A/N: I am so incredibly happy!! I found a friend online that I haven't seen in almost eight years!! Circumstances involved in our separation had to have been difficult for him, so I hope he was doing okay all this time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Two Reasons

What had gone wrong? What? No matter how many times Kanna went over it, she couldn't figure out what might have happened to him.

She'd spent the whole of that single Saturday in her studio, four months after he'd left. She'd done nothing but paint and dig clay, listening to music on her little CD player and keeping her mind trained on nothing but her art. She kept promising herself and him that she'd stop worrying. She must have loaded unloaded the kiln sixty times since he left. If she wasn't careful, she'd overheat it one of these days. Kilns were expensive to buy and equally costly to maintain and repair. A single conductor replacement could cost several thousand yen. But her methods worked and she'd gone this long without worrying.

Upon returning that night, however, she was shocked to see the door ajar, the key stuck in the lock. Her heart began to beat wildly in fear. Had someone broken in? She hurried forward and inspected the key in the lock. No, there was no mistaking it. This key ring belonged to him. But that didn't make sense. The war was only getting worse. There was no way he'd be back already. She felt her skin crawl in fear as she gingerly stepped inside, gripping the edges of her coat so tightly, her knuckles whitened.

"Hello?" she called anxiously, "Kuroudo? Are...are you back, already?"

Something was wrong, here. There was just no mistaking the key ring, which she knew he'd taken with him when he left. There was no other explanation as to why it would be in the lock other than that he'd returned extremely early. Her blood ran cold when the thought crossed her mind that he may have been injured and discharged indefinitely. But then, wouldn't he be at the hospital? And wouldn't she have gotten a call from someone?

She turned into the hallway. Of the three rooms, the guest room, his room and a small space he'd converted into a study, only the last of the three had its door shut. Approaching cautiously, heart hammering, she made her way to the study and attempted to open the door. It was unlocked, but a sharp crashing sound inside stopped her going in. She drew a quick breath and pulled her hand away.

"Kuroudo?" she called. "Are you in there?"

There was no answer. Kanna frowned concernedly and knocked on the door. "Kuroudo, it's me, Kanna. Are you okay? What's happened?"

Still no answer. Bordering panic, Kanna knocked again, somewhat harder. "Kuroudo! What's wrong? Please, say something! I know you're in there! Please!"

"Get out of here."

Kanna paused. He'd answered her, but something wasn't right. Had he told her to get out of there?

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Get out, Kanna."

Kanna stepped back, shaking her head. "But, what's wrong? Is it something I did? What happened?" she asked.

"I said get out!"

Kanna frowned and pounded on the door. "No! What's wrong with you? Why are you back without any warning and what's happened?" she exclaimed. When he didn't answer, she sighed shakily. "I'm sorry, but I'm coming in," she said. She turned the knob.

As she opened the door, it was suddenly hurled outward with incredible force, striking her sharply on her head and throwing her back. She cried out in pain as she slammed against the wall, sinking to the floor and clutching her head painfully. Breathing raggedly, she looked up to see him standing in the doorway, glaring down at her.

"I said get out," he hissed. Kanna just blinked, pulling her hand away from her head. She felt something warm slide past her eye and when she looked at her hand, she gasped at the sight of the dark, fresh blood dripping through her fingers. She looked up at him in fear and disbelief.

"W-What's going on?" she stammered. "Kuroudo, what are you doing?" she exclaimed, backing up against the wall. There was something very wrong with him; his eyes were no longer the same. They were colder, filled with a deep sense of hatred and...something else she couldn't place. He took a step toward her, staring down at her. His breathing was ragged and uneven. His hands shook furiously and he appeared not to even recognize her. As she watched, he brought his fist up and flicked his wrist. She jumped sharply when four knife-like objects shot out between his fingers.

Scalpels.

He knelt down and braced the knives up against the soft flesh of her neck. She cringed backward, horrified. "What are you doing?" she asked in a breaking voice. He seemed not to hear her as one of the scalpels broke her skin, drawing a thin line of blood. She winced and curled into a protective ball, shaking.

"Please don't...." she whispered, watching him from the corner of her eye. His eyes flickered for an instant, his hand twitched and he stood up, bracing against the door frame. He turned away, his face shadowed. "Get out, now," he growled. Kanna shakily stood up, her legs refusing to obey her as she struggled to her feet. She ignored the steady stream of blood seeping out from the gash at her hairline, staring at him. "What's happened to you?" she whispered.

