Part 32 : Camp

Amaya woke up on a hospital bed. She was wondering how she got there. She looked around. There wasn't anyone in the room with her.

The room was beautifully lit with the sunshine coming in from the window. The beeping of the machine could be heard. Amaya found it quite anoying.

"Let see," Amaya thought to herself. "What can I last remember? The boy on the floor, Kenji, me almost passing out, something or someone picking me up, running, putting me down, Shi-!"

"GAHH!!"

Amaya was about to get up from where she was lying down but couldn't as a sharp pain shoot through her veins to her brain. Even when she yelled, or so tried to yell, only her 'sore-throat-voice' could be heard.

The door opened. Amaya laid as stiff as a stone. Only her eyes remained wide open starring at the ceiling. For some reason, she didn't care to see who was that. The person didn't say anything either. There was a sound of a tray with things on top put down on the table at the side of her bed. The person sat down beside her bed. Amaya closed her eyes.

She heard water sounds from the side where the person sat. Something cold suddenly was laid on her forehead. It was like a wet handkerchief.

“You-” the person began but stopped. A long pause.
“What d’you want?” Amaya asked him in her close-to-whisper voice.
“…”

“Why keep helping me?” she said. Obviously, that was Shiro.
“Why shouldn’t I help a friend?” Shiro replied.

Another long pause. Amaya tried to lift her hand to take off the handkerchief. She couldn’t seem to move. Every part of her body was aching badly.

“You should try to limit your movements. Doctors say you’re hurt terribly by those punches and kicks.” he explained.

Amaya managed to turn her head slightly which she regretted later on because it hurt like crap and she had to stay in that position until Shiro offered to help her turn it back. She looked at him. His right hand was bandaged with plaster of paris and a sling across his shoulder. His face edged with some kind of weird expression which Amaya translated it as concern. Since this boy didn’t have a proper life, I guess he also has problems trying to express himself. Amaya thought.

“You… can’t get any… better than this.” she stared at him.

True, of course. Besides the sling for his hand, he had a bandage round his forehead.

“Well, this is what I get for having a troublesome friend,” he said.

Of course, that was not the wisest thing he had ever said, for if Amaya wasn’t in her situation, she would have flew at him and I wouldn’t describe what she did or this story will be rated ‘violent’.

“Then why have this friend?” she could only say.
“Because this friend’s worth helping.” he answered bluntly.

Amaya looked over the other side of the room out of the window. Shiro knew he said something he shouldn’t have said. He wanted to apologise but the word couldn’t come out.

“Do you want to…” Amaya paused.
“What?”
“Go for the camp? Or are you going?”
“There’s a camp?”
“School camp. But not many people going.”

Shiro looked at the floor. He couldn’t possibly come out with that kind of money to go for the camp.

“There isn’t any closing date since there is so little people going.” Amaya added as she felt her voice coming back. “You could get a few extra money from working part time you know? It’s in a week’s time and the camp fees are only 70 dollars.”

“I’ll see first.”

*********************************************

Camp day.

“Amaya, how many people do you think will be going for this some sort of abandoned camp?” Narumi asked her as they walked towards the school.

"Let's see.. Around 23 people?" Kazuki replied.
"Hi Amaya." Amaya said to Kazuki.

"Huh?"
"Narumi asked me and you answered, so I guess you're Amaya." she said with a smirk.
"Funny."

They chatted all the way to the school. When they reached the school, true enough like they expected, there were only a few out of the whole school who came.

The teacher in charge marked their attendance and they moved to a corner and waited. Amaya sat on her lugagge and looked around to see whether she knew any faces.

"Hey, guess who, Amaya." Narumi pointed out to her.
"What?" she glance at where he pointed. It was Shiro, and Akira!

"Oh wow! He came after all huh?" Kazuki nudged her.
"What was that for?"
"That nudge?"
"Yes."
"*ahem* You like him right?" he said in a whisper.

"Seriously." she looked at him with a frown. Kazuki just laughed.

Part 31 : Fight

"So are you coming for the school camp next week?" Amaya overheard someone talking at the back of the class.

"Camp. Should I really ask him?" Amaya asked herself. "He doesn't seem to be coming to school anymore."

CRASHHH!!!

Amaya jolted up from her chair. She ran out the class with the rest of her classmates.

"Hey, it's Kenji again." whispered someone in front.
"Yeah. Picking on the weaker ones as usual."

A boy was lying sprawled on the floor. He was pretending to be unconcious just to get out of trouble but sadly he wasn't a good actor.

Kenji walked out the classroom where the boy "flew" out from. He was sweating and there was a little blood on his mouth. He went over and grabbed the boy by his collar. It was obvious he wanted to hit him again.

He rose his hand and was about to hit the boy when Amaya grabbed her whip and caught hold of Kenji's hand. He turned and glared at her.

"You didn't have enough of me the last time have you?" he yelled. "And you really heal very fast. I still have the wound that hero of yours inflicted on me!"

Kenji let the boy go and started walking towards Amaya.

"That's right. Why not pick someone your own size and let him go?" she said. Her heart was beating extremely fast as she imagined the pain she was going to get from Kenji. It seemed like she was getting hurt almost everytime.

Kenji started the fight. He planted his fist right into Amaya's left cheek. She didn't dodge at all.

I can't fight the way I fight like Hana. I can dodge all the blows but I need to seem like a normal girl so...

Amaya got hit and only ocasionally dodge a few hits. The people around them couldn't help or even say anything. All the teachers were having a meeting.

Amaya was down on the floor. The fight just began a minute or so. She tried to minimise the number of attacks Kenji did. She got two hard punches in the stomach and of course the punch in the face.

Just as she thought it was going to be all over with his next blow, someone pushed Kenji aside, grabbed, carried her and started to run away.

Amaya couldn't see well. Everything she saw was blurred. It was always like that since she was young. Whenever she lost a lot of blood or if she hurt a lot she'll be blur in her eye sight. Whoever was carrying her was quite familiar.

His smell. thought Amaya.

After a little running, the person stopped and laid her on the floor against a wall.

"You need to rest a while. You've lost A LOT of blood and you're too weak to move. I can take you to the hospital if you want to." he said.

"Y-you're Sh-shiro." Amaya spoke with a tremble. She was too weak, as Shiro said, to move and even talk.

"Shh!"

Kenji was heard walking past them from the far end of the block. He noticed them.

Shiro stood up. "You stay here."

Amaya was VERY confused. All she could see were two figure hitting, dodging, kicking. After a while it ceased. All Amaya could make up was a figure walking towards her, picking her up and telling her, "Amaya, stop getting yourself in trouble and hurting yourself again."

Part 30 : Accident

"Wait.. Did she mention the master?" Kaze stoped to think to himself a while after Amaya left.
"How'd she know?"

*********************************************

"Amaya-chan! You're finally back!!" Kazuki exclaimed cheekish-ly.

Amaya put her hand under his fringe over his forehead. "Are you having a fever?"

"WHAT?" Kazuki asked. (with the acting cute kind of angry frown over his face.)

"Okay.. Are you Kazu?" Amaya asked.

"WHAT??!" Kazuki asked. (now with a really puzzled look) "Why are you asking me?"

"You're not yourself. I mean you don't act like yourself." Amaya said as she put down her bag and put the sushi in the refridgerator.

As she did that, she overheard Narumi's voice from upstairs yelling at Kazuki, "KAZU!!! WE'RE GETTING PUNISHMENT FROM THE MASTER TOMORROW, REMEMBER!!"

"RIGHT!" Kazuki shouted back.

Amaya's head was in the refridgerator when she heard the yelling. She stopped. Where did I say that sentence? It sounds so familiar.

Suddenly she remembered. "Oh my-" BANG!!

"Amaya are you okay?" Kazuki ran to the kitchen. Amaya was sitting on the floor leaning against the opened refridgerator. She banged her head against the refridgerator's roof. It hurt, a lot.

"I think I'm okay." Amaya replied as Kazuki checked the back of her head.
Oh my gosh! Why did I say that sentence to Kaze?! Now he's gonna think too much. Crap. Why do I always let loose so much words accidentally?!

"Amaya?"
"Huh?"
"Your head is okay. Just a bit red that's all, but are YOU okay?" Kazuki asked her.

"Yea.. I guess." she mumbled. "What was that punishment Narumi said?"

"Oh. THAT." Kazuki stood up and gave her a hand. "Just the karate lesson we go to. The master's giving us our punishment for being late three times."

"Thanks to you, I guess." Amaya joked.
"Hey!!"

****************************************

The next day.

Amaya fought with herself while she walked to Kaze's deserted alley. She kept herself thinking:

Why do I always open my big mouth so much? Now he'd suspect that I was with the master last time. I'm sure he's heard about Hana before. Just that he hasn't heard that I was Hana.

As Amaya turned into the alley, a sharp shuriken* suddenly came flying towards her. She thought of dodging but just stood there and let it hit her at the front of her right shoulder.

"URGH!!" Amaya exclaimed as she fell on the ground. The packet of sushi fell out from her bag.

When was the last time I got hit by this thing? Why does it hurt so much more than I remember?! she thought as she wanted to pull it out from where it was.

A hand seized hers.

"Hey. I'm sorry." came Kaze's voice. He really was. He didn't see her coming and thought she was someone else.

When Amaya looked up at him, he was stunned. Amaya had tears in her eyes. Kaze tore his glance away from hers and it fell onto her bleeding shoulder. He couldn't bear to see it and looked at her again.

He didn't know what to say. All his life he'd seen tears but he couldn't stand it this time somehow.

"H-hey, I-I'm really sorry. I'll pull this thing out and here, I'll let you bite on my mask cause it'll hurt A LOT. But just promise me you'll close your eyes until it doesn't hurt anymore and after you've given back my mask." he finally blurted out.

