-Friday, April 24, 2009-

It was a beautiful morning today. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping happily in the trees and the cool spring breeze blew though the air, giving the skirts of passing cheerful schoolgirls a slight lift. It's so good that nature is a pervert!

Inside of a certain blue-haired boy's room though, there was only doom and gloom. Minato was still leaning against the wall, not having moved an inch since last night. He had things to think about. He... he just didn't know what to do anymore. There had to be a way to set things straight, but he was drawing a blank.

After pondering all night and a good part of the morning, he eventually left for school. He wanted to meet up with Hamuko and talk about what happened, how much she remembered, but she had already left by then. That wasn't a good sign at all. This is really bad...

-Gekkoukan High School-

Minato was out of luck at school too. He arrived just seconds before the teacher, so he didn't get a chance to talk to his sister, and as soon as classes were over, she was quick to leave. Ekoda specially going out of his way to stalk him wasn't helping either. Seriously, what the hell is this guys problem?!

As he had no Kendo practice that day, Minato decided to go relax a little on the roof. He needed to sort out his thoughts, everything was just a huge mess.

"Hey, whats up, Minato?" Ayame called out to him as soon as he closed his eyes. "I thought you'd be up here, you seemed to be the roof-sleeper kinda guy."

"Yeah, I like places like this. They're quiet." he mumbled. Thinking a little, he then surprised his 'girlfriend' with an unexpected question. "You free tomorrow? Wanna go out and do something?"

"Huh? W-wait, what? What's with you askin' me out all of a sudden? I thought you didn't really like the idea!" she seemed a little flustered.

"Well, I wasn't really against it, just surprised due to it being all sudden. I'm not really the dating type, but, might as well try, right? So, you wanna go?"

"Y-yeah, sure, why not? Where do ya wanna go?"

"Anywhere's fine. Maybe somewhere with good food? Or we can hit the arcade and just get a burger later?"

"Arcade and burger? Nice combo, we'll do that!"

Minato chuckled.

"Huh, what's so funny?"

"I just thought it was interesting how you seemed all flustered a second ago when I asked you out suddenly, but now you're back to your weirdly aggressive energetic self."

"W-what? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing. I kinda like that about you." he patted her head. "Well, I gotta go, need to take care of things. Later."

"H-hey, wait a sec!" she called after him, but he was already gone. "Damn, what was that all about?"

-Iwatodai Dormitory-

Finally arriving back to the dorms, Minato retreated once again to his room. He still needed a few moments to think over what was going on around him. Hako's words were tough and hit him hard, but he had to admit she was right. He just didn't know what to do. He just couldn't move on. He was too weak. And this case, it was his last connection to his parents. He couldn't abandon it now! He's trained his body and mind for ten long years just to solve this riddle! He had to do it, he just had to! And so he would! But first, he needs to make up with his sister. They were in this together after all!

Not wasting any more time, he literally launched out of his room and towards his sisters room, almost knocking the door out of it's hinges as he blasted in.

"Hamuko!"

"H-huh? W-what happened, Onii-chan? Are you... okay?" she looked on concerned as his brother seemed to have gotten a little too excited about something.

"Hamuko, about what happened last night..." he started.

"Last night?" she tilted her head questioningly. "Ah, yeah! Of course! I'm so sorry, Onii-chan! Hako went crazy all of a sudden and kinda sorta took over a little." she stuck her tongue out playfully. "All I remember is feeling sick and fainting, then waking up in my room."

"Oh... I see."

"Did, uh... something happen?" she seemed worried.

"...no, nothing. Everything's great." he patted her head and smiled a sour smile. "Everything's perfect." he then moved to leave, but turned around once again. "Hamuko?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll do it together. You and me, we'll solve this case. And I'll protect you no matter what, so don't worry. I promise."

"...yeah." she smiled sadly. "Yeah, we'll do it!"

Minato kept on punching his wall, hit after hit, his fist already slightly bloody. He clenched his teeth as he punched it once again, cracking it quite a bit. He then once again leaned on the wall like yesterday night and collapsed to the floor, tears filling his eyes.

It was all a lie. She remembered what happened. She knew very well that all he said was a bluff. He... he was weak. His weakness kept growing. His dark side, that which he is ashamed of and he regrets, that which he rejects. It's overpowering him. He just can't change. And now he just lost the only person whom he could call family. He was how he feared he would be... alone.

As the dark thoughts dwelled in his mind, he started feeling weak, and eventually gave into sleep...

-Unknown Location-

-Unknown Time-

Darkness. Darkness everywhere. That was all Minato could see. Nothing. It was... eerie. The place was pure despair. No sounds, no light, no nothing. Just him and the darkness. Forever...

In a desperate attempt to escape, Minato tried closing his eyes, waving his arms and legs, but it was all futile. The darkness remained, the loneliness stayed on.

"help..." he muttered. "Help me. Help me! SOMEONE HELP ME!" he cried out into the nothingness.

