A/N: This isn't up to my usual level of fluff. It's more like a "what if..." sort of story. I don't much like this chapter, and I don't have much to say. Oh, I will say this, you may notice that the spelling of Aegis' name changes from chapter to chapter. That's just because sometimes I forget which is the official one that they use in the game. If you didn't notice that...ignore that last sentence. Well, since I'm done talking about nothing, enjoy this not so great chapter and look forward to the "I" chapter entitled, RETURN TO FLUFF! (no, not really. Silly people. :D)
A big thank you to ToonyTwilight, YukaiYami, NeeNao, The Shining Moon, Deidara'sgirl19, jory014 and xAvaAdore who took the time and energy to comment on my last chapter. You guys are so very, very nice to me! ...It seems I get more reviews when I make you guys (almost) cry, need to remember that. :)
Home - the place in which one's domestic affections are centered
"Ken…please…we have to talk."
Minako looked at Ken's door and silently begged in her head for it to open. But she knew better; if Ken hadn't open the door the first couple of times she had asked he wasn't going to open it now. She took a shaky breath as she prepared to ask once again.
"Please…"
"Minako…it's time to go to school…"
Minako turned at the sound of the voice and saw Yukari standing at the end of the hall. Minako looked at the floor to avoid seeing the pain she was feeling mirrored in the other girl's eyes.
"I don't want to go…I can't act like nothing has happened…" Minako said quietly.
"I know…but you know it's not what he would have wanted. He most likely would have yelled at us for sulking," Yukari replied with a sad smile.
And you knew him so well… Minako thought bitterly for a moment before she caught herself. It wouldn't do her any good to get angry at Yukari. Minako bit back the bitter tears that were rising from the pit of her stomach. She knew Yukari was trying to cheer her up, but she wasn't ready for that yet.
"Alright…I'll go. Ken, we'll talk when I get back later…okay?" Minako said as she turned toward the still closed door.
Not really expecting a reply, Minako walked away from the door with Yukari not far in front of her. As she was walking away, Minako looked back at Ken's door one more time, hoping against all hope that something had changed.
The door remained closed.
"No words can express the sense of loss…"
Minako's eyes glazed over as the principal continued to drone on and on about the "terrible accident" that had befallen one of their own.
Every time she heard the word "accident" she felt her blood boil. That was all it was ever going to be in the eyes of the public. No one would ever know the truth. Minako clenched her fist tightly to stop the tears that threatened to come. She let out a quiet gasp of pain.
When she looked down at her hand to see what had hurt her, she felt her eyes begin to fill up with tears yet again. She didn't even remember grabbing it, yet there it was.
In her hand she held a small and simple key. It really was such a childish trinket and yet it meant so much to her. And even though he had given it to her, he now seemed determined to shut her out of his life.
It's just not fair, She thought to herself as she felt the tears begin to roll down her face, I've already lost a friend. Do I have to lose the person I love also?
"Hey…is that girl crying?"
"Dude, I think your right. Did she know the guy who died?"
"No way. He was an upperclassman, and he never showed up to class there's no way she would know him…unless they had a 'special' relationship."
"Really! Man, I always thought she was a nice girl. Never knew she was playing around like that."
Minako felt her face burn red in anger and embarrassment. Those boys didn't know anything! She wanted to open her mouth to defend herself, but her tears choked her words and she only felt her frustrations mount as the boys continued to talk about her.
"Shut the hell up! You don't know a freakin' thing!"
A murmur ran through the auditorium at the sudden outburst. All the students nearby turned curiously toward the sound of the voice. Junpei stood glaring menacingly at the boys who had been talking about Minako.
"Dude…what's your problem?" one of the boys asked as he looked up at Junpei.
"I'm not the one with the problem!" Junpei yelled back, "You're the bastards who are spreading shitty rumors about someone who just died and his friend!"
"Junpei, stop!" Yukari said as she practically dragged him back down into his seat, "Yelling at them isn't going to help anything."
"I know it won't" Junpei mumbled as he looked at the ground, "But it sure makes me feel a hell of a lot better."
After the teachers had managed to calm down the audience enough, the principal continue his droning speech. Minako gave Junpei a small, grateful smile.
'Thank you' She mouthed to him. He simply nodded and went back to staring at the ground.
For the rest of the assembly, the student body continued to murmur amongst themselves as everyone seemed more interested in the latest gossip than in the young man who had died. Minako just kept staring down at the key in her hand, blocking out the world around her and silently hoping for the school day to end.
She had to talk to Ken tonight. She didn't want to lose him too.
