A/N:...IT'S UP. PHENOMENON! I was all, "Oh, time to go to bed!" But AS I was saving this chappy, I was all...MUST WRITE. But at the point that I stopped, I just thought, "Oh, this'd be a LOOOOOOVELY little cliffy wouldn't it?? So I stopped and put it up. -w- Hopefully next chapter'll be easier, with some set up this time. Had NO idea what to do for this'un.

But I feel like I owe and explanaition for some of the stuff in last chapterrrrr. SO!

Trampoline! - Yush...I was actually having a TON of trouble coming up with Ikki's 'new practice', when I went to my friend's house. We ended up going on her neighbor's trmpoline, and, being the little obsessive Air Gear fan I am, I was all, "Ooooooooh...Ikki would be fun to watch on a trampoline...OOOHSSHFDJFKHS!! I KNOW WHAT TO DO!" My friends were looking at me like I'm crazy!...which I can't disagree with.

Auto-pilot nessssss - This one...yeah, this is based off me, actually. I swim loooots, and while I do the backstroke sometimes, I have a really short attention span, so sometimes if I don't pay attention, I go kinda fast...or just hurt myself when I forget to look for the flags and hit my head on the wall...

But anywhooooooo If you read that, you gets loooooots of loves. But to anyone who reviewed, you get loves, even if you DIDN'T read it all 33

Now! On to the cliffy chapterrrrrrr

Oh wait, before that! The team name "Chibatsu" is tranlated into "Blood Clan" Thankies to Crimson Vixen for looking up clan for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee -huggles-

NOW on the the story 33

Ikki grinned and gave Kazu a friendly slap on the back, earning a glare from the disgruntled blonde. Okay, so maybe it was a little hard…But Kazu would get over it. Ikki rolled slowly on his AT's, in no particular hurry; besides, he wasn't going home today.

After a few blocks, the two boys passed Ikki's house, and Kazu looked at him expectantly. "Aren't you going home?" he asked Ikki, obviously confused.

Ikki just grinned. "Nope," the Crow answered, "I'm staying at your place."

Kazu just stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. "No way, man, my sister's out of town, and she'll freak if she finds out I let people stay over."

Ikki just shrugged. "Then I won't let her find out. Besides, I can't go home today, Kazu." The Crow attempted to put on a puppy dog pout, and failed miserably. "Are you just gonna let me starve in the cold?"

Kazu just glared at Ikki. "You ate all Mikan's ramen again, didn't you." It wasn't a question. Ikki just grinned again at Kazu, who sighed. The Jet knew Ikki too well, and it wasn't like the Crow hadn't pulled this before.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ikki said, skating forward, his school bag slung over his shoulder. "So where'd your sister go, anyway?"

"She's visiting our parents, overseas," replied the blonde.

"You're home alone?" Ikki asked curiously. That was odd, Kazu didn't seem like he cared much, but the teen wasn't really old enough to be living alone.

Kazu nodded. A new idea sprung into the Crow's mind, and he smiled, a mischievous gleam to his dark eyes. "You do realize that gives my free range of your house, right?" Free range of Kazu's house meant free range of his kitchen.

Kazu just scowled. "It's still my house, dude, so keep out." Ikki raised his right eyebrow in mild amusement, seeing as the blonde said this right as he opened the door for Ikki. The Crow chuckled and rolled into the house, and kicked off his AT's. He looked around, and saw that Kazu's small house was just as his sister liked it; Clean and spotless, almost to the point of looking like nobody lived there.

Ikki flopped onto the couch, head tilted back and resting on the couch's back, and peered over at Kazu, who was kicking his and Ikki's AT's into the closet. "…Is it dinner time yet?"

The Jet sighed. "Is your goal in life to eat as much as possible?"

Ikki fixed him with a serious look. "Yes."

Kazu rolled his eyes and Ikki grinned. "As I am God of all food, I get first picks," said the Crow, as he got up wandered into the kitchen. "You got any meat?"

