A/N: I am not dead and neither is this story. Thanks to all the people who followed and considered it worth a favourite. Competitive exams and getting into a college drain you out and I suffered a huge writer's block on this portion. So sorry if this chapter seems to be written in haste. Also, since I don't proof-read my fics, I'll be glad to have someone do it for me. Any beta-readers out there? Please?

Oh, and all that I said about the story being set in December, let's forget that. I'm working on it.

Chapter 3

Firsts

Cold and unfamiliar the surroundings were but the promise of an unknown warmth kept him still. He wanted to yank away from the stiffness that gripped him so relentlessly but couldn't. Cold. Unfamiliar. And now suffocating. His senses gagged. A sleep he would have loved on any other day but not with such a disturbing emptiness.

Where...

His body jolted at the slight new sensation of touch against his neck and the edge of his jaw.

What is...

A whiff of her gentle and warm breath woke him up from his sleep. Two dark orbs-the darkest he had seen yet lively-gazed at his self, unmoved.

So close...

Then, something happened. The calm in her eyes is shaken and she tries to leave.

No.

She moves away from him, flustered.

Not this time.

She stands still, her right arm outstretched as he holds her by her wrists. But he couldn't feel her skin. Neither did she utter a word.

She just smiled.

Three weeks. Or maybe more. He might have lost count. Or maybe less and he was just over-reacting. But why overreact over a person he didn't know too well? One's whose face was all he knew and all that he wished to see, even though she barely smiled. Or looked up and confront him.

Maybe he should have never opened his eyes.

It had been about three weeks since the last time he had seen her. The first time he just let it go but when she didn't turn up the next week it made him question whether he was to be blamed. The third time impatience followed. Maybe she never wanted to be noticed. The only good that came out of the whole thing was a confirmation that she DID know about his presence.

Maybe he was overreacting after all.

"Uh, King?"

Mikoto opened an eye to look at the ever-so-peppy blonde man leaning over him, hands behind his back and an animated emoticon smile on his face.

"What?"

"Why so serious? Something wrong?" Totsuka asked, his head shaking in tune with every word that came out his mouth.

Mikoto stared at the young blonde, his expression of utter boredom plaguing him to death still intact, as if challenging the latter to amuse him if he could.

"You've been quite tense lately," the bartender spoke from behind the counter," and it's rare that something bothers you and it's not the Blue King."

"Oh! It's not him? Then who could it be?" Totsuka scratched the back of his head just as animatedly as the rest of his act, pretending to figure out something but not getting quite close to it.

Izumo smiled, wiping the counter clean while secretly hoping that Totsuka's plan may work. He glanced at Anna who was sipping quietly on her apple juice, waiting for Mikoto's reaction.

"Anna-chan," the blonde man turned to the said girl, "do you know what's wrong with our king?"

She looked up at his face, then at Mikoto, back to Totsuka and resumed with finishing her drink.

"Ah, even Anna-chan couldn't help! Hmm, this must be serious-"

"Let's go outside."

All three men looked at the tiny voice that came from the girl. She kept the empty juice carton on the counter and slightly bent to thank Izumo. Jumping off her seat, she made her way towards the crimson-haired man and waited for a response.

Mikoto pushed himself off the couch, grabbed his black jacket and went for the door with Anna following him.

"Well," Izumo started, "doesn't look like your plan to get him all flustered worked. "

"Never mind," Totsuka grinned, "I'll get him someday."

*'w'*

They walked without the slightest idea as to where they were headed. This was the exact situation they would be in every time Mikoto decided to take Anna out for a walk. To anyone else, it would be normal – walking around to get a breath of air. But Mikoto knew well that Anna had her plans. Or else why would the little strain take the pain of going out in the cold for no reason?

Blowing a puff of smoke the red king looked around him. It was close to eight in the evening and the dark sky with specks of clouds here and there looked pretty calm, a sharp contrast to the lights on the ground around him and the liveliness of the people that filled the streets. Dark the sky was, but not as dark as that shade of her eyes…

The gentle look she carried, calm – almost unconcerned…

Mikoto breathed in the cold air along with the cigarette smoke, still looking up.

