Kaori was absentmindedly tapping her pencil on the edge of her math book as she gazed out of the window. She smiled to herself and glanced across the room to where Hiroto was sat. He quickly turned away when she looked! He had been watching her again. Kaori saw the bandage on his hand and felt a pang of guilt. It was her fault; he had been defending her. She should've been defending herself; it wasn't like she wasn't capable of it.

"Miss Pedrosa!" snapped her teacher.

Kaori jumped and looked around.

"You were day dreaming in my lesson again!" She snapped.

Kaori sighed.

"I'm sorry miss," Said Kaori, "But … what's the point?"

There was a gasp around the classroom as some of the girls began to giggle.

"Excuse me?" Snapped the teacher.

"Well, when are we ever actually going to use this in life unless we become math teachers?" Said Kaori, "And who in here really wants to do that?"

The teacher glared down at her. Kaori rolled her eyes and carried of tapping her pencil. The teacher grabbed it off her and threw it into the bin from across the room. Kaori glared up at her.

Kaori stood up and grabbed her bag.

"You can take simultaneous equations," She said, "And shove them up your ass! I'm outta here!"

"That's detention!" Snapped the teacher.

"You can shove that up there as well," Said Kaori, "Lets face it, you've got room in an arse that size."

The teacher grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the classroom.


Within a matter of minutes she was outside the head teacher's office. The head teacher was from England. She was tall and very thin with blonde hair most people were convinced was a wig. It was these features combined with her bad taste in clothes that had landed her with the nickname 'Skeletal Barbie'. Her name was Mrs Mirris.

Kaori's parents came around the corner. Mrs Mirris had obviously called them.

"Kaori!" Snapped her father, "What happened?"

Kaori didn't answer and the head teacher came out.

"Mr and Mrs Pedrosa I presume?" She asked.

"Yes," Said Miko Pedrosa.

"Please come in, you too Kaori," Said Mrs Mirris.

They walked in and sat in the three seats in front of the teacher's desk.

"I'm afraid that Kaori has displayed an act of awful behaviour very much unlike her," Said Mrs Mirris, "We believe that she wasn't paying attention in her maths lesson. The teacher asked her to pay attention, she rudely answered back and then told the teacher that she could forcibly put the lesson material up her anal canal and then told her to do the same with the detention that the teacher tried to give her."

Her father gave a strong cough that sounded as though it was disguising a laugh. Miko glared at him.

"Actually," said Kaori, "I asked her what we would need the lesson material for in real life, she grabbed my pencil and threw it across the room, then I told her to forcibly put it up her arse."

"But this is not the first report of bad behaviour we've had today about you today, miss Pedrosa." Said Miss Mirris.

"What?" Asked Kaori.

Miss Mirris spoke for a moment on the intercom and a moment later; Hiroto walked in followed by a stern woman Kaori presumed was his mother.

"Kujirada was administered to hospital with a broken nose earlier today. He claims that it was you and Hiroto Nosaka who attacked him so brutally." Said Miss Mirris.

"That was me!" Said Hiroto, "Kaori never touched him."

"Hiroto!" snapped his mother.

"He only did it because Kujirada was sexually harassing me!" Said Kaori.

"Excuse me?" Asked Miss Mirris.

"Kaori!" Said her mother, surprised.

"It's true, Mrs Pedrosa." Said Hiroto.

"Start from the beginning," Said Miss Mirris.

"Well," Said Kaori, "He yelled a rude comment at me from across the playground, he came over, he wouldn't leave me alone (even after I asked him to) Hiroto came around the corner, saw what was going on, told him to leave me alone. He refused. He made another rude comment, Hiroto hit him, and he ran away crying like a baby."

There was a moment's silence.

"Okay so the last bit wasn't exactly the wisest thing to say in this situation right?" Said Kaori.

"I don't think it's doing us any favours," Said Hiroto.

"One hit and you broke his nose?" Asked Miss Mirris.

"Hey, it took its toll on my hand as well," Said Hiroto, holding up his bandaged hand, "Or would you have preferred that I walked away and left her alone with him and his friends?"

"It would have been better if you'd both come and gotten a teacher," said Miss Mirris.

"No one was on duty on the playground," said Kaori, "If they had been, we would've done."

Miko looked up.

"Excuse me, but we have been assured that there is a teacher on duty at all times. Why was today an exception?" She asked harshly.

"Well, the weather was rather …" Began Miss Mirris.

"You mean," began Hiroto's mother, "that this girl was being harassed by another student and there was no teacher to stop it because it is cold?"

