Partner or Lover Chapter 7: Zero and the Art of Repairing



Kizna moaned in pain as Zero ran down the hallway carrying the injured Kizna in his arms. "Don't worry Kizna, we're almost there." Said Zero, as he grinded his teeth in frustration.  With a burst of energy, he ran down the last hallway and ran into Dr. Rill's office.

"DOCTOR! WHERE ARE YOU?" Zero screamed at the top of his lungs, as he entered the room.  Even his friends, who were a few hallways down, heard him scream.  Dr. Rill came out from her office and saw the hurt Kizna in Zero's arms.  Zero heard the door slam shut behind him. 

"Oh," Dr. Rill stated, staring at Kizna's slowly- turning- blue arm.  "How did this happen?" Dr. Rill asked Zero as she took Kizna out of his arms and placed her on a near by bed.  She rolled up Kizna's sleeve, exposing the pale skin on her arm and examined the injured arm.


Zero could not very well tell the doctor they were locked up in a closet when this happened, so he made up another excuse.  "We were walking back to our rooms when the attack caught us by surprise.  Kizna was thrown against the wall, and she injured her arm," said Zero.  His ears perked up at the sound of a door opening behind him.  He turned his head and saw his friends enter the room. 


Clay caught his breath and asked how Kizna was doing.


"She will be fine, but she will need to refrain from using her left arm for a while.  It looks like she has managed to break the bones in her arm and it will take a few weeks to get better."  Dr. Rill stood up and started walking towards a room in the back.

"What do you mean refrain from using my arm for a few weeks?" Kizna said, shocked.  "What about the pro-ing repairs and everything?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them," said Zero, smiling sympathetically. 

Kizna blinked at him, then started laughing.  "HA! Are you sure about that? The other day, you did not even know what a wrench was."

Zero nodded.  "I'm sure.  Right now you need to get better so you can take over repairing as soon as possible," he said, winking at her.  Kizna sighed and gave a forced smile as she tried to sit up.  By accident, she applied a bit of pressure on her broken arm and let out a painful scream as she collapsed back onto the bed. 

Dr. Rill turned around when she heard the scream. "Don't try to move either.  Any action right now might hurt the arm, making it worse than it already is."

"Doctor, how long will I have to wear the cast?" asked Kizna, as she warily eyed the cast that Dr. Rill was holding.


"Oh, don't worry about it… only for about three to four weeks.  That should be long enough.  But if you do damage your arm again, then you might have to wear the cast longer than necessary," said Dr. Rill as she came over and tried to slowly slide the cast onto Kizna's arm. Kizna gritted her teeth in pain, waiting until Dr. Rill was done placing the cast upon her arm.


Zero looked at Kizna's pained expressions, walked towards the bed and tried to comfort her with words.  "Don't worry Kizna.  A month will be over before you know it! I don't think Azuma will make you work that hard anyways, since your arm is broken," said Zero, as he gave her a flashy smile trying to get a laugh out of her.  Zero just got a glare from the pink haired girl.


"Azuma better not make you do any strenuous activities with your left arm, or you will be in an even worse shape," said Dr. Rill as she made a mental note to talk to Azuma.


Dr. Rill finally moved back into her room and let Kizna take her rest.  When the girls noticed Dr. Rill's absence from beside Kizna, they moved over to where the doctor was standing and crowed around their hurt friend.  The three girls managed to kick Zero out of the circle that had formed around Kizna's bed, eliciting a few protests from the brown haired boy. 


"Hey-" Zero started, before he was pushed out of the way by Saki, who took his spot and started asking Kizna how she felt.

Zero sighed as he sat down on the hard floor of the medical room in Indian style (cross- legged).  He leaned his back against the hard wall and closed his eyes for a brief moment.  The other boys in the room came to his side and sat themselves down beside Zero.  Clay glanced at the clock on the wall.  In all this commotion, they hadn't realized that time passed so quickly. 

"Maybe we should get going back to our rooms.  There is about half an hour between now and the time when the lights go out." Clay said to the others. "Dr. Rill?"  Clay called out.  Dr. Rill came back out from her room and raised her eyebrows in Clay's direction. 

"Yes Clay?"

"I was wondering, since it is late already, do you think we should stay here for the night, or is it safe enough to head back to our rooms?"  He asked pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 


----


"We have to retreat now!"  screamed Erts, as he got ready to attack the approaching victim.  "There are too many to fight off right now and we don't have time to spare finding their leader!"  Erts took a quick glance around him and saw that the rest of the goddess pilots were in just about the same shape he was- overwhelmed with the victim attacks.


"I agree, we can't stay here or we'll be annihilated," exclaimed Rioroute, as he sliced up another victim by chopping it clean down the center. "Plus I'm starting to get tired," he whined.  His whining immediately stopped when he saw another victim coming his way, getting ready to attack him.  'They must have seen their friend get chopped up or something,' Rioroute thought, getting into an attack position. 


