I'm not really good with writing KanoKido, even though I love them. I'm sorry if this is OOC anywhere, I just can't grasp their personalities sometimes. ;w; Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the story!

We realized what had happened before the fire alarms rang.

Smoke filled the air. I coughed, trying to get that disgusting smoke out of my lungs. We had English, and Seto and Momo were in my class. We covered our noses and mouths so that we didn't breathe in the smoke, and we lined up at the back of the room, just as we always did during fire drills. The only difference was that this was not a drill; it was a real fire.

We soon got outside onto the field, and we quickly went to find the rest of our gang. Aya-nee was with them as well, thank god.

"Oh my god, I can't believe there was a fucking fire!" said Momo. "I always thought that fire drills were useless and that our school would never catch on fire!"

"Obviously not anymore." said Hibiya dryly. Ene sighed.

"What is this..." she muttered. "I should have stayed home." Actor nodded in agreement. I looked around, suddenly realizing that we were one member short from our full group. There were ten of us gathered together right now, and since Aya-nee was with us, we were supposed to be a group of eleven. My eyes widened.

"...Where's Kido?" I asked. Everyone looked around and realized that she wasn't with us.

"I thought she was with you, Kano!" said Seto.

"You know I didn't have class with her!" I said. "I was with you guys the whole time!" My eyes widened. Could it be...

She was still inside the fire?!

"Hey, Kano, where are you going?!" shouted Shintaro the minute I started running towards the building.

"There's still a fire in the building!" said Marry, sounding extremely worried.

"I'm sure Kido will manage in there-" I cut Hibiya's words off.

"Bullshit! How could she ever be fine, she almost fucking died in a fire once!" I yelled, running back into the building, leaving the gang confused and shocked.

I ran back to the building as fast as I could. Oh, I ran as if my life depended on it. Well, it kind of did. Kido must be really scared. This fire must have brought up memories from a long time ago.

"Kido!" I called, running onto the third floor, which was where the science labs were. Kido's last class was science, so I figured I would start the search there.

I found her sitting on the ground, with the fire burning around her. Her hair was undone, and she was hugging her knees to her chest. There were also burns on her clothes, and on her hands. Her hoodie was placed beside her.

"Kido!" I yelled through the fire. She looked up at me, and my eyes widened. Her eyes were full of tears, and she seemed as though she would break any moment.

"Shuuya..." she choked out. That was the first time she had called me by my first name in many years. My heart twisted in sadness and anger.

"Come out!" I said. "We're all waiting for you outside. Fire trucks are coming, it'll be fine!" I said. Her gaze turned to her right leg.

"My ankle... It's sprained..." she said. "Just go already, Shuuya. I'm destined to disappear from this world in a fire." The whole world seemed to stop as she said this sentence.

"W-What are you talking about?" I asked. Because of my surprise, I stuttered and I started shaking.

"The fire started here, in this lab. When we were lining up, nobody realized I wasn't there. I was stuck here alone, in the fire. Fire had let me live for an extra twelve years now. It spared my life for so long, and now it has come back to take what it should have had." she said. She looked away and closed her eyes, waiting for me to leave her. I stood there, looking at the Kido that looked so vulnerable. I gritted my teeth. This was no longer Leader Kido, "danchou" of the Blindfold Gang. This was Tsubomi Kido, an ordinary girl who was just like any other.

The same Tsubomi Kido I had been in love with for such a long time.

"You idiot!" I couldn't help yelling. I walked into the science lab, ignoring the flames that danced around me and ate at my pant legs. "Did you think I'd just leave you here to die?! Are you crazy?! You're not dying anytime soon!"

"S-Shuuya, what are you doing?!" shouted Kido.

"I'm saving you!" I said. I reached her and I hoisted her up onto my back despite her protests and the sweat that trickled down my neck due to the heat. I grabbed her hoodie and I quickly ran out of the science lab. The fire in the halls were not any better. I tried to keep the smoke from entering my lungs.

"Don't breathe in the smoke." I managed to say to Kido. She nodded and hugged closer. As we ventured down the hall that was slowly burning down, the fire brought back memories from twelve years ago...

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I lived with my mother in a small apartment near the mansion that the family my mother served owned. We weren't very wealthy, the opposite of that actually. My mother worked very hard as a maid for the wealthy Kido family. The Kidos owned many large corporations, and each of them were proud individuals. The wage my mother earned was enough for us to get by with enough to eat and a roof that shielded us. My mother would return from work at nighttime, and I always waited for her.

