Okay, this chapter is REALLY short, but I have very limited time and I wanted to post this before I go. I hope you like it somewhat and find out a few things by the end of it. Hopefully I'll be back to finish the story, as I have only 5 chapters left. Let me know what you think, kay?

Red Rose

Chapter 28

"Shit!" Zoe scrambled from Takuya's lap, nearly falling off the bed.

Takuya grabbed onto her before she fell, though. "Whoa! Damn, Zoe. You alright?"

She pulled free, shakily walking towards the door. "No...I'm not..."

"What's wrong? And what happened?" Takuya went up to her, trying to embrace her.

"Get away from me!" She snapped, rubbing her temples.

Takuya gave her a hurt look, but took a step back nonetheless. "Well...can you tell me what happened at least? Why were you unconscious in the cemetary?"

"That guy," Zoe muttered. "That guy from the hospital...."

"What guy?" The brunette raised an eyebrow. "The doctor?"

The girl shook her head vehemently, her eyes wide. "No, not the doctor. That man I saw in the gift shop..."

"What guy from the gift shop?" Takuya asked, frowning slightly.

Zoe took a deep breath, feeling as though her heart was going to burst. "While you went with Tommy and Nana to see the doctor at the hospital, I went into the gift shop. I was looking at the flowers and then some guy came up to me. He...he started talking about flowers and death....It was weird. I had a bad feeling about him, but I didn't know what it was at the time..."

"Was he the guy who attacked you?" The brunette scowled. "If he did, I'll kill him."

"No!" Zoe grew pale. "Takuya, you can't. I couldn't beat him and neither can you. He'll rip you in half."

Takuya's eyes widened. "He's a Diclonius?"

The blond nodded. "Yeah, the only full-blooded male Diclonius I've ever encountered...He's stronger than me."

"I'm sure he can't be that bad..." Takuya hoped he was right, though he doubted it.

"No, he has ten vectors altogether," she replied.

Takuya thought for a moment. "Well....that other girl who was sent after you had twenty-six vectors. I'm sure she was stronger than him and she was only a little kid."

"But this guy is smart," Zoe pointed out. "Mariko was only a child. I'm sure she would've destroyed me if Chief Kurama hadn't shown up."

"Shit," Takuya hissed. "What are we going to do?"

The girl sighed. "I....I don't know... The only thing I can think of is to turn myself in."

"No." Takuya stared at her, his face firm. "I'm not letting them take you."

"Takuya, they're going to catch up to me sooner or later. I might as well do it now before the rest of you are dragged into this. It doesn't involve you," she said coldly.

The brunette scowled at her. "It does involve me because I care about you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Zoe tore her gaze away, her eyes dark. "Don't worry about me. Besides, I shouldn't want anything to do with you...."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Takuya snapped. "What, am I not good enough for you or something?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it!" Zoe glared at him. "You're not good enough for me! Why the hell would I want to be with a pathetic human? You're below me!"

Takuya's brown eyes narrowed. "So, what? Were you just pretending to like me or something?"

"Yeah, I needed a place to go and you were stupid enough to help me!" Zoe yelled.

"You were on the beach helpless!" Takuya shouted back.

Kouji opened the door, his face twisted into an expression of annoyance. "What the hell is going on?"

"You were right," Takuya muttered. "I shouldn't put my life on the line for this bitch....Zoe...get out...."

"Gladly," Zoe hissed.

"Bring your clothes with you," Takuya said rudely, indicating her dresser full of clothing.

The blond gave him a death glare. "No thanks, I won't be needing them. Give them away to the Salvation Army or something."

"Fine, then just get the fuck out." Takuya gestured to the door.

"Don't need to tell me twice," she muttered, stalking past him.

She made her way into the living room, walking over to the door. Just as she reached it, it opened from the outside. She stepped back just in time for it to open, revealing Kouichi with a huge grin on his face.

"Hey," he said cheerfully.

"Uh, hi..." She looked away, moving away from. "Back from your date?"

Kouichi nodded. "Yup and I decided to bring Kanae here with me so that we could watch a movie."

"Hi," Kanae chimed in, stepping out from behind the short-haired twin.

A familiar sensation went off in Zoe's head and her eyes widened. She looked at the girl with horror, then anger.

"Something wrong?" Kanae asked, her voice laced with nervousness.

"Get out...." Zoe felt her heart skip a beat.

"What?" Kouichi and Kanae asked unanimously.

Takuya and Kouji walked over to the others, curious about what was going on.

"Zoe, why do you want Kanae to leave?" Kouichi asked, clearly confused.

"Because, she's dangerous," she told them. "Make her leave, now!"

Takuya rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but you don't have the right to kick anyone out of my house. But you can leave."

"Yeah, you're acting crazy," Kouji added. "Go back to where you came from."

"Maybe she just needs to rest?" Kanae suggested, trying to keep her identity a secret.

Tommy and Nana joined them in the living room, lured by the loud voices.

"Did we miss something?" Tommy asked.

"Zoe's just being a bitch," Takuya said monotonely. "But don't worry, she was just about to go."

"What? No! She can't!" Nana cried out. "Why is she leaving?"

