Here is the very boring chapter 12. The next few should be more exciting so at least you have those to look forward to I guess...or not, haha.

Red Rose

Chapter 12

Director Kakuzawa let out a tired sigh, then reluctantly rose from his seat. He already had a headache and he was in no mood to deal with the Dicloniuses' sarcastic comments. Miki was tidying up his office, piling up papers that had slipped out of a file.

"Miki, make sure you sweep as well," Kakuzawa told her as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Somewhat annoyed, Miki threw a cloth at the door. "What does he think I am? A maid?"

The director made his way down the corrider, where Numbers Forty-Five and Fifty-One would be waiting to be released. Before they left, he vowed to make sure that they were not keeping any secrets about Zoe hidden from him. He was not convinced that they had told him everything.

The Dicloniuses were waiting in a large steel room, restrained and strapped to the stand-up gurneys. Professor Itami and Professor Silverman stood close by, then walked up to the director.

"We took the blood samples last night," Itami told him. "The results should be ready by this afternoon."

Kakuzawa gave him a curt nod. "Very good. And take another sample from them tonight."

"Yes, sir," the scientists replied obediantly.

"You may release the subjects," he added a moment later.

Itami went to unstrap Masaki, while Silverman took care of Kanae. Once free, Kanae let out a groan, irritated that they were not allowed to wear clothes while inside the facility.

"Why do you like to stand here and look at us naked? What are you, a perv?" She quipped.

Kakuzawa's face turned red with anger and he threw a bag of clothes in her direction. "Just get dressed and wait for my directions."

Masaki, also released, raised an eyebrow. "She has a point you know. You do seem to have a fascination with staring at naked people."

"Silence!" Kakuzawa threw him a bag of clothes to him as well. "Get dressed and then keep quiet until I say so."

With an amused smirk, Masaki began to get dressed, as did Kanae. Today, Masaki had a pair of khaki pants, white sneakers, a white shirt, and a dark blue sweatshirt. Kanae put on blue jeans, a red shirt, white and blue sneakers, and a white sweater.

"This shirt is too loose," she complained, trying to somehow tighten it. "It makes me look fat."

"It's a small!" Kakuzawa practically yelled. "That is your size, isn't it?!"

Kanae snorted. "Normally it is. But I like extra-small t-shirts because I hate loose clothing. It doesn't look as good on me."

"Must you have a smart remark for every little thing?" His eyes were wild-looking.

"Yes, because I know that it annoys you," she replied. "And what about that ten dollars you promised to give each of us?"

Kakuzawa muttered curses under his breath while he pulled his wallet ouf of the pocket of his blazer. He shoved a ten dollar bill into their hands, then put his wallet away.

"Now listen to me," he ordered them. "I want to make sure that you did not lie to me."

Masaki sighed and shook his head. "You think we lied to you? Now why would we do that?"

"I'm sure you're not happy about being kept here," Kakuzawa accused. "You're probably lying to me so that I will never be able to find Zoe."

Kanae huffed. "Are you fucking serious? We didn't find the bitch, so get over it."

"Besides, if I was extremely unhappy, then I would've left by now," Masaki told him.

"You can't," Kakuzawa told him. "I'll blow you to smithereans if you try."

"True, but at least I have the capability of destroying the whole building before I die. Just one swipe of my vectors and it's all over...." His navy eyes narrowed. "And trust me, I am interested in finding this Zoe girl just as much as you. I find her fascinating from what you've told us."

Kanae tied two red ribbons around her horns, then looked at Kakuzawa incredulously. "I honestly don't give a shit on whether or not we find her. Obviously she outsmarted you and busted out of here despite your stupid security system. Why don't you just get on with your life and find another Diclonius?"

"Because I want her!" Kakuzawa exclaimed. "And the reason why she broke out in the first place is because my idiotic son disabled her security devices."

"Damn, your son must've really hated you if he did something like that," Kanae said with a laugh.

