Walking down the steps from the outpost, armed with all of the new information that Kaien was able to locate on the Cursed witch twins, Rei felt more confident than she had in a long time. As expected for anything to do with the Vampire Hunters, the locations were in extremely remote areas, and most travel would have to be done by foot. Maps would be her only guidance as the GPS could only get her so far. It would be definitely be a hard journey.

While Rei was gone, Yaguri would stay here at the outpost and make sure that Roihichi was safe and Kaien was heading out to gather more research information. Kaname would be operating on his own agenda. That was fine with Rei. Even now, she trusted him to keep his word and do what he could to help her, but it was easier if she didn't have to interact with him, so she preferred it this way.

Starting down the path, Rei wasn't entirely surprised when she saw Zero standing in the distance. 'Yeah, I should have just taken the front door and the main path. They both assumed I'd be going this way…' Barely hiding her scowl, Rei continued her trek, quickly reaching the area where Zero waited under the shade of a willowy tree, leaning back against its trunk.

As she approached, Zero stood straight in anticipation. Rei sighed and slowly walked towards him. Stopping directly in front of him, and without meeting his eyes, she asked in an exasperated tone. "What's going on, Zero?"

She had already thought this might have been a possibility. While she knew most everyone else's plans she had no idea what Zero and Yuki were going to be doing. And she hadn't bothered to ask. Purposely.

Zero studied her face, uncertain of the best way to approach this. He knew that Rei was still upset with him, and he could only imagine how she was handling the situation with Kaname. Both of those things were going to make this conversation that much more difficult for him. But still he had to get through to her, If for no other reason than the importance of it…

"I'm coming with you."

He sighed and braced himself.

Rei cut her eyes at him and the look gave him shivers. Maybe 'upset' was too tame of a word to describe her current feelings…?

"Okay." She replied, shouldering her bag and continuing on down the path.

Zero didn't move. He felt certain that he must have heard her wrong. He had been prepared to argue with her about why they should travel together and the importance of them searching for their son together…. Was it really going to be that easy?

Rei stopped and looked back.

"What? Would you prefer to fight about it first?" She huffed.

Zero didn't reply.

"Well, I'm not interested in that." She snapped. "We've got something to do. We'll do it faster and better as a team. Do you think I'm so angry that it's made me stupid? The only important thing right now is finding our son, so don't worry, I can put my hurt feelings to the side so that we can work together and bring him home."

She gestured her head to the bag lying at his feet. "But this is killing time. So please, grab your bag and pick up the pace."

Rei turned and again set off down the path. Zero let out a huge sigh and ran his fingers through his silver hair, grabbing his bag with his other hand. He wasn't sure why he expected anything different from her. Rei was fiery and determined, and nothing would get in her way- not him nor her feelings. Shaking his head, he sped to catch up with her.

As they began to set up camp for the night, Rei said her first words to Zero since he had joined her. "Since Yuki didn't come with you, I take it she went with Kaname?"

Rei wasn't entirely sure why she asked. Did she just want to know if Zero came with her because Yuki wasn't around, or did she just want to know if Kaname was with Yuki?

Zero looked at her silently, noting that she had asked the question but then seemed to immediately be lost in her own thoughts. He looked away and began setting up his bedding.

"Neither." He said quietly. "Kaname left out on his own and Yuki is staying at the outpost." He didn't look at Rei and he said nothing else, just quietly went about setting up his bedding. Rei didn't say anything else either, but continued to sit in self-reflection, completely ignoring Zero's presence.

When Zero awoke the next morning, Rei was packing things up to start their journey again. Zero looked at her bedding and saw Kaien's papers sprawled across it, but he couldn't determine if she had even slept in it at all that night. Concerned, he looked at her face, but couldn't read anything in her expression.

After he packed up she was ready to start moving again, but Zero hadn't even seen her eat anything. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her eat anything yesterday either. At all.

They travelled through the day in silence, stopping only for brief intervals to confirm their location. Zero watched Rei carefully. She didn't rest or eat. She barely wanted to break.

Internally Zero prepared himself, this might get bad fast…

Zero woke the next morning to find Rei already packed and ready to go. He tried to persuade her to pause for breakfast before they started their journey.

Rei looked impatiently at him as she began scrambling to help him pack up his bedding. "We can eat as we travel, can't we? We don't want to lose time, just get packed up and eat while you walk."

Zero packed up his items and as they began their journey he grabbed some food from their bags, handing some to Rei while getting some for himself. He watched her intently as she read the maps and reviewed the documents as they walked throughout the day, her food remaining untouched, even as she rebuked his offers to take over and read the maps for a bit.

"Rei…" He started cautiously, "When was the last time you ate something?"

"I'm fine." She said curtly, not bothering to look his way.

"Okay, but when?" He persisted.

"Zero. I don't recall, but I don't need you monitoring me, okay?"

"Rei…"

Finally, she snapped her head around to look at him, eyes accusing. But Rei took one look at his face and her fire died. He looked genuinely worried. She turned away again and lowered her voice.

"I'm fine."