"Rioroute! Stop whining and help us get rid of these disgusting bugs!" screamed Gareas as he blasted a few victims, which were heading his way, into a million pieces.  A chunk of a victim landed on his goddess' face and he cringed.  With a scowl on his face, he moved the goddess' arm to her face and wiped it off. 

Letting out a sigh, Gareas turned towards the white goddess where Teela was located.  "We can not keep fighting like this! There is just an overwhelming number of victim out here and we very well cannot take care of all of them right now.  We have been fighting for how long now?" 

He continued talking without waiting for a response from any of the other four who were out there with him.  "And my energy is almost depleted! Let's retreat for now, and –" Gareas was cut off by a scream from Erts' direction.  "Erts? Erts!" He did not get a reply from the blonde haired boy. 

"ERTS!" Gareas screamed when he took a sidelong glance over to where Erts was fighting. 


Erts was getting attacked over and over again by the victim surrounding him, and it did not look like the victim were going to stop attacking any time soon.  He had no time to attack back because they continually attacked him, slowly killing him. By now, Luhma Klein was in dangerous shape.  Gareas flew over to Erts, his eyes wide in shock. It was almost like a deja vù over again. He shook himself of his shock and ran over to Erts' side to help him out.  'He's only a boy, he does not deserve to fight like this,' Gareas thought with a somber look.

 
Erts was panting heavily, as he gave a shallow smile to Gareas, saying he appreciated the help. The two goddesses took care of the victim near by and started to head back to G.O.A.


" All right! Everyone retreat for now," said Teela, giving as sigh as the five goddesses headed back to G.O.A. to get some well-needed rest.  Teela on the other hand, had some other business to take care of.

----

A loud crackling noise could be heard throughout G.O.A.  An announcement came on saying, "The attacks have passed for now.  Please return to your designated rooms.  Lights out in half an hour."  A small clicking noise could be heard, and then silence followed.  

"Well Clay, there is your answer," Dr. Rill said, smiling.  "You might as well head back.  Though, Kizna will have to stay the night because her arm is in no condition to move, even with the cast on."  The candidates, one by one, said bye to Kizna and left the medical wing, heading back to their rooms. 


"Get better soon Kizna.  Classes just will not be the same without you," said Ikhny, giving her a small smile.  "I will stop by in the morning."

"There's no need to do that," said Dr. Rill as she walked back into the room carrying a tray full of medicine bottles and other objects.  "I suspect if Kizna takes enough rest tonight, she will probably be better by tomorrow afternoon, allowing her to leave.  But she will have to be very careful when moving her arm though."  Dr. Rill came over to Kizna and helped her sit in an upright position without her hurting her arm. "There you go. There is one last piece of medicine you have to take, then I'll let you rest in peace," said Dr. Rill, as she tilted Kizna's head a bit and brought a vile tasting liquid to her lips.  Kizna opened her mouth and swallowed the liquid, then lied back down on the soft bed. 

 

"Why don't you girls head on back to your rooms, and I'll see you guys later tomorrow?" said Kizna, as she used her good arm to wave back at them. They smiled, and wished her a speedy recovery as they headed out the door.  Saki stuck her head back into the room and said, "We will be coming back here to see you in the morning, whether you like it or not!" Kizna grinned.  She closed her eyes, tried to push the pain out of her head and attempted to go to sleep.

The halls were empty as the candidates and repairers headed back to their designated rooms.  As they were walking back, Zero started complaining about having to go to the bathroom and told them there was one down the hall.  "I'll go now.  You guys can continue without me.  I'll just catch up to you guys later," Zero said, ushering them forward.  The rest of them nodded and left him to go about his business.  Zero turned the corner and walked forward a few steps.  After waiting for a minute, he turned around and peeked around the wall to see how far the rest of his friends were.  They are far enough, Zero thought.  He quietly tiptoed in the other direction that they came from and headed over to the medical room. 


A pair of red eyes watched Zero until he entered the medical room. The red- eyed boy turned around and retreated to his room for the night. 


Zero moved through the dark medical room looking for where his pink haired partner was.

Kizna could feel something was not right, so she opened her eyes and stared into the darkness. She saw a figure stare back at her, and she was about to let out a scream until she saw the light from a few stars reflect off a pair of blue eyes that could only belong to one person she knew.


"Zero…" she whispered into the darkness. "What are you doing here? You know you can get into trouble, for coming here without Dr. Rill knowing?" she chided.

 
"Don't worry about it," whispered Zero as he placed a finger on her lips to silence her.  "I just wanted to see how you were feeling. I didn't get much time to ask you how you were before the rest of the girls pushed me out of the way."


