Author's Note: Merry Christmas Eve! Thanks so much for all your support. Enjoy your holiday!

Gathering

Day three continued

6:25 am

"That was a little bit better." Shinji muses as he catches my fist in his palm. "Try again."

I nod my head trying to wipe the smile off my face. We've been at this for the last twenty minutes. Once he finished filtering everything and sorting his creation into containers, he'd sent Iijima to find Hiroki. He said he wanted everyone together when everything swung into motion.

To pass time, he's teaching me how to throw a decent punch. "Fix the way your standing." He smirks softly. "I know you've got a strong core, you can do this."

I throw my weight into my arm as my fist swing over his head. His leg sweeps across the floor and lands me hard on my back. I whimper as I smack the ground and stare up at him through round dark eyes "Why?" I whine. "I thought you said no kicking."

"We just moved into the next lesson. Expect your opponent to be an asshole." that signature smirk of his crawls across his face. His hand is waiting for mine so he can help me up. I move to take it and thrust my foot into his ankle. He staggers and his hand grabs mine, yanking me to my feet. "Nice try." He grimaces. "It did hurt but you didn't bring me down."

I roll my eyes as a smile chases across my lips and I cross my arms. He taps my cheek with his finger "But you finally have the right idea."

"Well." I muse softly, "I have a good teacher." our mood is carefree. It's made the last hour and a half really nice.

All things considered, everything has actually been alright since the six O'clock announcement. Nothing too special, Kitano went over his usual spewl. There haven't been any deaths this morning. He sarcastically warned us that at some point there would be a solar eclipse today. 'If you live to see it, try not to go blind!' the older man mused sarcastically over the intercom. Shinji of course reassured everyone that as long as we don't look at it dead on, a solar eclipse is no big deal. He's good at calming people down. I know for sure now that Kazuo is still alive. That alone sets my heart at ease. I've been nervous every hour between the announcements. I don't know why. He's completely capable of caring for himself. I just wonder what he's doing, if he's looking for me.

I take a seat on top the desk against the wall and kick my feet back and forth. "I feel like Iijima has been gone awhile."

"He has but that was expected. None of us have any clue where Hiroki is." Shinji answers as he wipes his neck off with a rag.

"Maybe two pairs of eyes would help."

"Seto is too tired to go-"

"I could go."

He smiles, "You could."

"Will you let me? I bet I could find him."

"Why not." He tosses me Chigusa's pocket knife. Seto had apparently demanded he pull it off me when I was brought in. "Be careful."

"Really?" I whisper softly in disbelief.

"I know you'll come back." he nods sincerely.

His strong arms pull me into a hug. I'm still seated on the desk, his waist is between my thighs and he holds me close. "I am so glad I got to see you again." He presses a kiss to the top of my head.

"Me too." I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck. I turn my head and kiss his cheek softly. "Thank you for everything." We both know what we're doing. He expects me to come back but we don't know if I'll make it back. We don't know if this place will become a danger zone. We can't predict the future. This goodbye is just in case this is the last time we see each other.

The morning air is brisk. It washes over my skin as I maneuver over roots and felled branches. I haven't walked alone since being thrown into this game, it's strange. Leaves crumble beneath my sneakers as I start making my way back up the seemingly endless hill in front of me. Noriko was in that house all surrounded by traps. I need to see her. I need to know that she's okay before anything else happens.

When I get to the top of the hill, I find myself staring at the little house. In the daylight the cans and wires are almost easy to see. On the bamboo porch, Noriko is seated beside a boiling pot. A grateful smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. Someone must be taking care of her. There is absolutely no way she's killed anyone. I can leave her be then, I don't need to break her heart like I did Shinji's. "Everything will be alright." I whisper softly.

Slowly, I turn my back and start to walk away. My body freezes when a gruff voice shouts "Are you not gonna say hello?"

"Kaoru?" Noriko squeaks.

"You're sure that's your friend?"

