A/N: GOMENASI!!!!!!!!!!!! Gomen gomen gomen! I'm soooo sorry for making all of you guys wait so long, I've just been so busy, even now. So to make up for the late-ness and all the really wonderful and inspiring reviews that I've received, this is an extra extra long chapter! *beams* I'm so proud of myself, I promised you guys some action and here it is! Don't worry, I have even bigger plans in the future! *cackles* Please enjoy this chapter and drop me a review!

A Heart of Ice

By: Stardustangel

Chapter Three: Changing of Plans

+.:~ In the Trio's (Tooru, Hanajima, Uotani) 1st Period classroom ~:.+

All the students went to their respective seats as the teacher entered.

"Class, today we have some new students that transferred from a nearby district, please come in…"

Squeals could be heard from several girls as four figures walked calmly into the room.

"Class, this is Souma Yuki, Souma Akisa, Souma Kyou, and Souma Kagura."

"Ohayo, my name is Souma Yuki, please to make your acquaintance".

"Ohayo, my name is Souma Akisa, please to meet you".

"Souma Kyou, morning."

"My name is Souma Kagura; it's a pleasure to meet you, OHAYO!"

"Yuki can sit……." "Sit next to Honda-san please. Honda Tooru, please raise your hand."

All the girls, except for her friends, glared at her with anger flashing in their eyes and Tooru shrunk a little in her seat as she timidly raised her hand and Souma Yuki started to walk her way.

After the seating which ended up with Kyou and Kagura sitting next to each other much to Kyou's demise and Kagura's delight "This is going to be SUCH a fun year!!! I get to be with my Kyou all I want!!"  The whole class sweatdrops silently.

"Okay class, back to math. Today we will learn ………….."

+.:~ Lunchtime ~:.+

"Yahoo! It's FINALLY lunch! I thought I would starve to death before lunch break came, and our baka sensei wouldn't stop ranting about permutations and combination……………. or something like that."

Tooru smiled at Uotani's daily comments then added her own to improve the current atmosphere, "The weather is nice though, let's eat under a tree today!" and she proceeds to walk cheerfully towards a patch of numerous trees with Uotani and Hanajima in the tow.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"KYOU-KUN!!! I MADE YOU A DELICIOUS BENTO!!!" Kagura pounced on an unwary Kyou to deliver his lunch.

"AHH!"

Kagura proceeds to pound Kyou on the head once, "Is that what you say to your beloved girlfriend who made you lunch with all her heart?"

"YOU'RE NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Don't be silly!" Opening up the bento Kagura selected a squid, "Here! Eat!" and shoves it 'gently' into Kyou's screaming mouth.

"Mowahowe……!"

"See! I knew that I was a good cook"

Hearts appear from nowhere and the rest of the crew sweatdrops. Pulling out their own lunches the group settle themselves on the grass and under the protection of the tree leaves begin to eat, trying very hard to block out Kyou's protesting cries as Kagura force feeds him lunch.

"Shut up baka neko! We're getting stares from half of the people also eating here. I for one, would like to eat without people gawking."

"That's a little late Yuki"

"Why is that Akisa?" asked Yuki more than a little annoyed at the fact that his cousin was making such a big scene.

"You will always have people gawking at you as long as you live" Akisa said with a slight smirk, then she put on a fake high voice that she reserves for Yuki, much to his dismay, "You're so beautiful Souma-kun!" "Souma-kun, can you help me?" "Souma-kun's so handsome"

"You can stop now….." replied a thoroughly annoyed yet amused Yuki. 'They really acted like that all the time, trying to get his attention and flirting with him.' He mused upon Akisa's perfected reenacting of the poor, lost girls. Normally, he would find their antics annoying but he knew that Akisa was doing this on purpose to annoy him. It was especially amusing because she would never be caught dead flirting with anybody. Akisa encloses herself in ice when in public and only lets loose around her close cousins. 'Of course' his mind told him, 'There's a reason that she's Akito's sister'. 'Yes', his other side agreed, 'But she is far kinder when you compare them and a loyal friend'

"Hey isn't that the girl that sits next to Yun-chan in class?"

Jolting out of his thoughts and cutting his stroll down memory lane short, Yuki looked to where Kagura's finger was currently pointing. It was indeed Tooru and her friends. 'Her friends are odd people…' they were a yankee and a girl with psychic powers from what he gathered for the chatter of his classmates.

"I'm gonna go say hi. Does anybody want to come with me?"

"Me me me!!"