Kizna smiled and lifted her good arm to caress his cheek.  "Well, that is very sweet of you.  Here, sit down beside me," she said, patting the empty space on the bed. 

Zero sat on the bed, trying not to touch her left arm. He took her right hand and squeezed it, trying to give her some reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time," said Zero as he stood up.


He leaned down and kissed her forehead before turning around and starting for the door. "I better go; it's almost lights out.  I hope you get better...love," he added. It just felt natural for him to say that.  Without a backwards glance, he walked out of the room and back to his quarters.  He made it just in time to see the lights go out, and climbed into bed, trying to get a few hours of sleep.

Kizna smiled at what he called her, and watched his back retreat out of the medical room. She closed her eyes, her heart at ease; she fell into a deep sleep.

----


Over the next month:

Hiead had come back a few days later; from the time he got his punishment, and started training again.

Zero and Hiead fought each other relentlessly. They were getting better and better at each passing day. Zero helped Kizna, now more than ever, to repair his pro- ing because of her injured arm. He learnt almost everything there is to know about repairing a pro- ing because he mostly did the work, Kizna just overlooking him. 

They rest of the candidates and repairers still didn't figure out that Zero was with Kizna and tried to get them together at every chance they got.  Zero and Kizna did try to sneak out sometimes to see each other. 

Clay still lost very early in the fight, but was getting better.  Zero helped him train when they did not have classes, and sometimes Roose tagged along with them. 

Azuma was not as cranky as before and went a bit easier on the boys ever since the candidates and the repairers started working together- like a team… except for Hiead and Ikhny.  He still wouldn't accept help from her, and kept pushing her away. 

The other candidates made fast progress with the help of their repairers.  Repairer and candidate got closer together than before, and helping Kizna "hook up" Zero made their friends realize that they needed each other in order to succeed.   It would do no good if the repairer was doing something while the candidate did something totally different. 

It was as if the repairer and the candidate made one entity… one could not function properly without the other.  That was what Hiead needed to learn before he became a goddess pilot.  

Kizna was in a rush to get to the medical room.  She was finally getting her cast off.  Unfortunately, her arm did not heal as quickly as she expected, and it took about a month to heal.  She was not every happy about it, and neither was Azuma for that matter.  Rushing into Dr. Rill's office, she called out to the doctor.  Dr. Rill came out from her room asking what was wrong. 

"I'm here to get my cast off," Kizna replied, her breathing slightly jagged.  Dr. Rill smiled. 

"Must have been hard for you," she said, trying to make a small conversation as she asked Kizna to sit on the bed.  Kizna nodded and waited patiently for her cast to be removed.  After a ten-minute wait, Kizna got the cast of her arm and she slowly moved it up and down a few times, testing it first.  She did not want to break it again, only to have to wear the horrid cast once again. 

The next day, the repairers were waiting in the battle room as usual.  Hiead came in with a stern face.  Yamagi, Roose, Clay and Zero came running in five minutes later, Azuma walking in behind them.

Zero walked towards Kizna, catching his breath. "That was close!" he exclaimed.


"It's always 'close'," said Kizna, shaking her head. 

Zero pouted in response. "It's not my fault… I don't get up as early as you girls do… I need my beauty sleep," said Zero, giving a very lame excuse.


"Ha… ha… You?" Kizna asked, raising an eyebrow. "Need beauty sleep?"  Kizna laughed.  She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Your already handsome enough for me.  If you get any prettier, then other girls might start chasing after you, and I don't think that would go down to well with me."


Zero blushed in response.  Kizna gave an innocent grin and walked over to the other repairers as they took their seats at the consoles.  The rest of the candidates got into their pro- ings, went onto the field, waiting for Azuma to give them directions.


"Now I want to see how well you boys work together," said Azuma, scanning the field with his eyes.  "Candidates 87 and 88 will pair up and will go against the rest of you wimps.  Let's see how well you hold your ground."  The repairers got ready and the battle started when Azuma gave the signal.

"Hiead, you go for Roose and I will go for Yamagi and Clay," said Zero, heading off.  Hiead just grunted in response.

"How about no Enna?" said Hiead glaring at Zero.  "I will beat up these wimps myself.  You might break a nail if you do so." Zero's eyes widened for a split second.  Then he growled in anger at Hiead. 


Azuma's voice was heard echoing in their pro-ing's again.  "I forgot to mention that except for 87 and 88, the rest of you have modifications made to your pro- ings, that will make them faster, and more agile.  AND, one candidate cannot take out the enemy by himself. He was to work with the rest of his group," Azuma said directly to Zero and Hiead. 


With that said, the boys resumed their 'battle'.  Yet again, Zero and Hiead started to argue, their tempers rising very quickly.  Hiead was testing Zero, and the red-eyed boy knew exactly what he was doing. 


