After a 'short' break, I'm back!

So, because of all of my work and college, I've started a priority poll on my profile. So, if you want me to prioritize this story over my other ones, please vote for it! That means that I will UPDATE MORE OFTEN :D

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the number of people reading, considering how 'dead' this fandom has been for a while hahaahhaha xD
Not to mention that this story is officially a part of a community: hyperdimension writer's guild!

Anyways, let me stop rambling:

Trick 3: Pretty hurts

"Takeuchi-san!" Suzuka stopped short in her walk, turning. Noyamano Ringo, the girl from class 2-1, The Lawless Zone, approached her in the hallway as if they'd been friends for ages. "You vanished last night, I'd thought they'd arrested you! I'm so glad that you're alright." The girl with glasses said, smiling.

Suzuka felt her own mouth forming the same gesture on pure instinct. "Sorry. I saw the cops and decided to hightail out of there." She laughed. "My brother would slaughter me if I'd gotten arrested."

"Oh, you have a brother?" Noyamano was getting a bit too friendly for Suzuka's liking. It's not that the skater didn't want friends. Far from it. She held the same idealistic view that you probably do, about perfect relationships that you see in movies and anime. However, she was used to being on her own. She liked the silence. She adored the solitude. It brought her peace of mind.

"Mhm." Suzuka didn't offer any more information. She was tired of thinking up excuses to cover for her busy schedule. She didn't want to hear another tirade about her being anti-social and a bad friend. She simply didn't want anyone to bother her perfect world. And, boy, did she think that her world was perfect.

"Lucky! I have sisters. Three of them." Ringo kept talking, smiling as the two girls walked together. She didn't seem to be grasping the situation of her unenthusiastic conversation partner. Or, maybe she was simply ignoring it?

"I think you're the lucky one." Suzuka mumbled, immediately mentally chastising herself. She had gotten used to talking to herself. It was a bad habit.

"Eh? Why?"

"I don't know!" She laughed it off. "Seems nice to have sisters, rather than a brother." Suzuka shrugged, before looking for another way to evade the girl. However, there was none. Ringo had a metaphorical grip on her and was leading her towards the roof.

"Is he the one that got you into ATs?" Ringo wondered and Suzuka almost rolled her eyes. Of course. There is no experienced storm rider that doesn't know the name Takeuchi Sora. And, since Suzuka had chosen to abandon her own family name in favor of his she had frequently been associated with the former Wind King.

It hadn't really been her first choice. But, after her family's tragedy, she couldn't stand to see her name written. After all, she had written it on so many papers. Papers that certified that she was the last one. The last of their family. Her mother was gone. There were no more lullabies and cake-baking together. She didn't need a lullaby to fall asleep anymore. She could make her own food. Her father was gone. There were no more morning newspapers being read out loud or AT parts being inspected during dinner. She could get all of the information from the TV. She had to fix her own ATs.

But, the worst of it was her brother. There was no more laughter. No more teasing. No more friendly play-fighting. There were no more hugs. No more homework tips. No more candy being sneaked into her room.

There were only tears.

So, Suzuka had chosen to abandon her last name, instead taking Sora's. After all, she could take a couple of questions about her adoptive brother. She preferred to simply talk about his previous AT battles and other endeavors, rather than watch her own body betray her, as she lost it. Again. No. Suzuka was over it. She was strong.

Now, how does one actually explain her situation, she wondered. Due to her previous experiences, one doesn't. "You could say that." And with that, the conversation was dead.

"4-6-4-9" Suzuka mumbled to herself, typing away on her phone. She smiled at the cute ghost strap that was hanging off the top before refocusing on the bright screen. "Let's see, let's see." She quickly typed in the shopping site of her favorite mark, Spike, and looked through the new arrivals. "Ah!" She jumped to her feet with a huge smile, ecstatic. "They're here!"

The small thumbnail showing a picture of gloves. There were at least ten pictures that one could look through, showing different designs and colors. Suzuka swiped her finger across the keys, enlarging each picture to take a good look. Finally, she stopped on one design.

"Cuuuute!" She commented, squealing and giving a small jump of joy. "I want these. They're perfect." The gloves were thin, yet warm, black in design with small white snowflakes. She could see the padding on the palms, which would stop her momentum if she fell on the ice. She really hated it when she slid all across the rink after a failed jump. "Let's see." With another couple of clicks, the thumbnail showed the price of the gloves as well. "Eh?!" Suzuka's face fell comically. "Too expensive!"

