S I X

Rose had never seen something so terrifying in her life.

She never once had predicted that Zero was a vampire. She'd heard from other Morning class students that vampires were beasts, and that they weren't allowed on the premises after an invasion of vampires five years ago. Rose had let it alone, not pressing anything. After all, the only people who were here around the time of in the invasion were the Headmaster, Zero, and someone else from the Hunter's Association. Someone who was an acquaintance of both the Headmaster and Zero.

She pressed herself against the gate leading toward town, breathing heavily and her hair sticking to her cheeks from perspiration. Her eyes were wide and her heart was beating too quickly. She feared she'd fall over before she got off campus. Something told her not to go, that there was something unsafe in town, but she couldn't stop herself. Her brain kept shouting at her.

What if… he saw me, and is coming after me?

With a loud gasp and a choke as she took in too much air, she pushed herself from the gate and ran down the path leading into town.

The Headmaster said that… there are vampires… that don't attack humans. Rose's self-conscious spoke rationally, and she ran into the market. People gave her looks of bewilderment as she ran aimlessly through the streets. But… where there're vampires that don't attack humans, there are… vampires that… do attack humans.

Rose stumbled into a clearing, where located at the opposite end of the arched threshold, was a fountain. A couple sat by the fountain, dressed in long trench coats. One was female, she could tell, because of the long auburn hair that curled near her bottom, and the other was male, because of the shorter hair that showed the curve of his chin and the devilish smirk as he looked her way. She froze up.

Both the man and the woman had a pleasant look about them; their faces seemed calm and they looked about Zero's age, maybe older. She tried to walk toward the fountain, to brush cold water on her face, but her body wouldn't move. She was too entranced by the look on their face. Their eyes had a blood-red luster with undertones of cinnamon and sky blue. She gave them a look which read "What are you doing here?"

"Pardon me, young lady," the man stepped forward, swinging his arms outward in welcome. She felt herself relax a little. "I was wondering if you could tell us where Lady… um, where Yuuki Cross is?"

"What do you want with Yuuki?" even though she had found her voice, she still couldn't seem to get it out in anything other than nervous puffs of air. She swallowed something thick.

The man ran a hand through lemon-yellow hair, and let a flashy smile grace his features. She could've sworn she saw fangs, but blamed the preceding event. "So, you do know where she is? Good. Tell me where she is!"

The woman pushed off of the fountain and walked toward her, and the man stepped behind her. "Tell us…" the woman spoke huskily, staring at Rose as if she were a wounded deer. "…where she is, or…" the man took a step toward her, but this time was standing right above her, opening his mouth and showing off vampire fangs. His eyes stirred with a blood-red flame, and Rose couldn't stop staring and shaking. "…we'll devour you!"

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

Zero ran ahead of Yuuki as fast as he could, swinging his arms for momentum and turning a corner. He should've been more attentive to what he was doing; it wasn't like it was just him and Yuuki at the Headmaster's villa, where the Headmaster could be gone for days at a meeting with the Hunter's Association and they wouldn't have had to worry about anyone walking in. But now, Rose also lived there, and she was very curious and adventurous.

He was sure that was Rose's scream, and by the way Yuuki reacted – just as quickly as he had – she was sure, too. But why would she have screamed as if she'd seen a monster? They rounded a corner, and before they knew it they were staring at the archway leading into the small clearing with the fountain, where Yuuki was last attacked by a vampire child and mother. She froze up, and Zero paused, not hearing her footsteps behind him. "Yuuki, we don't have time-… Yuuki, what's wrong?"

"It happened here," she said simply, her voice merely a whisper. Zero took a step toward her, reaching his hand out. She reached to take it, but brought her hand back, clutching her chest. "This is where I was attacked by those Level E's. Zero…" she ran to stand beside him, and he pushed her ahead of him. They walked slowly toward the archway, Zero's hand on her back gently and comfortingly.

Yuuki was about to cross the threshold when she felt a body crash into her, and she fell back into Zero's chest. He caught her carefully. The brunette looked down at the red-haired body she was holding. "Rose! Thank goodness. We thought you were…"

"It's you!"

Yuuki froze, her eyes widening at the sound of the voice that spoke to her. She slowly looked up and took a step back as she recognized the two vampires she'd been running from for years… Ruka Souen and Hanabusa Aido.

Hanabusa took a step toward her, resulting in a growl from Zero. "It's been a while, Zero Kiryuu. Your want for blood hasn't taken control yet? A pity; that means it'll be even harder for us to get Yuuki. And after what she did, that's all we want!"

Zero tensed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "What are you talking about?" Yuuki couldn't tear her eyes away, and Rose pushed away, running to hide behind Zero. He didn't let his glare falter, and he pushed Yuuki behind him as well. "Why are you after Yuuki?"

Ruka bared her fangs at the hunter, who'd begun to reach into his pocket to pull out his Bloody Rose gun. "It's simple, Vampire Hunter. She hurt someone very dear to us, and now he's gone forever. Now, it's time for her to pay the price for killing a Pureblood vampire!"

Yuuki made a whimpering noise behind Zero, who slowly looked at the former Night class attendees with understanding eyes. "Killing… a Pureblood?" Yuuki, what did you do?

Hm. So, it's no fun when someone guesses what happens.. it makes me, as a writer, feel like they're not very good at... oh, I'm not. I'm not good at conspicuously hiding the plot, at least with short stories like RotC is gonna be.

I didn't like how this chapter turned out and even thought about combining this and the next chapter somehow, but it ended up not being so. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! *heart*

~Cookie