"Zero, WHAT in the world do YOU THINK your DOING?" screamed a fuming Kizna, trying to get his attention off of Hiead and on to her.  Her voice raised higher and higher with every word she said.  The whole battle room got quiet.  The repairers looked at her in shock and worry.  Zero looked shocked, blinking a few times.  Hiead just glared at the pink haired girl, and the other three boys on the battlefield covered their ears in agony. 

"Woman, shut up!" Hiead gnarled.  Kizna glared right back at him.

"Stay out of this Hiead." She turned towards Zero and he shrunk back under her look.  "Zero, stop fighting with Hiead.  YOUR battle is with THEM!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger at Yamagi, Roose and Clay.  "NOT with Hiead.  If you keep doing this, you will never be a goddess pilot," Kizna said in an indifferent tone.  She huffed and sat back in her seat with a satisfactory smile. 

Azuma looked at the verbal war with interest.  'Well, at least Towryk has Enna under control.  He will need her if he wants to become a pilot. Definitely a fine choice for pilot if he controls the arguing from now on,' Azuma thought, with a trace of a smile on his face. 


Zeros eyes widened when he heard Kizna's sharp voice yelling at him.  'I should not have expected anything different from her,' he thought as he brought his fists back down to his side.  "Your right Kizna. Thank you," he whispered so that only she could hear him. 

Zero looked at the ground below him for a second, and then took a quick glance at the three in front of him.  He shot forward catching the other candidates by surprise.  Unfortunately for Zero, he could not knock any of them out, even Clay, because their speed and agility had increased.  Zero was barely able to scratch them before they disappeared from his view.


Zero let out a sigh of frustration and tried to attack again. "Hiead, can I get some help –" Zero was cut off as he was pushed into a boulder behind him.  He closed his eyes upon impact, and then opened them to see who his attacker was.  "Yamagi," Zero snarled.  "You'll pay for that," he said, pointing an accusing finger at him. 


Hiead watched the whole thing with an amused look on his face.  Then he himself tried to attack the others, but did not land a single scratch on them.  He kept on attacking, but could not land a punch on Clay, Roose or Yamagi.  His temper rose every time he missed.  He was fuming by now.  'I can't make a fool of myself!' he mentally yelled, as he tried to attack again.


Ikhny just sighed and shook her head. She knew it was no use trying to talk to him; he would not even take a second glance at her. But lately, he was acting strange.  She saw him staring at her for short periods of time. Before, he never even made eye contact with her, but he had been staring at her for the past few days. She just passed it off as him staring off into the distance, her just happening to be in his line of sight.  He was still as arrogant as ever before.

Zero finally got through to Hiead and told him that they would have to work together to beat the rest of the candidates.  Hiead finally gave in, and came over to Zero.

"What do you propose we do Enna?" Hiead spat, giving a look of loathing towards the brown haired boy. Zero lifted himself off of the boulder and stood up. 


Zero just made a face back at Hiead. "I don't want to do this anymore than you do, so let us just get it over with," said Zero, putting on a straight face.  "How about, we attack each one together? We can take them by surprise."  Hiead nodded, not bothering to argue.

Back in the control room, Azuma walked over to Kizna's control panel and gently nudged her to the side.  She gave him a confused look but did not say anything.  His fingers flew over the pad with astonishing speed, and finally a loud beeping noise was heard echoing through the room.  "What did you do?" Kizna asked incredulously. 

"All right, let's…" Zero trailed off when he saw his surroundings starting to change.  "What- what's going on?" Zero said as his hands flew around the boulder for support.  Soon, the boulder disappeared right out of his hands and he stumbled around for a bit, looking for some sort of support.  There was Hiead in front of him, but Zero was not that desperate.  "Kinza! What's going on?" Zero asked in a nervous voice. 

"You'll have to see for your self Enna," Azuma replied for Kizna.

"What do you mean by that? Did u do this???" Zero asked, his facial features starting to twist together.  

"Get a grip Enna," Hiead spat.  "Do not be such a wuss if you are going to be in my presence."  Zero shot him a glare. 

"What is that over there?" Clay asked, flying over to Hiead and Zero. 

"The battle is still on.  It would do you good to remember that," Azuma said once again.  Zero squinted his eyes and took a look into the distance.

"It looks like a group of… VICTIM!" Zero screamed as he tried to move away.  Hiead made a guttural sound and got into a fighting stance.    

"What do I do?" Clay said, gripping onto Zero's arm until it turned blue from the blood loss. 

"Clay, let-go-of-my-arm…" Zero said through clenched teeth. 

"Sorry." 

"Let's do this," Zero said, turning towards the victim.  "After we beat them, then we can go back to our battle."  The three other boys nodded.  Hiead just grunted in response.  Zero rolled his eyes. 

A victim zoomed past Zero, its tail accidentally slicing through his arm.  Zero's eyes widened and his hand flew to his forearm.  "What the… Kizna, that was not supposed to hurt was it?" 

