OK, first of all, I would very much appreciate it if you would go back and reread chapter Hatred For Kaname. I had to make a slight change to it concerning Sky and Rose's first meeting. This only affects those who have read it before this was posted. Those who have read this after this was posted, such as someone reading this chapter in a week or two and have already reread it, this dos not concern you because you are probably up to date. Thank you!
Hanabusa's breath is icy cold as his fangs reach my neck. I can't do a thing to stop him from drinking my blood now, so I might as well suffer through it as best as I can.
BANG!
Hanabusa lets go of me and falls to the ground. The ice trapping me breaks and I fall to my knees. Someone just shot Hanabusa, and just saved us both a lot of trouble. As I make sure that he is going to stay down for a while, I turn around and see Toga, Yuki, Zero, and Kaien standing at the edge of the forest. And Toga has a gun in his hands, a vampire hunter gun.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Hanabusa yells.
I glance back at him and see that he is bleeding from his right shoulder. I stand up and back away from him, but trip and fall over the ice shards lying about. I look once more to Hanabusa and see that he his propping himself up with his bloody arm and looking me dead in the eyes.
"Rose, are you alright?" Cross shouts from behind.
"Ye-yeah. I… I'm okay," I say breathlessly.
"Hanabusa, did you think that you would go unnoticed in the classroom?" Toga asks him viciously.
Hanabusa laughs. "No, but I thought I'd have more time than that to at least taste her blood," he says greedily.
"Rose, come over here with us," Yuki says.
I go to stand, but my hand slips and I cut myself on a piece of ice. My hand becomes bloody and the smell becomes maddening.
"So that's what your blood smells like," Hanabusa says.
I quickly look at him and see that he is starting to get up and his eyes are glowing even brighter than before. I jump up and back away from him fleetingly. I stumble again, but I keep my balance this time though I know I'll never make it away from him at this rate. That's when Zero stands in front of me and keeps Hanabusa away from me. He also takes his gun out of my hand since I clearly can't use it.
"Hanabusa, don't think for one minute that I won't gladly shoot you," Zero says.
Hanabusa laughs maddeningly this time. "Do you think I care? I want one thing and that's it. Now get out of my way or I'll rip you to shreds!"
I grab Zero's arm and pull him back as much as I can.
"Rose, what are you doing?" Zero asks me.
"Stay out of this," I say as I grab his gun and step in front of him. "This is my problem. I've never needed help from anyone before, so I don't need help now."
Hanabusa's laugh becomes hysterical as I bring the gun up and aim it at his left shoulder. I don't really want to kill him if I don't have to.
"Rose, what are you doing?" Yuki yells.
I glance at Zero and smile though he just stares at me like I'm an idiot, but he doesn't try to take his gun back which hopefully means he trusts me for once. I take a deep breath and stare Hanabusa down.
"I'm gonna give you a chance to back down, Hana, before I shoot you myself," I say.
Hanabusa looks at me, but this time his eyes aren't red anymore and his fangs are gone. He seems as though he is sick. I feel a hand on my shoulder and when I look up, I see Kaname standing there.
"Zero, get her out of here. The headmaster and I will take care of Hanabusa," Kaname says.
"Whoa, wait just a-" Zero covers my mouth and hoists me upon his shoulder. "Zero, put me down this instant!" I demand.
Zero ignores me and carries me away from the lake and Hanabusa like Kaname told him to. Since when did Zero listen to Kaname? I start to cry about halfway through the trees and Zero puts me down.
"What the hell do you think you are doing wandering about by yourself when we told you specifically not to!" Zero yells at me. I turn away from him and lean against a tree. "Rose, I am talking to you!" He grabs my arm and pulls me so that he and I are in each others faces.
"What the hell do you want me to say? That I'm sorry?!" I yell back at him. Zero clenches my arm and I punch him in the gut. He lets go and stumbles backwards. "Listen to me. All of you listen! I don't take orders from anyone. Not a soul. I refuse!" Everyone stares at me for a moment. I am so furious. I hate it when people tell me what to do. I've just had enough of it.
All of a sudden I smell blood coming from the lake, and I suspect that Kaname just beat Hanabusa to a pulp. None of the others can smell it, except for Zero, but who cares.
"Everyone needs to take a minute and breathe," Yuki says.
I roll my eyes and notice that Toga is gone. "How about I just leave. I've lived by myself far too long to stay with people," I say. I turn from them and walk away. In fact, I almost run. I can't stand goodbyes, and I have grown attached to some of them.
After a little while, I hear footsteps ahead of me so I stop. "Who's there?" I shout. A figure appears and stands there, motionless; he is wearing a black overcoat and black fedora. His hair is red and long, kind of like Kaname's. "I asked you a question, now answer me," I order.
The man looks up at me and smiles. "I am Phoenix Ioh, and I have come for you Rose," the man says.
I wave my hand back and forth in my face and look at him. "Listen, I don't have the time to deal with this, so you are just going to have to go away."
"If you think a wave of the hand and words will make your nightmare disappear, then try. But your reality is near and it is time to wake up from your dream, princess."
I glare at him. "What the hell are you talking about? And how dare you call me princess. I don't even know who you are."
I feel another hand upon my shoulder. I glance back a little so I can still see Phoenix. "Tch! Zero, what are you doing here?" I ask. He looks down at me quickly, then to Phoenix.
"You should not be here," Zero says.
"Hmm, Zero Kiryu and Miss Rose Ioh. I wasn't expecting this so quickly," Phoenix says.
I freak out. He wasn't expecting this? "Wait, you were expecting what?" I ask frantically. Zero's grip tightens on my shoulder.
"I, nor the others, were expecting the two of you to meet so quickly," Phoenix says with a smirk.
"What are you talking about?" Zero asks.
"Oh, the plans in store for the two of you," Phoenix says cheerily. "You'll just have to wait a bit longer." He starts to turn away.
"No, tell us now!" I scream. But before I can go after him, he is gone. I make a fist and punch a whole in the nearest tree I can find, which isn't that hard considering the survival I had to go through. "Damn, the first time I get close to finding anything out he just disappears."
"Rose, who was that?" Zero asks.
I sigh and look at him. "He said his name was Phoenix Ioh. Like that Edmond guy. But what the hell does he want with the both of us?" I ask.
Zero looks away from me. "It must have something to do with Shizuka…" We don't say anything. How can we when all we have are questions. "Are you still going to leave?" he finally asks.
"I don't know," I say. "I really like it here, but I don't know how to get along with people."
"You don't have to worry about that," Yuki says out of nowhere. I turn around and pull my hand out of the tree. Yuki and Cross are standing beside Zero smiling. "Zero doesn't get along with people either. But we can help you with that if you'll only stay."
I look at all of their faces. "I… guess I could stay," I say, "but only if I get to tell Kaname what to do."
Zero smiles. "Yeah, I'm sure we can arrange that."
Yuki slaps his arm. "Zero, we can't do that."
"Why not? He bosses everyone else around. Why can't she?"
"Because no one is supposed to boss anyone around!"
I laugh. Maybe this won't be so bad. We call it quits for the night and head back to the dorms. Except Yuki, Zero, and I find out that Kaien was serious about Zero and me staying in the same room…
More surprises. Don't cha just love 'em? Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter. I wanted it to be full of suspense, but I don't know for sure if it is the kind of suspense that everyone likes. If you didn't think it was suspenseful, I am truly sorry. This is the first story I have ever written, so hopefully in the future things like suspense will get better. Please review if you get the chance.