lumigo akvo9504: Hum... could you tell me which phrases you found strange? That would help me a lot! Glad you liked the chapter and the story! And I give you my condolences, school sucks hehe.

GG: I unfortunately can't tell you that. Maybe you're right, maybe you're not. You'll have to stick around and see ;).

Lillar101: Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. What would be the point in telling you? But if everything goes as planned, you'll find out soon... I think.

I'm baaaaack! Sorry for the wait, life decided it was a good time to make itself very... difficult. I swear, last week was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I had like seven tests in four days, three of them the same day, so I hope you understand I really was in no condition to write. And if you decide to be one of those little haters that go around saying 'but you always update like once a week, keep doing that!' I'm gonna be straight and tell you this is a hobby. A. HOBBY. Got it? I do this cuz is fun, please don't ruin that.

For those who are not haters and don't send PMs demanding more chapters and get mad when I don't magically appear every day with a five thousand words chapter, thank you!

Also, and this is more of a story thing, Hitori Bisco has absolutely no respect for the time-line. And that is a fact. I'm going with the manga, but that shit's as messy as hell, and nothing makes sense. SO, I'm gonna try and make sense into it myself, and that's the reason maybe some things will look a bit odd. I'm just a poor writer trying not to go bunkers with St. Valentine's Day being canonically in the middle of May :|

Anyways, here's your chapter!

Mitsukuni laid awake in the middle of the night, Nagisa's face relaxed as she slept next to him in their shared bed. It was four and a half in the morning, but Mitsukuni couldn't get himself to fall asleep, his thoughts twirling around his head, going miles per hour. They mingled together and then they split apart, only to mix with other thoughts over and over again. It was a torturous process, one that he couldn't escape.

He just couldn't get his head to forget what he had heard that evening. Nagisa was obviously into something he didn't know of, and it somehow had his father involved. Mitsukuni assumed it was something with the Ministry, since Nagisa had talked to Karasuma Tadaomi about a... mission? Assignment? He had no idea. And that meant it was classified as hell, because Mitsukuni had clearance for almost everything within the Ministry's jurisdiction, but he knew Nagisa was a part of a program, one that he shouldn't know about. He knew had the information because of what Nagisa had told him, off the records. That alone gave her higher clearance than his, and that was without counting the Assassination Classroom project.

Mitsukuni knew he needed to confront Nagisa, he knew he should have done it the moment he stepped into the room. But he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Why? Why couldn't he just question his girlfriend and get it all over with?

'Because you may not like her answer.' The thought struck him like a punch straight to the gut, and he could only feel worse when he realized that it was true, that he was afraid of Nagisa's answer. Of what she may say.

So when the tears formed in the corner of his eyes, he didn't make a move to remove them. He just let them fall silently down his cheeks, not minding that the sheets got wet. He then curled his body in a ball, desperately trying to find some comfort. He didn't. And Nagisa's presence just inches apart from him only made it worse.

The next day, only a few hours after that, Nagisa was already at the door, her bags packed.

"I'm sorry I can't stay, Mitsukuni. Karasuma-sensei called me yesterday about a case, and I couldn't pull it off." Mitsukuni knew that was a lie, as he had heard her the day before saying she would look at whatever was going on after her vacations. "But I'll call you as soon as I'm back in Tokyo, and if everything goes as planned, I may be able to get back and spend some time together before classes start again." Nagisa smiled brightly, as if trying to compensate it to him, and Mitsukuni let out a small smile.

"Yeah. We can do that." he said, trying hard not to tell her everything that was on his mind. He wanted to tell her he had heard her talking on the phone, that he knew she and his father had something going on, and that he knew her excuses were fake. But he didn't, and Nagisa left Kuruisawa soon after.

A month and a half later, Mitsukuni still had no clue on where his girlfriend was. The last time he had heard of her, was when she called him to tell him she was going on an undercover mission, and that he was not to contact her unless it was a serious emergency. That was the second week of their summer break.

Now, classes had started again, and after a week of Nagisa being absent, more and more people were starting to get worried. A lot of her regulars had asked about her, and the Host Club had to hurriedly cover her disappearance with a 'family matter that couldn't wait'. They also said Nagisa would be back as soon as she could.

