Chappie 2 already? Hmm. I finished this one much quicker than usual, so hopefully there aren't too many mistakes?

This chapter is a lot longer than the first. Reason being, after reading the first I felt like it was too short. Plus I had a lot of stuff to cram into this chapter to get the plot rolling.

--------

"So you finally decided to show up for school?" Sora said loudly through a mouthful of food as he sat his lunch tray on the table and took a seat next to Sunao. The smaller boy grunted in reply, not raising his head from the table. "Man, Minato sure was pissed about you being late. You're braver than I am, if I were late for Minato's class I just wouldn't show at all," again Sunao grunted in reply. "Uhm… Fujimori? Aren't you going to eat?"

Nao instead replied to this with a drawn out groan and slowly looked up at his friend pleadingly.

"How can I think about food? Not only was I late, but Minato is making me stay after school. On top of that, I am positive I failed not only my math exam but my literature exam as well. After being lectured for ten minutes about punctuality by Minato, I was called into the office and told that… ugh… just nevermind" Sunao turned his head and stared at the floor.

"Called into the office? Surely you weren't in that much trouble for being late," Sora said as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"No… it wasn't because of that… It was because…"

"THERE YOU ARE NAO-CHAN!" Matsuri interrupted as he pushed a chair between the two and plopped down. "Now that I have you both in the same spot, I have to talk to you about a job!"

"Could this day get any worse?" Sunao grumbled.

"Aww! do we have to? Things have been so nice lately without having to run around and work ourselves to death!" cried Sora with a pout.

"Of course you have to! It is our duty, as the Jack of All Trades to provide the people with the services they need," The blonde rambled, his eyes shining as if he were spouting off poetry. He shoved a piece of paper in front of Sora's face.

"Part time help at the hospital? We're not doctors! What the hell are we supposed to do?" Sunao spat as he ripped the paper from Sora's hands.

"It's not exactly like that, Nao-Chan. Read down a little further,"

"Hmm. They want us to boost the morale of the patients? That doesn't sound too bad, I guess. What do we have to do? Walk around and spend time with them? Watch television with them, play card games, stuff like that?" Sora said reading the paper over Sunao's shoulder.

"Read further Hashiba. They want us to dress up in costumes. I remember what happened the last three times we dressed in costume, so count me out. There is no way I am agreeing to this one," Nao said flatly. His eyes narrowed as he glared at Matsuri. "Is this just another plot to get me in a dress?"

"Come on now. Think of all of those poor poor children. They are sick, and they need the Jack of All Trades to come in and lighten up their day!" Matsuri bubbled.

"It's at the children's hospital?" Sora blinked.

"No. But you will only have to work the children's ward,"

"That doesn't sound so bad. I guess you can count me in," Sora said with a grin. It wasn't like him to willingly agree to a job, but this was different. As kind as he was by nature, Sora genuinely felt that this job had the potential to help people. "What about you, Fujimori? Are you in?"

"I… I can't. Sorry Hashiba, Matsuri. I need to go…" before either boy could stop their friend, Sunao had taken off across the cafeteria and was out of sight.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hmm. And so you're telling me that's why Fujimori was late to my class?" Minato pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I just thought I should tell you… He's been acting so strange lately. I tried to get him to come and talk to you, Nanami. But he wouldn't hear of it,"

"It sounds like Fujimori has a lot on his mind. I think maybe we should take him to be examined by Ayano," Nanami said deep in thought, as he sipped at his coffee.

"He'll never agree to it," Sora mumbled. "And now he is stressed out on top of all this because of you!" Sora pointed a finger at Minato.

"While we are in that classroom we are student and teacher. As such, punishment for his tardiness was necessary. When he comes by my room after school I will talk to him,"

"Punishment may have been necessary, but wasn't staying after school and the lectures enough? Did you really have to have him called into the main office too?" as Sora spoke Minato scratched his head.

"Hold up a second, Sora. I never did any such thing,"

"You didn't? Huh… I wonder what that was all about then," Sora said, puzzling as to what exactly was going on.

"Sora, if Sunao's strange behavior has been going on as long as you say it has, why didn't you come to us sooner?" asked Nanami.

"Well, I guess at first I just though Fujimori was being his usually moody self. But it hasn't got any better, if anything it's getting worse," Sora sighed. "Last night he was crying in his sleep. He is constantly lashing out at me… more than normal that is. And today at lunch he ran off and left Matsuri and me just sitting there. After that, I decided that if he wasn't going to come to you himself, that I would. So I skipped study hall and came to talk to you,"

"Try not to worry about it so much. I'll have a talk with him this afternoon. You did the right thing by telling us," Minato said with a hand on Sora's head, ruffling his hair. "Now you go on back to class. This time I will forgive you for cutting a class, but don't ever let me catch you doing it again,"

Sora slowly walked down the hall, his mind humming with a thousand different questions. He hoped that Fujimori wouldn't be too angry with him for going behind his back and talking to Nanami and Minato, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully everything would blow over soon, and they could get back to their daily routine. Sora thought it was funny; before he had Fujimori in his life things were so much calmer and he rarely had that wrenching pain in his chest that only Sunao could trigger. He wouldn't trade that feeling or Fujimori for all of the pink stuffed elephants in the world.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"So… how did it go?"

