Hello loyal readers,

So sorry about missing the upload date last weekend! Fanfiction literally would not let me upload a chapter, and I've been working every spare moment that I haven't spent driving home and collapsing into bed. But good news is that I'll be uploading the next chapter NEXT WEEKEND! Look forward to it!

So today, we've officially passed the number of chapters I initially had planned for this fic. When I first started planning out the plot, I was planning to make it around 30 chapters long. But… LOL that's hilarious.

Today we have a couple of character deaths… I'm sorry, guys. Couldn't escape it.

Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a fave, an alert, or a review! It's really good motivation!

-x-

CH31

– Previously –

Rick sighed in relief. At least Kuon was still alive and well enough to call him. Pressing the button for redial, the dark-haired agent held the phone to his ear, ready with a thorough lecture for the teen.

However, the phone rang twice before abruptly dropping the call. Rick stared at the phone, puzzled. Kuon had hung up on him?

Before Rick could hit redial again, a loud, echoing BOOM-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP reverberated through the ground.

Dashing out of the van, Rick whipped around in all directions. A plume of wispy dust spiraled up from a construction site behind their staked-out restaurant. Rick cursed and began running.

"This kid!" The CIA operative growled, "He's totally going to be the death of me."

– 5 Minutes Earlier –

On the other side of the fence, Kuon ducked for cover behind a towering stack of wooden planks. Peeking around the edge, he quickly spied his quarry walking across the dusty construction lot toward a half-finished concrete skeleton of a multi-storied parking structure.

Picking his way in the dark along routes of cover, Kuon saw the man push aside the plastic sheeting that covered the entrance to the building and step inside. A murmur of other voices rose as the plastic settled.

As quietly as he could, Kuon crept closer to the doorway, making sure that he hugged the side of the building, crouching low to avoid detection. There was an unfinished window a few feet to the side and above the door. A pile of enormous cement pipes at least 20 feet long and 4 feet in diameter lay under the window.

He grinned. Perfect.

Scrambling up the side of the pipes, Kuon only had one scare where his foot slipped and the huge pipe rotated slightly. The entire pile trembled, its balance threatened. Metal groaned as the displaced weight put stress on an alarmingly flimsy-looking bar blocking the bottom row of heavy pipes. A metal handle with some kind of hinge and a heavy-based stand attached to the bar.

The extra weight of the teenaged boy eventually evened out, and the pipes settled, only giving a lengthy ominous grind against the metal bar. Taking a moment, Kuon examined the contraption. He guessed that the construction workers could keep the pile in place just by pushing the handle and lowering the metal bar. If that piece of equipment had failed, he would've been a goner for sure.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kuon finished hoisting himself up the stack, standing on his tiptoes. The window ledge was littered with loose bricks that had yet to be laid, so he quietly pushed a couple to the side to peek over the ledge and into the building.

Below him, in the hazy glow of a single, battery-powered lantern, stood three men. One dressed in a black jacket, another in a navy parka, and the last in a gray sport coat that had seen better days. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Kuon could tell that unfortunately, none of them were Kimura.

However, before he could beat a hasty retreat, he noticed that one of the men – the man in black who seemed strangely familiar – began to speak.

"Hoh? Park-nim! Oraenmanieyo."

Taken aback, Kuon stayed, listening as the newcomer similarly replied in a foreign language. As all three figures stepped up into the light and bowed to each other, Kuon noted that they were Asian men, speaking a clearly Asian language – but not Japanese. Though Kuon could not consider himself by any means fluent, Kuu had ensured that his son at least understood basic Japanese conversation.

So this… wasn't related to the Japanese gang Rick was following?

The man in the gray sport coat produced a battered looking notebook as the other two gathered around. As the men continued to speak in hushed tones, Kuon brought his phone up to take a quick picture, making sure to capture all three faces past the bricks on the windowsill.

He was going to get out of there. These men were clearly up to no good – but it was also not his place to try and get to the bottom of it, especially right now without backup. Kuon glanced down at the pile, mentally trying to pick a good foothold.

That was when his phone started ringing.

The upbeat ringtone shrilly cut through the silent night. Caught halfway to putting the phone in his pocket, Kuon yelped and fumbled with the device. He almost dropped it before he caught it again, madly pressing buttons to try and turn the sound off.

In a panic, the blonde finally managed to mash his thumb down on the button to hang up the call. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sudden silence. Then he froze.

