I want to thank everyone who's been so kind as to comment on this story. I just want you all to know I'm having a blast writing this fic and I hope everyone is having as much fun reading it. Without further ado, here's chapter 7.

I walked slowly through the halls dragging my feet against the cold floor beneath me. The day had gone slowly and dreadfully as the minutes until my "examination" ticked by like agonizing hours. I had never gone to a doctor for the reasons my mother was making me go for, needless to say I nervous and very scared. The entire day I tried to find someone to talk to but Haruka was out sick with the flu and Minako was still in the hospital. Every so often I would run into Seiya but I just hid my face under my bangs pretending to not see him. I felt guilty that my mother accused him of the things she did and I felt embarrassed that he had to witness it. He wasn't a bad person and he had no reason to be treated like one. Just thinking about how my mother threatened to call the cops on him made my blood boil.

I listened to the rhythm of my feet sliding over the floor and started to find comfort in its steady sound. I heard a warning bell ring but I didn't jump at it. If I was missing a class I didn't really care. If I got detention then I wouldn't have to go home and I wouldn't have to have humiliating tests done to me. Suddenly, the lovely warm smell of cinnamon and vanilla floated up to my nose and I stopped in my tracks. Seiya had been following behind me watching me shamble down the halls. I felt his warm fingertips brush the side of my bare arm before grabbing onto it. I stood still in my spot, refusing to turn around.

"Odango, are you alright?" His voice spoke from behind me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said trying to sound as convincing as possible, though I still refused to turn around and look at him. I was still too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. I felt if he saw my face he would know too much about me, he would know I was sad, ashamed, and fearful of what he thought of me and my insane mother. It would give him the wrong impression about me.

He loosened his grip on my arm seeing that he wasn't going to get me to turn around, "About last night, I'm sorry-"

"I'm sorry you had to see that. My mother is very old fashioned, but I understand why she acted the way she did. She was just worried about me."

"Well I just wanted to let you know that I felt bad about getting you in trouble and I wanted to know if we could still be friends?"

He thought I was his friend, for the first time that day I felt overjoyed. But it couldn't stay that way. We couldn't be friends. "Oh, I thought we had at a mutual hatred for one another…" I felt terrible saying it, but I didn't want him to get any closer to me than he was getting. I knew if we really did become friends things could only get worse from there.

"Why would you say that?" I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"You're a fancy rock star and I'm just a sheltered silly little girl. Our friendship just can't be done anyways, I ruined your career remember?" I could feel him distancing himself from me, I could sense his body tensing up and his voice became colder.

"That's right." He said, he then hesitated, "Well it was nice knowing you Usagi."

I heard him turn around to leave, taking his sweet scent with him. Feeling a strange pain in my chest I leaned up against the wall and tried to stifle back tears. Why did I feel so bad? I hardly knew Seiya, all I did know was how mean he could be and yet all I wanted was to be friends with him. It couldn't have happened though, my mother ruled my life with an iron fist until I left and lived on my own. Simply knowing Seiya would throw my life off track, I can't live with that much animosity between my mother and I and still function. It was all for the better.

Trying to kill the pain in my chest, I began to run. I felt that if maybe my heart beat faster the pain would go away and for a while it worked until I heard the distant sound of crying. I didn't know if my mind was expressing how I felt or if someone else shared the same pain I did. I slowed my pace to a walk and tried to stifle my breathing so I could hear where the sound was coming from better. I followed it down the hallway to the art wing and into the ceramics room. I peeked my head in and saw black hair splayed over the back of a weeping girl. I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder empathetically.

"Are you okay?" I asked, the girl turned her head towards me, it was Rei. "What are you doing here?"

Rei wiped her dark eyes and turned back. I noticed she was studying the pottery wheels in the corner, running her fingers through remnants of slick wet clay left from an earlier class. "You were right about Taiki and the nurse. I don't know how I couldn't see it…" She spoke in a messy, saddened voice.