There was a shuffling of feet as Akito wandered home; coming back from Agito's training. The boy had been working on his fang tirelessly, and Akito had finally managed to convince him to stop for the night. Akito preferred the solid feel of the ground under his feet, so he'd taken off his AT's and was wandering through the streets in his socks.

At the sudden sound of an AT motor and a clang of metal hitting metal, Akito jumped. However, Agito's sudden words startled him even more; Agito never really worried about these things. Akito, hide! The small boy obeyed quickly and rushed to the shadows, his dark jacket and pants helping him to blend in. He squinted slightly to see a team of storm riders, probably only seven strong. However…He watched as the team came to a halt to look at something that Akito couldn't make out. His ears strained to make out their words, but the words were just as incoherent from his distance as their motions. He heard a loud slap and the team was off again, speeding off in the direction they came from, and cackling loudly.

Akito poked his head out of the corner he was in and looked both ways, making sure it was safe, before running over to the place where the other team had stopped. When he saw what lay on the wall before him, he heard Agito swear and ran off in horror towards the Noyamano sisters' house, towards Ikki.

Ikki wandered out of the bathroom, taking a towel to his head and rubbing vigorously. His dark hair spiked back up quickly, and he took a quick glance at the clock on the way into Kazu's living room; 1:00 am. Ikki blinked. Was it already that late?

He wandered over to the couch and flopped down, looking around. Where'd Kazu go? Ikki looked down to the right and sighed. Of course, if Ikki was staying over, Kazu would be too good of a friend to sleep in his bed and leave Ikki in the couch; Kazu had pulled out the spare futon and already dozed off. The Crow nudged Kazu with his foot, poking his head smack dab in the center.

The blonde rolled over and groaned. "Ikki, dammit, stop."

Ikki grinned. "Aw, c'mon, it's only one. Don't you wanna go for a run?"

"…no." Kazu flipped back onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow.

Ikki just continued nudging the annoyed Jet with his foot until he finally gave in. "Fine, but where the hell're we going?"

Ikki sat there for a moment, thinking. He hadn't actually thought of anywhere to go…just that he wanted to go. "Uh…where ever I want. Let's go."

Kazu shuffled, exasperated, to the door, having fallen asleep fully dressed, and pulled on his AT's, Ikki doing the same. Ikki, however, instead of heading out the door, rolled back into Kazu's house, and Kazu turned around quickly. "What the hell are you doing? If you get any marks on the floor, my sister will kill me. Seriously!"

Ikki just chuckled, clicked the brakes on in his AT's, and made his way up the stairs; Kazu quickly mimicked the older boy, still worried about if his sister found out he'd worn his AT's in the house. By the time Kazu made it up the stairs and found Ikki, the Crow was already perched at Kazu's window. "We're leaving from here, of course."

Ikki leapt off the window sill, making it to the next roof, with Kazu following close behind. The Crow looked back at his friend, who looked slightly uncomfortable. The blonde had always been more of a…down-to-earth type person, in more ways than one. Ikki grinned. "What's with that expression?"

Kazu blinked and wrinkled his nose a bit. "Did you use my sister's shampoo? You smell like a girl, dude."

Ikki chuckled darkly to himself. "Uh, Kazu…I used yours."

Kazu looked shocked for a moment, then scowled. "Very funny asshole, but I don't use strawberry shampoo."

Ikki just grinned again and flipped down to the street. Kazu jumped off the roof too, but landed much less gracefully. "Just kidding, man."

Akito sprinted down the road, tiny feet pounding on the pavement. I have to find Ikki-kun! Even Agito was slightly unhappy about what they had seen, but he wasn't afraid like Akito was. The small boy looked around him as he made his way back to the house, when he noticed a familiar voice; the voice he'd been searching for. He headed in the direction of that oh so welcome voice, and just saw the back wheel of the Crow's AT.

"Ikki-kun!" he yelled, keeping his feet moving quickly. He turned the corner to find Ikki with…Kazu? Akito didn't care much for Kazu, he took a lot of Ikki's time away from the smaller boy. Ikki and Kazu had stopped when they heard Akito.

