The Bee is not afraid of me.
I know the butterfly.
The pretty peoples in the woods
Receive me cordially.

The brooks laugh when I come –
The breezes madder play;
Wherefore mine eyes thy silver mist?
Wherefore, oh Summer's Day?

A woman stood among the trees, reaching a finger towards a butterfly. She wore a colonial style dress that was a dark blue with a while apron. Her long, chestnut colored hair reached her mid-back and blew in the gentle wind. Behind her ear was a flower, a mixture of a rose and a daisy, where a bumblebee was flying by. There was a river and a light snow fall completed the scene.

A series of knocks echoed into the dorm room. There was a scurry behind her as her friend dressed her part. Gina sighed silently; why couldn't she be left alone in peace to finish some work? She hoped it wasn't her parents.

"Takuma-kun!" Kemino exclaimed with a smile. Gina looked up from her drawing and turned to the door. Kemino had her arms around Takuma's waist. He was lacking the white jacket of his uniform. Behind him, she could see Yuuki, her right eye surrounded in a fading bruise. Kemino gave a fake coughing fit; those that didn't know the truth saw it was sickness. "What are you doing here?" Kemino asked.

"Business," Takuma said with a regretful smile.

Kemino pulled a frown, mentally fearing the worst. She moved into the room, allowing him and Yuuki to step inside, and closed the door behind them. "What for?"

"I need to ask Gina-chan a few questions," Takuma said. "Don't worry; it has nothing to do with the Senate."

"Is Kuran telling me to transfer now?" Gina asked, getting out of her seat. She went to the three with her arms crossed. She as in her green jacket and dark jeans.

Takuma shook his head. "You do know what happened today, don't you?" he asked.

Gina thought for a minute, three pairs of eyes on her the whole time. During classes, Gina was drawing 90% of the time. The other 10% she was asleep. What was the thing she is supposed to know?

"Something about anemia?" she asked slowly. She had heard some student in between classes say something about the condition; it was the only thing that stuck out in her mind.

"That's right," Takuma said.

"Why are you asking me about a blood condition?"

"She doesn't know," Yuuki said. "She didn't do it."

"Do what?" both Kemino and Gina asked.

"It wasn't anemia," Takuma said. "The girl fainted because she was bitten."

"You can't suspect Gina-chan!" Kemino said. "She wouldn't bite some random girl." She coughed. "I would assume that the girl doesn't remember anything so Gina-chan couldn't have done it; she can't seal memories."

"I didn't do anything," Gina said. "I was in all my classes; I was either drawing or asleep. The teachers should be able to prove that."

"We have reason to believe that it happened last night or early this morning."

"I was here all night," Gina said, "asleep in bed."

"And she slept in late," Kemino said. "I got her up right before breakfast ended."

Takuma gave a small smile. "Thank you for your time," he said. "I'm sorry I had to be the bad cop." Yuuki sighed in relief.

"Kuran's just looking for an excuse to get on my bad side," Gina half muttered.

"It's not your fault Takuma-kun," Kemino said. "Kaname-kun's being a meanie. He of all vampires should know not to accuse without proof."

"He suspected Zero too," Yuuki said. "He doesn't believe me when I say he didn't."

"Oh, he's really being bad if he's not listening to you," Kemino said. "I've made up my mind; I'm joining the search for the real crook." She coughed.

"You should go to bed," Takuma said with concern.

Kemino shook her head. "As a member of the Ichijou Detective Agency, I can't say 'no' to a case." Takuma sighed in defeat. "It's ok as long as I'm with you, right Yuuki-chan?"

"I guess so," Yuuki said slowly.

"Have fun," Gina said, returning to her desk. She listened to the three as they left the room, Takuma explaining that there were others in the "detective agency."

The room was silent; she reread the poem on her desk. She hated literature in the first place, poetry even more. Words are too limited to describe something; the object's beauty speaks for itself, it doesn't need words to help it. Symbols, metaphors, hidden meanings, and all that other literary crap just didn't click with her. A picture is so much simpler.

