As the days went by, and turned into weeks, I suddenly just had a surge of energy. I felt like I could just run around all day and not have to stop and rest or anything. It was hard to explain; maybe it had something to do with the fact that I didn't have the brace anymore. Even the teachers stopped in the middle of their lectures and would ask why I was smiling like a moron. Well, I guess THAT could be explained – this was the most normal I'd felt in a long time.

I attacked my therapy sessions with a passion; now that I was only dependent on a leg sleeve, it made me that much more determined to get my leg to full strength as humanly possible. In fact, the sessions were going along so well that I was finally able to go to school full-time instead of just in the mornings, which especially thrilled Michiko to no end. It meant that we could spend more time together, after all. Plus, she was actually able to accompany me to my therapy sessions to help me out.

"I've gotten so used to seeing you with the brace," Nene admitted when I stopped by to visit her one day, "and now suddenly you're walking under your own power. It's so wonderful to see that you're doing so much better."

"Tell me about it," I agreed, grinning. "Do you think I'll be able to go back into battle soon?"

As she hung up some bras on the sales rack, she cast her eyes to the floor and sighed. "I'm not the one to decide that. Sylia is. But yeah, I think soon."

"How soon?"

"I…I don't know."

"What's wrong?" I asked. Nene was suddenly so distant, not like her at all. Did she know something that I didn't?

"That time when…when you went out in your suit and followed us and got captured by that group of Boomers…"

"What of it?"

"Sylia's been trying to figure out why they were so interested in you, and she thinks she's figured it out."

I frowned. "Was it Quincy that sent them out?"

She shook her head. "No."

"N…no? Who else could it be then?"

"It's somebody else inside Genom, but she and I just can't figure out who."

"But who else would be interested in me besides that old bastard?"

Nene shrugged. "Like I said, we don't know who it was, exactly. Anyway, Sylia would probably know more than I do. She'd be the one to talk to about your concerns."

"Miss Romanova, I'm here!" I heard a young woman call out. Nene and I turned around, only to come face to face with Heather.

Great, it's Heather the Heathen, I thought grimly.

"Oh, right on time!" Nene exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Well, Yumeko, you should probably be going now." She turned to Heather and said, "Let's go get your cash drawer, ok?"

Nene started walking towards a back room, with Heather following behind. When she passed by me, she turned and whispered, "I didn't think you'd be shopping in a place like this. Got a hot date tonight?"

"Like hell," I grumbled. "I was here to talk to Nene. And besides, men are pigs."

"You sure? You'd probably look cute in lingerie," she said, that annoying glint in her eye.

"No thanks. Bye Nene!" I yelled over Heather's shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok!" she yelled from the other room.

"Where are YOU going?" Heather inquired when I turned to leave.

"Got therapy," I answered nonchalantly as I walked out the door. Without looking at her, I added, "Why would it matter to you anyway? You're not the one that got your leg shot through. I am."

I walked out of the Silky Doll store and to my waiting motorcycle, which I was finally able to ride again – without much trouble. I wasn't dependent on Mom or the subway to cart me around anymore. For the first time since that hellish March day, I was able to ride it without having to cling to Mom for dear life. And needless to say, that felt pretty damn good.


"Try doing a cartwheel for me," Linna said.

"A cartwheel?" I repeated.

"Yeah. I think your leg might be able to handle it. So try one."

"Do it, Yumeko!" Michiko cheered.

I cracked my knuckles and got ready to try one. C'mon, this should be easy enough, I thought. If I was able to do a back-handspring in my hardsuit last month, then I should be able to do this. But then again, I didn't exactly have the perfect landing when I tried that back-handspring, either…

"What are you waiting for?" Linna inquired. "You've been bugging me since day one about when you'd be able to do something besides running or riding a stationary bike."

"I know, I know." Damn, why was I so nervous?! It wasn't like this was the World Championships or anything! It was just a stupid cartwheel, the most basic of all moves!!

"Yucchan, I'll help you if you need help doing it," Michiko offered.

"No, that's alright," I said, shaking my head. "I can do this on my own." It had taken me four months to shed that God-forsaken brace, plus there was the extra month I had spent doing these therapy sessions after that; I was gonna make it worth it if it killed me. This is what you've waited to do for the past five months, Yumeko, I thought. Just get it over with!!

"You'd make a good statue, Yumeko," Michiko quipped.

"Say what?!"

She grinned, then practically threw me for a loop when she said in heavily accented English, "Jus' dooo it. Won't kill ya."

All my nervousness and tense nerves went out the window when she said that. I started laughing like crazy; Michiko was the last person on Earth to try to speak English, and to hear her say those few words almost perfectly was almost like eating an ice cream cone in hell.

"You taught me well," she joked in the usual Japanese. "C'mon, it's just one cartwheel."

Once my laughing subsided enough so that my sides stopped hurting, I nodded. "Ok, I think I can do it now," I said, still chuckling. I took a deep breath and stared straight ahead. It's just one, I kept reminding myself. One cartwheel. It's not like they're asking ya to do a freakin' aerial flip or something.

I raised my hands in the air, then after sucking in a deep breath, I threw them forward and lifted my body up in the air. And before I knew it, I was already landing, my right foot touching down, then my left. I just stood there staring at the mat for a moment afterwards; had I really pulled off a flawless cartwheel? As far as I knew, my bad leg didn't even twinge.

"Yahoo!!" Michiko yelled, jumping up and down. "You did it!!"

"I did," I said out loud, as if I didn't believe it myself.

Linna smirked and put her hands on her hips. "Now it's only a matter of time before we get you back on the uneven bars, I think. We just have to strengthen up your leg, and your other muscles, since you haven't been working them out for a while."

"I can do it!" I concurred, slamming my fist into the open palm of my hand.

Looking at the clock, Linna said, "Ok. We've been here a good four hours now. I think we can call it a day." She wiped the sweat from her brow and added, "Let's go hit the showers."

After we all took some nice, hot showers and changed into some fresh clothes, Linna went into the main gym to clear everybody out while Michiko and I waited at the front doors for her.

"It's so wonderful to see how far you've come," Michiko said wistfully, almost getting tears in her eyes. "I remember when you couldn't even walk without your crutches, and here you are, having literally thrown your brace to the side to replace it with that leg sleeve."

"I can finally ride my motorcycle too," I added with a grin.

She smiled softly. "Yeah, there's that too. Oh, by the way, when do you think you'll get that sleeve off?"

I shrugged. "Personally, I don't care if I never get it off."

Michiko's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"Sleeves are allowed in the Olympics, and besides, it helps keep my leg steady, and it also hides that huge scar. What does it matter now? I was only concentrating on getting the brace off anyway. I don't care about no sleeves."

"I guess that's true," she sighed, twisting her necklace around her finger. "At least it's not an eyesore like that brace was."

I laughed. "Yeah, no kidding!"

"So…" she muttered, "does this mean that you're going to be going back into battle?"

"Probably," I sighed. "The others are really needing my help now…"

"I…I don't want you to go," she said, her eyes getting watery. "It's dangerous."

"It's always going to be dangerous. There's never a time when it's 'safe' to go out and fight Boomers. The job comes with its risks, and when I joined, I accepted those risks." I put my hand on Michiko's shoulder. "It's not the most glamorous job in the world, needless to say, but I chose to accept it, and…and I can't turn my back on the people that need me."

"There was a time that I thought the Knight Sabers were the most awesome people in the world," she admitted. "They go out and risk their lives to keep the rest of us safe. But I guess…I never realized that they were real people that might never go home to their families when they go out to put down Boomers…"

"Not until you found out I was one of them," I finished for her. She nodded.

"Yeah. Hearing about them was more like reading a fantasy novel. It didn't seem like they were real, though I knew they were. And now that I know you're a member of that vigilante group…it scares me, frankly. It scares me to death, knowing that for the past year, you've been going out with them and putting your life on the line. I used to think that…that only suicidal people would willingly go out and do things like that, but…"

"Maybe I'm suicidal," I said nonchalantly, shrugging. "But…at least I don't get to just kick back and watch Genom rain death on the people around here. I can DO something about it."

"It's one little group against a huge corporation… How can one group do anything to stop them?"

I nodded slowly in agreement; I hadn't really thought about that. "You're right. It probably IS bullheaded to think we can beat them, but…at least we're doing more to protect the people of Tokyo than the police are. At least they can have somebody to count on."

"But what about all the bad press you've been getting about the whole summit thing?"

"It's all lies, and people know it. I heard something about the Knight Sabers getting set up for breaking into warehouses back in '33, but look at what happened. The real ones showed up and proved to everyone they're still on the side of good. It's happening again right now, and after having being framed twice, I don't think people are buying what Genom's saying about us."

Michiko smiled weakly. "You're right about that."

"It'll blow over," I said, then thinking, At least…I HOPE it does…

I turned and looked down the street at the setting sun. Seeing that yellow orb color the sky orange was truly a sight to behold, especially since the pollution didn't block it out for once.

"Pretty," Michiko breathed when she turned to look too.

"You don't get to see many sunsets like that one," I said, in awe. "I guess that comes along with living in MegaTokyo." Michiko nodded in agreement, then looked up at the sky when out of nowhere, the sound of thunder filled our ears.

"It's gonna rain," she said.

"I knew that ten minutes ago," I said.

"How so?"

I pointed to my leg, which now had a dull ache in it. It had lately started to do that whenever bad weather was coming, kinda like how old people can tell bad weather's on the way when their joints start aching.

She blinked. "Oh." She peered down the street again, holding up her hand to block the sunlight, and said, "I probably should be getting home now."

"I can give you a ride," I offered.