"Zero, Azuma made some changes.  I'm not sure what he did, but apparently, the attacks will feel real. So be careful," she said, a hint of worry was noted in her voice.  Kizna's hands flew over her control panel, changing a few things on the pro-ing so that Zero's pain would decrease.

"Great," Zero mumbled as he charged for a victim heading straight for him.  Zero reached for his power blade, activating it.  Letting out a scream, he went all out, slashing and cutting any victim around him.  He took out around ten victim before another group came at him, this time, with twice as many. 

Yamagi came to the rescue, flying in right before the victim surrounded the two boys.  Yamagi, beam rifle in hand, and Zero, power blade in hand, both back to back, nodded at each other and took out the victim together, matching move for move.  Now all that was left around the two were victim guts and a whole lot of debris. 

"Kizna," Zero whined. "Is there any way to make it stop?"  He heard Azuma laugh.

"It will only stop when you beat all the victim that are out there."

"When is that? How many are there anyways?" Zero asked, looking a bit worried.

"You'll know when you beat them all.  There are not that many victim out there if you compare it to the real thing.  This would be child's play.  You have almost beaten half the group."  Azuma said the last part a bit reluctantly.    

"Alright then.  Let's get this over with!" Zero said, as he flew over to the next group of victim coming their way. 

Hiead watched Zero from a distance while he handled his own group.  "Only fools rush in head first," he muttered coldly.

Sweat rolling down Zero's face, he surveyed the scene around him.  The group of five had fought for a good ten minutes, but the victim seemed to come from thin air, never stopping.  Zero saw a blur zipping by him; he moved to the side just in time.  He turned his head to get a proper look at what he saw.  He heard a scream coming from his other side, and he whipped his head; almost snapping his neck in two in the process.  "What was that?"

"Roose!" Clay screamed as he rushed on over to his friend who was tangled up with five other victim which were surrounding him. 

"Help!" Zero heard a muffled cry. 

"Roose," Zero whispered as he flew in the direction he saw Clay going a few seconds ago.  Zero scrunched his face in concentration and tried to make his pro-ing go faster.  All of a sudden, he crashed into something hard, sending him flying back a few feet.  "Argh…" Zero moaned as he looked ahead of him.  "Hiead?"

"What are you doing?" Hiead snarled. 

"What does it look like?  I'm trying to help Roose, now get out of my way!" Zero yelled.  Hiead rolled his eyes.  He flew over to the brown haired boy and grabbed onto his shoulders.

Hiead brought his face down to Zero's, his red eyes penetrating into the boy's blue eyes.  "Think Enna, think," Hiead whispered dangerously.  "If we go help them now, we will have to battle them later.  If one gets wasted now, we will only have two to take down," Hiead growled. 

Zero got silent; a serious look on his face.  'Should I let my friend be beaten by a victim or should I save him now and fight him later?' Zero's eyes trailed down to his feet.  He realized Hiead had not released his shoulders from his grip yet. 

Zero looked at Hiead and whispered out a cold, 'No'.  Hiead gave him a slightly confused look.  "I am not leaving my friends to fight of the victim themselves.  If this were the real battle, I would not leave my friends like that.  If we have to fight them after we fight the victim, that is fine with me.  However, until then, we work together as a team.  The five of us," Zero said seriously. 

Hiead growled and gripped Zero's shoulders tighter.  "What don't you get? We will have one less weakling to fight.  Your pathetic friend will be fine.  This is a dumb practice battle with the victim.  Not the real thing!  It does not matter.  When the time comes, you can be a hero and go save that wimp," Hiead barked out.  

Zero growled back at him.  "Let me go," Zero said, his eyes narrowing.  Hiead relinquished his grip on Zero and he pushed Hiead aside.  Zero flew over to Roose, top speed, and helped Yamagi and Clay with the victim.  After Roose was untangled, and the victim, beaten, they moved on and took care of the rest. 

Finally, the five boys beat their enemy and their surroundings slowly started to change. 

"A moron," Hiead muttered under his breath as he shot off towards an unsuspecting Roose.  Hiead balled up his fist and crushed it into Roose's chest, sending the green haired boy flying back into a pile of rubble. 

"That's not fair…" Roose groaned out before collapsing back down onto the rocks, exhausted. 

"One down, two to go," Hiead said as he charged for Clay.  Clay felt his body freeze in place as he tried to move.  His nerves were getting the best of him.  From his peripheral vision, he saw Yamagi flying straight for him. 

'He's not attacking me either… is he?' Clay thought, panic starting to seep into his thoughts.  Hiead was about a foot away from him when Yamagi turned to the side and rammed his shoulder into Clay's pro-ing.  Both of them were thrown to the floor, Hiead zooming right above their heads. 