She looked over the picture she had drawn. It spoke louder than the poem, but something seemed wrong. "Wherefore mine eyes thy silvery mist? / Wherefore, oh Summer's Day?" What is that supposed to mean? Gina had made the silvery mist snow, but snow is the opposite of summer. Also the detailing on the trees weren't quite right. They needed a real reference. She put the poem in between the pages of her sketchbook, took it into her arms, and headed out the window.

The air was cold and she could almost smell snow. It reminded Gina of home; the house was huge for a three-person family with two full bathrooms, both on the second floor, a half-bath on the first floor, five bedrooms, two unused, the vast living room/dining room that took up much of the first floor and the kitchen. She could see the somewhat-giant fireplace in the living room where she spent her childhood nights drawing.

Gina sighed to herself. She did miss home, but she had become so accustomed to the life at Cross Academy. She couldn't imagine waking up in the morning without Kemino, not breaking the dress code each day with her rolled down socks and lack of the school necklace, not be greeted by Kemino's smiling face and seeing what hair color she had that day, not attending her various classes and talk to Kemino and Zero, and not tag along with Kemino when she went to talk to Takuma and Senri. Could she return to her old life? Thinking of her home made Gina think of the secrets her parents kept from her: her father being a Pureblood vampire, her mother being a former Vampire Hunter, and herself being a vampire.

There was a sharp noise that brought Gina out of her thoughts. She turned to the noise, a window, and saw Zero behind it. He gave a small wave and she returned it. Gina looked around and saw she was by the school. When she looked back at the window, Zero was gone, but she soon smelt his scent and waited.

Zero came from the direction of the school. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What are you doing out?" he asked. His voice had no trace of a demand; it was a simple conversation starter.

Gina held up her sketch book. "I need to go look at some reference," she said. "And it's for an assignment, believe it or not."

"What class?" Zero asked.

"Literature." Zero raised an eyebrow in question. "I don't understand poems so I draw a picture for them to analyze them."

"Is it that Bee poem?"

"Yeah." Gina sighed. "Poetry sucks ass."

"Well if you weren't asleep, you would have heard that the teacher did half of the analyzing during class."

"Are you serious?"

"Do I have a reason to lie to you?"

"Damn it." Gina face-palmed. "This is why I need Kemino in class."

Zero chuckled. "Well, it's not every day you fall asleep," he said. "Are you feeling ok?"

Gina shrugged. "I didn't sleep well last night."

The two teens began to walk. "Any particular reason why?" Zero asked.

"Vampire ability," Gina said. "I think I have super sensitivity to other people's experiences so having drunk both your and Shizuka's blood, I had a dream of the night she bit you in each point of view."

Zero nodded. "Not something I would like to relive."

"Try it twice at the same time," Gina said. "My brain felt like it was going to explode. And this poem thing isn't helping."

"I bet. What do you have for the picture?"

Gina opened her sketch book to one of the last pages and handed it to Zero. "Something seems wrong with it," she said as his purple eyes scanned over it. "The snow's out of place."

"It looks fine to me," Zero said. "It adds another dimension to the interpretation. The clashing of the summer scene with the coming winter indicates some internal conflict in the woman or artist."

"And then the reaching to the butterfly shows hope," Gina said.

"What about the bumblebee?"

"Many people are afraid of bees because of the fear of being stung. So the woman, letting the bee near her, is not afraid of any lurking danger that comes with the conflict because she has her hope."

"Interesting."

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"Good." Zero returned Gina's sketchbook to her and she scribbled down what they had said on the paper with the poem. "Though I don't think that's what the poem shows," he said.

"Don't care," Gina said. "I'll show my picture to prove my interpretation."

"Of course." Zero stopped. "This looks like a good spot for you."

Gina looked around them. "Thanks. Now no one will hear you scream while I continue my drinking spree," she said with a small laugh.

