The next few classes went much the same way, with the teacher introducing me to everybody while I just sat there hanging my head, avoiding eye contact with anybody. This was embarrassing. Back home, I always had school with the same kids, from elementary school all the way up to high school. I'd never transferred before, so this was an entirely new experience. It felt so weird, not knowing a single person in this whole school besides Mikhaila and her friends. I even almost missed the kids I hated, like Maru and Masahiro.
And to make it worse, I only had two classes with Xania, but fortunately, we both had the same lunch hour, so as I was walking down to the cafeteria, she ran up to me and accompanied me.
"Um, isn't the cafeteria this way?" I asked her, pointing the opposite way in which we were going.
"Yeah, but the cafeteria food sucks, trust me," she said. "How 'bout we go to Larry's or somethin'?"
"You're allowed to go off campus for lunch?"
"Yeah. This school has an open-campus policy. Why, was your old school closed-campus?"
I nodded. "What's Larry's, anyway?"
"Burger joint. They got the biggest, juiciest burgers in the world. You'll love it!"
"I'll trust you," I said as we walked out the doors and to the nearest crosswalk.
After crossing the street, Xania and I walked a block or two before coming to a small building alongside the road. It was crowded with students, laughing and doing homework and stuffing themselves silly.
"Must be popular," I remarked.
"Yeah, and that's part of the problem," Xania muttered as she led me inside. "Sometimes ya gotta wait twenty minutes in line before they'll finally get around to takin' your order."
"Why does that not surprise me?" I said dryly as we stood in line, looking up at the menu above the registers to see what I could order. "Hmm, is that any good?"
"What's any good?"
"The Super Veggie Burger Deluxe."
"I've tried it once or twice. It's not too bad."
"Ok, I think I'll have that, then." I took my lunch money out of my pocket and counted it. "Damn, don't have enough."
"How much you got?" Xania asked.
"Five bucks. That burger costs $7.49."
"I can chip in. Here." She dug around in her pocket and slapped some crumpled one-dollar bills in my hand. "Don't need to pay me back, either. It's just a few lousy bucks anyway."
"Thanks."
Once it was our turn to order, I ordered the veggie burger and a soda, while Xania ordered a double-cheeseburger, fries, and a soda. As we walked outside, some of Xania's friends yelled at her, wanting her to join them at the table they were sitting at.
"Hey guys," Xania said as we both walked up to the table. "Mind if Rosho here joins us?"
"Nah, that's ok," one of them said, looking at me. "Feel free to grab a seat."
"Uh, thanks," I said, sitting down next to Xania.
"You new?" a black girl asked me.
"Yeah. Today's my first day. I'm Rocío."
"I'm Karen. And this is Vicky," she said, pointing at the other girl.
"Hi."
"Rosho's staying with Mikhaila's family," Xania said. "She's kinda like a foster kid, like me."
"You're a foster kid?" I gasped.
She shrugged. "Yeah, it's all right. My real parents are all fucked up in the heads, so I've been living with my foster mom since."
"For how long?"
"I dunno, eight years maybe."
"How are your parents messed up in the heads? They do drugs or something?"
"You name it, they did it. Boy, what a shock for me, being taken out of that crack house and being dumped with my foster mom. She's the total opposite of my parents, a real religious woman, a real Christian. She's always saying that I need to wash myself of my sins and shit. I hate her."
"Yet she let you get a tail put on?" I raised an eyebrow.
Xania laughed. "Like I said, we fought for months over it, and she only let me get it put on if I agreed to go to church with her without fighting over wearing a damn dress. AND if I read the Bible for an hour every day."
"Every day?"
"Yeah," she grumbled, scratching her head with the tip of her tail. "She follows the Ten Commandments to the letter, too. If you're ever at my house, try to avoid talking with her. She'll just spout off all this religious shit, and I don't think you want that."
"Sure don't," I agreed, biting into my burger. "I'm not the religious type anyway."
"Heh. Too bad. Mikhaila's family goes to church every Sunday, so you'll just have to put up with it."
"Aw hell..."
"Enough about this religion shit," Karen groaned. "What about you, Rocío? Tell us about yourself."
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"Where'd you come from, for starters?"
"The wonderful land of Oz," I quipped.