It was Amaya's turn to be stunned.

What happened to this guy? H-he just said sorry and h-he's offering to help?!

She kept starring at him. Those yellow eyes don't seem to have the capibility kill anyone anymore. she thought.

"Hey," Kaze snapped at her. "You closing your eyes or not?"
"Oh! sorry. y-yea." she said. She was so caught up with her thoughts that her wound didn't hurt back then. Now it's starting to hurt again.

Amaya closed her eyes. She felt Kaze's grip on the Shuriken. He paused a while. He suddenly pulled it out. The pain was more excruciating then ever. Tears began to flow down her eyes more drastically.

Kaze did his thing to heal her wound. It felt a whole lot better. Amaya akwardly took Kaze's mask out from her mouth. It was kind of drenced with her tears. She still closed her eyes until Kaze said, "I'm done."

Amaya opened her eyes. She saw Kaze walking towards the sushi. He bent down and picked it up. "Thanks." he said and leaped away.




*A shuriken (Japanese 手裏剣; literally: "sword hidden in the hand") is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing. They are sharpened hand-held blades made from a variety of everyday items such as needles, nails, and knives, as well as coins, washers, and other flat plates of metal.

Shuriken are commonly known in the West as "throwing stars" or "ninja stars", though they took many different shapes and designs during the time they were used. The major varieties of shuriken are the bō shuriken (棒手裏剣, stick shuriken) and the hira shuriken (平手裏剣, flat shuriken) or shaken (車剣, also read as kurumaken, wheel shuriken).

Part 29 : Food

"Hmm..." Amaya mumbled looking at the rows of instant noodles. "Wonder which is nicer for a person like that? Oh well.."

Amaya grabbed four cups. "Today's Monday so one today amd one on Wednesday, then another on Friday. I'll eat the last one!"

She put the four cups into the basket provided in the conviniet store and walked to the next aisle.

Sushi.

Amaya looked at the packing then to the chef making fresh ones. It's obvious they only put out for sale the ones that were left for a while. So it wouldn't be that fresh. She reached into the pocket of her loose three-quater pants and took out a couple of yen notes.

"Psst." Amaya signaled to the chef. "Mind a fresh packet?" she whispered.

"No. Take the ones already out." he said.
"C'mon. It's for someone special. Please..." she begged.

"Alright. No seconds again."
"Thanks a lot." Amaya said delighted as she took the packet he handed to her which, of course had just been packed.

****************************************

Kaze ran back to the alley where he hangs around. He leaped up one of the buildings, opened the packet of mixed rice he stole and started gobbling down the food.

"Oh wow. How long have you been like this?"

Kaze jerked up, grabbed a bright long knife and pointed it at the 'intruder'

"Relax bro. It's me."

Amaya.

Seeing her, he sat down and continued eating.

"What'd you want?" he asked.

"Oh nothing much. Just-" she leaped up as well and sat next to him. Althought she kept a slight obvious distance. "I saw the news and thought maybe I could drop by and give you some stuff."

She handed him the things she bought earlier.

"The sushi'll get bad after tonight." Kaze remarked after he saw what she gave.

"I can keep it in the refridgerator at home and pass it to you when you want to eat it. When do you want to eat it?" she answered.

"Why're you doing this?"
"Consider it as a payback for saving me from Kenji, okay?" she said coldly.

"Beside that," she rosed up with the sushi in her bag. "I still don't quite like you after what you did to me and Kazu... Or whichever happened first."

She was about to jump down and leave but something caught ahold of her shirt. She turned.

"What now?" she asked Kaze.

"Stay."
"Huh?"
"Just stay for now. At least until I finish." Kaze said quite quietly.

Amaya stared at him.

A long pause.

Amaya was playfully thinking :
You're still a boy even if you're an assasin. And you're still human. Go on, say 'Please'. Quick! Before I go. I don't really want to go. Just say it. Be a man. Quick! I don't really want to-

"Please."
"Huh What?" Amaya said in a surprise.
"I said stay a little while longer, PLEASE." Kaze said unhappily.

"Ahaha." Amaya laughed and sat again.
"What so funny?"
"Nah. Actually, I heard you the first time."
"You-!"

"I'LL TAKE ALL OF THE FOOD BACK INCLUDING YOUR RICE IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO ME!!!!!" Amaya shouted in a funny way as she backed up.

Kaze sat back and sighed.

Amaya smiled. "So you haven't answer my question just yet."

"What?"
"How long have you been like this?" she repeated.

"Not long. Three days without food that's all." he said, still eating.

"Three days..." Amaya said absent-mindedly, looking at something. What she said suddenly caught her attention and it pulled her back to where she was.

"THREE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD??" she yelled.

She abruptly stoped.

Kaze was holding his katana* right next to her neck.

"Don't talk and yelled as if we're that close alright?" he warned her.

As he sat down again, Amaya said, "You know, you're getting softer these days. I wonder what's gotten into you."

Kaze stopped his spoonful of rice halfway in front of his mouth. He was obviously loosing his patience with Amaya. Yet, Amaya continued.

"You seem less fierce now, and you seldom get rid of people you're annoyed with on the spot to shut them up. You're don't act as cold as you were last time and you get punishments like not getting food and all by the master and stuff like that. Tell me, did you flung a few missions lately?"

In and instant, Kaze plunged his katana right into her neck, or so he thought he did. And a mini whirwind burst out and died away. It happened so fast not even a sound was made. When everything settled down again, Kaze was stunned.

This time, Amaya was the one who was holding his katana right beside his neck.

"What in the world-" he said, still standing at the position of holding the katana next to her neck. The only difference is that Amaya was the one holding the katana.

Amaya was slightly smiling at him. "If you think you're very fast, think again, pal."

She stood staight and gave him back his katana. Kaze took it back, still very, very stunned. To think that someone who he expected to be just a normal, simple and absent-minded person being so fast and "good skilled"

"I'll be going first. I'll take the sushi for you tomorow."




*Katana - The katana (刀^?) is Japanese for backsword and often refers to the uchigatana after the Muromachi period, which is a type of Japanese sword (日本刀, nihontō^?), also commonly referred to as a "samurai sword",^[1] and generally defined as the standard size moderately curved (as opposed to the older "tachi" style featuring more curvature) Japanese sword with a blade length of greater than 60 cm (23.6 inches).^[2]

Part 28 : Robbery?

RRRIIIIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Recess again on another boring school day." Amaya mumbled to herself. "Wonder why nothing much goes on around here."

Looking around on the way to the spot where she'd jump to the top of the building, she said, "Why wouldn't anyone yell for nothing, or throw a table, or make a scene or-"

WHAMP!!!

Amaya bumped into someone and fell on her back. "Whoa! Can't you see where you're going?!" she yelled.

"Sh-SHIRO?!" she said as she raised her head up.

"Aren't you the one who's not looking where you're going?" he said coldly. "I was just standing here looking up."

Amaya picked herself up. "Where have you been the past few days?" she asked him.

"Why do you care?" Shiro said without even looking at Amaya.

What's wrong with him? Why's he talking so coldly? she thought.

It's like he's so far away from me even though, he's just standing in front of me.

"You, " Shiro cut the silence.
"Huh? Me what?"

"are annoying." he finished and walked away.

WHAT?!!! WHAT DID I DO??!!

***********************************************

"That's what happened." Amaya explained to the two boys at home.

"Whuat?" Narumi said. "What's his problem? Being so nice at the begining then dissapearing for almost two weeks and then suddenly become flat faced."

"Er.. Flat faced?" Amaya looked at him.

"I don't know, it just came out. Probaly it's my version of moody?" he laughed.

"I don't care about what's wrong with him." Kazuki said. "I care about what happened to him when he wasn't around and why did the school database said that he transfered to a school which doesn't exist."

"You've got a point." Amaya said. Narumi nodded.

"So what can we do?" Narumi pointed out. "It's not like we know anything about his family background right?"

"But he bears a very unlikely resemblance to Kaze, keep in mind of that." Amaya said.

"Are you sure?"Kazuki asked. "Even if you saw Kaze before, it was only once remember?"

"Yes. But I can almost remember his eyes. They both looked similar to Shiro's." she said.

"Amaya's right. Even if he doesn't bear a single resemblance to Kaze, don't you think that he's quite suspicious too?" Narumi told Kazuki.

"True."

"Hey, what's that on the television?" Amaya said, pointing at the television.

Narumi turned the volume higher.

"A strange robbery case has been reported in the Akagami restoran this morning. The stall owners were busy preparing for the lunch hour rush when a masked person, reportedly a teenage boy, crashed in just to get a packet of mixed rice from the rice stall. Security cameras picked up the whole incident."

"No way!" Narumi exclaimed. "Just for lunch? Is he that poor?"

The news replayed the video recorded by the security cameras in the restoran.

"Th-that's Kaze!" Amaya said.

"You sure?" Kazuki asked. "I thought his meals were paid for."

"This rarely happens, but if you don't get a job done, you'll have to survive on your own for a week without any pocket money from the master." Amaya explained.

"That's mean." Narumi said.

"I think I'd better be going now." Amaya said taking her bag on the floor.
"Where to?"

"Shopping for my stuff." Amaya said. "See you this evening!"

Part 27 : Surprise

"If I ask him just like that, he'd probaly find it weird..." Amaya thought to herself during tea break. "Then again, he was quite nice to me. I guess there's no problem just talking to him as a friend right? At least, I think he's my friend. Wonder what am I to him?"

**********************************************

Slow breeze. Up on the roof was just too good a felling. Just like standing on top of a 15-story high building and enjoying the breeze.

Amaya waited there everyday. Waited for that Shiro guy to go on top of the building so she could ask him. She thought of what to say everytime she was up there.

