Disclaimer: Hey, first off, I want to say that this will be –surprisingly- the 3rd successful chapter of my fic. At this point, I want to thank my friend Armine for helping me with the plot of my stories thanks DUDE! Hehe jowk! and my sis, Terisu for coaching me on fight scenes and thanks to all you guys who are currently reading this fic. Just to let you guys know, I update monthly, so to the so-called "faithful" ones that "like"as if! my story, sorry for the long wait.

Chapter 3: The God of the Wind.

Its getting cold again… it's happening… again…

Why is this happening to me?

Again and again, the pain lingers in my body…

Should I tell them? …tell them the truth?

Is it the right time?

Huh! It's getting worse! Why isn't anyone here?

Is it possible that they have already heard!

NO! Impossible! ... no… no…

Brrrrrr… it getting really cold…

Should I tell them?

No…

I'm sorry guys, I can't tell you right now…

I wouldn't want to hurt you as well…

I'm sorry…

All these thoughts entered Kazuki's mind as he walked along the snowy path of the infinite fortress. It was late December and their case was still going on. They all wondered when the bomb would explode; or if it would explode at all. It has been a month since all the recent accidents had happened; a month since Ginji found out the truth about his past; the truth that only he and Ban knew about… or were they?

"Ban! I'm hungry! I'm dying Ban!" Ginji screamed as he kneeled on the floor with teary eyes.

"Shut up you idiot! You just ate!" Ban said, taking a bite out of his food.

"Please Ban! Just one bite! Please!" Ginji pleaded in his chibbi form, crying his eyes out.

"NO!"

Ginji fell silent. At first Ban thought his partner had given up the thought of pleading for food. But Ginji had a very agonized look on his face, a look as if he were in deep pain.

"Ginji!" Ban said, "what's wrong!'

"It hurts!" Ginji screamed aloud in terrifying horror. His eyes started to go blank. He started screaming while he placed his hand over his scar. Ban's heart jumped, and somehow, he could feel his partner's pain.

Meanwhile..

"Huh!' Kazuki said to himself. He felt great pain; pain as if something was burning inside his body. Then, he fell to the ground.

Where am I?

Am I still alive?

What happened?

No! It can't be!

Not again…

It's getting worse. I may have to tell them soon, or else it might be too late.

But when… when will I tell them…

Not now… definitely not now… the time is not right…

He opened his eyes to see himself in a clinic surrounded by his friends.

"Kazuki! Are you alright!" Jubei asked in a very worried tone.

"I'm fine, Jubei" Kazuki answered in his sweet usual voice, as if nothing happened. He stood up, tied his hair, and said "shall we get going then?"

Everyone around him stared. "What?" he started "are you guys ok? We should continue with the mission you know?" he smiled his sweet smile as if nothing were wrong; though deep inside something troubled him; something he could not say to any of them, not even his best friend, Jubei.

"I think we should all go in pairs so we can monitor the area faster." Ginji suggested, "So how many are we? Um…seven. There you go. So one group has 3 members."

"No," Kazuki said, "I can go alone."

"Are you sure?" Haruki said, "I mean I can go by my self. I know the place more."

"Nah, I wanna do it." Answered Kazuki, not really paying attention to what Haruki said, "I'll be ok."

"Whatever you say, suit yourself." Haruki said, "I'll go with Shido… as usual"

"Ok… I guess I'll be with Ginji" said Ban, being his bragging self again.

"So, I'm left with Jubei. This should be fun, right!" Himiko said with a smile on her face, trying to cheer Jubei up. She knew very well that he preferred to be with Kazuki, for protection matters, but they had no choice; Kazuki made up his mind, and there's no changing it.

"Ok, what now?" said Kazuki with a confused look on his face "so, to Babylon Tower… I guess…"

He walked, and walked, and walked for hours not knowing the direction, despite him living there, oh so long ago. He stumbled upon a large, red, iron door with words etched in it saying "To those who dare to challenge the strength of the Belt Line, come on in."

"I guess this is it." Kazuki mumbled to himself as he opened the door.

"Long time no see, my good friend…" said a tall man with long blonde hair. He was wearing a black, tight-fitted top and blue jeans. "I've missed you!"

"Toshiki!" said Kazuki, shocked too see his old companion in the Belt Line. "wha…?"

"I can't wait to kill you!" he screamed. With that said, he launched himself towards Kazuki, his fist leading him towards his opponent. Kazuki side stepped, barely evading Toshiki. He was about to throw a barrage of his own attacks, but he hesitated, thinking that maybe he could avoid this conflict to save his strength for the future. Due to Kazuki's hesitation to fight, his abdomen met with Toshiki's clenched fist, therefore sending him quite a few feet away.

"How does it feel like to be betrayed by a friend?" Toshiki once again started closing in on his prey as Kazuki shakily tried to stand up, clutching the right side of his abdomen in the process.