"You idiots!" Hiead snarled.  He stopped flying for a second, landed on the ground and ran for them again.  Clay scrambled up onto his hands and knees and crawled away as fast as he could.  He went behind a rock and almost immediately heard the booming voice of Azuma echoing throughout his pro-ing. 

"Candidate 87! What do you think you are doing cowering behind the rock like that? Get out there and fight!" Back in the control room, Saki just sunk lower into her chair and covered her burning face with her hands.  Clay heard some rustling sound beside him and whipped his head in the direction of the sound. 

"Boo!" Clay's eyes widened.  He scrambled back to his feet, turned around, and got ready to run.  He heard laughing behind him.  In front of him, Hiead appeared without warning and started walking in an intimidating manner. 

"Yamagi! I can really use some help now," Clay shouted.  He heard a groan from near by, but hoped Yamagi was in good enough shape to help him out.  Clay turned his head back once more and saw piercing blue eyes stare right back at him.  He turned to the front, and saw burning red eyes stare at him.  Clay saw Hiead bend lower, then push off the ground, flying straight at him.  

Clay panicked and did what he did best when in pro-ing battles… run.   He flew as fast as his pro-ing could take him and took a quick glance behind him.  He saw Zero's pro-ing gaining on him.  It was obvious Zero was testing his pro-ing's limits; the pro-ing was straining under Zero's power.  He willed it to go faster and soon caught up with Clay, flying right beside him.  Zero winked at him for a split second and then raised his arm.   

"How…" Clay muttered as Zero's elbow came crashing down onto Clay's back.  He was sent crashing into the rocky ground with a sickening thud.  Clay let out a soft moan and lifted his head once again.  I will prove everyone wrong.  I am stronger than I look, he thought, with a determined look on his face. He turned his head to the side and propped his upper body onto his elbows.  Clay's eyes widened as he realized whom he landed beside.

There on the ground beside him, Yamagi was groaning in pain, holding his midsection.  'Great, now I'm the only one left…'Clay thought.  'The irony of it all.'

Climbing back up onto his feet, Clay looked out for any sign of the other two boys.  He groaned and rubbed his back as a sharp pain shot through his back, down his spine.  "Man that hurt."  Unbeknown to him, Zero was creeping up on Clay, and all of a sudden, he jumped onto Clay's back, wrapping his arms around Clay's neck, and his legs around Clay's waist, knocking him down.  Zero rolled off of Clay but kept him pinned on the ground with one arm.  Hiead walked over, blade in hand, and disabled Clay. 

"The battle is over," said a stoic Azuma.  He turned around and walked away from the big glass window and stood by the door. 


"Yah!! We did it!" screamed Zero as he jumped up and down in the air, throwing a fist up as well.  Hiead just shook his head at Zero, turned around, and walked back out from the battle site.  He walked back into the control room, while Roose and a gleeful Zero helped Clay and Yamagi back inside.  Roose and Clay were congratulating Zero on a job well done, while Yamagi sulked in a corner.  If he was happy for Zero, he did not show it. 


Hiead walked past the repairers, stopping for a split second to glance at Ikhny out of the corner of his eye, and walked out the door like usual, because he could not stand to see Zero gloating over something very insignificant.  Azuma just stared at his retreating figure. He knew, even if he asked Hiead to get back in, he wouldn't so he decided to ask his meek, brown haired partner. It was worth a shot.

"You," Azuma said, pointing at Ikhny. "Bring back your partner."


"Yes sir," Ikhny said in a shaky voice.  She ran out the door and caught up with Hiead.


"Hiead, wait.  Azuma said you have to come back in." Ikhny could hear her own voice quiver as she tried to speak to the sliver haired boy.  Even though she whispered her statement, Hiead's sharp ears picked up on it and he let out a throaty growl; threatening her to come closer to him.  She paid no attention to his threats.  She walked right up to him, and placed a shaky hand on his shoulder, making him stop in his tracks. "I- I don't want to get in- into trouble with Azuma.  Can you p- please come back in- inside?" Ikhny stuttered out as she pleaded with him. 


Hiead's red eyes glowed with fury. 'How dare this girl touch me!' thought Hiead, as he turned around and grabbed her shoulders.  He pushed her up onto a nearby wall, bringing his face inches away from hers.  He could feel her breathing increasing rapidly.  He smirked and started talking in a whispered tone.

"I don't give a damn about Azuma.  He can go fuck himself for all I care.  And I don't need some know- it- all repairer telling me what to do.  I can take care of myself.  If you didn't listen to a word I said, then at least get this though that thick skull of yours… I. Don't. Need. Your. Help.  I don't need anyone's help.  Just leave me alone.  And don't try to help me cause you can't help me," said Hiead in a deathly cold voice, as his body towered over the petit girl who was now shaking.