"I'm NOT speaking to you. EVER AGAIN," Sunao grumbled as he stared straight ahead and quickened his pace. Sora had waited outside the school for Nao, but evidently he wasn't too happy with Sora's intervention. He had hoped Minato wouldn't mention that he had gone to talk to him about everything, but that hope was all but dashed when a very frustrated and angry looking Nao came storming out of the building not even stopping to say hello to his friend. Shinichirou Minato was a sadist he concluded with a sigh as he could come up with no other explanation as to why he couldn't have just kept his big mouth shut.

"Look, Fujimori. I'm sorry. But I didn't know what else to do. You weren't going to talk to them on your own and I was worried. Wouldn't you have done the same thing if it were me?" Sunao stopped so quickly that Sora almost walked right into him.

"It doesn't matter anyway. I won't be here for much longer," Sunao said staring at his feet. He rubbed his eyes, brushing away a few stray tears that threatened to make their escape.

"Won't be here? Don't be ridiculous," Sora said placing a hand on Nao's shoulder.

"When I came to this school the whole thing was secretly funded by Aizawa. He freed me from the lab under the condition that I was to attend school here and find you. After it was all over, I was supposed to go back to the lab and continue to be used as a test subject. But the lab burned down and Aizawa is dead. My tuition here was only paid up until the end of this quarter and you know I don't have any money other than the pocket change I make from Matsuri's stupid schemes. That's why I had to go to the office earlier today… it wasn't because of nii-chan punishing me for being late, that was just added torment. It was to inform me that I was to be moved out by the end of the month. They already have a new roommate picked out for you and everything,"

"What? That can't happen," Sora could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Did you tell Minato and Nanami? I'm sure that they can arrange something,"

"No. And I'm not going to tell them. I've been a big enough bother… to all of you. I think maybe, it's for the best,"

"What the hell are you saying, are you stupid? Where exactly do you think you are going to go? What makes you think that I am going to let you go so easily?" Sora pulled Sunao into his arms and held him tightly. "We can fix this… all of it. If you'll only let me, I promise I will make it all right again," Nao pushed him away, the tears that ran down his cheeks glistening in dim light of the setting sun.

"You think you can fix everything? You can't fix me, Hashiba. It's too late for that. If you wanted to fix me so badly you should have tried it ten years ago," His voice wavered.

"At least let me try," said Sora, fighting back his own tears. "I want you to tell me everything. Be more open with me. At least then… at least then we have a chance,"

"You don't want to hear everything, Hashiba. I can promise you that. And there are no chances left," Sunao broke down. He fell to his knees, scraping them on the rough pavement. He looked up at Sora, his eyes wide and his body trembling. "I feel like I'm losing my mind. I know Aizawa is dead, but I feel like I'm constantly being watched, like at any given moment I might be dragged back to the lab. I can't sleep because I remember things. I can't eat because I feel sick all the time. I just want a normal life, that's all I've ever wanted. What's wrong with me, Kuu-chan?"

"It'll be okay," Sora said kneeling beside Nao, pulling him against his chest. "I'm here for you now, and everthing will be okay,"

"It WON'T be okay! Nothing will ever be okay," Sunao pushed Sora away once more, and slowly stood up. "And you keep saying that you are here for me now… Where were you back then? Where were you when Aizawa would have his 'lab technicians' beat me within an inch of my life to see how I would react? Where were you during that so called 'fear conditioning therapy'? That's the one were they all but drowned me, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Or did you even know about that? I don't hate you anymore for leaving me behind… but it still hurts. I know that it wasn't your fault that you let go of my hand. But in ten years you couldn't have come back for me? I waited ten years, Hashiba. I was reaching out for you for ten years and grasped nothing but air. That's why… that's why I think it's for the better that I just go,"

"How long have you felt like this?" Sora asked, unable to make eye contact due to his own guilt.

"I don't know. I just… I'm sorry… I really am sorry," and with that Nao took off running through the courtyard. He didn't know where he was going exactly, but he knew that he couldn't face Sora after all of the things he had just said. So he ran in no direction in particular to no place in particular, his heart crumbling with every step. Sora wanted to call out to him, to run after Sunao and force him to understand that he would make up for everything, but his legs refused to run and his voice refused to speak.

