Disclaimer: I do not own Blood+ or any of the characters from the anime or the manga.

Chapter 40

“Where is everyone?” Kaori asked as she stepped back into the room. ‘Her’ room actually, although she didn’t really want to call it that. She didn’t exactly come here of her own free will so she wasn’t ready to name even this small space of the place as hers. It was fairly well decorated and decently sized, although a lot of it was dominated by a large four poster bed. Lying on the bed on top of the covers, thankfully fully clothed, was Diva. Her hair was splayed out behind her and her eyes, which had been closed just a few moments ago while she relaxed, were now open and staring at Kaori.

“Don’t know.” Diva answered, sitting back up and shrugging. Then tilted her head back and put both of her hands up into the air as she gave a cute, almost squeaky yawn. “Don’t care.”

“Oh... okay.” Kaori mumbled, coming into the room, but leaving the door open. When she finally stopped she was standing at the foot of the bed, starring down at her...bride. Her tension was obvious just by how she held herself.

“What’s the matter?” Diva grinned almost wickedly at Kaori as she sat up. “You don’t look like you’re having fun. Why don’t you relax? Come on, sit.” She patted the bed beside her. Kaori eyed the spot and Diva’s hand with obvious hesitation. The emphasis Diva had put on the word relax unsettled her, not to mention she was in the room with a mon...no she couldn’t go back to this again. But damn it, it was still eating away at her. Simply putting aside everything Diva had done, especially to Riku, wasn’t easy. The hardest part was she planned more of it. She’d made no secret of the fact she wanted to hurt Saya and those who were close to her. In fact she seemed to take some kind of delight in the very idea.

“I think I’ll stand, thanks. I’m just... I want to stand is all.” Kaori said, rather lamely. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but she wasn’t sure how to be polite either. She was fond of Diva still, but this was so uncomfortable.

“Oh? Why is that? Don’t you want to sit next to me? You are after all my bride.” Diva’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Do you not want to be near me?”

“No, its nothing like that.” Kaori lied through her teeth. She knew it was obvious and there was probably no way she fooled anyone. Not herself and definitely not the girl in front of her.

“That’s not very nice.” Diva gave her a small pout and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...” Kaori trailed off, not wanting to continue to try and lie to her friend, especially when she wasn’t fooling anyone. Silence reigned between them for several minutes, exactly how many Kaori didn’t know. Then, after finally building up her courage, she spoke again. “Diva... um... when can I go back to... well... I mean... when am I going to be allowed to leave?”

“Leave? Why would you want to do that?” Now Diva’s voice carried a dangerous edge to it. “You’re my Chevalier now. This is where you belong.”

“But, Diva... I have a life. I have friends, I have a family, I haven’t talked to my mother since just after I left. Being with you is...nice. I don’t mind...erm... playing with you. But I can’t just stay here. I have...”

“You want to be with Saya-neesama.” Diva interrupted her. “That’s what you wanted to say isn’t it?”

“Well... yes I want to be with Saya again, but all of that stuff I just said is true too. And then there’s Riku. I need to see he’s alright. It’s my fault this happened to him, I have to at least...”

“Your fault?” Diva giggled girlishly. “I did what I wanted to do. You don’t have to do anything.” But her mirth disappeared as quickly as it came. “Why don’t you want to stay here? Why won’t you agree to be mine? You already are.”

“Diva, I’m not yours! I mean, I am your friend, but I don’t belong to you. I’m your Chevalier, I know that.” Kaori felt like she was being backed up into a corner. The same corner she’d been in since being forced to come here. “But you can’t make me...”

“I shouldn’t have to make you do anything!” Diva spat ferociously, her temper revealing itself once again. “You want to be with Saya more than you want to be here with me, don’t you?!”

“Yes!” Kaori cried, not considering the question or the implications of her answer until a second after she’d already said it. Then she froze. Her whole body went rigid. Diva too looked stricken. It was like she hadn’t expected an answer. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry Diva, I didn’t mean...”

“Why?” Diva demanded, leaping off the bed and landing directly in front of Kaori, who shrank back against the wall. Diva looked positively terrifying. Kaori had never seen her like this before. Her eyes were glowing and her face seemed to hold none of the childishness she’d always seen.

Kaori tried to find the words to describe how she felt, but as she moved her lips and mouth nothing came out. She couldn’t seem to utter a sound. Instead she just pressed further back against the wall as though trying to go through it and get further away. Part of her expected for Diva to attack her. Even though some of her didn’t want to believe her friend would ever hurt her the rest was very aware of the unpredictable and often destructive nature of the Chiropteran in front of her.

