Chapter 7: A Morning's Revelations

OK, this time, there is really no excuse to not update until now. I'm sorry.

I can't update as often now. I hope you all understand. Thank you.

After the gunfight with the Soldats, the two members of Noir had gone to sleep together on the barely bullet-ridden bed, their bodies jammed tight to each other even though there was a lot of space on that mattress. Maybe that closeness was for security perhaps, but what was security to an assassin? They were probably squeezed against each other like this for comfort. Yes, that was it.

The clang of steel on steel and the soothing sound of air rushing awakened them both.

"Mmm….." Kirika turned a bit, so that she could snuggle closer to Mireille. Everything seemed so right this morning: Mireille sleeping so close to her, the silence occasionally broken by birdsong and….the pinging of steel?

Mireille stirred, the noise also waking her. "Kirika?….."

They reached the same conclusion in a split second. Jumping out of bed and grabbing their guns, they made their way outside through the already broken window.

But there was no use to bring their weapons, for someone was already dealing with the intruder. Suru was dealing with Chloe, to be exact. By the way their tattered clothes flapped in the breeze as they flew in and out of attacks, they had been battling most of the night. The battle went on, neither opponent taking any notice of Noir.

But stranger yet, Suru and Chloe were enjoying the battle. Relishing it, in fact. Mireille and Kirika could understand Chloe for her lust of this sort of battle, but Suru? He had never seemed the type. But, they didn't know a thing about him. Who were they to judge?

Kirika's eyes, emotionless as ever, now were locked on Suru. His ghastly mask might have been sneering, but the way he twirled, his almost joyful attacks, she could tell that he was enjoying it as much as his opponent. And inside, it scared her. And this fear scared her, as well.

Without a thought, she starting walking to Suru. Mireille's right hand reached out gently, trying to keep Kirika from interrupting their fight. She had seen this kind of mindless brawl before, and people who interfered usually never made it out. Even if it was Kirika stepping in. "Kirika…."

Her partner's hand hit her arm forcefully, pushing it back like a bulldozer hits dirt. Kirika?

"I….want to do this." Kirika placed her small tanned hand on Suru's shoulder as he was circling Chloe, once again. Like waking up suddenly from a fantasy, he whipped his thin neck so fast around, it snapped. Holding a hand shaking from fatigue, he hissed in a pleasant way, "What is it, sister?"

Chloe's eyes opened up wide, her grey-purple irises lighting up with an almost childlike surprise. "Kirika?"

I had forgotten clean about her. Kirika kept her eyes on Suru, knowing that one of her least favorite people in the world was advancing on her like a child on a returning mother.

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"Kyoko-sama! KYOKO-SAMA!" A teenage girl whipped through a corridor of the Makashiro estate, shouting out every time she could muster her voice to do it. Coming to the end of the corridor, she banged on the door, trying to contact the woman on the other side. "Kyoko-sama! Abarei's come back, but Shoukyoku Mugendai got to him on the return trip! Oh, Kyoko-sama, wake UP!"

The door swung inward with the force of a bull. "What?" Kyoko's eyes were frantic, searching the girl's face for any hope of a joke. But this was no joke. The girl's face was pleading, her eyes crying. "Where is he?"

"They put him in his room, but he's breathing and shoutin' somethin' awful! I-it's…." She broke down before she could finish, hands covering her overflowing tears, head bowed. Kyoko's hand descended on her shoulder, reassuring her. "Thank you, Sakaya."

She placed two white fingers to her temple, and with a sound like running water, she sank into the ground. Moments later, her head popped out of the floor of RM. 5227. Abarei's room. Please, God, not another victim.

Harutomi and a number of assorted ninja were already there, tending to the poor boy on his bed. His green eyes were unseeing, but were fixed on the ceiling. His voice kept shrieking some incoherent babble, with the words, "nightmare" and "monster" mixed in randomly.

Making her way to the bed, pushing if she needed to, she reached the boy's side in a flourish. "When did he get back?"

"Only a couple of hours ago….." someone suggested. Kyoko rounded on him, eyes blazing. "Why didn't you wake me up!"

"That's not the problem right now, Kyoko. Concentrate!" Harutomi had grabbed her upper arm, to avoid her injuring the poor man. She huffed angrily, and mentally unwound. "Alright. What's…..his condition?" Her face screwed up in a pained expression, knowing the standard answer.

One of the women readjusted her glasses, her face serious. "He might make it….but it will take an enormous amount of time.

Kyoko turned her face to her, her eyes glinting with the fire of fury. "If he has any chance at all, any chance, I want to give it to him."

She left the room just as huffily as she had entered. Harutomi sighed and rubbed his temple, massaging them gently. I understand, Kyoko. But, this is something we can't stop. Shoukyoku Mugendai…that monster…..attacks everyone of them. They go willingly, of course, but this keeps happening…He was woken from his thoughts by a call. "Harutomi-sama!"

"What is it?"

"T-the boy…..he's…."

Harutomi whipped his head around toward Abarei. He had stopped thrashing around on the sheets of the bed, but even while resting on the bed, he kept ranting. Only, the ranting now had meaning.

"He…Eli…..the truth beyond life….among death…..he…walks…….the truth he…..seeks……"

His eyes grew panicked and wide. "Only……truth…Eli…….Deordre….Endless Infinity……..fate like Noir……"

Harutomi stared. "Is someone writing this down?" The women to his left nodded in the affirmative.

"Good. Kyoko will need this."

I'm aware that this makes absolutely NO sense now, but it will soon. Thank you for staying with this story for so long! Even when I didn't update as soon as I should have.