I sat down next to her and watched her mess around with the clay on the wheel, spinning it slowly with her fingers, "Are you going to be okay?" I asked her hoping to get her to open up a little more with me. She shook her head silently never taking her gaze from the wheel.

"I think I need to do something about it though." She pressed her fingers hard into the clay causing it to flatten out.

"It's good you came to this realization, I didn't want to be the one to tell you." I said with an honest smile and placed a gentile supportive hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know how I can manage this all by myself though," She sighed, slumping her head into her snow white hands, "It's just been a bad day, oh and I have go to karate practice today…I really don't feel like going."

"Maybe that's a good thing. Doing karate might keep your mind of things. Physical activity always does." I suggested, she smiled at me sadly and nodded as she picked up her things. It didn't look like there was anything I could say to make her feel better, but I didn't expect there to be. Love like hers was foreign to me.

"You're right. Anyways, I've got to get to class – you're going to be late too. I'll see you later." I waved her goodbye and checked the time not that it mattered. I didn't expect to go back to class anyways. As I turned to go, I saw a picture sitting on Taiki's desk. It was a picture of the nurse only one half of the picture had been torn away. It must have been Rei who tore it, still hanging on to hope that maybe he'd come around. I just hoped she would come to her senses before she started to self destruct.

Still not feeling like doing anything but walk I decided to go back outside and sit at my tree even though I knew no one else would be there. As I walked up to it I noticed something crush underneath my foot. I picked the object up and saw that it was a cherry. I looked all around me and saw them littering the ground everywhere. I looked up at my tree to see that it had produced them and I never even noticed it. The entire time I thought it was an oak tree. I needed to study up on my botany. I traveled to the other side of the tree to sit down but to my surprise someone had beat me to it. Minako looked up at me with weary blue eyes and waved to me with a cigarette in her hand. It looked like it was going to be the world's greatest pity party. I sat down next to her and watched the people behind the chain link fence wander by as they shopped.

"I thought you were going to be at the hospital for a little while more." I commented playing with another cherry that I had found on the ground.

"No, I demanded I have my discharge papers given to me. I couldn't stand being in that damn hospital gown for much longer. I'm not going to kill myself, so I didn't see why I needed to stay."

"Well I guess that's good." I didn't know what to say to her, I wasn't sure if we were still friends now that our little contract was gone. There was no secret to tell if Minako went back to her old ways. I expected that she was going to go to term and that I would make a valiant effort to help her give birth secretly somewhere and she'd name the baby after me and we'd be best friends forever. Of coarse this wasn't going to be the case even if she did go to term.

"Are we still friends?" Minako asked suddenly out of the blue. I was shocked and relieved that she was the first to ask. I thought that I would be the one to want to stay friends and Minako would just push me away as if we never knew each other.

"I wouldn't mind it. Would you?"

"No, I don't think I would mind either." She said as she puffed her cigarette again, "So why aren't you in class?"

"I haven't been feeling like it lately. I'm a little depressed."

"About what?"

"Just something that happened with Seiya and me. My mom accused him of taking me out late last night and doing 'the deed' with me. She threatened to call the cops on him and everything. So now I'm refusing to have anything to do with him so I don't get him arrested on accident or something."

"Wow, that sounds almost as ridiculous as my parents. It's almost funny though." She laughed as she shot clouds of smoke from her nostrils. She reminded me of a dragon when she did that.

"I don't think so. I've never felt as bad as I do right now, I can't even explain it. I just don't know what for, Seiya and I weren't that close."

"Apparently you were if you feel as bad as you do. It sounds like you're heartbroken."

I stopped and concidered the idea. Was I heartbroken? I never thought I was in love with him before. Sure I thought he was cute but he always made me so angry I never really felt love. The only time we had actually gotten along is when we were working to help Minako. But then there was also the night before when he walked me home, it was uncharacteristically sweet of him, but as sweet as it was it was only one time. Not enough to make me fall in love with him.

