That night, she cried to sleep. There was nothing she could do to stop it. Electricity crackled around her as tears fell down her cheeks. If only he hadn't gone. If only she had followed him. If only they'd never separated. If only there was never a war. If only... She'd never been born.

"Ryushi-nii," she sobbed in the darkness. "I never wanted to live!"

Then there was a voice. Someday, imouto-chan, you'll find your true 'nakama'. People who will accept you for you are. People who will stay by you, no matter what. And one day, you'll find love stronger than a thousand seas. It was his voice from long ago. It was faint, but she remembered it so well. The starry sky when they were together, his tender voice, his soft touch and his arms which gathered her together.

"Ryushi-nii, really?" She remembered herself saying. Don't doubt my words, imouto-chan. One day, truly.

-3-

His amber eyes didn't close. The night had been eventful and his mind was whirling with thoughts. Thoughts that shouldn't be there. The guys he had hired had been too easily defeated, and the bounty had slipped out of his hands. He'd known from the moment he'd met her. She wasn't just any normal girl with an average life story. She was a fortress with stories to unfold. Stories that shouldn't be told. That was the feeling he got. And, although it wasn't mentioned, it was most likely the reason why the government wanted her back so badly.

His feet padded across the carpeted floor like a mouse as he slipped into his office chair and opened his laptop. The light illuminated in his face, creating a deathly glow. Once his laptop had loaded, he typed in Okinihara. It was a place he'd briefly heard before, but never studied. Nevertheless, he would uncover its secret. It had been a government-protected land for so long. A place for no one to enter. So no one bothered about it. But right now, it could have the answers he wanted.

There was only one article, blocked by the government, who controlled and monitored every electronic in the country. There were ways to hack into though, that only a limited selection of people knew. Unless they searched deep into the internet, they wouldn't be able to find the code. Asano's fingers were barely visible as he entered the code and broke in. He'd done it too many times, but thankfully, his firewall was thick enough that no one would be able to track it back to him.

Asano skimmed through the pictures. He wasn't interested in all that useless information. They held nothing but colour and lines. What he really wanted to know would be written. But just as he was about to start reading, a picture caught his eye. The background was dark and the only vibrant colour was the red and orange of the raging fire in the centre of the picture. Around it, people fleeing for their lives, burnt down buildings and furniture turned to ashes. You couldn't tell if it was day or night. But just in the corner, there was a young girl. Probably around the age of ten. Her hair was long and played around her ankles. Her ragged clothes were brown, stained from ashes, dirt and the usual rubbish. But there was no doubt about it. Her deep black eyes gave it all away. It was Sakusa Kimi.

"So I was right. She isn't some normal girl," he muttered under his breath. Asano couldn't help but wonder what she'd suffered all these years. Had she just come out of war last year?

He scrolled through and read. Oikinihara was a lively city once; full with branded shops, rich and happy people. It was the second most populated city, next to Tokyo. But just beside all that, unbeknownst to anyone, was a government experiment and research facility. It was researching something big, something dangerous and no one outside of the government was supposed to know about it. One night, the Council of the City - the organization which was in charge of everything that happened in the city - happened to stumble upon the facility's researches. The government had been attempting to create a biological weapon, a virus that brought death so quickly that no one would notice if you died. The Council announced the discovery and ordered an evacuation. But the government put a stop to it all. The bombed the place, the killed the whole Council and arrested all who tried to escape. They turned the city into a war zone and threatened to release the virus on anyone who tried to run. Stragglers weren't allowed to escape either, no matter the age. The government spent the last years trying to annihilate the entire population, all while keeping it all under wraps from the media. It was incredible really.

Asano breathed. That couldn't be the only reason they wanted Sakusa. The starting of the war happened fourteen years ago. Sakusa could've only been two at most. As he closed his laptop that night, his frustration grew. He was closer to uncovering Sakusa Kimi, but not close enough.

-3-

The next day, Sakusa woke up late. The sun was already high in the sky, and the birds were shrieking too loud for it to be morning. She checked the cheap alarm clock on her wooden table. It was twelve - ten pm. And she still had to stop by at a shop miles away. Her brain screaming at her to wake up and get ready, Sakusa threw her crumpled school uniform on and rushed downstairs after brushing her teeth in a second.

"Sakusa-san!" You're late!" Tsukishima exclaimed as she scrambled to the kitchen, "Wait, wait. I have breakfast for you. Leftover pork buns from yesterday."

"Tsukishima-san! You're too nice. Thank you so much!" she said with earnest gratitude. She took the buns and rushed out of the inn, yelling a short goodbye to the old lady. Tsukishima-san smiled. Sakusa reminded her so much of her late daughter.

Sakusa found herself in the middle of lunch as students rushed about with their friends. Her red face was boiling when she came out of the office with a tardy slip. She'd have to give the small piece of paper to her next sensei.

Karma strode over to her with his Cheshire grin as he nodded a greeting. "I see you're late. The thrill of last night get to you?"

The teenage girl felt the embarrassment creep up, her cheeks turned pink. "Last night... Yes, I guess," she said coolly before adding in a panicked tone, "Don't anyone about it - your fangirls are going to kill me. I'm not kidding." Inside of her, she wondered if he'd seen her go all crazy, wondered if he was just pretending he didn't see the monster inside of her.

