Sorry I made y'all wait. My account got frozen. AGAIN-cries- but it's okay. So... ENOUGH WITH MY BLABBER! ON WITH THE FIC!

The weekend passes, and Monday comes around.

It would be normal, if Shakon hadn't been caught at the club Friday night.

She walked onto the school grounds dressed in a black mini skirt, a white tank top, a black leather jacket, and her black hat. She also did her normal school make up which made her look a little fake. She hadn't bothered to bring her backpack as she was going into an in-school detention, but she did bring a small bag with a book and her MP3 player.

She walked into the school, dropped her bag off in the back of the room that she would be staying in for the bulk of the day, and headed to the gang's meeting place.

As she turned the corner, she heard voices. She got closer to all the commotion and saw that Rei, Yuriy, Max, Satsuna, Takao, and Kai were talking with Linea, Terrance and Kimihiro. Linea was looking angry and shocked, Terrance looked stunned, and Kimihiro was in the midst of a yelling match with Takao.

Shakon approached the two groups cautiously, causing a few to look her way, Linea being one of them. She stormed up to Shakon and was an inch away.

"What. Were you doing on Friday night?" She asked Shakon dangerously.

Shakon was shocked. "Uh… I was out… Why?" She responded.

Linea growled. "Because, I heard from a reliable source that you were going behind our backs, and have been lying to us."

Shakon looked to Rei's group. They told. She thought. "Wh-why would I lie?" She asked, trying to cover up the fact that she had indeed been saying that she was out doing some not-so-lawful things as opposed to what she was really doing.

This, however, did not fool Linea. The next thing Shakon knew, she was on the ground, a little blood coming from her mouth. "Idiot!" Linea yelled. "You thought you could pull that off!"

Shakon lifted herself off the ground, wiping the blood away. She looked to her leader, almost glaring at her. "Pull what off? Having a job?" she asked.

"No." Linea said fiercely, coming towards the dazed Shakon. "Lying to your leader and gang. How long has this been going on? A month?" She asked.

Shakon nodded. "Something like that." She answered truthfully.

However, the truth is not always rewarded.

The next thing she knew, Shakon was being held by her shirt's collar. "As you must know, Ikenara, liars are not welcome in this group." Linea hissed at her.

"Let her go, Linea!" Demanded Rei. "She doesn't deserve being abused like this!"

"In your eyes no," Linea started. "But that's because you're not part of this gang. Being truthful to others in the gang is the most important rule." She explained, raising an arm. "Kimihiro, Terrance, a little help here?"

Shakon growled as Kimihiro held her arms behind her. Terrance held the boys off. She may not have looked it, but next only to Shakon and Linea; Terrance was the best fighter in the school.

Linea looked at Shakon with pity and anger clear in her eyes. "This is going to hurt you more then it will me." She said.

Shakon started to struggle against her captivity. Unfortunately, being the best fighter doesn't necessarily mean you're the strongest, so she was unable to get free.

Linea was true to her words, it did hurt. Shakon was punched and kicked everywhere possible, stomach, face, arms, until her body was void of any possible strength.

"Let her go, Kimihiro." Linea commanded. Kimihiro let go of her captive, who fell to the ground, face down. Shakon's body was covered in bruises and various cuts.

"Now, Ikenara, die in peace." Linea said, motioning for Kimihiro and Terrance to leave.

Once they had, the boys all came over to see if Shakon was okay. Rei lifted the limp girl so that they could see her face. The group gasped at the spectacle.

Shakon's face was almost completely covered in blood, as was the rest of her body, and they could see that she was very pale.

"Kai, Takao, go get help." Rei said quietly. The two ran off without hesitation.

Just then, Shakon regained some consciousness. She opened her eyes to see Rei holding her.

When she tried to speak, Rei put a finger over her mouth. "Save your strength." He told her. "You'll need it."

Shakon looked at him with weak eyes. Why does he care if I live or not? She thought, closing her eyes.

"No! Stay awake." She heard Rei tell her. But she couldn't help it, she didn't have any energy left in her to stay conscious.

A minute or two later, Takao and Kai came back with Sakutsu-san and Doujin-san both of whom were horrified at the sight they were greeted with. "What happened?" Sakutsu-san asked, kneeling beside Rei who was holding Shakon's upper body in his arms.

"Her gang turned on her." Max explained weakly.

"I knew it would happen." Doujin-san stated matter-of-factly. "Only a matter of time before she was killed."

"She's not dead." Rei said quietly. "She's still alive."

"In that case, get her to the nurse's office right now." Sakutsu-san ordered.

Rei picked her up and ran towards the nurse's office with all the speed he could muster. I hope she'll live. He thought. Because I don't know what I'd do with out her these days…

Some time later, at lunchtime, Rei, Kai, Max, Takao, Yuriy, and Satsuna were all headed toward their spot in the cafeteria. They each sat down when a group of girls walked by.

"Did you hear?"

"About what?"

"Shakon Ikenara."

"Yeah, I heard she works as a dancer/stripper at that new club that opened."