But today, she was running late. I was starting to get worried. I heard the sound of the door knob being turned, and I ran down the hall to welcome my mother back. Instead of my mother, I saw two men walk in. They rummaged through the things in the drawers, cursing. They soon found the box my mother kept all her jewelry in. All her luxuries that she kept just in case if we went broke. I balled my fists. These men were taking my mother's things. All of her precious things. I couldn't let that happen.

"Give that back!" I shouted, running at them and yanking the box out of their hands.

"What is this kid?! Where did he come from?!" shouted one of the men, taking the box out of my hands. He took me by the collar of my shirt and threw me against the door. It burst open and I lay there, clutching my head.

"You can't take that!" he said. The other man laughed.

"And who's going to stop us? Go find your precious mommy, boy, and don't bother us." he said.

"And that's my mommy you're stealing from!" I said, gathering up all my strength and standing up. I ran at them, but the four-year-old me was no match against the grown men. I was easily flung back, and my body ached.

"Oh, then that's too bad." he said, taking out a knife from what seemed like out of nowhere. My eyes widened. "It's also too bad that you're not going to live to inform your mommy that we stole her jewelry." He brought the knife down, aiming at my stomach. If I hadn't forced myself to jump out of the way, I would have been dead. The man raised an eyebrow.

"You won't get so lucky next time!" he said, jamming it down a second time. I closed my eyes. I didn't have enough strength to dodge the next one. I was going to die, wasn't I? Sorry, Mom, I wasn't a good enough son. I always broke things, and you would have to pick up after me. I'm sorry I was so bad that you had to hit me, that you had to yell at me.

The pain I had expected did not occur. Instead, I heard the sound of a water gun being fired and the scream of the men. I opened my eyes and saw a girl standing in front of me. She was about the same age as me, and she had shoulder-length dark green hair and... Red eyes. The same ones as mine. In her hands held two water guns, and she looked back at me.

"Run!" she said. I quickly took the box that the men had dropped. I grabbed the girl's hand and we took off. She was a little surprised, but quickly ran as well. We stopped at an alleyway a distance from my home and we caught our breaths. There was an uncomfortable silence between us afterwards.

"Um," I said. "Thanks for saving me." The girl looked away.

"You're welcome." she said softly. I noticed that her clothes were quite fancy, yet there were burns everywhere.

"Uh, that's right! Your name! What's your name? I'm Shuuya Kano!" I said, trying to loosen up the atmosphere.

"Tsubomi." she replied.

"What about your last name?" I asked. She shuffled, and looked a little uncomfortable.

"...Kido." she said finally. My eyes widened. Kido was the family my mother worked for. I recall her saying once that the Kidos had two girls, one of which was about the same age as me. She must be the one.

"So you're... Then do you know my mom? She works as a maid for you guys." I paused, then laughed. "...Then again, it's not possible that you would know all the maids that work for your family. Sorry, forget about that." Tsubomi looked away, and she gripped the sides of her skirt tightly.

"...She had blonde hair, didn't she?" she asked. "The same blonde as yours. But she had blue eyes. She was quite young and beautiful. She was very kind, and she worked hard, didn't she?" I looked at her excitedly. She knew my mom! Then she would probably know where she is!

"Yeah, that's her! Have you seen her? She hasn't come back home, it's weird, she's never late from work... Her work shift should've ended, right? I'm a little worried..." I said. Tsubomi's eyes filled with tears. I started to panic. I didn't know how to deal with a crying girl!

"H-Hey, what's wrong? Don't cry...!" I said.

"There was a fire... Our mansion burned down... We called the fire department but they didn't come in time... Everyone started panicking and nobody was able to escape... All our servants died..." Tsubomi managed to choke out. My eyes widened. Tsubomi just escaped from a fire. That explained the burns on her clothes. But... Mom was... dead? That doesn't make sense... What was Tsubomi talking about?

"She... She's d-dead..." she said. I grabbed her by the shoulders. I was no longer thankful for the girl who saved me; I was filled with anger.

"If you were able to get out, then why didn't you save her?! Why didn't you try to save my mom?! Why?! Answer me!" I yelled. To my surprise, she yelled back at me.