The dark shade of her eyes, dark yet so bright…

He looked at the people passing him by, some of them scared while the others carry on.

But then she never came…

"Mikoto?"

The said man stopped in his tracks, face lined with irritation over something he couldn't figure out.

Why the heck do I care so much?

"Mikoto?"

The red-haired man looked down impatiently at the little girl who simply pointed in a direction. Mikoto gaped at it for two seconds before Anna started tugging at his sleeve.

The train station.

He threw his cigarette on the pavement, crushing it beneath the heel of his shoe before crossing the road and getting into the station.

*'w'*

They got into the first train that came along. Instead of just walking over to the platform Mikoto chose to stand at a specific spot as Anna observed him checking around. The coach they got into was rather quiet and Mikoto liked that. He threw a glance at the seat where he expected to see the girl but turned away on seeing a man sleeping and chose to sit on a random seat. This wasn't the routine time or the day and he couldn't recognize any of the faces from before. Anna hopped on and turned around standing on her knees looking at the shimmering lights outside with her marbles. The red king slumped back hoping to take some rest.

He heard the voice of a man hurrying over to the door, cursing and his voice was replaced by a high-pitched female child's. He could tell she was playing around and talking all sorts of things kids do but it was somehow quite annoying, in a way that he didn't like.

"What are you looking at, old man?"

Silence followed as many eyes darted in the direction. Three boys, probably high school students, stood grinning maliciously at a man sitting diagonally opposite to him. Two of them were tall but the comment was passed by the third, short and a face that seemingly resembled a rat's.

"You see, these two are gonna knock your teeth out if you mess with us," he smirked as the other two rubbed their hands as if itching for a fight. As if the day couldn't have been more irritating. It would have taken him less than second to shut their mouth and have them running for their lives but since they hadn't done anything so bad, maybe he would just wait…

"Oooh, look here boys…" the trio scooted to their left. One of them whistled.

"Hey pretty girl, you look lonely," asked the tall black haired one, "Wanna go out with me?"

The girl looked up from her PDA, threw a disinterested look and went back to her work. This enraged the guy who slammed his fist on the window above her head.

"I'm being nice to you so you better behave!"

She raised an eyebrow and returned to her PDA, not shred of care for the situation.

Mikoto heard the people in from him speaking of how bold this girl was. Well, maybe he wouldn't have to do lot.

"What's with that ugly stuffed rabbit you got there?"

Amber eyes shot open at those words. Ugly. Stuffed. Rabbit. Kamiko.

He sat up straight from his position and glared at the three boys and saw her sitting peacefully reading something on her little gadget. She wore her signature (that's what he called it) white frilled shirt with long puffed sleeves and knee-length black skirt and a pair of glasses. A little girl sat next to her looking at the commotion.

"Oh you're gonna pay for this!" with this one of the boys started in her direction. She took off her glasses and handed it to the girl sitting next to her along with the PDA. Before Mikoto could stand and throw ball of flame towards the retards Kamiko pulled up her legs, knees reaching just below her neck and kicked the guy with both her feet slamming into his stomach. The kick didn't look so powerful but the impact caused him fly towards the other end and crash into the window. He tried to pick himself up amidst the surprised gaze of his comrades and the eyes of all the people in the coach and the adjacent ones peering in to look at them, feeling embarrassed, more so when he glanced at the girl who simply crossed her legs and eyes staring as if challenging him to try again.

"You bitch!" the other brown haired jock went for a punch. Kamiko grabbed the strap of her sling lying next to her. Mikoto was starting to build up his aura for an attack when Anna stopped him. "She will be fine."

"Get down," the black haired girl said. The little girl beside her lay flat on the seat as the bag flew over head and hit the second one right on the head, the sound of whatever was inside the bag banging to his skull loud enough to make the kid next to her wince. Before the bag could make a full circle Kamiko gave it a small tug and caught it in her arm, placing it next to her.

The last of the trio stood shivering. He tried to look dangerous but on seeing his two friends fail and realizing that he had no chance,, still thought of giving it a go. The crowd around them went silent as the boy stuttered.