Takuya shrugged. "She's just showing her true nature, I guess. She only pretended to like us."

Nana looked at the older girl in shock. "Zoe...is that true?"

"Damn right it's true," Zoe replied coldly. "But I'm not leaving until she does."

Kanae frowned. "Why do I have to go? Kouichi invited me."

"Go!" Zoe shouted.

"Make me!" Kanae screamed.

"Fuck, this isn't going to end well...." Kouji's voice trailed off as he backed away from the girls.

Kouichi threw Zoe an aggravated expression. "No, she's not going anywhere."

"Like hell she isn't!" With that, Zoe shoved Kanae into the wall.

"Hey!" Takuya restrained Zoe, watching as Kouichi knelt down to Kanae.

"Are you okay?" The older twin asked.

Kanae nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. But I think that bitch needs to leave."

"Why did you push her?" Kouji demanded.

"Because of this!" Zoe lunged forward and grabbed onto one of Kanae's ribbons.

"No!" The ribbon fell away from Kanae's right horn, revealing it.

Everyone gasped in shock, backing away from Kanae.

"No..." Kouichi's face was filled with disappointment. "Kanae...you're a Diclonius?"

Kanae scrambled to her feet, then sprinted out of the house. She slammed the door shut and ran down the road as fast as she could, leaving behind the group of teenagers.

"I can't believe it...." Kouichi sank down on the floor. "The entire time....I've been dating a Diclonius. Then...her brother must be one, too....."

"Brother?" Zoe frowned. "Did he have dark blue eyes and hair?"

He looked up at her with surprise. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"So they were both sent after me...." Zoe sighed, covering her face with her hands. "And they know where to find me... Shit!"

"Wha-what are we going to do?" Nana asked, her voice shaking.

The blond leaned up against the wall. "I have no choice but to go. If I don't, then they'll kill you all...."

"So you do care about us," Takuya pointed out. "I knew it! You were only saying that shit so that we would want you to leave."

"Well, can you blame me?" She walked up to him, their faces only inches apart. "I'm not going to let them kill you guys. I'd rather die."

As Kouji went to comfort his depressed brother, Tommy walked over to Zoe. "Isn't there any other way?"

"No," she replied. "And now that they know I'm here, they'll be back...I should go before they do."

"But they might come here anyway," Nana pointed out. "Either way, we're in trouble."

Zoe groaned in frustration. "Dammit, I should've left when I had the chance!"

"It's all my fault," Kouichi said miserably. "I showed Kanae where we lived... If I hadn't we wouldn't be in this situation..."

Kouji sighed. "She tricked you. It's not your fault completely."

Takuya smacked Kouji on the arm. "It's not his fault at all. How the hell was he supposed to know?"

Zoe let out a groan of frustration. "Just...when they come here...I'll go without a fight. I don't want any problems with you guys. Just stay in one of the rooms until they show up and don't come out until they're gone."

"Zoe-"

The blond cut Takuya off. "If I put up a fight, they'll kill us all. I'll go and don't you dare try to stop them."

"Fuck!" Takuya angrily punched the wall. "I don't want them to take you!"

"Dude, she's right, though," Kouji said solemnly. "All of us will be killed if she doesn't go. She can't take them both on, especially if half of her vectors don't even work."

The others stood there, their faces grave. As much as they hated to admit it, the best thing was for Zoe's enemies to take her back to the facility.

Meanwhile

Masaki studied himself in the mirror, feeling around his chest to remember where the explosive had been implanted. With a deep breath, he released one of his vectors, allowing it to cut through his skin.

"Aaaahhh....." He winced and blood seeped down his chest as the fingers of the vector dug around.

The vector went in deeper, finally hitting a solid, metallic object. With a pained groan, he extracted the explosive from his body.

"Got it," he said with a smirk.

He spent the next few minutes cleaning his wound up, covering it with gauze. Already the pain had begun to subside and he quickly rinsed the excess blood off the explosive. Knowing that there was a tracking device within the object, he put it in the pocket of his jeans.

"Now to find Kanae," he muttered to himself as he stalked out of the house.

At the facility

"I don't...believe it...." Professor Itami's voice trailed off.

Silverman walked over to him, her face filled with confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Well, the test results for Numbers Forty-Five and Fifty-Two have been analyzed," he told her.

"What are they?" Silverman asked, frowning.

Itami shook his head in disbelievement. "Well, Number Fifty-Two came back negative. I was kind of expecting that from her, though..."

"And Number Forty-Five?" Silverman pressed, already knowing the answer.

"His came back positive...." Itami whirled around and began to walk out of the room. "I need to tell Director Kakuzawa."

Professor Silverman sank down onto a chair, still not sure if she should believe it. However, there was no indication that a mistake had been made.

"Well," she finally said in a quiet voice. "Looks like Zoe's not the only one who can naturally reproduce...."

Yeah, this is a really short chapter and is the last one that I'll be able to do for awhile. It felt rushed and I wasn't happy about it... but I gotta get this done someday. This is if I get to finish, though I think I should be able to update at some point. Just be patient and we'll see what happens.