The truth was, no one but Mitsukuni knew where Nagisa was, and even he wasn't sure of her exact whereabouts. At the beginning of term, they all tried to make him tell them, even Haruhi! Some of them were more subtle than others—meaning Kyoya, but Mitsukuni was already used to his ways, and knew how to deflect a question—, but in the end Mitsukuni managed to get his friends off his back, telling them the same lie he used with the costumers: a family matter. Takashi had been tough to convince, but in the end the Haninozuka heir talked around it, and made sure to let his cousin know everything was alright. Not that it actually was, but Mitsukuni didn't want to worry him more than he was already.

Nagisa's disappearance hadn't struck only him. Takashi, who was pretty close with her at this point, made sure not to show it that much, but he missed her. Tamaki and the twins talked about it all day, nagging Mitsukuni about when would she come back. It made Mitsukuni's mouth taste sour to tell them he didn't know. Haruhi was worried too, not being nosy but getting anxious about her friend's lack of presence in her daily life.

But besides Mitsukuni himself, the one who was the most affected by Nagisa's sudden disappearance was Kyoya. Mitsukuni wasn't surprised by it, he knew the both were pretty close. In fact, the senior was fairly sure Nagisa was Kyoya's best friend after Tamaki, and lets not forget about how the bluenette was the only one allowed to even touch his notebook.

The Ootori didn't openly express his concern, at least not in front of other people. But when he was sure only his friends were there to hear him—Kami knew what could happen if anyone else saw the Kyoya Ootori having any kind of emotions—the second year would ask Mitsukuni if he had any updates on Nagisa. And when the answer was a no, he would then turn to shamelessly try to hack into the MOD's database to get the information himself. To say the boy got frustrated when he couldn't do it was an euphemism.

One day, the always composed Kyoya got to the level where he actually grabbed a—really expensive and a gift from one of Tamaki's regulars—teapot and then smashed it against the marble floor, the crushed porcelain spreading across the room. His breathing was uneven, and his glasses didn't covered his expression as they usually did. Everyone could see the rage, the frustration, the desperation in Kyoya's dark eyes.

For a moment, nobody did anything, not even blink. The hosts were utterly shocked, as that was the first time they had ever seen Kyoya, their Shadow King, lost his composure that way.

Then, slowly, Kyoya crumbled down, not even feeling the cuts the porcelain pieces did in his palms. He started shaking, and soon they realized Kyoya was crying. He was actually crying.

Snapping out of his stupor, Tamaki rushed to his side, kneeling down besides his best friend. The blond didn't say anything, and just wrapped his arms around the boy, hopping it would help him calm down.

"Where the hell is she?" he had said then, a fain whisper that almost got unheard as he allowed himself to accept Tamaki's hug. "Where's Nagisa?"

In the meantime, and very much unaware of what was happening in Music Room #3, a very particular redhead was taking a nap. Why wasn't he at school, like he should have? Because he simply didn't feel like going there that morning and had decided to skip. Not in the slightest, an unusual thing for the boy, though, who seemed to think attendance was an optional thing and not a part of the whole going to school thing. Specially now that Nagisa wasn't there to make him go. Without her death threats to his persona, the boy had no actual reason to do it.

Anyways, said boy was comfortably sleeping, when his phone went off, waking him up. Jumping a little because of the suden noise, Karma opened his eyes, startled. He looked for any threats around him, and only after a few seconds he noticed his phone. Oh, so this was what had woken him up.

Sighting, cause Karma knew he would have to stand up to reach his phone, the redhead pondered whether it was worth it or not. In the end, he decided the noise was too annoying. He would need to change that later.

Standing up and walking to the other side of his room (why was it even there, anyways? Karma was sure he hadn't left it there), Karma groaned when he saw the ID. Of course he was going to call him.

Bracing himself for the proximal reprimand, Karma picked up the call.

"Why aren't you here?"

"Hello, Gakushuu. I'm fine, thanks for asking, and you?" sarcasm dripped from his words.

"Don't go that way with me, Karma Akabane. I know where you live and I'm capable of going to your house right now just to drag you here with me." Karma was about to say something, but the tone in Gakushuu's voice warned him not to. He may be the Karma Akabane, but he actually appreciated his life, unlike his blue haired friend.

"Gee, tune it down a bit, could ya'? I'm in my house. Didn't feel like going to school today."

"And I care about whether you want to come here or not how?" the redhead snorted, amused. Of curse.

"Being my boyfriend, you sure know how to make me feel unloved." he mocked him, smiling when he heard Gakushuu's huff on the other side of the line. "But seriously, what's up? You usually just come here after school when I don't come."

"Just wanted to bother you, and called when I estimated you would be taking one of your naps." the fact that he said it so easily made Karma rethink his current relationship.