She stopped trying to talk and just stared however when Diva’s vicious expression changed. It was still threatening, make no mistake, but tears were now welling up in her glowing, blue eyes. Also a little bit of the child seemed to be returning to her. A very upset, hurt child. Kaori had seen an expression like this once before. When she was much younger she’d seen one of her classmates... one of her friends, get told her mother had been killed by a drunk driver. The hurt, as well as the rage at the culprit, were both obvious and both like what was in front of her now. “WHY!?” Diva cried in an even more intense, though more emotionally mixed voice. Kaori was more than a little surprised at the severity of the response her single answer had brought about. “Why do you like Saya more than me?”

“I don’t... I didn’t say...” But Kaori couldn’t finish the sentence. She couldn’t answer either way honestly. Right now she was just confused and scared.

“Why is everyone always “Saya”, “Saya”, “Saya”! Why is it always her? Why did they choose her over me? Why does she have a human family? Why does everyone love her so much and not me? How come she gets everything I don’t? How come she get’s you? I claimed you! Why her?” From the murderous look on Diva’s face Kaori knew she was in trouble. Would Diva really hurt her? Considering this... well... for lack of a better word, break down. It was entirely possible. Even likely. As she watched Diva’s hand transformed into the same Chiropteran claw she’d used to kill Kaori’s shooter and brought it up in front of her...

“Where do you two think you’re going? The sun’s only just now going down.” Lulu and Karman froze and turned to face Karman. They’d just been about to phase away from the roof of the derelict building the Schiff had used to hide from the day. Of course now that Moses had caught them that plan, at least the part of it that involved not telling the others, went right out of the window. “If we’re ever going to find Diva we’re going to need to organize our searches, not just rush out and hope we stumble across something.”

Immediately Lulu shifted, unable to come even close to masking her guilty expression. In contrast Karman looked mutinous; of course he’d been looking that way before they got caught, but for entirely different reasons. “Um...hello Moses...”

Moses tilted his head to the side just a bit, allowing his bands to completely cover the eye they usually partially obscured. “What’s going on?” Although he thought he’d known what they were up to, getting an early start trying to find Diva, now he wasn’t so sure. Lulu wouldn’t be acting this way if something weren’t up. Was she planning some kind of surprise for them to try and keep their spirits up? It wouldn’t be the first time and judging from Karman’s look he very well could have been roped into something he didn’t want to do.

“Um... nothing, we were just heading out to...erm...” Lulu couldn’t outright lie to Moses. Maybe there was some way she could dodge the question. Of course coming up with a lie wasn’t her strong point and she simply stood as though transfixed, grasping for anything she could. Nothing was coming to her.

Karman gave her a sideways look and shook his head. “We’re going to Saya and her... companions.”
“What? Why?” Moses looked from Lulu, to Karman, and then back to Lulu. “I thought we’d spoken on this. Diva is our concern now, not Saya, and definitely not Diva’s Chevalier.” That last part was aimed more at Lulu than Karman, although they’d both given him a complete recount of the events concerning Kaori’s temporary loss of control and kidnapping; if what had happened could be called kidnapping.

“But...well... this does involve Diva...er...in a way.” Lulu stuttered a few seconds before finally getting back into the flow of a real conversation. “Saya told us the Chevaliers are...well... might be planning to attack them sometime tonight.”

“What she actually said,” Karman growled, interrupting the diminutive redhead. “Was three days ago one of Diva’s Chevaliers, not her friend, told them they would make an all out attack on Red Shield’s headquarters in three days time. That was three days ago. She...we were leaving to try and...” He looked like he was having to swallow something completely unappealing to him...something like Kaori’s cooking. “And support them.”

“Without telling any of us and without even knowing the situation?” Lulu nodded. “Three days could mean anything. It could have already happened, after all it is night. Also what happens to them is none of our concern. We should concentrate on finding Diva. Our lives depend on it; not on rushing off to... didn’t you say they were in Marseilles?”

“Yeah, but with how we move we could make it there in no time.” That was true. They weren’t humans. Traveling as they did, phasing short distances as though each were simply a step, it would take no time at all. “Anyway Saya thought they’d attack at night so the battle wouldn’t attract too much attention. We won’t know unless we go. Diva could be there too. All out could mean Diva will be out in the open.”

“So will her Chevaliers.” Moses quickly countered. “That is if she even appears or this whole attack is a fake. Why trust the words of one of Diva’s Chevaliers?” Lulu made a weak, whining sort of noise “Even if it is true, five of us are no match for all of her Chevaliers. They’re stronger than us.”

“That’s why this could be our chance. Saya can kill them. Really kill them and Haji is one. Then there’s Red Shield’s help, even if they are just humans.” Lulu stopped then continued, “They helped us Moses. They’ve done so much for us we can’t just not do anything.”
Moses wasn’t thinking about that last part nearly as much as the first. He wasn’t ungrateful, but the Schiff’s independent streak was strong. Still this could be the chance they’d waited for. With Saya and Red Shield’s help they, for once, had a real chance of beating Diva’s Chevaliers. With them out of the way they could get Diva’s blood.