The men were shouting inside. And their voices were getting louder.

Just as Kuon was calculating his jump to leap off the pile of concrete pipes, the first man burst past the plastic. The man in the black jacket looked left then right and up straight at Kuon. Shouting something in his foreign tongue, the man gestured behind him toward the blonde teen.

Kuon saw, even through the dim light, the telltale glint of the second man's pistol.

However, before he could run, the second and third man cleared the doorway, and the gun was instantly trained on the trespasser.

Black Jacket spoke, his words heavily accented. "You! Boy! What you do here?"

"N-Nothing…" Kuon hazarded. His eyes flicked to the left and the right, searching for a solution. Like his dad had said, there was always a way out! His gaze lighted on the pile of bricks above him and on the metal contraption a yard from the feet of the gangsters.

Clearly, the three men didn't believe his denial. Gray Coat barked a dry laugh and gestured with the gun. "Lies! You come down here now!"

"Why…?" Kuon slowly backed toward the window. "I'm just checking out the new building…"

Navy Parka guffawed. He muttered something (probably insulting, Kuon noted) to the man with the gun who laughed derisively in turn.

Navy Parka turned back to the teen. "You come down here now, or he shoot you."

"I don't think so," Kuon growled back and reached behind himself to snatch a brick off the ledge of the window.

The men paused for a moment, and Kuon held the brick aloft, threateningly. Then they burst out laughing. Gray Coat just shook his gun in Kuon's direction. "Before you hit us, I shoot you. Dead!"

"We'll see about that," Kuon muttered to himself then tossed the brick up in the air. The brick tumbled up, end over end, about ten feet into the air before plummeting down, its trajectory obviously quite far from the trio of men.

Navy Parka just scoffed. "Idiot boy."

Then the brick came down, directly striking the handle of the metal contraption at the base of the pile of gigantic concrete pipes.

With a solid clunk, the handle engaged a spring-loaded mechanism, which sprung on the hinge to raise the metal bar with only a slight rusty groan. After a heavy pause, gravity began to take effect as the pipes at the top of the pile began exerting rotational force on the bottom row.

The cement pipes rolled slowly at first, but then as the upper rows lost stability and gained momentum, they began bouncing like 25-ton barrels down the stack directly toward the trio.

While his attackers screamed and fled for their lives, Kuon wobbled on his rapidly collapsing foothold. Steadying himself for just a moment, he pushed off his pipe, leaping up into the air and performing a backward summersault. He rolled as he landed to dispel the energy.

Quickly checking that he was out of harm's way, he watched the dust settle around the construction site, the pipes having wrought devastation in their wake. Coughing at the dust, he spotted one pair of legs on the ground, the torso and head swallowed up under the girth of a concrete pipe. Dark crimson liquid dripped thickly from the bottom of the pipe. A hand attached to a navy sleeve peeked out from underneath.

Kuon felt a rapid wave of nausea.

Then he heard shouting.

Struggling out of the dust cloud, Black Jacket and Gray Coat stumbled forward. The man in the gray coat was clutching his arm weakly as he limped, the gun dangling precariously from his slack fingers; however Black Jacket just snapped at him and snatched the gun from his hand. He waved it around, and Gray Coat nodded feebly, reached into his coat and handed his partner the worn notebook. Then Gray Coat began limping … toward the exit!

Kuon clambered to his feet and dashed behind a bulldozer. They were trying to trap him. Block all the exits. Cut off his escape.

Beginning to hyperventilate now, Kuon scarcely heard Black Jacket shout, "Where are you, boy? Come out! NOW!"

Kuon heard the man knock over a pile of something and shout angrily. Clutching his hands to his chest, the Hizuri teen peeked slowly, slowly around the edge of the vehicle.

The black-jacketed man was glaring right at him. With a furious shout, the attacker ran forward, gun rising.

Losing his balance in his panic, Kuon stumbled back, then clambered to his feet. He ran for his life.

Gunshots whizzed through the air. The left. Then at his feet. Something stung his right arm. OW! Can't stop running.

On instinct, Kuon dove behind a stack of crates, just as a bullet zipped past his head. Scrambling to his feet, the blonde weaved between the tall stacks of crates and construction equipment, ducking behind large mounds of earth. He had to lose this guy. Otherwise he was dead meat.

But suddenly, he was falling.