'Who am I kidding? I do the same shit.'

"I would say bullshit, but I know you're capable of doing it." said Karma as he stretched his arms. "Now that we covered that up, you want something else, or can I go back to sleep?"

"I want you to come the fuck here. We have a project for Math, and we've been paired up."

"Could you at least try to sound as if you don't want to die right now for it? I swear, no one would believe we're together." Karma rolled his eyes, and Gakushuu snorted.

"I want you here in half an hour, or I'm telling Nagisa when she comes back." before Karma could say anything, the strawberry blond hung up, leaving a stunned redheaded boy.

'Well fuck.' he better get started then. Karma, as we already know, appreciated his life. And if a mad Gakushuu was terrifying, then the mere thought of a mad Nagisa was enough for him to start making the papers for his new identity to run away from the country.

Sighting, cause he knew he had no choice now, Karma went to his wardrobe to grab his school uniform. He better hurry if he wanted to get there before his snappy boyfriend started planning his murder.

Boyfriend. Three years ago, Karma would have laughed his ass off to anyone who had dared to even think of such a thing, and then he would have kicked their ass with hot wasabi.

Two years ago, Karma would have done the same, even with his crush.

A year ago, Karma would have blushed, cursing whoever mentioned anything about it, and probably prank them to no end.

Seven months ago, Karma would have done nothing, cause he knew it was helpless. Besides, it wasn't as if they were lying. It was just a matter of time before Karma could build up the courage to confess, and then it was up to Gakushuu to decide whether he liked him back or not. Karma had given him anonymous chocolates for St. Valentine's Day, too.

And two and a half months ago, the dam broke.

It had started out as any other day. Karma and Gakushuu were hanging out at Nagisa's as usual. The bluenette wasn't supposed to show up until at least a few more hours, as she had a play-date at the Haninozuka's—meaning, training with her boyfriend cause the two of them were nuts—, and then she was to meet Karasuma-sensei for a debriefing in that case the two of them were in together. As a result, they had the house for themselves, and as long as they didn't break anything or killed someone while inside the apartment, Nagisa pretty much let them do anything they wanted.

And yes, whether they did any of those two outside the apartment or not was none of Nagisa's business. And no, she didn't offered them help to hide a body, she totally didn't, because she was working with the government and that was just not right, you couldn't just kill someone.

...

For the record, she did offered the help. Not that they needed it, between the two of them, Karma was confident they could hide a body pretty well.

Not that they would need to hide a body.

Of course not.

Anyways, back with the totally not sappy—even if Nagisa said it was, Karma knew it wasn't—story of how he and Gakushuu had finally gotten together.

They hadn't planned spending some time together initially. It was just a we-both-wanted-to-stay-at-Nagisa's-while-she-wasn't-there-and-found-each-other-by-accident kinda situation. It had happened a lot in the past, with Nagisa's place being everyone's place and all. Neither of them really minded it, so there was no problem in hanging out together.

At first, they decided to actually be responsible and do their homework—more like Gakushuu was going to be responsible and do it, because when had Karma ever done his homework, honestly—but it didn't work out. It may had involved almost setting off the fire alarm. But Nagisa never found out about that, so it never happened.

In the end, as it was bound to happen, Karma and Gakushuu sat in the couch and watched a Brooklyn 99 marathon. One of the chapters was about Amy and Jake's antiques, which involved a fake-not-so-fake date to catch a criminal, and it ended up—after tons of awkwardness—with them making out in the file room. Pretty much what everyone had been expecting since like, ever.

"Huh, I bet that would be fun to do." said Karma, not really noticing he said it out loud. Gakushuu, on the other side, noticed perfectly.

And he choke with his coke.

"W-what?" was what came out of his mouth when he was able to properly talk again. Karma, who had helped him with worried eyes, tilted his head, not understanding what was he talking about. "You were talking out lout again, Karma."

"Oh." and the situation hit him. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Uh... OK, that was weird. But I meant it. Just imagine it, how hot would it be to make out in a file room, where everyone can pop out at any time, while all your friends and co-workers are in the room next door. I mean, Charles could have caught them!" said the redhead, and Gakushuu could only stare. He had a point though. The idea of doing something you weren't supposed to do was indeed alluring. And it was hot, there was no point denying it. They did say that what was forbidden was tempting.

"If you put it that way... yes, it would make sense." reasoned Gakushuu, finally nodding once.