Karen grinned. "Seriously now."
I am being serious, I thought as I sipped my soda. Tokyo's way different than this place. "Well...where I came from, it was way busier than this neighborhood is. This place is so quiet, it kinda makes me nervous."
"Ah, a city girl?"
"Yeah. The streets were always crowded with cars and buses, and the buildings were so tall that the only way you could see the sky is if you looked straight up, and even then, the sky was usually yellow or brown from pollution."
"Sounds like LA," Vicky quipped.
"It wasn't LA," I replied quickly.
"So why are you living with Mikhaila?" Karen asked, finishing off her sandwich.
Irodia said to make something up, I thought. Hmm, what would be a good excuse for all my scars? "I was abused," I lied. "My dad was never around, but when he did come home, he'd be in such a drunken stupor that he'd beat me up."
"What about your mom?" Vicky asked, wide-eyed.
"She was too scared to do anything about it." God, Mom would kill me if she ever found out I was saying this! "But eventually a friend of hers said she knew somebody I could stay with to get away from my dad, so she called Irodia and asked if I could stay with her."
"You don't look like you have any fresh bruises," Karen pointed out.
"Maybe not, but I do have this." I pushed the bangs that were near my right ear out of the way, so that everyone could get a view of the cut near my hairline.
"Bad cut there," Xania said, peeking over her shades at the cut. "He attack you with a knife?"
"Yeah." Of course, it was actually a Boomer that had cut me on the forehead, but they didn't need to know that. "I had to hit him over the head with a lamp to get him to stop attacking me."
"Damn," she muttered. "So what about those plates you were tellin' me about?"
"Those? Oh, those!" I cleared my throat. "Well...there was this one time when he was really beating me up bad, and one punch broke my cheekbone. It was broke so bad I had to get a plate put in to stabilize it."
"And the ones in your leg?"
"He had a hunting rifle in his bedroom closet, and he was really drunk, so he grabbed it and threatened me with it. I grabbed it and told him to stop aiming it at me, but he pulled the trigger and it went through my leg. Which is why I walk with a slight limp, as you've probably noticed."
"That's fucked up!" Xania exclaimed, eyes wide.
And that's just a lie, I thought, having paled at the memory of how I really got the scars. The real story is even worse.
"What time is it?" Karen asked Vicky.
Vicky looked at her pager and said quickly, "Time to get back." She stood up and shook my hand. "Rocío, it was nice to meet you. Hope you get better soon."
"Thanks," I said.
After throwing my trash away, Xania and I started to head back to the school. After an awkward silence, she said, "I thought you said you got into a nasty fight."
"I did. It was a fight for my life."
"Well, makes sense to me..." She heaved a sigh. "Sorry you had to go through that bullshit, Rosho. Mikhaila didn't mention any of that to me."
"You and your friends back there are the only ones I've told."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Xania suddenly lunged forward and gave me a huge hug, making me gasp in surprise. "I'm really sorry," she said. "I guess we've each gone through our own hell."
"I guess we have..."
"When I first saw you, you looked as normal as could be. But damn, how was I to guess what you'd gone through!" She shook her head in disbelief and adjusted her shades. "Goes to show looks aren't everything, I guess..."
Oh, you have no clue, I thought as I followed Xania back to the school for my next class. You have no clue about my past. I don't think you want to know. If you think these stories I've told are bad, just wait till, if at all, you find out about the summit battle...
-----
I couldn't remember showing Mikhaila my class schedule, but when I got out of my last class, she was right there, waiting for me. She didn't look too happy.
"What kept you?" she snapped as I walked out the door.
"I had to get my stuff into my backpack," I said, raising an eyebrow. "And besides, the teacher wanted to talk to me."
"About what?"
"How I did in my math class at my last school, because I didn't understand what the hell he was talking about."
"What were you going over?" she asked as we walked outside to the student parking lot.
"Logarithms," I replied.
"Those are easy! How could you not understand those?"
"Ever got the thought through your thick skull that what some people consider easy, others consider mission impossible?" I groaned.
Mikhaila snorted. I smirked when she decided to ignore me; I suppose she didn't want to admit she wasn't Miss Perfect.
"We're going to the mall," Juliana said after everyone piled into Sara's convertible. "Rocío, wanna come along?"
