(a/n: there's a thing people call a "curse word" that's acctually a "place name", so, erm, I SORELY APOLOGIZE BEFORE HAND FOR ANY SORT OF MISUNDERSTANDING THAT MAY ARISE! swetdrop so, i'm not to sure if i did it right by not changing the rating, ha ha, sorry... weak smile as she prepares for the bombardment of vegetables...)
---DA---
You slowly come-to and realize your in the Hospital Ward of Duelist Academy... and you can feel a presence nearby that seems to be relatively calm. You slowly turn your head and feel the oxygen mask over your face and you gasp, your body seeming to go into a frenzy and you try to pull the mask off and feel a warm hand touch yours.
When you look to the owner of that soft hand, you realize it's Lyman, his soft smile on and you feel your face flush bright and you gently pull your hand away from your mask and look into that beautiful face, your heart racing.
"Please don't remove the mask, Haruka." He slowly releases your hand and sits back down beside you. "I'm terribly sorry if it's uncomfortable, but you did a noble thing, protecting the young Kaiba like that. He's very thankful that you were there at the time and saved him so, he gave you this." He held out a winged card. It was Graceful Charity. "He says he wants you to get well soon and he loved this card for the kind actions you performed."
The door creaks open and Zaneis reveiled, a very evil look on his face. He stares down at you, his eyes colder than ever before and he reaches down and grabbs your arm, dragging you to a sitting position. "What's the matter with you? You protected another person's brother and you don't even stay awake long enough to make sure he's not harmed? What's the meaning of this?"
"I-I..." You faulter as you see that spirit in his eyes. "You would have tried to protect your brother the same, wouldn't you?"
"How did you know I had a brother?" Zane looked utterly baffled.
"I also know you have a key." You reach up and touch where his heart lies. "But your key is always so protective of your feelings so that you won't allow your brother's emotions? Someone who holds a key shouldn't be so sad." Your breath hitches and you begin to cough up blood into the oxygen mask and you rip it off and see the red liquid staining the pure, white sheets. "M-Mokuba got hurt?"
"Yes." Zane hits you hard on the hand. "You didn't answer me!"
With a sigh, you look at him, wiping up the blood. "Nothing. I was loosing blood, I couldn't stay consious enough to protect him anymore. The meaning of this is because I wasn't able to stand up again when I fell down. The thing is, Zane, no one, I repeat, no one, has ever stood up after being shot in the leg and gut the same way I was. Two shots would kill most people, I was lucky to have just fainted! Being shot by a gun isn't as easy as you claim it in your mind! I tried! But I don't understand why I tried! I don't even understand why I'm here or why I can sense keys." You begin to cry. "I don't understand anymore."
"Lyman!" It's Crowler. He glares at you and stands next to Lyman. "The Shadow Riders want us to duel them in exchange for souls and for the Academy! They request that all those with the Keys come to the Duel Arena, as soon as possible!"
You begin to rise to your feet and you feel an sudden shudder run up your spine and you look at Lyman seeing that he had felt it as well. You look at Zane and Crowler and see that they haven't felt it, not even a small bit.
Crowler and Zane stare at you and then run off, leaving you with Lyman. You look up at him and see that he's also conserned, meaning it's not only you. Slowly, you stand up straight and you hear Lyman behind you make a soft noise, like a cough.
You turn to him and he smiles. "You have the spirit of a fighter, Haruka Tenoh Kaiba."
You look away, rage filling every crack of your soul and you clench your fist, leaking blood from where your nails dug in and you feel that sting, reminding you of what you really are. "M... my name is not 'Haruka Tenoh'. My name is Expiriment 7734. I am an expiriment of chaos and destruction. I'm not Haruka! Haruka's dead!"
Lyman rises to his feet as you close your eyes by those last words and wait for him to punch you, just like everyone else did when you spoke your real name. You hug yourself, preparing for that dreadful pain of the back of someone's hand or the bottom of their shoe to hit you, but nothing comes. You open your eyes in time to see him close his arms around you.