Karma smirked, happy he had won that argument. Not that it was an argument per se, but everything involving Gakushuu and himself was an argument. It was the way they work, how their friendship operated. They would turn everything into a I-am-right-and-you-know-it discussion. The winner could be any of them, it depended on the situation. Karma usually won this kind of arguments, simply because Gakushuu had no experience whatsoever with any emotions besides rage, smugness, and the unusual sadness. That was something to be expected, given who his father was, but he was learning. Slowly, but he was.

Karma wished he could learn faster. That way, he thought, at least Karma would be able to know if his interest towards him was reciprocated or not. But if Gakushuu didn't know how his own feelings worked, how could Karma?

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right, you should be aware of that by now. I wanna try it now, though, so that's a bummer." muttered the redhead looking down, failing to see the faint blush spreading across the strawberry blond's face.

"You... you wanna try it?" Gakushuu swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. When he licked his lips, Karma's eyes followed his tongue's trail.

"I... do." Karma was intensely looking at Gakushuu now, trying to get a reaction. He didn't know what was going on inside that head of his, but he had an idea of what it was. Or at least, Karma hoped he had an idea of what it was. He would be lying if he said he wouldn't be disappointed if it turned out he was wrong.

For a moment, neither said anything, and they just stared at each other with a spark something in their eyes. Hunger. Karma wouldn't be able to tell who moved first. That didn't really matter, what was important was that it happened.

When their lips met, Karma felt like an explosion of something had just happened inside of him. Thousands of fireworks were dancing inside his stomach, and his mind couldn't connect two ideas as fast as it usually could. In fact, Karma wasn't sure it could connect two ideas at all. Not that he minded, not when he had those beautiful, soft lips pressed against his.

'Wait a second... there are lips pressed against mine. Those are Gakushuu's lips. Pressed against mine. We. Are. Kissing.' and finally, he was able to actually do something about said kiss.

Slowly, as he was still trying to fully comprehend what was going on, Karma started moving his lips, making Gakushuu gasp slightly. That alone though, was enough for Karma to snick in his tongue, and everything escalated from there.

'Oh, those were the good times.' Karma though, as he packed himself some lunch and picked up his keys, leaving the enormous mansion he had to call home. Maybe if he made a repetition of that kiss Shuu would forgive him?

'There's nothing wrong with trying...'

As Kaoru made his lonely way to his classroom, deep in thought after another fiasco of a club meeting during a study period, he failed to notice another person approach him, only becoming aware of their presence after they both collided.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there, wasn't paying attention to my—Reiko." his brained stopped working there, as nothing else was said.

"Kaoru-kun, it's good to see you. How are you? It has come to my knowledge that Nagisa has yet to get back from her family matter. Are you doing well? I know you're good friends with her." asked the black haired girl, wonderfully mannered as always. Kaoru noticed she wasn't wearing her usual black dress that day, instead being stuffed into the usual yellow marshmallow that was Ouran Academy's female uniform for high schoolers.

'Even with that fashion atrocity on she looks amazing.' and Kaoru was damn impressed, because looking good in that thing people dared call a dress was a serious thing.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine. Honey-senpai told us she got caught up with that family matter of hers, and that she'll take longer than expected to solve them, but she'll be back in no time." even when he said it with a smile plastered on his face, he knew Reiko saw through that lie.

The truth was, he was worried. He hadn't heard a word from Nagisa since the day she left Kuruisawa, nobody except Honey-senpai had. And even he admitted their contact had been little as well.

At first, he had bought it. He knew family could be though, and if Nagisa said she was taking care of a family matter, then he was no one to think she was lying. But after more than a month without news? Even for Nagisa that was excessive. She would at least had contacted Honey-senpai regularly, because Kami knew those two were madly in love. So for her no to do it... something was going on, and Kaoru had a feeling it wasn't a family matter.

But of course, nothing of that he said to Reiko, who didn't need to worry about those things.

"I see." she looked... hurt, and Kaoru felt guilty for lying to her. "When you are ready to talk, you know where to find me." she then bowed slightly, and then resumed her walk.

'I'm sorry Reiko, but I don't understand what's going on either. I promise... I promise I'll tell you when I can.' the thing was, now it was not the time. And Kaoru would have to live with the consequences that would bring.

Karasuma Tadaomi was a busy man, not to say a workaholic. It wasn't his fault the Ministry of Defense was so full of things to do all the time, though, even if Irina said otherwise.

But right now, there were other things that were keeping his thoughts.

