A/N: Here's another chapter that I'd been tweaking. I can't really promise faster updates, but I will try to get something out every few weeks or so since I'll be having my final exams soon, and I'm working part time too. I'm happy to hear your thoughts on these two chapters :)
# CHAPTER 21
"How have the new tablets been progressing?" enquired Zero as Seiran stepped into their room, looking worn out. He caught her schoolbag which had slipped off her shoulder in one hand and supported her to her bed. How long had she been going at it today? It had been three days since she told the four men her plan and after that she had been working on making the radioactive marker tablets. She had skipped her Night classes with permission of the lecturers; Kain and Aidou had been lending her their notes.
"We've decided the amount of radioactive particles to put inside a tablet so that it will be detected by the marker…and at the same time not too harmful for the person taking it…Tonight Sensei Naro…will make a small test batch…so we'll be testing them soo – …" Seiran's head slumped aside, falling fast asleep.
Zero shook his head. Seems like I should relinquish my unofficial title of Sleeping Beauty to her…The smile left his face seconds later as he pulled up her blanket to cover her.
I can't help her with anything else.
"Are you angry with me?"
Seiran looked up from reading the instructions on how to use the tracking devices. Zero was standing in the doorway of their room, hesitant to enter.
She shook her head. "Come in, Zero. What are you doing, standing outside there?"
The male Prefect slowly walked into the room – his footsteps thudding loudly in the room's stillness – and sat on his bed, facing her. "I'm sorry, Seiran."
He felt the twinge of guilt again because he knew she enjoyed those duties; they helped her relax her mind, giving her a semblance of an ordinary school life instead of her always having to think of her status and duties as both a pureblood and vampire hunter.
"Don't be. I want to find the culprit as soon as possible so that I can get back to my prefect duties." Seiran leaned forward and slid her fingers into his. "It's only temporary, Zero. I'd want to work with my partner once more."
"Y-Yeah, me too."He gave her fingers a light squeeze. It feels rather lonely doing duty alone…
He looked at her schedule pinned on the shared notice board in their room. Tonight she was supposed to do her rounds with Sensei Yagari.
Tonight you'd better sleep. Because you need all the rest you can get.
After making some sandwiches just in case Seiran woke up – knowing her, he suspected she missed dinner again; he would be heading to Chairman Cross' office to meet his master.
"Come in," bade Kaien Cross when he heard raps on his office door. Seiran is early today. I expected her to have a longer rest today before coming in for her rounds. Right after she made her decision based on Zero-kun's words, she went to get the data of her tablets while Kaname went to see Senseis Asada and Naro to inform them of her request…and since then the only times I've seen her is when she came by to carry out her rounds with either Yagari or me.
"You're early today. Did today's schedule of making the new tablets go – ?" The chairmanlooked up to see Zero standing in front of him with Bloody Rose ready.
"She's sleeping, Chairman. So I'm here in her place."
"Aww…that's so sweet of you, Zero-kun. Daddy's so proud of his son for being a gentleman…," cooed Kaien.
"It's not like I can do anything much for her," the silver haired teen retorted, annoyed at the head of the school.
"Zero, you think too little of yourself," the older man answered in firmer, more serious tones.
Zero nodded at the same time Yagari strode into the office with his shotgun ready.
"Where's Seiran?"
"Asleep. I'll do the rounds with you, Sensei."
"Hn. But what about the nightly rounds?" asked Yagari.
Zero turned to look at the Chairman. "Chairman, you could always ask Kuran to order his minions to stay inside. What is his damned presence for, anyway?"
Cross waved both of them off. "Maybe I'll be a Prefect for the night."
He never grows up. Both vampire hunter and protégé shared the same thought before heading off.
"Here, give me those – the used bullet and cloak," spoke the puppet's unofficial companion, holding out his hand. "I'll dispose of them for you."
The murderer grudgingly gave the other his bloodstained cloak and the dented silver piece. His victim had put up a good fight, slashing at his arm – which was pointless because he healed instantly – while he coldly ended the piece of trash's life with his favourite murder weapon.
"Don't forget the flower you have to drop," reminded the companion as his other hand held out the white orchid, Habenaria radiata, also known as the White Egret Flower.
The copycat Orchid Murderer snorted at the sight of the flower resembling a bird taking flight, as described by its common name. "I don't understand why we need all these bullshit plants to flick at every Level E I've killed." He tossed the orchid onto the ground before removing his gloves and giving them to the person beside him.
"Master is sending a message to someone by that method." Looking at this orchid this time around, it seems like Master wants the princess to start to take flight…right into his net…
"Well, my work's done for the day. I'm leaving now."
"Of course. We should leave before the hunter prowling this area senses our presence."
In three…two…one…
And then we'll go our separate ways.
Zero pinched himself to remain awake. He had heavy lessons in the morning and doing solo prefect duty these few days had really exhausted him. He didn't have any problems with revealing his dark aura and shouting at those damned crazy Day Class fangirls had kept them in line as the Night Class students sauntered to their destination. It was after the Night Class students entered the lecture hall and the twin oak doors simultaneously shut which was the problem.
"Kiryuu-kun, how's Kaede-kun doing? We don't get to see him any more!"
Yeah, right, it was more of like you rabid girls wanted to see some interesting scenes…or want her help with homework…
"Kiryuu-kun, please tell Kaede-kun I miss him."
Like I don't.
"Ano…I made this for Kaede-kun, could you please pass this to him?"
