Bloody Petals

Chapter 15

"Zero!!" Kaname called as he chased after the hunter in the busy streets of the town. It was certainly a mistake to ask that question. He wouldn't forget how Zero paled the moment he heard the question that the pureblood just asked without any ado. But Kaname couldn't help it. He wanted to know. He wanted to know so much that it was almost driving him insane. "Zero!!"

And yet, the person he was chasing after kept his pace steadied, running at full vampire speed even in the middle of the day. He could see that Zero was much shaken by the question. The latter's heart skipped some beats before he immediately stood up and left the restaurant without any word.

Kaname gritted his teeth as he continued to run after Zero. He wanted to say that he wasn't doing it merely for something trivial or just for the sake of asking. He really wanted, no, needed, to know. "Zero!!" He couldn't see Zero anymore but he could still feel the other's presence in the vicinity. Zero was much faster than he thought. No wonder he was in the Elite Force at such a young age. But Kaname wasn't a pureblood for nothing...

Zero's mind was blank. He kept on running, running, and running away from Kaname, as if the pureblood himself was the embodiment of his past. He didn't want to even think about it, not to mention remember it. He continued his mindless run until he was sure that nobody was following him anymore. He wanted to be alone, to think alone, or maybe to not think at all. He only slowed down in his pace when he felt that there wasn't any more presence beside him, no more people to bump into, or even annoying bystanders who only knew how to gossip.

And the moment he realized where he was, he immediately stopped in his tracks.

He looked at the dilapidated infrastructure, or at least it used to be one. The church still stood proud and high even when its whole body was crumbling into the ground slowly. How ironic. It seemed the church was a lot stronger than him in some ways, even though both of them were slowly crumbling. He entered the church with slow steps, though with vampire silence.

And just then, he realized that he was already at the outskirt of the town, the same church where he was once ambushed. The same church where Kaname almost bit him... Kaname...

His eyes immediately widened when he realized he was no longer alone in the place. Hell, he didn't even realize someone already approached him from behind.

"I apologize." It was the last set of words Zero expected to hear from a very proud person such as Kaname. And yet, and yet, as he turned around to face the brunette vampire, he could see how much the pureblood meant what he just voiced. "I apologize for hurting you." Kaname's voice was cool and calm, but Zero could feel the sincerity in it.

He didn't know how to react. "W-What do you... want? Why do you... want to know? It has nothing to do with you... And yet..!" The questions were in themselves accusing. But the hunter couldn't help it. He couldn't believe that a pureblood vampire such as Kaname would ask those things without any ulterior motive. Or maybe he just didn't want to believe it. Because if he did...

"Alright. I won't ask you anything anymore." Kaname answered, not wanting to aggravate Zero into another running-away-mode. "I want you to know that I'm investigating everything." When he saw that the hunter was about to retort, he immediately added something. "This isn't just about you, Zero. I want to know why there's a pureblood vampire that night in my vicinity without my knowledge. I want to know everything, and I need to investigate everything, including you, if I want to know the answer."

Zero froze at that. Investigate everything... Then that meant Kaname might be able to know that he was here on a mission. That meant Cross and Yuuki might know as well. And that meant... they would know how filthy he was, using the people who cared for him as tools to get what he wanted. They would know how terrible he was, staining their trust and kindness with nothing but betrayal. They would know everything... And that also meant that his last mission would be... a failure.