"Well, it was probably just …" Began Miss Mirris.

"And then you try to punish this young man for defending our daughter where your staff failed to do so?" Asked Miko.

"I, ah …" Began Miss Mirris again.

Kaori's father leant down next to the two teenagers.

"You two might want to wait outside, this could get ugly." He said.


Kaori and Hiroto stood up and walked out of the office. The voices from inside became suddenly louder.

"I wonder if they'll make her cry," Said Hiroto.

Kaori laughed.

"I hope so, but I'll probably still get detention for telling our math teacher to 'forcibly put our lesson material and her detention up her anal canal'." Said Kaori.

"I think our mothers might end up becoming permanent friends after this," Said Hiroto.

They laughed and sat down.

"That jerk, it was his fault he got smacked in the face!" Said Kaori.

Hiroto laughed and looked round at her.

"You want to do something this weekend?" He asked.

Kaori looked at him.

"I mean just as friends!" He said quickly.

"Sure," Said Kaori.


Kaori didn't get out of the detention given to her by her maths teacher, but as Hiroto had predicted, Miko Pedrosa and Hiroto's mother had gone for coffee after the confrontation of Miss Mirris to have a long discussion about the poor quality of the school's security. Her dad had gone home and said he'd come to pick her up after her detention to talk to her.

While in detention, Kaori pulled out the diary and began to read again.


As Kimiko sipped her tea, she began to get feeling back in her legs. She wriggled her toes in her trainers and sighed, she still had a long way to go before she could fight Jack and escape and she got the impression that he suspected her plan. (He had chained her foot to the bedpost).

Jack sat in a chair beside the bed and sipped him own tea.

"Well, this is totally boring," Said Kimiko.

"We could always start arguing, but I'll just win again." Said Jack.

"How about we just try and talk normally?" Said Kimiko.

"Hey! I try, but you always come out with something sarcastic and that starts an argument and I always win," He stopped, "More or less like now."

He took another sip of his tea.

"What would we talk about anyway?" He asked.

"Why you love me?" Suggested Kimiko.

Jack spluttered into his tea.

"Where the hell did that come from?" He asked.

"I'm curious." Said Kimiko, giving a little pout.

"I'm not telling you!" Said Jack.

"Oh come on, please?" Said Kimiko, pouting a little more.

Jack tried to avoid looking at her and then glanced at her. He groaned, ashamed of himself.

"Alright, just stop with the puppy-dog pout!" He said.

Kimiko smiled, satisfied and sat up straight, paying attention.

"The reason I love you … well, you're funny and smart and you like really cool stuff. You do little pictures on your hand held computer and you do martial arts. Plus you're really cute and …I'm not entirely sure the exact reason." He said.

"Don't call me cute," Said Kimiko.

"You asked!" Said Jack.

Kimiko sighed.

"Why do you love Raimundo?" He asked.

"More or less the same reasons you just said," He laughed, "except I'd describe him a hot not cute!"

"Well, I'm not one to judge, but if I ever turned gay, he's probably my first choice," Said Jack, "I approve."

Kimiko laughed.

"He's also very determined to look after you," Said Jack, "He wasn't going to let you fight me, was he?"

"No," Said Kimiko, "He wasn't."

Jack looked at her; she was looking at the cup in her hands and smiling slightly.

"You are going to dismantle your room of crazy, right?" she said, looking up quickly.

"Might do," said Jack.

"You've got the real thing here, why do you want that room?" Kimiko shifted uncomfortably, "It's creepy."

"Yeah, but you're not going to be here forever if you can help it, right?" Said Jack.

"Naturally," said Kimiko.

"Well, it might be the only way I'll ever see you again." Said Jack.

"Oh please, hunting Shen-Gong-Wu just wouldn't be the same without you getting in our way all the time." Said Kimiko.

"Yeah, I guess," Said Jack, "but try being the one at the receiving end of one of your punches."

"Well yours aren't exactly cushiony soft," Said Kimiko, "I've still got a bump on my head from the last one!"

"I expect that's adding to the allergic effect of the drug." Said Jack.

"Don't get me started on the drugs again!" Said Kimiko.

They both laughed.

"You see, this is fun; the not arguing!" Said Kimiko.

"You think?" Said Jack.

"We've still got a long way to go before we can start a civilised conversation," Said Kimiko, "And unless you undo these chains it looks like we've got a while to work on that."

"I'm not used to doing 'civilised' conversation," Said Jack.

Kimiko glanced at him.