"No, that's ok. My apartment's only a few blocks away."

"You might get soaked." I winked mischievously.

"Maybe," she said, shrugging, "but I like the rain. It smells nice." After giving me a hug, she started heading down the street. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" she called to me.

"Don't forget your English homework, Micchan!!" I yelled back, an impish grin on my face. She laughed.

"I won't, I won't! Bye, Yumeko!!"

"Bye!"

I stood around for a few minutes afterwards, waiting for Linna to close up her gym. The dull ache in my leg grew, and as I bent down to rub it, another clap of thunder roared through the air. I jumped in surprise, and right into another flashback: the moment of horror when the Boomer aimed the palm of its hand at me and fired, sending the bullet speeding towards me, and tearing through my leg. I remember just standing there for a moment, my body swaying ever so slightly, like I couldn't believe what had just happened. And then, crumpling to the floor, everyone around me too frozen in shock to do anything…

"Ok, let's go home!" I vaguely heard Linna call out cheerfully. She stood there looking at me for a second, then immediately ran to me and grabbed my shoulders. "Yumeko! Are you ok?!"

"I…" After just standing there trembling for a moment, I fell to my knees, my leg seemingly aching just from the mere memory.

"You're not there anymore," she said sternly, kneeling down. "Remember that. Those Boomers can't do anything now. You've shown them that you can beat them. Just you learning to walk again is testament to that."

I gazed down at my leg, still trembling all over like a leaf. "I wish I could forget…I really wish I could…"

Linna sighed. "I wish that wasn't one of the things you remember either. But what's been done cannot be undone. I suppose the memory will only go away with time."

I looked up at her, a weak smile on my face. "Oh…Linna?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering something…"

"About what?"

"Well…you know how when I was little, I'd spend the night over at your apartment, and we'd just fool around and stuff?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, of course I remember."

"Do you think we could do that again? Like, tonight or something?" I heaved a sigh. "Just for one night, I just…just want to forget about all of this Knight Saber crap. I want it to be like how it was before I found out about all this."

"I don't think it'd be possible to just forget about it," she sighed, "but I think we can spend an evening just fooling around, sure! I need to unwind, myself," she admitted, laughing. "So, you wanna do it tonight, huh?"

"Yeah," I said, then added mockingly, "unless you have a date tonight or some other plans already."

"Heck no," she laughed. "Well, just call Priss and let her know what you're going to do, and we'll get going!"

I stood up. "Ok! I don't think she'd mind!"


"Damn, we were supposed to be on tour right now," the drummer of my band, Max, grumbled as he took a long, hard gulp from his bottle of Jack Daniels. "But no, because of that Boomer attack, we're all sitting around on our asses and—"

"Oh, would you shut the hell up?" Hiroshi – the bass guitarist – snapped. "Priss and her kid came THIS CLOSE to knocking on death's door, and you're complaining about the tour?!"

"We can always go touring," I grumbled, pouring myself a shot of tequila. "Just not now."

"Why not?!" Max yelled; I didn't flinch at the stench of alcohol on his breath. "The kid's doin' fine, right?"

"She has a name, Max. Call her by her name." After I downed the shot, I added, "And no, Yume's not completely fine. Unless you consider waking up in a cold sweat practically every other night fine."

"How've YOU been, Priss?" Hiroshi asked. "Yeah, we're glad your daughter's ok, but how have YOU been holding up?"

I shrugged. "Been better. Just trying to make sure Yume doesn't skip her therapy or anything."

"So what's this new song you said you wrote?" Max asked.

"Here." I handed them both copies of the song. I'd been staying up the past few nights writing the lyrics, and yes, even sneaking a few peeks at Yume's English textbook to make sure I had my English right. I could probably mangle that language better than anybody.

Hiroshi read over the lyrics, and after mumbling a few of them to himself, he quoted one of the English lines aloud. "I be on the move everyday. We movin' once again. God, your English sucks, Priss." He laughed.

I smirked. "Well, it's not like yours is any better."

He nodded as he took a sip from his beer. "Yeah, you're right 'bout that."

"I like the lyrics," Max admitted. "Whatcha gonna name it?"

"Maybe I'll come up with it while I'm singing the damn thing. Hint hint," I said, eyeballing Hiroshi.

"Hm? Oh, right," Hiroshi said, reaching for his guitar. "Where from?"

"The top."

"Gotcha." Gazing at the sheet music, he put his fingers on the strings and strummed them to make sure they were in tune, then started playing. After the first few measures, I contributed the vocals:

Anata ga itta "Sayonara" to kiita toki (Was it only a dream)
Sore wa tada yume datta no? (when I heard you say "Goodbye"?)
Shinjitakunai kedo hontoo da to wakatteru. (I refuse to believe it, yet I know it's true.)
Watashi-tachi no naka dewa hi ga kieta. (The sun has set on our relationship.)

Once the music started picking up a faster pace, I started singing at a faster pace as well.

Doko ni ikeba ii no? (Where should I go?)
Itsumo anata to nai doko demo itanakatta. (I've never gone anywhere without you.)
Naze mada naiteiru ka na? (Why am I still crying?)
Watashi wa ima Free As A Bird. (I'm free as a bird now.)

Hiroshi stopped playing and said, "Ya know what? This kinda reminds me of a faster version of Wasurenaide."

"Dammit, I wasn't even at the chorus yet!" I chided, starting to laugh.

"Methinks we got another #1 hit right here," Max said, nodding towards the sheet music.

"How many have we had now?" Hiroshi quipped. "I haven't bothered keeping track anymore."

"Let's just take it as a sign that we've done well," I joked, winking.

Max guzzled the last of his beer, then said, "Hmm, I'm out of Jack Daniels. Hey Priss, could you go get 'nother one out of the fridge for me?"

"Get it yourself," I said with a sly smile. "I serve no one." He threw up his hands as in surrender.

"Ok, ok, I'll get it myself," he said, playing along. As he got up, the vidphone started ringing. Before I could get up to answer it, Max dashed to it and picked up the receiver. "'Ello? Yeah. Yeah, of course she's here. This is her pad, ain't it? …Ok, I guess you can talk to her," he said, winking at me. "I trust you're not a member of the press."

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Some Sylia gal." I jumped up and grabbed the receiver from him.

"What d'ya need, Sylia?" I inquired, gazing at the screen.

"I hate to interrupt your band rehearsal," she said blandly, "but I've uncovered some information relevant to the summit incident, and you should get over here as soon as you can."

"Can't you tell me right now?"

"There's too much to go over, and besides, right now, there's too big of a risk of eavesdroppers," she said, referring to my band groupies. "I'm sure Yumeko's told you that she's worried somebody may be watching her?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the information I've received is about that."

"Ok, I'm on my way." I hung up and strided over to Max and Hiroshi. "Party's over. Something came up, so I gotta jet."

"What? We've only been here an hour!" Max protested.

"Look, I can't do anything about it, so we gotta end rehearsal early today."

"What was it that came up?" Hiroshi asked.

"None of your business," I snapped, pulling on my jacket.

"Ah, Priss Asagiri, ever the enigma," Max quipped as I shoved them out the door and locked it behind me.

What the hell was it that Sylia found out?, I wondered as I raced down the street on my bike through the rain. Is this about who's been following Yume around? Sure hope so…

…Or would this new info just bring up a whole new slew of questions? I guess I'd find that out once I reached Sylia's place…


"Want any hot chocolate?" Linna asked as she walked into her kitchen. "I could put some on if you want."

"No, that's ok," I said, leaning back on the couch. We'd just gotten done playing canasta, and Linna seemed to win every time. Believe me, I loved the game, and I thought I was pretty good at it, but she proved me wrong every time. Oh well.

"So what do you want to do now?" she asked as she came back into the room with a bag of fat-free potato chips.

I shrugged. "I dunno."

She grinned. "I have an idea."

"What?"

She walked into her bedroom. I raised my head off the couch at the sound of her going through some boxes. What was she looking for?

"Here we go," she said as she reappeared, holding a baton in her hand.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"You ever play with one of these?"

"Not really."

"Well, let me show you." She grabbed my hand and practically yanked me off the couch, then told me to watch her. I stood there as she started turning the baton in her hands, slowly at first, then faster and faster until it was almost like a blur. After a minute, she started spinning it with only one hand, then suddenly threw it in the air. I gaped as she caught it with ease, despite the fact it had been spinning like crazy.

"How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked with a grin on her face.

"You caught it out of mid-air when it was still spinning like that. How'd you do that without having it smack your hand or somethin'?"

"Practice," she quipped. "Wanna try?"

"Sure," I said, taking the baton from her. I tried mimicking what Linna had done, but my fingers only seemed to get tangled up. "It's not spinning nearly as fast as you made it do."

"Like I said, it takes practice," she said. "Try throwing it in the air."

I spun it a little more, then threw it above my head. As it came down, I reached up to catch it, but instead of landing in my hand, the baton landed smack-dab on my head.

"Ow!" I yelled as the baton landed at my feet, rubbing my head. Linna laughed and picked it up.

"Watch this," she said, starting to twirl the baton with one hand again. As she made it pick up speed, she switched it to her other hand, then she threw it up in the air, turned her back, and caught it behind her back. I gasped.

"Whoa! That was cool!" I exclaimed.

"Learned that when I was in dance class." She sighed, set the baton down on the table, and flopped down on the couch.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You came here tonight because you wanted to forget about being a Knight Saber," she said tiredly. "But the truth is, you can't just forget about it. You can try to pretend you were never a Knight Saber, but you were, and you are now, and there's nothing you can do to change that. Even if you did manage to quit, it's not going to erase all the memories that you created while you were a part of our group."