No response.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Minato's plea seemed to have been heard. All of a sudden, a pale green light sparkled in front of him and slowly enveloped the entire area. As he was finally able to see something, Minato was shocked to see that he was, in fact, on the Moonlight Bridge.

"Wha-..." he seemed frightened. "No, NO! Not here!" he fell to the ground terrified. "Please, not here..."

"Yes, here. Quite a memorable place, isn't it? So beautiful. The fresh night air, the wonderful scenery, the satisfying smell of death and despair..."

"W-who? Who's there?"

"This is were it happened, right? Now ten years ago, was it? You and your family, just chillin' and taking a night ride through this beautiful place, when all of a sudden BOOM! Destruction and death! They're both dead!"

"Wha-? No, stop it!" he angrily threatened the disembodied voice.

"Oh, but wait, no, no, no! That's not how it really happened! Was it? What about the creatures?"

" How do you..."

"Oh, I know! I know it all too much! That creature, that horrible monster! The thing you've kept secret from everyone, even your own sister! The sword! And the Guns! The chains! Oh, the rattling of the chains! The sound Death itself makes, huh? Who do you think it was?!"

"..."

"Oh, do you remember the last Full Moon? When you awakened your power? Wasn't there something very interesting that happened? Destroy? Destroy everything? Hehehe."

"No, it can't be. You're... who are you?!"

"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know?"

As the voice pronounced these words, Minato felt dizzy all of a sudden. Unable to stand, he fell down, his vision fading. Just before he lost consciousness, he took a look around and saw a figure approaching him. He couldn't get a glimpse of his face, but he did note two things: the Gekkoukan High School uniform, and the MP3 player hanging on his neck. Was he...?

-Saturday, April 25, 2009-

-Iwatodai Dormitory-

A beautiful morning once again. A gloomy and depressing room, Minato's room. A badly beaten hand. A freshly waken Minato. What a start...

After getting dressed and getting his hand fixed up, Minato met up with his sister, who seemed to be in good spirits now. Great, at least she's happy. That's most important.

"Hey, good morning! What's up?

"Oh, morning, Onii-chan! Didja sleep well?

"Well, could've been much better, but I'll live."

"Oh, well, glad you're okay! Let's have a fun day today!"she cheered throwing her arms into the air. "Got anything planned?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I got a date with Ayame."

And thus huge ruckus was born as Hamuko went:

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

That is, until Minato gave her a karate chop on the head.

"Ow!"

That wasn't the only reaction going on in the dorm. Yukari looked up worried from her breakfast, Junpei spit out his milk, Akihiko just looked at him, as if thinking 'brave man', and Mitsuru seemed a little confused as to why he would do such a thing.

"What?" Minato asked the group questioningly.

"Nothin'..." Junpei answered in name of everyone and they all returned to their own stuff. Weird. Ah well.

-After School-

That nightmare... what was it exactly? That voice... that figure... was it someone he knew? And the things he said... he knew everything, and more! The things only Minato knew. Those... monsters... were they...?

"Heeya, Minato! Hope I ain't late or anything!" Ayame jumped out the nearby window almost landing on him.

"Woah, hey! You really need to stop doing that! One day, I won't be able to dodge! Besides, I saw you panties again. You should really try to go with gray panties next time, I think they'd suit you."

"Hmm, well, if ya say so."she shrugged. "I don't have any of those color though. Hmm, we have time today, how bout we go buy one? Oh, and a bra to match! Hey, what's with that look?!"

"It's just that I was expecting you to strangle me for seeing your panties again."

"Nah, we're goin' out now, so you have permission."

"Oh, cool, I shall use that special permit later on, be sure. Also, I found it quite cute that even you get into girl mode when talking about certain stuff."

"Hey, I may be stronger than most guys in the city, but I'm still a girl after all!" she grinned. "Or, do you want me to prove it to you today?"

"I'll believe you for now, but I'll admit you've got me interested."

"Well then, let's go! We're gonna have a great time, you'll see!"

"Yeah."

And so the misadventure known as Minato's first true date began...

And is that Hamuko and Junpei hidden behind that tree over there...?!

It's all good guys, it's all good! The serious stuff is over, now we can have some romantic comedy moments and all! Yay!

Yeah, next chapter we're gonna have a few good laughs with a very interesting date, and then later, Tartarus Exploration, Go!

Tell me what you think and all that stuff. Drink plenty'o milk kids! Goodnight!

And mini-update! Written a day after I posted this chapter, my little dragons! I really can't make any promises with the next chapter, I wrote a lot cause I had inspiration, but I need a good two weeks of study time, cause my Bones Exam is coming up! For all who don't know and care in any way, I just started my first year of Uni! I'm a student of the honorable medical world, and anatomy courses have bone exams! Well, one at least. And I need to pass it! So, if I have time and inspiration, I shall give you some words, if not, expect good things to come in like two weeks. Until then, good luck and good fleas! Don't let the Durant's Bite or Crunch!