"No" Haru said flatly, "although you're a nice cheerful person, your hyperactive-ness might scare people. We don't want to start scaring people on our first day……………………. Maybe it's okay to start tomorrow though……………….."

Giving Haru a weird look, "Kagura will go alone, it's just a greeting, there's no need for a crowd."

"K k! Be back shortly Yun-chan, KYOU-KUN!"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Ara? That girl from class is coming in our direction. What's her name?....."

"Souma Kagura" Hanajima supplied quietly.

"Hey!!"

"Hello Souma-san, how are you today?"

"Great, I just finished eating lunch with Kyou! It was so fun!" Kagura gushed, and the two of the three girls sweatdropped. Hana-chan being well…..Hana-chan just sat there with a blank unmoving look on her face.

"Anyway, I just came be to say 'hi' since we're new in town and Honda-san happens to be in my class."

"We're all in your class…."

"…"

"Yeah…….Well, nice talking to you! I have to go now, my Kyou-kun needs me and Yuki-kun will be mad if I stayed too long. See you!" and with that said Kagura dashed back to the rest of the lounging Soumas and the bell rang for the end of lunch shortly after.

~.~.~.~ After school (I'm skipping! Muahaha, don't think that you would've enjoyed the dialogue of the teacher anyway.  ^_^0;) ~.~.~.~.~.~

*RIIINNGG!!!!*

"Yes! School is FINALLY over!"

"Yes, for today."

"You don't have to go to your part time job today right Tooru?"

"Nope, today I'm free."

"I don't have to work too! This is perfect! Let's go have some fun!"

"Okay" replied Tooru with an energetic smile. 'Sensei did work us hard today; I guess it would be okay to put off homework a little bit today. A once in a while treat for myself I guess.

"Oi Hana, you coming?"

"Yes." After casting a last suspicious look at the Jyuunishi gang's reseating forms Hana-chan walked a little faster to catch up with the ever impatient Uotani. She had a feeling that something was going to happen before the day is through. Something that involved her friends and the newcomers.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Yuki, are you guys ready? I want this to finish as soon as possible, the longer it drags out, the higher the risk of getting caught. I don't want any of you dead anytime soon so approach the target with caution."

"Hai Hatori" All the other Soumas replied as they geared up and got ready to do their duty.

"Do we really have to do this?" Kagura muttered to herself.

"Yes" was Yuki's firm replied to her question. Then he added, "We have to."

"But….what if we get caught?"

"We won't" was said with more conviction than he felt.

"But at least Kyou-kun is coming with us!" beamed the girl as she shoved her foot into a black leather boot.

All she got in reply was an annoyed "Che..." from the boy mentioned.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

For some time now, another gang, other clan, The Serpents, have been targeting the Souma families and terrorizing their old neighborhood because long ago their own once prosperous business dealings had suffered under the hands of the Souma clan. The companies that once bought their wares from businesses ran by the Serpents in the past now turn to the Souma clan for business dealing. The change obviously didn't go well with the Kaidou clan (the clan that the Serpents belonged to) so they've decided to strike back with force on the Souma family and anyone…. anything that has any relation to them. It's started out with empty threats, then fist fights between the members of the families, afterwards escalated to stealing of family heirlooms and killing off members. The Serpents are out to destroy anything that brings the Souma family peace, their friends and neighbors alike suffered along with the rest of the town. The Souma's tried many ways to stop them, negotiations, and apologies, nothing worked. So now, in order to protect what is precious to them, the youngsters of the clan formed the Jyuunishi gang to match the gang that the Kaidous have raised.

Under the guidance of Hatori, Shigure, and of course Akito, the oldest child of the head of the family, the others do their best to keep the opposition at bay. Their parents seem to be powerless to stop these threats for they cannot match the spirits and the emotions of the teenage Serpents who are eager to settle things themselves. Even going as far as recruiting people from school, the Souma's have no choice but to follow and build resistance in the same fashion. If not, then the Serpents will definitely kill them.

'This hateful ring' Yuki thought as he mounted his motorcycle. 'This sign, always following me wherever I go, reminding me of my duties.' The bike sped off with many more that followed it. 'The yellow band that reflects the sun in cheerful patterns while radiating sadness.' They all tore through the streets attracting attention. 'The silver that the others wore bores no better sign, beautiful the metal might be, but it's still cold as ice and gleams like tears.'

"Yuki-kun?"

