

Kanae shook her head in disbelief. "Wow, now I'm kinda glad that my brother isn't like that."

"What's your brother like anyway?" The raven-haired teen asked.

"He's kind of the strong, silent type I guess you can say," she answered, thinking of Masaki's traits. "You know, it's very hard to surprise him and he has a way of getting on people's nerves. Mine especially."

"Really? How?" Kouichi took a bite of the dessert they had ordered.

"Well, he doesn't like to be told what to do and will have a smart-ass comment in retaliation. He makes everyone around him feel like an idiot," Kanae explained. "Also, if he's in the middle of doing something, it takes about three hours to get him to stop and do something else."

Kouichi winced. "Must be a bitch to live with him sometimes."

Kanae shrugged, taking a bite of their frozen treat. "Eh, it could be worse I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess," Kouichi mused. "So....where exactly do you live?"

The pink-haired girl almost choked. "What?"

"Uh, I just asked where you lived," Kouichi told her, a look of surprise on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"Um, yeah. Fine. Just uh...choked on my food, that's all," Kanae lied.

Kouichi smirked. "You choked on ice cream?"

"Hey, it can happen," she pointed out. "I have tripped up the stairs and done other stupid things that people normally wouldn't think that could happen."

"Well, I'll give you that," Kouichi said, considering. "I fall up the stairs all the time. My brother calls me a freak. Then he usually goes off to do something weird."

"But uh, I live about a half hour from here," Kanae said. "It's a nice walk. Where do you live?"

Kouichi shrugged. "Not far. About twenty minutes away from here."

"Where exactly is that?" She pushed, hoping for more information.

"It's a secret," he replied coyly.

Kanae smiled, but inside she was cursing him for not revealing anything else. "Ah, a man of mystery. I like that in a guy."

Kouichi felt his face blush slightly. "You do?"

"Yup. The last guy I went out with always dragged me to comic book conventions," she said with a sigh.

"Really? Not into conventions, are you?" Kouichi asked.

"Well, it's not really that. I really don't mind going to some type of convention. Hell, I'll even dress up for the fun of it," Kanae revealed. "But that's all we ever did. The guy was a huge Superman fanatic and dressed up like him almost every day. It was funny at first, but then....."

"It got annoying that all he ever wore around you was red underwear over his blue pants?" Kouichi quipped.

Kanae let out a small laugh. "Exactly. And he always called me 'Lois'. I didn't like that very much..."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I won't call you that," the young man responded.

About ten minutes later, they had finished their meal and Kouichi payed the bill.

"Here, let me give you some money for that," Kanae told him, reaching into her pocket.

However, Kouichi stopped her. "No, it was my treat to you. Really, I don't mind."

Kanae hesitated, but complied. "Okay, if you say so."

"What, are you not used to having the guy pay for the date?" Kouichi teased.

"No, I just figured that I'd offer," she replied.

They stood outside the restaurant for a minute, an awkward silence between them. Finally, Kanae cleared her throat and looked away.

"I uh...I better get going," she said.

"Yeah, same here." Kouichi shuffled his foot carelessly. "So, I'll see you around, I guess."

Kanae smiled. "Uh, yeah. Bye."

"Bye." Kouichi turned to leave, only for Kanae to put both hands on his shoulders.

Before he knew what was happening, the girl quickly kissed him on the cheek.

"See you later." She blushed and hurried away, leaving behind a stunned Kouichi.

The short-haired twin gingerly touched his cheek where she had kissed him, a dazed look on his face.

"Bye...."

At the hospital

Masaki grinned when he saw Zoe and her friends exiting the hospital, watching as they made their way to their car. The older brunette of the group got behind the wheel, Zoe sliding into the front passenger seat behind him. The two younger teens went into the back seat, the boy looking as though he had been crying.

While he waited for them to leave, Masaki decided to start his own car. He turned the key, hearing the engine roar to life. After another minute or so, the Mazda drove out of the parking lot, and Masaki stepped on the gas pedal. However, the car did not move from its designated spot.

"What?" His eyes narrowed and he tried again.

The car sputtered forward, then stopped in its tracks as soon as he was out of the spot. There was a popping sound from beneath the hood, and Masaki angrily stepped out of the vehicle.

"Dammit!" He saw as the Mazda completely disappeared from sight, and he groaned in aggravation.

He had lost her, and there was no catching up to her now, even if he was able to get another car. His navy eyes darkened and he used his vectors to hurl the useless vehicle across the parking lot. There was a splash of blood coming from under the hood of the car, as it had flipped over. As passerbys screamed from the horrific sight, the vehicle exploded, sending many of them flying backwards. Burnt bodies scattered over the pavement, several of them still alive while a few unfortunate ones had been killed from the fiery blast. The scent of burnt flesh and hair filled the air, and dozens of people rushed out of the hospital to see what the commotion was.

"At least they're at a hospital," Masaki muttered as he stalked out of the parking lot.

Okay, I decided to end it here. I'm tired and want to move on to the next chapter at some point. Overall, there will probably be about 35 chapters or so, which means that I need to start working on them soon. Hope you liked the chapter.