Zero's hands instinctively reached out to catch the pink cake box shoved into him before watching his classmate run off, afraid of his glare. If not for all the shit happening lately, I bet Seiran would enjoy this.
The cake currently was housed in the fridge with a note in capital letters: PROPERTY OF SEIRAN, written large enough to ensure a certain bespectacled man with sugar mania would not sneak away with it.
Focus, Kiryuu! Zero chided himself when his thoughts went back to the cake – he had forgotten to put a note telling Seiran about Maya's gift to her. He shook his head vigorously, hoping the action would make him more alert. It had to be the current surrounding he was in – he had left the dilapidated buildings much earlier and was now walking in a sand filled area. The moon had been hidden by clouds and in its dim light there were no shadows to make out. Zero couldn't really estimate how far he had trekked in that barren area which seemed like the desert to him.
Seiran jolted upwards from her bed, her blanket dropping on the floor as she hugged herself. She hadn't gotten those dreams about the mysterious lady, but she felt choked and suffocated…the hairs on her back were raised, like someone was watching her.
With her senses she knew she was alone in the room while the other occupants of the Sun Dorm were deep in Slumberland, then why was she getting this constricting feeling…?
Patrol duty! She leapt off the bed when the thought clicked in her mind and she hurriedly climbed out of the window before jumping off.
My God, how long have I slept?
The chilly wind brushing her cheeks made her more alert as she dashed towards the academy's gates.
"Seiran-chan." Kaien Cross smiled at her as she reached him. He had been standing close to the main gate, taking in the calmness of the night to give him some new directions of the case they were working on.
"I'm-so-sorry-Rijichou-I-overslept-I'll-be-joining-Yagari-sensei-now,"she babbled all in one breath.
"There's no need to. Zero-kun is with him now. They'll be back within an hour."
She looked down, While she had been sleeping, everyone else had been working their asses off…
The Chairman recognised her look. "Seiran, please get back to your room and have more sleep. It's because you deprived yourself of that necessity which is why we're doing all we can to ease it," his current tone was more of a guardian compared to his usual chirpy behaviour.
She opened her mouth to speak but he added on, "You know…sometimes if you take your mind of the case for a bit and work on your own plans, you never know when a stray thought will pop out which aids you greatly in the case. Even the greatest detectives do that."
"I'll take note of that…Daddy. Thank you." Seiran gave a short bow before turning to the direction of the lab.
"Always glad to give a good piece of advice – " The Chairman's eyes widened. "Wait! You called me Daddy!"
"Yes. I'm going to the lab to work on my Darts." She waved before disappearing from his sight.
He deflated. I guess not. She didn't get back to rest. He looked at the sky once more. Tamaji, wherever you are up there, you better grant her some protection. I have a nagging feeling that this is much worse than what you've faced.
The silver haired youth looked at his wrist watch – it was close to three in the morning, 2.52 a.m. exactly. His cellphone beeped; it was the signal Sensei Yagari and he agreed to turn back from their rounds and meet in the centre of town before making their way to Cross Academy.
Nothing bad happened tonight. That's a relief. He trudged back, feeling more at ease.
Until his eyes spotted white some 200 odd metres away. His hand slid into the holster of Bloody Rose and pulled it out while he neared the thing which caught his eye. It's probably some rubbish – tissue paper, maybe.
His grip on his weapon sagged when he spotted the flower of damnation.
I thought too soon…
Zero tugged his handkerchief and picked up the orchid with shaking fingers. Fury coursed through his veins. How the hell did I miss this? he seethed. When he had been around that place, he hadn't sensed any suspicious presence, but this flower and the lump of sand dissipating with the flow of the morning wind proved him wrong.
His phone beeped once more. Probably his one eyed master had already reached their agreed meeting spot and was waiting for his appearance.
He gazed upon the flower before crumpling up his handkerchief into a ball and shoved it into his pocket. Why is it that such a pure bloom like this is associated with death and tragedy?
"Yo, idiot apprentice, what took you so long?" asked Toga Yagari with a cigarette in between his lips. His facial expression changed when he saw Zero was glowering. It can't be –
"This!" his apprentice spat, almost slamming the handkerchief into the wall behind his master. "Another murder, but I missed it. Goddamn it!"
Yagari watched his charge storm around, muttering curses about how he hadn't sensed anything, and yet when he turned back he had spotted it. The older man said nothing, waiting for Zero to release his frustration. When Zero finally slumped onto the wall he had been leaning on, he eventually asked, "Going back?"
The prefect didn't reply as he marched off, still angry.
Yagari shook his head at Zero's antics as he dropped his finished cigarette, squashed the flamed tip and fell in line behind the younger man.
"Come in," bade Seiran as she keyed in new data on her ODV2. She was working on how much tension would be suitable for the threads that were wound up to be released as well as balancing the weight of the entire dart in order to be able to be thrown to land on its target, avoiding gravity as a determining factor.
Three men shuffled in with crestfallen looks on their faces while Chairman Cross turned back to shut the lab door.
"Another murder." She stated definitively as her typing stopped.
"It happened on my patrol. I'm sorry." Zero's look was stony.
Yagari took out the orchid and showed it to her. She stared mutely at the bloom, understanding the ominous meaning behind it.
Her fingers plucked up the Habenaria radiata as she memorised its features to add to the case records.
This is my answer to you.
The flower was flicked upwards, blue flames licking at it and turning it into black ash before dropping onto the lab table.
Lesson no. 22 : Inspiration can hit at the oddest times.