A/N: Eheheh...-sweatdrop- I know guys you're expecting this would turn out a ReixAya fic. Actually this would be but I think it would be long before that. Hope you'd be patient enough for that...ehehe...

Externus 78

Chapter 7: Payback: Good and Bad

After Aya had dressed up, she went downstairs to help Aunt Hana.

Downstairs...

"Aunt Hana?" she called out. Her voice is soft because she's shy to call Katase's mother like that. She wore a nice but old-fashioned blue dress.

She was about to go into the dining room when she heard Katase talking to his mom.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll be fine. I won't get in trouble again." The voice said which was Katase's.

"I know son." Katase's mom answered. "But look at your face, what would your classmates think when they see that blue mark? Oh, dear, let me take a look at that again."

There was a moment of silence, then there was a faint gasp. "Oh, dear, I think you should let me treat that first! It's already blue-black."

"Mom, it's okay."

"Who was that who did this to you again? Was he Oto.. I forgot."

"Otohata Rei mom, that popular guy who won first prize in the Grand Prix. But don't worry, he's just jealous or something."

Aya's eyes widened in shock. Katase fought with Rei? And she didn't even notice the spot on his face!

"Mom, I'll be late if I still take this seat and let you treat this stupid, ridiculous—"

"Okay, son. But if you meet him promise me you won't get into any fight."

"I won't, mom. You know, he just punched me because he got so jealous when...when..." Katase seemed not to continue.

Aya coughed 'ehem' and entered the room. "Oh, sorry." She blushed.

Katase smiled at Aya and turned back to his mom. "I'll be going now okay?"

"B-bye, son...bye and take care." The worried mother bade. Katase gave his mom a peck on the cheek and hugged her for awhile then went off to work.

When he had gone, Aya turned to Aunt Hana and smiled. "Mrs—I mean Aunt Hana, thank you for this dress. I'm going to wash the dishes now."

"Oh, no you don't, lady. You don't get to work in this house. You're a guest, not a maid or something."

"Then how could I pay back these kindness you showed me. You and Katase are so good to me."

"Just eat your breakfast first and..." Aunt Hana shrugged when she felt forced by Aya's pleading eyes. "Oh well...fine then, you could help me with the housework."

Aya smiled and walked to go near Aunt Hana. Then she gave her a short embrace and asked her, "By the way auntie, where are the two kids? Aren't they going to school yet?"

"Nope, darling. Ichigo, the older sister is just 5 while Jitaro, the youngest brother among my three siblings is just 3 but turning 4 next month."

"I bet they're a headache. All kids are."

"Well they aren't much of a headache..when they're asleep."

Both of them laughed then Aya went to the table and sat as she ate her meal.

"Anyways, Ichigo and Jitaro are still sleep—"

"Mommy, mommy!!" came the crying voice of a boy. Both Hana and Aya looked to the direction of the source of the voice. Jitaro came running to Hana and was crying with the most irritating sound anyone would ever hear.

"Oh dear what is it?"

"Mama, onesan hit me with her hammer." Considering the fact he's a kid, of course he meant the toy hammer, but it hurts for kids actually

"Where?"

Jitaro pointed to his forehead and sobbed. Hana kissed his forehead and sensed the presence of Ichigo. "Ichigo, come out there and say sorry."

Ichigo's obedience gave her the courage to emerge from her hiding place.

"Why did you hit him?"

Ichigo pouted. "Because he slapped me."

"That's not true! Mommy, I didn't—"

"Yes you did!"

Jitaro cried out loud again.

"Hi." Came the soft voice of Aya, whom the two fighting children looked at as they had been silenced by her.

"Who is she?" Jitaro curiously asked.

"She's your brother's friend. Aya. Call her Aya, okay?" Hana introduced.

Jitaro came near to Aya and smiled his sweet smile. "Hi Aya! You're beautiful!" he said, then blushed.

"Well.." Ichigo said, then crossed her arms on her chest. "I got my name because I have rosy, strawberry colored cheeks and I'm more beautiful than her!" In case—okay, I'm not bragging I said in case—you don't know what ichigo is, it means 'strawberry'

Aya smiled and said to Ichigo, "Well, I agree. You are very much pretty like a flower that's newly bloomed in spring."

"Really?" amused the innocent child, to which Aya nodded.

"No she's not pretty! You are!" Jitaro opposed, talking to Aya.

Ichigo stuck out her tongue at him. "I am!...I am! I am! I am!"

"You're not!"

"Am!"

"Not!"

Aya hushed them and thought of an idea. "Why don't we three have fun? Go to the living room now, okay? We'll play a game."

The children rejoiced and ran ahead as they left Aya and Hana in the dining room.

"You got a yarn, Aunt Hana?" she asked her.