"Huh?" The leader jerked himself out of his sorrowful thoughts that liked to swallow him at any chance available and glanced around at the company he held. Akisa rode on an ice blue bike beside him while Kagura and Kyou rode a few feet behind, Haru tagged along at the rear. 'That's right. I shouldn't let my mind wander right now. We have a mission at hand; today we need to get back the silver fan that belonged to a deceased relative. Very expensive it was too. I can't believe they've actually stolen it. More for us to do…'

According to the information that Hatori gathered, the fan was being kept at Kaidou Tanaka's house. 'An elderly' Yuki thought amusingly 'a place where we would not have looked since it is quite a distance from the rest of the Kaidou family property. There will probably not be a whole lot of resistance since they won't be expecting us. All the better for us.'

"Umm…Yun-chan? You DO realize that that's the third red light you've ran through in the past fifteen minutes right?"

"NANI?!?" He was furious that he let his mind wander so much lately. "Why didn't you say something earlier?" he asked, slightly cross.

"Baka, you seem to be thinking really hard so we decided on not bothering you."

Angry at himself for the lack on concentration, Yuki turned he full attention to the road and stared intensely and their future destination.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Will they be okay?"

"Stop worrying Kisa." Although they have Kagura and Kyou, which would give anyone sane a good reason to worry, "I believe that Yuki and Akisa will make sure that they get the job done. I don't know about Haru though…. He might fight with Kyou and make things worse… Nah, he's smart enough not to do that on a mission…..right?"

"Thank you Hiro, I feel much better now. I hope you're right."

"Gee, for their sake, I hope that I'm right too." He said with a hint of sarcasm.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Humm…."

"Na? Yun-chan, is something wrong?"

"I don't know yet, but it seems that that was a little too easy. I'm starting to get suspicious."

He didn't voice the seed of doubt that kept on resided in the back of his head. There was no reason to needlessly worry the rest of the team when there was no proof to back up the doubt.    

Getting on his bike with the precious fan tucked away inside his trench coat Yuki kicked off to race down the nearly empty street with the other four in tow. Sadly, luck was not on their side; before their bikes had even consumed four blocks of cement and whatever-nots that the streets of Japan are usually paved with, three cars swiveled out of various alleys and pursued with vengeance.

"Kuso! Oi Yuki! We're being tailed!"

"Why are they tailing us? A mystery…"

"They won't catch us."

"Crap! The intersection!" Kyou gestured angrily at the streams of cars that lay ahead.

"Yun-chan, We'll have to run this red light if we're going to have any chances on losing them!"

A sudden sound came from behind Akisa as she turned around and a small but leathal bit of metal sailed pass veering off course only by a mere half foot.

"Yuki! They're shooting!"

"OMG!"

"Be careful! After this intersection we'll get a chance to lose them! Haiaku! The light's turning yellow already!"

Another few rounds were fired as the five sped towards the crowded intersection.

"OUCH! SHIT!"

"KYOU-KUN!!"

"Yuki!!! Kyou got shot!!"

"Damn" The violet leader swore quietly. Hatori never said anything about guns when he briefed the pale haired teen about the mission. 'The other gang never used guns before' he realized. 'The weapons used before this encounter was always knives and a sword or two… but never guns...damn' A small voice nagged in the back of his head, 'But you knew that something was wrong, but you didn't tell the rest of them. This is your fault, you could have at least given them a reason to stay alert'

As the intersection neared things went horribly wrong.

The light turned red and the 'walk' sign turned green while the gang, going far too fast to turn or stop, raced on forward and time dragged in Yuki's mind to make everything go in slow motion.    

Cars slowly came forward in his mind crossing from one side of the street to the other. People cross the intersection slowly, without haste nor worry, most of them smiling….

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"I'm late! I'm *late*!"

Tooru ran lightly across the sidewalk gently weaving in and out of the passerbys. She promised to meet Uotani right after her job, they were going to visit Uotani's father in the hospital since he fell down the stairs drunk last night. The visiting hours were over at six; it was five-thirty and they still had a whole bus ride ahead of them. Even though Uotani never really respected her father for the kind of person he his, he is still he father and he was hurt.

The petite girl fidgeted slightly as she waited for the "walk" sign to turn green. 'I hope Uo-chan isn't too mad at me, after all, I *am* really late. I couldn't help it though; the old woman really needed help carrying her stuff. It's my fault that I chatted away and didn't notice the time until it was too late.'

The light finally turned green and she quickly started to cross her mind still lost in her thoughts. Then, she heard a noise getting louder and louder and Tooru looked up to see where it was coming from. As she turned her gaze, it was blinded by fear and her whole body shut down and her feet rooted themselves to the pavment.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"YUKI-KUN! YOU'RE GOING TO HIT HER!!!!!!!!"