Yaaaaaahoooooo! –spins around holding my favorite stuffed animal close to my chest-

Heng Shi: … What are you so happy about?

No one voted for you to get free, so I don't have to free you~! –Holds the fat, stuffed cat close to his face-

Heng Shi: -Leans away with a frown- Fuck, I thought those stupid readers would sympathize with me more after that chapter… Bastards…

Ah, ah aaah! –Hugs the cat again while wagging a finger in front of his face disapprovingly- You say 'fudges' my dear Heng Shi, not fuck. That's a bad word, you know.

Heng Shi: Whatever… -looks away while trying to unlock one of the locks binding his chains together without me noticing-

Well, guys! I am back! Much sooner than I anticipated, but I got such an inspiration kick for this story that I started writing on this immediately after the birthday chapter was posted. I should update my FMA story, '12 again' but if you get an inspiration kick for a story, you have to write for that story. If not, the kick will disappear and it will take months before you get it again. Which has happened many times for me regarding the stories I'm posting… heh… -Bows deeply- I'm sorry!

Heng Shi: Idiot, what makes you think I'll ever forgive you?

-turns towards Heng Shi, he quickly stops working on the lock with his time energy- I'm not apologizing to you, I'm apologizing to my readers for getting so caught up with other stories and stuff like that. Anyway, -turn towards readers- have you seen my new stuffed animal? Isn't he cute?! –Shows up a big, fat, fuzzy, white cat with no arms or legs with a sleeping face on- His name is Bubblan! A Swedish version of Bubbles! He's really cozy and helps me sleep, never underestimate the power of a stuffed animal!

Heng Shi: Tche, childish.

Hey, it's not that childish. He's really comfy, ok?

Heng Shi: Yeah, yeah, say whatever you want kid.

Dummy… Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Me and Bubblan are gonna stay here until the end!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm walking down the corridor with a student trailing behind me as I guide them to the different room where they'll have their classes with a schedule in my hand. I have an easy-going smile as I point towards the different rooms.

"And that's the music room, room 394. The music teacher here is Mr. Williams, but I don't meet him very often. In here, you can find all kinds of instruments. Further down this corridor is the Chinese class, it seems like you and I are taking similar courses so if you have any trouble, you could ask me or the school president, Jing. You must have a map of this place so I suppose it won't be too hard to find your way around here. I've been here for a few months and I still haven't been everywhere in this school."

"So I won't be able to see you often?"

I turn around my head so that I can look at the student from over my shoulder, my smile still in place.

"You have a total of 10 classes where 6 of them is the same class as I. The IP is divided between genders so I guess that counts as a separate class as well."

As I turn around my head again after getting a small 'alright' from the person behind me, I silently curse my luck. What did I do to deserve this? I frown slightly; I thought it was that Jing's duty to welcome new students. My frown gets deeper as I think back to this morning.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm walking towards school's door in silence, my backpack on my back and hands resting on the straps. Students left and right greet me and I nod in recognition towards most of them. I can feel someone collide against my back, the force almost making me topple over, but I catch myself at the last second and manage to uphold the weight of two people. I slowly stand up and look over my shoulder to see who it was that bumped into me.

A mess of brown hair and shocked blue eyes meet my gaze and the girl quickly straightens, waving her hands in front of her in a fretting manner. She has the normal school attire and her brown hair reaches the middle of her back. It's messy, as if she just woke up, but her eyes are very awake and panicked after she ran into me.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you! I'm really sorry!"

I straighten myself calmly, smiling slightly at the girl who's a little shorter than I am. I can't remember that I've seen her before. But I'm glad that she at least isn't a fan-girl; those types of girls are crazy.

"It's no problem; the important thing is that you didn't get hurt, right? Are you a new student here?"

The girl smiles happily, nodding her head in confirmation.

"Yes, I am! I came back from my father's business trip yesterday, so I start school today. Are you a part of the student council?"

I chuckle slightly, making my way towards the doors again with the new girl walking by my side. I smile at her kindly.

"No, I'm not. But I can show you the way towards the student council room, it's really easy to get lost in this huge school."

"Thank you so much!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That damn Jing, making the excuse that she has a lot of things to do and that way force me to show her around… all the while smirking with that annoying, amused glint in her eyes. Why couldn't she send that fucking butler of hers?! He was right there! I was this close to strangling her… But since the new student was there, I had to bear with it and be civil towards that president… Really, I hate that girl! Why did I have to sign myself up as her 'underling' during missions!? I am a silent killer; I shouldn't have to go through this kind of humiliation! Why did I decide that working with her was a good idea?!

… Because 'they' are still after me and would notice my way of killing…

But now I'm seriously considering just leaving this fucking school behind and living on old people's energy or hell, even plant energy could work. My enemies are getting closer to me after all; it might be time to move away.

As we stop in front of the principal's office, I turn around towards the blue-eyed girl with a pleasant smile on my face, acting as if those angry thoughts haven't gone through my head.

"Well, this is the principal's office; you'll sign up that you've arrived at the school here. You'll start your lessons tomorrow. I hope you have a great day, Quin Shan."