As Hiead turned around and walked away from his partner, his conscience started to nibble at him.  Scared brown eyes keep flashing in his minds eye, and his facial features turned into one of annoyance.  'Why the hell does she keep coming back to mind?' Hiead screamed in his head.  'Argh!' Hiead huffed and stopped walking for a second.  Then he said two words that changed Ikhny's whole perspective on Hiead.

He grumbled and strutted back to his sleeping quarters. 

Before he left, without glancing back at his repairer, he whispered three words to her. "I am sorry."  He didn't know what made him say it but he knew his conscience would bother him till no end if he didn't.


Ikhny slid down the wall and ended up sitting on the hard floor, her legs folded underneath her.  She stared wide - eyed at the retreating figure of Hiead, shocked at what he said to her.  She sat there trying to persuade herself that she misinterpreted what she heard because it was out of character for Hiead to say that.

----

Kizna watched the door close behind Ikhny and a few seconds later she saw the wall shake slightly, a thump following it.  Unfortunately Azuma did not hear it, and took no notice of her when she tried to get his attention.  She knew Hiead did something to Ikhny… that was the only explanation she could come up with as to why the wall shook right after Ikhny left the battle room.  She was anxious to get outside and see what was going on, but knew if she left without Azuma dismissing them, she would get Zero and herself into some deep shit.  She waited as patiently as she could until Azuma was done talking and dismissed them.


Kizna bolted out the door; her eyes wide open, trying to spot a head full of brown hair. She saw the brown haired girl staring into space with a shocked look on her face.  "Ikhny?" Kizna asked, kneeling down beside the shocked girl.  "Are you alright?"  Kizna grabbed the other girl's shoulders and tried to shake her out of her dream- like state.  "Ikhny, snap out of it.  You're starting to scare me..."

Ikhny finally snapped out of her trance and looked at Kizna as if she grew another head.  "Kizna, Hiead said sorry..." Ikhny said, trying to believe the words herself.

"Huh?"


"Hiead said he was sorry," Ikhny stated once again.


"Hiead would do no such thing. Are you sure you're feeling ok?" asked Kizna.

"Yes, I'm fine Kizna," Ikhny said as she brushed Kizna's hands off her shoulders.  "And I don't think I was hearing things. Before he left, he said he was sorry and then walked away," Ikhny said in a slightly confused tone.  Then she started explaining what happened with her and Hiead, after she saw the hallways were cleared.


"Ok, whatever you say.  I'm not sure I believe you, thought I would have to see it for myself.  If he actually apologized then something must be terribly wrong with him.  It is out of his character to apologize to anyone."  Kizna shrugged her shoulders after declaring her theory.  "Come on. We have to go now anyways. You cannot sit in the hallways all day you know," said Kizna, giving a little chuckle afterwards.


"Your right, let's go. And I have a lot of work to do on the pro- ing," said Ikhny, smiling at her best friend. Kizna smiled back as they walked to the pro- ing hanger.

They entered into the hanger and went to their respective pro- ings to fix them.  Zero was tapping his foot, with a bored look on his face.

"Hi," said Kizna approaching Zero.  She stopped by the toolbox for a second and got the tools she needed to fix the pro- ing.


"Where were you?  You just ran out of the room after Azuma finished talking," said Zero as he took a few tools out of her hand. 


"Oh, I was looking for Ikhny. It sounded like Hiead got mad again and blew up at her. I went to see if she was alright," said Kizna, getting annoyed at the way Hiead treated everyone all the time.  "You know, you could have started working on the pro- ing without me. You know practically everything about the pro- ing now."  Kizna gave a slight smile towards Zero, proud of his accomplishments.


"Yea, I could have, but I wanted to leave the work to you seeing that you might have missed repairing because you didn't help for a whole month," said Zero grinning back at her.

"How very thoughtful of you," she said, giving him a sweet smile.  Then she raised an eyebrow in his direction.  "You really think I would have missed repairing the pro- ing? You're the one who's always damaging it, therefore you should be the one repairing it," Kizna said poking a finger into his chest.

"Oww… that hurts!" whined Zero, faking a painful look on his face.  Then he changed the topic.  "So, is Ikhny alright now?" asked Zero, his tone- somber.


"Yeah, she's fine. I will tell you want happened… later," she said giving a small smile and winking. Zero felt the blood rush to his cheeks in response.

After a few hours of slaving over the pro-ings, the group of candidates and repairers headed out towards the mess hall to get lunch. Hiead was there, and if Zero saw him, he made no indication that he caught sight of Hiead. 

----

Kizna finally got some time alone with Zero and told him to meet her in the recreation room a half an hour before lights out.  She knew she was taking a big risk because she was not sure if anyone would be in that room or not, but she decided to go ahead and meet him there anyways.  They continued on with their day, heading off to class with their other friends.


By the time dinner came and went, the group was dead tired and everyone, or mostly everyone, headed back to their rooms to get a good night's sleep. 

