I'm sorry for the late update everyone. School started so my time to update is limited….and the flowers of inspiration are not blooming for me often. So…this chapter isn't out of inspiration but I still hope that it's a good chap. Please read this next chapter of "Career, Love and Family".
"Zero…" There was silence for moments, but those moments were like torturous hours for the silverette who sat in the room, staying quiet as small tears trickled down the corner of his eyes. 'Akatsuki….why does he have to be here….. of all people?!'
"Akatsuki, do you know each other?" Oblivious to the situation at hand, Hanabusa couldn't help but ask. When he walked in the room intending to start the meeting with their leader, his sight stumbled upon a silverette that was talking to Kaname. Before even getting the chance to ask who he was, his cousin suddenly says 'Zero…' and then said silverette suddenly started crying. What is going on?! This was too sudden for the blonde.
"…" There were a few silent moments until Akatsuki responded. "Yeah…"
"Hey, what's with the tension in the room?" A familiar voice rang. Everyone turned to where it was to see Kaname's manager, Takuma, holding a few documents and leaning on the doorway. "I'm here now, so let's start the—." Stopping at mid-sentence, Takuma's eyes locked with the silverette's spilled ones.
Not wanting to be in the room any longer, Zero bit back his tears and forced himself to put up his best face up. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Smiling, Zero stood up and faced Kaname.
"You're meeting is about to start, I'll be waiting at the lobby when you're done." Zero gave his best okay face on and started heading to the door, looking down so that his silver locks can cover his eyes to avoid any eye contact.
"Zero…" Kaname called. Hesitating at first, Zero turned his head and gave Kaname a smile, silently telling him to let the silverette be before going out of the room.
Everyone heard the click of the door shutting. Zero wasn't in their presence anymore and all of them didn't know why except for the brunette who was now emitting a dark aura.
"Eeep!" Hanabusa yelped and hid behind his cousin when he sensed the atmosphere change under the pure blood's pissed off mood.
"Let's start the meeting. Afterwards, I'll have a talk with you Akatsuki." They can all hear the malice in the voice and everyone else gulped and sweat-dropped.
"Sigh..." Zero was now in the elevator, he pressed the button to the lobby and waited for the electric doors to close. A little while back, he somehow managed to keep the rest of his tears in, so he won't gain any attention to the people he'll run into in the lobby. The soft playing of elevator music irritated the silverette because he was hoping to get at least a few moments of silence for himself.
"You have now arrived at the ground floor." The elevator sound system said before the electric doors opened once more. Stepping outside, Zero headed to the waiting area of the lobby. He swore that he was being stared at by the people around.
"Hey, what's a human doing here?" Whispered one of the models who were passing by. Good thing Zero didn't here anything and luckily enough too that he did not know that the Corporation of Beauties is actually filled by vampires.
As he finally found a nice, comfy chair to sit on, Zero took one of the magazines that were on the glass table in front of him. He did his best to ignore the ongoing stares of the models and employees in the area, but to no avail, his nerves were popping one by one.
"Are you sure he's human? He's too handsome to be one! He's got to be one of us!" Whispers another passing model to the model who accompanied her.
Still oblivious to what people were talking about, he continued to read until he saw two legs right in front of him. Looking up at the disturber, lavender eyes met with light blue ones. The girl who was in front of him had strawberry-blonde hair tied into a pair of pig tails, in her mouth was a stick of Pocky.
"Hey, are you new here?" She asked, her voice was soft and gentle even though her face seemed blank. Zero closed the magazine and placed it back on the table before staring up at her from his seat again and responding.
"I don't work here. I'm just waiting for someone." He tried to sound as polite as possible. He had a feeling that this girl was nice, despite being somewhat poker faced. "You can sit down if you want to." He will feel uncomfortable when he'll just talk and let a girl stand through the whole conversation. With that being said, she sat on a chair right next to where the silverette was sitting at. Three second span of silence is considered as an awkward moment, so Zero had to break it by planning on, at least, making a friend in the corporation.
"I'm Zero Kiryuu. Nice to meet you." He said softly enough to break the silence. It was a little strange since this is the first time he has ever interacted with a female stranger. She seemed nice, so he didn't have to put his tough front up this time.
"I'm Rima Touya. Likewise Zero." One of her hands rummaged through her pocket and grabbed a box of some sorts and handed it to Zero. "Here. This is the start of us being friends." She gave a small grin to the silverette which made him a little surprised. Taking the box from her hand, Zero looked at it. "POCKY" was embedded on it and he laughed a little at what she gave him before gesturing to open it.
"Thank you... Rima." He placed one pocky stick in his mouth and nibbled on it, savoring the chocolate flavor. "So... what kind of job do you have here?" Zero was curious.
"I'm a model here. Well... most of us are models here. Not a lot of us like to become part of the drama world."
