Guess what! Exactly I have a new chapter for you. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no claim to (though it should be obvious at this point)
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As his face had neared hers, Seiren had been unsure why he was approaching her, then his lips touched hers tentatively and gently. She stood there shocked as he left them there for a few seconds and then pulled back and blinked. She parted her lips to ask him why he had kissed her when he blushed and bowed to her saying, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She was about to tell him that she didn't mind that he had done it but he continued speaking saying, "I'm going to make sure that the elder vampires are asleep and then go to bed myself. I will see you later."
"I need to get back to guarding my master's door anyway," she said turning away and trying to keep her pace normal when all she wanted to do was run away. She wished that he didn't regret what he had done as much as he seemed to. She didn't have much experience with people and especially not with kissing but she didn't think it had been that unsatisfactory. She almost wished that he hadn't done it. Now what had been so companionable was tense and awkward.
"Seiren," he called suddenly and she turned hoping that. . . well she didn't know what she was hoping, but for something good to come of all this, "Thank you."
She didn't ask for clarification but nodded her head in acknowledgment of his thanks and kept walking the direction of Yuuki's room and her post for the night. Anyone who passed her would not have noticed anything different in her expression because she keep it as neutral as always (except when she was around him) but inside her mind was raging and spinning like a hurricane. I was horrible and he hates me, she thought angrily what kind of good bye is 'thank you.' Oh well, I don't need him anyway I have more important things to take care of that worrying about one level D. Odds are he would only bring me pain anyway. I'm better off without him. But even as she thought it she wondered if it was true and was thankful for the shadows because they allowed her to hide the single tear that fell.
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As he watched her leave he could have kicked himself. What the hell had he been thinking? There was no way that she was interested in him. She was part of Kaname's inner circle which meant that she was at least a noble. There was no way that she would be interested in an ex-human vampire who was also a hunter. It was impossible. Why had he kissed her? He hadn't even thought about it, it just seemed like the right thing to do. And "thank you" what kind of idiotic thing was that to say. He had seen the hurt in her eyes as he had said it and instantly wished that he could take it back.
I was right, he thought sadly, when I told Yuuki that I can only cause pain to those that I care about. Wait, since when do I care about her? Even though he had told her that he was going to make one more pass of the grounds around the headmaster's house and then go to sleep, he had lied. Sleep was not going to be an option after what had just happened. He had too much to think about. Instead he made one more pass of the house and then decided that he was going to take a shower since he was still covered in blood.
As he closed and locked the door behind him, all the memories that he had fought to keep back came rushing forward like a flash flood. Ichiru's broken form, Yuuki bleeding and in pain and then him holding his gun on her, Seiren's eyes as she looked at him that last time. He hadn't cried when his parents had died because he had the anger of revenge to hold on to, but this time, there was nothing to help him hold back the tears. In an attempt to cover the sounds of his sobs from any that might hear, he turned on the shower.
Seeing the red water that flowed down the drain didn't help with the memories though he thought it should have. In that water was the blood of at least two people. Everything in his world revolved around blood anymore and he assumed that memories would also be tied to blood, as if washing away the blood from the even could help to wash away the event itself. But he had been wrong. Even long after he was clean he couldn't purge the images that haunted his mind.
Another flash of Seiren's eyes gave him hope. He may have no chance of fixing the other things that had happened today, but he had a chance to fix what had happened with her. She seemed like a rational woman; maybe if he went and talked to her she would understand what had happened. It was with this hope that he got dressed and went to find her, not that that was difficult. She was in the same dark corner that she had been in the last time he had run into her only this time she was sitting in the floor. He wasn't sure that he had ever seen her sit before, it was a little odd.
"Would you like some company?" he asked quietly sitting beside her without waiting for her reply. She turned to blink at him owlishly, she hadn't heard him come up and that was not a good thing when she was supposed to be guarding a door. When she realized who he was she turned her head away angrily.
"What do you want?" She snapped looking away from him back to the door. He was surprised at the venom in her tone. She had been cool towards him before, but this almost sounded like hate. At least he knew what to do with that emotion. He sighed.
"I just wanted to talk about what happened earlier," he said slowly. She was angry that he would dare bring that up. She had been hoping that they could both forget about it and move on but that was impossible if he wouldn't quit talking about it. "I—"
"I don't want to hear it," she cut him off rudely. "I don't want to talk about it. I want to forget it ever happened." Her words were like knives to him. She wanted to forget what had happened. She didn't like him. But why did she look so hurt? A part of him asked.
They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, then Zero finally said, "I'm sorry, for you know, kissing you. I shouldn't have done that. I don't know why I did."
"Why did you?" She asked still not looking at him.
"I just said I don't know why I did it! Why would you ask why I did it?" he snapped frustrated that she would ask something so stupid. When she didn't answer he kept talking. "Well, I suppose. . . I don't know. There's something about you that draws me to you. For some reason I like being around you."
