A/N: Thanks to my wonderful reviewers and readers! I truly appreciate you! Apologies to take so long with this chapter, but I wasn't really sure about it.

WARNING: This chapter is darker than any of the other chapters have been so far and it focuses entirely on what the other vamps have been doing (specifically Kain) while Kaname is missing.

Just to keep the time straight : Kaname has been missing for two weeks-but he's only met up with Zero for one night and the morning where they are at present. Here's Chapter 6 of this little tale. I hope you enjoy it and I'll get back to the fluffy stuff soon!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Vampire Knight anything that belongs to Matsuri Hino, I only lay claim to my original plot bunnies and characters. See summary in previous chapters.

Zero concentrated on making nice, even cuts into the little chicken nuggets, hoping the cat would eat them. He was pleased to notice that he hadn't over-nuked them the way he was prone to do whenever the microwave was involved, but perhaps it was just a bit of luck on his part.

Scooping the nugget pieces into the little bowl, he turned to face the cat and nearly dropped the bowl. The chocolate-brown beauty had wriggled out of the towel and currently had its face buried in a glass of milk.

Glass of milk.

His glass of milk.

The glass of milk that he could've sworn he'd placed next to his cereal on the table.

Zero blinked.

He'd need more sleep than he thought.

No, he'd need more blood. Perhaps he really was hallucinating or something. Surely he hadn't left the glass beside the cat—that would've been stupid and far too irresponsible. He frowned, moving over to the counter. "Hey!"

"Did you find her?" Kain caught his cousin as the injured Vampire stumbled into the foyer of the Kuran mansion. "Aido!"

"No…sign." The blond vampire choked out, sagging willingly into the arms that now supported him. "Searched everywhere and-" He winced. "Too many of them…no sign of…Kaname-sama."

"Shh. Easy." Kain drew him close, holding tight, uncaring as the scent of blood filled the air and stained the front of his suit. "Ruka? Takuma!" He barked. He kept a careful grip on the younger vampire, as not to squash him with his strength.

The others were around him in short order and Aido was quickly taken away to be tended to. Ruka stood beside him, having hung back for one long moment, her hand resting gently on his arm. "Akatsuki?" She murmured.

"He didn't find any of them." The strawberry blond gritted his teeth. "Said there was no sign. She'd never let him out of her sight, Ruka!"

"I know." The tall girl smiled thinly. "Something will turn up."

"It's been nine days! He never slips away for longer than three, you know that!"

"Aye, I do!" She turned on him fiercely, eyes flashing. "And I'm sure he has his reasons." She swallowed. "And it's her. Aktatsuki, if she couldn't find him, then…" She hesitated. "The best we can do is to manage what he left behind until he comes back."

"We can't."

"We can!"

"It's going-"

"They'll find out, yes, because we can't hide the truth from them forever, but I'm sure by then, something will happen. You know Kaname-sama would never leave us stranded like this." Her eyes drilled into him. "You know this!"

The older boy heaved a breath and then his head bowed. Yes, indeed, he did know this. "…sorry."

She hugged him, gently, mindful of the bloodied front of his suit. "It's alright. You've always been the strongest of us all, please…don't fall apart on me now. I don't think I could handle that."

He forced a smile and kissed her wrinkled brow. "I will be fine. Thank you. You should go see how Aido's doing."

"We." She corrected, starting forward, pulling his arm.

"No." He tugged it free and had already begun to undo the buttons on his stained suit jacket. The shirt beneath it was fine and clean, which was perfect. He couldn't stop to change now. The urge to make himself useful grew steadily larger with every step away from the front door. "You should go. He'll need blood."

"All the more reason for-" She stopped as she realized she now held his suit jacket sleeve in one hand and he was rearranging the cuffs on his dress shirt. "Kain, don't. You can't."

He smiled, sadly. "I can go now or later, Ru." The smile wavered. "Now is best."

"Now is not-!"

"I'll be fine. Just go…and keep an eye on them. All of them."

"Don't you dare!" She lunged forward and forcibly grabbed him, dragging him along the corridors. "I can't do that. I can't! What kind of stunt do you think you're trying to pull?" She snapped, giving one hard jerk and hearing him thump against the wall. She breathing hard and didn't dare look him in the face—nor the eyes—just yet. She couldn't believe it. Of all the times he had to pick to play the—her temper simmered over. "I won't have any more of these ridiculous melodramatics and I'm tired of you getting to the point where you think just because Kaname and Seiren aren't here that you have to be the one that goes around and-" Ruka whirled and froze.

He no longer stood there, braced against the wall. The entire hallway was empty.

Her eyes burned with vampire tears and she slowly clutched his jacket to her chest. "Kain." She ground out. "Why, Kain? Why? Why would you do this to me?"

Yagari flipped his phone open for the dozenth time that morning. He read and reread the message that Zero had sent him last night. He hadn't wanted to send the young man off on his own, even if it was to his own home.

Not in the state that Zero had been in yesterday.

