Disclaimer: I do not own S-Cry-ed! Not the characters! Not the story! Nothing!!

Author's note: Okay, I'll try to update the story once per week, but as you know, it is the end of the first term, and of course finals!!! (scream! Then panic… lolz). I also have an American History Regents in January, so I might update once per two weeks, or once per month. Sorry about that, but I'll try to update as soon as possible. Also, thanks to all of my reviewers!!!

The Lonely Hearts

Chapter 4

The Calamity on Mainland

After the long funeral, it was already seven o'clock. The sky was turning darker and darker, announcing the day was approaching an end. Mimori was very tired, so she went back into her room. She changed back to her red shirt and black pants instead of wearing the gloomy black clothing. She stood at the window, staring into the night sky. There was no stars and the moon was hiding behind layers of dark cloud. Mimori let out a light sigh; her eyes were filled with sorrow and loneliness.

'Is it just me? Or is the world around me turning colder?' Mimori rubbed her hands to get some heat. She only had slight warmth left after Ryuho left her. But now… She didn't feel any warmth around her anymore, ever since she received the letter this morning. 'How cruel is this world? It could give a person everything, then take away everything from him, leaving nothing for him.' This was her thought. She remembered being a happy kid, with a happy family and Ryuho. Then, she was left with nothing right now, nothing but herself.

'Stop it! Stop thinking about those sad things!' Mimori scolded herself. 'Maybe I should take a walk outside.' She stood up, put on the brown coat that she wore the first time Ryuho asked her out after she came to HOLY. Then, she took the key and walked out of her room quietly. She wasn't planning on telling anyone that she was going to take a walk. She wanted to be alone. 'Besides, Asuka needed some rest. I shouldn't bother him. Nothing dangerous would happen anyway…'

Mimori walked quietly towards the front door and opened it. No one saw her, for everyone was still very upset at the death of her parents. No one was at the living room. She closed the door quietly and went outside. The sky was turning into a dark blue already. The streetlight must be on to see the streets.

Mimori followed the only street up hill. Her mansion was located at the middle of the hill, because there was more land for larger house. Many rich people chose to live at the middle of the hill. The top of the hill was a full of green grass and beautiful flowers. The rich people loved to go up there during their free times just to relax. She wanted to go up there now, maybe she could see the Lost Ground from there, and maybe see the stars…

So many things were occupying Mimori's mind that she didn't realized there were several black figures hiding in the shadow, observing her quietly. Then, they followed her towards the top of the mountain, waiting for the perfect opportunity to carry out their evil scheme…

Ryuho and Kanami entered the hotel closest to the shore. They reached the shore in a few minutes because Ryuho used his Alter to fly over the sea.

"Kanami, you should stay in the room in this hotel. I'll go look for Mimori." Ryuho instructed Kanami, with a very serious look on his face.

"But why? I want to go find Mimori too!" Kanami protested. "I wanted to go too!"

"No. The mainland is very dangerous. The crime rate had increased tremendously. It is not save for you out there at night. If I find her, I'll call you." Ryuho explained patiently to Kanami.

"But…" Kanami stopped when she saw the rigidness in Ryuho's red eyes, that means he won't change his mind.. "Okay… I'll stay here. Be careful, Ryuho."

"I will. You be careful too." Ryuho said, then he walked out of the room they got in the hotel. They had already obtained the information about the Kiryu family from the lady at the counter in the hotel. He only needed to go up the hill to the middle, that's the location of the Kiryu mansion. The hill was just a few miles near the hotel, so it would be easy for him to get there. However, a feeling of uneasiness seized him.

'What am I going to say to Mimori?' Ryuho thought. He didn't see her for six years. What will be her reaction when she sees him? 'Is she mad at me for leaving her for so long?' Ryuho continued to ponder. He didn't fly up to the Kiryu mansion, he just walked slowly up the only street towards the Kiryu mansion. He had too many things on his mind to fly to her right away.

At seven thirty, Asuka Tachibana went to Mimori's room to call her down for dinner. But the purple hair young man didn't find her. He looked all around in the big mansion for Mimori, but there was no sign of her.