A heavy silence hung in the lounge as everyone tried to look at anything but another person's face. Eventually Mitsuru looked at everyone in turn and broke the silence that seemed to consume everything.
"You all know why we are here," She said as she looked down, "We need to decide what to do about Amada."
"He hasn't left his room since that night…" Minako said quietly as she continued to look at the key in her hand.
Mitsuru gave a slight nod of her head, "Yes. Aegis, can you please bring him here?"
"Understood," Aegis responded simply as she walked off.
The silence returned as each of the members of SEES struggled with their inner guilt. No one was quite ready to talk yet. Minako kept stealing glances at the stairs in order to see Ken as quickly as possible.
It wasn't long before Aegis came running back into the room.
"Allow me to report," She started in her characteristic emotionless voice, "Amada-san is not in his room!"
"What!" Minako said quickly as she stood up to face the other girl.
"There are signs that indicate the window was forced open," Aegis continued, completely unaffected by Minako's outburst.
Minako quickly turned and headed for the door.
"Wait! Where are you going Minako?" Yukari asked as she also stood up.
"Where do you think? I'm going to find him!" Minako practically yelled as she took a few more steps.
"Do you even have any idea where he is?"
"No, and I don't care. I have to find him. I'll search the whole island if I have to."
"I can understand how you feel, but it's not like it's a good idea to just search around blindly."
"Fuuka!" Minako said quickly as she turned on the other girl, "Tell me where he is! Use your powers to locate him or something!"
"Just stop…" Akihiko said, speaking up for the first time, "Let Ken do what he wants. Bringing him back won't change anything…we can't keep treating him like a child."
Minako felt her face heat in rage, "Being concerned for someone is treating them like a child? So what are you saying I should do? Should I just sit around and wait for him to come back! We were going to talk tonight! I need to talk to him! I just…need..." Minako's words were chocked off as tears filled her eyes yet again.
"Minako-chan…" Fuuka said quietly as she laid a hand on the other girl's shoulder.
"It's his choice to make. If we force him to come back and he just runs away again, that's only hurting him more. He's the only one who can decide how he lives his life…" Akihiko finished as he locked eyes with the crying girl in front of him.
Minako's shoulders shook as she continued to cry silently. She looked down and broke eye contact with Akihiko as she felt her heart turn cold in her chest. She quickly shook off Fuuka's hand as she ran upstairs and into her room.
She flopped down on the bed and shoved her face in her pillow to stifle her sobs. She knew he was right, it wouldn't do any good to force Ken to come back, but she didn't want to hear that.
"Dammit!" She yelled into the pillow as she continued to cry.
She wanted to run out and find the boy and just hug him and scold him for making her worry. She wanted to hold him and cry; cry for so many different reasons.
Minako's crying began to slowly subside as she calmed down. She kept her face buried in the pillow as she felt the emotional fatigue of the past few days catch up with her.
Ken…please, be safe… She thought as she drifted off to sleep.
Minako looked up nervously at the rapidly descending sun. She really didn't want to stay out too late, but she couldn't give up now.
As soon as school had ended, Minako had bolted out of the building and began to search for Ken. She didn't care what Akihiko said, she was worried and she couldn't sit idly by while Ken suffered.
Minako had scoured the entire town, but she had yet to find him. Of course, she had been avoiding the one area where she knew he would most likely be.
The alleyway.
She had stood near the movie theater for about ten minutes gathering her courage. She didn't want to face his death again so soon after it had happened. But she knew that she had to, for both her and Ken's sakes.
"Ouch!" Minako exclaimed quietly as she stubbed her toe on a box. Minako looked back up at the sky and saw to her dismay that the sun had set completely. The Dark Hour wouldn't come for a while, but she didn't want to be out at night.
And Ken spent the whole night by himself in God knows where… Minako thought as she continued to slowly advance down the pathway that lead to the back alley.
Minako stopped suddenly as she came to the area where the path widened to make a large room. She inhaled silently and steeled herself to look at it. She had to face the reality.
He was dead and he wasn't coming back.
She wasn't going to allow another person she cared about to die.
She took the last few steps into the alleyway and she felt her heart catch in her throat. There was Ken with his back turned to her. He apparently hadn't heard her approach.
"Ken…" She said softly as she drew closer.
Ken noticeably stiffened at the sound of the young girl's voice. He kept his back turned to Minako as he clenched his fist, "Minako-san…"
"Hey, what's with all the formality? You know you can just call me Minako."
"Minako-san…what are you doing here?"