She gave her a yarn and soon she went off to the living room.

Hana wondered what Aya would do with the strings. Aya still doesn't have Hana's full trust, so Hana must observe Aya well enough for in a snap unlikely things might happen considering the goings-on in the world today.

She stayed in a corner by the door so as not to disturb the playing children.

"Aya! Aya!" Jitaro called. He ran to hide behind Aya from Ichigo. "She wants to hit me again!"

"Because he hasn't paid for what he said about me yet!" Ichigo said, then turned to look at Jitaro. "Come here, baka!"

Aya sat down on the floor and simply said, "Come here, kids!"

The kids raced each other to sit in front of Aya.

"Umm, no...you should, uh, stand up."

The two stood up and stuck their tongue at each other. "I will win!"

"I will!"

"You will not!"

"Will!"

"Not!"

Aya sweatdropped. "Okay, here's the deal, if I get to the point of why I set up this game for you I'll tell you a story!"

"Story? Yippee!!!"

"Just be still." Aya began wrapping yarn around their bodies in an unattractive way. She slipped it under their arms, around the waist, between the knees, in a way they seem they won't be getting away. Hana thought Aya had this set-up to fool them and kidnap the kidsI mean, of course, if an unknown person comes in the house and ties your relatives up like that you'd panic, right?. But when she saw her sit back again, she kept still on her place.

"Now I want you to get out there without my help. Get out from the entanglementI think that's how they call it, is it?."

The kids worked their way out of the entangled yarn around them, but they just couldn't get out completely.

"Easy there, Ichigo. You know, you must help each other get out of that."

"Help?!" Ichigo shouted. "But I don't want his help!"

""To tell you, well...I don't know how to get you out of there either. So you better help each other."

Ichigo and Jitaro both looked at each other at first madly. They glared at each other, then at the same time they frowned. Jitaro's a bit afraid of Ichigo, but when Ichigo smiled at him, he smiled back, understanding what she meant. Both worked well out of it, and soon when they dug out of it they hugged each other.

Aya applauded and both of the children said sorry to each other, and then faced Aya and thanked her.

"That's great!!! You did understand me!" Aya said, filled with joy. She felt this home could fill that void in her she had not been showing. Thanks to them.

----------

That same morning, Rei woke up with a bad mood. He stomped as he walked, he banged everything he put down, he slammed every door he closes, et cetera. His mother went upstairs to check on him and to find out why such loud noises come from Rei's room.

"Son?" Mrs. Otohata called then went in the room.

She found Rei on his bed, sitting on it and sobbing.

"REI?!?!" Mrs. Otohata panicked. "Oh, Kami-sama, what in the—why are you crying?!?! You never cried before!"

There was no answer, still there' sobbing coming out of every breath he makes.

Mrs. Otohata sat beside him and embraced him. "Son, is this about Aya?"

Rei gave a slow reply, which was a nod. "Mom...she...I...saw her..last night..and—and.."

"And what, darling?"

"She was drunk, mom. And she was kissing some stupid guy. I can't believe it mom." His mother gasped, then he continued. "She never drank liquor....I..I know that. That guy could have...done it...to take advantage. Mom, it's too late. If only I....if only I realized earlier that I do love her, it couldn't have been like...this. I can't believe I'm so ridiculous to dump her all the way. She loved me, but now she loved someone else."

His mom paused to think first, then said, "But you said...she was drunk! How'd you know she doesn't love you any longer?"

Rei stopped sobbing. He looked up at his mom with his tearstained face. "Why...yes she was!"

----------

"Kuroi, you have a visitor."

--I hope it's Ran.-- Tatsuki thought. "Okay."

He went out the bars and walked to the reception room. Much to his surprise, it was a person he had been a rival to. "Naoki. What's up?" he coldly asked as he sat down across him.

Naoki grinned at him. "So what does it feel being behind bars?"

"Funny. You could reach for all you want with your hands, but never could you reach what you reach for without moving your body."

Naoki laughed. "Enjoying here, aren't you?"

Tatsuki bit his lips to stop from getting angry. If he punches him, even if Naoki's his brother, he would stay in prison longer. So he calmed down. "I am. Because I feel more freedom here than staying at home with you. You're more than a death penalty to me."

Naoki sighed and then grinned again. "Well, I think I am. I'm the death, not the death penalty."

Tatsuki laughed hysterically but softly, not too loud for the room. "Then if I get out of here in a few more days, I'd miss this place when we meet. Home's hell with you."

The fuming is about to start between the two. Bad comments went on, from Naoki to Tatsuki, then back to Naoki. They kept teasing each other seriously, but Tatsuki had his guard on, it seemed only Naoki's going to have a bad temper.

"By the way, are you taking the opportunity I've given you now that I'm here?"