'Where is she?!?' Asuka thought angrily. He was angry at himself. He promised Kanami that he would look after Mimori, but she was gone. He was extremely worried that Mimori was too sad and might do something to hurt herself.

"Did you see Miss Kiryu?" Asuka asked one servant. He had been asking almost every servant the same question, but none of them had seen Mimori. Just when he thought that this servant also wouldn't know, he was wrong.

"I saw Miss Kiryu went out around seven o'clock. I was up in the balcony cleaning the window when I saw her walking out the front gate. I think she was heading up the hill. There is a big garden up there, all the rich people like to go up there to relax." The servant girl answered.

"Great! Thanks!" Asuka rushed out toward the front gate. "Eternity Eight!" He called out his green treasure balls and formed a green circle under his feet. Then, he flew up the hill so he could get to Mimori as soon as possible.

'I hope Mimori would be fine… I have this bad feeling that something is about to happen… I hope it's just my imagination…' Asuka thought. His eyes showed signs of worry.

'I couldn't just stay here! I know where the Kiryu family lives, so I should go too!' Kanami thought. She stood up from the bed and put on an orange long coat. She didn't tie her hair into a pony tail with the red ribbon. She just let her brown hair fall on her shoulder.

Kanami rushed out of the hotel into the dark street. There was only one light in several meters, so the street was extremely dark. Fear was seen in her green eyes. She shivered a bit at the darkness on the street. 'Oh… the street IS really really dark!' She thought.

Suddenly, Kanami saw the back of a tall and slim person. He had dark brown hair in such a way, along with the way he dressed, that Kanami thought he was Kazuma. "Kazu-kun?" Kanami whispered. "Is it really you? Kazu-kun!" But the person didn't turn his head. Since he was really far away, the light was really dim, and he wasn't facing Kanami, she had to run to catch up to him. Kanami ran toward that person, her long brown hair billowing in the air.

The person in front of her turned a corner into a small and dark alley. When Kanami got to the alley, she hesitated before entering. The street seemed so dark, she couldn't even see what was inside there, including the person she was following. 'Should I enter? This dark alley give me Goosebumps…' Kanami rubbed her hands to get rid of the goosebumps.

Finally, Kanami gathered up all her courage and entered the dark and narrow alley. He fumbled along the wall because she couldn't see anything. Suddenly, she froze on the ground, as she listened to the horrible sound.

"Aaahhhhhh!!!" Horrible shrieks were heard. The person screaming seemed to be in so much pain. "Aaahhhhh" The painful shriek continued. Kanami couldn't move. She was bristled because of fear.

'What's going on?' Kanami tried to walk forward to see what's going on. After several steps, she finally saw some dim light around the next corner. She hid behind the wall to avoid being discovered. The scene she saw almost made her vomit. Her green eyes filled with fear and horror. There was a man on the ground, with blood all over his body. He couldn't seem to move, probably because he was beaten up so badly, or was he almost being killed? The person's mouth was full of crimson blood. There was also another person standing in front of the person on the ground. He was the person that Kanami thought was Kazuma. But apparently, that person was not Kazuma. He had a knife on his hand, full of blood of course. An evil smirk appearing on his ugly face. His other hand was holding the money and a diamond ring.

'He must be a robber!' Kanami gasped. She covered her mouth with her hands so that she wouldn't make any noise. Her eyes widened with fear. She shook her head and tears almost fall out of her eyes at the sight of such horrible scene. Although she would want to help the poor person covered with blood, but the first thing she needed to do was to go and get help.

Kanami turned around, fumbled along the wall towards the direction she came from. Tears had already rolled down her pale cheek. However, she tripped over some rocks on the floor and fall to the ground, making a thud. Not only did her hands were bleeding, her worst fear also came true.

"Who's there?" A coarse voice yelled from the site of robbery, or murder. Kanami was terrified. 'Oh no, the bad guy must have heard me! Run, Kanami! Don't let him catch you!' Kanami stood up quickly and started running. 'Kazu-kun! Kazu-kun! Where are you? I need your help! Kazu-kun!' Kanami was yelling in her heart, hoping that the man she loved would appear and save her.