Work had been brutal and the situations had simply snowballed one after another.

Yagari knew him well enough to know that there would be little to no sleep after a day like that. He also knew the boy would probably drain whatever blood reserves he had the moment he set foot inside his home.

It didn't help that some of the tricky situations had included young children and led to the unnecessary deaths of innocent passersby.

It didn't help at all.

The elder hunter took a deep breath and slowly rolled it out. He did a few mental calculations in his head and came to the usual conclusion that he usually did after such musings. Zero would be running low on blood right around now and if he'd gone home to drain his reserves in a fit of…something, then he was sure to be out by now.

He'd have to make arrangements for that sometime today—to siphon off the blood and then to visit Zero.

His stubborn-headed apprentice lived far enough into the country that it was a headache to travel to the farmhouse and back. He knew this was for Zero's own peace of mind—the silver-headed hunter swore that he'd be less of threat when there were less possible targets around.

Of course, Yagari hadn't been able to complain when the outdoors seemed to have the most calming effect he'd seen on the kid in years. That had made him hold his tongue on more than one occasion.

But after a night like yesterday, there was no way he could calmly sit down and expect everything to be just peachy. He had to go. Had to see Zero. Had to know that the boy that was practically a son to him was alright.

He sighed and slowly moved out from the shadows where he'd been keeping lookout. He flipped open the cellphone again and tapped out a short message, knowing that his usual day partner would take care of it for him.

He'd stop and see Zero the minute he was cleared to do so.

"No sign of Kaname?" Shiki sat on the barstool beside the dejected Kain and idly toyed with the knife he spun in his hands. "You looked all on the short side?" He done as he'd been last ordered by Kaname, uncaring as to whether the pureblood was there for his report or not. Kaname had asked him to take care of some things and he was dong exactly what he'd been told. Of course, he'd done so keeping an eye out for his cousin and it'd taken what little self-control he'd had to keep from pitching a fit when he'd discovered that Kaname was indeed missing.

"Long side too." Kain's pained eyes flickered to him, the knife and then away, with only the faintest shadow of longing in them. "Put that down before you hurt yourself. I've done everything you asked. It's as if he was never there at all."

"It'd be an accident." Shiki retorted. "Purely accidental." He drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. "No sign of Seiren either?"

"None at all."

"Worries you, doesn't it?"

"Stop putting words in my mouth."

"I'd rather put something else in it."

"Senri!"

"Akatsuki."

The older vampire sighed. "I didn't mean to snap."

"Yes you did. You've been pushing yourself too hard. You can't blame yourself for something that was out of your control!"

"I should've been able to do something!"

"Should have." Shiki allowed. "Maybe. But then we all could hold ourselves responsible if we were to look at it that way, don't you think?"

Kain pillowed his head in his hands. He didn't answer.

Shiki sighed. He reached over and combed his small fingers through the crop of orange-blond hair. "The world's on your shoulders again." He murmured, sliding off the barstool and making a motion at the bartender behind the counter.

The lesser noble immediately bowed and backed out from the counter and the room cleared within seconds.

Kain didn't seem to notice.

Shiki moved to stand beside the older vampire's barstool and clenched the knife tight in one hand. "If you feel so responsible…" He brought the knife up and trailed it around the exposed patch of skin on the vampire's neck. "Then let this be your punishment." He drew the blade down, sharply.

Kain flinched, but didn't move or protest.

The dark-haired vampire leaned down and licked along the line of crimson welling up from the new wound. He laved it, gently, with his tongue and then began to trail soft kisses over the tender, new skin as it healed over. The kisses turned to nibbles and then definite nips.

A low moan came from the blond vampire.

Shiki smirked, wickedly. "You've been searching everywhere…" He began. "Checking everywhere and claiming that you've covered all your bases, so answer me this." His grip on the knife tightened and he tugged on one of Kain's elbows until the vampire straightened and looked at him. He looked absolutely miserable, but not as bad as he'd been several minutes before.

Odd-colored eyes narrowed faintly as Shiki turned away for a moment. "There is one place I didn't check." He said, at last.

"Where? Who?" Kain perked up at once.

A name was whispered and Kain went several shades of pale.

Shiki chuckled, humorlessly. "If anyone would know…" He trailed off.

Kain bowed his head for a moment and then straightened and sat tall with determination. "I'll check."

"You do that."

"Will you...?"

"I have things to tend to." Shiki licked the bloodied tip of the knife."

"What should I tell Takuma and Rima?"

"Nothing!" He said, sharply. "Just do as you should and I'll do the same. You will know where to find me if you have news." Shiki wrinkled his nose. "Oh and Kain?"

The blond looked to him expectantly.

He never saw the knife in the blur that followed.

A spike of burning pain registered and when Kain came to his senses, the empty bar was silent and almost haunted. The only difference left being the knife stabbed through the hand he'd rested on the counter. He pulled it out with a wince and cursed the empty room.

~*~*~Thanks for reading!~*~*~*