The next evening, the couple lay cuddled in bed together. They just wanted to relax for a little before all hell would break lose. Something Akari was dreading.
"What do we do now?" Akari asked as she lay with her head on his bare shoulder, while her fingertips lightly brushed against his chest, drawing random patterns. Rido smiled and watched her fingers for a little while before signing softly. He enjoyed her tracing patterns on his skin, her soft touch relaxed him in ways he never thought. It was possibly one of the few times he honesty felt calm and relaxed, not even thinking ahead, just enjoying the time they had together. It made him unbelievably happy to have her in his arms.
"We have a number of choices we could make." Rido told her as he kissed the top of her head, breaking the short silence. "Kaname will more than likely be stewing in anger and grief. I'm just glad that I didn't have a run in with him. Your men got to me as I was leaving and Kaname was arriving. We managed to sneak out." He then told her. "One option would be for you to return to Kaname and say he was right. Watch him like a hawk and when the time is right, I attack and you backstab him." Akari pulled a face at the idea of going back to Kaname and saying he could possibly be right about anything. But not only that, she did run her mouth a little too much, it would be likely she would be punished for it the moment she stepped on the school grounds. Rido chuckled and smiled. "I knew you'd hate that idea."
"What else? I don't want to go back there if I can help it." She told him with a sigh, looking up at him.
"We attack first or we wait." He admitted. "I have a follower close to Kaname but I'm not sure if they will be able to give us any warning of an attack." Rido thought out loud. "Attacking first without knowing what's ahead could be dangerous and possibly fatal."
"You mean Asato? Because his grandson is staying at academy." She asked, curious as to if he had anyone else there. Rido nodded. "So, our best choice may be me then?" She questioned, sadness in her voice. She hated not knowing what could be ahead, it was more of a risk. A bigger risk of losing Rido.
"I'm afraid so." He admitted and pulled her closer to him. "Let me think about it for a while. Maybe I can come up with another way." He added, giving her a small smile.
"Can't you possess Senri again? I'm sure Kaname wouldn't expect you to do it twice." She then reasoned but Rido shook his head. He knew Kaname would be keeping a very close eye on Senri, just in case.
"It's likely they'll be watching Senri closely, watching for any change in personality or movements. It would be a likely they would notice me doing it. Even then, Kaname never shared information with Senri, as far as I could tell, it was Takuma who got told anything and sent of tasks." He explained.
"Why don't we send some followers to scout out the academy, from a distance, but maybe they'll see something?" Akari asked, it was worth a shot. Even if the followers were killed, it won't be a huge loss to them. It may even uncover important and valuable information. Rido thought for a moment, clearly considering the pros and cons.
"We can do that, it's better than knowing nothing. It will keep you away from Kaname at least." He finally spoke. "We can see how it goes." He then added, showing he wasn't sure how buyable it really was, in terms of information gathering.
"I could send a letter to Cross too." She stated, Rido frowned, unsure how that would help them. "I could say that I'm deeply sorry and saddened by the loss of Yuki. And that if I had known that was your intention, to kill her, I would have warned him. As well as try to stop you." She continued.
"How will that help?" He asked some what confused. It only made her look like she was indecisive. Not only that, she had come across as capable and strong at the academy, how could she word it with doing a one eighty on her personality?
"If I have to go back to the academy, it makes it a lot more buyable that I've seen you for who they think you are. It'll be easier to convince them that I've ran away from you." Rido nodded in agreement, it made much more sense.
"Also, tell them that you will try to forewarn them of any attacks and pass on as much information as possible. It will make it look like you disagree with what I am doing and now that your heart is no longer ruling your head, you will spy for them." He told her. "That way, you can stay with me." This time his voice took a deeper tone. He pulled her underneath him and started attacking her neck with soft kisses. Akari giggled and pulled him closer. She had no idea until now, how much of a caring and gently lover he could be. She loved seeing this side to him. She loved knowing that she was the only one who had seen it.
Akari sat in the emerald green drawing room, staring at a piece of paper. She didn't know how to start her letter. She didn't know how to make it look like she was helping them. Rido was sat opposite her, in a dark brown leather armchair, reading a book, most likely some classic novel. She sighed for what must have been the hundredth time. Rido looked over his book at her, her sighing was becoming a nuisance for his reading.
"What is it?" He also snapped at her, making her jump in surprise.