"So you did hear about that."

"Yeah." Gina got down to her knees and began working on the details of the trees in her drawing. "Ichijou came to the dorm and questioned me because I'm a suspect because I'm a vampire. I'm calling criminal profiling."

Zero sat next to her. "Join the club."

"Kuran just wants to make his Night Class look like good children. But for all he knows, me and you are working together and it was both of us that bit the girl."

"How do you explain her lack of memory?" Zero asked with a smirk tugging at his lips.

"We wacked her in the back of the head with a baseball bat or something. Though, personally, I would have killed her and hide the body and no one would notice until I am half-way around the world."

Zero laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Because killing people is easier than giving them amnesia." Gina muttered a curse and erased some work she did. She handed her book to Zero. "I'm going to go stand over there to model the woman. You draw the tree details; I can't do it without the reference."

Zero took the sketchbook and then Gina stood up. She took off her jacket and tied it around her waist to imitate a skirt. She went in front of Zero and stood in the same pose as the woman in the drawing.

"You need some extensions," Zero said as he compared Gina's position to the drawing. "Take a step forward-right."

Gina moved. "Oh, shut up. I like my hair the way it is." She moved her hair behind her ear. "That's all I'm doing for you."

Zero sketched in the tree bark for a few silent minutes. "Kuran thinks that I have special powers," he said. "That's his proof against me."

"Oh course he thinks that," Gina said, "you're a million times better than him and he can't figure out why."

"He also said the same about you."

"That is more possible than you, but Kuran can suck my left nut-sack because he's fucking wrong."

"We both know you don't have any of those."

"I have more than him and Aidou combined."

"Yuuki has more than them."

"That's stretching it Zero."

Zero rolled his eyes slightly. He blew away lead fragments and eraser bits. "Done."

Gina came back to him and took her book. She smiled as she looked over it. "Perfect," she said. "Thanks."

"No problem." Zero rested an elbow on a knee. "Are you going to go back to the dorm now?"

"No, of course not," Gina said, sitting next to him. "That would be the proper thing to do."

Zero ruffled her pink hair. "You're going to get punished one day."

"Are you going to be in charge of that?" Gina asked with a smirk.

"Maybe."

"I could take you on and punish you instead."

"Oh please. All I have to do is hold out my arm and you couldn't reach me."

"I'll prove you wrong right now if I have to!"

"Bring it."

Gina lunged at Zero with a growl and tackled him to the ground. Zero quickly grabbed hold of her wrists and held them above their heads. Gina struggled to get her hands free and moved her leg to knee Zero in the groin. He quickly blocks her attack and rolls both of them over so they are now on their sides. Zero wrapped his legs around Gina's tightly to prevent any further attacks. Gina muttered curses as she tried to get free. Zero only tightened his legs as she did. The pink-haired girl growled and glared while her white-haired friend laughed at her.

"You bastard!" Gina growled.

"What?" Zero asked. "I only disproved what you said."

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes as Gina struggled. Zero kept her bounded effortlessly. Eventually Gina stopped, but the two laid as they were.

How is it that they are able to be like this after everything that has happened? Gina expected some sort of awkwardness between the two of them, but they were as close as ever. Zero must have special powers to act like I haven't kissed him and we didn't make out the last time we were together. It doesn't bother him because he doesn't feel the same and it's his way of forgetting; that has to be it. Gina looked up into Zero's eyes to try and find an answer. Keeping his nonchalant face, he stuck out his tongue a little at her. She began laughing at him; the face was priceless.

Zero unwrapped his legs from Gina. "So did you see what happened to Yuuki's eye?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gina said. "Kemino's an emerging artist." She laughed.

"What do you mean by that?" Zero asked.

Shit… Zero didn't know that Kemino had punched Yuuki the other day. And she can't lie to him because Zero would know it was one. Gina sighed. "You have to swear on your life not to tell a soul, got it?" Zero nodded. "After storming off on you, Kemino ran into Cross and punched her in the face. Cross gave Kemino a secret suspension so Kemino is playing sick."
"Why keep it a secret?"