Minako stopped her approach towards Ken as she absorbed the impact of what Ken was saying. He was pushing her away.
"I came to bring you home of course," Minako said with a sad smile.
"I don't have a home to go to…I'm alone…" Ken replied as he looked at the ground.
"What are you talking about? Your home is with everyone in SEES, we're all really worried about you. They're all waiting for you to come home."
Ken remained silent as he continued to stare at the ground. Minako walked up behind him and kneeled down next to him.
"Come on Ken, let's go home." She said as she held out her hand to him.
"…Why are you so nice to me?" Ken asked as his voice shook.
"Why are you bringing this up now? I've already told you why, it's because I lo-"
"Don't lie to me!" Ken shouted suddenly, "How could you love someone like me? I deceived all of you, used you all for my personal gain," Ken turned around to face the young girl, "I killed someone!
Minako saw the tears in Ken's eyes and the anguish on Ken's face and she felt her heart break, "Ken, you know that's not true…"
"Yes it is! I killed him! I should just join him! Everyone would be better with-"
SMACK!
Ken placed his hand on his stinging cheek as he looked up with surprise at the older girl. She was crying and shaking uncontrollably.
"You idiot! Do you think that losing another important person would make me happy? Do you think that I'll be happy if the person I love commits suicide? You were talking about how you remember all the happy days with your mother! You said you would stay with me forever! What, we're those just lies? Are you just throwing that away because you believe you're alone! If you're alone, then what am I doing here! Did you ever think that there might be people worried about you!" Minako yelled everything in a rush as anger coursed through her blood. She quickly turned and ran off, completely absorbed in her sadness and anger.
She kept running and running, not really sure where she was going. She didn't want to stop. Stopping meant she would have to think about everything that had happened; everything that she had just done and said. She couldn't take it back, no matter how much she wanted to.
"I'm worried about Ken-kun…" Fuuka said quietly as she continued to glance at the door.
Minako stiffened at Ken's name as she felt guilt rise in her chest. She had hit him and said a lot of things that she knew would hurt him. She looked down at the key in her hand, the object that represented all the feelings Ken had toward her, and she felt anger at herself flare once again.
Why couldn't I just have some self-control! Minako yelled at herself in her head.
"He's been gone for a day already…And Minako…" Yukari started, but then stopped when she looked over at the other girl who continued to stare at the ground with a pained expression on her face, "…Never mind."
"Yes…He has been gone for quite some time…" Mitsuru added.
"Do you…think he'll be coming home?" Yukari asked.
"He just has to! L-Let's look for him! I can use Lucia and-"
Fuuka was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Everyone in the lounge quickly turned to see who it was.
"Ken-kun!" Fuuka exclaimed as she stood up and rushed toward the door. Everyone quickly followed until Ken was surrounded. Minako looked up at him guiltily and stood outside the semi-circle, not quite sure how to approach Ken.
"We were so worried about you!" Yukari exclaimed.
"You were?" Ken asked as he looked from face to face. Minako felt her face flare red as she felt his eyes settle on her. She continued to stare at the ground, still unsure what Ken was thinking.
"Amada, will you be able to fight?" Mitsuru asked, cutting right to the heart of the situation.
"Yes," Ken replied as he continued to look at Minako. He wanted her to hear his answer also.
"Very well," Mitsuru said with a small smile.
"Alright everyone, time to give Ken some time to talk to our leader," Yukari said as she began to push everyone toward the stairs. Minako looked up abruptly with a horrified look on her face.
"What's the rush Yuka-tan? Ken just got home," Junpei said as Yukari began to shove him lightly.
"No excuses, they need to talk now. It's for the good of SEES," Yukari said with a small smile. Everyone looked from Minako to Yukari, clearly confused. Yukari glared at each of them till everyone complied and headed toward the stairs.
"You need to talk to him," Yukari whispered as she walked pass Minako, "You don't want to lose him right?"
Minako's eyes grew wide in surprise. Yukari had figured out the relationship she and Ken had tried so hard to hide. Yukari gave Minako a small smile before she followed after everyone else who had already gone upstairs.
Minako looked once more at the ground as she tried to figure the words to say to Ken. She had done something terribly stupid and she knew it could damage their relationship forever. What could she say to fix something as terrible as what she had done?
"Ken, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking and I-"
"Minako," Ken said, cutting her off, "I'm home."
Minako felt her eyes grow wide as she looked up at the young boy. He had a small, sad smile on his face, almost as if he feared her rejecting him.
She quickly walked over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Welcome home Ken…welcome home…"