"Ooof!" Kuon grunted as his body hit the merciless dirt and tumbled over and over, limbs flailing uselessly, until he finally slowed to a stop. He lay stunned for a moment, frozen. Then he shakily picked himself up. As he stood, Kuon realized that he had just run into a giant trench, no doubt dug for deep pipes or wires. The trench walls came up to Kuon's neck. No cover. Nowhere to hide. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

As fast as he could, Kuon tried to hoist himself out of the hole, but his right arm crumpled in a blinding flash of pain, sending him toppling back into the trench.

He was just about to go for his second attempt when he heard the scuffling steps.

Kuon froze. His heart leapt to the base of his throat before it began to beat a ragged, irregular rhythm. Slowly, he knelt deeper into the hole, his back clinging to the wall.

The footsteps drew closer… stopped… then even closer.

Trying to muffle his shaky breaths, Kuon placed a trembling hand over his mouth.

He had been an idiot. A stupid, arrogant, blind idiot. But was he so bad? He had just wanted to pursue his dream. He had just wanted to make his dad proud. He had just wanted to be like his parents…

Maybe he would never be like his parents. Maybe he would never realize his dream. Maybe he was going to literally die in a ditch, right here and now.

The footsteps stopped. Black Jacket spoke. "I know, boy. Your fear. Fear of death."

The man paused.

"Do not fear… I will end it quickly for you." His voice was directly above.

Kuon gasped, twisting to look behind him. He lost his balance, falling to the floor.

The Asian man stood over him, at the lip of the trench, the gun outstretched in his hand.

Kuon took a shaky step backward. The man's finger tightened over the trigger.

"This what you get for sticking nose in business, brat."

Flinging his hands up and squeezing his eyes closed, Kuon waited for the gunshot.

BANG!

One moment… Two… Kuon slowly eked his eyes open. Maybe he was running on so much adrenaline that there wasn't any pain. Maybe he was already dead?

Then his attacker shouted, clearly angry.

Kuon's eyes flew open.

Black Jacket cursed in his foreign tongue, and Kuon watched, confused, as the man began clutching his shoulder. His shoulder was bleeding. Spinning on his heel, the man leapt away from the edge of the trench and dashed away into several nearby rows of cement roadblocks for cover.

Stunned, Kuon could only listen as more gunfire scattered through the air. Eventually, there was a pause.

From behind, fast steps scuffled through the dirt, and then someone poked his head over the edge of the trench.

"Rick!" Kuon exclaimed, instantly relieved.

On his belly, Rick kept low and extended an arm down to Kuon. "C'mon! Hurry up!"

Snapping back to himself, Kuon grabbed his mentor's arm and used it to climb out of the pit. The two continued to crouch and found cover behind an excavator machine.

Kuon tried to steady his breathing as he panted out, "Rick, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you!"

The CIA agent's only response was to smack the teen soundly over the back of his head. While Kuon was still reeling from the blow, he found himself wrapped in a fierce embrace.

Ruffling Kuon's hair, Rick frowned and pushed the teen away. He pointed an accusatory finger in the blonde's face. "Don't think this is over. We're still going to have a LONG talk about this later, kid."

Shocked from the near simultaneous abuse and affection, Kuon could only mutter absently, "I thought you said you weren't going to call me kid anymore."

"The exception is when you act like one."

"Ah… That's… fair."

A bullet winged against their metal barricade and brought the two back to reality. Rick fired back in their attacker's general direction once, just to keep their opponent on his toes. Then the dark-haired agent turned to Kuon, looked at him thoughtfully and then back at the gun in his hands. Slowly, deliberately, Rick turned the gun in his hands, so that he was offering the stock to Kuon.

"We're pinned down here. The exit is behind him," Rick said solemnly. "You keep him busy laying down cover fire for me. I'll sneak around and flank him."

"Rick…" Kuon's pulse began to skyrocket again as he looked between the gun and the CIA agent. "This isn't–!"

Rick merely shook his head and shoved the pistol into the teen's hands. Kuon's mouth felt instantly dry. He had gone to shooting ranges with his parents, but… the gun was a lot heavier than he remembered.

Catching Kuon's eye one last time, Rick winked and ruffled the blonde's hair. Then he was gone.

"This isn't going to work," the teen whispered, finishing his thought and staring horrified at the gun in his hands.

Suddenly gunshots peppered the night, jolting Kuon back to his emergent task at hand. Keep the gunman busy. Rick was counting on him.