"That's her." She answers sweetly.

"You trust her?"

"With my life." I hear the porch creak as she gets up. As she walks across the yard she causes the cans to cling together. Her arms wrap around me from behind. "Hello Kaoru." she sounds just like the angel she is.

I swing around and pull her close, my arms can't seem to hold her tightly enough. "Noriko, I've been worried."

"No need. Shuya and Kawada have been taking very good care of me."

"Where is Shuya?" I raise an eyebrow at her, looking toward the house over her shoulder. The only one I see is Kawada.

"He….got hurt." Her voice cracks a bit. Slender fingers lace with mine as she guides me back to the house. I sit on the porch beside her and she explains. "It was so awful...that other exchange student...Kiriyama...last night. Kawada shot at him when he crossed into this yard...but it was dark and he missed. Everything was quiet after that...for a short time."

"Something really must have pissed that psycho off." Kawada snaps crossing his arms as he leans against the closed door. "He came back about an hour later. Threw some kid's decapitated head through our back window. He'd stuffed a grenade in the unlucky bastard's mouth."

"Kawada." Noriko speaks softly as she glances back at the taller boy. "Don't rehash the awful details." She then turns her gaze back to me. "Shuya went after him...I think he was shot...I don't know exactly what happened. I am so worried about him though...his name wasn't on the announcements so that means he's alive."

Kawada sighs, "Yeah, he's alive and I spent most of last night boarding up the windows that sicko blew out."

"I did offer to help you." Noriko smiles softly.

"I didn't need your help." He grumbles.

She accepts his grumpy response with grace and says, "You look like you've had a rough time, Kaoru. Have you been all by yourself?"

"I've been with Shinji." It's not a complete lie.

"You're on a first name basis again, that's so wonderful.' Noriko gives my hand a squeeze. "That makes me so happy."

My eyes roll over her face "You seem so….Kawada and Shuya really have been taking care of you."

She nods her head. "When the grenade went off...Kawada even jumped ontop of me...he saved my life."

I shift to my feet and walk right up to the muscular exchange student. "Thank you, for taking care of her."

"Don't mention it." His eyes lid. He's looking me over.

"Where's your weapon?"

"Kawada!" Noriko chides. "She's my friend-"

"And I want to see her weapon." he husks as his brow furrows.

"It's no big deal, Noriko." I soothe as I produce Chigusa's knife from my pocket. "This is all I have."

"Have you found need to use it?" He follows up quickly.

"Of course she hasn't." Noriko is standing in front of me now. "She's a good person, she would never hurt anyone. She said she's been with Shinji and I believe her."

"How did you get that cut on your face?" Kawada asks over Noriko.

Noriko again responds before I can, "Even if….she did hurt someone...she would never hurt me."

"Fine." the tall male finally gives in.

The three of us sit down near the pot of rice the two of them have cooking. "Kaoru." Noriko looks my way.

"Yes?"

"You should stay with us."

"Noriko I-"

"Kawada has a way off this-" I lunge forward and grab her collar, covering the mic with my fingers.

The brown eyed boy simply raises an eyebrow at me. "Shove some tissue in your collar, don't just talk about that stuff so openly." I whisper.

"W-what are you-"

"There's a microphone...hidden in your collar. They're listening." As I speak, Noriko's dark eyes go wide.

It's starting to drizzle. The rain is loud against the awning hanging over the porch. Fear creeps into my friend's irises. I can see it clear as day on her face. They'd been talking non stop about their plans to escape. Kawada broke the silence, "Stop scaring her. Noriko, everything's gonna' be fine. Ignore her."

"But Kawada-"

"That's enough. Have I let you down yet?" He barks.

Noriko shakes her head, "No but I-"

"She just came out of nowhere and started babbling. You know full well that I know what I'm doing." His voice manages to get even more gruff. Where the hell did this guy come from?

"She just cares about me." Noriko says finally.