"Have you been sleeping?" He reached out a hand and then remembered and pulled it back. Looking at her up close she really didn't look well…

Exasperated, Rei whipped around glaring at Zero.

"Look! I said…"

She paused, 'I think I must have turned too fast' she thought ' my head's spinning'

"I said…"

Rei put a hand to her head. What was she saying?

"I'm…"

Stumbling, she looked up at Zero in confusion. Her head was ringing and her vision blurred.

Zero saw her as she started crumpling to the ground and reached out to grab her. Really, how long had it been since she had eaten and was she actually sleeping? Holding her in his arms Zero could feel that she had lost weight and looking at her close-up she looked tired and worn, and her skin was pallid. He felt immense sadness just looking at her. He looked around at their current location. It wasn't a bad place to set up camp. Carefully he laid Rei down on a soft spot of grass and went about setting things up for the night.

Once he had everything set up he transported her onto her bedding and covered her up. The night would be cold. Sitting next to her he watched her as she slept, once again reminiscing back on that night 8 years ago. A time when his own heart was in so much turmoil that he had been miserable, unable to sleep and lost in his own head. Rei had reached out to him then. But now… Wasn't she suffering the exact same thing? Except now, wasn't he the cause of her heartache?

He looked at her sleeping face and he felt as though his heart was drowning from the pain. He felt helpless to fix this. As he watched her, Rei began to squirm in her sleep. Zero watched her face contort as she grunted and rolled over. 'I wonder what she dreams of, that makes her sleep so uneasy?' He thought to himself. With a low moan she tumbled back mumbling words Zero couldn't make out, her breathing becoming ragged, and her face twisting in pain behind her closed eyes.

Without thinking Zero crawled under the bedding to lay behind her and carefully enveloped her in his arms. If she were to wake up with him here, it would bring her only anger and no comfort, but still Zero pulled her close pressing her body to his. This would help through the cold night, but also maybe it would help Rei sleep a little easier? It wasn't his intent, but with her in his arms he found that he too felt a sense of comfort he hadn't been expecting. It was soothing, and as he felt her body settle and her breathing calm, he found himself easily drifting off to sleep, the smell of her wafting into his nostrils and intoxicating him.

Head throbbing, Rei slowly opened her eyes. Faintly she could see soft grey eyes swimming in and out of her vision.

"Roihichi?"

She groaned and flung a hand to her head. It hurt so bad. As her eyesight stabilized, Rei realized it was Zero's face in front of hers. Frowning she struggled to sit up and assess her surroundings. She was laying in her bedding, covered in blankets. Last she remembered It had been mid-afternoon but now she could see the sun setting and the dusky coloring in the sky overhead. A fire was going not far from her sleeping area. Zero was sitting next to her, close to her head. In his hands he held a bottle of water and a bowl.

"Did I pass out?"

"Yeah."

Zero wiped her face with a damp cloth and offered her the water bottle. "Drink this."

Rei gave him a sideways glance, but Zero said nothing else, just held the bottle out to her. Quietly Rei accepted the water and began drinking.

"Hey! Slowly-" Zero said, pulling the bottom of the waterbottle down from her lips. Rei glared at him as water spilled down her chin.

"You haven't eaten in who knows how long, you can't just swig it all down like that." Zero said calmly, placing his hand on the water bottle. "Just take little sips, okay?" He lifted the bottle to her lips carefully, allowing her to take a small sip and then he took the bottle from her.

Rei stared close lipped at him, but didn't say a word.

"You'll need to eat too."

She watched as he grabbed a spoon and then offered her a spoonful of soup from the bowl he held. Rei pulled back and arched an eyebrow at him.

"I can feed myself."

Zero looked at her and shrugged, offering her the spoon from the bowl. Rei picked up the spoon but found that her hand was shaking uncontrollably. As hard as she tried to control it and as frustrating as it was, she couldn't calm it and the soup sloshed erratically from the spoon. Grumbling with anger, Rei dropped the spoon into the bowl, contemplating between swallowing her pride and asking Zero to help, or continuing to go hungry.

Before she could open her mouth to request it, Zero silently picked the spoon back up and again offered her a spoonful of soup from the bowl. Lowering her eyes, Rei opened her mouth and accepted the spoonful of soup. "Thank you." she mumbled quietly after she swallowed, unable to meet his eyes.

Zero continued to focus on his task. "Of course." He said softly, feeding her another spoonful.

"How long was I out?" Rei asked timidly.

Zero lifted his head and met her eyes, "About a day and a half."

Rei jumped back almost knocking the bowl from Zero's hand.

"A day and half? Seriously?"

They had lost that much time? She tilted her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. This was her fault, she had been so consumed with getting there that she had made stupid decisions that were now delaying them.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault for being so careless. Now we're losing time."

Zero looked at Rei, perplexed. Was she serious?

"Rei, there's no fault. We're not losing time. Take the time you need to eat and rest and recuperate. You should be at your best and it's worth it to take the time to get you there."

He continued to feed her, one spoonful slowly at a time, before asking with hesitation, "Tell me the truth Rei, have you been sleeping?"

