Foreword: Thanks for reviewing everyone, really glad you did. I hope you've enjoyed my story thus far.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, ideas or places appearing in the s-CRY-ed anime, however, I do own the original storyline to this story and also any original characters.

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The Blurring Line

He sat silently at the window once again, with a deep look of concentration plastered on his face. His golden irises were unfocused and distant, as he was looking inward instead of actually using his sight.

A strange ringing reverberated through his ears and he could hear the revving of an engine.

The golden bands instantaneously focused, and Kazuma's eyes darted out the window, making sure that there was nobody driving outside.

After a few moments of careful searching, he returned to his oddly introspective demeanor. 'Why…? Why can't I-'

A soft hand was gently placed on his shoulder and Mimori's feminine voice called out to him, "Um… Kazuma?"

Startled, he flinched, and pulled away from her. "Oh… What're you still doin' up? It's pretty late, you know." Settling back against the window, he allowed his stitched up arm to hang limply at his side. He felt a twinge of pain dart through his arm, and looked down to see the female doctor attentively examining the arm, despite the dim lighting of the moon.

"It looks like it's healing decently… Your body must have an incredible healing system! I only sewed this up a few days ago, and your arm is already looking better." She poked and prodded at the tender flesh curiously, as it trying to understand it more fully.

Blinking a few times to clear away some of the forming tears, he clenched his teeth. Each word was forced out from between the gritted pearly whites, "You do know that hurts, right?"

Quickly backing away, with an embarrassed look on her face, she bowed, asking for forgiveness, "I'm sorry! Terribly sorry about that."

Shrugging, Kazuma slung his injured arm around the girl's shoulders, "Nah, it's alright." He struggled to get up from his position, and used Mimori as a sort of crutch. "Sorry 'bout that… Didn't mean to invade your privacy or nothin', but I needed some help getting' up."

The raven haired doctor stood motionless, with a blush creeping up her face. "I… I…"

"Oh geez… I put my arm around you once and you go all rigid!" Kazuma chuckled at her and released himself from her, letting his arms dangle at his sides. "Come on, it's not like I'm makin' a move on you. I've never done anything like this before with you either."

'It was such a small thing that… I guess there are more important things to keep in mind than something like that…' She had a crestfallen look on her face, as though he had let her down in not remembering. "Um… Actually,Kazuma, you have… Don't you remember?"

A tumultuous light shone in his eyes, mirroring his confusion. "I… I can't remember…" Once again, a pensive look controlled Kazuma, as he stood there, deep in thought.

"It was right after you joined HOLY for a short time… Right in the lobby, you put your arm around me." Seeing that he was still trying to think and recall the memory, she shook her head and bit her lip, "Well, it was just a rather small incident. I don't blame you for forgetting…"

He placed his hand on her shoulder and stared straight into her eyes, "I'm sorry, Mimori… I… I used to have a perfect memory… but lately… I've been forgetting things. Can ya forgive me?" He gave a gentle squeeze to her shoulder, and sighed, "Maybe I'm just stressin' out, and forgettin' things."

"Perhaps all you need is a good night of rest. Why don't you go off to bed now, Kazuma?" Mimori smiled gently and chuckled, "That's a doctor's order."

Nodding, the man headed off towards his own room. He stopped right at the doorway and turned around, "So why were you up this late again?" He winked playfully and said, "Just to check up on me, right?"

The doctor was left standing all alone in the room, as Kazuma had retreated into his own quarters. Again, the same blush had begun to invade her face. 'Just what is he doing to me? He's an embarrassing person…'

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'She's been with us for a month… Such a strange person… It's blistering hot, but she's still wearin' long sleeves. She checks up on me each night, like I'm some kinda lab rat or somethin'. She doesn't seem like she's from around here… I don't think she's from the Lost Grounds.' Kazuma smiled broadly at Kanami as she proudly showed him some of the flowers she had picked.

"I hope Miss Mimori will like these! I made sure that I found some flowers that can be found on the Mainland too, just to remind her of home." Kanami quickly placed the radiant flowers into a tiny vase, which was set upon the table, in a feeble attempt to liven up the dull room.

Kazuma shook his head and his eyes narrowed as he focused on what the girl had said, "Wait… She's from the Mainland?"

"Of course, Kazu-kun! I'm positive she's told you at least twelve times since she got here!" The little girl wearing orange had her hands on her hips, looking disappointed. "Is there something wrong with you, Kazu-kun? I know they're just minor details but still, it makes a difference!"

He leaned against the wall and held onto his still-stitched arm. "Sorry, sorry… It just slipped my mind, I guess. Heh, you know me. I think about the details later."

Though she held her tongue, Kanami still looked as though she wanted to say something to him. 'He's… been forgetting things lately… He's just denying it to himself. Oh, Kazu-kun, what's wrong with you?'

"Huh… Nice picture. So who is this guy?" Kazuma picked up the lone photograph and carefully studied it, noting the expensive frame around it. The large, goofy smile on the man's face in the picture also brought Kazuma to a grin. "This smilin' moron looks pretty happy in this picture."

The shatter of glass smashing against the hard ground seemed to echo within the little room. The whole atmosphere was like a black hole, devoid of everything.

Kanami slumped to her knees and hid her face as tears ushered forth from her eyes. The glass lie around her like a sea of razors, as her tears dripped down onto the shards.

"K-Kanami! What's wrong with you!"

His only response was a brokenly sobbed word, as the girl repeated it like a repeating record, "K… Kimi… Kimishima…"

Kazuma's eyebrows rose in surprise as he gasped, "Who?"

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Rage flashed in the golden irises as Kazuma continued to pound the tree into submission with naught but his bare fists. 'I'm like a virus! I feel stupid and contagious! All this mopin' I've been doing lately… It looks like I've passed it to Kanami.'