But he didn't come.

"He's not in class as well." Amaya said to Kazuki and Narumi.
"Well, maybe he went off some where on a vacation." Kazuki suggested.

"Why do I always have the feeling that he doesn't have parents?" Amaya asked.
"Cause he's always that moody." Kazuki joked.

"H-hey guys, I think I know why already." Narumi said.
"You know why she's got the feeling?" Kazuki said, still joking around.

WHACK!!!

"What'd you know?" Amaya asked him.

"I hacked into the school's database. It seems that Shiro transfered to a school called Shimizano High. Weird name huh?" Narumi explained.

Shimizano? Amaya thought. "Naru, check the net whether it exist or not." she zapped.

"Shimizano..... hmmm.." Narumi mumbled as he ran his fingers across the keyboard. "Ah! Found it...? What? No match found?" he turned to look at Amaya.

"Then where did he go?" Kazuki asked.

"Probaly he didn't want to study anymore so he quit school, I guess." Amaya said half-heartedly.

*****************************************

"I wonder how's Kaze doing. I haven't heard of any murder cases these days." Amaya said to Kazuki.

"Maybe cause he already did but no one found out yet." Kazuki said scornfully. Disgusted by the sound of the word Kaze.

"What's your problem? You know he might not want to be the person he is right? He might be just like me or Sora." Amaya explained to him.

"He could have quited just like you."

"Haven't I told you that if you quit now that freaking man will kill you?" Amaya said, tired of her friend's debate.

"Yea. But still-"
"C'mon. It's late. I needa sleep already." Amaya said as she walked up the stairs.

What did I say now? Kazuki thought.

Part 26 : Reluctant

"Ahh.. So you've come back. Have you finished what I asked you to do, my apprentice?" the master asked Sora sheepishly.

Sora unwillingly threw the bented object towards the master. He caught it.

"You give me this piece of crap?!" the master shouted when he looked at the object. He threw it back at Sora.

"The freaking memories are in here!!" Sora shouted back at the master.
"Oh. Is that so?" the master said, tone changed.

Sora picked the object up and pressed it. A screen appeared from it. Amaya's memories of Akira telling her about Kaze ran through the screen like a video. Sora looked at it. He knew he was in for big trouble. But then again he knew if he took that piece of memory away from Amaya, the master had no reason to kill her.

When it finished, the master looked at Sora. "Well?" he asked Sora.
"If you hit me again, I'll be toast. Then I guess I wouldn't be so usefull to you anymore, eh?" Sora said confidently.

The master looked at him furious. He knew he's got a point. "You are dismissed." he said furiously.

Sora walked away.

************************************

"Amaya, why did Kaze help you?" Narumi asked Amaya.
"How would I know?" Amaya asked him back.

"I'm still cracking my head trying to figure that too." Kazuki said.

"Kazuki, he's not that much of a threat now since he helped me right?" Amaya said thinking hard. "But then again we shouldn't be so careless."

"Could I ask you something, Amaya?" Narumi asked.
"What?"

"Shiro Takeo. What do you know about him?" Narumi questioned.

"Er.. He's in my class..? and... He's not that bad and scary as he seems. Maybe we should get him to go with us to the camp." Amaya said hesitatingly.

"You sure?" Kazuki asked.
"Y...yeaa... I guess." Amaya said again.

"You'd better be sure." Kazuki told her. "If anything happens, you'd be responsible."

"Okay. But the camp is in a month's time. So I've got time to ask him."

Part 25 : Confusion

"Sora- I mean, Akira! Oh my gosh! What happened to you?!" Amaya exclaimed.

Akira was in a clinic taking medicine with bandages everywhere. He looked so pale. He pulled her out of the clinic as soon as he was done.

"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"You call this nothing?!" Amaya exclaimed.
"The master tossed me for something."
"What is it??"
"I gotta go. Bye." Sora jumped away.

*****************************************

"Thanks for the food Amaya!" Narumi and Kazuki said.
"Haha. Sure. No prob." she said as she piled the plates into the sink and washed them.

What in the world happened to Sora?!

*****************************************

Sora sat on top of Amaya's neighbour's roof. From where he was, he could see into Amaya's room. He watched her come in, went into the washroom come out in a different shirt. She off the lights and went to bed.

Sora held a bented rectangular shaped object in his hand very tightly. He waited till midnight. He jumped from the roof to the balcony outside Amaya's room. He gently open the window and landed softly in her room. He walked slowly over to her bedside.

He took out his eyepatch. Sora looked at Amaya frowning. "I'm so sorry, Amaya.." he whispered. He placed the bented obkect on her forehead and it started glowing dark blue.

Amaya suddenly woke up in fright. Seeing the glowing from her head and Akira standing next to her bed she wanted to scream in horror but Sora covered her mouth and mumbled something. Amaya fell asleep again. When the glow faded, Sora took the object away from Amaya's forehead and regrettingly went away.

*************************************

"Good morning, Amaya. What's wrong?" Kazuki said in the morning.

"Uhh.. I don't know. It's like I forgot something important.." Amaya said running her fingers through her hair.

"Gasp! You forgot to change your clothes!" Kazuki exclaimed.
"What?! Did I?!" Amaya looked at her clothes. Looking back at him, she said, "Kazu, I did. There's no school today."

"OH.." he said sarcastically. "haha.. at least you remembered that."

He tugged his hand in hers and pulled her along. "C'mon, forget about it. If it's important you'll remeber it again."

"Right." she said and went down with him.

Part 24 : Reconcilation

"OH MY GOODNESS, IS THAT BLOOD?!?!?!" Narumi's voice shook the whole house.

Kazuki ran down from his room to see what was happening.
He stopped when he saw Amaya standing in front of the door wiping away the blood stains on her face.

"Could you stop being so troublesome?" he asked miserably.

Amaya ignored him and went up to her room.

The two boys watch her go up. Narumi stared at Kazuki in disbelief.

"What?" he asked.
"Kazuki, just because I'm blur at times doesn't mean I don't have common sense and all, okay?" Narumi said.

"What's your point?" Kazuki asked.

"Don't you get it? Amaya's been through worse things than anyone coould have been through, okay? She was forced to be an assassin! You heard me? FORCED!!" Narumi said seriously.

"The fact that she could tackle with her past, come and act like nothing happened means a lot to me. I don't what's going through your mind all this while. All you do is think that she betrayed you. In the first place, what did she betray you of, huh? You think it's so nice to kill people out of your right mind??

"Is that all you think about? About yourself? Only about how you feel? Haven't you given it a thought? How does SHE feel?"

Kazuki was dumbfounded by the last question. It struck him so deep inside.

*****************************

"Yiesshh.. This stain isn't coming out?" Amaya said while she kept scrubbing her blood stained shirt.

"Hey." Kazuki said suddenly from behind.
"What?" Amaya asked without turning.

"What happened?"
"Now you care?"
"Look." Kazuki pulled Amaya out of the toilet.

"What?!" Amaya tried to get rid of his grip. "Let go of me you selfish-"
"I'm sorry ok?!" Kazuki cut.
"I don't care!! Just let. go. of. me!!" Amaya yelled struggling to pull her hand away.

Kazuki hugged her.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??!!" Amaya shouted. "LET GO OF ME!!!!"
"I wouldn't." Kazuki said frowning. "Not until you calm down and listen to me."

"I don't wanna listen to you.. You're such a.." Amaya couldn't continue. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

"I havent been a good brother to you, Amaya. I'm sorry." Kazuki said. "I just wanna know what happened to you."

"Let go of me first." Amaya said softly. He did.

Amaya wiped her eyes. Kazuki looked on. I've never seen her soft side before. For the whole 16 years I never thought she could cry.

"Remeber Kenji? Just now, he and his gang beat me up." Amaya explained.
"WHAT?!"
"Anyway, I ran and passed by Kaze. He helped me beat them up."
"Really?"
"I don't really believe it either. But.. that's that."

Kazuki felt very bad. To think that he treated her as his sister and yet he was so mean to her when she got beaten up.

"It's okay, Kazu." Amaya said. "Don't worry."

Part 23 : Bully

"Why did you do it?" Akira asked Amaya while they were walking down the street.
"What?" Amaya asked back inocently.
"Stop being so fake okay?? You took his pain! Why?" Akira asked frowning.

"My choice." she replied. Amaya suddnly stopped. "Oh.. You're jealous.." she said sarcarstically.
"Hah. You wish." Akira said.

"Okay. We'll separate here. I've to go somewhere. Bye." Akira said.
"Bye."

They went separate ways.

"Hm.. Guess I'll be wandering a while alone." Amaya sighed to herself as she walked on slowly.
"Oh.. You wouldn't be alone. We're here to accompany you if you want to." a voice came from behind her.

Amaya turned. Kenji?!

Kenji and his gang were behind her. Not really a big gang, just 5 of them but enough to wreck a shop.

"What'd you want?" Amaya asked, feeling not to good about the situation.
"Oh nothing. Just bored so we thought we should find you to get some fun." Kenji explained grinning.

Fun?!

"We heard you fight well, so why not show it?" Kenji laughed.
"No thanks. I'm off." Amaya said and turned around to continue her walk.

One of the boys went in front of her and kneed her stomach very hardly.

"ARGGHH!!" she yelled and fell to her knees.
"Hahaha.. Come on!!! Show us what you've got!" Kenji laughed.

Blood started flowing out from her mouth.

"I told you I'm not fighting anymore!" Amaya glared at Kenji.
"Does that mean anything to me?" he asked her mockingly.

Amaya wobbled to her feet. Her stomach ached badly. She just recovered from the pain she hold for Kazuki and now this.

Her sight became blur. Come on eyes, not now! If you blur I'll be gone! she told herself.

