Zero and I walked in silence through the dark, both of us able to see as clearly as if it had been a sunny afternoon. We strode beside each other, walking through the streets, both of us knowing where to go. Even if the last time I had been there was more than two years ago, I instinctively knew where the small shop that smelled of herbs and fragrant smells lay.

"Do you want to withdraw from this war?" Zero asked quietly, his voice breaking the chill of the silence.

"What makes you think I do?" I replied sharply, a little surprised he had noticed.

"Are you afraid of getting hurt?" His voice sounded mild, as though he was expecting a yes from me, and didn't mind.

"No," I replied. "I just don't want to make connections that can only hurt me."

"You don't want people you care about to get hurt," Zero stated.

"Yes."

"Sounds like something you would hear a heroine say."

A flash of light. A streetlight glowed dimly as we turned a corner.

"No. It's just something a coward says."

"So you are scared of getting hurt."

"Yes."

"That's fine." I stopped walking as I heard his voice.

"What?"

Zero stopped a pace in front of me, his face confused as he turned to face me.

"What's wrong?"

"When did you become like this?" I couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"Like what?" His answers were getting irritating.

" Like, so-so," I fumbled for a word. "Accepting. Why are you actually all friendly with me now? Weren't the two of us enemies? Ready to kill on sight?"

"I'm not acting friendly," Zero snapped back. "I just asked if you wanted to withdraw from a fight, then ask if you're scared of getting hurt. What's wrong with that?"

"Since when were you concerned with my wellbeing?" I retorted sharply, feeling a stab of relief that maybe nothing had changed in the end.

"If we're fighting together, maybe I should know something about you," Zero replied just as sharply.

"Well, we're not going to be fighting together, either way." I immediately clamped my mouth shut. Idiot.

"So you do want to withdraw." Zero's expression changed from angry to something akin to smugness.

"That's none of your business," I brushed past him, angry at him for tricking me into spilling, and angry at myself at letting myself spill the beans.

"You can't escape from this, you know," Zero called after me, and I could hear his footsteps marching after me. "They kidnapped you for a reason, and for just that reason, you're obviously connected to this. You can't withdraw easily, you know."

"I don't care," I whispered to myself, not knowing if he could hear me, and not caring if he couldn't. "I'll leave this city. I'll even leave this country. I just won't get involved."

A flurry of footsteps and a hand clamped onto my arm.

"It makes no difference even if you leave the country," Zero was staring down at me, the two of us facing each other in the dark and empty street. "Ereon wanted to kidnap you once. We managed to get you out. He might come after you again - No, he will come after you again, whether for his own reasons or just to eliminate a potential threat. For your own good, it's safer if you stay and fight."

"No," I shook my head. "I won't. He wouldn't chase me if I was out of the country. That would be good for you if he did anyway, since he would be out of the picture temporarily." The hand on my arm loosened slightly.

"Even if getting out of the country was the best option," Zero's voice was low. "Would you be able to afford it?"

His question struck the biggest loophole in my plan. The plan itself was a loophole, I had to admit.

"I'll manage," I replied uncertainly. Not wanting to discuss the topic anymore (and lose the argument), I pulled out of his grasp, marching away once again in large angry strides.

I had only gone ten paces when Zero tugged at my hair. It didn't hurt, but it annoyed me.

"What?" I snapped at him, patience and reason lost. It was unreasonable of me to lose my temper like this just because I was losing the argument, I hated to admit, but I was hardly in the mood to try and solve things 'reasonably'.

"We're here," Zero pointed at the dark and empty shop next to us.

"It looks like it's closed," I replied, looking at the locked glass door and dark interior. Good. I was hardly getting myself mixed up in this mess now that the shop was closed. We could go back and everyone would sleep on it, while I quietly disappear.

Without replying, Zero raised a hand, rapping on the glass door three times. The knocks echoed into silence, and I was just about to leave, when a figure emerged from the back. A young boy, about 13 or 14, came up to the door, dressed in crumpled pyjamas and barefoot, fumbling with a set of keys.

"What do you want?" He looked up at the two of us when he finally got the door open. "We're closed."

"We need to see Hana, Ren," Zero replied urgently. "Is she there?"

"Hana?" Ren looked carefully at Zero's face, then mine. "Oh, it's you guys. Come in. She should be in the back." He ushered the two of us inside, locking the door once we were inside.

"Go on," he gestured to the back of the room, seeing we had stopped. "Just be careful with all the stock. Try not to bump into anything."

Silently, both of us navigated towards the back of the store. Tables of herbs and lotions, sweet fragrances and strange smells, the sound of footsteps on the creaky wooden floor, flooded into my senses as I followed Zero through.

"Hana?" He was calling out as he ducked under a black curtain, a curtain which I knew hid an entrance to the hall that led to Hana's room.