Quin smiles at me, happy that I remembered her name after she introduced herself on the way towards the council room.

"You too, Heng Ru Shi."

With that said, she opens the door and step inside, the assistant for the principal greeting her. Once the door is closed behind her, I turn around to go to the rooftop with a scowl on my face. I'm content enough that we are going on a mission tomorrow; I hope there will be some complications so that I can gather some time energy. If not, I will risk being noticed and kill a random person. Maybe seduce a slut at a bar or something.

I walk up the familiar stairs to the roof, opening the door to let the cool breeze caress my skin and hair. I sigh in content when the wind seems to blow away all my worries and I step outside, closing the door behind me. I have music now, so there's no use in going to class. And Jing did excuse me for the whole day so I have nothing to worry about. I walk over to the edge of the roof, leaning against the railing while looking out on the big city from the top of the school. All the things I've known has changed so much, it is as if I lived in a whole other world when I think back to the good times.

I sigh slightly, scratching my head as I continue to look at the endless city. I wonder when this will all stop…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What the hell is the meaning of this!?" –CRASH-

I'm staring angrily at Jing's calm face, the vase I have broken lying in pieces against the wall. The others in the room are tense, waiting for Jing to give them a signal or something. But she just stands there and stares at me with a blank face.

"Are you saying that there are no others who we have to visit this month!? Were there only two households?!"

My hands twitch in need to strangle to woman in front of me but I stand put, knowing that if I move forward, the others in the council will restrain me. It has been a whole month since I last drained energy! I'm almost out of time! The fucking curse will catch up to me any day now!

"There are no others we have to pursue; they have already paid their support to the school. These last two households were late for their payment and we came there to see if there would be any resistance. Since there were none, our job is done."

I grit my teeth in anger, forcing down a growl as I continue to glare at her. She's so calm that it's infuriating! She's so damn sure of herself that I won't attack, damn that bitch!

I'm just about to scream something else when 'that' feeling starts again. Jing seems to have noticed my change in behavior and an interested glint in her eyes starts to show. I glare at her one last time before I wheel around, stalking towards the door and pushing past that annoying blue-hair. With one last look over my shoulder, I glare at Jing before running out from the room.

I make a bee-line towards the bathroom, knowing that that's where there are least cameras, while taking out a small dagger from my sleeve and heating it up with my energy. I throw up the bathroom door and quickly close it behind me, that's when the aches and paralyzing starts. I scream in pain as my legs buckle under me, but I manage to catch myself from colliding with the floor with the hand that holds my dagger while the other clutches at my heart.

Shit, shit, shit! I haven't heated up the dagger enough yet!

With another scream of pain, blood starts to seep into my shirt and tainting it red. I pick up my dagger, letting go of my chest for the moment and proceed to cut open my uniform where my heart is. I manage to pick myself up slightly with a grunt of pain and I heavily hit my back against the door so I can treat myself better.

With the dagger shaking in my hand, I force more time energy into it, even though it hurts like hell. Once the dagger is hot enough, I quickly press the broad side at where my heart is and scream once again at the enormous pain. Even though I've done this many times before, I can never get used to the feeling of my whole body burning up from the inside. Bracing against the pain, I slowly turn my dagger in a circle all the while letting out silent screams. The first touch is always the worst.

It isn't until the knife has burned the whole wound that I manage to relax, my knife clattering against the floor. This fucking curse, it's one of the huge downfalls this necklace has. My father noticed it at a small scale with his own necklace but it's much worse for mine. I open my eyes, not really remembering when I closed them, and look down to my chest.

Just where my heart resides, is a small circle of black with a blob of grey surrounding it instead of my normal pale skin. I groan in annoyance, hitting my head against the door. So it started today, huh? Well, at least it won't come back until three days.

I sit there for a few more minutes before forcing myself to stand with a small grunt of pain since the after effect haven't really worn off yet. I pick up my bloodied dagger, slipping it back in place inside my sleeve and I survey the amount of blood in the room. It isn't too bad, there's a huge puddle where I'm standing and my uniform pants are completely soaked, but it's been worse. I crouch down and touch the warm blood, a shiver of delight coursing through my body.

I look up to the ceiling, spotting the camera right next to me in the corner. Lucky, it seems like if Jing would have looked through the camera, she wouldn't have been able to see the whole thing. Maybe only my legs and a pool of blood slowly spreading from me. There aren't any other cameras in the room other than this one, just like I thought. I take out one of my knives from my hip and hurl it with precision into the camera, impaling it in its lens. I sigh in relief, glad that she can't see me anymore and take off my necklace from around my neck, dangling it in front of me and staring at its eternal sand running through the hourglass.

I slowly lower the necklace towards the puddle of blood, the necklace starting to shine slightly in response. Once the necklace is touching the puddle of blood, I let it go. The necklace then proceeds to suck up the blood until there's only small stains here and there left.

It isn't until the necklace has stopped glowing that I pick it up again, smirking at it with a far-away look in my eyes.