Suddenly something whacked her on the head.

"Argh!!" she fell to the floor again.

Blood was oozing out from her forehead.

Kenji and his friends laughed at Amaya's state. One of them was holding the metal stick he used to hit her.

Amaya took the chance when they weren't concentrating and started dashing away.

"HEY!!! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!!!" Kenji shouted. They started chasing after her.

She couldn't see quite well and wobbled as she ran. She took a random turn into an alley.

"Crap! This is Kaze's alley!" She wanted to turn back out but the boys were chasing after her.

Suddenly, she had gossebumps. Kaze!! she thought as she passed by a figure. She tripped and fell. Amaya didn't care to open her eyes anymore.

"AAHHHHH!!!"

Yells were heard.

Amaya opened her eyes slowly. "Wha-?"

Kenji and his friends were lying on the floor. There was blood all over. Kenji trembled and ran away with his friends.

"Wh-why help me?" Amaya asked panting hardly. A shiver came on her as she felt Kaze approaching her.

"Do I have any grivances towards you now?" Kaze asked back.

He knelt down next to her. He put his hand on her forehead. His hand started glowing yellow. Amaya could stand the pain because she went through this before.

"Thanks." she said, unsure of what was happening.

Kaze spun upwards to the top of the wrecked building. Amaya kept looking up. That's VERY weird.

Part 22 : Sora

"Jeez.. Why do I have to stay here?" Akira said as he put on his socks getting ready to go out.

RIINNNGGGG!!!!

"Ahh!!" he shouted in shock. "Uhh.. It's only my phone. I'd better change the ringtone. Sounds like an alarm."

He looked at the name. "Huh? Amaya?"

**********************************

Clatch.

"Did I become the family doctor now?" Akira asked sulkingly at the door when Amaya opened it. "First it was Shir-mmrghh!!"

Amaya covered his mouth with her hand. "Don't mention it, okay?? They don't know you were here before." she whispered to him.

They walked up to the room. "He's here."

Narumi looked at him dumbfounded. Akira was wearing a baggy shorts, a jacket over his shirt, a cap worn side ways and sport shoes which, all together made him looked like some gangster high school boy.

"Erh. This guy's an assassin? He doesn't even look like one!" Narumi exclaimed.

"You told them?!" Akira said.
"They already know about me." Amaya replied.
"You didn't have to tell them about me!" he exclaimed.
"How're you gonna hide it when you'll use your powers anyway?!" Amaya said and glanced at him.

"Oh. Right. Good point. Ahha." Akira laughed. "So I guess Kazuki is you?" he pointed at Kazuki.
"Just hurry up and heal me already." Kazuki answered moodily.

Hm.. Moody huh? Akira thought.

"I'll need you to take of your shirt though, if you want me to heal you thouroughly. It'll also hurt a lot more." Akira explained.

Kazuki pulled his shirt out.

"Okay.." Akira said. "One, two, three! Poke!" he said and poked Kazuki's two ticklish sides.
"AHHAAHHA!!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR??!!" Kazuki yelled, face red.
"Hahaha.. Just to get you lighten up. I can't help a stiff person like that. It's gonna hurt even more." Akira said jokingly.

"Mmrrgghh.. Hahaha..." Amaya and Narumi burst into laughter at the same time. Kazuki's red face grew more red.

"You know, Akira. If you didn't do that, I might have already did that to him. I was about to stop your countdown." Amaya laughed.

"So we're all lighten up. Let's get to the real buisness." Akira suddenly turned serious. "Kazu, I need you to try your best not to stiffen up and relax as much as you can."

"Ok." Kazuki said, beginning to feel a little nervous.
"Wait." Amaya said and stuffed a cloth into Kazuki's mouth. She bent over and whispered, "Bite it if you can't stand the pain."

Amaya noded at Akira. He pulled of the tight cloth hand glove from his right hand. It started to glow with a light blue light.

"Whoa." Narumi said softly.

Akira lifted his finger and drew a circle with a pentagon in it and lots and lots of triangles in it. Each Line he drew, Kazuki tried to hold back the pain which stiffened up his body and the pain was more excrutiating than before and he kept shouting through the piece of cloth.

Amaya walked forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Kazu."
Kazuki suddenly felt the pain lessen.

Akira continued. The shape drawn on Kazuki's back started to glow even more and Akira placed his hand on Kazuki's back. The shape began to glow even more. Akira glanced at Amaya. Ahe was sweating like crap and she looked like she was holding back pain.

But pain from where? thought Akira. Her hand!

Amaya's hand was glowing slightly on Kazu's shoulder. She's taking his pain? But why?

Akira took his hand off and the glow slowly faded. Kazuki slowly turned to lie flat on the bed.

"Hey it feels better now!" he exclaimed.
"It's not completely well yet. 10% of it will still hurt a bit if you're not careful. It'll have to heal the rest your own." Akira said while putting back his glove.

"Amaya, why did you-" Amaya stopped Akira from continueing by covering his mouth.
"Ok. Everything's settled. I'll be going out for now, since we three missed class today." Amaya continued.

Part 21 ; Hurt

"No way. No way! No way!!" Kazuki yelled.
"Well, If it was no way, why am I here?" Hana walked towards him with a wicked smile across her face. Kazuki stared fearfully at the katana she was holding in her hand.

"Come on Amaya, stop it. I know you. You wouldn't do this to me!"
"Oh wouldn't she?" A man stepped forward from Hana's back. The master! thought Kazuki.
"Let's just say your little childhood friend here doesn't care about you anymore." he said with a cold smile.

"No! No! Don't do it!" Kazuki stammered as Hana stepped closer to him, raising her katana, obviously getting ready to kill him.
"Don't do it!! I STILL TRUST YOU!!!!"
CRASH!!!

"Huh.. What?" Kazuki looked around rubbing his head. "Only a dream? It looked so real." he said to himself as he picked himself up from the floor. Clearly, he fell of the bed.

"8am. I should be getting ready already- argh!!" he fell onto the floor again, rubbing his back.
"Probaly landed wrongly on the floor.. argh!" Kazuki panted as he struggled to climb himself onto the bed. When he was on it, he couldn't think of anything else but to fall asleep again.

**************************************

"Kazu? Kazu~"

"Erh.. What happened?" Kazuki asked blurly.

"You're not waking up for school, that's what happened."

Kazuki opened his eyes. His eyes grew wider when he saw Amaya. "Get away from me- ARRGGHH!!!" he tried to move but his back hurt more than just now.

"What's wrong with you?" Amaya asked concernly.
"My back hurts like crap. Fell down from the bed." Kazuki panted.

"You wanna go to the hospital?" Narumi asked him.
"No."
"Okay, then how are you gonna get any better?"

Kazuki was caught. He knew that too. If he doesn't get to a hospital and get treatment, he wouldn't get any better.

"Amaya, you assassins know how to cure people right?" he asked, back facing her.
"Yeah."
"Now what are you waiting for?!" Kazuki asked frustrated.
"I can't use my freaking powers anymore, okay?!" Amaya yelled at Kazuki.

"You're so self-centred, you don't even care about what I've been through! All you think is how could I do such a thing as killing people! You don't even give a crap how much I'm trying to tackle down my past!" she shouted.

Narumi looked at her, shocked. Kazuki felt bad.

Amaya realised what she did. What in the world? Why did I have to explode like this?!

"I'll call Sora." she said.
"Will he harm us?" Kazuki asked.
"I can fight him off still if he chooses to." Amaya said as she walked out of the room to get her phone.

Part 20 : Confession

The akward moment.

Kazuki was staring at Amaya. Narumi was trying to figure out what was happening. Amaya was frowning at the floor thinking how to answer Kazuki.

"Well?" Kazuki asked, starting to feel a bit nervous by the situation he caused.

"After that happened, i kept wandering around. So hopeless about what happened. Like a loner wandering around without a home to stay." she said after a long pause.

"The master took me in."
"Master?"
"A man. I don't even know his name."
"What happened?"
"I became-"

Amaya paused, frowning even more, trying to force the sentence out. Her hands were grasping her shorts very hardly.

"I b-became a-an assassin." she said quietly.

There was a sudden shock of silence.

"Hana... was me." Amaya continued without caring what were the other two boys thinking.

"The master trained me to be a stone cold assassin to kill. He brain-washed me to think the world was never fair and made me have a grudge on every other people. He asked me the same question every day during training. 'It happened to you. But why not others? You lost your parents, why you? why not some one else?!'" Amaya blurted out in a breath.

"So I was convinced and went ahead killing of other people. Until that case where you guys know about where I said sorry. After that, I went back and decided to leave the academy. It was an academy but only two of us. Sora and me. The master thought that I would come back. But I didn't. So he decided later on that anyone who joined can never leave. He doesn't want any of us to sell of his secret."

"B-but he doesn't know that I'm here. Trust me." Amaya rushed when she saw Narumi's face rose in shock.

"That's all." Amaya said, frustrated that she couldn't control herself and told everything out to them.

Kazuki stood and walked back up to his room.

"Er.. I'm not sure what's going on.. But, I'm sure all of that wasn't your fault and you did the right thing to quit it." Narumi said confidently.

Amaya glanced at him. "Thanks." she said.

"Come on, let me help you wash the dishes." he said.

Amaya smiled at him gratefully.

Part 19 : Crap

"Geez.. All of that and she's gone.." Narumi said to Kazuki as they walked home. When they reached the door step, Narumi asked :

"What are we gonna eat?"

"Hey, the door's not locked." Kazuki said. As they opened the door and walked in carefully and quietly, a strong smell of good food came from the kitchen.

"Amaya?!" Kazuki exclaimed.
"Oh hi guys! You're back. Here.. I cooked dinner for you all." she said as she laid down the food on the table.