"What made you turn evil … ish?" She asked.

"I don't know," Said Jack, "I just felt like taking over the world I guess. I've been picked on more or less all my life so taking over the world seemed like the perfect way to get back at everyone, but then you lot got in the way."

"Sorry for protecting our home," Said Kimiko sarcastically.

"You're forgiven." Said Jack, standing up.

He took Kimiko's cup and walked out of the room. When he came back, he sat in the chair again watched Kimiko flicking the hair out of her eyes.

"So this is your room?" She asked.

"Yeah," Said Jack, shrugging.

"Kinda dull," Said Kimiko, looking at the black walls and carpet. On the shelves were a variety of pieces of machinery and a few comic-book action figures.

"I only moved in here recently, didn't have much time to decorate," Said Jack defensively.

"Why were you picked on?" Asked Kimiko, returning to their previous conversation.

"I don't know," Said Jack.

"I think it's the eyeliner," Said Kimiko.

"I never used to do the weirdo demented half-Goth look." Said Jack.

"Maybe it's because you scream like a girl." Suggested Kimiko.

"Okay, this conversation is getting old fast!" Jack replied warningly.

"Because you cry when people step on your feet!" Said Kimiko.

"I don't cry!" Jack thought for a moment, "anymore."

"It's great that you're so in touch with your feelings … you're just a little too in touch." Said Kimiko.

"Will you stop?" Asked Jack.


"Miss Pedrosa," Said the teacher at the front of the classroom, "You may leave."

Kaori got up and grabbed her bag. She walked across the classroom and went outside. Once out of the school gates she spotted her dad's car and ran over. She got in the front seat and her dad pulled away from the curb.

"You shouldn't have to guess why I want to talk to you," Said her dad.

"Listen, I'm sorry mouthed off to the teacher, but I was stressed …" Began Kaori.

"It's not that," Said her dad, "We're used to your attitude, you just don't normally show it to your teachers."

He winked at her and she smiled.

"No, what I want to talk about is the diary." He said.

"Diary?" Asked Kaori.

"Don't play dumb, you've got the diary out of the attic right?" He said.

"Well … I was looking for my calculator and it looked interesting. I just wanted to check it out." Said Kaori.

"You might read some things in there that you won't like!" Said her dad, "I just want to protect you."

"From what? Jack Spicer?" Asked Kaori, before smiling slightly, "Or the mighty dragon of the wind."

He dad almost swerved off the road.

"You figured it out?" He asked.

"Of course Raimundo, I'm a smart person!" Said Kaori.

"Well what else have you figured out from that thing?" He asked.

"I don't know," Said Kaori, "there are a few things I've wanted to ask you …"

"That depends on what they are." Said her dad.

Kaori took a breath.

"Is the Clay in this book Uncle Clay?" She asked.

"Yes," Said her dad.

"And the person he's looking after in America is Omi?" Guess Kaori.

"Yes," Said her dad.

"What happened to Kimiko?" She asked.

"How far have you gotten?" Asked her dad.

"Kimiko's locked up in Jack's hideout, she passed out from the drugs and they've been arguing a bit." She sighed, "Jack told her that he loved her."

Raimundo sighed sadly.

"Did you love Kimiko?" Kaori asked.

"Still do," He said.

"What about mum?" Asked Kaori.

"Well, I'm married to your mother so obviously I love her," He said.

"Do you love her more than Kimiko?" Asked Kaori.

"I'd say about the same," Said her dad.

"So if it was choice between Kimiko and mum?" Asked Kaori.

"It would never come to that," Said Raimundo, "I love your mother with all my heart. And I love you."

Kaori smiled.

"What did happen to Kimiko?" She asked, "Did she stay with Jack?"

"I used to wonder that, but no, the simple answer is she got married." Said Raimundo.

"Do I know her?" Asked Kaori.

"You do, but you don't know it." Said Raimundo.

"What, someone I met when I was tiny or something?" Asked Kaori.

"Something like that." Said Raimundo.

"What about Jack?" Asked Kaori

"He left a little reminder and disappeared," said Raimundo "the last I heard he was still in china somewhere."

As they pulled into their driveway and the car stopped. Raimundo turned to Kaori.

"Kaori, I'm not going to tell you to stop reading the diary, but I think it would be for the best," He said, his green eyes set on hers.

Kaori blinked her red eyes and sighed.

"I don't think it'll do me any harm. I just need to find out what happened to Kimiko." Said Kaori.


(A/N) I hope you like this. 6

Tell me what you think. Lots of luv, Becky.