"You always want something of mine, don't you? No matter what it is… You greedy bastard."

As if responding to me, its chain sends a small pulse through my body and I sigh in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. You're the boss." I say dryly while putting it on, the necklace pulse again before going quiet.

Ignoring the rest of my mess, I stop time and step out from the bathroom. No one's outside the door, but I do see Jing coming this way with a slight frown on her face in either frustration or thought. I guess she wants to question me or something, but I won't let her do that.

I close the bathroom door and quickly run down the corridor towards the exit but it isn't until I'm outside the school gate that I start time again. There's a camera at the gate so I want to walk by it like nothing happened to confuse them even more. With my hands in my pockets, I reverse the time for my clothes so they don't have blood on them, but I don't fix the rip in my chest. I walk by the camera calmly, not sparing it a glance and I can almost see the other's confused stares since I was in the bathroom close to the council room just a few minutes before. But that is if they are even watching the security cameras.

I love confusing people.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It isn't until three days later that something interesting happens. During these three days, Quin has continuously talked to me whenever she had the chance. She isn't a fan-girl like almost all other girls, who glared at Quin when they saw her talking to me, but I get the feeling that she's still after something. I haven't voiced this out loud, but I decided to play her game for a while longer.

Now, back to this fourth day.

I got the duty to clean the dojo after karate practice and when I was done, Jing's butler came to me and said that I should help them close the school for the night. Not really surprising since I know Jing takes pleasure in forcing me to work, that bitch. I got signed up to bar windows and lock doors in one area of the school while the others in the council take other areas. Here's where it gets exciting…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Locking one of the 120 doors in my area, I scowl in annoyance. This must be punishment for not answering Jing's questions this morning, why should I talk about what happened in the bathroom? It's my fucking curse so only I should know about it. And maybe Garel as well… Fuck, Gim knows as well… I really shouldn't have trusted anyone in my guild. That old man was a manipulative bastard now that I think back on it.

I lock another door, the click of the lock echoing through the long corridor. Only 114 more to go… I sigh but continue doing my task either way. Once you've started something, you have to finish it.

I quickly duck to the floor when I hear a swishing sound go through the air, if I hadn't ducked, my head would have gotten impaled by a knife instead of it clattering harmlessly over the floor. I stretch out my senses, feeling the presences of at least 20 people, maybe more. Considering that I haven't noticed them till now, I can assume they are well trained assassins. I grin as I slowly stand up in my normal fighting position, my back against the wall and facing my enemies who are hiding in the shadows. This will be fun… Although, I'm a little disappointed in myself; I should have noticed them earlier. I've had it a little too safe lately.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A small army of assassins just to get me? I must say that I feel a little star struck."

As if to answer my call, the assassins come out from the shadows to surround me, there being at least 20 of them just like I thought. Although, there are more hiding as back-up. My grin grows wider and I crack my neck as I prepare myself for a fight. To my surprise, though, none of them jump to attack me; instead the assassin in front of me starts to speak but he still keeps his distance.

"Garel Evans, we are here to bring you with us to our organization Raven Wing. Since you are a rogue of Xian Hong, we have been searching for you to provide you protection from being killed. You are a skilled assassin and the one Xian Hong calls the reincarnation of the White Snake. We would be honored to have you in our ranks."

I stare at him blankly. Do they really think that I'll believe that? It's half true, but come on; Raven Wing is one of the organizations which have been lurking around trying to find our hideout and they must have gotten a hold of some of those information leaks we've had. I trusted Gim enough to tell him about my powers and then suddenly everyone in Xian Hong knew about it. It was only a question of time before the information spread outside the organisation, really, so I wasn't all that surprised that they'd heard about my powers. And if they've heard about my powers, then they'd obviously want me for them. My title as rogue is only an convenient excuse for them to get me on their side.

"You think I would believe that? You want to protect me? As if; you just want to use me for your organization's benefits."

The leader assassin's eyes narrow as he draws out his weapons; two swords. The other assassins follow his example and I smirk at the clear message.

"If we can't make you come willingly, we'll take you by force."

I sigh in annoyance at their idiocy, but don't draw out my sword; fooling them should be a lot of fun, especially considering that they are assassins. They should provide a bit of challenge. It has been a while since I fooled anyone that badly, too... time to put on a face mask.

I hold up my hands in a kind of surrender, shaking my head with my smirk still in place.

"Why would you need to bring a small army though? Are you that scared of me? Those little mice hiding in the shadows, are they too afraid to meet the cat? Or are they just there because you say so? Either way, it doesn't matter. If I want to kill them, they're dead. But I won't do any unnecessary kills no matter what you've heard of me." I cross my arms calmly over my chest as they get even warier than before; they're not so stupid as to believe me immediately. Oh how fun it will be to build their hopes just to crush them after I bring out my trump card.