"Because her sisters could get hurt from it." Zero stared at Gina with a questioning look. "You don't know about her home life, do you?" Zero shook his head. Gina made a silent prayer, hoping Kemino wouldn't kill her. She took a breath and explained about how Kemino's parents were killed and her guardian was now their murderer.

As Gina explained, everything about the whimsical girl made sense. Each of her wigs were a different personality for her, a way to hide what was really going on. It explained why she was close with the Vice President of the Moon Dorm since day one and why the chairman wasn't concern with her knowledge of the existence of vampires. It just all made sense now for Zero.

The wind blew, causing a chill in the air. Zero released Gina's wrists and she huddled herself against him. He undid her jacket from around her waist and laid it over her shoulder.

"Hey Zero," Gina said, breaking the small silence, "you're probably going to flip on me for this, but I need to say it."

There was a slight bit of dread in Zero's chest. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry for killing Shizuka."

He put a hand on her head and ran his fingers through her pink strands. "You don't need to apologize for that," he said. "I wanted to kill her in the first place."

"That's why I'm apologizing," she said. "I'm sorry that I stole your revenge."

Zero sighed. "From the amount of blood I smelt, I assume that you didn't have a choice; it was either you or her."

"So you won't go suicidal from it?"

"Have I seem suicidal lately?"

"Can't I ask you yourself so I can look after you?"

"I didn't say you couldn't. I was asking what makes you think that."

Gina paused, thinking of how to word it carefully. "It's a back thought," she said, putting a hand on her head. "You wanted to kill her and then… you wanted to kill yourself to get rid of the Level-E inside."

"I did." Gina opened her mouth to snap at him, but Zero put a finger on her lips. "But I don't now; there's no point. You would bring me back from the dead and then kill me yourself."

"Damn straight."

"And I have no reason to die. Someone has to babysit you." Zero's lips lightly brushed against the top of Gina's head; he couldn't tell if it was consciously or not. Gina looked up at him with slight confusion on her face. Zero started off over her head. After a short amount of silence he said, "It's getting late."

"Yeah." Gina agreed slowly. Both got off the ground and stood. "Night Zero."

"Good night Gina."

1111

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Shouldn't you know when I'm trying to earn an Oscar?"

The blonde vampire sighed with a smile. He set down the manga hew was reading. "Why are you being an Oscar-winning actress?"

Kemino walked over to her friend. "Well, you saw what happened to Yuuki-chan's face…" she said with a shrug.

Takuma's mouth gapped open. "Kemino-chan!"

"It was an accident!" Kemino said. "I already apologized fifty-two million times to her. I told the chairman about it and we talked about Ichihou and so I'm 'sick' for the rest of the time at school."

"And so Grandfather doesn't know."

Kemino shook her head. "He's already pissed about Gina-chan and pressure from Kaname-kun and Sekino-san. He would flip shit if he knew I got in trouble and hurt Mayumi and Rika."

"Come here." Takuma patted the spot next to him. Kemino sat. "I thought you got over your 'sticking it to the man' phase."

Kemino smiled. "I was thinking the same thing! I'm such a bad girl."

"That's not something to be proud of," Takuma sighed.

"But it's so much fun! Oh the memories. Maybe I should get my eyebrow re-pierced."

"Can you lay off the drugs this time?" Takuma asked with a joking smile.

"I can't make any promises; I need to continue my war with the Purple Unicorns."

"And cleanse the world of molten rainbows?"

"Remember that one time I ran into the meeting of a meeting? The looks on their faces were priceless!"

"Grandfather was very upset with you that day."

"I know, but it was so worth it." Kemino put a hand on Takuma's face. "Oh my God! You have a face!" Her lavender eyes were wide, an insane glint shined in them.

