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!"

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"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..."

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Next day.
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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.

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"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.

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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.

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"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.

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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??!!

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"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.

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"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.