"Whu-what?" Narumi said blurly as he sat down with Kazuki.
"Why suddenly cook?" asked Kazuki.

Amaya sat next to him and put her chin on her arms on the table. "Dunno." she said, smiling.

After the meal, Kazuki put away all the plates into the basin. "Okay." he sat at the table again. "What've you got up your sleeves now?"

"Yeah, why did you walk off the library just now?" Narumi asked.

"Not that. Is this whole assassin thing bothering you?" Kazuki concernedly asked. "And so far now my curiousity is overtaking me.."

"You mean-?" Amaya asked weirdly.

"Where were you all this while after you ran away?" Kazuki said seriously.

Amaya looked at him.
Crap. This is crap stick!! All this while he didn't ask me I thought he wouldn't care to ask anymore! My gosh. How am I suppose to answer him?!

Part 18 : Secret

Amaya ran as soon as she stepped out of the library and went up on the rooftop again. She buried her head between her knees.

Why did my past have to come back again?!

Back then, she ran away after discovering of her parents' death. Similar to Kaze but just different by a bit. She was living by the streets but was taken back by the Master just about a fortnight later. Although the Master thought he had her brainwashed, she still had hope. Hope that someone out there was going throught the same exact thing. Besides, the world is so big, why not? A year after joining Sora in training, Hana became known. She killed numerous people.

Until one day when she came across an order to kill a couple. When she came, their child was with them. Hana realised : What in the world am I doing? Isn't what I'm gonna do affect the child like how it affected me? She forfeited the order and was cast out of the academy, back into the streets. She had no choice but to look for her childhood friend again.

**********************************************

"What do you want?" Amaya said without even looking up. Shiro came up to the rooftop so quietly he thought not even a cat could hear him.

"Nothing." he said and sat not too far away from her. There was a long pause.

"What's wrong now?" he broke the silence.
"Big problems." Amaya said without thinking. "Since when were you a counselor??" she said moodily again.

"Just don't want you burst into pieces out of anger." he said. Amaya laughed. It tickled her to imagine a picture of her bursting into pieces. Shiro grinned slightly.
"Since when did you have that sense if humour?"she asked.
"Since you came." he blurted out.

Amaya pretended she didn't hear that. She knew he was knocking himself inside for saying that even though he didn't show it.

"You good at keeping secrets?" she asked.
"Do I even have anyone to tell it to?" he asked back. "What is it?"

"I was..." Amaya paused. She found it hard to continue. "I was an.. an.. a..." "A.. what?" Shiro asked impatiently.
"Assasin" Amaya mumbled softly.

Shiro was stunned. He didn't react but he didn't move either. Assasin? he thought.

Amaya told him everything. A to Z without missing anything out. Although she didn't mention that she was Hana. When she finished, she gave out a sigh of relieve.

"You're right. It does feel better...." she glanced at Shiro. "Buuut.... I guess it made someone a little not that better huh?"

A-assasin??!!! Shiro thought to himself. He got up and left.

Did I just over-spilled the story to him?? Amaya thought.

Part 17 : Hana

"What was all of that about?" Narumi asked Amaya when she took her seat next to him.
"Err... Confrontation-? Why?" Amaya said pecuilarly.
"That's why you disappear everytime during recess?" Kazuki asked.
"Yep." she said.

"Okay. What question was it that you wanted to ask me?" Amaya continued.
"I need you to help me solve this riddle together." Narumi said as he took a piece of paper from his bag.

"Remember the unknown mailer who sent us the riddle on Kaze?" he continued.
"Yes. What now? He sent another?" Kazuki asked. "Another assasin?"
"Here. I printed it out." Narumi pushed the piece of paper to him. Amaya, who was sitting next to him looked at it as well.

Her heart sank.

" Gentle and smooth the way she moves,
Often carrying along a blue rose,
Once you see the flower dark at night,
Never will you longer be in sight. "

"Blue rose?" Kazuki asked.

"I checked informations about the blue rose. Just in case it means anything. This is what I thought was related to this whole assasin thing. I found this blog about witnesses to the assasination cases. Seems that this assasin's been given the name Hana. She also strikes during the 'deep dark night' according to one witness, just like Kaze." Narumi explained.

"So probaly she's from the same place Kaze came about. Maybe they're related and all." Kazuki said in deep thought.
"Yeah maybe. But the blog was last updated like a year ago." Narumi said.

"Plus, they say that the victim would spot a blue rose lying on the floor or somewhere. The minute they see it, next thing they know, they're finished." he added, "People next to them only see a passing shadow and the victim falling. When they check, the victim's dead."

"Really?" Kazuki said.

"Yep. There was this case where a victim tried to fight back. The victim's wife and children were there. The wife begged Hana not to kill him. She said that were her orders and killed him of. She also said sorry to them." he continued.

"Seriously?!" Kazuki asked, shocked to think that an assasin woud actually have the heart to say that. To even THINK that.

Admist all that the two boys were saying, Amaya wasn't listening. She was thinking.

What in the world?! That was my poem!! Blue rose?! When did they have a blog like that?! Who's this stupid mailer?! This is ruining my life!! I thought I could just leave that dumb past behind.. Everything was going smoothly and then THIS MAILER HAD TO RUIN EVERYTHING!!! I can't let them know that I was Hana.. This sucks.. This has to be a dream. A terrible dream. She thought.

"Amaya?" Amaya jolted from her chair.

She turned to look at Kazuki and Narumi. They were staring at her.

"Are you okay?" Kazuki asked.
"Y-yeah. I'm going out first. S-sorry." She mumbled.

Amaya went out of the library.

"What just happened?" Narumi asked Kazuki.
"I'm not sure." Kazuki stared at the door. Amaya, what's bothering you?

Part 16 : Confrontation

For the next few days, Amaya continued to stay on the rooftop for recess. Sometimes Shiro went up to accompany her. But for this whole week, he wasn't there. Only a small note was stuck to a pole near her usual place.

"If you're gonna continue staying up here, go ahead. I'm not coming anymore." the scribbling read.

********************************************

After school the next day.

"So I guess she's gonna disappear again huh?" Narumi asked Kazuki.
"I don't know." Kazuki replied.
"Yieesshh.. Will there be no time when she's free to help me out with this super hard question?!" Narumi complained. "She's not free at home as well.."

"What question?" a voice suddenly came from their back.
"A-amaya!!" Narumi exclaimed.
"Haha.. Missing me huh?" Amaya grabbed Narumi's hand and tucked hers through his while grinning.

Kazuki put his hand on her head. "Shorty." he said with a grin. They laughed.

While walking down the stairs, they bumped into the group of bullies who teased Amaya. There was a silence for a few seconds.

To avoid trouble, Amaya pulled down her anger and by passed them. Kenji, the leader stook out his foot. Amaya tripped and fell.

"Amaya!" Kazuki ran to her. "Are you alright?"

Amaya was holding her fists very tightly. She suddenly sprang up and was about to punch Kenji in the face but she stopped at the position of nearly punching him.

She was panting.

Kenji was shocked by what Amaya nearly did. So was Kazuki and Narumi.
"Heh. Why not just go ahead and punch me?" Kenji asked.

Amaya took back her hand.
"Nah.. I don't wanna get demerit points for one stupid act. Besides," she turned to walk away. "I don't wanna make my mother cry." she said while walking away.

"Oh really? Do you even still have a mother?" teased Kenji. His other friend laughed at it. Amaya stopped.

As Kazuki was about to say something, Amaya walked back and cut him. "Well, not anymore. But if she saw me fighting, I guess she won't be so pleased right?"

"You have everything I don't have. Money, big houses, cars and a FAMILY." she said clearly and loudly. "But you know what? I have something you don't have."

"Really? And that would be-?" Kenji said.

"Three true friends and a positive thinking mind." She said with a smile. "See ya."

She turned to Narumi and said, "Wait for me in the library. I have to go find someone first."

Amaya walked away like a free person. She noticed Shiro walking her way. As she passed by him, she said softly in his ear. "Looks like I won the challenge."

They walked their way. Amaya smiling away; Shiro grinning slightly.

Part 15 : Rooftop

"Amaya, why don't I see you anywhere when it's recess time?" Narumi asked.
"Ahh.. I've got things to do." Amaya replied. "I really need to go now. Catch up with you later!"

************************************

"Kazu, do you notice any diffrence in Amaya?" Naurmi asked Kazuki while walking home. Amaya isn't with them today. She's in school for extra activities.

"Yes. Ever since we started investigating on Kaze assasin, she changed a bit." Kazuki said while putting his fingers on his chin. His legs were okay by now. So there's no need for a wheelchair anymore.

"She sometimes avoids talking about Kaze too much. It's like she's hiding something. Like some hidden secret or something." Narumi continued.

"Hmmm..."

****************************************

Next day.
RRRRIIIIINNNNGGGGGG~~~~~~~~~
Recess.

Amaya dashed out of the class. She stopped when she reached the back part a block of the school where people seldom passed by. She leaped up a few steps and landed on the rooftop.

"Sigh.. I wonder how long till I can go down again." she mumbled.

She jolted up when she felt something coming up. "Erk- Shiro?!"
Shiro didn't notice her when he came up. He missed a step when he saw her out of shock.

"Whoa!!!" Amaya ran and grabbed his hand. She swung him back up.

The both of them recovered themslef from the shock while sitting on the roof, panting.

"Why come up here everytime?" Shiro suddenly asked.
Amaya looked at him, startled. Wait.. Did he just talked to me?

Unsure what to say, Amaya blurted out, "I don't know."
"Erm.. I mean, just to prevent anything stupid from happening down there because of me." she corrected herself. "So why did you come up here this time? I've never seen you up here."