Just when Kanami was about to reach the main road, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back. The hand that caught her used a large force, hurting her right arm.

"Ah! No! Let me go! Let me go!" Kanami screamed. "Someone help me!"

"He he heh heh heh…" A creepy and coarse voice was heard. "So you see what happened back there, didn't you?"

"No! I didn't see anything! What are you talking about?" Kanami lied. Although she had never lied before, she must right now in order to have the slightest chance of surviving. She turned around and looked into a pair of gray eyes. The man had many scars on his face. "Please mister, let me go…" Kanami pleaded, with her big and watery eyes.

"Not a chance! Mu ha ha ha…" The man continued to laugh. "Oohh… You are a pretty one…" The man stared rudely at Kanami, with a watery mouth and lustful eyes.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Kanami twisted her arm, trying to escape from the man's grasp. She even started kicking. But the man was very strong. He started to ripe Kanami's orange long coat, trying to get the clothes off of her. Kanami began to struggle harder. She started pounding the man and kicking him harder. Then, she kicked the man between his legs.

"Ouch! Y-yo-you… bi-bitch!" The man yelled, collapsing onto the ground. Kanami took this chance and kicked the man once more on his face, sending him flying a few feet from her. Then, she quickly ran out of the dark and creepy alley. Her face was full of tears. She was running like crazy, as if some monsters were chasing her.

'Where is Kazu-kun? Where is him when I needed him?' Kanami was crying while she ran. 'Didn't he promise that he will come back and save me when I'm in trouble? Why didn't he then? Liar!' Kanami thought angrily.

"Liar!" She whispered. She continued to run forward. But she didn't know where she was running to. She passed the hotel that she was supposed to stay in, but she forgot about it. Her mind was now blank; she didn't remember where she was and why she was there, she just continued to run forward, trying to run away from fear…

Mimori was continued walking up the hill. She almost reached the top of the mountain now. It was very quiet and peaceful at the top of the mountain. She could be alone for a while and think about what she would do in the future.

Mimori observed the garden. There were various flowers on the short bushes. The grass appeared soft and green. Purple flowers, orange flowers, pink flowers, red flowers, and even the rare blue flowers… they were so colorful. However, she wasn't familiar with the flowers' names. Besides, she was depressed now, so no matter how pretty the scene could be, Mimori didn't pay attention to them. She walked pass the sea of flowers.

Mimori walked to the edge of the cliff. The flowers around her was beautiful, but she didn't have the mood to look at them. She looked down at from the edge of the cliff, it was the ocean separating the Lost Ground from the mainland. 'The cliff was pretty high…' She observed. Then, she looked toward the land across the not-so-broad sea. That was the Lost Ground, where she met Ryuho, gone back to find him, and lived there alone for six years. There were so many memories she had associated with the Lost Ground.

Mimori sighed. She turned back and went toward the swings under a big tree. She wanted to sit on the swing and think about her future for a while. Just when she was about to reach the tree, four people jumped out from behind the tree. Those four people were wearing torn-out clothes. All of them had dirty faces and some beards. They were about middle aged. One person was extremely fat, one extremely slim, one was very short, and one with one scar on his right cheek.

"Ah! Who are you guys?" Mimori jumped after those four people suddenly jumped out behind the tree. She backed away because they didn't look friendly. There was something shinning in their eyes, as if they had been following her. "Don't tell me… that… you guys followed me… That's not… possible…" Mimori said with a shaky voice.

"Mu ha ha ha ha… That's right, we followed you! What can you do about it, huh?" the man with the scars said with a creepy voice. He moved forward a little toward Mimori.

"Don't come close to me!" Mimori screamed. "What do you want?"

"We wanted your money. As you can see, we desperately needed money." The extremely short man said. Mimori noticed that they were all wearing torn-out clothes. 'Maybe they are poor… But so what?' Mimori observed them.