Naoki appeared to have understood him, but he was expecting it meant something else. "What do you mean?"

"I know you understood. You're free outside, I'm not. So are you taking chance on her?"

Now Naoki's sure of it. "Actually, yes. And she likes me, I know."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Look, Naoki. Fine, go tell that in front of me, but you know what? I won't believe a thing you say."

"She was with me yesterday."

Tatsuki made a frown. "Oh." He said shortly. Then something popped in his mind. "Really?"

Naoki's gradually beginning to lose temper. --Why the heck is he so calm!-- Naoki thought glumly. "Yeah, she was with me."

"I bet not just with you, am I right?"

"What?!"

Tatsuki laughed again, then shrugged. "Well, uh, what I meant was that...she may have gone out with you yesterday. Fine. But I'm talking about 'you' in plural form."

"Eh?"

"Still don't get it, peabrain? I'll shoot it, okay? She was with you, but not only 'you' as Naoki Kuroi, she was with the gang."

"How'd you...how'd you—"

"Let's say it's my sensitivity, or maybe to prove the statement 'Ran loves me'. Good luck, bro. If you have the luck with Ran." He said, smiling, then standing up to go back in the bars. But he said some last words before he left his brother out completely. "No wonder you haven't even caught the attention of Yamazaki, baka."

With that, Tatsuki heard his brother scream within that room, "IN 4 DAYS, RAN'S MINE!!!!!"

Tatsuki shook his head and continued to walk back to the bars. "Useless human. So desperate."

"So what've you got there? A rival?" said Yokuru, Tat's inmate.

Tatsuki sat down on the mattress Ran sent him and didn't talk for a moment. "Oh, that man? Just a son of my mother and a suitor of my girlfriend."

Yokuru chuckled. "Comical man, aren't ya. So you call him 'just' that?

"Of course I do. He does what he wants, no one stops him. There he goes, going out with Ran and—"

"Ran? KOTOBUKI?!?!"

Tatsuki looked up and his eyes widened in shock when he saw many—actually most of them—of his inmates gazing at him in horror. "What?" He asked them.

"Kotobu—Kotobuki's your...your...girlfriend?"

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. Big prob?"

Whispers from here to there travelled around the room.

"We did dream of being her boyfriend! But none of us qualified in that contest she held 2 years ago!" (Remember? When she called out for who wants to be her boyfriend in the series? Wherein Yuuhi and Tatsuki showed their love for the maiden)

Tatsuki laughed hysterically. "You guys are absolutely ridiculous. Anyways, you don't dream to be her boyfriend, you aim for it. And when you aim for it, you prove it. And when you prove it of course you must love her for a reason."

The people were listening to him very well so as not to miss out a single word. They seemed to really want to be Ran's bo. How happy Tatsuki was to know his girl's been a heart throb not just at any school or at a certain place but in whole Shibuya! Though it's sad to know many could take the chance now that he's in jail. Like Naoki for example.

----------

Miyu heaved a sigh as she waited for nothing by the hospital. She was standing by the alley beside the hospital, using up all her breath by making heavy sighs and... well, just being there.

That hospital's the place where she first fell in love with Yamato. Wherein Yamato took care of her after she fought Ran. Wherein she saw his loyalty...wherein she felt the rush of passion for the man of her dreams.

Suddenly something hit her. If Yamato would be gone because of her, then he would tell Ran, Ran would go too. Then Ran tells Aya, until everyone knows, and will go away. Who would be left beside her?

But then again, she shook her head. So how would she be the reason? She haven't even kept in touch with Yamato these days. Just what is she thinking.

She stood straight as she stopped from leaning on the wall of a stupid alley where she's waiting for no one. She put her hands in her sidepockets and when she was about to leave, she bumped into a muscular statured person. She almost fell from the impact but the person catched her swiftly and brought her to its arms. Realizing no one could ever try to do that to her, she knew who it was. She hugged it back.

Starting to sob, she whispered between, "Yamato...I miss you."

There was a long eerie silence which Miyu couldn't tell whether there was some problem or not. (She still haven't seen the face remember)

She wondered why Yamato didn't speak. "Yamato?" she pulled away from the hug and looked up. "What's the prob—"

There was a great force that landed on her stomach, something that seemed like a punch from that guy. Only one thing she knew now. Whoever that was, it wasn't Yamato at all. Her vision became blurry and all the details she could remember of her attacker was that it had darker complexion, had a scar on the neck (it's a deep, dark scar so it could still be seen in dark vision), and wore sunglasses.

"You..tricked...me." her final words came out. Then everything went black.

Author's Note: Can I stop by this for now? Maybe this is better for suspense. Hahahaha!!!!! So long and see you in a long time(I guess)