She opened a new tab, looking up another site. It wasn't the Parts War Forum, but it was close. It was a legal, branded site, selling Air Treck parts. It was a rare one, but a good one. With a few clicks, she logged into the seemingly errored page and a site loaded instantly. Of course, even though ATs were legal, the nature of the speed racing practically demanded secrecy. To any non-Storm Rider, the site would've been a simple error in code. To her, it was a treasure ship.

"Hmmm." Suzuka hummed to herself. She quickly loaded her wish list. She found the spare gears that she had missed last season, her face brightening at the red notification. It told her that more had been made. The petite skater loaded the price, her face falling instantly. "I guess… I'll get a part-time job?" She asked no one in particular and headed back to the classroom, head bent down. "When in the world will I have the time for that…" She asked herself this time, exiting the application on her phone, quitting for the day. She would figure out that later.

"Your right shoulder is too far back, Takeuchi-san." An old woman corrected her, tapping the offending limb with her cane. "Do not move your left shoulder when I instruct you to move your right, Takeuchi-san." Suzuka lost control of her body somehow and it all came apart. The old ballerina snapped, hitting her with the decorated cane in the leg lightly, making her stumble and then fall on the lacquered floor. "You are a house of cards, Suzuka. A slight wind blows and you topple over." The woman said, walking away.

The petite skater sat on the floor for a moment before standing up. She headed for the door, turning off the music and the lights on her way out. Before leaving, she tossed one last look at the empty chamber full of mirrors, glistening in the moonlight. "A house of cards truly." She whispered to the darkness, her old friend.

She had gotten lucky with Madam Dubois. Truly lucky. The old woman, shorter than even Suzuka herself, was a former ballerina and star. She had, however, suffered an injury to her ankle which had ended her career. She had never even regained full mobility of her foot, instead using a cane to help her walk. The woman had chosen after the end of her career to learn Japanese and move to the new country, so that she could completely start over.

Suzuka had struck gold with the woman. As stern as the old ballerina was, she strived for perfection. To top it off, she didn't ask too much for the classes. Apparently, the living standard in Japan was quite different from the one in France. Suzuka had been surfing on her phone, as usual, when she had stumbled upon the woman's site. She had fallen in love with the words the old ballerina had written there. They were filled with the torturous soul of the dance, unlike the other blogs which only spoke of sparkling tutus.

Suzuka knew quite well that every rose had its thorns. She had learnt a long time ago that every single beautiful thing had pain behind it. That was simply the nature of beauty. Tragedy. Pain. Horror. Death. That was what made something strong. And anything strong was beautiful.

She could remember watching the Olympics with her mother on the living room couch late in the evening. They would follow the routines of numerous single and pair skater in rapt attention, rooting that they wouldn't fall. She could remember begging her parents for just one skating class. Just one. Then, she learnt to skate. And then, she couldn't stop.

No amount of bruises, sore muscles or cuts could turn her away. She loved the smell of the ice. She loved the feel of the jump. She loved the high which came when she landed her jumps just perfectly. She loved skating, no matter how much it hurt.

"I'm home!" Suzuka greeted the empty apartment, taking off her shoes. She let out a sigh, noticing that all the lights were still off. "Out again, Sora-nii-san?" The girl mumbled to herself. She stepped over the discarded shoes and walked towards the kitchenette on the way to her room. Her evening brightened a tad when she saw the empty pot which she had left for her brother to eat during the day.

"Nothing? Really?" The petite skater grumbled as she was checking the fridge and the cupboards. Sora had eaten everything, which left her in a bit of a pinch for food. Then, she saw a familiar orange cup in the back of the lowest shelf under the sink. "That sneaky little-!" Suzuka grinned, reaching for the ramen and placing it on the desk. "It will have to do." She shrugged.

The skater threw off the strap of her heavy bag, letting it hit the floor next to her. She took off her socks next, enjoying the way the cold tiles felt on her feet. There was a blister on her little toe, on her left foot, which hurt like Hell. That was going to burst by tomorrow and scar by the end of the week. She knew.