"I tried! Do you know how hard I tried?! I tried so hard to save everyone! But I couldn't! I was the only one who survived the fire! I lost all the servants that were so nice to me, and my mom, my dad, and my sister!" she shouted, falling to her knees. "Onee-chan..." she said in between sniffles. I let go of her. She couldn't have done anything. I knew that even before I started yelling at her. If she could, she would have. I was sure of that. I was being unreasonable right now. She herself had gone through a lot of pain, and I was just adding onto it.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly once her sniffling had ceased. She looked up at me, some tears still remaining in her eyes. "I shouldn't have blamed you. You couldn't have done anything." She nodded.

"...I'm alone now. I'm alone in this world. I should have died along with everyone else in that fire." she said. I looked into her red eyes. Those red eyes that everyone seemed to fear but my mother always loved. The same red eyes I had.

"That's not true." I said. "The world is giving you the strength to live on. And even if you were alone, I'll be on your side." Her cheeks reddened, and she looked away.

"Don't say such embarrassing things." she said. Involuntarily, my cheeks also turned red as I realized how embarrassing that was. "...But thank you." I paused for a second, then smiled.

"So how about you and I stick together for now?"

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"Are you sure that this is the place we should stay at?" asked Tsubomi. We were standing in front of an orphanage. From today onwards, this would be the place we were going to stay at. Tsubomi and I had stayed together ever since we met, going from place to place looking for a house to stay at.

"Yeah." I said. "It'll be fine, Tsubomi!" She didn't need my reassuring. Tsubomi had grown stronger than before, both mentally and physically. She wasn't "weak" like how she was when I first met her, but rather more boyish and aggressive. She had taken a liking to hitting me whenever she thought I got annoying. The door opened suddenly, and a woman stepped out.

"Ah, Tsubomi-chan and Shuuya-kun! Welcome!" she said, smiling. We had met her a few days ago, and she was the owner of this orphanage. Her name was Maria, and she agreed to take us in, and this would be our new home until someone came to adopt us. We walked into the orphanage. It looked quite cozy and nice. Maria led us to a room with the number "107" marked on the door.

"This will be your room. You two will share this room with one other boy." she said, opening the door. "Kousuke-kun? Your new roommates are here!" The boy sitting on one of the beds looked up. He looked our age, and he had black hair and... Red eyes. My own red eyes widened, and so did Tsubomi's. I was sure we were thinking of the same thing. Our red eyes were definitely not common, so was it a coincidence that our new roommate had those eyes? ...I don't think so.

"Then I'll leave you to yourselves!" said Maria, closing the door.

"U-um, it's very nice to meet you both! I'm Kousuke Seto, I hope we will get along well!" he said, bowing. He was pretty nervous. To my surprise, Tsubomi gave him a glare.

"Don't use honorifics." she said coldly before sitting down on the opposite bunk bed. Kousuke looked even more nervous and scared now.

"Um, yes!" he said. "I mean, okay!" To try to ease the uncomfortable atmosphere that floated above us now, I introduced myself.

"I'm Shuuya Kano, and she's Tsubomi Kido. Nice to meet you, Kousuke!" I said. Kousuke smiled at my words.

"Yeah!"

This was how our life at the orphanage started.

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Kousuke soon became our great friend, the only one we had at the orphanage. The other kids would either cower in fear or laugh at our red eyes, saying we were "monsters". So we kept to ourselves. The orphanage definitely wasn't a bad place; they provided us with food and shelter, and the three of us were able to be together. We didn't mind if nobody came to adopt us. If somebody came, then we'd probably lose them forever. I secretly hoped that nobody would ever come to take us away from this place. But one day, Maria called the three of us to her room.

"There's a family who wants to adopt you," she said. "They're really nice people and they've got a little girl who's wanted siblings for ages." We looked at each other. Was this our goodbye? Which one of us was the family going to take? Would we never see each other again?

"Which one of us are they going to take in?" asked Tsubomi, voicing my worries. Maria blinked in confusion.

"I didn't make myself clear enough, I guess. The Tateyamas have made a request to adopt Tsubomi Kido, Kousuke Seto, and Shuuya Kano. All three of you." she said. My eyes widened. All three of us?! That meant... That meant we didn't have to say goodbye!

"How about you meet them first, and then make your decision? They'll be here in about fifteen minutes." said Maria. We nodded and headed back to our room.

"Did you hear that?! We're going to be adopted! And we won't have to leave each other either! I wonder what our new family will be like!" said Kousuke excitedly.

"For the first family that had ever wanted to adopt us, this is great!" I said, smiling.

"Not my first." said Tsubomi. When both Kousuke and I turned to look at her in surprise, she shrugged. "There had been a few other families that wanted to take me in, but I turned them down."