Kuon peeked slowly through the cab of the excavator. The black-jacketed man had popped his head up behind a series of concrete road barricades on the other side of the trench. Quickly taking stock of the situation, Kuon realized that Rick was pinned down behind a stack of crates. He was going to have to cover a lot of ground to get behind the guy.

Swallowing hard, Kuon took a better position behind the construction vehicle, checked that the gun's safety was off, and began firing.

His first several shots went wide, giving Black Jacket enough warning to duck behind the barricade again. Kuon cursed under his breath. The recoil on Rick's pistol and the shaking in his own hands were throwing his aim off completely.

Black Jacket popped his head up again, and Kuon loosed another two shots. He could see the dust as the bullets ricocheted off the concrete next to the man's arm. The assailant ducked again.

Sucking in a deep breath then wooshing it out, the Hizuri scowled at his hands, willing them to stop shaking. He took another shot at the gunman's hiding spot, just to make sure the man wouldn't try to pop up and look for Rick again.

Kuon caught a quick glimpse of Rick's brown leather jacket as the CIA agent moved quickly, crouching between two concrete barricades. Somehow, he had made it to the other side of the trench.

A flash of black caught Kuon's eye, but in a different spot, and the Hizuri instinctively locked on and fired twice. The gunman ducked down again, apparently having moved to try to catch the two Americans off-guard.

However, Black Jacket had made a soon-to-be-fatal error. He had lost track of Rick, and had actually moved closer to the CIA agent.

With the silent deadliness of a viper, Rick darted forward and tackled the attacker to the ground. Moments passed as grunts and sounds of a struggle echoed quietly in the night. Debating whether or not to move closer, Kuon strained to see what was going.

Finally a lone figure rose from the dust. Kuon squinted in the low light. Then his heart plummeted to the bottom of his stomach.

Black Jacket stood above Rick, and the man was holding the gun.

Kuon raised his own weapon and fired. Or at least tried to. His pistol had jammed.

As if in slow motion, Kuon looked up, horrified and helpless.

"RICK—!" A single, desperate scream. It was all Kuon's fault…

A lone gunshot echoed through the still night.

Kuon blinked his eyes open. He realized he had turned away in fear at the last moment. The dreadful pit at the bottom of his stomach grew as he glanced back at the scene before him.

Then he watched, confused, as Black Jacket stumbled forward. The man's hand crawled up to clutch his chest. Even in the dim lighting, Kuon saw that the attacker's hand came away glistening red. Then, like a puppet whose strings have been suddenly and unexpectedly cut, he fell. His gun clattered uselessly to the ground.

Behind the man, stood Tina. Her smoking pistol followed him as he lay, still in death on the ground, until she was satisfied. Then she quickly holstered her weapon and ran to Rick.

Snapping out of his paralysis of disbelief, Kuon similarly flicked the safety back on his mentor's gun and ran toward Rick, stumbling forward in his eagerness. This time, not paralyzed by fear, it only took his wounded right arm two tries to lift him up out of the trench.

As he approached, Kuon could see Tina crouched on the floor by Rick, having just finished checking him for injuries. The dark-haired agent was propped up against one of the concrete barriers, clearly wounded but apparently not enough to warrant too much concern, because Tina suddenly smacked him solidly in the shoulder.

"You're an idiot!" The blonde woman snapped, "You know that?"

Kuon slowed his approach and could only watch as Rick chuckled in response.

Tina ranted on, punctuating each statement with a smack to Rick's shoulder, "A grade-A –certified – capital-I – IDIOT!" Rick let her rant for a few more sentences, and then without a word, he tugged her into a fierce embrace. Tina instantly crumpled, fisting the lapels of Rick's jacket. Her voice cracked with emotion, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You can't die yet, you big idiot. I-I don't know what I'd do without you."

After a moment or two of letting Tina cry into Rick's shoulder, Kuon approached. Rick had a nasty, swelling bruise that had begun to form over one of his eyes, but he still smiled when the blonde teen approached.

"Rick…" Stopping a few feet away, Kuon dropped Rick's gaze and stared at his shoes. "I'm so sorry… I can't – You almost – because of me–"

"Hey, Kuon. Can I see my gun?"

Heart sinking, Kuon couldn't meet his mentor's gaze as he handed the pistol back, stock-first. Rick turned the gun over in his hands and then tried pulling the clip out.