"Uh...no, that's alright. I have some homework to do," I said, at the same time wondering if I'd actually said that aloud. Had I just said I'd rather do homework than go to the mall? I'd get so much flack for that if Linna or Nene were here right now. "I'm kinda winded, anyway."
"From this being your first day? That's fine."
"I can already see you're gonna be no fun to live in the same house with," Mikhaila said, sticking her tongue out at me.
"Normally I LOVE going to the mall," I replied, even though I'd rarely gone there without Michiko. "I just wanna get into a half-normal routine first."
"Need help with any of your homework?" Xania asked. "I'll help you if you need it."
"Look at her talk!" Mikhaila joked. "Xania, passing up a chance to go to the mall?" She looked up at the sky. "Well, I don't see pigs flying yet."
"Judging from the look on Rocío's face, you're begging to be slapped," Sara quipped as she drove the car out of the parking lot and down the street.
"You read my mind," I said.
"So tell us something about yourself, Rocío," Juliana said. "What did you do for fun back home?"
Besides beat up Boomers? I thought sarcastically. "Uh...well, I liked to go and hang out with my friend at the mall, and sing, and act in plays."
"What part do you play?"
"Huh?"
"Singing, I mean. You a soprano or alto?"
"My mom said I sound more like a first alto, but she also said I could be a second soprano if need be."
"Your mom into music?"
"Yeah." I sighed. "I miss her..."
"Well," Xania said, "we'll make sure ya have plenty of fun here. You'll be so busy that you won't have time to miss anybody back home!"
That's nice of you to say, I thought, but there's no way I can be too busy to think of Michiko. Mom and the others...I wonder how they're doing too? Are they gonna be able to handle fighting Boomers without me?
"Hello?" I snapped out of my own world to see Mikhaila waving her hand in front of my face. "We're home."
"Oh!" I said quickly, jumping out of the car. Sara popped open the trunk so I could get my backpack, and once I did, I waved bye to the others.
"Sure you don't need my help?" Xania called to me.
"Yeah, I'm sure!" I called back.
"See ya!" Juliana called as she and the others drove away.
Once the convertible was out of sight, I dropped to my hands and knees right there in the driveway, whimpering. Jumping out of the car like that had not been too good for my lingering stab wounds, so here I was, having pushed myself too hard, again.
"Shit...!" I groaned, my vision blurred by tears. It was just another reminder of what Boh had done, another reminder that just because I was in a different place, didn't mean that I'd left my demons behind. Dammit, gotta stop rushing so much, I thought, whimpering some more as I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain. They'll never heal if I keep rushing!
"Yumeko?" I heard Irodia call out as I heard her open the front door.
"A little help here..." I said in a strangled voice. She apparently heard me, for a second later, I heard her running towards me.
"What did you do now?" she asked, helping me to my feet.
"Hopped out of Sara's car too fast," I groaned, my legs wobbling. I saw Irodia get a grin on her face. "What's so funny?"
"I have a surprise for you," she said, still grinning, "but I think I'll wait until you're not in so much pain."
"No, no, show me," I insisted.
"Well..." Irodia rolled her eyes in sarcasm. "I'll just say you won't have to worry about jumping out of that car too fast once you see it."
She helped me inside the house, and beckoned me to sit on the couch. She walked down the hallway, and a minute later came back with a heat massager in her hand.
"Here, use this," she said, handing it to me. "The heat'll help with the pain."
I reluctantly took it and turned it on. I ran it over my stomach, and frowned when the pain didn't lessen any. Irodia told me it'd take a minute to work, and after a short while, it turned out she was right. I leaned back on the couch and ran it over my stomach for a while, closing my eyes as I let the soothing heat sink in. Probably would've helped me a lot if I knew about this a few months ago.
"Whenever they start hurting, just use that," Irodia said after I sat up and turned it off. "It's much better than getting yourself addicted to painkillers."
"Aw c'mon, nothing wrong with a few drops of morphine every so often," I joked as I turned the massager back on; my back wound was hurting now. "Can you get my back for me?"
"Sure."
She sat down next to me and ran the massager over my upper back. As she did, she asked, "So how was your first day of school?"
"It was ok, but I'm not used to not knowing anybody."