Masaki smirked. "Was he against your research, Director?"

"No, I never found out the reason he did it. He found Zoe about a week later or so, but she killed him before he could succeed in whatever crazy plan he had in mind," Kakuzawa told them.

Kanae chuckled. "Stupid bastard...."

"If you insist that you are telling me the truth, then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...for now," Kakuzawa warned them. "But if I find out that you are keeping secrets from me, you will be extremely sorry."

"Is that a threat?" Kanae demanded, her amber eyes narrowing.

"Yes," he bluntly stated. "I will threaten you as much as I please if I feel as though you are defying me."

Masaki glanced at the exit, clearly bored. "Would you like us to go now or do you feel like making the same threats for the next half hour?"

Kakuzawa glared at him, his lips thin. "Go. You know when I expect you back by, so go."

"Yes, six o'clock in the evening," Kanae said in a mocking tone. "We'll try to come back on time."

"Make sure you come back on time," the director hissed. "No excuses. Now go."

Masaki and Kanae left the research facility, glancing back at the tall, dreary-looking building.

"I swear, I fucking hate it there," Kanae grumbled. "What about you?"

"Obviously I don't enjoy it," he told her monotonely.

Kanae rolled her eyes. "You don't act like it bothers you."

"Why should I show him that I dislike it? While I may not be crazy about it, I'm not devastated to be there," he said.

"You're a fucking nutcase," she remarked. "It feels like a maximum security prison."

Masaki glanced her. "Have you ever been to a maximum security prison before?"

"Well...no," she admitted. "But that's what it feels like, I'm sure."

"I've been to one," he told her. "About three years ago."

Kanae looked at him with disbelief. "No, you didn't. You would've been able to break out before they could."

"I was having a very boring week," he explained. "And then I just decided to kill an entire store full of people for my own enjoyment. The cops came and I didn't resist arrest."

"Why not?" She asked, clearly confused. "Why the hell would you let them haul your ass to jail?"

Masaki smirked. "I waited patiently while they decided on a verdict. When they determined that I would be sent to prison without possibility of parole, again, I didn't resist. However, the first night I was sent there, I decided to show them what I was capable of."

Kanae's eyes widened with fascination. "What did you do?"

"First, I bent the bars of my cell with my vectors. Some of the guards tried to shoot me, but I blocked myself from the bullets. I killed them, then made my way through the prison and slaughtered the rest of the guards. Before I left, I chose to release all of the inmates," he said. "There were over a hundred inmates, and I let them all escape."

"You're fucking insane," Kanae muttered. "But that was pretty awesome nonetheless."

Masaki pulled his hood up. "There was a huge riot, and while the police showed up and tried to stop it, I was able to slip away, undetected. But as I said, I was bored and in need of some type of excitement. It proved to be more than entertaining."

"What happened once you got away?" Kanae asked.

"I wasn't there to witness it, but the next day I hopped onto a train. I bought a newspaper and found out that half of the inmates had been shot dead, and twenty officers were killed in the riot. The remaining inmates were sent to a different prison, as I had destroyed the original one before the police showed up," he told her.

Kanae grinned. "Not bad. Maybe I should tell you about some stuff that I've done."

Masaki shrugged. "If you'd like. We still have about twenty-five minutes until we reach town."

"Well, unlike you, I've never been charged with murder," she began. "However, I have killed before."

"I see."

Kanae nodded. "Yup, besides my family members, I've killed ten people. Two of them was while I was in school. These girls were teasing me because my headband fell off and they saw my horns. So I ripped their fucking heads off."

"Interesting," Masaki mused.

"I killed two men who tried to mug me, and then another one who witnessed me killing the muggers," she said. "The other five were just random. But since I physically didn't touch any of the victims, no one could pin anything on me."

"I used to hide the bodies of my victims and did it in secret, but once I reached the age of twelve, I didn't care if anyone saw me," he told her. "I mean, what the hell could they do to me? Lock me up? We both know how that would end."