The man uttered a short, ironic snort. "Jammed, huh? Those assholes at HQ told me it was fixed."

Kuon's gaze flicked up, trying to suppress the hope that was attempting to buoy his heart. But Rick was smiling. The CIA agent patted Tina's shoulders, and she jolted as if realizing for the first time that Kuon was there as well. Trying to suppress her snuffling and to hide her tears, she stood and helped Rick to his feet.

Abruptly, Tina turned toward Kuon, a fierce spark in her eye. Kuon felt his heart drop again. Then the blonde agent uttered a long and loud sigh and shifted to walk past him. But not before turning suddenly to sock the teen solidly in the shoulder as well. Kuon tried to suppress a whimper as his hand instantly flew to the shockingly strong surge of pain in his upper arm.

"Now we're even… Little Idiot," Tina muttered as she pulled out her cellphone, no doubt to do damage control.

Sirens were already wailing through the night, Kuon realized. Rick hobbled over and threw his arm over Kuon's shoulder. The teen staggered a bit under the unexpected weight before righting himself again.

"Rick…" Kuon tried to begin, his eyes sliding off to the side. The two began limping toward the exit with Tina following behind on her phone. They paused as Kuon's gaze found the body of the black-jacketed man laying face-up in the dust. A corner of a battered notebook peeked out from his jacket.

Tina cupped her phone between her shoulder and her ear as pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. The two men watched as she grimaced and bent down to snag the notebook, careful not to compromise fingerprint evidence.

Then the Hizuri's eyes widened in realization. He knew this man seemed familiar. It was the same door guard who had assaulted Tina in the alley of Little Tokyo all those weeks ago.

"H-Hey! This guy–!"

"Kuon," Rick interrupted him, "why do CIA operatives exist?"

Caught off-guard by the sudden change in topic, Kuon uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other and stared at the ground. "The CIA exists to mitigate foreign threats to the American people and government."

"Good little textbook," Rick joked lightly. Kuon would have shot him a glare and might've purposefully jostled the injured man… if he still didn't feel so damned guilty. Then Rick's tone became serious again, "But really, why?"

Stumped, Kuon mumbled, "I guess I don't know why…"

The dark-haired agent leaned over to chuck the teen under the chin with one finger. Kuon finally looked up to meet his mentor's eyes. Rick gazed solemnly back at him.

"We exist," Rick said simply, eyes boring into Kuon's, "to protect. We are the guardians of the fragile fabric of our society. We do not take that duty lightly."

Indicating he wanted to move on, Rick took a step toward the exit, and Kuon followed, eyes unintentionally pausing to look at the body. The image seared itself into his memory. The man looked a lot smaller now, forever still and never to move again.

As the two walked in heavy silence, nearing the gate, Kuon spied another body on the ground. This one had also been shot but it wore a gray sport coat instead. It reminded him of the body buried in the back of the complex under an enormous cement pipe, blood pooling in the dirt. A single hand peeked out from underneath the pipe.

Kuon felt a swell of nausea. But more than that, he just felt… exhausted.

"It was just self-defense… right?" He asked suddenly, his voice quavering.

"It was." Rick nodded but added gravely, "But that doesn't mean you are allowed to go around murdering people willy-nilly. These guys still had friends… family."

Kuon winced. Now he really felt sick.

"In this job, it's not 'if' you'll take a life. It's a matter of 'when.'" Rick's solemn tone made the teen turn to meet his eyes again. "But you must never grow calloused. Every time you mourn over an enemy, you're reminding yourself of your own humanity. If you ever lose that sense of regret… well, you might as well not be human anymore."

The Hizuri swallowed hard. "Even if we're the right ones?"

"Kuon…" Rick chuckled – a dark, tired sound. "Everyone thinks they're the right ones."

"Well said, old friend." A smooth voice penetrated their pensive silence.

Kuon perked up. Kaiso stood in jeans and a black peacoat, leaning against the gate. Striding forward, the PSIA agent tucked an arm under Rick's free one to help him hobble along.

"Thanks Kaiso," Rick grunted and winced as the Japanese man unintentionally jostled some unseen wound.

"No problem, but… You two really have to stop working me overtime," Kaiso remarked light-heartedly, his voice slightly strained under the extra weight.