The last update he received on her status was from three days ago. Not an overly long time, but enough to make him start to worry. He knew she was supposed to stay out of reach as much as possible, and that was the reason why he was the only one who received any news from her since the beginning of her latest mission, but he couldn't help it. He had gotten attached to her, to all those kids. It was his job as that class' parental figure to worry. Even when he would never say that to anyone.

"Stop looking at your phone. It's not gonna change if you stare at it, Tadaomi." making her entrance, Irina Jelavic sat across from him, a worried look on her face. "I'm worried too, but she's not a kid."

"But she is."

"Not anymore, Tadaomi. Not after what she's been through." the blond woman sighed, not wanting to say 'after what we put her through'. "Believe me, I've been there. She knows how to take care of herself, you know that. She's being careful, just like we taught her."

'Just like we taught her...'

"You're right. But still..."

"I know." and she did. Nagisa was the closest thing they both had to a daughter. Irina had a special bond with her, had it since she taught her how to perfectionate her Kiss of Death. And Tadaomi... well, he would never admit it out loud, but he had always had a soft spot for Nagisa, ever since when he first sensed her bloodlust. "Her boyfriend, the Haninozuka boy. He's been asking a lot of questions. Wants to know where she is." Irina said, finally getting to why she was there in the first place. "Should I silence him?"

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him later myself. Now that he knows, we can as well tell him what's going on."

"Nagisa won't like it." warned Irina, quirking an eyebrow at her boyfriend's decision.

"I know. But I'm afraid she doesn't have a say in this. Before? Maybe. She was still a secret for him. But now... we need all the help we can get, and he is one of our best assets." he wasn't lying. The only thing that kept the Haninozuka heir out of the operation was the Assassins Program, as well as the Assassination Classroom project, and all those secrets he had not clearance for. And now that he knew enough about both of them... well, Nagisa could get mad, but Tadaomi was almost forced to get him in.

"Alright. But when she finds out, I'm gonna tell her the truth. Are you willing to accept the possibility of her getting mad at you again?" that was a good question. Was he? Last time, he had had a bad time, and he really didn't want to go through that again.

But then again, this was bigger than him too.

"I don't really have a choice." and even when his voice didn't sound differently from how it always sounded, Irina could feel the sadness and defeat in it. So she stood up, and got closer to him. She then gently hugged him, letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"Then she'll understand." she had too.

"You did it?" the question was asked in an anxious manner, like the owner of the voice couldn't wait any longer.

"They won't know what hit them. And with their little assassin out of the country... they're doomed." the woman lit a cigarette with a pleased smile. It was always a pleasure to assassinate. The adrenaline rush it gave her, the fun she had... there was nothing better than that.

"Excellent. They don't suspect anything, right?" the man sounded pleased as well, obviously happy things were going according to his plans.

"Like they could." the woman scoffed. "They're so busy making sure that brat's alright, no one even noticed there was someone doing something they weren't supposed to. Then again, undercover missions are my thing." she said, drawing a small revolver out of her pocket, admiring at how good it looked in her hand.

"That's good. Keep it up, and soon we'll have them right where we want them to be." the man was exited you could tell that much with how he sounded over the phone.

"They'll be all death, I can assure you that." she smirked, ending the call. She couldn't wait to see all the blood, dripping out of her target's head, covering the floor with red. It was nothing personal against those Ministry people, she was just doing her job.

After all, it was indeed, a pleasure to assassinate.

OKAAAAAY, it's time to give you guys some context about how Japan's school system works.

I did some research, and the Japanese school year starts in April, then they have summer break, that starts in mid-July and ends in early September. Then they have classes until Christmas (December 25), when they have this little break, and then resume school in early January. From there, they have classes up until March.

In the story, we're more or less in the middle of September. I decided we're going to overlook the St. Valentine's incident, given that I can't erase it for it's importance to the story, but I know February will appear later here, and things are gonna happen there as well. Bear with me, I'm doing what I can to not have a breakdown for this.

Now, I'm sorry there wasn't any Nagisa POV this chapter, wanted to change things a little bit. Probably one of the reasons I had some trouble writing this, I'm used to writing from her perspective. But she'll get her turn, no worries. I have a few (really few) things planned for that, so... yeah, gonna work on that now.

For now, did you like it? I added that Karma x Gakushuu scene cause I owed you guys and I don't break my promises. And what about Kyoya's breakdown? I don't know you, but I've always wanted to see that happen. I mean, he HAS to loose his chill sometime, right? He's human even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Anyways, the're a few more loose ends I need to tie up, but I'll do that in the next chapters. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this.

Kudos!

Patolemus.