"And you think-" He stops everything. He's frozen. "I think we should go inside." He grumbles as the rain starts to come down harder. So hard in fact that it almost reminds me of the storm outside the cave on the beach. It's hard to see anything through it. I hear the door shut as Kawada walks inside leaving us on the porch.

I raise an eyebrow at him and glance over my shoulder out at the rain. "Is that-" I can see someone moving around through the spaces between the trees.

Noriko cuts me off with a loud cheer "SHUYA!"

"Noriko no! That doesn't look like Nanahara to me!" my voice breaks as she bolts off the porch.

"But it could be!"

The door swings back open and Kawada flies off the porch after her with a shotgun in hand. "The hell did you do?"

"I pointed out movement!" I chime as I take off, keeping up with him perfectly. Alongside cheerleading, I used to run track. I can keep up with him. "Noriko!" I scream, trying to find her over the sound of the pouring rain.

"How the hell did you lose her?" Kawada snaps.

"I didn't expect her to run off like this!" I yell. It's the only way I'm sure he'll hear me. Side by side, we stop where two paths leading into the woods meet.

"TAKE THE RIGHT!" He commands disappearing to the left.

I do as I'm told and break into a full sprint, running down the path as mud gathers up around my shoes. Rain soaking into my socks. I really can't ever stay dry can I? "NORIKO!" I scream at the top of my lungs. One wrong step and my feet fly out from under me. Wet mud and hills don't mix. My body rolls across the ground until I hit a thorny shrub. The plant bites into my skin with tiny razor sharp teeth. My legs kick and I cry out as I rip away. Small bits of Shinji's school jacket have been forever claimed by the thorns. I draw in a deep breath and keep going. "NORIKO!"

I hear a voice, it's not my friend's. My back moves against the trunk of a tree. My vision is challenged by the rain as I glance over my shoulder, to see around the tree I'm hiding behind. Mitsuko is standing in front of Noriko.

I can't hear much of anything being said. I only hear one word. From Mitsuko's mouth. "Die."

She cocks a gun and holds it up, just inches away from Noriko's forehead. Absolutely not. I lick my lips, draw in a deep breath and scream "YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID!" my body moves on it's own. I jump the beautiful girl from the side and knock her to the ground. Noriko screams at the top of her lungs as Mitsuko and I tumble to the ground. My body now sprawled out on top of her's. Our eyes meet as she groans. I've never been so scared in my life.

"Oh my." She cooes. "What are you going to do now, Kaoru?" Mitsuko asks as she looks up at me. The gun is no longer in her hand, it's lying about four feet away.

"Nakagawa." that almost sounds like….Kitano. Mitsuko's elbow meets my collarbone and I grunt as she throws me off over her. It takes her seconds to get up, she darts forward, stopping only to pick up her gun before disappearing completely. I wheeze, she hit me hard. Water soaks into my clothes as I roll over to see Noriko, and Kitano. He hands her an umbrella and offers her a small smile. My head is pounding, the rain is coming down so hard it makes the air hard to breathe. "Don't hurt her." It's all I can manage.

Shuya waddles up behind Noriko, out of what seems like nowhere. He's covered in bandages and using a tall stick to stand. Kazuo must have done a real number on him. That almost makes me sad, Shuya was always a nice boy. Kitano turns to leave and I scramble to get behind the trunk of a tree. There's no need for me to stick around. Shuya and Kawada will keep Noriko safe until Shinji takes care of everything, I really do believe that. Sitting behind the tree, I listen to their reunion. I can't hear everything, but I can hear Shuya promising to protect Noriko. She really will be okay.

I draw in a deep breath and stare out into the rain. If I go back with her, Noriko won't let me leave. "Where's Kaoru?" her voice breaks through the rain. I stay still.

"There you are." Kawada barks, he's easy to hear over the rain. He's referring to the two of them.

"I found Shuya...but I lost...Kaoru."

"I'm sure she's fine. She's made it this far."

Dead~

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