"Did Mikhaila help you get around?"
"No, but Xania did."
"Xania?" She raised an eyebrow. "That's a surprise."
"How's it a surprise?"
"She's just more of an introvert, that's all. She hardly ever strays from Mikhaila's little group of buddies."
"She offered to help me with homework too instead of going to the mall. Mikhaila looked really surprised to hear that."
Irodia smiled. "Well, it's nice to know you're already making friends."
"She calls me Rosho," I added, grinning.
"I noticed that yesterday," she said. "She usually doesn't take a shining to people so fast, from my experience, anyway." She paused. "Well, other than boys."
"She popular with guys or what?"
Irodia groaned as she stood up. "Yes, but not in the way you'd want her to be. She's a bit...loose, if you know what I mean."
My eyes widened. "Oh. I didn't know that."
"I'm glad she likes you, but for the love of God, don't pick up her habits."
"She was telling me about her foster mom today," I said, grimacing at the memory. "I'd think she wouldn't have time to act that way, with how her foster mom acts and all."
"I've heard she lost her virginity when she was fourteen," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Fourteen? I'm seventeen, and I've only been kissed once, let alone made out or slept with anybody."
"By who, may I ask?" she inquired with a mischievous grin. "And when was your first kiss?"
I paled and looked away, hanging my head slightly. "Two and a half weeks ago. It was Boh, after he stabbed me..."
Irodia turned white and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear...I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter," I said in a low voice, casting my eyes to the floor. "I wish he hadn't been the one to give me my first kiss, but I wouldn't care if I never got kissed anyway. Guys in general avoid me, even though I'm the daughter of one of the most famous singers on Earth. Nothing wrong with being single."
"Yumeko," she sighed, sitting back down on the couch, "I'm not going to impose my beliefs on you, but I think everyone deserves to have someone that loves them, that would die for them."
"Mom would die for me," I mumbled.
"I mean a significant other. Someone to kiss you, embrace you." She turned to look at my face and said, "You look like you've never talked about this with your mom before."
"We haven't," I admitted. "She doesn't have the experience to be able to tell me about being with a guy."
"But she has you."
"There was only one time she was ever with a guy, if you could call it that. I'll just say she wasn't a willing participant." I sighed and fidgeted. "She only recently told me about what happened that night. Needless to say, she doesn't trust guys."
Irodia paled even more than she had. "No wonder she's still single at age forty-two."
I shrugged. "It's nice, just living with her and not with a guy in our apartment to bug us. Which is also why I guess having Tyler around is really weird. He's gonna be the first father figure I've had."
"You'll get used to it," she said, brightening. "Living with a man isn't as bad as you think it is. Tyler's not bossy at all. He's very loving."
I've never met a loving guy before, I thought, although he certainly does appear that way from what I've seen of him...
"Well, enough of this," Irodia said, standing up. "Let me show you your surprise."
"Where is it?" I asked quickly, jumping up off of the couch.
"Let me show you," she replied, leading me out the front door.
As we stood there in the driveway, Irodia pressed a button on her keychain, and the garage door opened up. The moment I took a look into the garage, I gasped.
"My BIKE!" I screamed in delight, limping up to it. I gave it a huge hug and laughed. "How'd you get my bike here?"
"Nene arranged for it to be shipped here," Irodia said, beaming. "She said she figured it'd be a little easier for you if you had something from back home. All we had to do was get California plates for it. It arrived today while you were at school."
"Oh, thank you!" I hugged it again, then reached for my helmet and pulled it on. "Can I go take a quick spin around the block?"
"Of course! Try not to rush yourself too much though, ok?"
"I won't!" I said, climbing on. I squealed in delight as it rumbled when I started it up. "Tell Aunt Nene I really appreciate it!"
"I will."
Once Irodia stepped out of the way, I drove the motorcycle out of the garage, down the driveway, and into the street. And in moments, I was off, a feeling of euphoria overwhelming me. Finally, a sense of normalcy! Sure, I wasn't in Tokyo anymore, obviously, but I had my bike! And I could get around without having to get a ride from Mikhaila's friends! This was almost the feeling I had when I first got my license; it was almost like getting a new bike all over again.
Finally, a true sense of freedom.