"Who is it?" The commanding, calm voice came from a room that led off the hallway Zero and I were in, behind the curtain.

"It's me, Zero," Zero followed her voice without hesitation. "I need your list of names again."

"List of names?" Hana repeated, as we entered the room. She sat behind a desk covered in papers, several pens scattered across the paper-filled surface. She still wore her black cloak, her long dark hair spilling out from under the hood. As I eyed her face, I realised she looked much more...normal. When I had first met her, she had looked haunted and possibly crazy. Now she had an air of calmness around her, even as she scribbled on her papers, a crease between her eyebrows.

"The one of people who're involved in the rebellion," Zero replied, walking forward to look at her desk. "The one I had got stolen." As soon as he mentioned the word stolen, Hana's head shot up and a wave of panic washed over her eyes.

"Stolen," she repeated. "Who took it?"

"Ereon." For the first time, Zero looked uneasy. "But it's hardly useful to him - he already knows all the names."

"No, no, no," Hana shook her head. In a sudden motion, she had swept half the papers on her desk into a folder that appeared from under her desk. "He knows that it's me who got the list. He's coming after me." She began picking up the remaining sheets, cramming them messily into another folder, until bits of paper almost burst out of the manilla folder. I jumped, then froze, not sure what to do.

"How?" Zero had jumped up too, but if anything, he was trying to get her attention. "How would he know it's you?"

"You were rescued shortly after you were kidnapped, weren't you?" Hana's knowledge of Zero's kidnapping didn't surprise me. He hadn't mentioned it, but Hana had her own sources, I had figured out.

"Yes," Zero's eyes narrowed. "You don't mean-"

"He let you go," Hana finished packing the rest of the sheets. "He knew you would come to find me. He followed you here. You have to go. Now." She pressed the pile of folders into a briefcase, before thrusting the briefcase into my arms. No sooner had she done so, a cry came from the front of the shop.

"Sir! There is no one called Hana here! You have the wrong place!" It was Ren's voice, his voice louder than necessary for calling to an intruder. It was a warning to us, I knew. Ren was trying to stall the intruder, and give us time to escape.

"Quick, go," Hana pulled aside a curtain at the back of the room, revealing a small door, not much higher than my hips.

"Hold on," I held the briefcase tightly. "What about Ren? Why couldn't we just stay and fight? What if it's not even this Ereon person? What if it's his bodyguards or whatever?"

In the corner of my eye, I saw Zero reach inside his jacket, only to pull his hand away abruptly.

He doesn't have Bloody Rose.

"Only Ereon would come after me. He's the only person that can match up to me and I to him. You two wouldn't last two seconds against Ereon," Hana replied, glancing at Zero with a knowing gaze. "Especially without Bloody Rose." I began to speak up, thinking of my abilities.

"I can-"

"No, you can't," Hana replied sharply, as though she knew what I was thinking. Her voice softened slightly, seeing the hurt in my face. "Just trust me. I'm the only person who can stand up to Ereon here. Maybe you can too, in the future."

A crash and loud cry followed her words immediately, and Hana stiffened.

"Hurry!" She pulled open the small door, and beckoned to Zero. He followed, a bit unsteadily, but as soon as he had crouched in front of the small entrance, preparing to crawl in, Hana had virtually kicked him inside, beckoning wildly for me to go over.

What an entrance.

I hurried over as well, the briefcase clutched awkwardly to my chest as I bent over, trying to figure out a way to crawl without dropping the briefcase.

"He's here," Hana hissed, shutting the door just when I was almost completely inside. It hit my behind, not enough to push me forward, but enough to probably leave a bruise. I heard the swish of cloth, indicating she had also dropped the curtain back over the door, as a new set of footsteps marched into the room.

I froze, trying to hear what was going on outside. In the pitch darkness of the tunnel, I could hear Zero tugging at my arm and hissing at me to hurry up. I ignored him, though, holding the briefcase to my chest tightly and pressing my ear against the door.

Zero finally stopped too and squeezed up next to me, trying to listen to whatever happened too, and so, the two of us sat in silence, not daring to breathe as we tried to listen.

"Ereon," Hana hissed, and I heard her heels click from our hiding place, marching towards the centre of the room, towards Ereon. A small part of me pondered at the fact that she wore heels in the first place, but the rest of my attention was fixed on what would happen next.

"Hana," the man Hana had called Ereon replied, his voice joyous, as though the two were good friends who had a chance meeting on the street. "It's been such a while since I last saw you. You haven't changed."

"And neither have you," Hana replied, her tone the exact opposite of Ereon's. While his had been warm and happy, hers was cold and threatening. "What are you doing here?"

"A little birdie told me you would be here," Ereon replied, and I could almost feel his smugness radiating from the other side of the door.