"Why are you doing this?" Kazuki felt a sharp pain by his rib as he tried to steady himself. Toshiki merely bowed his head down, ignoring the question that was addressed to him. He aimed a swift kick towards Kazuki, only for his right foot to meet with thin air. Kazuki jumped out of the way, landing gracefully behind Toshiki. That was, until he felt searing pain on his right arm.

Toshiki displayed an evil smirk right across his features. "Well, I see you haven't gotten rusty. Let's just see if you can survive this new trick that I learned." Toshiki got into his offensive position, gathering his strength for the next attack.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion.

Toshiki started out fast, but he slowed down to a jog in my mind's eye. A punch to my right, an uppercut up the chin, a knee to my stomach… His combo seemed to go on an eternity, until he delivered the finishing blow, connecting his right foot to the left side of my head. Everything was dark. I couldn't move, my body wasn't reacting to my will. Every inch of it felt painful and numb at the same time. Suddenly, a welcomed flash of colors consumed the darkness. Ginji, Ban, Jubei, Shido… images of them flashed within the depths of my mind. No, I couldn't let them down now. We still have a long way to go. As if on cue, I felt something resembling the steady beating of one's heart. It felt cold and hostile but with it came a newly found power, a power that exceeds my own. I can't let them down, I just can't. Then I decided to wield that dangerous power.

Toshiki was about to walk away when he suddenly felt a slight air pressure behind him. He turned around just in time to see Kazuki standing up. The small gusts of wind seemed to come from him. A dim green aura surrounded Kazuki, and in his eyes, hints of madness could be seen. Could this person really be the same Kazuki that he knew? The person in question was so unlike his former self, as if he was possessed by another being.

From the shock of seeing his opponent survive his strongest combo, he failed to notice Kazuki assaulting him, skillfully wielding his strings to trap and damage him. The next thing he knew was that the strings were all around him, surrounding him and making him spin as if he was in the eye of a tornado. When the spinning stopped, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. Spots of black started eating away at his vision until everything was in total darkness.

What's happening to me?

What's going on?

It feels so cold…

Dammit! It's this stupid scar!

That's it. Its time they found out.

A voice was telling him to kill Toshiki, I wouldn't stop. 'Kill him!' it kept on saying. 'KILL HIM!'

"NO!" Kazuki screamed. Everyone stared at him as if he were insane. When he got to his senses, Kazuki said to himself "No, I won't let this stupid scar take over. No. I can't! I won't!" at that moment, he collapsed. Darkness swallowed him. He could feel a surging pain, throbbing inside him. Where was it coming from? Then it came to him, it all radiated from his right arm. Then, everything felt like a dream. A voice kept calling "Kazuki. Kazuki." There was a woman dressed in white. She had long beautiful hair and said "the time will come when you will all die." Then, she vanished, again leaving a still darkness that lingered in Kazuki's heart, slowly draining his power. Suddenly, using all his remaining power, he said something. Something only he could hear. He said "Why?"

Meanwhile, Ban and Ginji were walking down a thin narrow path, talking about something of a dream.

"I'm not kidding Ban, I saw it. I saw a woman white. She told me we were all going to… Kazuki!"

They saw Kazuki, bleeding from all parts of his body. He was lying there. His injuries were very evident from afar. They ran towards him and came to a complete stop. They noticed a bright green aura surrounding him. Darker than what Toshiki saw. The two of them slowly approached their friend, who had torn clothes and was nearly dead. As they got closer, they saw something glowing on his right arm.

"Go check it out Ginji." Ban said, a little hesitance in his voice. Ginji nodded and came closer to his friend. He bent down, gave it a long and hard glance, then turned back to his partner and said "Ban, it's a scar."

They were both shocked with what they saw. They immediately brought Kazuki to a nearby hospital. They waited. What were they going to do? "I think we should tell the Kazuki about us having the same curse, but not the others." said Ginji, in a silent tone. "Yeah. It would be better to keep it a secret from them." Answered Ban.

At this time, Kazuki was starting to regain his consciousness and heard what ban had to say.

"By the way, what were you saying about that dream?"

"Oh, that. The woman in white said we were all going to-"

"Die?" interrupted Kazuki, slowly trying to get up.

"How did you know?" Ginji asked in shock.

"I had the same dream."

"Hey, about that scar-" said Ban.

"I know. I know all about it. How'd-"

As Kazuki asked that question, they both raised their sleeves and revealed their scars.

They talked about what happened to Kazuki, and how he got so injured until he was ready to get going.

"I guess you'd better come with us, ei, yarn ball?" Ban asked.

"yeah, I guess."

So, they walked towards Babylon tower. All three of them.

My heart feels so lite now

I've finally told them the truth

Later to find that I wasn't alone

And I never will be, again.

The ground started to shake in fury.

"Shido, what's going on?" asked Haruki.

"Earthquake, you idiot."

DISCLAIMER: hehe, hope you guys liked that. Wait for the next chapter, Guardian Earth.