"You know, it's annoying when someone doesn't face me with their full strength. How about this, if you let all your little mice come forward, I'll concede depending on your numbers, alright? If you're over 40, I'll surrender. But if you're under 40, I'll kill you all. Here, take this, now I can't attack you by surprise." I take off my necklace using the clips and throw it to the assassin next to the leader. They all look at me in shock, obviously knowing that my necklace is the source of my powers. With narrowed eyes looking at the necklace, the leader waves forth his hidden assassins. I start to count them calmly while standing on my toes to look over all the tall people.

"2,4,6,8,10,12,14… 45. Well, it seems like you're over 40, I admit, I surrender." I start to smirk cockily, preparing to draw out my sword. Time to spring my little mouse-trap.

Suddenly, my necklace starts to glow and the man holding it starts screaming in pain. The others tense up at the sudden noise but I simply crouch down, my hand turned upwards and pointing towards the screaming man. His screams die out and he slowly turns into dust. the moment his hand dissolves, the necklace shoots out from it, the hourglass pulling the chain as if it's being drawn towards me by an invisible force.

I lower my hand to the ground and once it touches my finger, the chain wraps itself around it and quickly crawls up to my wrist hanging on tightly, but it's slowly moving uptowards my neck from under the sleeve of my shirt. While this is happening, I look at the group of assassins with a grin on my face.

"Of course, I mean surrender you all to death."

With that, I disappear from their sight by stopping time. I quickly take out my sword, awakening it by stroking Siwang Shumo's blade, and slash the throats of some of them - an easy way for an assured kill - to thin their number, leaving about a fourth of them.

Soon after time has started again, those who I slashed remain standing for about two seconds before they crumple to the ground with blood gushing out from their throats. I smirk at the ones who are left, their faces showing slight shock and horror before they compose themselves and quickly jump back to gain distance. Those faces were hilarious! I knew it was worth it to fool them this way. Now, let's have a slight dance, it has been a while.

I take out my hidden knife so I can use both hands to block attacks. I move onto my practiced style for dual weapons with one short weapon and one long weapon, it's like a self-made dance.

"You are all fools for believing in me. The White Snake has always been deceiving and taking on a dual impression. How could you have forgotten that? You'll now die for your clumsy mistake."

After saying that, I attack.

It's quite fun and I can feel myself enjoying the workout I'm experiencing. Short block, long cut, short cut, long block, short block, and so on. When the assassins have gotten used to my little dance, I change it completely to catch them off guard. It takes many years of practice to use the same weapon but have two different styles of attacking. Their shocked reactions were really amusing but this time they composed themselves sooner than last time. But I'm a little disappointed that those assassins who hid in the shadows before go back into hiding. No matter where they're hiding, I'll be able to find them to cut them down. I'll give them slight mercy and let them flee for the moment. I'll kill those who are visible first.

My attackers fall back to regroup and I stand still, surrounded by many dead bodies, either cut to be killed immediately or to drain them empty of energy. They have been reduced by a lot, there are only 8 left now and counting the bodies on the floor I count them to being 26 from the beginning with others still hiding in the shadows. I even feel tired; I've really had it too safe up until now. But oh, well. It's good for me to work out some.

Wiping some sweat from my forehead, I place myself in a fighting stance once again with a grin on my face, waiting for them to make the first move. The leader hasn't attacked me yet, only standing in the back and given orders on how to attack and work together. I must say, he is a great leader; he's making them work together really well.

"You're handling this well; it's been a long time since I've been this tired from a fight." I pant out, my exhaustion getting the best of me. The other assassins are worse than me though so I guess that's something positive.

"But…" My grin grows wider and I retract my hidden knife. "Killing you all is child's game."

As I stop time again, I jump towards where the assassin closest to me is hiding. Just when I'm standing in front of the plant it's hiding behind, any untrained eye wouldn't be able to notice him in the dark, I start time again to make it seem like I suddenly appear there out of nowhere. I bury my blade deep within the assassin's gut, making him scream out in pain. I drain just the right amount time energy to kill him before I move onto the net hidden victim. It isn't before she is dead that the visible assassins attack me. But I'm too fast for them. Soon, those 7 are dead after cutting them down while the time is stopped.

The leader does a sign and the rest of the assassins come out from the shadows with one jumping behind the leader instead of in front of him, I guess the last one is their trump card. 11 against one, no big deal. Time stops yet again, but what I haven't accounted for was to be shot at while it's stopped. I quickly jump back to avoid the… needles? Fuck, this doesn't look good…

I meet the eyes of the shooter, they standing behind the leader with the weapon pointed towards me. I narrow my eyes at him and start to cut down the assassins standing in my way so I can get to the shooter while the time is still stopped.

Although the shooter shoots at me again and I duck behind one of the frozen assassins for cover. That's when my powers decide to be a bastard towards me… Time starts again and I have to dodge a slash from the assassin I was hiding behind. I stop time again and cut down the assassins while dodging the needles shot from that fucking weapon.

The weapon… It's especially made to make the curse of the necklace react stronger, a weapon which father made in case someone would steal his necklace. It's been in safe-keeping in Xian Hong's vault and it has never been used, but now it's used against me. I forgot to destroy that fucking weapon when I left Xian Hong!