-----
For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was the only one living in the apartment. I had the whole place to myself. I didn't have to share the bedroom with anybody. I wouldn't have to worry about somebody turning on the dishwasher while I was in the shower.
Oh God, how I missed it.
It hadn't even been two full days since Yume left, but I already missed her like hell. This was the first time we'd ever been truly separated. I'd thought she would have a harder time than me, but damn, at the moment, although I had no idea how Yume was doing right now, it seemed like I was the one who was a wreck. Of course, she was my daughter, so maybe this whole separation anxiety thing was to be expected, but it was harder than I thought.
I walked into my bedroom and took a look at Yume's side of the room. The bed still had its sheets on it, and her trophies were still on the shelves in their usual places and the posters were still on the wall, but just about everything else was gone. I sighed and sat on her bed; I swore I could still feel her presence here, like she would run in the door at any second. But everything stayed quiet like the dead.
That is, until I heard a knock at the door.
"Priss, you home?" I heard Nene call out. I walked towards the door and unlocked it.
"Hi," I said as I let her in.
"Irodia called me a little while ago. She said Yumeko's motorcycle arrived today."
"And?" I asked, grinning.
"She said Yumeko freaked out when she saw it." Nene got a huge smile on her face. "She said Yumeko said to 'tell Aunt Nene I appreciate it'. She also said Yumeko misses you a lot."
"I bet," I agreed, sighing. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy on her."
"You didn't have to do that, you know. Send her away, I mean."
"I don't want Genom to be on her ass," I grumbled. "Even before joining the Sabers, she'd never had a normal teenage life. I wanted to give her a crack at it before she lost her childhood completely."
"There's something else you're not telling me," she said, gazing at me intently.
I sighed and sat down on the couch. "As much as I was almost hoping for Boomers to come out again, I never thought Yume would get involved. I was hoping she wouldn't have to."
"I didn't think she'd end up joining the Knight Sabers, either."
"She wasn't supposed to join in our fight. I guess...that I was hoping we'd be able to finish this fight ourselves, and not drag anyone else into it."
"You mean not pass on our burden to the next generation, so to speak?"
"Yeah, if there ever will be a second generation of Knight Sabers."
"There already is one," Nene pointed out. "Your daughter."
I smiled weakly. "I guess so."
"Why don't you mail her a vidletter? I'm sure Yumeko really misses you. If I were her, I'd really want to hear my mother's voice." She smiled. "Heck, maybe I'll send her one too."
"Might as well buy a pack of 'em at the store tomorrow," I quipped. "It'll be used up in a week, tops."
She laughed. "Probably!" She put her hand on my shoulder and added, "Priss, I wouldn't worry about Yumeko too much. I bet she's making lots of friends over there."
"It's not her I'm worried about. I'm wondering if Genom's gonna find out Yume's over in the States."
"Well, Madigan IS the new CEO now..."
"Your point?"
"Sylia said she's not known for entrusting people to do things for her. She said she trusts no one. She'll shoot someone between the eyes if she even SUSPECTS the person is a security risk. If she's going to be on the search for Yumeko, she'll probably be going about it with utmost caution." Nene paused. "Well, that's what Sylia thinks, anyway."
"If that's all true," I sighed, "then she's not gonna mess around, not like Quincy did."
"Nope." Nene paled. "Quincy took his sweet time with Yumeko, but Madigan's probably going to want her out of the way, quick."
And probably me too, I thought. Yume said Quincy figured out I'm a Knight Saber, and he's known it ever since I fought Largo. But why didn't he do anything back then? Of course, I was a world-famous singer right now, and if anything happened, there'd be a huge uproar. So most likely, this Madigan gal was gonna come up with something really sneaky.
I had a feeling all hell was going to break loose soon...but could us Knight Sabers keep Yume out of the line of fire?
-----
How great this was! I only had to catch a ride to school with Mikhaila's friends for one day before my bike arrived. At least I wouldn't have to sit on Xania's lap on the way to school every day till spring. I dunno who woulda gone nuts under those circumstances first: me, Xania for having someone on her lap every day, or Mikhaila for me having my feet on her lap. What was the big deal about having feet on her lap? Clothes were meant to get dirty, weren't they?