"What's up?" Ikki asked, raising an eyebrow.

You probably look like you just had a heart attack, Akito, Agito put in.

"I-I-Ikki-kun! T-there was…" Akito panted, feet stinging from running so far with out shoes. The small boy stumbled over to Ikki, and grabbed the hem of his shirt. "There was another team!" he spluttered out. "Another team! Th-they put a sticker …and, and, they wrote, they wrote…!" The words were fumbled as he tried to say as much as he could at once.

Ikki's eyes widened, but his dark eyes still had a look of confusion. "Akito, stop, take a breath, then spit it out."

Akito did as he was told, and took a deep breath. His breathing calmed down a bit, he tried again. "Ikki-kun, there was another team, and they put their sticker over ours, over Kogarasumaru's! And they left a message, for you, Ikki-kun! In blood!"

Ikki skidded to a halt in front of the sticker Akito had referred to. He had sent the younger boy home, but Kazu had insisted on coming; it wasn't like Kazu had seen it, like Akito. Ikki stared up at the scene above the two stickers, and he heard Kazu audibly gulp behind him.

Written on the wall above the two stickers was a shining, crimson note, with that tinge of a metallic scent. "Sky King, beware." They had left another message too, under the stickers, with a date, location, and time. The sticker was slapped across Kogarasumaru's; a red moon, reading Chibatsu along the crescent shape. But the dark side of the moon wasn't round; it was a skull, nestled into the center of the moon.

Ikki read and reread the crimson letters, memorizing them; he wasn't particularly keen on returning anytime soon. However, the message was clear; if Kogarasumaru didn't show up, the team would find them, and Ikki didn't like the sound of an ambush. Once the Crow had gotten the time and place down by heart, he turned around to find Kazu looking pale. Well, paler than usual, at least. Ikki started rolling off, and heard Kazu pause for a moment before following. The Jet didn't need to be spoken to; it was time like these when the two understood each other perfectly; ever since they'd been a part of the East Side Guns, they'd been become accustomed to the other's reactions well enough to know what to expect from the other.

Kazu rolled silently after Ikki, aside from the sound of every soft step and the quiet hum of the motors. Ikki, however, took very little notice of the sound around him, his thoughts running over the scene they had found, and still repeating that time and place. Three days from now, in the empty lot by the…

Ikki's thoughts were cut off by a sharp ring of a cell phone, and he heard Kazu jump. Ikki turned to look at the startled Jet, who quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. As the boy looked at the number calling him, Ikki saw his eyes widen and he immediately flipped it open and pressed it hard to his ear.

"Hello?" Kazu answered quickly, obviously slightly worried. Ikki frowned, he didn't like having to sit and watch. He crossed his arms and watched the Jet with a bored expression on his face, thoughts wandering back to the…

"Wh-what?…N-no, take a breath, and speak slower, I can't…" Kazu's worry had increased now, and was plastered all over his face. Ikki could hear a girl's voice on the other side of the phone from where he was standing, but that's all he could comprehend from his distance. This time though, when Kazu went silent, brow furrowed, Ikki kept his focus on the distressed blonde.

"H-hold on, Sis, I'm sure they'll be…well, yes, but…c-calm down, just…call me back, okay? Call me back when you hear." Kazu's tone was falsely reassuring; Ikki could see the distress taking over his face as he spoke. The blonde bit his lip, and his fingers curled a little tighter around the phone. "Alright…but don't stay up after you hear, okay…? …Yeah, g'night."

Kazu snapped the phone shut and looked at it for a couple moments, trying to clear his face of the worry and stress. But when he looked up at Ikki, the Crow frowned, because the clear blue was clouded with emotions. He broke eye contact quickly, and looked off to the side, hand still wrapped tightly around his phone.

When Kazu spoke, his voice was soft and wavering. "Ikki…that was my sister." He stopped and swallowed. "My parents…they…they got in a car crash over in America; they're in the hospital."