Long time no see. The exams have started and I've been pretty busy. I had four exams and that was only this week. There are also a lot of homework that needs to be done. I hope that all of you understand and aren't mad at me. I can't wait for summer vacation!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 12

It had been two weeks since Utau woke up and the doctor said that she was healing really fast, but still she still isn't allowed to go home. There are guards around her room all hours of the day. Her brother, Ikuto, came to visit her everyday after school and sometimes he would have candy for her, if her could sneak it past the guards. They had really strict rules.

Back at the academy, everything was pretty quiet. Nothing unusual had happened lately, except the missing student. Kuukai`s roommate Hiro, had mysteriously disappeared. Apart from that, everything else was normal or as normal as it could be.

Amu`s second class for the day had just ended and it was time for lunch. Ikuto waited for her outside the classroom so that they could ave lunch together.

"I need help with my homework." Amu said as they entered the school cafeteria. "Can you come over tonight?"

While Amu took a seat at one of the empty tables, Ikuto went to stand in line. He got one tray and filled it with enough food for both him and her.

"So you what do you need help with? Math?" Ikuto asked as he took as seat.

"How did you know?" Amu asked surprised.

"It's always math." Ikuto smirked. "Amu is not good with numbers."

Amu pouted and crossed her arms like a little child. It always amused Ikuto that in someways she was still so immature. He didn't want to make her anymore upset so he bit back his laugh and pushed the tray of food towards her. She was still a little mad at him for teasing her and didn't feel like eating. But he kept pushing the tray towards her so she picked up the apple and slowly begun eating it.

From across the room she spotted Nadeshiko sitting alone at the end of a long table, and eating her food in great hurry. When she noticed that Amu was staring at her, she quit eating and quickly left the cafeteria.

"She's avoiding me." Amu whispered.

"Who?" Ikuto wondered, who had just finished his slice of pizza.

"Nadeshiko." Amu said. "She's been acting really strange ever since our charas returned and haven't seen Temari outside her egg in a really long time."

"Have any idea of what's troubling her?"

"No." Amu answered in a sad tone. "She wont talk to me."

"Give her time. I'm sure she will tell you eventually." Ikuto comforted her. He too has noticed a change in Nadeshiko`s behavior and the best explanation he can come up with is that something most have happened to her chara while they were missing.

xXx

The buss ride took longer the he had expected and he feared that they would catch up with him before he could deliver the message.

Hiro nervously looked around the buss at the the other passengers to see if anyone was following him. Everyone there were strangers to him but he still couldn't shake of this feeling that someone was watching him. He could only hope that he reached the academy before they stopped him.

xXx

The rest of her classes for today had ended and, but before returning back to her dorm, Amu went to see if she could find Nadehiko and ask her what's wrong.

"Yo, Hinamori." A cheerful voice shouted.

Amu turned around to find a happy looking Kuukai running towards her. At least someone was feeling better. Ever since his old roommate, Hiro, mysteriously disappeared, Kuukai has been feeling really down. It was a strange sight to see him so depressed. The guy who was usually always cheerful hadn't smiled in days, until now.

"Look who's smiling again." Amu said when he reached her.

"Yeah, I know I've been acting kinda strange lately. But that ends today and you wanna know why?"

"Why?" Amu wondered.

"Because everything is going to be okay." Kuukai said. "I have a feeling that everything will work out."

"Exactly. We are all worried for nothing." Amu was more talking about Nadeshiko now then Hiro. It was okay if Nadeshiko needed some time to herself before she talked to Amu. Best friend are there for you no matter what. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

Kuukai`s smiling face immediately turned into an ugly frown. He groaned. "Why did you have to say that?"

Amu was surprised at his sudden change of mood. "Say what?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" he said in an poor imitation of Amu`s voice. "Now, before we know it, he will get killed and it will be all our fault."

"Calm down." Amu put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "This is not like you. I've never seen you like this."

Instead of answering her right away, Kuukai worriedly scratched the back of his head. "I-"

"Amu!"

Both of them turned to the source of the voice. Ran and her other two charas, plus Daichi, flew towards them. They were only about a feet away when all of them suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Amu wondered when they suspiciously looked around at the other students.

"I- There is a bad energy here." Ran answered. "But I can't see where it's coming from."

"Under us."

Everyone stopped and looked down at Miki, who strangely was lying down with her ear pressed to the the ground. All the other chara, and Kuukai, got down on the ground and did the same thing she was doing.

Amu nervously looked around and saw that several students had stopped to stare at them like they had tree heads. Either Kuukai didn't see them, or he just didn't mind because he continued with what he was doing.

"Have you lost your mind?" Ikuto grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. "What on earth do you think you are doing?"

"I-Ikuto." Amu was still very surprised whenever her cat-like boyfriend showed up out of thin air. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. W were supposed to meet, remember?" When Amu didn't show up her got worried and came to look for her.

"Sorry. I was looking for Nadeshiko and the I ran into Kuukia." Amu explained. She had completely forgotten that he was supposed to help her with he homework.

"And what does this have to do with him lying on the ground?" Ikuto wondered. The students who had stopped to watch them had already moved on.

"There is bad energy coming from underneath us." Ran explained.

"You mean like hell?" Ikuto guessed and tapped his foot on the ground to see if anything was really there.

"No! Of cousre not!" Ran yelled the pointed to the ground again. "Just... under us."

xXx

The bus had made it's final stop near the academy.

Hiro nervously stepped of the bus with one hand in his pocket. He looked around the see of there was anyone following him again. There were two old ladies sitting on a bench nearby, talking about their next card came. Not far from them, was a couple holding hands and kissing each other. Nothing seemed dangerous so he hurried to the front entrance of the school.

Just like he thought, the doors was locked but there was a tree near the front wall that looked easy to climb. He could climb up it and jump to the other side of the wall, and that's exactly what he did.

He landed on the other side with on his butt and probably got a bruise. The sun had already begun to fall and he needed to hurry before it got really dark. He'd be a too easy target then.

Without out wasting anymore time, Hiro jumped back up on his feet and turned around only to be meet by a sharp pain in his stomach.

Blood dripped down on clean grass. Before complete darkness took over, Hiro reached down in his pocket again. His numb body fell to the ground and was dragged away. What the attacher didn't see was that a little note had slipped out of Hiro`s hand and rolled onto the grass.

To be continued......

I hope that no one was disappointed with this chapter. I know that the longer you wait the better the chapter is supposed to be so I hope that this was all worth waiting for.

Please review!