On my second day of school, Mikhaila came banging on the door at 6:30, as usual, and I tried to cling to sleep for as long as possible, but after she nearly dragged me out of bed by my hair, I decided to get up. I got dressed, brushed my hair, and ate breakfast while she sat in her room, playing with her make-up. And at seven o'clock sharp, we both headed out the door, when I decided to surprise her.
"I forgot something at the house," I said, walking back up the driveway.
"Hurry up!" Mikhaila snapped as she kept walking. "I'm not gonna wait for you!"
"I didn't say you had to!" I called back as I walked inside. I walked to the garage, opened it up, and pulled on my helmet while climbing on my bike. After starting it up, I let it run for a moment, then drove down the driveway and into the street.
Instead of speeding by Mikhaila like I wanted to do, I decided to drive alongside her; I figured it would drive her nuts.
Which it did.
"When the hell did you get a motorcycle?" she yelled when she saw me driving down the street at the same pace she was walking at.
"It arrived yesterday," I said, grinning. "Want a ride?"
"No way! That thing'll get my clothes all dirty."
"Clothes were made to get dirty."
"For you, maybe, but for me, they're to make me look nice."
"How can those clothes make you look nice when you always look like you've swallowed a bug?"
"Shut up!" she snapped, snorting and turning away.
Behind me, I could hear a car honking. After stopping my bike, I turned around and saw Juliana, Sara, and Xania. Mikhaila ran up to the car and hopped in while I just sat there and waved.
"Rosho?" Xania gasped. "You got a bike?"
"Yep!" I said, lifting my visor.
"Can I ride with you?"
"Hop on!"
"All RIGHT!" She grabbed her backpack, leaped out of the car, and ran up to me, climbing onto the bike behind me. "This thing's awesome!" she exclaimed, wagging her tail in glee.
"I can give you my helmet if you want," I suggested, starting to take it off.
"Nah, I'm ok."
"I guess this means you're not riding with us anymore, Rocío?" Sara asked.
"No, I can get there myself," I said, lowering my visor. "Xania, better hang on."
"Oh, gotcha!"
Once she wrapped her arms around my waist, we took off, leaving the others in the dust.
"So when did you get this thing?" Xania asked after she told me to turn right at the next street.
"I've had it for a little over a year. My mom bought it for me for my sixteenth birthday."
"I dunno much about motorcycles, but I can tell this one's kinda souped up. Got it customized or somethin'?"
"Yeah. Hers is even more powerful than mine is, even though that extra power makes it so the bike has to use up more gas."
"I should ask my mom to get me a bike like this one," she said, laughing. "This thing's great!"
"It's expensive too," I added, laughing with her.
"So did you figure out the homework ok?" she asked as she directed me to turn left on another street.
"Yeah, although that Tess of the d'Urbervilles book is confusing. If that guy ends up seducing her, they should just come out and say it. I hate it when they use all the symbolism in books!"
"No kidding. It's fuckin' annoying, that's what it is."
When we arrived at the school, Xania and I climbed off the bike and headed into the building to our first class. I'd been expecting the metal detector to go off when I headed in, but then remembered that this school didn't have one. Damn, gotta get used to not hearing that thing, I thought.
"What're you doing tonight, Rosho?" Xania asked as she sat down at her desk.
"Uh, I don't have any plans, really. If I get loaded down with homework, then I'll probably be doing that. Why?"
"Well, my mom has a meeting at work tonight. If you got homework, you can come over to my place."
"You'll hafta give me directions."
She took out a piece of paper and scribbled down the directions to her house, then handed me the paper. "That's how to get to my house from Mikhaila's place. How does seven sound?"
"Sounds fine to me."
As Mrs. Hoover walked into the room and told everyone to settle down, I smiled and put the paper in my pocket. This was only my third day here, and already someone had invited me over to their house. I was touched. Maybe this would help the time go by faster.
-----
Gym class at this school wasn't much different than it was back at Kihi. We still had to dress in gym uniforms, and do basic warm-ups before going out and playing whatever game the teacher wanted us to play. Unfortunately, I couldn't really do that much, since I didn't want my stab wounds to reopen again. The teacher still wanted me to dress in the uniform though, so I did that, albeit reluctantly.