I sighed and flopped down on the couch next to her. "I guess so," I said, gazing down at my leg. "The damage has been done, so to speak."

"You could say that." She put her hand on my thigh, on the spot where I was shot. "Take off the sleeve," she said. I rolled up my pant leg and tugged it off.

Linna gazed at the scar on my leg for a moment, her eyes suddenly getting a strange cloudy look in them. She rubbed the scar and sighed. "I can't…imagine what that was like for you."

"Don't try to," I said blandly, cupping my chin in my hand.

"To be honest…I didn't think you were going to make it out of there," she admitted. I snapped my head in her direction.

"R…really?"

"After the convention center was blown up, I remember Sylia digging me out of the rubble, and after we dug Nene out, we went over to where you and Priss were. She was kneeling on the ground, holding you, and just crying. I mean really crying, Yumeko. She was begging you to wake up, to just hang in there for her… I…I thought you were already gone…" When Linna started getting tears in her eyes, my heart couldn't help but sink.

"Linna, I…"

"On the way to the hospital, I kept trying to reassure Priss that you'd be fine, that we'd make sure you wouldn't die, but…but I seriously didn't think you were going to make it. I saw how much blood you'd lost, and…I just didn't think you'd last much longer…"

I was left dumbstruck. This was really the first of what I'd heard about what happened between the time the convention center exploded and when I came out of my coma.

"After you came out of a coma, I remember Priss standing there next to me, crying, and saying that before you'd passed out, you had told her that you'd be fine, that all of us would be fine. She said that…that she couldn't believe you were right."

"I don't…remember telling her that," I admitted, almost feeling guilty that I couldn't remember telling Mom such things. Probably was another thing I'd purposely blocked out…

"It's no wonder you don't," she said.

"I don't remember anything after the Boomer strangled me, actually…"

She shook her head. "Then you don't remember the explosion. That's good. You don't want to remember it."

I reached over and gave her a huge hug. "I'm sorry…" I said, my voice starting to choke.

"What for?" she asked, surprised.

"I wasn't of any help to anybody at the summit…and I need to apologize. I tried doing as much as I could, but…I made the whole situation worse."

"That's not true. You saved Priss' life. You know that as well as she does. And you didn't make things worse. As far as Sylia's concerned, it was one more person to help fight those two Boomers. We needed everybody we could get."

I let go of her and looked her square in the face. "One thing that's been nagging at me for a while… When that second Boomer came and fought me, Mom, and Nene, why the hell did it take so long for you and Sylia to come and save us?"

Linna shook her head again. "You had trouble scanning for their locations, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I think I did."

"Well, we had the same trouble. Sylia had a feeling it might've been heading for you guys, but it wasn't till Priss said that it had cut you that we knew that for sure…"

"And not to mention the people that were still trapped in there?" I said, finishing for her.

"Yeah. We had to show them the way out too, to make sure they didn't get in harm's way. Better us than them."

I sighed. "I guess that would do it…" Now that we'd talked about the summit battle so much, what memories I had of the event were flooding my mind now. I could close my eyes and see the second Boomer swipe its lasersword at me again…hear its menacing laugh…hear it mockingly ask why I was bothering to keep fighting – I'd be dead in the end anyway.

My body went numb again as I recalled it more. Get out of my head, you bastard!, I thought, starting to shake all over. Leave me alone! You're dead now! DEAD!!

"Are you ok?" Linna asked, noticing my oncoming panic attack.

"I feel like…like I'm the only one that's been affected by all this bullshit!" I moaned, hugging myself. "Everyone else is just carrying on like it was a walk in the park, but it WASN'T!!"

"We're all traumatized," she said, "but we all are affected in different ways. I don't know how Sylia and Priss are holding up, but Nene's told me that she has nightmares, and sometimes she gets nervous when she hears popping noises. I admit I have nightmares too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They're not as common as they were right after it happened, but I still get them every so often. So you're far from the only one traumatized by the whole event."

I forced a weak smile. "Well, I can't really say I'm glad about that, but at least I don't feel like I'm having a harder time dealing with it than everyone else."

Linna returned the smile. "Feel better now that you know that?"

"Yeah."

"That's good." After she stood up, she walked over to the window and took a glance outside. "Well, the rain's letting up."

"Doesn't help my leg any though," I joked as I pulled my leg sleeve back on, noting that it still ached, even though the rain had nearly stopped. "I should probably go home now."

"You can stay the night if you want," she suggested.

"I'll be ok," I assured her as I grabbed my jacket and put it on. "It's not that long of a drive."

"Have a good night, Yumeko," she said as I opened the door.

"I will. G'night, Aunt Linna," I laughed, closing it behind me.

As I walked across the parking lot towards my motorcycle, my mind started racing. Funny how even though I came here to forget about the Knight Saber stuff, that's just about all we talked about, I thought. But still…it's nice to know I'm not just suffering in silence. Maybe that was why I was suddenly bursting with energy; I wasn't suffering alone! It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I thought I was dealing with it wrong, but I guess I was wrong just for even SUGGESTING such a thing! For once, I was glad I was wrong about something.

I stopped walking for a second and stretched my arms out; they were starting to feel cramped up. As soon as I started walking again, though, I suddenly felt something club me over the back of the head. I dropped to the pavement, my head throbbing. Had I just imagined that?! What happened?!

I started pushing myself up to a sitting position, but then I heard somebody walk around me and before I knew it, somebody had grabbed me by my shirt and was pulling me up. With the force at which I was being pulled up, I was expecting somebody like Tsubasa.

But it wasn't him at all. I knew that from the moment I took a look at the guy's face.

"B…Boh?!"

Boh smirked. "Good evening, Yumeko," he said. He held me up higher so he could get a good look at my face; my feet were barely even touching the ground. I fumbled for something to say. What did he think he was doing, anyway?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he held something in his other hand that hung at his side. It glistened in the light cast from the nearby lamppost, but I didn't know what it was.

Before I could even think, Boh added something else, the smirk on his face getting wider.

"Or perhaps I should say 'good night'?"

"G…good night?!"

I was about to say more, but was cut off when Boh rammed his fist into my stomach. I gasped for breath and let out a few weak coughs, then as the pain from the punch subsided, it was replaced by an intense searing pain, a pain like I had never felt before. I sucked in a breath, then realized that Boh hadn't moved his fist at all. What had he…?

After a second, it came to me: there was something sticking in my stomach. I hesitantly looked down at where Boh's fist still was, only to have a chill run down my spine when I saw the handle of a knife in his fist…and the blade sticking out of my bloodstained sweatshirt.

I let out a small whimper. What was Boh doing…?!

"W…why?" I managed to say weakly. "What…what are you…?"

Boh's smirk grew ever wider, his grey eyes practically sparkling. "What am I doing?" he finished. "My job."

"Your…your job?! What kind of job is THIS?!"

"One I've enjoyed doing quite much," he deadpanned, shoving the knife deeper. I let out a weak cry and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the wave of pain traveling through my whole body. This couldn't be happening! It couldn't be!! …Could it?

"Hm? What's that contorted look on your face for?" Boh inquired, sounding honestly curious. "You've been through something like this before, right? When that Boomer slashed you at the summit? And shot you through the leg with all your friends around you?"

If my blood hadn't already been run cold, it was frozen now. "You…you know…!" I gasped, opening my eyes again. "You're…one of them!"

"Yes, I know you're a Knight Saber," he admitted nonchalantly. "I've known since the very beginning."

I could hear our first conversation ring out in my head... "I know what you've been through."

"You do?" He'd said he knew because Michiko hadn't stopped talking about it…and now I knew for a fact that was a lie… His whole damn life was a lie…

"But…but why are…?" I asked hoarsely, tears in my eyes.

Boh withdrew the knife, then immediately plunged it into my stomach again. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. As I squeezed my eyes shut again and let the hot tears run down my cheeks, Boh said, "I told you. This is my job. It's been my job."

"You could've done this…s-so many times…" I moaned, the searing pain engulfing me again. "Why now?"

"Oh, I did try, once. But, well…" He grinned. "You sneezed."

Now my body went just plain numb. HE was the one that had shot at me!! That explained so much…!

"I'm sort of glad you sneezed actually," he admitted. "That would've been too quick of a way for you to go."

"Too…quick?!"

"Yes. This is much slower, and much more fun." He withdrew the knife and plunged it into me a third time. By now, needless to say, I was in pure agony. This was torture, and he knew it. No, no, not only did he know it…but he was enjoying it too…!

With a trembling hand, I reached into my jacket and pulled out my gun. After shakily cocking it, I pointed it between Boh's eyes.

"You're…gonna…die…" I spat, my finger on the trigger.

He looked down the barrel, not looking the least bit impressed or shaken up. "You really think you can do anything to me with that?" he asked coyly. I felt him withdraw the knife again, then a split-second later, he slapped the gun out of my hand. I gasped as it went flying through the air, bounced off a nearby car, and landed on the wet pavement. I froze in shock, my hand throbbing but not hurting nearly as bad as my stab wounds were.

"You're…you're not human!!" I groaned, my eyes wide with the realization.

"Glad to know you've realized that," Boh said, that cocky grin on his face again. At this point, I'd do anything to wipe it off his face.

"Damn Genom…" I mumbled, starting to feel faint. "Why are they so interested in me anyway? I didn't…do anything to them…"

"You didn't do anything to them personally, but…perhaps they just think you and the veterans have gotten to be too big of a thorn in their side." He shrugged. "Oh well, none of this has to do with me, really. I was just given orders to terminate you." He leaned forward, then whispered in my ear, "Oh, another reason why I've waited so long for this… It's been fun watching your fledgling recovery from your leg wound. It's been interesting seeing you go from crutches to the leg sleeve you have now. But, all games must come to an end. And this game between you and me will end tonight."

