Ayumu walked to the meeting place he had arranged with Eyes. He had no idea what the pianist had in store for him, but he was going to go along with it, if it meant being with Kanone. As Ayumu looked around looking for any traps Eyes may have set up he spotted a box. It wasn't too big to be anything dangerous, but not small enough not to be wary of. Ayumu approached the box carefully and as he reached it he slowly opened it up. "I really hope this isn't a bomb. If it is I might be making a big mistake. On the other hand I might need to open it up, there could be something useful in here." There was no bomb in the box, in fact the box was completely empty. "Huh?" Ayumu looked up just in time to see a foot coming at his head. Ayumu wasn't fast enough to dodge and got kicked square in the temple, knocking him back a few feet. His attacker waited until Ayumu regained his senses and looked up at him, "Wh-what the hell?" Ayumu looked up to see Eyes standing a few feet away from him, calm as ever. "No, he's not the same. He seems different, but how? He looks...dangerous."

"Did you think I was going to play a game with you and give you a chance at getting away with Kanone unharmed?" Eyes asked, his voice laced with anger, "Don't insult me Little Narumi. If I don't kill you, then you win. Those are the rules."

"What are you..." Before Ayumu could understand what was happening Eyes was on him again pinning him to the ground, punching him in the face ruthlessly. Ayumu somehow managed to knee Eyes in the gut and push the white haired teenager off him and scramble to a safe spot a few feet away. "He's not kidding!" Ayumu thought, gingerly touching a sore spot on his head, taking his hand away and noticing it was coated in blood, "He's really serious about killing me! At least putting me in the hospital. I never thought Eyes was like this, he always seemed so calm, but now he's totally different." Then Ayumu remembered something that Kanone had told him back when they were still enemies. It was right after their showdown and Ayumu was convinced that he had won. Kanone was saying something about believing in yourself and asking Ayumu if there was something that could shatter all of that, what did he say? Right, 'nothing beats pure violence' or something like that. Are all the Blade Children like this deep down? All of a sudden Ayumu realized that he had been thinking for way too long and looked up to see Eyes pointing a gun at him, "Oh, shit!" Ayumu was frozen to the spot.

"I told you that you weren't going to get away easily Little Narumi." Eyes said as he approached Ayumu. Ayumu just glared at Eyes and instead of simply shooting him, Eyes hit Ayumu across the face with the barrel of the gun. Ayumu momentarily blacked out and then heard a gun shot. Then the pain registered. Ayumu grabbed his left leg and shouted out in pain. The shot was nowhere near fatal, Ayumu knew that. But that didn't change the fact that it hurt like hell! He also realized that this meant he was immobilized. He tried to stand once and failed miserably, falling to the ground and crying out in pain. Eyes smirked and threw the gun to the side, he wouldn't need it anymore. He wanted Ayumu to suffer for ever even considering touching his Kanone. "Still want to fight for him, Little Narumi? Is he really worth it? I didn't come here to give you a fair chance. I'll give you one more chance at life, since I know Kanone would hate me if I killed you, but if you ever touch him again, I won't hesitate to kill you. Understand?" Ayumu nodded weakly.

He was getting light headed at the loss of blood and tried to reach for the cell phone he knew was in his pocket, "No, no! Don't tell me I left it at home, how could I be so stupid?" Ayumu knew he needed an ambulance soon or he would be dead in a matter of minutes.

Eyes knew this as well and smirked again at Ayumu, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his own cell phone, handing it to Ayumu, "I expect that back." And without another word Eyes disappeared into the darkness. Ayumu quickly flipped open the cell phone and immediately realized that was a big mistake. He saw a timer on the phone start counting down from 10 seconds. Ayumu tried to throw the phone away but it wasn't soon enough. The phone exploded with an alarmingly large blast and knocked Ayumu unconscious.

Ayumu opened his eyes slowly and moaned at the pain that reached him. He gripped his leg where he had been shot and groaned once more, realizing that was a bad idea. A new wave of pain rushed through his leg and up his back. Ayumu looked around at his surroundings and saw he was in a hospital room. "Guess that means I'm not dead." Ayumu thought. He looked in front of him and saw someone sitting with their head in their hands, clearly concerned for the hospitalized boy. Ayumu then realized who it was, "K-kousuke?" Ayumu said, barely finding his voice. It hurt just to breathe, Eyes had really done a number on him.

Kousuke's head snapped up at the mention of his name and he quickly reached Ayumu's bedside, "Ayumu? Are you okay?" Kousuke was very worried, more so than he should have been.

"Yeah...I think so, what happened? Did you find me?" Ayumu then noticed that Kousuke wasn't sick anymore, "Are you feeling better?" Ayumu asked, sounding more concerned than he wanted to.

"Don't worry about me, I'm good as new. And yeah, I did find you. You scared the crap out of me, you know."

"Sorry...I guess. But why are you so worried about me? I thought you didn't like me."

Kousuke shook his head, "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." His voice wasn't harsh or insulting though, just relieved.