It's metal look a little tainted from age, but it works just fine. It's similar to a rifle but a little simpler since it doesn't use bullets. Inside its magazine is a certain substance which my body will react to badly. The needles which are shot out from the gun are bathing in the substance and they have to be in the substance for at least three minutes before they can be shot. They're shot two and two and to reload the gun, you simply take off the magazine holder and replace the needles with new ones without pouring out the substance.

A non-lethal weapon for anyone except for those who bear the necklace curse… How the hell did Raven Wing get their hands on that? And I didn't know it was a time weapon!

Once all assassins except for the leader and the shooter are cut to death, I start time again and rush towards the shooter. I run in a half circle, getting closer to the two assassins. When the magazine gets empty, I'll end them. The leader seems much more skillful than the other assassins I've fought. That must be why he's the leader after all. I have to get through him to get to the shooter, that much is obvious. Stopping time wouldn't really help since that weapon is a time weapon. And why not test out the strength of the strongest person in the group? It might be fun.

The leader must have seen the determination in my eyes because he draws out his two swords and block my way towards the shooter, just like I anticipated. We dance for a while, me dodging the needles flying towards me but I'm wearing a grin on my face. This guy's really skilful and strong. His style of fighting is quite similar to mine, brutal but fast and coordinated. Where did this guy train? He's great.

I disarm the leader from his swords and make him fall to the ground by kicking the back of his knees and then shoving him hard in the chest so he falls backwards. Although, I shouldn't have looked down to the floor… Needles… Loads of needles lying on the ground and making those horrid memories rise to the surface. What makes me say that I shouldn't have looked at the needles is because I don't focus on anything when those memories come up.

The shooter has a clear shot.

Thanks to the leader moving his head makes me focus again and I quickly dodge the two last needles which are shot at me before I throw my sword in his throat, killing him instantly. What I didn't count for is that the shot which he shot before he died scratches the back side of my hand. It's just enough for the needle to impale my skin and let the substance seep inside my hand. With a panicked face, I rip away the needle from my hand, stumbling backwards and tripping over the leader. When I notice who it is I tripped over, I hit him hard in the chest with my leg before he can rise any more, he was halfway sitting up when I tripped over him.

The leader coughs loudly, holding onto his chest as he falls down to the floor again. Out of accident, I focus on the floor around me again and see the needles. As if mirroring my worst nightmare, hundreds of needles are surrounding me, although they might be less in reality but to me they're everywhere I look. I scramble backwards, the leader assassin disappearing from my vision as I focus on the needles instead. Those horrid images, needles everywhere, always in pain, injected with substance after substance, the enemy trying to make me talk about my organization, more pain, they took my necklace.

I stare down at my shaking hands, they're red with blood but that's not what I'm focusing on. My right hand, where the needle hit me is slowly growing grey, a little dust here and there falling from my hand. I come back to reality when I sense someone getting closer to me and I react instantly. I take out my hidden knife and spring up from my sitting position towards the one who's advancing towards me. I push the person down on the ground and am just about to stab them in the neck when I see their face.

During my panic attack, the leader has taken off their headpiece to breathe easier I believe and I'm staring into a pair of shocked, familiar aqua blue eyes with messy brown hair on the forehead. I stare at him in shock although my body pins him down out of reflex and I don't let him go.

Even if he is my adoptive son.

I smile bitterly, letting out a dry laugh. Chou stares at me in confusion and I can see that there's a battle going on inside him. I guess he's confused why I'm acting so much like his 'father' did towards needles. I have to kill him so why not let him know it's me. Although, I know Jing has microphones here so I better speak quietly and say as little as possible, just to be sure.

"Heh, this is ironic. I can remember many times when I've pinned you down like this during training. So that's why they got the weapon and why your style is so similar to mine, huh? Raven Wing and Xian Hong ganged up together… It's that bastard Gim's fault, he and his stupid set ups."

Chou's eyes widen at my words, his body going slack in shock as he stare deeply into my eyes.

"Y-you are-?"

I give him a small grin and nod in confirmation. He gets this desperate look in his eyes, he's desperate to know something, I recognize that look.

"Bu-but how? I saw you die right in front of me."

"There are many things about me that you don't know. Although I have to kill you now, you know that. Unless you're willing to become a rouge too that is. I can't let you go back to the organization, you must realize that…"

Chou stare up at me with a mix of feelings, confusion, relief, doubt, hurt, understanding, well, he's a mess right now. I give a dry laugh at the thought.

"You were never really good at hiding emotions from your eyes… Guess you still haven't grown out from that habit…"

"Pa…" He says quietly, his resolve wavering. I glance down at my hand, the grey is spreading up my arm, I better get to a safe place before the curse takes over completely. I lift up my hidden knife so Chou can see it, putting on a blank face as I talk to him.

"You have to choose now. Go with me on the way of rouge, or die by my blade?"

Chou stares at my blade, his mind going through many possibilities and thoughts but his eyes gets determined and he meets my gaze. Blue meets yellow and I can see his answer in his eyes even before he says it and my eyes soften in response.

