Author: Hikari (Kit6ssJuno.com mailto:Kit6ssJuno.com)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners excluding Catherine. :-p

Note: It's great; I have a whole three-day weekend to work on this with nothing else to do and what happens? My online server on my computer crashes and won't let me online....... And of course the only way to tell them you have a problem is to go to the website or e-mail them.......but how can you do that when you can't get online??? No problem though, will a little help from a friend I'm all good and ready to go, sorry to all of you waiting for this.

Note #2: When I started this I decided I wanted a Action/Adventure and Romance story, but up till now it's been only the Action and Adventure stuff so I'll try to add some Romance, if I feel like it this might go up in ratings soon....maybe.

NOTE 3: (Yeah, like 3 weeks later): OK here's the deal, my online server was broken but then I thought it was fixed but it wasn't so I took it to the shop and it was there for 2 weeks because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with this. So that's why this is so late! Sorry! Not to mention I'm lazy!

Cross From the Past
Chapter 5: Confusion

The sword was descending toward his head in what seemed to be slow motion. Aya couldn't blink, he couldn't move, he was frozen in place watching the steel inch closer and closer. He could hear voices calling his name but couldn't connect them to the situation. His mind was elsewhere.

Flashback

He was watching her, never letting her know he cared. She would knock a pot off the shelf and he would turn away, hiding his amusement out of their sight. He peeked around to see the mess created behind him, his eyes as cold as always, never showing change.

End Flashback

The sword was coming again as Aya snapped out of his reverie, to late to dodge he watched as it fell. Suddenly it wasn't falling anymore; Brad stared at his sword, which seemed to be levitating mere inches above Aya. Only when Aya saw the flash of light skim across a thin wire did he understand, Yoji had saved him. Aya rolled quickly to his left and kicked Brad's feet out from under him. Brad fell to the ground in a heap. Aya jumped up and scanned the courtyard around him. At the moment Ken was straddling Farfie while Yoji secured him with his wire, he looked up and gave Aya a thumbs up sign.

"We'll go help Omi, why don't you check on the girl?" He asked as he stood and shook snow out of his long black jacket. Aya didn't bother to respond, he just started running toward the building as fast as he could. His leg almost cramped as he jumped up the stairs and skidded into the front hall. He stopped, since his part of the mission was the guards outside he didn't bother to memorize the interiors blueprints, he had no idea where to search.

His blood ran cold as a scream from somewhere above him answered his question. He sprinted toward the fire escape and up the concrete stairs, the sound of his own feet echoing with the screaming resonated in the air around him. He flew up the stairs, everything hurt, the effects from his battle with Brad were started to sink in. He almost fell as his left leg started to pulse and he started to slip on the blood that seeped over his boot, but he couldn't stop, he was almost at the top.

Aya practically exploded out of the fire exit on the top floor, the door connected with the wall with a loud thump but he was already running down the hall with the screaming growing louder every second.

The man had raised his hand and a jolt went through her head. It hurt like hell, to Kit it felt like someone had pressed a hot iron to her brain, everything began to get blurry as she shut her eyes tightly to fight off the lurching in her stomach. Her ears were ringing; it took her a second to realize it was her own screaming that hurt them so much. She crashed to her knees, swords falling to her side as she clenched her head in her hands and screamed.

Wave after wave of pain assaulted her; she had no idea how much time had past. Cracking one eye open she saw Schuldig glaring at her, his face held a look of concentration and frustration. Suddenly the pain increase, Kit felt like she was going to faint, she felt so lightheaded. No way, she clenched her teeth hard and bit into her lower lip, blood began to flow, I absolutely refuse to give in, she thought fiercely. Schuldig smiled at her effort before backhanding her across the face. Kit was so surprised that she momentarily let her guard down, and that's when he hit her full force. Not able to hold it any longer she let go, tears mingled with blood on her face as she screamed again.

Aya slammed into the room he presumed to be the targets office and took in the sight before him. Kit was in a ball on the floor, shivering and screaming in obvious pain. Above her stood Schuldig, his hand was outstretched over the form on the floor; a look of sheer outrage smeared his German face. As Aya entered his head swung around and he visibly grimaced, he pulled his hand back toward his body but the screams continued.

"Nice of you to join us." Said the German with a little bow toward Aya. Aya gripped his sword, ready to draw at a moments notice. "Now, now don't do that little Kitten, I'm leaving, I see Brad's just not enough to keep you busy anymore." Aya saw Schuldig slide toward the window but made no move to stop him.

"What was your purpose for being here?" Aya asked coldly, he wanted to check if what Brad had said earlier was true.

"I just wanted to play with the new Kitten." Was Schuldig's reply as he moved to stand in front of the open window. But I wanted to see you too.

Aya heard the other mans words echo in his head but he shook them off and advanced enraged toward the German, drawing his sword as he approached. The German just laughed and jumped out the window, with his disappearance Kit stopped screaming. Aya turned to see her crumpled on the floor breathing heavily. He stalked toward her and stood right in front of her and waited. Slowly she raised her head to look at him, her eyes looked tired and she was sweating.

