.:A few minutes before, Aki's POV:.

I tap my pencil on my desk as the teacher drones on about a subject I've already learned, and I feel it. A sharp pain in my heart that knocks the wind and thought out of me. I'm empty for a long 13 seconds; it reminds me of when my sister was ripped away from me.

I stand up abruptly as soon as I regain my breath. I don't even let the teacher tell me to sit back down and run out of the room faster than my body is supposed to go. I run through this damn big fucking school without stopping to read auras or plotting my steps.

No fucking time for that. I think as a spicy, bitter taste fills my mouth. Gotta move faster! I tell myself, running faster, and faster, until I get to where I need to be.

A girl with pearl white hair is falling forwards in what seems like slow motion. I don't need to take the time to look at her shoes for a hint of which twin she is, because the bitterness of the taste is getting thicker the closer I get to the ghost-haired girl.

I run over to her like lightning, and snatch the back of her jacket's collar. She stops falling, but a crystal blue tear continues on its path to the ground. I stare at the tear until it splatters on the ground, and Tori turns to hug me, by clutching my back and shoulders as hard as the tired girl can mange.

"AKI-CHAN!" She screams into my chest, and I wrap her up into a tight hug.

"Shh~ Shh~ Quiet little butterfly." I coo to her. I hum the beginning of My Song (A/N, from Angel Beats) to her softly and she quiets her crying to medium-loud sobs.

"C-c-cori-o-o-oneec-c-chan!" She barely gets out between heaving sobs.

I snap to attention and the song get's stuck in my throat. "What happened? Nevermind, yes or no questions only." I clear my throat and begin "Is it bad?" She nods. "Is she gone?" Nod. "Did she go that way?" Nod. "Are you okay?" She shakes her head and sobs like freaking crazy. "I'm going to leave you here, and you're gonna sit right over there, on that bench." I command, pointing to a stone bench that should curl up on. "Got it?" She nods furiously and retreats to the bench.

I sit down on the ground and take off my shoes and socks; I throw them towards Tori, who's currently sobbing in a ball shape. I then take off my jacket and tie, so I only have my white shirt and my black shorts. I don't waste anymore time, I run faster than ever before in the direction that makes the taste even more spicy.

.:And hour later, Aki's POV:.

My mouth, throat and heart are burning like crazy now; so I must be getting close. Tears well up in my eyes but I refuse to let them drop.

Then an overwhelming amount of heat blasts through me when I pass an alley. I see a gang of men surrounding a girl… she's giving off such a hot red energy I'm surprised it doesn't burn them. Her hair is the most brilliant shade of pearl and I catch the ever-darkening color of her indigo eyes as they glare at them.

Then I see something that chills me past the heat of Cori's anger, past the brightness of my aura, past even the wall of bitterness that encases my heart.

Gun.

I react.

.:That moment, Cori's POV:.

A fucking vigilantly. A motherfucking assassin. I tell you, she's a goddamn demon.

A flash of golden hair and lightning-green eyes swoops over as I'm trying to get killed. Each of the eight men in front of me has a weapon; only two of those weapons are guns.

When she comes, those men, they don't stand a chance. She flies in with a kick to one of the guys guns, and grabs the other as she flips backwards off the mans arm. Both guns clatter to the ground and she picks them up, takes out the magazines and throws them against the brick wall behind me so hard they break on contact. She faces them, fearlessly standing in front of me.

How… How can she be so brave? I ask myself silently.

A man comes at her, swinging a bat towards her head. She grabs it with one and hand and grips it so hard I can see it's metal bending under the strength. She then flips the man over her shoulder and into a man wielding a knife.

A man with a knife comes running towards her from the right, a man with a lead pipe from the left, and when they get close enough she jumps into the air and they run into each other.

Then two that used to have guns and two that have knives all come running at her again. She spins around on one foot and kicks in a full circle so that each of the men is hit dead in the mouth.

It's a one hit K.O.! I think in shock, then she turns and looks at me, with those lime-green eyes blazing like suns.

And she walks up to me, so that we're chest-to-chest, and she's pressed me all the way against the wall. She glares so hard into my eyes I think I've frozen over and then burned up.

"You fucking idiot." She says in a voice I've never heard before. "You damn moron! What the fucking hell do you think you're doing you ignorant little jackass?" She grabs my face with one hand and pulls my head closer to hers until our noses touch. "Who in the damn world gave you the fucking permission to be this bat shit crazy, DAMMIT!" She roars. "I'm gonna walk you're skinny ass back to school, and you and Tori are gonna make-up you fucking got it?" She screams.

My heart is beating four times faster than humanly possible; I've never seen Aki so pissed off. I nod quickly, so our noses rub, and then her eyes turn more emerald, though still a scary shad of neon-ish green.

"I was so worried." She says in her normal, comforting voice. She hugs me tight and I feel tears starting to run down my cheeks.

"Aki-chan!" I sob and press my face to her chest.