Nonsensical Words: Another two months elapsed and I have decided to charge on and push out another chapter. To those few who read, my apologies on the slowness, life gets in the way. Term papers. Chemistry. Neuroscience. Research…all that good ol' wholesome stuff that higher education offers us poor students in hope of making us successful human beings. Bah. To hell with that! Summer has started and life is good again (except for the fact that I am currently stuck on a flight *thank god for laptops!* in between a smartly dressed, somewhat snobby businessman poking his head in the New York Times and another man. . .um. . .knitting. All I can say is, between the three of us, we make quite an interesting combination in terms of personal background, interests and sanity. Life has a greater imagination than I do). Alright, enough nonsense, on with the story!

Individual Words:

Dark Phoenix: Hey hey hey! I wish to see this fic through to its 'eventual end' as well. Its just, well, life is so busy and I am constantly on the go and wondering where I will end up next. This is a bit of a waff one person point of view chapter. Its short but hopefully nice. . . it took me a long time to do just cuz Mikagami is mister emotional clam shell and its hard to get him to expression some emotion without turning into mister emotional mush. Thanks for reading.^_^

Ranka: I was going to put what was happening to Fuuko into this chapter but I couldn't put it in because it required me breaking this nice 'theme' or 'consistent content' (if you could so say) of the chapter. But I promise you that by at least chapter 11 you will know what is going on with her. My hope is that it won't turn out to be completely cliché and over done.

Mizumi Saeko: I'm sorry I misspelled your name, hopefully I got it right this time ^_~ Technically, 3 months between updates isn't "soon" but its here and hopefully you'll like it. THANKS

G-Cleft: You know? I read your fic all the way through (in one go) and it was great. I loved it. You definitely captured the key characteristics of Mikagami and Fuuko. I'm glad you think I could make Mikagami not awfully out of character *sigh* I try. Hopefully I won't disappoint you with this chapter (better tell me what you think!) The origin of 'seth' is lame. Its really lame. I don't know how I'm going to play Seth out and result in mass eye-rolling and gagging. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am not making any money in writing this piece of. . . writing (redundancy rules). . .I don't own the characters either.

Previously, in Chapter 8. . .

Mikagami watched Fuuko's retreating back and wondered why she was in such a hurry to leave. It was unlike her to brush off a friendly walk home. As he watched her, he was shocked to find that she suddenly vanished. He rubbed his eyes disbelievingly. What? He ran to the stop that she last stood and around the rooftop. She couldn't have jumped off. Where was she? Fuuko. . . where are you? What am I going to do?

Chapter 9: From Mikagami to Mi-chan

A couple of hours had elapsed since Mikagami rushed through the city, appearing at places that Fuuko was known to be at, all the while knowing that she wouldn't be there. He couldn't fathom how he felt. He was shocked to say the least. Its not everyday that one watches a fellow human vanish into midair in front of them. There must be a rational and sensible explanation to this mess. Laws of Physics? Impossible, Come on, Mikagami, genius Mikagami, think about it. Just brood and the answers will come. Thermodynamics, the likelihood of a reaction that involves person vanishing spontaneously? Improbable. He raked his mind. Rational thoughts. Rational thoughts. Rational. Rational. Rational. Then reality hit him full force, he ceased his aimless search of nothing, Fuuko was gone, gone like last night's supper with no explanation or forwarding address. Worse of all, there seemed to be nothing he could do to change that fact. OH MY GOD. For the first time in many years, Mikagami completely lost his cool.

Pieces of concrete flew bounced across the stony floor as Mikagami removed his frustrated fist from the hard impact of the wall. God damn. It has been a long time since his emotions went unchecked like this. The wall cracked as Mikagami threw his fits at it in aggravation. She was gone. A year ago, this wouldn't have mattered. Fuuko's existence would not have affected him in any way. But now, what is this? A large slab of concrete shattered as Mikagami rubbed his slightly bruised knuckles. He was upset when he watched Yanagi turn into stone, but it was nothing like this. This was pure unadulterated rage and confusion. As much as he adored Yanagi, there was still some element of detachment. She was a porcelain doll that could only be admired from afar. Her temporary death affected him but he was still aloof, angry but cool. Fuuko was. . . Fuuko was a stupid, no-good tomboy like monkey that barged into his life, robbing him of his personal space and pummeled him away bits of his icy exterior only to disappear as brash as she came. Baka Monkey. Baka. Baka. Baka! A wave of broken concrete danced across the floor. The ever-eloquent Mikagami scoffed at his choice of non-complex and colloquial adjectives. Perhaps he should stop, it didn't seem as if the wall come handle any more of his rage. What was he to tell Domon? His "honey" bade them goodbye and then vanished. No, Mikagami, as smart as they thought he was, could do nothing but stand and watch. He didn't even try to call her back. The bastard. How would Yanagi take the news? How hurt would Recca be after receiving the news of his best friend's disappearance and seeing his precious hime cry? Mikagami's eyes darkened as he thought about Ganko, she would not react well to the loss of her sister.

Mikagami paused in his brooding as he thought about how he would act when he tells them the things he knew. What will his demeanor be? Will he break the news to them emotionlessly? How will he explain that that he witnessed Fuuko disappearing and did not and could not do anything about? Will he reveal more that, perhaps, her departure affected him? How can he consolidate his internal struggles with his external expressions? How is it that after all the years of emotional control and knowing his mental state, he could not define what he was feeling? Why? What does Fuuko mean to him? He must, for his sanity and peace of mind, figure this out. . . he must. . .Mikagami sighed as he rubbed his face with his injured hands.

