Rare (Vampire Knight)

Chapter 57

Charlotte knew that Yuki was a pureblood pretending to be human, and she hadn't said anything. She knew that Zero hated vampires and she knew how he would feel when he discovered that Yuki was one of the very beasts that he despised. Charlotte was even the one to awaken the pureblood inside of Yuki─inside of the girl that he loved.

And Charlotte left again. Though she was unconscious when she left, he knew that she would have chosen to go to Kaname's side. Zero knew that no matter the situation, Charlotte Aido would have chosen to go to Kaname Kuran's side even if she truly knew and felt how untrustworthy the man was. But there had to have been something that she saw in Kaname, Zero knew, and he knew that there had to be something that she could use to her advantage in Kaname.

Because that is how Charlotte Aido worked, in his eyes. Charlotte Aido used people, whether she realised it or not. She used his family for shelter and for protection when she was cast out of her own family. She used Shizuka and Ichiru as a form of companionship even though deep down she despised Shizuka, but Charlotte hated being alone even more. And she used Cross Academy for her own protection once again, coming to the school not because she really believed in the coexistence of humans and vampires and all of the pacifism bullshit that Kaien was always preaching about. She used the safety of Cross Academy to shield herself from the Senate and from Shizuka, even if it didn't really work out that well.

So what was she using Kaname for? What was she using Yuki for? And Zero? What true use was he to the Aido girl?

Why didn't he hate her and want to kill her even though he knew all of this? He still trusted her, he discovered, much to his own frustration. Despite that she lied and kept secrets and killed people, Zero still felt and instinct to trust her and to protect her and to love her. But for what? Why did he feel this way? Were his feelings even real, or did she influence them?

Through his sobbing of anguish, Zero laughed humorlessly, "Mysterious. Charlotte Aido, you are the Queen of Secrets and Lies. A true Queen of Deception."

-

Charlotte walked leisurely beside Zero as they approached the Association Headquarters. She could feel the irritation radiating off of him. It hadn't been long since she told him the secret─the secret that she promised Kaname that she would keep. And she didn't know how she felt. She was never one to spill other people's secrets, but keeping this one was not beneficial to her in any way, it had even proved that it would be bad for her if she kept it. Keeping this secret had also caused her stress, which no secret had ever done so before, and she had to tell Zero.

What surprised her, though, was that he accepted it. He hadn't been angry at her for keeping the secret, and that had come as a shock to her. She had never realised that Zero had since accepted that Charlotte was the one to go to if you wanted your secrets to be kept and safe... so long as they weren't detrimental to her in any way. And this particular secret had been, and she did the right thing in finally telling him about it and he actually appreciated that he had been told. He understood that Charlotte kept secrets and locked them away and protected them, so for her to come out and tell him this secret, it took a lot for her to do that and it meant a lot to him.

But he was irritated that it had been kept, and it angered him and made him hate Kaname even more. So, neither he nor Charlotte bothered to talk about it─they decided to sweep it under the rug for now and avoid touching on it until the right time came.

"Zero? Charlotte?" Yagari asked, stopping in his tracks and turning to them. "Were you two asked to come over by the Association President? I do appreciate your efforts. Especially you, Charlotte; you who is not a Vampire Hunter but still helps out even though you are amongst the very beasts that we hunt."