"Why didn't you go?" asked Kousuke. Tsubomi shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well, I didn't want to leave you guys, I guess." she said. Kousuke and I looked at each other, and laughed.

"W-What? What's so funny?!" said Tsubomi. I wiped away tears that came to my eyes from laughing.

"Nothing!" I said, smiling.

"We don't want to leave you either, Tsubomi!" said Kousuke. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I went to open it, and a family of three stood in the doorway. They, I assumed, were the Tateyamas.

"Hi, kids!" said Mrs. Tateyama. "I'm Ayaka Tateyama, and this is my husband, Kenjirou Tateyama, and my daughter, Ayano Tateyama!" The Tateyamas smiled brightly.

"Nice to meet you." The three of us chorused. Mr. Tateyama cleared his throat.

"We've made a request to adopt the three of you. Of course, the choice is entirely up to you, but we would be really happy if you decided to come live with us." he said. "We'll go talk Ms. Maria, so you kids can talk." Mr. and Mrs. Tateyama walked off, leaving their daughter with us. She had shoulder-length dark brown hair, so dark that it would appear to be black at first glance. She wore two red clips in her hair in the shape of an 'X', and she had brown eyes. Her mouth stretched into a huge, wide smile.

"Hi! I'm Ayano Tateyama, I'm six years old, and I'll be your big sister!" she said. Then, she looked troubled. "Oh, but you still might not be coming to live with us, right...?" The three of us looked at each other. She was clearly disappointed and sad, and really, we had already decided the moment we heard we didn't have to part.

"It's okay!" I found myself saying. "We're probably going to go live with you guys, so I hope we all get along!" The girl looked up, surprised, then she smiled.

"Really?! Ah, I'm so glad! I'm sure we'll all get along!" she said. "Come on, call me 'onee-chan'!"

"O-Onee-chan..." Tsubomi was the first to speak. Our future sister's smiled widened as she heard those words and her eyes seemed to sparkle. She turned her excited gaze to me and Kousuke.

"Onee-chan!" said Kousuke, smiling. Now, she turned to me. I looked away, embarrassed.

"N-Nee-chan..." I said quietly. That was the furthest I got. Nee-chan nodded, smiling to herself.

"Great!" she said. "I'm sure we'll get along, Tsubomi, Kousuke, Shuuya!"

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Nee-chan was right. We did all get along. Everyday at the Tateyamas was fun, just like a dream. Dad was full of fun, playing along with our hero games and doing stupid things. Mom was kind and kept Dad in check. Nee-chan was energetic and she would cheer us up with the heroes she loved so much. "Red is the color of heroes!" she would always proclaim. Kousuke slowly became more confident, and Tsubomi laughed more. Back in the orphanage, she would never really smile at anything, perhaps still weighed down by the loss of everyone she had known. But here, she was happy and smiling - and I was happy for her too.

I noticed Tsubomi more and more. I knew she was afraid of ghosts. I knew that secretly, she owned skirts that she never wore. I knew that underneath the boyish cover, she was just a normal girl. Involuntarily, I became more and more annoying to her, teasing her and saying things I regretted right after I received a hard punch or kick. I guess I just wanted her to notice me more. It was obvious that she enjoyed the company of Mom, Dad, Nee-chan, and Kousuke; she would talk happily with them. But with me, she wasn't as happy. She always punched me. Why was that?

We didn't make a lot of friends in school; they cowered in fear due to our red eyes. But that didn't matter, since we had each other. But in our second year of middle school, we encountered friends. A group of teenagers that accompanied us through thick and thin. Of course, we can't forget about Actor, who we met in our second year of high school.

Kido hid her weak self underneath the cover, and she had showed me that side only because of the fire. But that wasn't her fault. It was natural that she would be scared, terrified of something that would have killed her years ago. To this day, I would still suck in a breath when I saw murderers on TV. I'm sure the rest of the gang was the same. We all had near-death experiences, and we would all be scared to death - no pun intended - by it. We never talked about our experiences, but I noticed that both Seto and Momo hated being beside the water, and Marry was also scared of murderers, just like me. Ene had a fear of poison and Actor hated scientists. Hibiya hated black cats, construction sites, and trucks. Perhaps I was more observant than the others, but I think the rest of us had noticed something as well.

I would have been dead, killed by those men, if Kido hadn't showed up. Really, I owed my life to her. Without her, I would have been dead long ago.