Shiro took something out from his sling bag. It was the container he took with the food Amaya left the other day. He tossed it to her. Amaya grabbed it. "Oh.."

"What do you mean by anything stupid?" he asked.
"For instance, picking a fight with one of the boys." she explained.
"They teased you?"
"Kind of."

Shiro looked at her. Amaya was grasping her fist together very hardly, trying to hold back her anger, although she was still smiling a bit when she talked.

"I'm going back down already." Shiro said as he stood up.
"W-wait!" Amaya grabbed his hand. Shiro looked back at her.
"What?"
"Uh- wait for 2 more minutes? There're prefects down there. They don't leave their post until like 5 minutes befor the bell rings." Amaya took her hand away from his.

They both sat on the roof again.

"Why don't just tell them in their faces?" Shiro began.
"Huh?"
"Tell them right in front of them what you've been holding back all this while." Shiro said.

Amaya looked at him. With the wind blowing back his quite long hair, he doesn't seem like Kaze at all. And besides, he looked more open, talking to her like that.

Gazing up at the sky, he said, "It's not good for you to keep all that anger in you. Containing so much anger in you and then it'll explode someday. Like drinking poison and hoping the other person will die."

He stood up and jumped down the roof.

"I TAKE THAT AS A CHALLENGE, SHIRO!!!!" Amaya shouted after him.

Part 14 : Escaped

Shiro sat up again. He felt a whole lot better than before he passed out. Shiro touched the bandage around his head. "Stupid man." he mumbled.

He was about to leave from the window when he noticed something on the dressing table which wasn't there just now. Shiro went down the bed and wobled over to the table.

It was a container with food in it. There was a note stucked to it.

"Shiro, you really need to eat. Take this with you when you 'escape'. You can give the container back to me in school."

Shiro looked at it. His lips slanted slightly up as if he was smiling for a split second. He took it and went out throught the window.

************************************

"YOU WHAT??!!!!" Kazuki shouted.
"Could you please calm down? It's not like he could do anything to us." Amaya said as they were sitting at the dinning table. She was tired of explaining the whole thing to her best friend again. "Besides, if he did anything, he would be dead meat by now," she whispered to herself.

"He left already okay? So there's no point in getting worked up by it." Narumi said, trying to calm Kazuki down.

"What in the world were you thinking?" Kazuki said.
"Look. He was wounded okay? What was I supposed to do? Leave him there to die? He's my classmate!" Amaya exclaimed. "Sorry." she mumbled.

Kazuki glanced at her. "Sorry." he said as well. "Shouldn't yell at you. I mean, I trust your every decision."
"Thanks, but when I'm obviously wrong, tell me, okay?" Amaya said.

"What about me?" Narumi asked.
"Same." Amaya and Kazuki said together.

Part 13 : Cured

Amaya walked back to her room. She glanceed at Shiro.

"Sigh.. Thanks to you, I'll have more work to do." She mumbled as she touched her bed-sheet stained with Shiro's blood.

Shiro was sweating. He looked like he was having a nightmare. Amaya touched his cheeks. He was burning. Amaya turned the fan speed faster. She went out to the kitchen and poured water into a bucket and added ice into the water. She took it to her room and got a handkerchief from her drawer.

Dipping it into the cold water, she was about to dap Shiro's face with it. He suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Whoa! You woke up so fast!" Amaya rushed in a breath after the shock.

When shiro's eyes focused and saw her, he took a deep breath and wanted to put his hand on his forehead. Amaya stopped him by grabbing his hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." she said. She realised what she was doing. Shiro was staring at her in his usual cold-blooded way.

"J-just try not to push yourself to much and t-try to avoid touching your forehead." she trembled as she akwardly took her hand away from his. "It might still hurt." she passed him the cold-soaked handkerchief. "You're heating up. This might help."

Shiro took it without a word of thanks and covered his face with it. Amaya looked at him weirdly.
"Shiro?" she said and slowly lifted the piece of cloth from his face. She grinned.

Pretending to sleep? I wouldn't fall for that. she thought. Amaya thought of it best to leave him alone so she went out after turning off the light.

Just as he heard her walking out and the door closing, Shiro opened his eyes. and lifted the cloth from his face. His forehead, as Amaya said, still hurt a bit. Shiro sat up on the bed and stretched a bit and observed the room. He heard footsteps aproaching and quickly lied down again to his former position. Handkerchiref on the face.

Amaya came in, put something on the table. She went over to Shiro, took the handkechief and dapped his face a bit. She put it back into the bucket and left.

Part 12 : Truth

Amaya glanced at Akira, who was in deep thoughts.

"I'm sorry." she mumbled aloud.
"Huh, what?" Akira said, snapping out of his thoughts.
"You heard me. I'm sorry." she repeated.
"F-for what?"
"You know, for everything." Amaya said. "For leaving you behind. Alone with that wretched master."

"Nah, it's okay, "Akira said. "Besides, shortly after you left, he came." He pointed at Shiro. He was still unconcious on Amaya's bed.
"So he's Kaze?" Amaya asked.
"Yep. Hey! You found out already?" Akira asked, surprised.
"It occured to me that he was Kaze, but I wasn't sure."
"How did you know him?"
"I tranfered."
"When?"
"Last week."
"Same class with him?"
"Yes."

They sat there silently for a few seconds. The atmosphere suddenly became akward. They didn't know what else to say.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever talked so much with her. Akira thought. And it's the first time I've seen her true self as a girl, not an assasin.

"So how did he turn up at the academy?" Amaya broke the silence. "It's kind of a weird place for him to go."

"This is gonna be long." Akira said.
"Just hurry up." Amaya rushed.

"That day was a rainy day." Akira explained. "It was like a thunderstorm."
"The master was training me again. We heard a crash at the main entrance, so he asked me to check it out.
"When I opened the door, I saw Shiro there. I guess he passed out. I found this around his neck so I quickly kept it first."

Akira took out a necklace with an oval shape crystal-liked pendant from his pocket.
"Strange. This looks familiar." Amaya said.

"Anyway, I took it just in case, you know, if the master wants you to be his assassin, he wouldn't want you to remember anything good about your past. Only all the bad things he'll want you to remember and he'll make it a whole lot worst." Akira explained further.

"How'd you know that master would be interested in him?" she asked.

"Just in case. So I helped Shiro in. Just as I thought, the master was interested in him. He cured all Shiro's wounds. When Shiro woke up, we learnt that he was an orphan since he was 5 years old."
"How in the world did he survive that long?!" Amaya asked.

"He stole money, stole food, ate from the trash. Got cought a few times and was beaten up lots of times."
"So brainwashing him was easier than ever, right?" Amaya said. She felt sorry for him. Even though she too was an orphan, she had her best friend with her. Shiro? He had no one.

"Well, I guess I'd better be going." Akira said standing up. "I don't want him to know that I helped him."
"Wait. Did you help me?" Amaya asked, pointing to the bandage around her neck.
"Oh my goodness. What in the world happened?" Akira said in horror.

Amaya told him everything about Kaze and the wound.

"That was definately not me. Anyway, do you live here alone?" Akira asked.
"No. I stay here with two other friends."
"Girls?"
"No. Guys. One is my childhood friend so he's like my best friend or something like a brother."

"Okay. I'd be going. But if you need anything, please tell me, I'd be happy to help." Akira told her.
"Thanks, bro." Amaya said.
"Bye, sis." he answered.

Part 11 : Help

"Urrhh..h..hhh" Amaya panted as she helped Shiro to her house. He had bruises all over him and his forehead was bleeding tremendously.

"H-hang in there, Shiro.. I'll get you to a hos.. pital." Amaya said, panting.
"Don't. Just take me somewhere.. I can rest in..." Shiro said with his last few ounce of energy and passed out.

"Somewhere? Where?" Amaya said looking at him. Oh great, he passed out. Now what?
Just take him home, Naru and Kazu went out after all.
Okay. That's where I'll take him.

******************************

Amaya tried to open the door with her hand. Shiro nearly fell. She closed it with her leg and headed to her room.
"Shiro, promise me you'll be okay." Amaya mumbled while still wishing she could believe it.
Amaya laid him on her bed.

What in the world am I supposed to do now? I can't call a doctor, in fact, I don't even know any doctor.

In the nick of time, Shiro's phone rang. She took it out from his blood stained pocket. 'Akira Igarshi' appeared on the screen. Sora? she thought when she saw the name on the screen. She took the call.

"Akira, I'm Amaya. Shiro needs your help. He's at my house. Quick." Amaya rushed before Akira could even say a word.
"O-okay!" Akira rushed as well and put down the call.

****************************************

"Hurry, Sora!" Amaya said just as she opened the door and saw Akira standing at the door.

Akira rushed in to Amaya's room where Shiro was unconcious and blood was flowing all over.

"I can't stop his bleeding. It just wouldn't stop!" Amaya said, half in tears.
"Calm down, Hana. I'll help him as much as I can." Akira said.

He sat beside the bed and put his hand on Shiro's head and a light-blue light started glowing from Akira's hand. The cut was half healed when Akira took his hand away and repeated the same move on every bruise on Shiro's body. Just that for the bruises Akira healed them all.

"Take your first aid kit and bandage his forehead." Akira said. He looked a bit weaken and sat on the chair in Amaya's room. Amaya rushed to it and bandaged Shiro's forehead.

"He'll be okay right?" Amaya asked just as she finished the bandaging.
"Yeah. The cut has to heal itself. I can't heal it completely. It'll drain me out." Akira said.

Amaya pulled a chair and sat beside Akira.
"So how's it going there back at the Academy?" she asked. "The master still so freaking bad-tempered?"
"Yes. He didn't change for the better after you left. In fact he got worse." Akira answered. "I guess quiting wasn't that good either."