Karma winked, "Consider it forgotten. But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if some random guy wanted to attack me as well, to get to you."

"I seriously doubt that," Sakusa said with a hint of a smile. Suddenly, she seemed embarrassed again.

"Something the matter, Sakusa-san?"

She looked away with a jerk of her head as she thrust a small box into Karma's palm. His amber eyes glittered as he took it in surprise. "Thank you for last night! I'll help you with Hana - because you helped me, nothing other than that," she replied quickly, turning to a tomato. He slowly unwrapped the box and lifted the lid. It was a box of expensive chocolates that he absolutely adored but never really bought because it was on the other side of town.

"Wo. I didn't expect this but thank you, Sakusa-san!" His genuine beam made Sakusa's heart flutter with warmth, and she thought she felt another feeling, but it flickered away. Karma's smile grew confident as he looked down on her, "Alright, follow me Sakusa-san."

They found a secluded table near a tree at the back of the school. The place was empty apart from the pair, and the wind felt like roaring of lions. Karma sat her down and then plonked down on the bench opposite her. The table in front of them was small and old, like it'd been here since the beginnings of the school.

"So, here's what we need to do. I need to find the correct Hana. I tried to trace it back to Ko-" he stopped, "I tried to search their backgrounds but it was a failure. We need to ask them personally. You will need to make up with Horiki-san and I will take care of Sawada-sensei."

"And, what am I supposed to say? Oh, Karma Akabane wants to see if you're his Cinderella?" she asked sarcastically.

"Cinderella? No. I... I haven't really figured it out yet," Karma said thoughtfully as he tapped his chin. His head was tilted towards the table, deep in thought. Sakusa had never seen him think so much and she'd never once see him lower his head for anyone. He always so confident that he looked down upon everyone. Now, he was actually humbling himself for this person.

"If you want me to help you, you're going to have to tell me the whole story," Sakusa demanded.

Karma paused and then sighed as he looked at Sakusa, "Alright then. My teacher set me to this task."

"Your teacher? You mean... The really good one. But you said you wanted to find this person because someone close to you asked you to," Sakusa said sharply.

"Yes. He's the good teacher..." he paused, "And yes, he is close to me." In a way, saying that aloud felt weird. "Anyway, he asked me to find this person called Hana, before he died last year. So I don't know which Hana or why he even asked me. But I knew it was because she was in my school. Horiki Hana, and Sawada Hana - both from our school. I don't what connection my teacher had with Hana, but I intend to find out."

"I'm so sorry, it must've been sad." Karma looked at her in creeping confusion. "The death I mean."

"Oh right. Yes," he said before murmuring to himself, "The whole class was there..."

Sakusa clicked her tongue. "Just tell me everything - after what I've been through, I can hardly call anything unbelievable anymore."

"Everything you've been through? What have you gone through that makes you say that?" Karma asked slyly as he glanced at Sakusa out of the corner of his eye. "Traumatic?"

"We're talking about you, at the moment. Just get to the point," she said curtly, cleverly avoiding the fact that she'd have to share as well.

"Alright then. I won't tell you much, but our teacher was someone who was not exactly favourable in the government's eyes. They wanted him dead and they got him dead. But before he died, he gave us all individual books given and written by him. At the back of mine; Look after Hana for me. No one else got the message - so I figured it had to be someone from this school, since I was the only who got into this school."

"Do you miss him?" Sakusa asked.

Karma looked up it mild surprise, it hadn't been the first question he'd thought she'd ask. "Uh..." he paused. Yes, the truth will be sufficient. "Yes, he was the best teacher I'd ever had."

Sakusa lifted her head and looked up into the clouds. "I have someone I miss too. You were right, Karma-kun. I did have a brother. A long time ago. But then he left."

The redhead boy studied her with curiosity and awe. The tough nut he'd thought he would never crack, had a soft past too. "What happened?"

"He told me to choose. Between him and my integrity. I chose to stay where I was, no matter how hard it was," Sakusa whispered, "It was hard... and I was only eight."

There was something about her that made Karma clam up. There was a mix of feelings in her eyes. He couldn't identify all of them but there was definitely sadness. Overwhelming sadness. He didn't ask any more questions. "Koro Sensei was an assassin before he was caught and then turned into a guinea pig for experiments." He watched Sakusa closely as her eyes glimmered with something unknown. "The scientists worked on him and then he escaped. He met a woman there too, but she died in his arms. Whenever we tried to kill him, it somehow brought delight in his unmoving eyes. Even though we couldn't tell by his expression, it was a feeling that we all sensed."

Sakusa looked at him, "You had a good teacher too, I can tell." She tilted her head and smiled, "I wish I met him."

Karma cleared his throat, "Anyways. I have friends who can help us. I'll ask them to make a truth serum. All we have to do after that is find a private time and place to force the truth out of them. Then we can know for sure. Unless their minds have been wiped - but then again, that's unlikely."

"Truth serum?" the girl looked at him skeptically, "I didn't think such a thing existed. Plus, how amazing are your friends?"

"Pretty amazing! They are Class E students, of course they can do it!" He beamed. Sakusa couldn't stop herself from smiling, and she couldn't help but trust these friends of his.