"You wanna try something too, limp dick?"

All eyes were now on the short haired girl, who looked to be no more than eight, but her language could have gagged the ones twice her age. Kamiko looked shocked. Mikoto raised an eyebrow while Anna kept looking.

The doors opened and the lad (flustered) picked up his friends with a strength not expected from him and ran out. A few people started whispering and Mikoto guessed that it wasn't about her beating up the idiots.

The girl peeked up and looked at Kamiko who turned her head to the other side. She puffed up her cheeks and turned to look at the crowd behind her.

"What? Never seen a dwarf before?" the kid yelled, grabbing the bunny.

At this everyone scrambled back for their seats, most out of fear for the kid talked rather furiously.

"We are getting off on the next station," she said and Kamiko gave a slight nod.

The red king sat down confused at the events that unfolded in front of his eyes. The girl he thought was just a quiet and little unsocial being just beat up two retards effortlessly. And her companion raised a good few doubts in him. She was seventeen which made her and those two boys Yata and Fushimi of the same age group, but far different from anyone else, including himself at that age.

As if she wasn't a mysterious character before.

At the announcement of the next station, the little girl hopped off her seat and waited for Kamiko to get up. At the same time Anna tugged at the sleeve of Mikoto's jacket. "Let's go."

Outside the train the black haired girl had just walked four steps when her right leg shook and she fell to her side. Immediately two arms appeared and caught her from behind. She looked and found herself looking into two golden orbs.

"It's bleeding," Mikoto said, looking at her ankle. She had it wrapped in a bandage that looked pretty much like a sock. Blinking, Kamiko looked in the same direction and bit her lip at the sight of the stained cloth.

She tried to stand up while taking support from Mikoto's arm, wincing at her injury.

"Thank you."

It wasn't the voice which caught him surprise, though it was the first time he had heard her speak. Even though it made her sound like some princess, fragile and sweet, a strong contrast to the fight she put up before.

She smiled, lightening up her face. And for some godforsaken reason it held him at his position.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked.

"I've had worse," she replied, her eyes not leaving his.

"Why weren't you coming?" the red king asked with an expression saying not-that-I-really-care-just-asking. Kamiko looked back at him and thought for a while before answering.

"Someone offered to drop me," she replied. "Though I would have preferred not."

The commotion surrounding them didn't seem to affect them. People walked by, the chattering, laughing, the noise, but nothing seemed to change the way her eyes gleamed. Her face gave away nothing more than intended, expressions stoic but soft. And she was still smiling, slightly.

She moved a foot back and winced at the sudden jolt of pain that coursed through her leg. Her head fell at the sensation, biting her lower lip.

"Tsk."

Kamiko popped an eye open to see Mikoto standing inches away from her. He placed her arm over his shoulder and lifted her up slightly.

"You don't need to," snapped Kamiko.

"I didn't ask you," came the reply, surprised at the sudden change in her mood.

He walked her to the exit, the two girls trailing after them. With every step, Mikoto could sense her discomfort increasing and so decided to let go.

She didn't look up to him just stared into the street which bustled with people.

"Where to now?"

"I'll get a cab."

The red kind looked away taking a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Thank you, again."

"Hmm."

Feeling that the conversation had ended, Kamiko waved at the taxi coming their way and motioned to the girl with her to get in.

"Finally!" the latter cried, "You two are the worst people at communication."

"Kiku!"

The said girl giggled and went for the door. The dark haired girl bowed and hurried into the cab, her cheeks gaining a light shade of pink.

The other two walked towards the bar. Blowing a puff of smoke into the air, Mikoto ran a hand through his hair.

"What a confusing girl…" he said, gazing into the night sky.

"And the strain."

*'w'*

She let out a huge sigh, startling her companion.

"You were holding it all this time?" Kiku asked.

Kamiko tilted her head. "Was I?"

A/N: If only you knew the trouble I had getting this one out. And I'm finally done.

My sincere apologies if this chapter wasn't so great. I promise to do better next time. I'm learning and any type of suggestion/constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Now, how about a review?