This has been…a game to him?!, I thought grimly. These past five months…just child's play?! No way…

"If you're going to kill me," I spat, "then…then just get it over with, already!!"

He smirked again. "But this is fun. Surely you don't want to spoil my fun, do you?" After a moment of thinking, he added, "But since you insist…" And then, he shoved the knife into me again. I could do little more than groan and let the tears come again as Boh shoved the knife so deep, I could feel the hilt pressing against me. The pain by now was overwhelming my body; it was crying out to be put out of its misery. In my mind, I was practically begging for the same thing. Just get it over with. Make it quick.

When Boh removed the knife again, whatever energy was left in me left through my wounds, for when he relinquished his hold on my sweatshirt, I didn't even have the strength to stand; I just let out a moan and slumped forward, Boh catching me in his arms.

"All the battles you've been through," I heard him mumble in my ear. "Every one of them, you've lived through, and it all will come to an end outside of your battle armor. How does it feel?" He grabbed me by my sweatshirt again, but instead of jerking me up so we'd be face to face, he tilted my head up, leaned forward, and kissed me. A cold shiver ran down my spine for about the thousandth time; it might as well have been the Kiss of Death.

After we parted lips, he let go of me and, with that smirk pasted on his face again, gave me a gentle shove backwards. I stumbled a few steps, then dropped to the pavement, my wounds flaring up in pain again, the blood making my sweatshirt stick to my skin.

"As your dying thought," Boh said, "try to think of this: at least this didn't happen where your dear friend Michiko would have seen it, right?"

"D…damn it…!" I said, my voice barely audible. "G-get back here…! I'm…I'm not done w-with you yet…!"

"Done with me?" he mimicked. "You never even started." He turned his back on me, his hands in his jacket pockets. "Ah well. My job here is finished." He looked back at me, and made a gesture with his hand; it was sort of like a salute. "Ciao."

I squeezed my eyes shut again and just laid there, the hot tears stinging my eyes again. He'd just stabbed me four times, and treated it like it was a date at a coffee bar, even saying "Ciao" at the end?! The bastard, he wasn't gonna get off easy for this if I could help it…

…which I couldn't at the moment.

Somebody, I begged in my head, crying softly to myself. Linna…somebody…please…somebody help me…!

Almost like my silent prayer had been answered, I heard someone run past me in a blur of speed, followed a second later by a clanging noise. I snapped my eyes open to see a familiar black-haired girl holding a baton in her hands, looking ready to clock Boh again.

I smiled weakly. "L…Linna!" I moaned. "Thank God…"

"What do you think you're doing?!" Linna snapped, only to gasp when Boh turned his head to look at her, not looking the least bit affected by the hit he'd just taken. I just shook my head in disbelief.

"Hello there," Boh greeted, eyeing her. "Miss Yamazaki, you are not my target. So I suggest you keep out of my way lest you want to end up like Yumeko there."

Linna stood there with the baton clenched in both hands, holding it like a baseball bat, completely frozen in shock. "You're…you're…" she stammered as Boh took a step closer to her.

"Get…get back!" I tried to warn her. "He's a—"

Before I could finish, Boh grabbed Linna's baton, jerked it out of her hands, and swung it at her. She tried to jump back, but the baton hit her upside the head. I gasped as she fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Linna!!" I yelled, still flat on my back, in too much pain to do much of anything.

"It's too bad," Boh said matter-of-factly. "I kind of liked her. Too bad that she tried to interfere in this game of ours." He gazed down at me. "But she's out of the way now, so it's all right to continue." As he walked slowly towards me again, I put the palms of my hands to the pavement and tried pushing myself away from him. This was like an instant replay of what had happened at the summit. Hadn't I done this same thing after getting cut by the Boomer?

I couldn't get away nearly fast enough, and before I knew it, he was standing there over me, leaning down. "No…no…" I moaned, the tears coming anew, shaking my head slowly. "You can't…"

"Of course I can," he said, crouching down on his knees and picking me up by my sweatshirt again, so that I was nearly in a sitting position. He showed me his hand to show that he didn't hold the knife anymore, and then a second later, he socked me in the stomach. I gasped and started gagging, struggling for air, and when I coughed, out came some blood.

"Heh. I guess I got deep enough, then," he quipped, dropping me again, then looked over at Linna. "She spoiled my fun. This isn't as entertaining as it was five minutes ago." He stood up, then as he turned to leave, he added, "This has been fun, hanging around with you, Yumeko. Hope you enjoyed it." He did his version of a salute again, whatever that gesture was. "Good night."

I guess I must have blacked out for a few minutes, because when I opened my eyes again, it was starting to rain again, and I could hear movement from Linna nearby. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her push herself up with her elbows, then put a hand to her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Damn him!!" I heard her yell. She looked over at me, gasped, and immediately crawled to my side. "Yumeko!! Are you ok?!"

I shook my head. "No…"

"Oh my God," she said, putting her hand over the bloodied part of my sweatshirt. "What did he do…?"

"He had a knife," I groaned.

"We gotta get you to Sylia's place, quick." She put one arm under me and helped me up. It was then I noticed where Boh had hit her: there was a huge lump on her forehead, already turning black and blue. I cried out when she pulled me to a standing position.

"I can't…!" I whimpered, my legs buckling.

"You can do it," Linna encouraged, holding me up. She wobbled a bit, probably from her newly acquired concussion, but she managed to help me the short distance to her car. I leaned against the car door, clinging to the car for dear life while Linna fumbled with the keys.

"Y…you know what?" I moaned, my head starting to spin. "I think…that this makes twice now…"

"T-twice for what?" she asked hesitantly.

"Twice that…that you've saved me…" I closed my eyes and lost my grip on the car, collapsing to the pavement again.

The last thing I heard before unconsciousness took ahold of me was Linna's voice, screaming my name.

"YUMEKO!!"


"So…this kid is the one that's been watching Yume?" I asked slowly, eyeing the picture of a black-haired teen named Boh Capri in my hand. The stuff Sylia had just told me was only beginning to sink in. A kid at her school was our new enemy?

"Yes," Sylia affirmed, nodding. "He's a Genom spy."

"But why the hell…?"

"Why are they using a boy?" she finished. "He's not a normal boy, as you've probably guessed. He's a spy Boomer, a 33D. Those types are specifically designed to carry out covert operations such as assassination plots. Genom apparently finds them more trustworthy than their own men, so they use the 33Ds instead. They're especially used for long-term operations, to watch and learn their target's movements, and then, when the time is right, they strike."

"Yumeko should be ok right now though, right?" Nene asked. "She's at Linna's apartment."

"He's not a combat model?" I inquired.

"A 33D can go into battle, but cannot burst out of its human disguise and has very little built-in weaponry. Physically, one is probably not much stronger than a normal human, much like 33S Boomers. They are very well-built, so that a normal physical examination would not reveal anything unusual."

"What happens after the Boomer's completed its job?"

"Its memory is erased and Genom uses it again for another mission."

I sighed and set down the picture. A Boomer passing for human…it brought back too many memories for me. Cynthia…and Sylvie and Anri…they all looked human to me. I would never have guessed they were Boomers; they acted so, well, human.

"So why don't we just go and take him out?"

"You forget that he's enrolled at Yumeko's school as a student. It would be difficult to eliminate him without suspicion being aroused."

"Yume's being stalked!! We gotta protect her somehow!!" I protested.

"Priss's right," Nene agreed, nodding but looking subdued. "What do we do?"

"33Ds normally strike when their victim is alone. So, for now, we simply have to make sure Yumeko is never left by herself. In the meantime, I'll try to come up with a way to eliminate Boh without attracting attention."

"But…Yume doesn't graduate till next March, so are we supposed to wait till THEN?!" I snapped. No way could I wait till next year before he wouldn't be enrolled anywhere so we could take him out!! That wasn't an option, not to me!! This was my seventeen-year-old daughter's life we were talking about!

"Remember, 33Ds are designed for long-term missions, so if we never let Yumeko be alone, then the Boomer will just be patient and wait for its opportunity—"

"This isn't just a normal operation to Genom!" I yelled, jumping out of my seat. "This is a Knight Saber they're trying to kill, so I doubt they'll be that damn patient!"

"Well, do YOU have any better ideas?" Sylia asked coyly.

"Yeah." I took out my gun and cocked it. "Let's just go kill the bastard before he can get any chance to get to Yume!"

"Priss, you don't get it," Nene sighed.

"What's there to 'get'?!" I snapped. "Yume's been marked for death, and I'm gonna protect her! What's so wrong about that?!"

Mackie spoke up. "Nothing, really, but…"

Before he could finish, the phone rang. Sylia got up to answer it. After reading the caller ID, she said, "It's Linna."

"Linna?" Nene repeated.

I instantly got a chill down my back. What happened?, I thought grimly.

Sylia picked up the receiver. "What is it, Linna?"

After asking that, she immediately had to pull the receiver away from her ear, Linna was yelling so loud. Nene gulped nervously while my hands started to shake. Just from Linna's yelling, we knew it wasn't good.

"Repeat that," Sylia ordered after putting her on the speaker so we all could hear.

"Yumeko's hurt!!" Linna yelled, sounding totally hysterical. "She was attacked!!"

"Who attacked her?!" Sylia demanded, her jaw tightening. "What happened?"

"She…she was leaving here, and she got jumped!! She got stabbed!!"