Kanae glanced at him. "Those kids you killed....what did you do with them?"

Masaki only smiled, not answering her question.

"Fine, be all secretive for all I care," Kanae muttered, then groaned. "This day is going to be so friggen boring. The only highlight of my day yesterday was talking to some cute guy in the video game store."

"Well, better than nothing," he replied. "Some girl was bugging me when I looked in the book store."

Kanae chuckled. "Crazy stalker-type?"

"Yes. But I got rid of her easily enough," he said.

"Good to know. Now let's see if I can have some fun today rather than just walking around hoping to find Zoe or whatever." Kanae yawned. "I hardly slept last night. Hell, I haven't had a decent night's sleep since being in that hellhole. Maybe Cock-Uzawa will change his mind and let me have a fucking bed....It's not like I'm stupid enough to try to escape."

Masaki shrugged. "Kakuzawa seems like the paranoid type, so he's expecting us to be plotting against him."

"That guy needs to get his his head out of his ass," Kanae grumbled.

Eventually, they arrived in town, ready to begin their second attempt to track down Zoe.

"Let's split up again," Masaki said, adjusting his hood. "It'll be quicker."

"Yeah, kinda figured," Kanae replied, not looking forward to walking around all day.

However, before either of them could begin their search, they abruptly jerked their heads. Kanae gasped in surprise, while Masaki's lips twitched into a smile.

"She's close by," he speculated. "I can sense her."

"Me too," Kanae said, somewhat excited. "This must be our lucky day."

"Indeed it is." Masaki scanned their surroundings, not seeing Zoe anywhere. "Let's go find her."

Meanwhile

"Takuya, why the hell do we need to go into town for?" Kouji complained. "Didn't you just go yesterday?"

"Well, Kouichi wanted to come back to buy a game, Zoe and I decided to buy Nana a late birthday present, and I figured that you wouldn't want to be lonely," Takuya teased.

Kouji snorted. "Lonely my ass. I enjoy being by myself. Did you not know that?"

Kouichi and Zoe exchanged amused glances, shaking their heads at the bickering.

"Besides, you've been bitching about wanting to get yourself a new cell phone anyway," Takuya added. "So now's your chance."

"I wasn't whining," Kouji shot back. "I was just stating that I would like a new one."

Kouichi chuckled. "Kouji, you are the worst procrastinator I know, other than Takuya."

"Hey! I don't procrastinate!" Takuya and Kouji replied unanimously.

"I beg to differ," the short-haired twin said. "No offense, but if the house was burning down and you were in the middle of watching a movie, you would wait until the cable went out before getting out."

Takuya rolled his eyes. "We're not that bad. Right Zoe?"

"Uh, right," Zoe said. "Whatever you say."

"See? She agrees with me," Takuya bragged.

Kouichi smirked. "Yeah, but that's because she doesn't know how bad you are. She'll learn soon enough."

"Eh, shut up," Takuya said dismissively. "Just go buy your game and get on with your life."

Ten minutes later, they arrived at a small shopping plaza, close by to the grocery store.

"Okay, Zoe and I will find Nana a present and then if you want, we can meet back here in half an hour," Takuya said. "Unless, you just want to head home when you finish."

"Don't really care," Kouji replied. "If I see you, then I see you. If not, then I'm going home so that I don't have to wait around."

Takuya shrugged. "Alright. See ya."

With that, he and Zoe headed to a gift shop, while Kouji made his way to cell phone retail store. Kouichi went to the game shop, debating on which game he should buy. None of them knew how close their enemies were.

Okay, that is the end of the chapter. For the record, Zoe can't sense other Dicloniuses at the moment. Her vectors are beginning to work again, but she still does not have the ability to sense them. Nana can, but she's at school right now ^_^ I'll probably mention that in the next chapter in case not everyone reads this. But please review if you can spare ten seconds and make me happy (cuz I need it!)