"Hmph! Who's the one who showed up at the very end?" Tina called out. The trio of men turned to look as she hung up her phone and shot them all a smug grin. "And guess who just cleaned up the mess your sorry asses made? LAPD and higher-ups are all up to speed."

The three men just blinked blankly at the blonde woman. Kuon was utterly shocked. After making such a scene, he had expected to spend at least one night in a police station filing reports.

"Kuon, one more piece of advice."

The teen glanced up at Rick, questioning.

"Behind every successful man…" Rick's serious look suddenly split into a wide grin. "Is a strong woman. So you need to get a girlfriend as soon as possible!"

With a groan and a roll of her eyes heavenward, Tina swatted the back of Rick's head.

Rick winced then shot Kuon a wink, his voice mock-strained with the pain. "Hey, the stronger the woman, the more successful the man!"

For the first time in a long time, Kuon laughed so long and hard that he could hardly breathe. The agents and their apprentice loaded Rick into the surveillance van and drove away into the night, just as the first police officers arrived on scene.

-x-

NOTES

Does anyone know what language the gangsters are speaking? Hehe

Also, if you're REALLY observant, you'll notice that this chapter uses Imperial measurements (ie: feet, ton) instead of metric (ie: meter, kilogram). Why? Because Kuon is in America right now! It's definitely plot-related… not because I forgot and was too lazy to change it… Certainly not! Heh…

Also... PSYCH! If anyone was reading the author's notes, did I get you? LOL, "character death"... HAH! Rick's plot shield is still going strong.

MAILBAG - Each week, I choose the 5+ most interesting reviews and respond to them here. So leave your thoughts on this chapter (or any chapter!) in the Review box below! Love you guys!

MWEH – OMG, you scared me! Haha, when I read the first sentence of your review, I thought you were talking about MY chapter! And then I saw the bit about Kimiko, and I was like, 'Oh, it's the manga chapter!' Haha mini-heart attack… As for this most recent manga chapter, yeah I have a feeling that Kimiko is still scheming SOMETHING, and Erika a couple chapters back, asked one of her servants to protect Kyoko. Erika says she has a favor to ask of him, but Sensei cut away from the scene before we could see what it was. And I think the producer said that all the other Momiji candidates except Kimiko and Kyoko quit! So it's just the Chidori candidates! As for your guess on the last FF chapter, *dingdingding* we have a winner! Yup, you guessed it right, that Kuon caused the loud noise to escape after Rick's phone call outed him. Did I scare you into thinking that Rick was going to die this chapter? Hehe It would have been pretty anti-climactic if he'd died here. Thanks again for the review, MWEH! Always look forward to discussing the manga with you!

Shizuhoe – Your wish is my command! Tina did indeed end up kicking that guy's ass, just not in the way anyone anticipated. She did it while defending her man, though, so the stakes were definitely raised haha. As for Shizumino Kaiso, he's a good guy innately, but… well, I guess you'll just have to see. ;) And glad at least one of my readers can appreciate some good foreshadowing! Haha Thanks again Shizuhoe! Hope you're well!

Aikori Ichijouji – Vacation! Nice! Where did you go? I'm going to Hong Kong next month to visit some extended family, but I really want to go to Europe at some point! Your review made me pretty happy :) Thanks for keeping up, even though I'm sure being on vacation is probably 1000x more interesting! Haha Also, glad that some of my readers are able to appreciate some hefty foreshadowing! Hope you had a happy New Year and made it home safely!

brennakai – Did I scare you into thinking Rick was going to die this chapter? Jkjk, hopefully didn't scare you too much, because if he had died to this rando, it'd be pretty anti-climactic xD As for the manga chapter, yeah… I'm definitely hurting for some actual plot development! Ugh, this pace would be ok if it was biweekly, but monthly… It's just painful. Haha but from what I hear, drawing manga is a big stressor, so I guess I should cut Sensei some slack… Haha Thanks again brennakai!

Ashenvale – LOL! Don't mock my failed attempts at living like a responsible adult! Jkjk – When I get busy, house stuff falls by the wayside. For example, after my full past two weeks at work, my fridge was empty again… and I ran out of eggs… Again. Hahaha And I have no more socks to wear, because I haven't done laundry in 2 weeks. Solution: buy more socks. xD And lol, foreshadowing! Hope you liked the new chapter! Thanks again Ashenvale~

Thank you again for all of your lovely reviews, faves, and alerts! I truly cherish each and every one of them! :) Love ya! AND SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!