My body went numb when I heard that. It was too late…Boh had already made his move… I couldn't protect her…

"Yume…" I whispered, a lump forming in my throat.

"How many times?!" Sylia asked forcibly.

"I don't know!! I didn't really look…huh?" We heard another voice on the speaker, someone sobbing. Yume, no doubt… "Yumeko says four."

"She's still alive?!" Nene exclaimed.

"Four?!" I repeated aloud.

"She's bleeding bad…I'm on my way right now, but…what am I supposed to do, Sylia?!" Linna asked, now sounding like she was crying.

"Bring her here quick," Sylia ordered. "I'll take care of things from there. Keep Yumeko talking, and make sure she doesn't close her eyes, ok?"

"I'll…I'll try!!"

"Mom…" I heard Yume say in a weak voice.

"Yume?!" I asked.

"I'm…sorry…" she cried.

"Don't say that!" I said, tears blurring my vision. "We'll take care o' ya, ok? Just hang in there!"

"O…kay…"

After Sylia disconnected, we all just stood there in shock for a moment. We had just been talking about protecting her, and what had happened? That Boh kid had already made his move!! What the hell!?

"Mackie, get the medical supplies ready!" Sylia ordered.

"Right!" he affirmed.

While they ran around grabbing the stuff they'd be needing, Nene stood up and walked over to me. "Priss?" she asked. "Are you ok?"

I still felt numb from what I'd just learned, but one thing was sure – he wouldn't get away with what he'd done. "He's one dead kid," I swore, pocketing my gun.

"Say what?!"

I made a break for the door; I couldn't just stand around doing nothing, could I?! I didn't get very far though before Nene grabbed me and tried to hold me back.

"Priss!!"

"Let go!!" I yelled, dragging her along with me as I edged my way towards the door.

"You can't go after him like this!! It won't do any good!!"

"Anyone who attacks Yume is gonna have to answer to me!!" I jerked myself towards the door again, not getting much farther. Who knew that the little redhead had so much strength?!

"Priss, you are NOT going anywhere," I heard Sylia order. I darted my eyes towards her. "You will stay here."

"DAMN it, Sylia, Yume's—" I started to protest.

"She's hurt, I know, and taking care of her is our top priority right now. As her mother, I thought she would be yours too."

Now THAT hurt.

I practically threw Nene off of me, then strided towards Sylia. "She IS my top priority!! Always has been!!"

"Then why is revenge always the first thing on your mind when something happens to her?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

I fumbled for an answer. I swear she must've rehearsed that in her head about ten thousand times… "I'm gonna show people that they can't get away with hurting her, that's all!! Doesn't mean revenge is the first thing that comes to mind!! Of COURSE I'm worried about Yume! I'd DIE for her, and you know that!!"

"I…I can't really blame Priss for her reaction to this," Nene mumbled behind me. "I'd probably react much the same if somebody hurt my daughter." She fidgeted for a moment. "I mean…she's my 'niece', so I'm really worried too, but…"

We were interrupted by the phone ringing again. Sylia turned on the speakerphone, and sure enough, it was Linna again.

"Sylia?" she said with a shaky voice. "I'm arriving now… Should I park in the parking garage?"

"Yes," she said. "I'll open it up. Mackie and I are on our way down."

"O-ok."

After Sylia and Mackie left the apartment to head downstairs, I started to follow, but it was like my feet had turned to lead. They would hardly move at all when I wanted them to.

"Priss…" Nene started to say as I wiped away the tears that started to run down my cheeks.

I shook my head. "Damn it!!" I yelled, slamming my fist into the wall. A picture fell off the wall as a result, but I hardly paid any notice at all. "She's a kid…why the hell don't they leave her alone and just come after me instead?!"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. This was just too much; Yume nearly being killed twice now?! It was repeating itself just like a damn broken record. I started crying right then and there; I hated feeling so helpless to do anything.

And Nene, standing there next to me, could do little more than offer me a hug of condolence and cry right along with me.


Once Linna arrived with Yume, Sylia and Mackie forced us to wait outside of her apartment in the hallway while they tended to her. And so there was Nene, Linna, and me, all standing outside the door, waiting for any sort of word on her. While I leaned against the wall next to the door with my arms crossed, Linna and Nene sat on the floor, leaning against the other wall. My eyes kept darting to the gauze pad that Linna had on her forehead; how did she manage to get away with just a lump on her head while Yume had been stuck like a dart board?

"Do you think it was a mistake?" Nene suddenly wondered, breaking the heavy silence.

"What was a mistake?" Linna asked, her arms folded on her knees.

"To have Yumeko join the Knight Sabers. Just look at what being a part of our group has done to her. Look at what's happened."

"How were we to know that all of this would happen? I don't think any of us had a clue, least of all her." Linna sighed. "Ah, blissful teenage naïveté."

I'd be the last person to know about that…my world was torn apart when I was twelve, what would I know about 'teenage naïveté'?

"Yume chose to join," I mumbled. "I told her the risks, but…she wanted to do it anyway. Maybe she just didn't know that Combat Boomers were real, and not just some urban myth." Heh…must've been wonderful for her to grow up in relative peace in the '40's and '50's instead of the hellish '20's and '30's…

"I know we're not getting any younger," Nene said, her voice breaking, "but did we really have to bring her into this? She had a pretty normal life until…until…" She wiped away a tear that had started to roll down her cheek. "Maybe it was just a false hope, hoping that a Knight Saber's child could ever have a normal life…"

"What WOULD you call a normal life, Nene?" I shot at her. "Probably a mom and dad, not having to worry about anything but school and friends, right? Well…if that's what you call a normal life, then…Yume never had it to begin with." She'd never want her dad in her life…not if she ever found out who he really was… THAT much I knew…

"I mean not going out and risking your neck fighting Boomers!" she yelled back. "You know I meant that!"

"Don't yell," Linna moaned, putting a hand to her head.

Nene flushed. "Oh, uh, sorry Linna."

"What the hell's taking them so long?!" I grumbled. "All this damn waiting…"

"Reminds you of when we were at the hospital?" Linna asked.

"Too much," I concurred. Talk about being dragged through hell again, not just me, but Yume… She was a hundred times worse off than I was right now. God, I hoped she'd pull through… "Four times…I can't imagine it…" One had been enough to bring me to my knees – when Anri stabbed me all those years back – but four? I shook my head at the thought.

"Try not to," Nene mumbled.

"Too late."

Suddenly, the door swung open, Mackie stepping through. Nene jumped to her feet while I snapped my head in his direction.

"What's going on?!" Nene asked.

"Sis told me to go home," Mackie sighed, closing the door and turning to walk down the hallway. I stopped him in his tracks.

"What about Yume?!" I demanded. If anything had happened…

He shook his head and gave me a weary smile. "Priss, you have one tough kid there." He walked around me and headed down the stairs, leaving us three just staring down the hallway after him.

"So is she ok or not?!" I grumbled. "He didn't even—"

"Priss," Linna said, getting much the same weary grin that Mackie had, "I think we can safely assume that Yumeko's ok. I'm sure if something happened, he would have told us so."

"Better be right," I said, heaving a sigh.

A minute later, the door opened again, except this time, it was Sylia who walked out.

"Sylia!!" I said.

She turned to me, her face stone-cold. "Priss, do you want to see her?"

"Of course I do!" That was a stupid question…

"Well, come in then." She stepped aside to let me enter.

"What about us, Sylia?" Linna asked, standing up.

"You two wait out here. I think it would only be appropriate if Yumeko's mother visited with her alone first."

"Is she ok?" Nene asked, her eyes wide. Sylia didn't answer, but instead ushered me into her penthouse and shut the door behind her. I looked around the room, expecting to see medical equipment and such spread around, but the place was desolate of anything like that.

"She's in the bed," Sylia said in a low voice, nodding towards her bed. I nodded acknowledgment, trying to swallow the lump in my throat, and walked slowly towards the bed. What was I supposed to expect when I saw my daughter?

I walked beside the bed and looked down at Yume. She was laying flat on her back with a rag over her forehead, her face pale, and if I hadn't known better, I would've said she was just sleeping. I just stood there and shook my head, my eyes welling up with tears.

"Is she gonna…?" I started to say.

"She'll live," Sylia muttered, her arms crossed. "But she's hurt badly. The stab wounds appear to be more for the purpose of torturing her than for killing her quickly."

I clenched my hands into fists and gritted my teeth. "So he was just playing with her?!"

"It appears that way, although it's obvious he did intend to kill her."

I shook my head in disbelief. It was just like the Boomers at the summit…they hadn't wanted us to die TOO quickly; they wanted to have some fun first… The image of the second Boomer stomping on Yume again and again, and hearing her scream in agony while I stood there helpless to do anything…it was too much.

"She's…a kid…" I moaned again, sinking into a nearby chair, the blood draining from my face. "When I was her age…my only real worry was rival bike gangs, but Yume…she…"

"You two were raised in completely different worlds, Priss. You know that."

"I'm aware of that…" I heaved a sigh and took one of Yume's hands into my own. "When I had her…I just never imagined that she'd be helping us fight Boomers, especially since it'd been nineteen years since our last mission. I guess I was hoping that, well…"

"That she'd be able to lead the life you never had?" Sylia finished. I nodded, not taking my eyes off my daughter.

"Before the summit, I was telling her about how naïve she is." I smirked as I remembered her practically demand why I thought she was naïve. "I guess after everything that's happened since then, she's not so naïve anymore…"

Sylia merely nodded, then took the cloth off of Yume's forehead, soaked it in cold water, then placed it on her forehead again. I saw Yume scrunch up her face in response, then let out a weak whimper.