/-/-/-/-/-/

By the time Sora convinced his legs to obey him again it was dark out, and the moon was full and the color of rust. He could remember a time when he was young that the moon looked just as it did right then. No matter how hard he tried to force the memory out of his mind it remained, persistently reminding him of things he had all but forgotten. Clearly enough that it could have been yesterday, Sora could envision the room (if you could call it that,) he and Sunao shared at the lab. Sunao. Where had he run off to anyway? Sora wasn't sure how to handle the current situation. He supposed he had been naïve to believe that ten years of hurting had vanished just because Sora and Nao had reunited and rekindled their friendship. He could have smacked himself for thinking that Nao would just pick up where they left off like nothing had ever happened. Regardless of all that, he would die before he let Fujimori out of his life again and even if it pissed Nao off, he would go and talk to Nanami and Minato in the morning about working something out with the money problem.

As Sora approached his room he noticed a light shining from under the door. Upon further investigation he realized that the door was unlocked. Nao had come back home? The thought came with some relief, at least now he wouldn't have to go out searching for him until all hours of the night. Now came the question of what he would say to him. He didn't really know if he could come up with the right words. He loved Fujimori, and he was fairly sure that his affections were requited. Maybe tonight was the right time to finally say those words that he found so hard to say.

"Fujimori?" He spoke gently as he knocked quietly on the door. After getting no reply he slowly cracked the door and peeked in. To his surprise, the room was not only empty, but there was a large wooden crate sitting just inside the door. The crate gave him an uneasy feeling, and for a moment he considered just putting it outside and pretending he'd never even seen it. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly kneeled beside it and lifted off the lid. "What the hell?"

The crate was filled with many things: photographs, documents, cassette tapes, even a small ragged gown. Sora felt a chill run up his spine as he slowly lifted the gown out of the crate. It was identical to the one he'd worn while at the lab. There were telltale blood stains and holes marring the stiff yellowed fabric. He dropped it on the floor and slowly lifted out a stack of photos. As his eyes slowly focused on the small boy in the picture, he felt his heart drop. The small text in the corner of each photo was all he needed.

Experiment #50061 A. Photographic Documentation Series 1B.

Subject: Male/ Identification # 0012/ Given Name: Fujimori Sunao

Sora's stomach folded as he flipped through the pictures. Some showed the small boy standing near a tall board marking his height, his eyes looking empty and defeated. Other pictures were close up shots of healing wounds and scars; there were even photos marked 'ongoing treatments' showing the boy looking very skinny and malnourished. He slowly moved around the items in the crate, examining each one. Some of the tapes were labeled as 'audio documentation' while others were labeled in sessions. There was written documentation of every experiment conducted on both himself and Fujimori. Where had all of this come from? Aizawa? But wasn't he dead? If Nagase had managed to make it out of the lab before it burned to the ground then wasn't it possible that Aizawa had too? But even with that said, shouldn't all of these things have burned along with the lab?

Sora felt sick to his stomach. Surely it was all just a cruel prank? As much as that's what he wanted to believe he knew better. He was only glad that he found it before Nao, he could only imagine what finding something like that would do to him in his current state. Sora had been so caught up in the mysterious crate that he entirely forgot about the fact that Fujimori still had not returned home. He shoved the crate in the corner, lovingly placing Toshizo on top of it, as if not only to hide it, but to guard it as well. He would investigate the contents of the crate later, there were more important things to worry about for the time being. It kind of spooked him to think that Nao was out there somewhere, upset and alone while this person who obviously knew about their past was also out there lurking around in the shadows. If they had no qualms with breaking into someone's home, then why wouldn't they want to do something to hurt Nao? Before he realized it he was running through the crisp night air.

"Fuuujimooooriiiii!" he called as he hopped a small fence and took off through the bushes. Where would he have gone? Matsuri's house? Surely not. Even though they were all friends it was no secret that Matsuri's antics irritated Sunao to no end. He was equally sure that he wouldn't have gone to Nanami and Minato's house. Maybe he had gone to Ichikawa's? That's where he had run off to the last time, right? While Sora didn't think it was likely, he thought it was worth a try. And so he headed off towards Ichikawa's place, trying hard to push the notion out of his mind that something was seriously wrong.

-----------

Okay so when I said that the mysterious intruder would be revealed in this chapter I lied, sorry. But it got you to read the second chapter, right? (that's right, I'm not above using trickery to make sure that my story is read.)

Ah also. I wasn't sure if there were any real numbers assigned to Nao as far as the whole lab thingy goes, so I just made some up. So if there were numbers and I just didn't know about it since my obsession is limited to the anime only so far, just uhm… pretend it's right or something. o.o

Reviews are still appreciated. Tell me what I am doing right so I can keep doing it, and what I am doing wrong so I can fix it!

Anyway, lots of stuff happening in Chapter 3. Possibly some lemony goodness. Who knows? I do, but I'm supposed to know, I'm the author. Ermm…so I had a point in there somewhere I just don't know what it was. Oh yeah. Review, and watch for the next chapter.