As soon as she stepped back towards the kitchen, she could feel her feet relaxing, breathing, because they weren't confined anymore. It felt like heaven. She clicked the button on the electric heater and washed her hands over the sink. Next, she opened the ramen and poured the boiled water in the cup and closed it back up, waiting. While the food was getting ready the girl searched through the drawers in the dark, looking for a pair of clean chopsticks. There were none.

"Well then." She told herself, grabbing the sponge and cleaning the pair that had been in the sink, discarded. "I really need to clean this weekend." Suzuka noted, opening the ramen once more and grabbing the noodles with her newly washed chopsticks. She pulled out the lone bar chair next to their tabletop and sat down, her muscles finally relaxing. She could feel her body slowly shutting down from exhaustion. Slurping the warm food down with gusto, the girl let out a moan of happiness.

"Oh, Sora-nii-san knows his stuff!" She joyfully exclaimed, taking another slurp. She finished her dinner in record time and pushed away the empty cup and used chopsticks with a satisfied sigh. Life was perfect.

Suzuka struggled for a moment before managing to stand up, as her tired body had already decided to fall asleep on the bar chair. She somehow managed to grab her bag strap and drag the heavy thing all the way into her room. In the end, Suzuka didn't even have the strength to change her clothes. Instead, she simply flopped onto her bed, facedown, her sore muscles finally relaxing.

She was done for the day.

Ikki hunted her down in school the next day. She could swear that she had attempted to escape, but that would be a lie. She had been too tired from morning practice to attempt an evasion. Her brain was numb. Her legs were numb. Heck, even her behind was numb. She couldn't escape even if she had wanted to.

"Oi! Katsushiro!" The boy had yelled out, chasing after her at lunch break. Suzuka couldn't help but notice the suspiciously familiar dark blue hair behind him, but she didn't have the time to comment as to why in the world was Agito, the Fang King, at their school and wearing their uniform. "Meeting on the roof, c'mon." And the infamous Baby Face grabbed her petite form and threw her over his shoulder.

"Uiiisu." Suzuka let out a tired hum, but otherwise couldn't be bothered to protest. She knew that any form of rejection would be ignored. She could remember Ikki from when they had been younger, even if he couldn't recall her. He would win any argument, one way or the other.

"Alright." Ikki lowered her down when they reached the roof, panting a bit from the excess weight. "Now that we're all here." And he, too, sat down next to one of his friends, Miura Kazuma. Suzuka remained where he had deposited her, her muscles still aching and hurting. Simply, today everything was too much of a hassle.

"Wait, she's with us?" Asked Kazuma, or Kazu as he preferred, pointing at the skater rudely.

"Yes, Katsushiro here is needed to build my Ikki Empire." Their leader pointed at her with his thumb, not even looking back.

"I'm right here, you know." Suzuka murmured, slouching forward a tad. That position relaxed the tense muscles in her back.

"Besides, Ringo says that she's good." Ikki added, grinning at the skater now. "So, you'll be on our team, right?"

Suzuka let out a long sigh, still trying to ignore the fact that the Fang King was acting all weird and cozying up to Ikki, who was ignoring the boy with passion. "Yare, yare. Let's say that I'm willing to be your reserve, shall we?" Ikki went to say something, but she put up her hand, silencing him. "I'm an ice skater and that is my career, Kambei-dono. If your AT team activities ever clash with my busy schedule I can't come. Is that understood?"

Strangely, Ikki found that he couldn't move. The girl's deep green eyes were almost hypnotizing when they focused on him, keeping him still. "Sure." He agreed off-handedly, as if the sudden intensity coming from her hadn't bothered him at all.

"Sure." And the girl reached out. "Phone." She demanded. Ikki handed his over to her and Suzuka typed in something with lighting speed. "There, call me when you have a Parts Battle scheduled. I have to go, Math is next." And the skater stood with some difficulty, heading towards her classroom. She could hear Kazu protesting in the background.

The hospital was as busy as always when Suzuka walked in. There were nurses rushing back and forth, doctors going from room to room, patients wailing and mother's yelling that their children be examined. It was a completely normal sight for the petite skater. She ignored the chaos and headed for the information desk. The nurse behind it was unfamiliar to her, which was a rare thing, considering how many times she'd been to the hospital.