"What kind of assassin are you?" he asked slowly. He waited, watching the shock register on her face, then anger and she began to respond but he cut her off.

"I thought you were supposed to be one of the best, trained since you were young to be better than everyone else. That's a load of crap. Even a beginner would have checked to make sure the target was alone before attacking." Aya continued, Kit was glaring at him from the floor, the sight made him even angrier.

"I have no idea how you even beat all of us that night, you can even defend yourself against one man. What kind of training did you get? No wonder you ran away back then, you must have sucked, what the hell was Manx thinking?!" Aya couldn't stop, the mission had gone to wrong and the throbbing of his injures seemed to spur him on. He knew he was being unfair, but she didn't know that. So he said the last thing he could think of.

"I don't want you on my team."

He had gone too far, he saw it in the reflection of her eyes as she sat helplessly on the ground shivering. He watched as the normally calm gray eyes turned cold and stormy as the words sunk in. He turned and walked away, out of the room and past Omi, Ken and Yoji who had just reached the doorway. He wanted to be far away, away from the fear that she had brought on him and away from those eyes that ripped his insides apart.

Kit awoke with a start. She sat up slowly and raised a hand to wipe her forehead. It was that nightmare again, the same one she had been getting every night for a week after her first mission, the one she had failed so miserably. With a sigh she slowly got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. In the bathroom Kit turned on the light and gazed at her reflection in the mirror, I look like hell; she thought a she splashed water on her face. The water ran in turrets down her face, one stream ran over her bottom lip, Kit raised her hand to touch the scar there that had not healed yet, it was from biting it to hard.

What kind of assassin are you?

A damn crappy one, Kit thought to herself as Aya's voice echoed in her head. This night was turning out to be a lot like every night she'd had for the last week, she would wake up and then end up thinking about everything Aya had said to her. She hated to admit it but his words had hurt, so she had made one mistake, he could be a little grateful; the only reason she was playing assassin was to save their asses. Kit growled and pushed away from the sink and glanced at the clock above the door. 5:30. Too late to go back to bed, to early to set up shop. In the end Kit decided to go back to her room and finish up her homework she had neglected yesterday. She padded back to her room and flopped on the bed then reached for her book bag.

BEEP-BEEP

Kit's attention was averted to her laptop, which was resting on the table next to her bed. Hoping the noise hadn't woken the other people in the house she grabbed for the mini computer and flipped it open. You've got mail- flashed at her from the screen. Mildly wondering who would e-mail her, she opened the message.

-Where are you? Log on at noon, we need to talk.

Vega

Reading the message over a couple of times Kit sighed. Great, the one person in the world that cared if she was alive was worried about her. She softly closed the laptop and sat with it resting on her lap. Noon was when she had lunch break so logging on would be no problem but did she want to? Vega is the codename of a person Kit could have considered to be her partner a long time ago. Now Vega was more like an information source for Kit based back in America. She put her laptop back on the table and decided to get ready for school, no time to relax now.

20 minutes later she was stomping down the stairs; over her shoulder she carried her book bag. This morning it dragged her down with the heavy weight of her laptop. She heard Ken clanking around in the store getting ready for the day. Placing her bag on the counter she rummaged through the fridge for an apple and a couple sports drinks for later. After setting herself up for the day she started the coffee maker for Yoji and set up a pop tart and a chilled coffee for Omi, she assumed Ken had already eaten. Everything done she walked into the den and waited for Omi to appear so they could go to school.

Half and hour later he came barreling down the steps, it was ten minutes after they were supposed to leave. "Oh my god we're later I'm so sorry!!!" He ran through the kitchen and started hopping around the den trying to get his shoes on while scarfing a pop tart; the coffee was clenched in his hand. Kit let out a sigh, damn boy was probably up all night online, not that she cared if they were late or not.

"I'll take you." Kit turned to see Aya standing behind her, car keys in hand. She looked down, not wanting him to look at her; he'd probably blame me for this to, she thought. Trying to put up a front of indifference she walked past him to the garage. She could hear Omi behind her thanking Aya over and over again; no one could get mad at him.

During the trip Kit sat in the back staring listlessly out the window. She really wasn't into listening to Omi tell Aya what needed to be done in the shop today. The breeze was warm since all the snow had melted a couple of days ago and she decided to enjoy it instead of worry about the man driving. All too soon the car pulled up in front of the school. Kit jumped out before either Omi or Aya could say anything and jogged off behind the school, she wanted to be away from them as fast as she could.

To Kit the morning to drag on slower than molasses. Their teacher had called off sick today so they were given a study hall for the whole morning. Lazily Kit wondered why she had even bothered staying; there was no teacher there to watch them. Bored she let her gaze wonder around the room, Omi was sitting in the back playing cards with his friends; they seemed to be having fun. Other groups of kids were gathered in different parts of the room, the only one alone in the room was her. Yeah, since the first day she had still not made any friends, in fact she was pretty sure they all hated her.