Ayumu stared at Kousuke and thought for a second, realizing that it hurt his head though, he stopped, "What are you talking about, Kousuke?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you, Ayumu?" A blank stare answered his question. Kousuke sighed and bent down, placing a soft kiss on Ayumu's lips. Kousuke drew back, expecting to be hit or at least slapped and told to leave. Instead he was met with a different stare.

"What...what the hell just happened?' Ayumu asked himself, "Did Kousuke actually just kiss me? And what's even more weird...did I like it?" Ayumu cleared his throat, "Um...Kousuke...I..."

Kousuke looked up at Ayumu sadly and smiled, "Don't worry about it, Ayumu. I know you don't like me, I just figured it was best to tell you now, where I could at least get a running start before you tried to kill me." Seeing that Ayumu's face seemed to be frozen in that shocked gaze Kousuke decided to change the subject, "So, what exactly happened to you?"

Ayumu snapped back to reality, "Huh?"

Kousuke motioned to Ayumu's leg, "I mean what the hell happened to you, unless you're into self-mutilation, which I doubt you are...unless you are. Are you?"

Ayumu shook his head, "What are you talking about, Asazuki? I didn't do this to myself, you idiot." Seeing Kousuke's slightly hurt expression at the insult Ayumu felt guilty. The poor boy had just poured his heart out to Ayumu, the least he could do was be civil to him, "Sorry. I just meant that I didn't do this to myself. And no, I'm not into self-mutilation."

Kousuke sighed, "Well that's good. Not that I thought you were or anything, I just..." Kousuke stopped and took a deep breath, "So who's the idiot whose gonna get his ass kicked for doing this to you?"

Ayumu looked at Kousuke, "Asazuki, don't go do anything stupid, okay?"

"Me? Stupid? Ayumu, come on, you know me better than that." Kousuke joked, trying to lighten the mood. he soon grew serious once again though, "Tell me who did this to you."

Kousuke's voice was so reassuring that Ayumu honestly wanted to tell him everything, so he did. Why shouldn't he? "It was Eyes." Ayumu confessed.

The red head gasped, "Rutherford? Ayumu, are you going crazy?"

"I know, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to just attack someone, but he did it for..."

"Hold up, Narumi. I'm not talking about that. I mean, true, Eyes was never the most aggressive person; especially now. Ayumu you were there when Kanone told us. Rutherford's dead."

Ayumu looked up at Kousuke, "Crap, I'd forgotten Kanone told me not to tell anyone. Well there's no sense in taking it back, I guess I should just tell him everything. It's not like it matters if Kanone is mad at me or not, I'll never be able to see him again, not with Eyes around." Ayumu took a deep breath and explained everything to Kousuke; how Eyes really hadn't been dead, how Ayumu had found Eyes at Kanone's apartment, how Kanone confessed that he still loved Eyes and had slept with him, how he and Eyes had set up a meeting to sort everything out, and how Eyes had attacked him. Once Ayumu was done explaining everything, he looked to Kousuke.

The Blade Child simply stared for a few seconds, "Wow, so Rutherford's alive? And he did this to you...because of Kanone? Damn him! He's still causing trouble. First he tries to kill you, not to mention all of us, and now he's getting Eyes to do his dirty work for him, I bet he set all of this up. It's probably just a part of his twisted plan. That bastard!" Kousuke ended up punching the wall next to him to vent some of his anger.

Ayumu placed a hand on Kousuke's shoulder which seemed to calm the angered teen down a bit, "Kousuke relax. Don't be mad at Kanone, I really don't think he planned any of this. How could he know that Eyes wasn't dead and that he would go to such extremes?"

Kousuke settled back down into his chair next to the hospital bed that Ayumu was in, "I'm sorry Ayumu, I just...I don't like to see you hurt. And it's so easy to blame Kanone, I still hate him for what he did to us...and you. He's just not my favorite person."

"I can only imagine. Seeing as how you feel about me, there's really no reason you should like Kanone." Ayumu laughed a bit which brightened Kousuke up.

"That's a nice sound, your laugh. I've never heard it before. Well at least not when you weren't torturing me." Kousuke chuckled a bit at this and smiled sadly, "At least he hasn't said anything to harsh to me, maybe he feels bad for me. I don't want his pity...just him."

"Kousuke?" Ayumu's voice broke Kousuke out of his thoughts. When Ayumu was sure he had Kousuke's attention he continued, "I've never really thought of you in a romantic way, so I'm not quite sure how to react to this. I never would have thought in a million years that you'd like me like that. I actually thought you hated me. I really don't know what kind of answer to give you. I'm not sure I feel the same way about you, but...I don't think that I don't like you. it's confusing..."

Kousuke stopped Ayumu's babbling with another kiss, this one a bit more forceful, 'This should make up your mind.' Kousuke thought. Then pulled away and waited for Ayumu's reaction.

Ayumu decided to submit to Kousuke, "He is kind of cute in a weird way, I guess. And he seems nice enough when he's not trying to kill me. Besides, I need a way to forget about Kanone." And with that last thought Ayumu pulled Kousuke into another passionate kiss. Kousuke complied with Ayumu's demands and wrapped his arms around his new love's neck and deepened the kiss.