I clenched her hand tighter, the tears threatening to break out from under my eyelids. "Yume…I'm here for you, ok? Just so you know…"

And then, something weird happened. Even though she looked like she was completely out, I felt her squeeze my hand. I opened my eyes; had I imagined that?

"Huh?"

"Mom…" she whimpered, squeezing her eyes tighter as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

I kissed her hand, ready to cry myself. "Yeah, it's me. You're gonna be ok, you hear me? Once you get better, we're gonna kick that Boh kid's ass together, I promise you."

I squeezed her hand again, and she squeezed back.

I stood up and started to head towards the door when Sylia stopped me. "I think it would be best if you stayed here for the time being," she advised, her hand on my shoulder. "Boh's probably well aware that Yumeko's still alive, so I think both you and her should stay here for a while, for your safety."

"You don't need to worry about me," I replied dryly. "I'm not going anywhere."

After she released my shoulder, I strided towards the door. It was one thing to hear that my daughter was hurt, but to actually see it for myself? That was another thing altogether. It broke my heart, seeing her like that…

"Priss!" Nene gasped once I emerged from the penthouse. "How is she?"

"How's she holding up?" Linna asked.

I looked at them both for a second, then just shook my head and strided past them, heading down the hallway towards the stairs. Once I reached them, I broke into a run, and charged down.

"Wait!!" I heard Linna yell behind me.

"Priss!!" Nene shouted.

"As dangerous and crazy as this all sounds," I heard Yume's voice say, "I can't just let you and Sylia and the others just go out there and put your lives on the line. Even though there's a lot of risks involved in this, I want to join you guys and help you put these bastards down." My daughter…willing to become a Knight Saber, regardless of what happened to her…much like me at her age… That night she told me she wanted to join seemed so long ago, and yet at the same time, it seemed like yesterday. I'd hoped she wouldn't consider it to be just like her childhood games, and she seemed to take it seriously enough. Her almost carefree attitude about the whole thing was surprising, especially considering her life had just been turned upside-down. That is, she was pretty carefree until her first beating…

"I tried telling you before, fighting Boomers isn't just a game," I reminded her after she'd had a cast put on her broken wrist.

"So I noticed…" She smiled. "Well, I guess it could've been worse. Me and Linna could've been turned into Saber burgers by that thing's heat cannon."

But…how was I to know how she felt about the whole thing? She'd considered Nene, Linna, and Sylia to be her 'aunts' her whole life; what was it like to suddenly find out they, along with Mommy Dearest, were the infamous Knight Sabers? I could only imagine.

I didn't stop running until I reached the parking garage, a full eight floors down. And even then, I felt like I just hadn't run fast enough…

"Damn it!!" I screamed, pounding the concrete wall with my fists, the tears finally breaking loose and streaking my face. Why the hell was Genom after a kid, anyway?! She didn't pose any real threat to them!! I would have rather had them kill me than her; she had her whole life ahead of her!

"Geez, you run fast…" I heard Linna wheeze as she entered the garage. I turned to look at her.

"What do you want?" I growled, grounding the tears out of my eyes with my fist. It was funny she'd said that…she was an aerobics instructor, she should've been able to run at least as fast as me.

"I just came down to see if you were ok."

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just as worried about Yumeko as you are," she said, frowning. "I was there, you know."

"So tell me about it. What did he do?"

She sighed. "I didn't see much of it, actually. I didn't hear her motorcycle drive away, so I looked out the window and there was Boh, holding her by her shirt and stabbing her. What's there to say?"

I gritted my teeth. "'What's there to say,' indeed. How'd you get that lump on your forehead if you didn't see much?!"

"I ran out and hit him with my baton, but…he grabbed it from me and hit me over the head with it." She winced, whether from the wound itself or the memory, I dunno.

"Did he…do anything else?" I inquired, the lump in my throat feeling thicker.

"If you're asking if he raped her…no, he didn't."

I sighed and leaned against the wall. "I just…wish I could've protected her…"

Linna shook her head. "Priss, you couldn't have known he'd be there. I sure didn't. And neither did Yumeko. We're not psychics, as much as we'd love to be."

I clenched my hand into a fist. "That bastard's gonna answer to me soon enough, even if it kills me…"

"Priss, this is a guy that punched Yumeko in the stomach just to see if she'd cough up blood!" Linna yelled, getting tears in her eyes. "He's a sadistic, twisted…"

"Did she?"

"Did she what?"

"Cough up blood."

"Yes," she said, nodding slowly. She looked past me and looked at her car, her eyes getting watery again. I turned around and took a look, and saw why Linna had that reaction: there was blood smeared on one of the car doors.

"What the hell?" I gasped, touching the now-dried blood.

"I tried getting Yumeko in my car to bring her here, but…she collapsed…" Her voice started choking. "And it's funny… She mentioned that this was the second time I'd saved her…"

"It is," I said dryly. "At the summit, you were the one that kept the Boomer from stomping her to death."

Linna smiled weakly. "I guess so. That must've been what she meant."

"We both owe it to ya," I sighed. "I couldn't do shit for her then…"

"You were hurt bad. Of course you couldn't have done much."

"Just like…"

"Like what?"

I put my hand on my side, where I'd been stabbed before. Once Linna saw me do that, she nodded in understanding. "Well, that's…a little different, I admit…"

"This is all a bad dream," I said, almost as if I expected it to be true. "It's gotta be."

"Isn't that what Yumeko's name means?" Linna inquired. "Child of dreams? How ironic you named her that. I dunno how she got that name either. Care to elaborate?"

I shook my head and started heading back upstairs. "Yume knows. Try asking her once she wakes up."


When I felt the light hit my eyes, I squeezed them shut even tighter than they were before. If it was the light of heaven, I sure didn't want to see it. I turned my head away from the light, and that was when I noticed a dull pain in my stomach. Not in one place, but four. It seemed to dig into me like fingers into a glob of cookie dough. I opened my eyes slowly, and after the blurred vision subsided, I saw a chair and a nightstand next to me. So much for this being the Pearly Gates.

"How did I…?" I asked myself weakly. This was Sylia's place! How had I ended up here? Then it hit me: the events of…when was it? Last night? If I'd been out for five days again, I was going to strangle somebody. And Boh…where had he gone? And where was Linna?! I hoped she was ok.

I heard footsteps nearby, then I saw Sylia walk up next to me with a rag in her hand. I sighed.

"Aunt Sylia…" I breathed as she placed the rag across my forehead.

She looked at me curiously for a moment, then resumed her cool composure. "You've been through a lot," she said.

"I noticed… Where's Boh?"

Sylia frowned. "He's gone. He won't be able to get you here. Let us worry about him while you rest."

"I can't believe it… He's a Genom agent. But how…?"

"Don't stress yourself out over that. Let Priss and me handle that."

"Where is Mom?"

"She's outside on the patio. She stayed awake by your side all night, you know."

I smiled weakly. "That doesn't surprise me." I thought for a moment, then added, "How's Linna doing?"

"She has a concussion from the hit she took, but she'll be all right."

"She…she saved my life…I have to thank her…"

Sylia shook her head. "I'm sure she knows you're thankful, but if you want me to pass along the message, I will."

"Thanks…"

After adjusting the covers, she said, "You should rest. I have to go take care of something." Before she had a chance to leave, I had to add one more thing.

"Sylia?"

"Hm? Yes?" she asked, turning around.

"Thanks for putting up with all my crap…" Sylia smirked.

"It's nothing," she responded as she exited the penthouse.

After she left, everything was dead quiet. I just laid there in bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to sort through what I'd been through just in the last day…hell, what had gone on ever since the battle at the Boomer summit. I remembered when I'd first met Boh; at the time, he'd just seemed like a weird kid. Damn hindsight…how could I have not seen it then? A kid who started at Kihi just four days before I started going back there again should've caught my attention, but…I guess anybody would've thought it was just coincidence. And besides, it was early in the school year then; probably was a great time to transfer.

And then, there was the matter of him and me happening to be in the same place at once. When I'd had a nightmare and gone out to look for Mom at 2 AM, Boh had 'just happened' to be passing by my apartment building. And when I'd bought Mom that guitar for her birthday, I'd seen Boh on the sidewalk among the crowds.

How the hell could I have not seen it?!

Even Michiko, sweet, naïve Michiko, had noticed it before me. My first day back at school, she'd commented that he was 'weird', and that after only being at the school for four days, everyone knew to avoid him.

And then there was Linna…even she didn't think anything of his interest in me; she brushed it off as him just having a crush.

But how were any of us to guess that he was working for Genom? That he was a Boomer? That his only mission in life was to kill me? And here I was, laying in bed with four stab wounds to my gut, not doing a damn thing to stop him from trying again, or trying to kill someone else! Sylia said not to worry, that she'd take care of it, but…what exactly was she doing? Nothing, as far as I knew.

"This is enough," I finally said to myself, frowning. I put the palms of my hands to the bed and pushed myself up, but the moment my back lost contact with the bedsheets, my wounds flared up horribly; it felt like I was being stabbed all over again. I cried out and fell back onto the bed, clutching my stomach, the sweat running down my face just from that little effort.

"Maybe I…can just roll out," I said aloud. After a few seconds, I threw my whole weight to the side, and sure enough, I went tumbling out of bed, only to land on my stomach.

"OWW!!" I screamed, the pain feeling like it was spreading through my whole body. I laid there and whimpered, the tears streaming down my face, until the pain subsided, which took longer than just a few minutes. But once it didn't hurt nearly so much to move, I pushed myself up again and leaned against the bed, gasping for air, it hurt so much. But having gone this far, I certainly wasn't going to try and get myself back into bed; getting out hurt bad enough.