"You are the person who saved me from death and loneliness. You've made me strong and I've learned so many things from you. You've protected me countless times, now it's my turn to protect you. I'll go with you, let me walk the rouge path beside you."

I get off him, retracting my hidden knife and giving him my hand to help him up. He gratefully accepts it and once we're both standing up, him being taller than me, silent thanks pass between us. Chou's eyes soften as he once again gets to experience the silent messages we've been able to make, a twitch of a smile reach my lips and I move towards my sword which is still impaled into the dead assassin. I rip it out before I turn towards Chou with a serious glare, Chou too have collected his weapons.

"I'm sorry that I left you, Chou. Call me Heng Shi now, my alias is Heng Ru Shi since I became rouge. I've been going to this school for a long time, keeping a low profile. Although, there's a woman here who's too interested in me so you can never mention anything related to me, understand?"

"Yes. I got your back Pa-I mean Heng Shi."

I smirk in amusement at his slip-up; he still wants to call me his pa, huh? Not dad, not father, not papa, but just a simple 'Pa'. It's strange, now that our bodies are almost at the same age with him being the older one. I look at my hand which has turned grey, it's spreading faster, I better get to safety.

"Come on Chou." I tell him before I break into a sprint towards the exit, Chou following me soon after. I easily navigate through the corridors towards the exit, but what I didn't count on was to meet one from the council on the way out and I stop in my tracks.

Hong Hua, the secretary… Damn, why did I have to meet someone now?

Hua notice me out of the corner of her eye before I can slip into the shadows so I start to walk forward, her gaze meeting mine as I approach. Her eyes flicker to Chou behind me and a flash of interest goes through her eyes. Though she nods in greeting.

"Heng Ru Shi. Have you already finished with locking the doors and windows in your area?"

I scowl in annoyance and glare at her, I forgot about those stupid doors. I casually put my hands in my pockets to hide my grey skin as I answer her bitterly.

"No, I haven't. Why should I when you seem to have the time right now? You're on your way towards the council room after all."

Hong Pushes up her glasses as she stare back at me. "Because it was your area to lock up, you should get your job done before you leave."

My scrawl gets deeper and I stop in front of her, looking up into her eyes defiantly. "Well, I'm leaving now because there's a huge mess of assassin bodies lying in my area so it gets kind of hard to walk around on the floor. Besides, I have to clear out the rest of the trash outside; it's only me they want."

I then step around her to leave with Chou trailing behind me. Hong calls after me but I keep on walking.

"The one with you is an old friend of yours I suppose. But what are you going to do after?"

I lift up my good hand in goodbye and call to her before I get to disappear around the corner.

"It has been horrible to work with you!"

When I get out of sight from Hong, I break into a sprint again. It's not soon after that pain starts to course through my body. I let out a silent scream, falling to the ground while clutching my heart in pain.

"Heng Shi!" Chou exclaims in worry, getting down on his knees to help me up. I shove him away and stand up by myself, clutching at my heart in pain. It will soon bleed; I must get to a place where no one will see me.

I continue to run even though pain shoots up my legs for every step I take, Chou, showing his caring personality towards me, notice this and tell me to stop running.

"No, I have to get to a place where no one will see me."

"But you're in pain! What exactly is happening to you?"

I force out a dry laugh and I glance up at him through the corner of my eye.

"So you led them towards the gun even without knowing what it would do to the victim?" Chou gets a guilty look in his eyes and I pass on a silent message that it isn't his fault, he nods in understanding. I look forward again as I explain to his what the substance does to me.

"Well, you know that it's made to make me immobile, right? But that's only a big, fat, lie. That stuff in the gun is a toxic for those like me. It makes our curse stronger and spreads much sooner than it should. First, our skin gets grey because our skin cells are aging faster; it slowly makes us immobile and makes pulses of enormous pain course through our body. After grey comes black, now that's the worst. The black part just around my heart bleeds heavily, almost like a hole has opened there and the only way to close it is to burn it closed. This curse sucks out our energy, but we won't turn into dust in the end because our skin is completely solid. I believe that the black part is some kind of hardened skin, a stone-like material."

"Stone?! So you're slowly turning into stone because of that curse?" I glare at him for saying it so loudly and I turn a right so we can run down the stairs which will lead to the huge corridor with the exit.

"Not exactly, just hardened cells. I don't know how that works, but I don't want to figure it out either. The only thing I know is that if the black covers me completely, I'll die. The gray makes me unable to move and the black will harden my body, if my insides stays unharmed from both grey and black cells, I think I can survive. Although, I'll have to live as a stone forever."

"I won't let that happen. Not after I've found you alive." I smirk slightly at his determination and I flinch as another pain attack goes through me, making me stumble. Chou catches me before I hit the ground and we continue to run.

"You know, P-Heng Shi…" I glance at him in interest, but Chou avoids my gaze and stares forward.

"What is it?" I ask with slight annoyance. My reply seems to have an opposite effect than what I thought, because he starts to smile.

"You've changed, Heng Shi… I don't really know what that's changed, but you seem more… open. And you don't seem as angry and bitter as you did back then. You've met people, who you've accepted, haven't you?"