"I don't think that's it. I don't know what's wrong. All I know is I feel like crap." I said as I swiped the cigarette from Minako's hands and brought it up to my lips. Her eyes got wide and a smile grew on her face.

"Oh…Usagi I don't think you should try it if you've never smoked be-" I inhaled and suddenly began sputtering an wheezing, all while Minako laughed and slapped her knee, "I told you not to, you shouldn't start up anyways it's a bad habit. I don't even remember why I started. Must have been that peer pressure thing."

I laughed a little, clearing my voice and wiping water from my eyes, "I don't know what possessed me, I guess I was just curious. It's just my rebellious nature I guess."

Minako shook her head and laughed, "Oh yeah Usagi, you really push it to the limits." She took her cigarette back and puffed on it again. I looked at my watch and noted that school would be over in an hour or two. I was debating whether it was safe for me to blow of my doctor's appointment to stay after with Mr. Chiba. As dorky as he was I saw no reason not to visit him today it would be the perfect opportunity to come home late.

"I think I might see Mr. Chiba again after school." I commented. Minako looked over at me and arched an eyebrow. I looked at her questioningly, "What?" I asked defensively.

"How often do you see him after school?"

"Twice a week, why?"

"Ah, well I guess that's not too bad. What do you guys talk about?"

"Me, I guess. He always asks about me, and then sometimes I get him to tutor me for chem. Why does it matter?"

"You should keep an eye on him. He likes vulnerable school girls. There have been stories about how he was secretly dating Rei Hino for a while but he broke it off with her because she was a little too unstable. A lot of people claim she seduced him since she's always been interested in older men but I think he got her started."

"Oh that would explain her obsession with the ceramics teacher. I doubt that she was actually with Mr. Chiba though. I'm almost positive he'd be fired by now."

"Maybe, I just don't think that anyone found out. But don't over look him, you're just tortured enough to be a turn on I guarantee." She coughed and changed the subject "But yeah that girl, Rei, is mentally insane. She's been institutionalized for her random outbursts of violence. One time she attacked a girl that appeared to be crushing on one of her teachers, that was the first time she was carted away."

"I have a hard time believing that, Rei is a sweet girl. She crushes hard on people but I don't think I've seen her so much as think about hitting anybody let alone attacking someone."

"Think what you will. She's a violent girl and when she thinks her happiness in jeopardy she'll manage to do anything. I don't know how her parents can allow her to practice martial arts with a history like hers." She continued on but I was too busy thinking of other things now like Rei and Mr. Chiba. It just seemed so strange to me. I didn't want to think of him that way, thinking of him fawning over schoolgirls made me lose respect for him, maybe because he seemed like a completely asexual to me. Plus he was teacher and teachers didn't think like that. At least I wanted to hope that was the truth. But what Minako said about Rei did make some sense; she was very obsessive over people, especially Taiki. Maybe she thought it would work because she and Chiba seemed to pull it off with out anyone noticing. Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks, this had happened before and she didn't get any help. This wasn't just a crush on a teacher she was in love with him to the point of delusion! When she said she needed to do something about it she had no intention to go out and get help from a counselor. She was going to solve it her own way.

Without a word I quickly jumped up from my spot on the grass leaving my things there. I bumped into Seiya again pushing past him almost spinning him around like a top. Without an apology I continued on into the school and to the nurse's office where I saw the tail of Rei's blue skirt disappearing into the room.

"Rei!" I screamed with my hand outstretched trying to reach her but she didn't come out. Instead I heard the breaking of glass and some screaming following it. I heard a body hit the floor with a heavy thud and the sound of more things breaking. I swung swiftly into the room seeing Miss Meioh's elegant body resting motionlessly against the wall. The things from her desk were strewn about the floor next to her. Rei stood over her with cold darkened eyes, her hand raised up in a tight fist with a colorful piece of Taiki's vase clutched within it.