"Excuse me." The girl spoke, gaining the woman's attention. The nurse put a hand up, telling her silently to wait a second as she picked up the phone, answering a call. Her tone was gentle and her words informative, but to Suzuka they were just background noise. She wanted to get cleared and get away from the chaos of the ground floor already.

"How may I help you, miss?" The nurse finally asked. Suzuka offered her a polite smile and nod.

"I'm here to see Aikawa Daichi, please." She asked. The nurse gave a small nod in return.

"One moment, please." And then, the woman began typing away on her computer. A couple of mouse clicks later, the nurse spoke to the young skater without looking up. "If I could have your name, please?"

"Ta-Aikawa Suzuka." The girl corrected herself in the middle. She hadn't introduced herself like that in a while. All the old nurses knew exactly who she was. After all, there weren't that many people visiting her brother. Suzuka would know. She had searched for all the possible relatives when their parents had died. But there was no one. They were alone. She was alone.

"Oh." The nurse had obviously read the 'relatives' section on the screen. She was looking at Suzuka now. But, it was that look. A look that Suzuka had seen enough times. Like, at the funeral. Yes, she had seen those eyes at the funeral. At the hospital. She had seen them there, too. The woman pitied her. Suzuka grit her teeth and clenched her fist, holding her rage back. She wouldn't explode. She wouldn't cause a scene. She was over it. She was fine. She could do this.

"Is it alright if I go and see him?" The girl asked, still smiling as politely as before. "I know his room number."

"Of course, dear." The nurse agreed, quickly typing the name of the visitor and the time into the computer. "If you would just-you know."

Suzuka hadn't waited for the woman to finish her sentence. Instead, the girl grabbed the paper in front of her and signed her name quickly. She thanked the nurse and quickly left, her heavy, blue sports bag on her shoulder.

She could feel their eyes on her even as she ran up the stairs. It was ridiculous, she knew. Irrational. Silly. Stupid. No one had heard that she was that girl. It had only been the nurse. The woman had only given her one pitying look. But, Suzuka could feel others on her back. Like everyone in the room was staring at her, judging her. Pitying her. She didn't need their pity. She didn't see them performing double axels on ice each day. She didn't see them working their butts off to be this good. She didn't see them overcoming a tragedy.

Suzuka's throat closed in on itself and the girl stopped in the middle of the stairs, leaning her back against the wall. She was vaguely aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks. But, she was more concerned with her breathing. She couldn't breathe. She coughed and sobbed, dry heaving as her back slid down the wall.

No, she was okay. She had overcome this. She had gone through her proper stages of grief. She was fine. She was fine. She was fine. Her mother wouldn't want to see her like this. Her brother would hug her and ask her who hurt her, so that he could beat them up. Her father would give her some ice-cream and tell her to drown her sorrows. She was fine.

Suzuka wasn't sure how long she stayed there, sitting still on the steps, but she jumped up like a rocket shot out as soon as she heard the door open below her. The young skater ran up two more flights of stairs, reaching her brother's floor. She pushed the white door, entering the calm wing. There were murmurs here and there, from nurses, doctors and visitors passing, but other than that, it was calm.

Her brother would hate it here.

With a grin at that thought, Suzuka headed for her brother's room. She entered, leaving her bag neatly in the corner. There were two more beds in the room, beside her brother's, one empty and one full. The old man next to the window had been in a coma for a while. Suzuka had met his granddaughter some time ago. They weren't too hopeful.

"Hey." She greeted Daichi, sitting in the lone chair next to his side. He didn't respond or move. It used to make her sick, seeing him lying on the white hospital bed with all those tubes and lines sticking out of him. But, she had gotten used to it. She could barely remember her brother's smiling face as he completed an AT trick anymore. The only thing that her mind managed to envision was the pale ghost of a man lying in a hospital bed.

"I've been good." She spoke to him once more, pulling her legs upon the chair as well, her knees going to her chest. "I'm studying. The school is going well." She didn't dare touch his hand, like the doctor often told her to. She talked to him, that was enough. If she touched him, than it would become reality. This ghost would become her brother completely. She could still only consider it a bad dream, a temporary thing, if she didn't touch him. "I've been practicing my routine as well. Coach gave me a new move to put in. It will raise my difficulty a lot."