"An expiriment? Perhaps. But you still act and look like a human being. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be better than what we were meant to be." He pats you on the head. "Feel up to dueling with me?"
"Yes?" You feel his hand grab your hair gently and tug. "What?"
"Is that any way to answer your teacher?" He looks comedically heartbroken. "Why don't you change cloths and I'll wait for you outside."
"Professor!" You grab his sleeve before he leaves. "My numbers. I'm Expiriment Hell. My other half, he... he's supposed to be Expiriment 4537. Like me he was given a name... I remember that much... his name is Lyman... it can't be you, can it?" You know it's hopelesse, but you still try.
"No." He says it regretfully. He gently moves your hand away. "True, I am a Homunculus, but I was made from the original. That's all I can tell you."
"Lyman is supposed to help me calm myself, and, you see, I'm always calm and collective when I stand beside you so, I guess I'm a hopeless romantic." You gently tug the curtains closed around your bed and sigh, feeling those tears again.
'Yes, yes! A by-product isn't someone who can fall in love! Lyman's heart belongs to someone, there's no way you can tear his heart from the one or the thing he loves, no matter how hard you try!'
---Banner's POV, just outside the Hospital Ward's doors---
Was that right? I was made from my originator's genese and I was given his soul, but, surely, it wasn't possible for me, of all people, to be that expiriment she spoke of, was it? I mean to say, it's not like I was born this ordinary... right?
My head hits the wall when I hear her hit the door. I quickly open the door for her and I feel my pulse quicken once more. She is beautiful, but then, why was she always so beautiful to a monster like me? Does she hang around me because she loves me? Or because she just wants me to feel better? It's hard to know anymore, but I can say this; I think I'm falling in love for the first time since my short life began. And it's a wonderful feeling in my gut and heart, but for how much longer? How much longer can I feel this wonderful feeling...
---Haruka's POV, Duelist Academy Main Duel Arena---
You stand there, staring out at the duel arena that will be occupied in a few moments by duels... You know you couldn't ever win, so you decided against dueling with Lyman, but you would still fight the stand-in duel that the Shadow Riders had arranged.
You hear a soft cough and turn around and see Lyman standing there. At first, you just look at him and then you come over and climb off the arena and stand before him. You look into his soft face and you see worry staring you back, mixed in there is a smidge of rage and anger that he's trying to conseal, but not so well.
"Is something wrong, Professor?" You reach up to touch his shoulder for comfort and he brushes it away. Your eyes widen and you feel something horrible coming from him... And here it came--
"Why don't you want to duel with me? Am I really that horrible to you? Am I really that much older and more experienced that you feel that embarassed by me? Why?" He looks at you with a worried and raging look. "If you hate me that much, why do you even bother sticking around a person like me? I hate people who always think that I'm to embarassing to be around! I hate when people pretend to be my friends and think that they'll get something out of me!"
You can't say anything to that, since that's all people think your out for. Your head drops and you feel your body begining to act on it's own as you reach up and grab Lyman's collar and start to constrict him and you feel a rage from years of suppression begin to arise as he kicks you hard on the side, trying to make you let go. With a shock, you come back to reality and release him just in time. He lands on the ground coughing. You back away, looking at your hands, like you always did, looking at them like they were the hands of a murderous monster that was that voice in your head. You collapse as you realize that you really are Haruka Tenoh and that the voice isn't, it's Expiriment Hell... But, the person you love doesn't even like you.
You want to cry...
You want to scream...
But there's nothing you can do anymore, Expiriment Hell has opened her eyes to the world around you and is ready to kill the thing most presious to you, kill the person you hold dearest to your heart. You feel the cold test tube water rising up around you and you suddenly see the world turn black and you know that you'll never see the end of the stand-in duel with Lyman you hold...