"I'm not going to warn you again. Get out of here, right now!" he snapped. He raised the scalpels threateningly, taking another step toward her. Kanna moved back reflexively, intense pain and betrayal shining in her eyes. This wasn't him, she tried to convince herself. This wasn't him. This wasn't the same man she loved more than anything; this was some imposter posing as him. She shook her head, her vision clouding up through her tears. "No, no, this isn't you," she said, "This isn't you. Kuroudo, please, just tell me what's wrong! Is there anything I can do to help?"

She screamed when he suddenly lunged at her, slicing a deep gash into her shoulder. She stumbled back and fell to the floor, whimpering in pain. "What's wrong with you?" she choked out, "What happened? Why are you doing this to me?"

But even as she met his eyes, she saw no answer. He just glared at her like she was nothing more than an enemy he intended to kill at all costs.

Moaning in pain, clutching her injured shoulder, she braced against the wall, heaving herself to her feet. Her instincts told her to fight back, to protect herself. But she knew that there was no way she could do that. Even if he seemed to be dead set on killing her for some reason, she still loved him.

"Okay," she muttered. She felt her fresh tears mixing with the blood on her face. Her shirt was stained in it all down the right side. "Okay, Kuroudo, I'm going, if that's what you want. I don't know what brought this on, but I'm going."

She slowly moved toward the door, watching him every step of the way. She spoke calmly, softly. She didn't want to go through this anymore. "I'm going," she said again, turning her back on him to move out the door. She knew that by taking her eyes off him, she was taking an enormous gamble. Knowing this, she stepped out into the hallway and grasped the doorknob. He'd lowered the scalpels, but continued to glower at her as she pulled the key ring free and tossed it inside. Then, she slowly closed the door behind her.

She waited outside for a few minutes, but he never opened the door again. Something told her that it was in her best interests to leave. She wanted to stay and try to help him, but he'd attacked her with no hesitation. Had she done something to anger him? Ignoring the sting of her wounds and the forming hole in her heart, she turned and headed for the elevator.

There was only one place left to go where she could be safe.

//ooo//

As she made her way along the street, passersby paused to stare in horror at her blood soaked clothing and face. She ignored all of them, even those that tried to stop her and inquire on her welfare. When this happened, she just brushed them aside and continued on until she reached the warehouse where her studio lay waiting. She unlocked and opened the door, stepping inside and closing it. She turned on the lights and moved toward the shelves filled with her thrown projects. She glanced at her easel where the final painting of Mireille sat beneath its tarp, waiting to be brought to life, preserved for eternity in oil. Her wheels, prepped and ready to be used again, sat bereft in the corner.

Reaching out, her fingers brushed badly against one of the glazed pots and it toppled from the shelf, shattering into hundreds of razor sharp fragments on the concrete floor. She did this to two more pots and vases, staring at the broken wreckage at her feet numbly. Turning, she made her way into the kiln room. The main kiln glowed brightly, as she'd turned it on earlier that day. It was only at four hundred degrees. Kanna reached out and grasped the lid's handle, hoisting it up and ignoring the searing heat wave that blasted out of the kiln into her unprotected face. She dropped the lid against the wall and stared into the orange furnace roaring in front of her. Dimly aware of what she was doing, her fingers brushed her neck, clasping around the ribbon she still had tied there. She gently pulled it free, dangling it over the open kiln, staring at it blankly, her eyes dead. It slid a few inches through her fingers, dangerously close to the mild inferno, powerful enough to melt the delicate silk.

Just before it slipped completely, Kanna gasped and clutched the ribbon tightly, yanking it back and falling down against the wall, taking deep, shaking breaths as a fresh stream of tears erupted from her eyes. She held the ribbon close against her chest, sobbing.

She shut the kiln off, effectively messing up the projects stored away inside. But right then, she didn't care. This place was nothing more than reminder, now. She reached up and swiped a fair amount of drying blood from her forehead, clenching her fist. Then, with a despairing cry, she whipped her hand in a sharp arc, sending hundreds upon hundreds of needle-sharp blood fragments flying into the shelves where her thrown projects sat innocently awaiting their fate. The shelves crumbled, the pots, vases and other assorted creations toppling to the ground in a deafening crash. Upon seeing the destruction, Kanna collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. This was it. She was finally all alone. She had no one, now.