To my left, I heard the front door open and close. I turned and looked to see who it was. Had Sylia come back already?

"Y…Yumeko!" Nene gasped when she saw me. She ran around the couch – for a moment looking like she was gonna jump over it instead – and ran to me.

"Nene!" I moaned, starting to crawl towards her, but stopped; it hurt so damn much! I just sat there on my knees while Nene bent down, tears in her eyes.

"I didn't think you'd be awake so soon," she said, her voice choking.

"Better than being out for five days like before," I quipped, aching all over. "What…what am I supposed to do, Nene?"

"What do you mean?"

I wiped away the tears from my eyes, Nene putting her hands on my shoulders to support me. "He tried to kill me… He's…he's probably going around at this very moment acting like nothing happened! I can't just sit here and let him get away with it!"

"Sylia's trying to figure something out, but with him enrolled as a student, like she said, it's not going to be easy to get rid of him without arousing suspicions among everybody else."

"I don't give a shit whether he's enrolled or not! He's…gotta…!" I whimpered and clutched my stomach again; the stabbing pain was coming back.

"He has to pay, I know," Nene finished for me.

"But…" I mumbled, tears of pain blurring my vision, "but with what he's done…"

"Hm?"

"I'm…I'm scared, Nene…!" I admitted, throwing my arms around her torso. "He's gonna come back and finish the job!"

Nene wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. "Yumeko, we as the Knight Sabers are not going to let that happen. We're here to protect each other as well as the city. I don't know how we're going to get rid of Boh, exactly, but just leave it to us; we'll figure something out."

"It's ok to be scared!" I heard a familiar voice say. Nene and I looked up and saw Mom standing nearby, arms crossed as she gazed out the window, a stern look on her face. When had she come in from outside? I hadn't even heard the door.

"Priss?" Nene gasped.

Mom, not looking at us, said, "Nobody said you're not allowed to be scared. It's only human to feel that way." After a long pause, she added, "I would know."

"M…Mom!" I said.

"Even the Priss Asagiris of the world feel fear every so often," Mom quipped, almost smirking. "But…the last time I felt it, I won't forget it…"

Nene and I both gaped at her; we knew what she was referring to…

The night of my conception.


I guess I have to rewind almost eighteen years to get back to that night. Hmph…with as real as it still seems whenever I think about it, it may as well have happened yesterday. But with a seventeen-year-old daughter stemming from what happened that night, I guess it wouldn't be possible to say that.

I remember the date all too well: October 7th, 2037, barely a month after returning from my tour. I had wanted to go out and have some fun, so I invited Linna and Nene out for a night on the town. We had hit some of the popular nightspots, but eventually made our way to Hot Legs, a sentimental favorite and where I'd gotten my start as a singer.

I had already told Yume what happened at the nightclub, and Nene obviously was there, so I didn't need to retell that, except for what happened after she left. But the full details of what happened after I left the nightclub had only been known to me…until now.

Stumbling down the street towards my apartment, I was still feeling some of the ill effects from whatever had been slipped into my drink, despite throwing it back up. One hand to my head, I held the other against the wall to guide me, and to keep me from falling over. It was almost like a hangover.

I came to an alley, and when I looked up, I saw my apartment building nearby, and figured I'd cut through there.

A mistake I'd quickly come to regret.

But…is it really a mistake if out of it came a girl that I'd love more than life itself? A girl who resembled what I might have turned out to be if my life hadn't gone to shit?

But, well, back then, I sure didn't know that. Especially not at the moment when I suddenly felt a large hand clamp down on my shoulder and felt a knife get shoved into my side.

I gasped in surprise as I froze in shock, the hot blood quickly saturating my side.

"No one, and I mean no one, brushes me off like that," he spat as he drove the knife deeper. I didn't even cry out in pain; I just fell to my knees, still frozen in utter shock, the bastard's hand still on my shoulder and the knife still embedded in my side.

"I thought you were tough," he said dryly, laughing. "I guess you're not as tough as you look, are ya!!"

"T…tough?" I managed to say, then squeezed my eyes shut and jerked my head backwards, headbutting him in the forehead, judging from his reaction.

"Shit!!" he yelled, dropping the knife and taking a step back. I swung around and punched him in the face, then kicked him in the balls. Then, I grabbed him by the hair, and swung up my knee at the same time I yanked his head down.

"Damn it…" I groaned, grabbing my side as he struggled to his feet. "If you don't want to go home with a bullet hole through your face, you better get the hell outta here now!" I pulled out my gun and was about to cock it when the guy lunged forward and grabbed me by the wrist, then punched me in the nose and twisted my arm behind my back.

"You think I'm not good enough for you?" he growled, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Is that it?" He twisted my arm harder, making me grit my teeth to keep from crying out; I wasn't gonna give him that satisfaction. I was about to elbow him with my free arm when he went and grabbed that one too, and slammed my face into the brick wall of the alley. While I was left reeling from that move, he threw me to the ground and pinned me down on my stomach, both my arms twisted behind my back.

"GET OFFA ME!!" I screamed, flailing my legs and struggling to get out from underneath him in vain.

"Why?" he asked jokingly. "You know ya want this."

"Like HELL I do!! Get the hell off me NOW!!"

"It'll feel good," he said as he grabbed my jeans and yanked them down. I felt the panic shoot up my spine; this…this couldn't be happening!

"Get…OFF!!" I yelled again, trying to get my arms free somehow. But the bastard…he just laughed, laughed as I tried in vain to defend myself against him. Just because he was at least twice my size and twice my weight didn't mean I wasn't gonna fight him tooth and nail.

"Here I come!" he said almost child-like. A second later, I felt something hot get shoved between my legs. I screamed as he shoved deeper, the pain sharp and excruciating.

The bastard laughed as he thrust again. "What, you a virgin?" he inquired. "With all the guys you attract, I wouldn't have thought so." I screamed again, but he slapped a hand over my mouth. "Ah well…guess ya learn something new every day."

By now, I was in survival mode; who wouldn't be?! I bit down on his fingers as hard as I could, and with a surge of energy, despite my stab wound and the fact that the guy was on top of me, I threw myself to one side, almost managing to get him off me.

Almost.

"Damn it, hold still for me!" he yelled. He grabbed a nearby brick and a second later, felt it slam into the side of my head. I almost literally saw stars, I was hit so hard. I kicked my legs and tried to move again, but then he went and hit me in the face with the brick. I felt the blood on my face, but at this point, that was the least of my worries, needless to say. He raised the brick again, and then I felt it slam into my head again.

I don't remember anything after that; I guess I must've blacked out. But when I came to, it had started to rain. I lifted up my head, looking to see if the son of a bitch was still there, but he was gone. I rolled over onto my back and just laid there. Maybe I just got drunk and got into a fight at Hot Legs and passed out here, I thought, wanting to believe it. For a moment, I almost convinced myself it was true. That…that couldn't have happened. That bastard…he didn't really do what he did. No way. Not to me. I sat up, and as my head started pounding, I leaned against the brick wall, gasping for breath; I hadn't been in this much pain since…since…since when? Since I was a Knight Saber? Even when I saw my jeans pulled down to my knees, with the buttons popped off of them from being yanked down so hard, it didn't hit me. I tried not to think about it and pulled them back up, gritting my teeth to keep from crying out when the stab wound in my side started stinging.

Hell if I know how I got home after that; one moment, I was in that alley, wobbling to my feet, and the next moment, I was fumbling with the keys to unlock the door to my apartment, dazed. I stumbled in, slammed the door behind me – somehow remembering to lock it – then made my way to the bathroom, stripped off my bloody clothes, and just sat there in the shower with the water turned on as hot as I could stand. When the water hit my wounds, I normally would've cried out, cringed, something. But right now I was just indifferent; wasn't any worse than what had just happened.

I passed out right there in that shower stall, and when I came to in the morning, the water had gone cold. I sat up and turned it off, dried myself off, bandaged up my stab wound – that's what I get from seeing Sylia doing it so many times – then got dressed in whatever clothes I could move around in without hurting myself. I popped some pain pills and just laid there on the couch, letting myself zone out.

Must've been a hangover. Or maybe I got into a bike wreck; that would explain why my bike was missing from the parking lot. But damn…I knew none of that bullshit was true.

Woulda been nice to believe it, though.

The next day, Linna called. She was wondering why I wasn't at Survival Shot with them. My head was so messed up, I could barely think straight, let alone make up an excuse.

"I'm just not gonna show up, ok?" I snapped; thank God my phone at the time wasn't a vidphone. Linna would've freaked out if she saw me.

"Priss, is everything ok?" she asked; she and everyone else in the whole goddamn world knew I wouldn't show up for no reason.

"Fine. Dandy. PEACHY. Ok?!" I hung up on her. And I went to the cupboard and downed damn near half a bottle of vodka before passing out again.

The next week, I went and did some training exercises with Sylia and the others. I practically thanked God we were only doing Survival Shot again instead of fighting the holograms. Then they really would've seen how messed up I was. But qué será, será, I guess. And not like it would've made a big difference if I was in top shape or not; Linna and I still lost and we still had to foot the bill for dinner afterwards. Nice to know SOMETHING was a constant in my turned-upside-down life.

I almost got away with fooling them, even Sylia. That is, until three months after the fact. I woke up and immediately had to run to the bathroom to puke. It was January, so naturally I assumed it was a stomach flu. It had been going around, what else would it be?

Linna and I went out to lunch one day, and she commented that I didn't look too well.

"You look kinda pale," she said. "Are you ok?"

I nodded and shoved a piece of steak into my mouth. "Yeah, fine. Just been having the flu for the past few days."