"Now lady, take out all the money you got." The skinny guy with a face that looked like rat (because of how skinny he was) moved closer to Mimori.

"Okay!" Mimori screamed. "Just stay away from me." Mimori took out the money she had in her pocket, but it was only $20 because she was only planning to be alone to think for a while. Therefore she didn't take much money with her when she left the house. She handed the money to the skinny man.

"WHAT?!? Is this all you got, lady? Don't try to hide any money from us! You are rich, I know, since you lived in this rich-people area." The fat man yelled, then ran toward Mimori and grabbed her arm. "And don't look at us with that disgusted look!"

"I'm… not… ouch! It hurts, let me go… Don't touch me!" Mimori screamed. Her eyes were watery and filled with fear. She started twitching her arm, but the fat man slapped her on her face, sending her flying out a few inches.

"Hey, don't you think she's pretty?" The rat-face skinny man asked his accomplices. "Since she didn't have much money, let's enjoy her then, what do you say?"

"Now that you mentioned it, you are right! Let her pay for giving us so little money." The short man said, nodding his head in agreement with the skinny man.

"W-what? What a-are you… going… going t-to do?" Mimori stuttered. She tried to get back up on her feet so that she could run away from them. But she didn't have the chance to stand up when the fat man leaned down towards her and claimed "I'm first!"

"Sure, why not?" The other three men said indifference.

When the fat man started to leaned his fat oily face toward Mimori, and his hand trying to get the coat off of her, she struggled harder. Kicking and pounding on the fat man. While she was struggling, her brown coat was sliced open by the fat man with a knife. Mimori gasped and struggle harder. Then, her purple crystal necklace that she had always worn were dropped onto the ground because of her struggling motions, but she didn't realize it. Tears began to flow out of her eyes when she gave up.

"Mimori!" The voice of Asuka Tachibana was heard from the distant. Eight green treasure balls were also flying towards the four men at the same time.

"Asuka!" Mimori whispered. Her energy was drained out from all the struggling. The four men also ran toward the treasure balls and Asuka, thus leaving Mimori on the ground. Mimori stood up and pulled her coat tighter. The air around her seemed freezing. She was now extremely depressed, after going through the news and funeral of her parents' death, being robbed and almost raped by four evil men in one day.

She walked several steps and reached the edge of the cliff. Her eyes were now looking blankly into the distant at the Lost Ground. She could hear Asuka's voice, still yelling at her that he's coming. Although it was only in a few seconds when Asuka was coming toward her, it seemed like ages to her. As tears blurred her vision, a crazy thought crept into her mind, as she continued to stare at the Lost Ground.

'Ryuho… he's probably still in the Lost Ground… How is he?' Mimori thought. 'He couldn't forget… couldn't forget that Scheris died for him… So he left me…' More tears came out of her eyes. 'I have nothing left… my parents left me too… I'm all alone in the world… a world full of danger and sorrow…' Mimori looked down at the sea. She couldn't see very well because the tears blurred her vision. She just couldn't stop crying. 'Maybe… maybe if I die, Ryuho would spend the rest of his life thinking about me… At least he will remember me…' Mimori ignored Asuka's voice and the yelling of the rest of the men as a fight began. A weak smile was seen on her face. 'Ryuho will finally remember me. Bye Ryuho… I love you…' With that last thought, she let her body fall off the cliff.

"No! Mimori!!!" Asuka finally used his treasure balls to make those four men go away by manipulating their minds, but then he saw Mimori fall off the cliff. He rushed toward the edge of the cliff and looked down, but he didn't see anyone. Mimori probably had already fallen into the water. "Why did you do that? I could have saved you from those disgusting men…" Asuka kneeled on the ground. He heart ache at the thought of losing a close friend.

"Tachibana! What happened here? Where's Mimori?" Ryuho came. He went to the Kiryu mansion, but was told that Mimori wondered toward the garden at the top of the hill. He also found out that Tachibana came looking for her. With a bit of uncomfortable that Asuka was with Mimori, he rushed toward the top of the hill. When he almost reached the top, he saw four beaten up men with a green treasure ball on each man's head walking slowly downhill. Then, all he saw was Tachibana kneeling on the edge of the cliff. There was no sign of Mimori.