"Hey! The official version of the story says that I got bored of killing so many people just for the sake of pleasing a dumb guy who doesn't even care what his students lifes are like, okay?" Amaya said while sitting straight and looking at Akira who was flabbergasted.

She sighed and leaned back on her chair. "I'm done with all that assasin thing already."

Part 10 : Punishment

"What took you so long to return, Kaze?" the master asked furiously. The master was cloaked in a maroon coloured cloth sitting on what it seemed like a throne. After all, it was his palace.
"Doing something important." Kaze answered disrecpectfully.
"Something important, eh?" the master asked again. "So important till you can't make it back in time for the whole day, hm?"

Another assasin stood at a corner behind Kaze.

"Seems like you'll never be punctual enough everytime and never seem to care less about your duty as an assasin hm?" the master said. Kaze stood there with a frown over his face. The lower half of his face was masked with a black piece of cloth.

"Sora!" the master said. The assasin behind Kaze stepped out of the shadows. He had an eye patch over his right eye.

"Beat him up as much as you want, Sora. He deserves it." the master said to Sora.
Sora just walked away.

"SORA!!" the master's voice roared.
He stopped. "What? You asked me to beat him up as much as I like. But I don't feel like doing it, so save it."
"This is your new ORDER, Sora." the master said, losing his patience. "You are to beat Kaze up till he wouldn't be able to stand anymore as his punishment for not coming in last night when he was called."
Sora reluctantly walked towards Kaze. If I don't do this, I might end up beaten up, maybe even killed as well.

"Sorry" Sora whispered. He used his knee to hit Kaze's stomach again and again. As blood spilled out from Kaze's mouth, he fell to the floor. Sora picked him up by the side collar of his shirt and punched his face twice.

"Argh!" Kaze fell to the floor again. Sora stopped. Kaze was nearly breathless by now. He couldn't even see things clearly. Everything everywhere was blurred though he could still open his eyes.

The master took a blade and threw it at Kaze just as Sora managed to push Kaze backwards. The blade sent a cut through his forehead.

"Kaze!!!" Sora shouted.
"That's that. Now get your butt out of here." the master told Kaze. "Come back tomorow night at 8"
"He can't even stand!" Sora objected.
"You take him out and put his at the gates and come back straight away." the master answered coldly.

***********************************

Amaya was walking to the nearby shop to get some food to eat. She passed by the way to the alley where she first met Kaze and where he tried to kill her the other day.

Maybe I should use this way, it's a short cut after all. She thought. Then she shook her head and knocked it. Are you crazy? He tried to kill you, you survived, and now you still want to toy around with your life?

"Oh well, I guess I'd better use the long way." Amaya sighed.

Just as she turned around to face the road she was supposed to take, she heard a snap from the way to the alley. She turned around and saw a figure coming towards her from a far. The figure was struggling to walk. Struggling to even stand.

Amaya gathered herself and walked cautiously towards the figure. The closer she went, the more she had this familiar feeling.

When she was a few metres away from the figure, it fell. Amaya ran towards it and the person fell on her shoulder. She slowly knelt down to the floor and turned the person around.

"Huh! Shiro!" she said under her breath, shocked.

Part 9 : Discharged

"Oh my goodness are you okay?" The homeroom teacher asked Amaya while pointing towards her bandage around her neck. The class loved their homeroom teacher because she was funny and quite childish-like but she could be strict whenever she liked.

"Yeah. Something happened last night. Nothing big actually. Don't worry." she replied.
"I better hope it's nothing. I don't want my student's to get into big problems and not letting me know. It just makes me worry!" the teacher said as she put her hand on her forehead funnily.
Some students giggled. Amaya smiled.

She turned around to look at Shiro's seat. He wasn't there.

"Sensei?" Amaya asked. "Yes darling?" the teacher replied.
"Have you marked the attendance for today?"
"Oh! Thank you for reminding me." she said. "Hmmm.. Let's see.. All present accept Shiro Takeo. Okay! Let's carry on with the studies!"

This can't be a coincidence. Whatever happened last night with Kaze and now Shiro isn't present? Shiro had a plaster right under his left eye. If not mistaken, Kaze had a scar under his left eye too. If this theory is right, then Shiro is actually Kaze??!!

***********************************************

RRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG~~~~~

"Narumi! Where're you going?" Amaya said as she caught up with him.
"Kazuki in the hospital. You asked me to take care of him right?" Narumi replied.
"Let's go together." she said.

**********************************************

"Amazing!" the doctor said. "Your friend here is healing rapidly! Faster than anyone I've ever seen! It only took him a weekend. He can be discarged today."

"Whoa. You a machine? You look a whole lot better already!" Narumi said surprised as they walked home.
Kazuki was confined to a wheelchair. Well, better than to sit in the hospital all day. he thought.

"Hey, don't get all too excited." Amaya said. "Doctor says he still needs some rest and please, I know you have your crutches and all but try not to strain your leg and hand by using it. Just try to stick to your wheelchair more unless you have no choice, okay Kazu?"

"Yeah. I know. I do not wanna go back to that hospital to stay again! It's so boring!" Kazuki said.
"And what in the world happened when I wasn't around?" he pointed to Amaya's neck.
"Something I'll tell you later on, okay?" Amaya said.
"Okay." Kazuki smiled.

"Bro, how did you get well so fast?" Narumi asked.
"I don't know either. All I know is I woke up yesterday feeling great and not that pain anymore. Then when they took me for check up they said that I was getting well very, very rapidly. Strange but true." Kazuki answered.

"Who cares? As long as my best friend is alright then I'm fine." Amaya said and put her hand on his head. "My turn to put the hand on your head." she grinned.
"Yeah, yeah. You just wait till I'm out of this wheelchair. I'm gonna be taller back and I'll get to put mine on your head!" Kazuki replied.
"Taller?" the confused Narumi asked.
"Yes taller, Naru" Amaya said. "This best friend of mine always puts his hand on my head just because I'm shorter."
"Oh.. Wait. Did you just called me Naru?" he asked again.
"Yeah why?" she said.
"Why not call people by their full name?" Narumi said.
"For fun." Amaya winked.

The three friends laughed as they walked their way home.

Part 8 : Dream

Amaya? Amaya? Amaya opened her eyes. A blurred figure appeared in front of her. Her eyes focused. It was Kazuki.

"Kazu? You're out of the hospital already?" Amaya asked as she tried to sit up. The back of her head had a sharp pain and she fell back on the bed she was lying in and closed her eyes.

"Me? When was I in the hospital?" He grabbed Amaya by the side of her shirt. The shocked Amaya opened her eyes again and saw Kaze right in front of her. There was a sharp pain at her back and her neck. She tried to break free from Kaze's grip. It was helpless.

"You dared to challenge me. Now feel what it's like to die!!!" Kaze took out a knife, pushed her on the bed and trust the knife into Amaya's chest.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Amaya screamed and sat up on the bed. She opened her eyes only to find herself in her own room. Huh. That was just a dream?

Amaya looked out the window. It's still dark? Wait. What am I doing here? I thought Kaze slashed my neck and- Amaya touched the place where Kaze slashed her. There was a bandage around her neck.

Puzzled, she got down from her bed and wobbled over to the mirror. Strange. she thought. The white bandage had a little blood stained on it.

So it really did happen. He did slash me. But, I thought I'm supposed to be dead or something. He left me to bleed to death. Then I passed out. So, who helped me? Could it be Sora?

Amaya threw herself onto her bed and looked at the wall clock. 7 already? She got up and pulled open the curtains. The sun was just about to rise. She went into the washroom to clean herself up.

Hmm.. This bandage... Amaya looked for the end of it. She found it and slowly pulled it off her neck. The wound was long and from the looks, it was deep. There was a yellow solution applied on it. Ointment? Funny. It looks like it was just applied on. Whoa.. The wound's already half healed. Cool. she thought.

Amaya ran through her drawers and cupboard for the medicine box. She opened it and took the bandage out. She bandaged her neck with it.

********************************************

"Good morning Amaya - AARRRHHH!!!" Narumi was about to shout when Amaya covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shhh!!! Don't shout first thing in the morning." Amaya said as she sat down at the dinning table with her breakfast. She looked frustrated.

"What's with your neck and why do you look so, you know, frowning??" Narumi asked as he took the milk powder tin from the cupboard while looking at Amaya. She closed her eyes as she rubbed the side of her forehead.

CRASH!!!!

Amaya jolted up from her chair. She looked at Narumi. He was posing a silly pose after dodging the falling milk tin. "Sorry." he said and picked up the tin.

"UURRRHHHH!!!!!!!" Amaya sighed, sat back on her seat and crouched on the table. Narumi looked slantly at Amaya as she mumbled between her hands.

"Aahhh... First the stupid boy tried to kill my best friend. Then he tried to kill me. Now I'm having a headache. And you are trying to kill me as well? Harrhhhh...."

"Kill you? Who tried to kill you? Is it that bandage around your neck?" Narumi asked absent mindedly.
"Not the bandage you blur-case." Amaya sighed as she lifted herself from the table. "The bandage didn't kill me. It was Kaze." Amaya told Narumi everything including the dream and the wound.

"Weird dream. Very weird, everything that happened." Narumi said. "Anyway, are you going to school today?"
"You know, you're no help at all." Amaya said as she took her plates to the basin. "What's the point of telling you all this when that's all you're gonna say."

Psshhhhh... Amaya washed her plates while Narumi looked on in silence.

"At least you should say something like: 'Oh really? It's okay, don't worry about it.' or 'Don't worry about it, I'll support you all the way' or maybe even just a pat on the head and say 'I'll help you beat that bastard Kaze up' even if you don't mean it."