Kanna stumbled out of her studio, shutting and locking it behind her. Despite destroying half the studio, she couldn't bring herself to destroy Mireille. Mireille would simply have to wait in limbo until Kanna finally mustered up the courage to finish her.

She stumbled into the alley out back, no destination planned in particular. She knew she could go back to Sumika's. It was the only place left to her, now that she'd been chased away. She didn't want to go back, but judging from the dark clouds rolling in above her, she figured she had no choice.

As she was making her way out of the alley, she heard a slight clunk come from one of the dumpsters beside the studio warehouse. She glanced in the general direction, almost too numb to care. But when she heard that distinctive sound, the squeaking and mewing, she blinked and tilted her head. To the naked eye, there was nothing to be seen in the dark alley except for the dumpster and a few garbage bags. But when she looked more closely, she saw them; two pairs of eyes watching her from beneath the dumpster. Kanna turned, staring down as a tiny pink nose poked out, sniffed the air in her direction and then zipped back underneath. She watched when, after a few minutes, a tiny, dirty, muddy black ball crawled out from beneath the dumpster, followed by an equally tiny, muddy silvery ball. The silver one cowered at the sight of her, but the black one bounced forward and took a playful swipe at her legs. Kanna stepped back disinterestedly. Without a glance back, she turned and headed off, aware of the fact that she was being followed. She paused several feet away and turned around. Both kittens were following her, the silver one more reluctantly, but clearly more afraid of being left alone by its sibling than it was of her.

She stared down at them as they gazed up at her, squeaking and tilting their heads.

"Where's your mother?" she asked them quietly.

The black kitten just squeaked in reply, its silver companion shivering behind it.

"Are you all alone?" Kanna mumbled. As if in reply, the black kitten squeaked again and sat down, tilting its head at her. Kanna slowly made her way back over and knelt down on the muddy ground, gazing down at them blankly. The black kitten crouched down, its tiny bottom wiggling as it stalked her feet. It pounced forward, grabbing the toe of her shoe in its mouth and sinking its tiny baby teeth into it.

Automatically, Kanna reached down and gently stroked the kitten's back. Its back arched as it rubbed against her hand, purring loudly. The silver one, curious about the attention the black one was getting, padded forward cautiously, sniffing Kanna carefully.

"You've been abandoned too, haven't you?" Kanna whispered. "You're all alone in the world."

The black one sniffed the dried blood on her hand and began to lick her hand tenderly. Kanna petted it again and then gently scooped both it and the silver one into her arms, hugging them and crying silently into their fur. The silver one squeaked in surprise and the black one tugged on a loose strand of her hair.

"If...," Kanna mumbled hoarsely, "If your mama isn't around...I'll take care of you."

She held them back at half arms' length and gazed down at them. They blinked up at her expectantly. Kanna sniffed and blinked her right eye free of dried blood. "Is-is that all right with you two?"

The black kitten mewed loudly, gently nibbling her thumb. The silver one just blinked and squeaked up at her before yawning widely and snuggling down into her arms. She straightened up, holding the kittens tightly.

"Don't worry," she whispered as she headed out of the alley, toward Sumika's old home, "I won't abandon you. I'll be your mother, now. You'll never be alone again."

Once she got into the street, she glanced back just once at the building where the one person she thought she could always trust to protect her now faced some new challenge on his own, by his own choice, without her help. Forcing back the tears threatening to break free, she cuddled the two kittens closer and watched as they soon fell asleep in her arms.

"I'll take care of you," she murmured to them, "You're safe, now, my little ones."

And with that, Kanna turned her back on everything, determined to keep her good memories as she wished him luck with whatever trials he was dealing with at the moment. She hoped he'd remember what she told him; that she'd always love him, no matter what. As dearly as she missed him already, she now had other, two more important matters to attend to, sleeping peacefully in her arms as she forged a new path for herself in the years to come, by herself.

//ooo//

Ms. Miyazaki sighed and shifted her legs, stroking Yuki's fur absently. He purred loudly and kneaded his paws against her leg as his sister, Miki, dozed beside Ms. Miyazaki on the sofa.

"And that's all," Ms. Miyazaki muttered, "There's nothing more to tell."

Himiko sat speechless, unable to utter even a single sound. Hevn just stared at Ms. Miyazaki in a mixture of sadness and disbelief while Ginji absorbed all of this new information and Natsumi gazed down at the floor, lost in thought.

"But that's...." Himiko muttered, finally finding her voice, "The Jackal, he...I mean, I knew he could be pretty gruesome when working but I never believed he was that heartless. And to think he was such a different person then. It's mind-boggling."

