Circuit ( A Vampire Knight Fanfic)

Chapter 16: Six Months later

The summer sun beat down on Maya, annoyingly heating up her head as she walked down the half crowded cobbled streets. Small shops or stands were placed strategically to catch people attention. Maya was looking for a particular bouquet stand that sold naturally grown flowers. She had visited them once a year and had become good acquaintances with the older woman who owned the garden that produced healthy flowers like these. 

Her gaze fell on the stand she had been looking for, but Atsuko-san, the old woman, was not there. Instead, she had been replaced by a middle-aged man. She approached the stand, pulling the man away from the book in his hands.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" He asked, smiling. Maya's face remained blank, but her eyebrows pulled together with confusion.

"Where is Atsuko-san?" She asked.

The man's face filled with anger and regret. "She's in the hospital. Took a fall a few weeks ago and it doesn't look good."

"I'm sorry. Tell her I, Maya, say hi and give her my thanks for the flowers if you see her." She pulled out a wad of bills to pay for the flowers that she was going to get, but the man stopped her with a wave of his hand.

"You're Maya, huh? Here." He stood from his seat on a low wooden stool and went to the back of the cart, pulling out a bag of red roses. There were probably five small bundles inside of it. "She told me to give these to you, free of charge."

Maya took the bag from him, feeling touched. She gave him a small, rare smile because he deserved it. He seemed like a nice man, and she was grateful for the nice gesture. "Thank you."

"Have a good day now." He said as she walked off. In return, she waved. The city cemetery was pretty far, but going there on foot didn't bother her in the slightest. Walks like this gave her a chance to relax and clear her mind, to listen to the sounds of people, the occasional horn or birds. Along with it came the lukewarm breeze that blew through the city, blowing different smells towards her nose. She loved it, especially if she was peckish. 

After the killing of the Association President, Maya was once again free to enter into the facility as she pleased, although there was little to no motivation in doing so now. Kaien was already on thin enough ice as it was, seeing that he was the one that had killed the President, but for good reason. He had told her that the President had been drinking the blood of a noble vampire to stay young. This had angered Maya, knowing that all the pieces finally made some sort of sense from the way the President acted towards her. But she was mostly stuck in the dark. For now, she was free to do what she wanted, to work on her training or to grab a mission whenever possible. It was her chance to do something semi-normal, but with that ever-present omniscient presence of that Kuran kid. As he had promised, he had not bothered her, but she could still sometimes feel pokes of prods of his presence. Maya figured it was just another way for him to tell her that he hadn't forgotten his little promise. 

She arrived at the Cemetery about an hour and a half later and reached into the bag, placing roses on her parents, Jax's, Zero's parents, Daisuke's graves. As she traveled over to the cleaner and newest addition to the line of graves, she noticed that there was already a bundle of white flowers on the grave, the small ribbon around them that gently moved in the breeze. 

Zero's scent lingered on them, which meant he had been here rather recently. Maya had not seen much of him, or sometimes not at all. He was still taking classes at what remained of Cross Academy and hunted Level E's in incessantly at night. It was like he was addicted, just to remain sane. It left no room for conversation between the two of them, no chance to talk to each other and explain themselves and what was going on. Maya had a feeling that he was purposefully avoiding her because of what happened at the Academy that night, six months ago.