Asuka didn't raise his head. His purple bangs covering his eyes, so Ryuho couldn't see his expressions on his face. He didn't answer Ryuho. Ryuho reached Asuka and grabbed his shirt to lift him up. "Answer me, Tachibana! Where is Mimori?" He still didn't get any answer. Asuka still had her head lowered.

Suddenly, a glowing object lying on the ground caught Ryuho's eyes. He let go of Asuka and went to pick up the object on the ground. His eyes widened when he saw what it was. 'It's the purple crystal Mimori took when I used my Alter and broke off a piece of the wall when we first met! She always wears it on her neck. Why is it on the ground? Where is she?' Ryuho thought fearfully. He was afraid that something might happen to her.

He stood up again and turned toward Tachibana. "Why is this on the ground? Where's Mimori?" Then, a thought struck Ryuho. He realized that they were on the edge of the cliff, and Asuka was knelling right near the edge of the cliff when he saw him. 'No, it can't be…' Fear struck Ryuho.

"Mimori… she fall off the cliff." Asuka said with a low voice.

"What?!? Why didn't you save her?" Ryuho was furious. He had a desire to beat up Tachibana.

"She WAS saved. Those four men were losing to me. I have no idea why she would jump off the cliff!" Asuka yelled. He finally raised his head, showing his watery eyes. "Unless… unless she was still very emotional unstable from the earlier shock and sorrow about her parents' death…" Asuka mumbled. Then, he looked angrily at Ryuho. "Why weren't you here when she needed you? Everyone could see that she missed you very much! Where were you for the past six years?"

Ryuho didn't answer. He felt guilty. Then, Ryuho remembered that Kanami told him Mimori was extremely depressed at the death of her parents, and most important of all, he wasn't with her. Kanami said Mimori was mumbling something like she was all alone in the world. Ryuho's heart ached. He was the one who left her alone. And now, she was attacked by four men, no wonder she would lose hope of living. 'It was all my fault…'

Ryuho put the necklace around his neck. He called out his Alter and fly down the cliff. 'I'll find you, Mimori. I won't let you go anymore. Please be all right. I can protect you from now on, just let me find you!' Ryuho yelled in his heart. He thought that Mimori was probably flowing on the sea since she jumped off the cliff into the sea. He was sure that he could find her on the sea, so he flew near the surface of the blue sea in search of Mimori. However, after one hour of searching on the sea again and again, he didn't spot Mimori.

'That can't be… Why can't I find her!' Ryuho was now frustrated. 'Maybe she was already saved by someone, or washed ashore somewhere…' Ryuho thought hopefully. He flew back up the cliff and found Tachibana sitting on a swing under a tree. Tachibana looked upset.

"Did you find her?" Asuka asked.

"… No… I think she may have been saved or washed ashore somewhere. We should go look for her together." Ryuho suggested.

"Maybe she…" Asuka couldn't finish the sentence.

"No! Don't you say that! I'm not going to give up! Until… until I see either Mimori… or her… or her…" Ryuho choked on his voice. He didn't want to say the word.

"Her corpse…" Asuka finished the sentence for Ryuho. There was a long silence between them. Then, Asuka finally stood up and walked away. "If you want to start searching for her, we should start now. The longer we wait, the smaller the chance of her survival."

"Thanks, Tachibana." Ryuho said. He followed Tachibana down the hill.

"Don't thank me. I'm Mimori's friend too." Asuka said. He was still mad at Ryuho for disappearing for the past six years, leaving Mimori all alone.

They walked away from the cliff, planning on how they were going to search for Mimori…

Author's note: (sigh) Finally finished this long chapter. So what are your thoughts on this chapter. Sorry I have to make Mimori and Kanami suffered. I'm sad too that I made Mimori jumped off the cliff. ( T.T ) But I had to, so that the plot will unfold from here. Okay, please review! The reviews will give me more strength to continue the story, lolz. Thanks for reading!