"He outright attacked you?" Natsumi exclaimed in disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Just like that. To this day, I still don't know what happened to him over there. I do my best not to meet him if I can help it. Just the thought of him is painful. But I know that if I'd chosen to stay and try to help, he'd probably have killed me."

She hoisted Yuki into her arms and stood up, moving to the kitchen. She dumped him unceremoniously onto the counter and got out the kettle to brew some tea.

Ginji clenched his fist and got to his feet. "That's...that's just not right!" he exclaimed. "I can't accept this."

"Ginji, settle down," Hevn said calmly. But Ginji shook his head, pacing. "Dang it. We answer one question and we're left with dozens more." he muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Ms. Miyazaki called from the kitchen. "It's not a big deal. I've gotten over it."

"No you haven't," Ginji protested, "You're as hurt now as you were then."

"As I recall, how I feel is my own business," Ms. Miyazaki said calmly, making a small show of replacing a sharp knife into its drawer. Ginji swallowed nervously and frowned. "But-" he started to say. She cut him off with a sharp glare. "I said to drop it," she snapped. As she turned, he caught sight of a strange scar on her forehead, just below her hairline. As Hevn, Himiko and Natsumi watched anxiously, he stalked forward and grabbed her wrist. She froze, making no move to free herself.

"Why won't you let us help?" he asked.

"Gin," Hevn warned cautiously.

Ms. Miyazaki sighed heavily. "Because there's nothing you can do," she told him.

"Ms. Miyazaki, you do realize that by refusing our help, you're doing the same thing that Akabane did to you, right?"

At that, her eyes widened a fraction and she yanked her wrist from his grasp. "Ginji, you're a very caring person and you clearly have my welfare in mind when you offer to help me. But face it; it's too late. The two of us have moved on. He hurt me too badly for the damage to be fixed, so there's nothing you can do. Do you understand?"

Ginji watched as she checked the kettle to see if the water was boiling and then got down five mugs for the tea.

"You still love him,"

Ms. Miyazaki paused. Ginji hadn't said that.

Himiko had.

Ms. Miyazaki turned in surprise, staring at Himiko blankly. "What?"

"You told us before you started your story," she said quietly, getting up and moving to stand just outside the kitchen, "As much as Akabane creeps me, Maguruma and everyone else out, it's clear that something's been wrong with him from the start. You're the exact same way, just on a slightly different level."

Ms. Miyazaki turned sharply. "I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about," she mumbled.

"Don't give me that," Himiko grumbled. "I worked with the guy. I always wondered why he spent so much time staring into space and tuning everything out except when he wanted to kill something. After hearing your story, I get it now. He spends all that time brooding over what happened, don't you get it? He's never said a word, but he's not as good at hiding things as he probably thinks he is. After all, when you're stuck with the same people for days on end doing transport work, you tend to notice things."

"See?" Ginji said. "There's still a chance. If you could just-"

But Ms. Miyazaki suddenly flung her arm to the side and lashed the kettle of boiling water at Ginji who yelled and charged up an electrical frequency to strike the kettle, sending it flying into the wall. The water seeped along beneath their feet as they stared at her. Her eyes were wild as she glared at Ginji. "Enough! That's enough, all of you! Get out and leave me alone!"

Everyone hesitated, glancing at each other nervously.

"Now," she gritted out. Slowly, they filed toward the door, averting their eyes from her as they went. Only Ginji cast a sad glance back at her as they left. But strangely, his determination to get to the bottom of this didn't fade, even as the door slammed shut behind them. As they made their way out of the building and back in the direction of the Honky Tonk, Ginji frowned. There was something that just didn't add up here and he was determined to find out what it was. He was positive there was still time.

Ms. Miyazaki stumbled into the bathroom, leaning on the counter and staring at her reflection in the mirror. She reached up and pulled the collar of her shirt back, revealing the ugly scar she'd received when he attacked her. She pushed her bangs back to show the spot where the door had collided with her head. Even though the physical pain had long since dissipated, she still felt it gnawing away at her. The stunningly true points given by Himiko and Ginji echoed through her mind, bringing forth the emotions she'd been sure she buried. Futilely resisting the urge to cry, she sank to the floor, hugging her knees and just wishing to disappear from the world, even as Yuki and Miki padded in to keep her company and remind her of her two reasons why she still lived in the first place.