"Oh, I um, I don't know how to start the letter." She admitted, sounding ashamed. Rido's tone had taken her by surprise. It was the first time in a long time he had spoken to her in such a way. In the past he had used that tone when she was struggling to break up with someone, and her concern over it annoyed him. Her heart was never in those relationships, so why did it matter when she no longer wanted them?
Rido quickly realised his mistake. She appeared to shrink into herself. She wasn't weak by any means for this, it was her way to showing she was sorry. This was only something you would see if you were close to her. She wasn't one to apologise in anyway to anyone else. In fact, she would normally snap back at anyone else. She would never verbally apologise, but her body language did. He hadn't meant to snap at her.
"I'm sorry, I was just at a good part of the book." He apologised to her. "Just write it like I'm about to walk into the room and catch you doing something you shouldn't. Like a child stealing a cookie." He added once Akari sat up straight again. She thanked him and started writing, Rido smiled to himself and went back to reading.
The academy was on guard, the vampire hunters association had it on lockdown. Everywhere was being searched, they had to make sure Rido was gone and any unknown vampires were killed. It was much to their surprise that a vampire had come to the gates, holding a sealed envelope. He was demanding to speak to Cross too, refusing to allow anyone to deliver it on his behalf.
Cross didn't have time for games, he was morning the loss of the girl who had become a daughter to him. He had promised to keep her safe and he had failed. To make matters worse, Zero had run off, no one knew if he was alive or dead, not even Toga. And now he had to deal with some random vampire with post.
"Why couldn't you just have given it to any of these people?" Cross demanded, his voice harsh and broken from his private morning.
"My mistress demanded it was to handed to you personally, failure to do so would result in my death." The vampire informed him as he handed over the letter.
"Your mistress?" Cross asked curiously, turning the envelope over to see the red wax seal. No crest had been pushed into the wax as it hardened, instead a pattern of leaf had been imprinted.
"You know her personality, I cannot say her name out loud in fear of her being found out. He has his followers nearby, listening and watching." The vampire hinted to him. Cross quickly understood and opened the letter.
'Cross,
I don't have much time to write this.
I am deeply sorry and saddened by the loss of Yuki, she was such a sweet young girl. If I had known about Rido's attack, I would have warned you and tried to stop him myself. I would have sent Kaname back, told him everything. Instead I chose to say mean and horrible things to him.
I was stupid and naïve. Rido has tricked me, I let my heart rule my head and now I've seen who he really is. I should have seen it sooner but he often told me that his siblings betrayal had hurt him so deeply, it was the only way for him to heal. I believed him.
But what he did to Yuki was unforgivable. She had nothing to do with her parents or Rido's past. He overstepped, it is clear to me now that his only objective is the throne and to have me, a pretty thing to show off. I apologise for my blind naivety. I truly believed it to be love and I trusted the wrong man.
Please forward my condolences to Kaname. I wish I could get away with sending a letter to Kaname, to apologise but for the moment I can not sneak more than one letter out maybe every few days or weeks.
Rido has sent his followers to watch the academy. He is waiting for Kaname to come out of hiding. He's waiting for your guard to drop for just one moment.
You don't have to believe me. But I will send you information and warnings whenever I can.
I know we may not see eye to eye with our beliefs, mainly that I still believe humans to be food. But a world ruled by Rido is far worse than a world where some sort of peace between our races exists. I do hope that one day my opinion will change, despite over two hundred years. May be this experience will help me learn to be more accepting of the changes we all need to make.
Akari.
P. S. Zero was the one who told me about Yuki first. He has now gone to kill Shizuka I believe and possibly his twin brother. I told him about his twin, I thought after all of this he should know. I do not know if you already knew he was alive or not. So I apologise if I have overstepped. I will let you know if I hear from Zero or of his actions.'
Cross read the letter over and over. He looked for clues. It had been hastily written and had been scrunched up some point, possibly an attempt to hid the letter from Rido. The ink had been smudged in some places, even water marks that looked like tears were staining the paper. He didn't know what to think, but it wouldn't hurt to send some men out to check if Rido's followers were really close by. They had plenty of backup in case it was a ruse to get them out of the way. He was somewhat glad to know Zero was alive, but now he didn't know for how much longer. He would have to share this information with Toga. Even if Toga didn't show it, he was worried about Zero, he always had.