I was a little shy about letting the other girls see my fresh wounds and scars, so I walked into the bathroom stall in the locker room, and changed into my uniform there. I still had a little trouble walking without my leg sleeve, though, so I kept it on.
On this day, the teacher had everyone go outside and play volleyball. I knew all that jumping around wouldn't help my wounds any, so I sat out, watching everyone else take faceplants into the sand and stuff. Wish I could do that right now, I thought. I wanted to be able to jump around and get dirty and scraped-up. But if I did that now, it'd just take me longer to recover from the wounds I already had, and I knew that. Unfortunately, Sylia had said the wounds would take a full month to heal up completely. I sighed as I watched the other kids jump around and laugh. Guess it would take a while to become fully 'normal' like the others...
After gym class ended, I had my math class, and then school let out for the day. I walked down to the parking lot, Xania accompanying me, and as we headed towards my motorcycle, we jabbered on about how our day went.
"So should I bring anything to your house when I come over to study?" I asked.
"Nah. Just your homework and yourself. And maybe an empty stomach too," she added with a grin. "Might order pizza."
"Sounds good to me," I agreed, when I turned and saw two guys checking out my motorcycle. I walked up to them and said, "'Scuse me, but I need to get on my bike. Could you get off?"
"This is yours?" the guy that was on my bike asked, laughing. "How could a little girl like you handle a souped-up baby like this?"
"Carefully," I replied dryly. "Get off."
"Mind if we take a spin on it?" the second guy asked, grinning impishly. "We'll bring it back in one piece."
"Get the hell off her bike," Xania warned, eyeing me as I dropped my backpack to the pavement.
"What're you gonna do, Xania? Make us?" the guy on my bike asked, smirking. "Or are ya gonna stick that tail up my ass?"
"I don't need to stick it up your ass to know you're full of shit."
"We think we'll keep this thing for ourselves," the second guy said, patting my bike's back tire. "Ya don't see many bikes like this around here."
"I'll say it one last time. Get off my bike, assholes," I grumbled.
"Heh. You're serious!" he exclaimed, grinning as he walked up to me. "What're you gonna do?"
I casually cracked my knuckles, and looked up at him. And then, using my left leg, I jump-kicked him in the face, making him stumble back and fall down.
"Shit!" he cursed, holding his hand to his bleeding nose. "You broke my nose!"
"WHOA!" Xania exclaimed.
I just stood there, my leg wobbling and stiffening up as my eyes teared up from the pain. "That...hurt!" I said, grinning widely despite the pain.
"You little...!" the first guy said, jumping off my motorcycle.
"When I say get away from my bike, I mean it!" I snapped, punching him in the face. While he reeled from that attack, I grabbed him by the hair, and jerked my knee up as I brought his head down, slamming it into his forehead. As he dropped to the ground, I limped back to Xania, picked up my backpack, and went back to my motorcycle, putting on my helmet.
"Took care o' them," Xania remarked as she climbed on behind me. "Wasn't that the leg you got shot in?"
"Yeah," I said, my leg hurting like hell. "I didn't think I'd be able to do that, but I guess I can."
"You oughta teach me that move sometime," she joked as we drove off. "Might come in handy one of these days!"
"Like today!" I added, laughing.
-----
By the time I got back to the house, Mikhaila and Irodia had already heard about the little scuffle I got into. Mikhaila kept mumbling to herself about what a tomboy I was, while Irodia was more concerned about whether I was ok or not.
"You really should be taking it easy," Irodia said after Mikhaila went to her bedroom. "That goes for your leg, too."
"Honestly, I didn't think I'd be able to kick it that high," I admitted, getting an evil grin on my face. "I even surprised myself."
"Well, since you obviously can, maybe I should set up an appointment with that guy I told you about earlier. You know, the man that I said works at the local gym." She smiled. "I know how much you want to go to the Olympics and all."
I got a thought in my head, but I couldn't say it out loud. So I dragged Irodia outside, out of earshot of Mikhaila, and said, "I'd like to be able to help out my friends back home, too."
She sighed. "You know you're here solely for hiding out from Genom. Nene wants you to stay here until she and the other Knight Sabers get this matter taken care of."
"But how can they do that! They can't change the fact that Genom knows my identity! All they can do is..."
"Is what?"