I emerged from the building with Kido, who had fallen asleep, on my back. The Blindfold Gang noticed us and quickly ran over to us.

"Are you mad, Shuuya?!" Nee-chan shouted. "You just dashed into the building regardless of the fire! I could have lost you both! We could have lost you both!" I looked away nervously. This was bad. Nee-chan was really mad. Seto put a hand on Nee-chan's shoulder.

"Well, well. They're back, and that's what's most important, isn't it?" he said.

"But Ayano-chan's right! We were really worried!" said Momo.

"Sorry." I said, laughing awkwardly.

"How's Kido?" asked Marry, glancing nervously at Kido, who was still on my back.

"She's... fine." I said, eyeing her.

"Let's go back," said Konoha. "The school just dismissed us." We nodded, and we headed back to the base. I glanced back at Kido from time to time to make sure she was alright. We soon got back and everyone relaxed in the living room. I set Kido down on the bed in her room and I sat down in a chair next to her. She looked so... Peaceful.

I looked out the window. Today had been a greatly eventful day, and so much has happened. Our school should be fine, fire trucks came and the firefighters would have done their job already.

"Kano?" I looked back and saw that Kido had woken up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Yo," I said, smiling like I always did. "You've woken up, Danchou?" Kido looked around, and her eyes widened.

"The fire...! What happened?" she asked.

"It should be gone by now. I got you out." I said. She looked at me intently, as if searching for an answer.

"Why?" she asked finally. I cocked my head to one side.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" I asked.

"Why did you save me?" she asked. I paused, then laughed.

"What, did you want me to leave you in there?" I asked. I got up from the chair. "Now that I've made sure our Kido is alright, I'll leave. You can keep resting if you'd like."

"I hate it when you do that." My eyes widened at Kido's words. My hands that paused above the door handle shook, like she found out a secret of mine.

"What do you mean? Did I do something to anger you, Kido?" I said, pretending to not know anything about what Kido was talking about. But I did. It was a secret of mine, a habit I had already gotten used to. I turned back around and saw that Kido was staring at me with a very serious expression.

"Yeah, you did." said Kido. "And you know perfectly well what I'm talking about."

"I don't," I said, smiling and continuing to play dumb. Kido's eyes narrowed.

"Lying," she said. "I hate it when you lie." My hands formed fists that were shaking at my sides, but my face still showed that stupid, stupid smile. See? It's already a habit. I can't do anything about it anymore. No matter how much I want to tell the truth, it's usually the truth that sounds the most like lies...

"You always go around with that dumb smile plastered on your face, even though you're breaking down inside. Every time you open your mouth, it's just another lie. I'm sick of it. Even though you're breaking down inside, you still carry that stupid, stupid mask and cover your true feelings." said Kido. I sucked in a breath. That... hurt. It was true. Every single word that Kido just said was true.

"I ask you one more time. Why did you save me?" asked Kido. I smiled, a sad, yet true, smile.

"Isn't it obvious?" I said. "Because I like you, Kido." Her eyes widened, and she stared at me.

"How come you're not going to hit me for lying?" I asked.

"Because you're not." Kido replied.

"How did you know?" I asked. What, did she know of my feelings already? Long before even I did?

"I can tell when you're lying and when you're not, Kano. I've been able to since when we were young. And I've hated it." she said. I walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.

"Then do you hate me?" I asked. I waited for the words that would break me into a million pieces.

"...No." My eyes widened at Kido's words.

"Then do you like me?" I asked. I know I was being annoying, but I didn't want the subject to just drop like that. Kido's face flushed red, and she looked away. After a moment of silence, she nodded slowly, her face still red. I stared at her, surprised, then I smiled. A genuine smile, not one of the fake ones I always wore. I took her hand in mine, and Kido looked at me. She looked embarrassed, but she smiled.

Well, that's where I'll stop for today…

Next time you hear the signal…

I'll tell you an even stranger tale!

Chapter 013: Lost Time Memory

August 15th.

This day meant so much to the members of the Gang, but they never spoke about it. Never did they ever talk about this day that was etched into their memories and minds forever. They didn't want to show their weaknesses, their weak sides, to their friends.

But secrets cannot be kept forever; the stories behind the member's and their relationship is slowly being revealed, and they will have each other to comfort them in their moments of weakness...

If you liked this chapter, give it a review, a favorite, a follow, a whatever you wish! I hope you've liked it and see you next time!

~Chinnie Ai