"I like being around you too," she said with a small smile finally looking at him again. "I don't know why either but something about being around you makes me happy." That small smile lifted Zero's heart in ways he never thought possible. He had loved Yuuki for so long and now he was shifting his affection so suddenly. Slowly as he sat there in a comfortable silence with Seiren he came to realize that he had never really loved Yuuki for Yuuki but for her kindness and her determination to be there for him. He had mistaken her caring for love. He had cared for Yuuki, and still did, but he didn't actually love her. Not anymore. He gently tapped the back of Seiren's hand with his own and she looked at him cautiously and the placed her hand gingerly in his and squeezed it gently.
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Yuuki awoke the next evening feeling refreshed and rested. She looked beside her and saw Kaname sleeping peacefully. He looked so young and innocent in his sleep and she hated that there was so much blood on his hands on account of her. She wished that he could always look so peaceful. She gently brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead still slightly shocked that he was actually not just able to be hers but meant for her. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips softly and tried to get out of bed as gracefully as she could so as not to wake him.
Thankful for her vampire skills again, she crept to the closet and got a change of clothes before she headed equally stealthily to the door and opened it. With one last look at her sleeping lover, she closed the door quietly behind her and was prepared to head to the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes.
She was startled when she caught a flash of sliver out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to put her full attention on it. Sitting on the floor in the corner of the hallway was none other than Zero. It surprised her that he had camped out in front of her and Kaname's room but she supposed that he was trying to make good on his promise to protect her. What surprised her even more though was the Seiren was sitting on the ground next to Zero with her head on his shoulder and both of them were asleep. If she didn't know better, it looked like they were holding hands. Smiling at the two of them she crept past and went on into the shower. She was glad that Zero had found someone that made him happy and secretly hoped that they woke up before Kaname because she could see him making fun of them for that.
After she finished her shower, which took longer than she had anticipated because of the sheer amount of hair that she now had to deal with, she blow dried her hair and fought the urge to cut it back to where it had been a few days before only because she realized that there was no way she could cut the back of it herself. It felt good to be clean again, though she didn't truly feel clean and doubted she ever would. But even if she wasn't clean, she was loved and that mattered too. She walked back to her room with a smile on her face and was surprised to see that Zero and Seiren were still asleep where they had been.
She debated a second and then decided that she would wake them up before anyone else caught them in their private moment. She knelt beside Zero and nudged his shoulder. His mouth twitched and he mumbled in his sleep. She wrinkled her nose in frustration. She didn't want to wake Seiren because she wasn't sure how well the other girl took surprise. Another nudge to Zero, this one a little more forceful had him opening a lavender eye to tell her, "I'm not going to school today, leave me alone."
"That's good," she replied, "Since it's evening and school is long since over. But you need to get up."
"Why?" He mumbled sleepily nuzzling Seiren's head. She moaned a little and stirred in her sleep.
"Maybe because you're sitting in the hall in front of my room cuddling Kaname's bodyguard," she said in a rush fighting the urge to laugh. Boy is Seiren going to be mad when she realizes she is in this position with a hunter, Yuuki thought smiling. I can't believe Zero let her sleep on him like that, he must have been really tired.i wonder if they are secretly dating.
"Am not," Zero said opening his eyes fully and realizing that he was in fact cuddling Seiren, and that she was cuddling him back. He nudged her gently in the side to wake her and she was instantly awake but her eyes were unfocused.
"What happened?" she asked confused looking up at Zero and not realizing that Yuuki was standing right there.
"We fell asleep on the job," Zero said seriously admiring her sleep tousled hair.
She stretched against him and said with a smile, "At least no one caught us asleep on the job." Then in a surge of boldness, she raised up a little and kissed him gently on the lips.
"I knew it!" Yuuki crowed in joy. "You two are together!" Both Seiren and Zero blushed and started to deny it when they realized that they had no idea what they were. Were they a couple? Just then Kaname opened the door to the bedroom and stifled a yawn with a hand before he ran it through his hair. Instantly Zero and Seiren broke apart. Letting Yuuki see them together was one thing but Kaname was another thing entirely.
"Good evening Yuuki," he said with a smile. "What are you yelling about so early?"
"Nothing," she replied with an innocent expression hoping that he hadn't noticed the two behind her.
"That was awfully loud for nothing," he said not buying her expression for a second but deciding to let it go since he needed to use the restroom. "Whatever you say Yuuki," whispered as he walked past her to the bathroom. Just as all three of the other vampires let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't seen Zero and Seiren doing anything odd, Kaname said, "Did you have fun, Kyriuu, Seiren?" It was obviously a rhetorical question and they took it as such.
Kaname laughed quietly to himself at the look of shock on all their faces as he walked off. The idea of Zero and Seiren together didn't trouble him at all. In fact it comforted him. Since she was always near him and now Zero would most likely be near her, and Yuuki would be near him whenever possible, it worked to a double advantage for him. It gave Yuuki two bodyguards and eliminated Zero's ability to be a potential rival. Actually it couldn't have worked out better for him if he planned it himself. The only thing that worried him a little was the meeting they had with the nobles today. He hoped that Yuuki was up to it.
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There we go ya'll another chapter, a day before the deadline this time! I hope you enjoyed it. Well tell me what you think, if you have time or would like to. As always thank you for taking the time to read my newest chapter.
Thanks,
Stickdonkeys