"Oh my God!" Takuma put his hand on her face. "You have one too!"

Kemino gasped. "I do?"

He took some strands of her blue hair in his fingers. "You also have hair too!"

"Really?" she gasped. "You do too! It's yellow."

"Yours is blue."

"Oh my God! It's a conspiracy!"

The two broke out in laughter from their old act. Takuma put his arm around Kemino's shoulders and Kemino leaned against him.

"How long has it been since you did that?" Takuma asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Kemino said with a sigh. "Around three years or so."

"It was during middle school."

"Yeah. Oh, I really hope the twins won't do it; Ichihou would die of a stroke; on second thought, let them."

"Be kinder," Takuma said before kissing the top of Kemino's head.

Kemino thought for a minute before climbing into Takuma's lap. She had her knees on the sides of his legs and faced him. Her arms wrapped around the blonde's neck and their faces became inches apart. "Maybe I should continue being the rebel child," she said with a seductive tone.

"Why's that?" Takuma asked innocently.

"I could steal your innocence."

"Grandfather would be quite upset with that."

"He would be extremely pissed to know you gave yourself before marriage and to me."

"Oh my. We shouldn't do anything then."

"Why not? It would be fun."

"Ok, I'm in."

They both let out a laugh and kisses. Their lips slowly parted and came back together over and over. Heads were beginning to become cloudy when they forced themselves to stop. They rested their foreheads against one another. Kemino's quicken heart-beat ran in Takuma's ears.

"I love you," Kemino's voice cut through the solid beats.

"I love you too," Takuma said. He kissed her again, holding her body close to his. He lifted both of them up, causing the blue-haired girl to grip her arms tightly around him. He took her to the bed and laid her on the bed softly.

Kemino's cheeks turned pink. "Taku–?"

The blonde cut off her voice with a kiss. He could hear her heart pick up its pace as they continued to kiss. Takuma planted a trail of kisses from his lover's soft lips down her jaw line and down her neck. A small mew escaped Kemino's mouth as the small sensations went up her neck. He could feel her pulse underneath his lips. Takuma took in her scent fully, his body beginning to crave the girl's blood.

Kemino jolted when she felt Takuma's fangs brush against her skin. She pushed his head away from her neck. Takuma looked at her with a slightly hurt and confused face. She shook her head. "Not here," she said. "Someone could smell it and we'd get in trouble. I'm sorry."

"No, you're right," Takuma said. "I should have better self-control."

"If you took me off of school property, I'll let you have a snack," Kemino said with a sly giggle.

Takuma patted her head and kissed it softly. "That won't be necessary," he said.

"You sure honey?"

"I'm sure."

"Ok." Takuma laid next to the girl. Kemino snuggled against him while he put his arms around her. "Hey Takuma-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Can I sleep here for the day? I don't have school."

"Hmm… I guess so," Takuma said with a smile. "Just let me get a drink." He got off the bed and went into the bathroom. When he returned in pajamas, Kemino was under the blankets with some of it pulled back for him. He got into bed and the two snuggled closely together. They kissed softly.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Sweet dreams."

I'll also show you a sweet dream next night.

You already know that I'm going to apologize a gazillion times for being late so let's skip that part. Thing's have been crazy for me lately; had to write a literary criticism for English, had to do college apps, I'm trying to get by in Calc II. Everything has left my brain dry of energy.

Thanks to lmamc, BinaryP0wnage, and shirosuki sakura for reviewing last chapter.

I'm sorry guys, but I have no idea when the next update is going to be. As I said, my brain has had no ideas recently besides from what you just read. Don't fret, I will get to the end of this so we all can get to the next part. Oh wait, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Anyway, like I said, I will get this done. All I ask is that you guys be paitent and keep an eye out for when the next chapter pops up. Thanks everyone.

Btw, here's a little something you should check out: .com/art/Paper-Cut-Aido-Approximation-265453279 (as a little thank you to my friend for semi-advertaising my artwork)