"Oh. I get it." By now, the silverette finished the stick and opted to eat another one as another silence drew in between the two people.
...1...2... before it came to 3 seconds, Rima was the one who broke it this time.
"So, Zero. What level are you?" She asked. The first time she saw the silverette she was curious if he was a level B or what, not knowing that he was a human and Zero not knowing she was a vampire.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He was chewing on his second stick of pocky, guessing that he might buy more after he finishes his box.
"What level of a vampire are you?" Rima asked. She didn't know that Zero was a human because her senses of a vampire are still developing unlike the others who's development are fast.
Zero's eyes went wide. 'Vampire?' He assumed that this is a joke. Maybe Rima had an obsession of vampire stuff. 'Yeah, that's it.'
"You like vampires, huh?" Zero said, sweat dropping a little. For a second there, he thought that Rima was telling the truth. Asking such a question with a calm face was very convincing.
"Judging by your reaction..." Rima placed a hand on her chin, thinking. "Could it be...you're a human?"
'This is a joke right? Tell me this is a joke! If it is, it has gotten a little too far.' Zero thought as his eyes widened more. This girl he was talking to is telling what? A lie? or the Truth?
"Rima, stop toying with me." Zero let out a nervous chuckle. He felt his throat getting dry because of the weird conversation they were currently having. The both of them were being surrounded by endless whispers but they didn't pay attention to any of them.
"I'm not." Blank-expression as ever and Zero wasn't liking it to the point of thinking vampires actually exist. "If you want proof, look here." Rima pointed to her mouth. There, Zero saw fangs, glinting at the light of the lobby's chandelier. He gulped but he had an explanation to why she had them.
"Those aren't real. You went to the dentist because of your weird obsession for vampire stuff...right?" He gulped, hoping that he was right. The girl pouted and showed Zero her arm. "Wh-what are you doing?"
"Just look." After that sentence, she used her nails to scratch her skin deeply, making it bleed. Zero was shocked at what she was doing. Why would a model damage their own skin?! He moved to stop her but she just glared and made him remain on his seat to watch. "There." She said, finally ending her first step to make Zero believe that she is a vampire.
"Rima, wh-why did you do that?! Let's get first-aid! Quick!" The silverette panicked but then again, Rima made him sit and watch in silence. Still worried about Rima's wound, Zero looked at it. Then it happened. Slowly, the wound that Rima inflicted on herself healed, answering Zero's doubt. "Wh-wha-?!" He exclaimed, clearly shocked.
"Do you believe me now?" She sighed. What she did to herself hurt but she had to do it to make her new friend believe in her. Zero just nodded slightly in fear. Rima noticed this and turned to him, giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we live on blood tablets now." That was a relief for the silverette. He thought that he was going to get eaten or sucked dry by a vampire right then and there.
"Thank goodness..." He sighed. "Rima, if I may ask, how many levels of vampires are there?"
"Well...there is the lowest which is Level E. They are being hunted down and put to death because they kill for blood." Zero gulped at hearing this. Never in his life did he think that there were those kind that kill mindlessly. He was considered lucky to have lived this long without having an encounter with one. "There is the Level D, which are also a little bit dangerous since they have the tendency to become Level E's someday. The Level C are the most common vampires. Level B's are nobles. I'm one of them." She smiled. "Lastly, there's the level A or the pure bloods, they are the reason why we exist and those lower to that high class vampire is his or her servant except for those level D's who are defying him, and the Level E's." Finishing up from her slightly long speech
'Does that mean Akatsuki and Kaname are vampires too?' Zero thought to himself, giving a puzzled look. "I see... hmm... that was a lot of information. Rima, can I ask you two more question?" He was some what engrossed into the topic now. It was interesting and mysterious at the same time.
"I don't mind. Go ahead."
"Do you know all the pure bloods existing? Can you tell me their names?" Pure bloods seemed to gain Zero's interest the most since Rima said that they were the reason all the lower classes are present.
"Well...there are only about 2 that are still existing since the third one disappeared." Rima said. She's glad that Zero was being open with her. It has been a while since she talked this much.
"Really...I guess their really rare, huh?" Zero finished his box of pocky and he didn't notice until now. He was wondering why his box of pocky was empty all of a sudden.
"You can say that. Well... I don't know who's the one that disappeared but the 2 that still remain... I know their names. One is a woman, Shizuka Hio, and the other is an actor here!" She said, an imaginary light bulb illuminating above her head.
"Oh really?! If the other one is an actor, could it be possible that that pure blood works with Kaname?" Zero suddenly thought aloud. "Uhh, sorry for the sudden out burst, haha..." He nervously laughed.
"Now that you mention it, Kaname Kuran the actor IS the pure blood."
...silence...
"WHAT?!"
That's about it for this chapter. I give this longer chapter as an apology for breaking my promise. I hope you will forgive me. Sorry for taking a long while to update. I hope you understand. Well...please review!