"The flu, huh? Have you thrown up at all?"

"In the mornings. Why?"

I couldn't even let her answer; at that moment, a wave of nausea rose into my throat, and I had to get up and run to the bathroom to throw up. While my head was in the toilet, Linna came up behind me and asked something I was hoping never to hear.

"A 'flu,' eh? When was the last time you got your period?"

"My per—" I started to say. I thought for a moment, then shook my head. "Haven't been paying attention. Why the hell are you asking about that, anyway?"

"Well, if you've missed one, there's another possibility besides a little bug."

"Wh… You're KIDDING me!" I exclaimed, laughing…nervously. "Are you suggesting I'm pregnant?"

"Look, if you think you've been fooling me, you're wrong. You don't think that I've noticed you walking around in pain, and the bruises that you tried covering up with make-up? Priss, I used to be a dancer. I know all the tricks people can play with make-up. What happened?"

"N…nothing happened! I just got into a fight!"

Linna got a weird sad look on her face, and for such an optimist like her, it was strange seeing her like that. "Just a fight?" she asked sadly. "I don't know if I can believe that. Those wounds, plus the fact you've been throwing up in the mornings… It's been about three months, right?"

"I don't want to hear this!" I declared, marching out of the bathroom and out of the restaurant. It couldn't be true…it HAD to be just a coincidence, it HAD to be… Right?

I was hoping it was just that, but the next day, Linna showed up at my apartment. I asked her what she thought she was doing, and she reached into her purse and pulled out a pregnancy test.

"Oh, THIS again," I grumbled.

"Look, you're the only one that knows if this is possible. So just go into the bathroom and take the test."

"I don't need to piss on a stick to know that the test'll come up negative."

"To put your mind at ease, please. I know that you think it's possible. Just looking at you gives it away."

My eyebrow twitched, and I snatched the thing out of her hand. "If it'll make you get off my ass about it, fine. Be right back." I turned and strided into the bathroom, slamming the door. I drank a few glasses of water to make myself hafta pee, then I took the thing out of the box, pulled down my pants, sat on the toilet, and peed on the stick. This is stupid, I thought. What a waste of time…

And then I looked at the results.

Two lines.

I picked up the box and looked at the instructions to see what that meant. I looked at the stick, then the box again. And again. And again, more frantic. I was sure I'd read it wrong. Or maybe I just had double vision. I even shook the stick, but…it still showed two lines.

Oh…God…, I thought, starting to tremble all over as I just stared at the lines. He did it…he really… I have a part of him in me…

I screamed. It was the only thing I could do.

Linna came running into the bathroom. "What's wrong?!" she asked.

"NO!!" I screamed, punching the wall. "No!! I can't be pregnant! No way in hell!!"

"Huh?!"

"He actually got me pregnant with his kid!!" I screamed again and kicked the wall.

"You mean you're…?!"

I sunk to my knees, one hand against the wall. "N…no way… I'm…I'm pregnant…" And then, I started to cry. Linna bent down and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Priss, I…I don't know what to say…"

"I can't be a mom! This wasn't…it wasn't…!"

"Wasn't planned?" Linna gasped. "Oh no…you mean…that 'fight' you got into…"

I nodded grimly.

"You…you were raped?"

"Announce it to the world, why dontcha," I said, my voice choking.

"Who was it?" she asked sternly. "Who did it?!"

"What does it matter now?!" I snapped, wiping away my tears. "It's not gonna change a damn thing! I'm having his kid!!"

"Priss, you have to make him responsible for what he's done! It won't do any good to keep it bottled up!"

I didn't say it to her, but I'm sure she knew part of why I wasn't going after him; the press would have a field day with this. The headlines would scream some bullshit about the almighty lead singer of the Replicants getting raped and having a baby come out of it. And the tabloids…need I mention how THEY would twist it around? Welcome to the dark side of being world-famous.

The next day, my neighbor Tilda came knocking on the door. I wiped away my tears and opened the door, and there she was.

"Priscilla," she said, "is there anything I can do to help you?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't need nothin'. Just leave me alone…"

"I overheard everything. You were yelling so loud that I couldn't help it."

"Look…I don't need your pity, nor do I want it. I just need time to think right now, ok?"

She nodded. "All right. Come by if you ever need anything."

I shut the door and laid down on the couch. What was I supposed to do?! I hadn't been expecting a kid, let alone like this. A kid was the last thing I expected to come along.

That weekend, Linna came over to my place and said that we should probably let Sylia and Nene know about the situation, and I reluctantly agreed. "They'll find out sooner or later," she pointed out, pointing to my stomach.

"Right…"

So we drove up to Sylia's Lady 633 building, and took the elevator to the top floor. Linna knocked on the door, and Sylia asked who was there.

"It's just Priss and me," she said.

"Come in," Sylia replied. We both walked in and saw Nene was there as well, working on a report or something.

"Oh, hi!" Nene squealed, jumping up out of her seat. Her smile quickly disappeared when she saw the looks on our faces. "Yeesh…w-what's wrong?"

"Priss has something to say," Linna said, turning to me. I leaned against the wall, my arms folded across my chest. I just shook my head.

"Want me to tell them?"

I nodded, casting my eyes down.

Linna sighed and turned back to Sylia and Nene. "Well…" She thought for a moment, and took a breath. "Priss is three months pregnant."

"She's WHAT?!" Nene gasped. "Oh wow, that's great!! I thought you were gonna say something just awful!! Don't scare me like that!"

"Um, Nene…"

"I can't believe you're pregnant, Priss!!" She ran up to me and grabbed one of my hands. "That's wonderful! I bet Leon's going to make a great dad!"

"Leon's not the dad," I mumbled.

"He…he's not?" She turned to Linna. "Is that true?"

Linna nodded. "You wish he was."

"But who else would Priss sleep with?"

"WHAT?!" I snapped. "I've never—"

"But how else could you be pregnant?"

"Nene…Priss was raped," Linna sighed.

Nene paled. "You…you were?" She fumbled for something to say, casting her eyes to the floor as tears welled up in her eyes. "I didn't know… I'm sorry…"

"C'mere," I said, grabbing her arm. I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her, starting to cry myself. The little redhead returned the hug and cried along with me.

"Well…I wasn't expecting that," Sylia admitted. "So, Priss, what do you plan to do?"

I let go of Nene and looked up at her. "I…I don't know… It's not like this was very well thought-out…"

"Well, you need to think of something soon."

"I know…" I folded my arms over my chest again. "If the Boomers start coming out again, I won't be able to help if I'm like this…I don't want to endanger any of you, but…"

"But?"

"But…it's not like it's the kid's fault for what happened. I can't abort it."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I…don't know!" I wiped away the tears from my eyes. "What do you think I should do, Sylia? I can't…"

"It's not my decision to make, Priss." She walked towards me, stopping next to Linna. "This is your child. Whatever you decide to do is fine by the Knight Sabers."

"R…really?"

"Of course." She smiled. "I can't tell you what to do. This is your decision and yours alone to make."

The tears started to roll freely down my cheeks, and I didn't wipe them away this time. "S-Sylia…thank you…"

"Priss, I'll help out any way I can!" Nene reminded me. "We'll help you with the baby!"

"It's not the end of the world," Linna said. "For your baby, I'd say it's more like the beginning, actually!"


"That's about it," I said, sighing.

Yume just sat there, dumbstruck. "W…wow…"

Nene wiped away her tears. "Priss, I didn't…know it was like that at all. And despite that, you're still the toughest person I know. I want you to know that."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks…"

"What about when I was born?" Yume asked, Nene helping her to her feet.

I snickered. "Oh, what an event that was…"

Nene laughed. "Yeah, no kidding!"

"What of it? What's so funny?" Yume asked, her legs wobbling in the effort to keep her up.

"It happened so suddenly, I couldn't do anything. I'd been having a backache all day, and I went to the bathroom, and…" I laughed. "And that's when you decided to come out. All it took was one push!!"

Yume scrunched up her face in disgust. "I was…born in the bathroom?!"

"Yep!"

"Aw hell…" She sat down on the bed. "And what about my name? Do I REALLY want to know how you thought up my name?"

I smiled. "That's not nearly so bad as giving birth to you in the bathroom, trust me." I sat down next to her. "For, like, the month or so before I had you, I'd been having dreams about what you'd be like. You were so perfect in every way, and you still are now, of course. And when I had you, you looked exactly like the baby in my dreams. And…and well, as you know, you weren't really planned, and I didn't want to abort you; it wasn't your fault for coming into this world. I'd been thinking if I ever did have a kid, she'd be just like you. You were supposed to just be a kid I'd dream about, but never actually have. But, well, 'that' happened, and here you are.

"And after I had you, it was the only name I could think of. 'Yume' for 'dream', and 'ko' for 'child'. 'Child of dreams'. Yumeko. Appropriate enough, I guess."

Nene just stood there, gaping. "Whoa…that's deep."

"That's cool," Yume breathed, then grabbed her stomach in pain. "It makes sense, how I got my name, anyway."

"You better rest, Yume," I said, laying her down in the bed and putting the sheets over her. "God knows how much that must hurt."

"It's not too bad." She winced.

"Just rest, ok?" I bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll try to take care of what's going on now."

"O…okay…"

Nene and I walked out to the patio. As I sat down in one of the lawn chairs, Nene sat in the other one and drummed her fingers on the table. "But how are we going to take care of it, Priss?" she asked. "We don't know where to start."

"I know where to start," I fired at her, leaning back in the chair. "We just gotta corner the bastard, then blow his brains out, if he has any."

Nene laughed nervously. "If only it were that easy!"

No kidding, I thought. If only…