"Is that so?" Hana's voice was still cold, and now had a condescending tone mixed into it. "Why should a bird go into a cage that it knows has already caged another bird? The first bird is already an example to the others to stay away."

"A heroic attempt to save that poor raven?" Ereon mimicked Hana's tone of voice. "Or was the cage's mesh too fine to be seen and the bird went straight in, in the hope for company?"

"Or did the bird never come?" Hana's response was tense. It was the first time I had ever heard her like that. It wasn't fear, but rather, a mix of something else, not unlike fear. "Did it just leave that other bird to die in misery?"

"I don't understand what you're saying," Ereon sounded confused, his voice dripping with innocence.

"You let him die," Hana's voice lost her cool. Another first. "You killed him!" A flurry of cloth and footsteps accompanied her outburst, quickly followed by the clash of steel against steel.

"I didn't kill him," Ereon's voice was cold, all the fake joy lost. "You did."

"No," Hana's voice was so quiet, I could barely hear it. "You wouldn't save him."

"I could have loved you, you know," Ereon's voice was just as quiet, with something else mixed into it. Regret? Sadness? Guilt? "If you could have just forgotten about him for once, then he might have lived."

"If you could have just stayed free from jealousy, then I would still be with you." The softness of their voices made me wonder if they stood face to face in the room, their weapons locked together as they talked.

"I made you who you are now," Ereon's voice turned harsh. "You should be grateful for that."

"I was strong enough without you," Hana's voice was indifferent now, and there was the slide of metal before footsteps stepped again. "I didn't need your tampering."

"Rido assured me you would be fine for my plans," Ereon responded just as indifferently, and there was the soft creak of floorboards as two sets of feet began to circle each other. "He never mentioned your emotional difficulties."

"Because I never had them," Hana responded, heat rising in her voice.  "Until you killed my fiancé!"

Like the first time, a set of footsteps suddenly ran to the other side of the room and I could hear the sounds of a battle.

It must have been something that didn't involve material weapons though, because though I could hear crashes and the heavy thump of people jumping around, not once did I hear the clash of blades or metal.

Hand to hand combat?

Or something else?

"You've been spying on me haven't you?" Ereon's voice was ragged, with heaving breaths between his words. "Where are your notes?"
Hearing him sound so tired gave me a spark of hope that perhaps Hana was winning.

"I don't have them," Hana gasped back, and I could hear her panting as well.

"Lies," Ereon attacked again, and once again, I was subjected to the sound of a battle, with grunts of effort and the occasional cry as one managed to get the slight upper hand. They were equally matched, as Hana had mentioned.

Would I have stood a chance?

The battle stopped abruptly with a single cry, an unmistakably feminine one, and I heard a thump as someone crashed to the floor, sending my hopes tumbling as well.

"You've gone soft," Ereon's voice was triumphant, harsh and bitter. "You should have just stayed with me. Perhaps I'll let you live, if you tell me where the notes are."

"That won't happen." Hana sounded so exhausted and tired, I could almost hear tears of frustration and despair lingering on her words. "They're gone. They're far away now and you'll never reach them. Never."

"What a shame," I heard the slide of metal. "I'll have to let out all my anger on you, then. Last words?"

There was a silence for a while, before I heard a harsh gasping sound.

"You're still so weak," I realised that sound I heard had been Hana laughing. "A true Kira Hunter would never lose to you. Especially not when she has Mother Metal."

"What-" Ereon's startled response was cut off with a sudden swish of air and I heard another thump. He must have been knocked to the ground.

"So long, Ereon," Hana's voice was like a ghostly whisper. I couldn't tell what was happening. "You've lost. The notes and I are both gone."

Her voice finished, and the silence that followed was eery. I strained to listen, not understanding what was going on. Hana couldn't have just upped and left could she?

"Saki," Zero's voice was barely audible, probably inaudible to me if I hadn't been a vampire. Glancing over at him, I saw him motioning to the left and gesturing we should leave.

With a final glance at the closed door, I nodded, logic telling me we had stayed too long and should turn the knowledge that the notes were safe into a fact.

Zero went first, crawling on his hands and knees through the tunnel and I followed, clutching the briefcase awkwardly as I tried to crawl with one hand and two legs.

What would happen now?

~~~

Hello, once again, my utterly dedicated readers (so dedicated that you would still read my story even though I hardly ever update now - sozzies about that). I have finally updated however, and with the long awaited meeting with Hana you guys have been waiting for! To be honest, I really lost my muse and I had only planned ahead in detail the part with the battle. Otherwise, I'm going to have to begin planning further (don't worry, I have the basic plot) for the specific details and locations, etc.
Until then, stay cool and don't forget to vote and comment! Thanks so much for reading you guys!

~Evil_Incubator