I frown slightly at his conclusion, looking ahead as well and pushing the pain aside so I can think clearly. I guess he's right… I have been less annoyed and angry lately; I think it started about a month ago… The last mission? Maybe… And I have accepted people, like Prince and Garel. I have let Garel in on my secrets and I trained Prince similar to how I trained Chou. I hate Jing but I just can't bring myself to kill her, I guess that's something.

"Yes… Yes I have…"

I can feel Chou's stare but now it's my turn to not meet it. He knows that I rarely confess something so I think it's because I opened up myself to him slightly that he's surprised. Damn kid… Because I'm so happy to meet him again, I've forgotten to be bitter…

I slam against the door, trying to open it but it's locked. It isn't locked by the normal lock because that's open. It must be something else that's holding them put. Another lock which keeps the door shut through the floor. But I don't see any of those kinds of locks here.

"Jing…" My eyes narrow in anger as I realize who must be behind this, only Jing has total control of the school aside of the teachers. There's technology everywhere, of course there would be a second lock on the front entrance. Damn that persistent woman!

Another shock of pain courses through my body and this time I let out a small exclamation of pain, it's started to bleed. Chou sees this and takes me into his arms bridal style, ignoring my silent protest. He spots a huge window quite far up and he backs up quickly with the window in his line of sight. I look up and meet his eyes, giving him a silent nod and touching my necklace. Chou nod in return and with that he starts to run towards the wall at a high speed. I focus on my time energy, drawing a little energy from Chou so I can help him in the way I can. As he's running up the wall, I form time energy under his feet to act like magnets for his shoes on the wall. Chou tense up in surprise but continue running. Once he reaches the window, he breaks through with his shoulder first, holding his face down to protect it from harm.

He lands heavily on the ground, causing a second huge wave of pain course through me and making me scream a little louder this time. Chou looks around the school ground as if searching for something and once he finds it, he starts running in that direction. Luckily, it isn't the school gate. The hidden way the assassins took to get inside must be that way.

"Chou! Heng Shi!" Someone calls after us. But Chou doesn't stop but rather runs even faster, this makes the voice grow frustrated.

"Come on! I'm not going to kill him! You know that wasn't my mission anyway!"

Chou decides to slow down slightly so the voice can catch up to us and once they're running side by side with Chou, I can see who they are. It's Quin, the new student. So she was a spy sent to watch over me and give layout on the school ground, huh? I knew she was after something.

Quin glance down at me with a smirk on her lips, a playful look in her eyes.

"Man, Heng Shi, you look horrible. What happened to make you bleed so much?"

I glare at her, flinching because of the pain in my body and clutch the area where I'm bleeding harder.

"Fuck off. I knew you were after something. A spy, huh?"

Quin looks forward with a grim look and jump over something, but I don't pay attention to what it was, my mind's too hazy from the pain and blood loss.

"You can say that. But not only was I supposed to give out information on the school grounds and give out information on you, I was also supposed to gain your trust."

I want to raise an eyebrow at that, but the pain won't let me so I settle with a snort.

"My trust?" Quin nods.

"Yeah, your trust. I was supposed to lead you to an ambush later so we could capture you and use you for our organization by force. Although, as I got to know you during those three days, I managed to look slightly past that façade of yours. What I saw was someone who would refuse to listen to orders and stop at nothing to escape. Not only that, but you're starting to lose yourself. If I would have forced you into that ambush, you wouldn't be you anymore."

I laugh shortly at the irony, coughing because it brought pain to my chest. My vision is getting woozy; I'm losing too much blood.

"Pretty observant… But losing myself? I've already done that. It was a long time ago. When they died, I lost myself."

Quin looks down at me questionably but they keep on running. We've already gotten out from the school grounds, huh? I never noticed. Damn, I need to seal that bleeding. I try to twitch my fingers, but they don't respond. Fuck, the grey part has already reached my spine? This isn't good…

"Stop… I need to seal the hole." I tell them fiercely; even though I can't move my body I can still talk. I don't know why, but I don't really care.

Chou nods and he stops by a tree to set me down, he looks at the blood covering my school uniform in concern. Quin jumps up on the tree to be on look-out while Chou tends to me. Good, I would have told her to do it if she didn't take the initiative. Chou carefully takes off my school uniform with me emitting grunts in pain when he jumbles my body. He gets more careful when he notices my hidden weapons underneath my jacket. It isn't once he sees my bare chest that he asks me what's going on.

"Just shut up and give me a knife."

Chou picks up one of the knifes from my jacket and hold it up for me to take but I simply stare at it blankly, not being able to even move my head from it's leaning position against the tree trunk.

"Are you stupid? I said that this would immobilize me, didn't I?"

Chou nods, a flustered look in eyes as he realize what it meant and he picks up my hand and take it to the knife. On second thought, maybe they have something to heat it up with other than me using my energy; the grey will spread faster if I use my powers. With that thought in mind, I look at Chou seriously.

"On second thought, do you have anything to heathen up the knife?"