Kizna looked around the darkened room and saw Ikhny and Saki fast asleep.  Their light frames moved up and down with every breath they took in and released.  Kizna was pretty tired herself, but not as much as her friends were.  She still had some energy left to spare.  She slipped out of bed and got dressed before tiptoeing out the door.  She took a peek into the room next to hers- where Wreka and Tsukasa were sleeping- and was relived to see that both the girls were fast asleep.

She walked to the recreation room without anyone noticing her and went in quietly.  She blinked a few times and waited for her eyes to adjust to the bright light in the room.  She looked around and was startled to see Zero already there waiting for her.  He was leaning against the tree in the middle of the room, one leg on the trunk of the tree, giving him some support. 


"Zero, how did you get here so fast?" Kizna asked, her eyes wide in curiosity.  Frankly, she wasn't expecting him to be here this early.  Zero just chuckled in response.


"I just left earlier," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  He smirked as Kizna took a seat on the soft grass, patting the seat next to her.  He took a seat next to her.  She let her mind wander for a few minutes as Zero just stared at her profile.  A stray piece of hair landed on Kizna's face and Zero pushed it back from her face. That got her attention.

He smiled at her as he stared, taking in her beauty.  Kizna broke his trance by talking again.

"So, you're probably wondering what happened with Ikhny and Hiead right?" asked Kizna, looking back into his bright blue eyes. He nodded.

"Ok," she started, taking a deep breath. 

"I came out after Azuma let us go and I saw Ikhny sitting down on the floor, with a shocked look on her face..." Kizna said.  She told Zero exactly what Ikhny had told her, and she told him how she had seen the wall shake while Azuma was talking.  Silence enveloped them after she finished speaking. 

Zero finally spoke up after a minute.  "You're kidding… Hiead would say no such thing. He never apologies to anyone," Zero exclaimed, trying to believe what his girlfriend just told him.  He stared at her in shock, his mouth hanging open.

She just nodded.  "He did, believe it or not. Ikhny told me and I think I know her well enough to know that she won't lie to me on such matters," Kizna stated.

Zero smiled. "Well I'll be damned.  I'll get him to confess later…" Zero lied on his back, his body pressing down on the soft soil, as he plotted out what he would do to get back at Hiead and how to get him to confess that he did indeed say that to Ikhny.  "I'll beat it out of him if I have to…" Zero muttered to himself, thinking that Kizna did not hear him. 

"You'll do no such thing!" said Kizna, slapping him lightly on his chest as she too lied down beside him. His eyes widened as he realized she heard him.  He propped himself up on an elbow, looked back down at her and raised an eyebrow. 

He let out a wicked grin and asked, "And why not?" as he leaned in a bit closer.


By now he was whispering to her. "Because, it wouldn't be nice," she whispered back, not thinking straight.


He smirked in response. He knew he was making her uncomfortable like this, and he knew at that moment he had total control over her and he enjoyed it. He brought his other hand over and traced her cheekbone with his finger. "You know, Hiead isn't nice to me, so why should I be nice to him?" he asked, waiting for her response.

"Because-" whispered Kizna, but got cut short because Zero asked her a question.  By now he was practically sprawled over her, feeling her breath on his face. He was staring at her lips, as his thumb grazed over it. Kizna shivered in delight. She stared into his eyes, getting captivated by them.


He looked into her eyes and whispered, "Can I kiss you?  I never got a proper answer from you last time."  He grinned sheepishly at her.

Kizna blushed in remembrance.  She nodded her head and slipped her eyes closed.  Zero leaned in slowly and caught her lips with his, sending an electrifying jolt through both their bodies.  Zero closed his eyes and savored the taste of Kizna's lips on his. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck, as his arm that he was leaning on, moved to the back of her head and his other arm, to her waist.  He wrapped a leg around her legs, pulling her body closer to his.  He felt his hand unconsciously- or so he thought- move up and down her side, fingering the hem of her shirt. 

Zero could feel Kizna's fingernails rake his skull, sending shocks of pleasure through his body.  He rolled on top of her, but was careful not to crush her under his weight.  He broke off the kiss and his lips trailed down her neck. 


Unfortunately their time got cut short as they heard the loud slam of a door being closed.  Kizna heard the door of the recreation room slam shut and she immediately pulled herself away from Zero, feeling a blush crawl up her face.  Zero's eyes widened in shock, his body frozen in place for a few seconds. 

He finally got his body to comply and scrambled to get off Kizna, his face turning a bright pink.  Kizna sat up and turned her head so that she could get a full look at the person who entered the room, thinking up a fast excuse in her head.  When she turned to look at who came in, she saw herself staring into a pair of bright red eyes that stared back at her, a grim look on the visitor's face.

(Rewritten: 03/10/04)