"I heard she made-out with some guy she didn't even know!"

"I heard she even got beat in a fight this morning!"

"No way!"

"Well, it's official." Kai stated. "Shakon is the laughing stock of the entire school."

The group sighed. "She doesn't deserve this." Rei said.

"Nobody deserves this." Agreed Satsuna.

There was a silence as they all ate.

"You don't think that… Linea said all those things, do you?" Asked Satsuna.

"Well, none of us did." Reasoned Yuriy. "And you saw how angry She was with Shakon."

"Yeah, but, she was her friend!" Satsuna argued.

"Goes to show you what kind of an animal she is." Kai said.

Rei nodded. "I think… I'm gonna go check up on her." He said, standing up.

The group nodded as Rei started to head towards the nurse's office.

Rei entered to see the nurse at Shakon's side, who had awakened sometime before.

"Ah, just the man the patient needs to see." The nurse said, getting up.

"What?" Rei asked in confusion.

The nurse came over to him. "She's been asking to see you ever since she woke up half an hour ago." She explained, shoving him over to her.

He took a seat in a chair next to the bed where Shakon was. She was glaring at him with cold eyes. Eyes that made Rei shiver.

"You promised you wouldn't tell." Shakon said frostily.

Rei understood. "I'm sorry… I thought they knew." He explained.

She glared at him further. "You told your friends." She stated.

"No. I didn't. They were there with me." He said.

She looked at him with rage in her eyes. "You still promised you wouldn't mention it."

"I know. I'm so sorry." He said, now taking the time to look at her properly.

She surprisingly had only a few wounds on her forehead and cheek, but even those mutilated her usually pretty face.

Rei looked at her sadly. "This is all my fault." He said.

Damn right it is. Shakon thought. She wanted to make him feel as bad as possible, but she couldn't bring herself to. "No, it's mine." She said. "I should have just told them about it."

Rei looked away from her for a minute, resting his eyes and his heart from seeing Shakon like this. It was almost too much for him to bear. Then he looked back to her, and what he saw shocked him.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks. Shakon Ikenara, one of the most cold-hearted and ruthless girls in school was crying.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Rei asked.

Shakon looked to him. "Because of this… I'll have to transfer again…" She explained. "And I don't want to… I finally found a place I can learn properly… Where there are the classes I need… I can't transfer. I can't." she said the last bit quietly. "But I'll have to. And I don't have a choice."

"Yes you will." Rei assured her. "You had witnesses to say what happened. Six witnesses who would gladly tell the truth for you. Six people who don't think that you deserve this." He finished.

Shakon was a little surprised. "They think… I don't deserve to be hurt like this?" She asked.

Rei nodded. "Yes. Even though five of the six don't really like you, they don't hate you like you thought they did."

"Five of the six?" She asked uncertainly. "One actually wants to know me?"

"Yes. I want to know you as my friend." He told her.

She stared at him. This had never happened to her before. Nobody had ever wanted to be her friend the way she was.

"And maybe…" Rei continued.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe more."

Now she was really dumbstruck. This had especially never happened before. Sure there were guys who had wanted her as their girlfriend, but they hadn't wanted to get to know her as a person.

"But, that… won't be for a while." Rei finished his thought.

This made her feel a little less uncomfortable. She sighed in relief. There had been a tense moment.

"I guess…" Shakon said, still feeling a little awkward.

"You haven't heard have you?" Rei asked, feeling compelled to tell her about what had been going around the school.

"Heard? About what?" She asked.

Rei felt dread creep up on him. "There's been rumors going around the school…"

Shakon rolled her eyes. "Old news." She said.

"N-no… It's new stuff… About the dance club." Rei said, that feeling becoming stronger.

"Oh crud." Shakon cursed. "What've they been saying?"

So, Rei told her all of what had been going around (ie: her job was a stripper, she made out with 5 guys in one night, etc…) and by the end, Shakon had her head in her hands in self-pity.

"Oh, that's just frickin' great!" She said, grieving over her lost reputation.

Rei looked at her sadly. "Well, I know it's bad, but maybe it's just time to let go of that reputation of yours." He said, trying to reason with her.
"And what, replace it with one that says I'm a slut?" She snapped back. "See, there was a clause in the contract with that club that had something like that, but I crossed it out, because I don't do that sort of thing."

Rei nodded. "And you know that, so that's all that matters." He said, trying to cheer her up.

Shakon rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, that may be all that matters, but I know I'm gonna catch hell from everyone, which I'd say affects the way I act. So, I guess that matters too."

Rei couldn't argue with that. "True… But until things cool down, you can hang out with me and my group, if you want."

Shakon smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that." She replied.

"Great!" Rei said, standing up. "I should probably go talk to them about this though."

Shakon nodded. "Understandable." She said.

"You gonna need help getting home after school?" Rei asked.

"No, I should be alright." Shakon replied.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then." Rei said, leaving the room.

Shakon just thought over their conversation. "Tomorrow?" She said quietly to herself. Yes, as they say, tomorrow's always brighter.