Chou nod and digs in his pocket, taking out a lighter. He then lights it and bring the flame to the tip of my knife, I curse out loud. This will take forever; I have to use my time energy. I take a little help from the flame to heat up the blade and Chou lean back slightly in shock when he sees the grey spreading faster across my body as well as the black. He voices this out loud but I tell him to shut up and continue heating it up. Once the knife is completely heated up, smoke emitting from the blade, I tell him to put it against the hole. Chou is hesitant to do it though.

"Oh, for crying out loud. What the hell made you care about my well-being so damn much? I'm still me, now stop being a pussy and do as I say."

After hearing the fierce tone in my voice, he finally presses the broad side of the blade against my hole. I scream in pain even though I try to force it down, but my body doesn't twitch since I can't move it anyway. Panting because of my body practically burning, I tell him with grunts to turn the blade in a circle. He does as I say and I scream more silently this time, Quin soon comes down to see what's happening just when the hole is completely closed. But the grey and black is still spreading because of the poison which got inside of me. It will soon cover me completely.

"What's happening?" Quin ask us wearily, looking at me with something similar to concern. I grin weakly as I open an eye to look up at her.

"I'm dying, that's what's happening."

"No! I won't let that happen! Not again!" Chou exclaims, hitting the ground while looking fiercely at me. Ah, so seeing me die is what made him care more about me, ey? I guess we assassins can still make those caring bonds.

I look at Chou seriously, narrowing my eyes at him so I can see his face more clearly. My vision is still hazy from blood loss.

"My fate to die was sealed when that fucking needle hit me back at the school. I was unable to move just after we jumped out from that window I think, there's not much time left. And that Hong and the locked door made me lose valuable time too, those bastards always wanting to know too much and annoying me at the worst of mome-… " I trail off, thinking about what I just said and what it was which caused an uneasy feeling to grow inside me.

It has something to do with those bastards in the council…Jing. Because of the closed door? No, it's something else… They could track me somehow? How could they track me?

"I can speak to you through your brooch, now come to my office, we are starting our mission."

My eyes widen as I realize what it is. That brooch which holds the school crest, Jing can see where they are; hear what they're saying as well as talking to them. I found it out on the last mission when I locked myself up on the rooftop after class while I was waiting for the mission to start.

"Fuck! That bitch can hear us! She's heard the whole thing! Destroy that fucking brooch, we need to move now!"

Quin destroys the brooch while Chou picks me up again. Quin takes my jacket and my knives with her and the two of them start running again, I tell them to turn a right which will lead them to an abandoned assassin guild I attacked some years ago.

This situation is not good… No matter how much I don't want to say it, I'm glad that I have two allies right now…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Heng Shi: …

Hi! Was the chapter any good? Now he's left the school and won't meet Jing anymore directly. I've lost contact with Vampie-chan, so I had to take Jing out of the picture… I hope Vampie's okay… Although, I've planned to do this from the beginning. Now it's going to focus on real life for about two chapters and then we'll go back to the game again. Do you guys remember Chou? From the last chapter? Now father and son are united again!

Heng Shi: … What. The. Hell was that?!

-Jumps a little at his sudden shout and look at him nervously- Ehm… What was what?

Heng Shi: -Glares at me darkly- You know fully well what I mean! What the hell was all that?!

Ehm… Me giving you a reason to get away from Jing…?

Heng Shi: That is one good part, but why the hell did you make them use that fucking toxin against me!? And what the hell is the deal with that girl!? And now that bitch knows too much! Just what the hell were you thinking!? Didn't you say that you won't include Jing in the story anymore?! Now she's going to be even more fucking curious!

Well, I'm sorry, but that's how the Brooch works! And you had to explain to Chou what was going on, or else Chou would get too worried! You know how Chou is with you! And besides, they had to clear up your mess, It's possible that she hasn't listened to you talking and just closed off the main gate so she could deal with you later! –shakily takes a few steps back, holding Bubblan close to my chest to give me a sense of protection-

Heng Shi: She better not have listened, or I will fucking kill you in your sleep! I should have taken over this story to begin with, you expose way too much!

And I have to explain more, my readers needs to know you better!

Heng Shi: The hell they are! I can be a mysterious character which no one knows anything about but they just like him for his cool and awesome personality!

-Blinks rapidly in surprise- Are you talking about Xellos?

Heng Shi: -Snort- No, you get to know about Xellos near the end of the anime, right? I'm saying that I should be the first of those characters! Someone with a mysterious background and powers!

-Tilts head to the side with a question mark over my head- You want to be Sebastian?

Heng Shi: No, damn it! Just don't reveal my true name!

But if I don't reveal things about you, you wouldn't be you anymore Heng Shi.

Heng Shi: That doesn't make any sense at all, just don't reveal anything else, simple as that!

-Talks to Bubblan- I think he's confusing himself, don't you think so?

Heng Shi: You're hopeless!

Anyway, bye, bye people! I hope I can see you soon! I have to update '12 again' before I update this again though, so please bear with me, alright? Bubblan says bye too!