"Who the hell is Kimishima!" he roared as his fist passed completely through the solid trunk of the tree. His knuckles were bleeding, and his arm was scratched up. Luckily, he had enough sense to only use his left arm, instead of risking permanent damage to his right. Bracing his leg on the tree, he ripped his bloody appendage out of the trunk, dislodging bark along with it.

He sat down at the base of the object of his assault, furiously fuming at himself for making Kanami cry. He didn't know what he had done in noting the picture. Was it so wrong? Deep within him, he could feel a numbingly cold feeling grip his heart as he thought about the man in the photo. 'Who was that guy? Why do I feel… feel like somethin' bad happened?'

Sheer white cloth wrapped around Kazuma's fingers, and Mimori sat down next to him. "Do I need to follow you around just to make sure you aren't hurting yourself?"

"What do you care for? I'm just a lazy, irresponsible, brute of an Inner… Why don't you just go back and care for… uh… Ryu… damn! Ryuho! Why don't you go back and follow him around?" Kazuma's eyes were steeped in rage, as he struggled to cling onto the memories he had. He was stuck in a whirlwind of confusion. Everything was starting to fade away.

She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, trying to reassure him. "Ryuho and I… Do you want to know the real reason I'm here? I… know it's because I'm a doctor, and I can help people, but there's another reason."

He shrugged her hand off and nursed his arms in his lap, still visibly angry, "Probably wanted to get away from that frosty bastard, if I had to venture a guess."

"No, Kazuma… I came here because I wanted to see you again. Ryuho and I may not be on the best terms lately, but I do like to see my friends." She paused, looking straight into his eyes, and facing the turmoil within them. "You're one of them. I really lo- er, like you. There… We've always been able to speak honestly with one another, right?"

He averted his eyes in shame, "Yeah, whatever." A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed until he finally spoke again, "I'm sorry… I'm just so confused lately… I don't know what's wrong with me. I keep forgetting things I should know, but… I can't understand why. I'm just so pissed off right now."

The raven haired woman closed her arms around Kazuma, encircling him in a hug.

Both of their minds were racing at light speed, trying to comprehend just what was happening. The human contact just seemed to be doing the powerful Alter some good.

"My… mother said that a hug can always help… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be invasive." She let go of him and tried to sit back in her former position.

His arms were still tightly wrapped around her, and his face was buried into the woman's shoulder. Every single emotion that he had been repressing had broken through its dam and was flowing. Tears seeped through his closed eyelids, soaking Mimori's shirt.

Silently, she accepted the burden he was placing on her. Cradling him in her arms, Mimori promised to herself, as a woman, doctor, and more importantly, a human being, that she would stay with Kazuma, until he was healed, internally and externally.

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The strongest Alter user in the world had been reduced to a whining, sniveling wimp. He lay curled up in his bed, under the covers, like a child trying to escape from the Boogeyman.

It had been about a month since Mimori had begun spending all of her time with him, attempting to help him with anything she possibly could, in both physical and mental therapy.

The rain had been pouring down ceaselessly for a whole week, and the weather had begun to affect everyone's mood. While the two girls would always stay inside, and do various things, Kazuma was in the rain. He would just stand there, gazing up into the sky.

As a peal of thunder clashed in the sky, Kazuma cringed and seemed to withdraw further under his sheets. Two figures flashed into his mind, one was dressed in a black suit, with his silvery hair tied back tightly, while the other, hulking figure was completely black, with only a few spots on his body that were not.

These two figures scared Kazuma to the point of insanity.

He had no idea who either of the people were, but he could feel that they were powerful, and that he truly had a reason to be scared.

He retracted further when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Kazuma… Are you feeling better today? I told you that you were going to get sick if you stayed out in the rain…" Mimori slowly drew the blanket off of his face, so that she could check on him more adequately.

He was blankly staring at her, but there was absolutely no sign that he had a cold, as Mimori had said he would. The blanket fully slipped off of the bed, leaving Kazuma only clad in a pair of pants, and, obviously, his omnipresent glove.

"Kazuma… You're not-" the girl was cut off by a terrible crash, and the sick sigh of straining timbers, in the moments before they gave in to the pressure.

A fire lit within the recently depressed man, and he rocketed out of bed, and his arm was encased within his gauntlet-like Shell Bullet.

As the massive tree came crashing through the roof, he shot forward and knocked it back away from the house.

Within seconds, Kazuma's Alter began to dissolve, leaving a freshly bleeding and lacerated arm in its wake. He collapsed to his knees, as his arm spasmed and throbbed in pain. The stitches had been obliterated, and each gash was freshly opened, staining the room with the lingering scent of the sickly sweet blood.

Immediately, Mimori ran to his side, kneeling with him, despite the whole in the roof drenching them both in rain. "Kazuma! Kazuma!" she cried, as if desperately hoping that he was perfectly fine, when she knew he wasn't.

"I am… My name is Kazuma?"

"Y-Yes, of course it is!" She was baffled, but it finally dawned on her… His memory was damaged. "Do you know who I am? Try to remember, Kazuma!"

Concentrating as hard as he could, the Alter user focused on remembering the woman that had grown close to him in the last two months. In labored speech, he finally managed to spit out a few words, "You are… Uh… Mim… Mimor…" He collapsed completely, lapsing into unconsciousness.

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Author's Notes: Okay, I really hope you liked it this time. I wasn't expecting to update so quickly, you know? Yes. I have a logical explanation to WHY Kazuma's memory is being damaged. You'll have to wait for that one. I hope it was sufficient.

Random Bonus: Who can find the musical reference in this story? It's something that Kazuma says. It's close to a line in a VERY well known American song from the '90s…