"Rei, stop it!" I called to her. She turned around with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Usagi, I-I'm going to fix things! Have you come to help me?" She asked still smiling.

"No I can't let you do this. It's wrong!" I shouted as I quickly I ran up to her grabbing hold of her arm. I didn't know how this would end, I was picking a fight with a black belt and my odds of winning were low. But if I was going to be part of that moment, I would try my hardest to keep her from jamming that glass into Miss Meioh.

"What are you doing? I thought you were my friend!" She screamed struggling to free herself from my white knuckled grip on her arm.

"I am! That's why I'm trying to keep you from ruining your life. You're going to get arrested for assault or murder and then Taiki will never want you!"

"Shut up! You don't know the compassion he is capable of. He's a living god!"

"I can guarantee you that he has no room in his heart for psychotic murderers!"

"I told you to shut up!" Rei screamed as she started shaking me around on her arm trying to get me off. I grabbed hold of her other arm hoping that another restraint would hold her but instead she took her foot and kicked my legs out from under me. Trying to brace myself, I closed my eyes and fell forward pushing her down onto the ground. Suddenly I felt a burning sharp pain in my chest. I pulled away from Rei quickly and looked down at myself. The shard of glass that was intended for Miss Meioh was imbedded in my own chest. Rei sat up looking at me her eyes wide with shock.

"Oh…Oh God…I'm so…Sorry." She whispered as she backed away from the blood that was peeking quickly through my uniform.

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, the taste of metal began to flood over my tongue and out my mouth. I felt a warm trickling sensation spill from the corner of my mouth. I placed a hand up to my face and pulled away with a frightening red color dripping from my fingers. Rei leaped up and sprinted from the room kicking up bits of glass as she ran. I wanted to hope she was running to get help but I sincerely doubted it. I looked over to the Nurse who was still unconscious; she would be no use to me even if I could have woken her. A red mark on her head indicated that she probably had a pretty severe concussion.

I stood up on shaky legs and stumbled to the door where I rested myself for a moment. I hung my head forward trying to catch my breath. I watched red liquid ooze from my chest and trickle down my legs to the floor as I struggled to breathe. I concidered pulling the shard out but I was afraid that it was the only thing holding in what little blood I had left. I continued moving down to the corner of the hall, my vision was blurring over so much that the hall looked like it was forked when I knew it only had one turn.

"Help me." I tried to scream, but all I could hear was a thick gurgle coming from my throat. With no more life left in my body I finally made my decent to the floor jamming the piece of vase further into my body. My vision was almost completely gone now, but I could feel the cold tile suddenly become warm underneath me. This was it, I thought. I was going to die lying in a puddle of my own blood. I was going to be the first thing on the news that night and in the obituaries the morning after. I couldn't hear anything beside the slowing beat of my own heart but I was sure that people were staring at me, screaming, swearing, not because the life of another was slipping away on the floor but because it was me. I was always the car accident that everyone one stopped to look at. I would die never knowing what it was like to be kissed or loved, never knowing what the feeling of freedom from school was like, never growing old, never having children, getting married. I suppose that it was okay that I would die so soon, there wasn't much to lose when I had no life to be taken away.

I felt the ground next to me begin to vibrate as my breathing became shallow. I felt my body flip over on its own and then suddenly my arms were dangling below me. Maybe it wasn't over, I thought, I had a savior, someone who picked me up and brought me to safety. I remember being pulled back to conciseness by a hot feeling on my face. My eyes shot open and I sent out a few ragged blood filled coughs. Mr. Chiba moved back from trying to resuscitate me. The pain started to flood back into my chest like a knife that sent fire down my arms. I screamed out and grabbed his shirt tightly until some strange men with blue jackets quickly picked me up and strapped me to a gurney. As they buckled me down one of the men hit the part of the shard that was sticking from my chest with his arm summoning a scream so loud I blacked out again. And that's all I remember about that moment in time.