Omi looked up from his card game to spot Kit sitting alone next to the window. His kind heart hurt, he wanted to go sit with her but that would show that they were actually friends. It was bad enough that everyone in class knew they worked together. Recently though he had noticed that she had been quieter than ever, she hardly said anything at home and she never talked at all in school.

"Hey, earth to Omi!" Omi snapped out of his thoughts, it was his turn, he looked at his hand, a pair of 3's was all he had. With a sigh he folded and as soon as he had put his cards down he was lost in thought again. Kit started to act weird after that mission. Something had happened between her and Aya, he was certain of that but neither of them would talk about it. Surely she knew no one blamed her for the attack, she didn't know anything about Schwartz after all.

Omi looked up in time to see one of the girls in class approach Kit; something was hidden behind her back out of Omi sight. He suddenly had a really bad feeling. He watched as Kit looked up at the girl now standing beside her. They started to talk but no matter how he strained he couldn't hear. Suddenly without warning the girl screamed something incoherent to Kit and pulled a can out from behind her and dumped it on her. Omi wasn't sure what was going on until the girl was running away laughing and he saw Kit staring down at the blue paint that now covered her from head to toe.

Omi continued to watch in awe as soon everyone in the room was laughing and pointing at Kit. Holy Shit, he thought, that girl has a death wish. He pushed away from his desk, ready to go help Kit when he caught her glare. It was as if she was mentally telling him to stay put and play along, he sat back down quietly but couldn't make the smile or laugh come. People were clapping him on the back and laughing all around him but he was oblivious to it all.

Kit stared at the blue paint that coated her hands. That was kind of low, she thought. Early she could have cared less when the girl had came over and started talking about the flower shop, what annoyed her the most was that she didn't even notice the girl was hiding something behind her. Maybe I really do suck at this after all; Kit was confused, before attacking the girl had yelled something about stealing all the good men, or something like that. She looked up at all the laughing faces around her and spotted Omi. He was out of his seat and ready to come over and help her. She shook her head, the last thing she needed was him to sympathize her now. Quickly she gathered her bag and exited out of the classroom. Before leaving she stopped in front of the group of girls shielding her attacker from her, "bunch of cowards," she muttered before exiting.

She made her way slowly to the gym locker room. She knew she would need a shower to get all the paint off. Reaching her destination she cautiously opened the door and peeked in. Satisfied that she was the only one there she went in and straight to the showers, dropping her bag on the way she turned the water on and stepped under it without taking her clothes off. It's pointless really to change if my clothes are covered too, she thought as the water ran over her and she watched, as the watered turned blue below her.

After about 20 minutes in the shower Kit decided that she had gotten rid off all the blue paint she could and stepped out off the stream of water. At was cold outside the shower, Kit quickly grabbed a bunch of towels and started to dry all her clothes (while still wearing them). It was almost noon so instead of drying herself off the rest of the way she decided it would be better to go outside and let it dry naturally. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the locker room.

Outside she ignored all the stared she was getting and trotted over to a decently tall tree. Slugging her bag over her shoulder she grabbed the lowest branch and swung herself up into the tree. After a few more branches she was satisfied that she was up high enough and leaned back to relax against the warm bark of the aged tree. Opening her laptop she logged on and waited for Vega to find her. Less than a minute later the message appeared. Their conversation started.

- Your late- V

- Yeah, ran into a problem this morning- K

- Where are you? - V

- A school somewhere- K

- Somewhere?- V

- Why do you want to know?- K

- My information said you were supposed to return to America a
month ago- V

- Something came up.- K

- Like?- V

- Something.- K

- I'll find out sooner or later, you should just return.- V

- Can't, got involved in something- K

- Something having to do with what?- V

- Kritiker.- K

- Crap, I thought you gave that up a long time ago.- V

- Yeah well, I remember telling you our connection was over a long
time ago too- K

- Not nice to talk to your best friend like that- V

- I use the term loosely- K

- Forget them and just return- V

- Maybe I will- K

- Promise?- V

- I said maybe- K

- You know I'm just worried about you- V

- I know, things aren't going smooth here, I might come back soon.-
K

- Okay, Please keep in contact from now on OK?- V

- Fine, I got to go, we'll talk later.- K

- Bye- V

- Bye- K

End

That's all for now folks. I hope you didn't get lost in that whole
online conversation (I put letters to help). Everyone's so mean to
Kit!!! What will happen next? I don't know, I need some reviews for
help please... :-p
: By the way, in case you couldn't guess Omi was playing poker in
class....but don't worry, he wasn't betting! I need reviews badly!!!!

Also Ummmm I have no idea what a Mary-Sue type person is so could
someone help me out by telling me? Because if everyone hates this kind
of person then I don't want Kit to turn out that way!