He remembered all to well the moment Fuuko enthusiastically barged into his classroom, enormous paper fan looming large in the horizon, and smacked his head in hopes of giving him an up-lifting morning greeting. He fell off the chair only to land, clumsily, on his face, bruising what many girls considered to be the eighth world wonder. Idiot. It seems as if Fuuko always managed to bring out the 'worst' qualities in him. Around her he was much more snide (humor, witty, intelligent) and ungraceful. Around her he was much more irritable and irritated. Around her he was. . . he was. . .no, he felt completely different. She wasn't to be dismissed as a bozo. There were fleeting moments of brilliacne in their encounters. He looked forward to bickering with her. He enjoyed watching her face play out a thousand different emotions when he called her 'baka monkey.' Especially that one morning moment when they found solace in each other's company, he would never admit it vocally, but, she really did unconsciously carve a place for herself in his heart.

Baka Monkey! Why did you do this to me? Why me? Why not someone else? Why did you choose to irritate me especially? Mikagami flinched as his bruised knuckles made their last impact to the wall. He smiled wryly as he thought about the various 'annoying moments' he's shared with her. She was positively awful, so horrendous that he wanted to oust her from his life. But that was not true. . .he wanted to expunge her from his life because she was showing him the truth. She told him, in her loud but subtle ways, that he was missing out in life. He had friends, friends that willingly put up with his inhibitions and grouchiness. Fuuko was not the only one that defrosted him, Mikagami shook his head slightly as he thought about how he made himself sound like a refrigerator, an exceedingly useful and good lucking device but was a cold machine. The Hokage helped him come out of his shell. All of them did. Fuuko was, well, she was. . .he could not put a finger on her effects on him. She never was abashed by his sneers at her as she continued to relentlessly pester him. Truthfully, he did not think that any of them were monkeys (well, he might be willing to make an exception to Domon. That simian cannot take a hint even if it was shoved in his face. Perhaps he has received damage to his temporal gyrus during combat *neuroscience knowledge inserted here* and cannot discern the face of no-affection). The Hokage monkey horde possessed emotional freedom, no inhibitions and a to-the-hell-with-the-world-as-long-as-I-have-my-friends happy go lucky attitude. How he coveted their somewhat carefree existence! Mikagami shook his head in resignation as he realized that he would rather be known as 'Mi-chan' (as Fuuko so. . . hmmm. . . laughingly puts it) than the cold and relentlessly bitter master of the sword, Mikagami Tokiya. Most of all, he desired to smile again, not just to curve facial muscles but to sincerely mean it. He wanted it so badly his heart ached when he watched the Hokage cheerfully jest and commit acts of sheer stupidity in spirit that he could never have. He sighed dejectedly. Why was it so hard? Will he never be able to let go?

Mikagami slumped to the floor. He folded his hand around his head and clutched the bruised knuckles to let the searing pain take over his senses. At least he was no stranger to pain. A few tears rolled down his cheek as he hastily wiped them away. Face it Mi-chan, Mikagami cringed at his willingness to accept that nickname, you are lost. You are lost without her. He closed his eyes and exhaled all his frustrations. Could you call this love? Love without romance, desire, lust, unchecked admiration, and longing, only to be discovered when the other person is lost? It couldn't be love. He never loved again after he lost his sister. That was not true, was it? He longed to love but he did not dare. He wrapped himself in a cocoon of emotional inhibitions and hoped that pain would diminish and eventually fade. Mikagami smiled as he remembered Fuuko, after bruising him in combat, jokingly quoted the cliché "no pain no gain." He never gave that phrase adequate contemplation until now. There was nothing to gain from emotions, was there? He was happy once. He had the chance to be happy and now that hope is extinguished from his life as well. Sucks. He leaned his head against the severely injured wall and glanced up at the starry night sky. Mikagami did, in fact, love the Kirisawa monkey. He was thankful for her companionship. He loved her very much indeed. He scoffed at how much his affection for her came as an "after" thought. Never mind this, he will get her back somehow. He was going to get to the bottom of all confusion and perhaps sort his life out for the better. Never shut everything and everyone else out from him again. Maybe when he sees her again, he will tell her about his feelings --- his trepidations, aspirations, reservations and, last but not least, his affection for her. Maybe she will scoff at him for 'loving' her in such a nonsensical unromantic way yet far from platonic fashion. Maybe she will help him get away from his past demons and start to live a new emotional life as Mi-chan the tolerable, not Mikagami the insufferable. Maybe. . . he dare not be blindly optimistic but he gained new strength from his inner revelations. It was time to alert the rest of the monkeys and get his baka monkey back.


Some more words of comfort: I am truly sorry about the briefness of this chapter but it was hard to write. I thought it was about time Mikagami came clean and voiced what was truly going on in that dense ice head of his. I did not want to make him an emotional mush that blabbers cliché love sonnets but I wanted him to feel. Ah! Does this make sense? As consolation to this briefness I promise that the next chapter will definitely be out soon. . . in less than a week? It is called "Past Unearthed" and its about. . . well, you are going to have to read to find out! Thus, ending on a severely cliché note ------ THANKS FOR READING! Comments, constructive criticisms. . . and anything else are greatly appreciated!