"Is...to kill Madigan," I mumbled, the realization suddenly having clicked in my head. "But...they have a reputation to maintain, too... I don't know if they'd resort to that, not unless they get desperate."
"Do you think Madigan knows about you?"
"Probably... I'm willing to bet Quincy told her everything before he let her become CEO." And what about Mom? He'd probably told her that she was a Knight Saber, too. Dammit, what was I supposed to do? I was helpless to do anything from over here!
"What's wrong?" Irodia asked as I wiped a tear from my eye.
"I want to go home..." I said, hanging my head. "I don't care if I might die. I just want to help them out! They'll need my help, I'm sure of it!"
"Yumeko," she sighed, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Nene and your mother care too much about you to let you get in harm's way. That's why you're here. And besides, you haven't recovered from your old wounds yet."
"That hasn't stopped me before! I went to Genom Tower even though I'd been stabbed four times, and I did what I went there to do!"
"Yes, but Nene said you had fully expected to die there."
"She...told you that?"
"She's told me more than you think," she sighed. "And in any case, you STILL have those stab wounds, and that back wound. Just take it easy and let them heal up, all right? I'll go and set up that appointment if you want, so you can start to get in shape. When are the Olympics trials, anyway?"
"Mid-May, and the Olympics will be in early August."
Irodia smiled. "Well, I'm sure he can get you in plenty good shape by then."
"What's that smile for?"
"Heh. I'm no therapist, but I know what you can do right now to start to get back into shape, while those wounds are healing up."
"Like what?"
"A good jog. That shouldn't be too bad. The sunshine'll be good for you too. Not to mention it'll help with your leg."
"Yeah," I agreed, nodding. "What time is it?"
She looked at her watch. "Four o'clock. Why?"
"Well...Xania said I could go study at her house with her."
"You don't look like you're too eager to go," she pointed out. I sighed and nodded in agreement.
"I really dunno if I should..."
"Why?"
"I always went over to Michiko's place to study with her. It'll be like I'm betraying her, won't it?"
Irodia approached me and gathered me in a hug. "Yumeko, it won't be betraying her. You have to get on with life, even though she's not here anymore. I know that sounds cold, but wouldn't she say the same thing? I'm sure she'd want you to make new friends and carry on."
I smiled weakly. "Yeah, come to think of it, she probably would..." My hand instinctively reached for the necklace around my neck, and I started to twirl the chain around my finger. "But still...I wish I hadn't let Michiko die..."
"You didn't let her die. Stop being so hard on yourself! It wasn't your fault." I looked away, and she heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry...I forget you're still only seventeen... You've just been through so much for a girl your age..."
"I'm probably the only seventeen-year-old vigilante on Earth..."
"For the moment, you're an ex-vigilante. You're a normal girl now! Enjoy it while you can!" Irodia laughed. "Just try to worry about school and the Olympics, normal stuff!"
It almost seemed like an oxymoron, Irodia referring to worrying about the Olympics as normal. But I guess compared to worrying about whether Mom and the others would be ok without me, it was. But I couldn't help but worry about them. They weren't as young as they used to be, and I'm sure they knew they wouldn't be able to go out and fight whatever Genom threw at them for very much longer. And Irodia calling me an ex-vigilante...that hurt. I still considered myself a Knight Saber, even if I technically was on a leave of absence from the job.
When Irodia went back into the house to set up an appointment for me with that martial arts guy she knew, I sat down on the front stoop and sighed, rubbing my thigh on the spot where I'd been shot. I seriously hoped that that guy could help me get in shape, and help my leg, too. Hell, maybe he could even help me hone my fighting skills, so when I got back to Tokyo, I could help out Mom and the others all the better.
Only problem was...I didn't know when I'd be going back. Irodia said Nene wanted me to stay here until the Knight Sabers had the problem taken care of. But it wasn't just a problem. It was a near-catastrophe they were dealing with! And if this Madigan gal was anything like I was thinking her to be, then they were going to have a real problem on their hands. Quincy wouldn't hand the CEO position to a weak-willed person. I knew that much.
I know you guys care about me, I thought. But I don't want you to die on me... How can I lead a normal life over here when I know that you're risking your lives to keep them from finding me? I wish I could hear you say that everything will be fine...I wish you could assure me that...