He turned sad eyes to look at her and Rei immediately turned away. She felt her throat tighten and she wasn't sure if words would come out even if she wanted them to. She didn't though.

Zero said nothing, he slowly continued giving her food and water, pausing between so that she didn't eat or drink too much or too fast. Even still, Rei knew that he was still waiting on her answer.

"Honestly, I don't really know", she hesitated. "Since I left our safe house in the cliff everything has kind of been a blur. I'm not sure that I've gotten more than a few hours of sleep since then."

She looked up at him with serious eyes. "It's not intentional. I just can't sleep. My mind has been a mess…" Rei put her hands to the side of her head and pulled at her hair. "The only clear thought that I can hold on to is finding Hisachi. The rest is…just…." Rei dropped her head into her hands and stopped talking. It all made even less sense when she tried to say it out loud.

"Okay, I see." Zero said. He put down the bowl and slid closer to her. Rei looked up at him, but Zero was staring out into the distance. With no further words he placed an arm around her and hugged her with it. Rei felt herself stiffen and began to pull back, but Zero held firmly and pulled her in, his eyes still off into space. Rei dropped her own eyes and resigned herself. She let Zero wrap his single arm around her and with a small sigh she tilted her head to lay upon his shoulder, her eyes also searching into the distance. They remained this way until Rei once again fell asleep, her head sliding down and resting in Zero's lap.

Again Zero found himself staring at Rei's sleeping face, this time stroking it lightly with his fingers and tracing the outline of the scar that framed it. Ever since last night Zero had been replaying their conversation in the cliff over in his head. He had been thinking about the words that he had said to her and precisely what he had meant by them. He knew exactly how Rei had interpreted them. He had chosen Yuki. He loved them both but only wanted one. But was that really what he had meant? Was that actually what he wanted? The truth was that Zero had never given it any serious thought. His true feelings for Rei had revealed themselves so suddenly that he'd barely had time to acknowledge them.

He thought back to seeing her at the cave opening that night. The complex emotions – his body obviously wanting her, his heart telling him these strange new things… and Rei. Rei basically telling him at that exact moment that she loved someone else.

Agh! Anger flared inside of Zero again just thinking about it. Not anger at her, but anger at himself. For being so stupid and for waiting so long to see it. For saying words to her without thinking them through and for no thought at all to the consequences.

The truth was he didn't know if it came down to it, whether it would be Rei or Yuki. He didn't even begin to know how to make that decision. He had never even given himself a chance to think about the possibility of being with Rei. Not until she had scorned him. The look in her face when she told him to stay away was one that he'd never seen before and would never want to see again. At that moment he'd thought about the past 8 years without her and what it would feel like to have her gone from his life once again. It was a thought he still hadn't recovered from.

He wouldn't tell Rei, but after leaving the safe haven at the cavern in the cliffs, as he, Yuki, and Roihichi had taken their journey to follow their lead, he had spoken privately with Yuki and confessed to her his conflicting feelings for Rei. She hadn't seemed that surprised, and Zero guessed that with their history, and the complicated dealings between the three of them and Kaname, she'd probably assumed this was a possibility as soon as Rei had been revealed to be alive. This caused another pang in Zero's heart. What Yuki must feel about Rei coming back from the dead couldn't be that far off from the feeling that Zero got from Kaname returning back to their lives. He hated for her to have to feel even a fraction of what that felt like for him.

For the last 8 years it had been just the two of them and Zero and Yuki had lived in total abandonment within their own world knowing that. He and Yuki had never clearly defined what their relationship with each other was. Zero knew that they loved each other and so they had left it at that. There had never seemed to be a need to discuss the particulars of a commitment or relationship. Now with the upturning of their lives caused by the reappearance of both Rei and Kaname, it seemed that understanding the precise nature of that relationship had gained importance. Yuki hadn't been angry when Zero explained his predicament, it was one that she was familiar with after all, but she did tell him that he should take the time to think about it all and make a decision about where he truly wanted to be.

Worst than even that, when Zero had asked her about Kaname and his pending return to his former self, Yuki had reassured him that no matter what may happen when Kaname's memories returned, Zero would continue to be her choice. That sentiment complicated things so much more.

He wouldn't tell Rei because it meant that she really didn't have to worry about Kaname returning to Yuki because Yuki wouldn't pick him. So technically Rei could still have her happily ever after with Kaname if she wanted. However, Zero wasn't sure that this was what he himself wanted, and he was also pretty sure that Rei wouldn't want to be with Kaname in that manner either. Winning by default wouldn't suit her.

He looked at Rei's face again and sighed. He loved her. That much was definitely true and he wouldn't deny it anymore. No matter what, he would explain that, and he would fix the damage caused by his words in the cave. But before that he would figure out and make a choice between Yuki and Rei and it would be based on nothing else but his heart. He wouldn't let their feelings or Kaname's have any effect on it at all. Zero brushed some hair from Rei's face and whispered as she slept, "Just give me some time, I promise I'll figure this out and once I have, no matter the outcome, I'll have the honest discussion with you that you deserve."