Amaya took her bag and headed towards the door.
"W-wait!" Narumi shouted after her. She turned back and looked at him.
"Maybe I'll try to bash that dumb Kaze up!" he said weirdly.
She slanted her head to the left, akwardly. "Er.. Okayyy..."
"C'mon! At least say 'Thank you' or maybe just smile?" Narumi said with a slighty-out slang.
Amaya smiled and said, "Thank you very much!"
Her smile faded and she said, "Like that?"

"You're welcome!" Narumi smiled. He had a twinkle in his eye.
They both went to school together.

Part 7 : Battle

"I'm afraid you're out of your depth by challenging me even though I did that to your best friend. Better be wise and go home." Kaze said coldy. He was around half a head taller than Amaya and she could see that as an advantage. At least she won't need to worry of his height, he's not that tall.

Amaya stook her tongue out and said, "Not gonna happen tonight. I don't believe if that note wasn't pinned to the chair by you. Even if it wasn't, I'm not just gonna go home after coming all the way here."

"Not a wise choice." Kaze said and his body started to fade away!

That look!!! Now I remember!! He was the one who nearly killed Kazu last time when Kazu helped me out of the house!!!

Kaze suddenly appeared behind Amaya out of thin air. She wanted to turn but he hit the back of her neck with his hand. She fell to the ground.

Kaze walked up to her, squatted down and lifted the hair that covered her face. "Now you'll spend your whole life dreaming that you should have been wise enough not to challenge me." He whispered. Kaze had a sad look in his eyes. He stood up and walked away.

"My goodness -oof- you're faster then I thought, and very steady too."
"HUH??!!" Kaze turned back in horror.

Amaya stood up and moved her head a bit. "If I hadn't relax my bady to deflect the blow, I'd be goner." Kaze took a step back. How could she still be standing, concious even!!

******************************************

CRASH!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!!!

Amaya dodged all the attacks Kaze threw. He threw his giant boomerang here and there.

"Don't ever get hit by his boomerang. It has the most dangerous poison in the world. It'll make you first pass out then stop your heart like a snake venom."

Amaya kept remembering what someone told her.

Kaze suddenly jumped up and jumped on the wall and the other wall and... he jumped all over so fast till Amaya couldn't even see his body.

"Crap." Amaya said. "Ahhhh!!!" Kaze kicked her at her back.

She fell to the floor. Kaze stood behind her and said, "You've got the guts to challenge me, but you're not that good."

Not caring to anything he said, she stood up and said, "You know, someone once told me that attacking from the back of an opponent is a cowardly act."

Straight after she finished she took out the blade from before and threw it at Kaze. He dodged but it sent a cut through his cheek.

"Heh. I got you." Amaya grinned.

Kaze started dashing towards her and took out a kunai*. He attacked her trying to slash her. Amaya avoided his every attack but she slipped due to the puddle of water she accidentally stepped on. Kaze took the opportunity and punched her as she fell.

"Arrghhh!!" Amaya fell on her head.

Amaya tried to stand up but fell again as she wiped the blood at the side of her mouth. Kaze walked up to her. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and took out his blade.

"Goodbye, my friend."

SLASH!!!!!

Part 6 : Kaze

Sound of a door opening... Smell of a hospital room... Where.. am I??

"Kazu..? Hey.. Are you feeling alright?" That voice..

Kazuki was lying on a white hospital bed looking so weak. Broken arm, broken leg.

"A bit." he answered weakly.
"What do you last remember?" Amaya asked him while stroking his head.
"Taking something from the upper cabinet... then something hit the chair..."
"Something? Like what?" Narumi asked.
"A flying blade.. something like that." Kazuki said.
"Okay.. You rest properly Kazu." Amaya stood up looking kind of angry. "Narumi, look after him, okay?" She went out of the room.

***************************************

Knock knock. "Yes?" Amaya said. Narumi poked his head in the room. "Is everything alright? I mean.. Are you fine?"
Puzzled, Amaya asked, "What do you mean by that? And Kazu's ok, right?"
"He's fine. I mean you looked kind of angry when you walked out of the hospital room. Is everything fine?" Narumi worriedly asked.

Amaya took something on her study table. It was a small sharp blade made of metal.
"This thing cut through the chair." she explained.

"You're kidding right? That blade is so small!" Narumi said.

Amaya grabbed the blade and threw it at a wooden chair in the middle of the room. It sliced through the chair like slicing a piece of butter and hit the wall.

"See. This thing was threw on purpose by SOME one who wants to harm Kazu." Amaya said as she pulled out the blade stuck on the wall.

"Assasin?" he asked.
"Probably." she answered.
"You know who did this?" Narumi asked.
"No. But I suspect some one." Amaya said.

"By the way," Narumi added, "The guy you asked me to find out about in your class with the weird plaster uunder his eye-"
"Yes! What about him?" Amaya cut.
"Shiro Takeo. 15 years old. Orphan. Both parents died for an unknown reason when he was very young, like 6 years young. No contact number and no address." Narumi rushed in a huff.
"Shiro Takeo, huh?" Amaya said in deep thought.

*********************************************

Nightfall.

Amaya stood leaning on a cracked wall.

"7pm at the same place we met." read the note she found stuck to the broken chair.

"Amaya, I found out something." Narumi rushed to her room. "What?"
"Come." Narumi said. "Look." he pointed at the computer screen in his room.
There was an e-mail from an unknown mailer:

"Fast and steady
Carried by the wind
For as his name is
So it is when he comes."

"Which means?" Narumi asked.
"Wait.. Fast and steady means this guy the person's talking about is very fast and never misses the point right?" Amaya said.
"I guess so.." the blur Narumi answer. "Carried by the wind?"
"Carried by the... WIND!!!" Amaya shouted. "That idiot! Kaze means wind in the Japanese language!"
"For as his name is so it is when he comes?" Narumi glanced over to Amaya. "Hey! Where did she go?" he heard the main door slammed.

For as his name is so it is when he comes. thought Amaya. His name is Kaze which means wind. I think it means that when he comes there will be a wind?

"Huh.. He said to never dare come back again." Amaya sighed. "But now he's asking me to come here. What's going on in that little brain of his?"

A small breeze came.

WHHOOOOSSSHHHH~~~~~~~~~~~ "Whoa!"
She dodged just as a giant boomerang crashed at the place she was just at.

"You dodged that one very nicely." A voice came from a corner. The area was misty so Amaya could'nt see very well but she could recognise the voice.

"Kaze." she said and turned to face the half masekd boy.

Part 5 : Home

"So why do you want me to help you? I don't even have a database." Narumi asked the brown headed girl.

"Well I have the database, and since you don't really study that much, you'll have the time to help me," Amaya said. "Besides," she looked at Kazuki, "he wouldn't need to be so lonely at home."

"What?" Kazuki said, confused.

"Anyway, welcome to your new home." Amaya smiled and said.
"Really? Thanks!!" Narumi exclaimed.

Amaya led Narumi to his room. It was a spacious room with a chocolate brown wadrobe, a computer table and a single sized bed.

"Whoa. No rental fee and a nice cozy room and house and friends to stay with." Narumi said, flabbergasted.

"Yea. Welcome home bro." Kazuki said to him.

**********************************************

Taking shower was always the favourite thing for Amaya. After taking, she went in to her messy room which she seldom let anyone in.

Gotta clean up. She sighed. Better leave a good impression for him.

Sorting up all the books and paperwork was more work than it looked. Amaya sorted up her wardrobe, her study table, drawers, everything in her room.

CRASH!!!!!!

Amaya jolted up, slam the door open and rushed down. Now what? she thought. "If it's Kazu, I'm gonna- AHhhh" she bumped into Narumi.

"Sorry." Amaya rushed to say it first.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"That wasn't you?" Amaya asked.

They both rushed downstairs to the kitchen where the sound came from.

"KAZU!!!!!!"

Part 4 : Informer

"AMAYA-CHAN!!!!!! YOU MADE I-- agck!!!" Amaya clothes-lined Kazuki down like a wrestler.

"Seriously, did you have to make me go through all that trouble of finding this place?!" Amaya said impatiently. She was sitting on him. "Did you know I nearly lost my life thanks to this freaking note??!!" she held the note out to Kazuki's face.

Someone snatched it from her hand. "HEY!!!"

"Whoa. Dude, you nearly killed your little girlfriend there!" the dark blue haired guy said.

Amaya stood up. Kazuki picked himself up from the floor. "Argh!!! My shirt's wet!! Now I'll have to wash it with hand!"

Ignoring her friend's whinning, she asked the boy, "and you are-?"

"Oh, sorry for forgeting to intro."
"S'kay. go on.."
"Narumi Ukui from class 2-4, at your service, my lady."

"WHAT??!!" Kazuki cut in. SMACK!!! "ow!"

"'At your service'? Boy, aren't you a formal one." Amaya went on. "You an informer?"
"Nope. But I could be one." Narumi smiled.
"Okay. I'm Amaya from class 2-6." she replied without caring to react to his smile.

"Mind if I show you around town?" Narumi said, obviously trying to gain her heart.
"No thanks. I just need you to help me find information." Amaya said looking around.

"Okay, but I don't have any database of any sort or a proper room to do it with a computer."
"Good. I can have another housemate." Amaya smiled. "Meet me at the bus stop near our school at 2 o'clock with all your things."

Amaya walked towards him and whispered in his ear, "Don't you dare be late. I know you don't really have a house to stay for long and you might get chased out tomorow right?" Amaya smiled and walked away with Kazuki.

"How did you know that?" Kazuki asked.
"You didn't know that your best friend had a database at home?" Amaya winked.

Kazuki put his hand on Amaya's head. Seeing the plaster round her neck, he said,
"You're okay huh? Sorry for putting you in danger. I didn't know about that."
"It's okay, oniisan." Amaya smiled.