Daichi had inherited a lot of their parent's looks. He was distinctly Asian, yet, his hair was blonde, just like Suzuka's. It used to be cut short, with only a single, tiny braid left in the back, but it had grown long during his time in a coma. His eyes, the kind, deep blue which they had both inherited from their European father, were now closed and sunken in. His injuries had destroyed him. And on turn, they were destroying her, too.

"Sora-nii-chan is taking good care of me. Actually, I'm thinking of joining an AT team." Suzuka kept talking, spilling everything she knew about Ikki's new team to him. She even told her brother about the running gag between them, about the Seven Samurai names. And at one point, she couldn't talk anymore. Her throat closed up again and the girl grew silent. The quiet buzzed in her ears, making her feel sick to her stomach.

"I'll play you my new routine song." She whispered in a croaky voice and took out her cellphone, quickly playing the music. The guitar and drums intro of 'Use Somebody' rang out throughout the room, making Suzuka cry silently.

"Koga-rasu-maru?" Suzuka asked, looking over the emblem which she had just been given. Ikki smirked, grinning. The girl could swear that she could see his nose growing on the spot.

"Kogarasu is a treasured sword from Taira generations." He explained to her, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Pretty badass, right? I figured my little Katsushiro would approve." He grinned as he unfolded the team jacket which he had also brought for her. Suzuka took it into her arms, her fingers going gently over the emblem on the back. "And maru means-"

"Collective fates." Suzuka interrupted, still looking at the jacket. Then, she pushed it back into Ikki's hands. "I can't accept this." He pushed it back at her, but she moved away sneakily.

"Now ,now, young Katsushiro." The Crow frowned. "I'm not playing games of accepting no for an answer."

"I can't, Ikki." The skater looked to her feet, which were in her usual sneakers. Then, she assessed Ikki's Air Treck. She wished. Her next glance went to the clock on the school wall, noting the time. Her practice was in an hour. "Look, I really need to go…"

The boy gave her a frown, but then tossed the jacket at the back of her head. When she turned, giving him a disgruntled look, he put his hand up, forming a gun with his fingers. "Headshot." He cheekily commented. "Keep the jacket. It's gonna be pretty cold tonight."

Suzuka was left in the wind which he caused when he shot off on his ATs. She couldn't help but look at the symbol on the back of her new jacket once more, taking it in. It was a dark, circle-like form with wings. It looked warm. It seemed comfortable. She couldn't believe that she was on a team. She wondered if her brother and Sora had felt like this after joining a team.

"Kogarasumaru." She read off the top of the emblem, her fingers trailing over the artsy letters. She couldn't help the smile that grew on her face. "Kogarasumaru, huh?" And she laughed then, running towards the train station.

That's all for today folks!

Sorry that it took so long, I've actually been struggling with Ikki's character xD I hope that he's not too OOC?
I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts!

Interesting fact: Both Suzuka (doesn't have the time for cleaning) and Sora (simply a slob) are complete slobs – their place is always a mess.

Onto the wonderful reviews:

Forever Fanfiction Lover22: Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm sorry that it's taken me such a long time to update xD I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!

Guest (Feb 24, 2016): Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm happy that you're enjoying the story and I look forward to hearing from you again :D

xFallenDemonx: Thank you soooo much for the lovely review! I hope that you haven't given up on me after my little 'break' hahahah xD I look forward to hearing from you!

Spirit of the Blue Jay: Thank you so much for the review! I'm trying to keep all the aspects of my original character, while keeping her from being a Mary Sue as much as possible :D I hope to hear from you soon!

Guest (Sep 5, 2016): Thank you so much for the review! I hope that you haven't given up on the story. I'm looking forward to hearing from you again :D

Jarjaxle: Thank you so much for the long review! I loved it and read it a number of times :D
As for the questions, I know that Sora's sister is quite a cliché, but, I'm actually doing a challenge with this story by re-doing an old one into a better version. So, I'm trying to keep most of the aspects of the original OC.
As for Sora being evil… Well… We'll see :D
Don't worry about Suzuka being paired with Ikki, that was never my intention. Wait 'till she gets a bit more familiar with Agito xD Ikki's friendly with her, though. I'm not sure if I like his harem, btw. I like Ikki and Ringo together a bit too much hahahahhah
I look forward to hearing from you again :D

Once more, please vote on my poll if you want this story to be updated more often!