Ok so I had a really awesome day today, turns out I'm finally switching High Schools! Yes that's a good thing, a very good thing infact. I've been waiting 3 weeks to switch! Long story, short, I hate my home-zoned High School with a passion, so I'm switching to another High School that most of my friends from middle school go to. So yeah, I had a pretty good day today! Being in such a good mood I thought that maybe I'd update for you guys! Thank you to all of you who reviewed on the first chapter, I appreciate it a lot! This chapter is slightly shorter than the first one but I had no choice but to end it when I did. Don't forget to review after you're done with this chapter! Please and Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own S-Cry-Ed or any of the characters, but I do own a character that will appear later in the fic.

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"Don't Give Up Hope"

Chapter 2

'Beep, Beep, BEEP!'

Ryuho yawned as he reached for his alarm clock quickly turning it off. His sleep was to say the least, restless. "7:30 already?" he asked while whipping the sleep from his eyes. He had gotten at the most, 3 hours of sleep last night, if not less. Too many things were on his mind that weren't enabling him the sleep he needed.

After taking a few moments to wake up, the Ryu heir got up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom down the hall. Ryuho wasn't really a morning person, though he was use to being up at early hours he still hated it. To any other person they would think Ryuho was a morning person due to the fact that he was probably one of the very few HOLY members to awaken before 8 everyday, but really that was just because it was his duty and Ryuho always put his job before himself.

The emerald haired teen sighed as he reached his bathroom. He walked over to the mirror; taking in his appearance he turned and walked towards his shower swiftly turning the nozzle as water shot out of the shower head above. He waited a moment before stripping off his black boxers and stepping into the warm water.

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On the other side of HOLY Mimori still lay sound asleep. That is until her alarm clock went off as well. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Today's temp-" the ebony haired women groaned as she rolled over and lazily smacked her hand on the 'off' button atop of her alarm instantly shutting the annoying thing off. 'How someone can be so cheerful at 7:40 the morning is way beyond me.' She thought as she got up and walked over to her closet pulling it open. Having taken a bath the night before, she had no need to take a shower this morning. The Kiryu heiress grabbed one of her HOLD uniforms and set it on a chair that was placed next to her closet before taking her pajamas off and tossing them into the hamper inside her closet. She tiredly began to put her uniform on, wincing in pain only once or twice as she slipped her hand through the sleeve before heading to her bathroom.

Once there she switched on the light and grabbed her tooth brush sitting on her sink and began to brush her teeth. Today she felt like a change so once she was done brushing her teeth, she opened a drawer beneath her sink and pulled out a hair tie and some bobbing pins. She grabbed her brush and combed her long silky hair before placing it in a pony tail leaving some of her side bangs on both sides of her face. She twisted her hair around the hair tie, pinning it various times with the bobbing pins. After about 5 minutes she was done pinning her hair and looked in the mirror taking in her appearance, her hair was in a semi-high, tight bun with a small amount of her side bangs hanging on each side of her face. Mimori had to admit, she liked the change, she looked really nice with her hair up like that she wondered why she had never put it up like that more often.

Mimori looked herself over one more time in the mirror before flipping the light switch off and walking out of her bathroom back into her bedroom. After entering her bedroom she went to her closet once more, pulling out her shoes she sat in the chair next to her closet and quickly put them on. She then stood up and stole a glance at her clock which read 8:00 a.m. then made her way to her front door and began her way to the Medical Bay.

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After about 20 minutes of a nice refreshing shower Ryuho turned the water off and grabbed a white fluffy towel that was conveniently hanging on a bar outside of the shower. He quickly dried his hair then the rest of his body and stepped out of the shower wrapping the towel around his waist. He walked over to his counter and grabbed the brush that was laying there and began to comb his hair.

Once he was finished combing his hair he grabbed his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. After finishing with that he walked back to his bedroom to his closet and opened the door. In his closet were several HOLY uniforms and few suits followed by a tuxedo. Being the Ryu heir he had to have a least one tuxedo and few suits, it was only expected of someone such as himself.

He took a HOLY uniform out of his closet and placed it on his bed before going to his dresser and grabbing a new pair of black silk boxers. He un-wrapped the towel from around his waist letting it drop to the floor before slipping on his boxers and continuing with his uniform.

Ten minutes later Ryuho was fully clothed in his HOLY uniform, currently picking up his clothing and towel and putting them in his hamper. He quickly glanced at his clock noting it was 8:10 before heading out the door.

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"Miss Minori!" a voice called from behind the ebony haired women as she turned a corner coming up to the Medical Bay. 'It's Mimori' she mentally scolded the person full well already knowing who it was as she turned to the owner of the voice calling her. "Good morning Cougar, sleep well?" she asked with a smile.

"Why yes, my dreams were filled with a beautiful heiress how could I not sleep well?" the Alter user of Radical Good Speed asked with a grin.

"…"

"Well anyways Miss Minori," Cougar said breaking the silence, "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to join me later this evening for dinner." he said with hopeful eyes.

Mimori frowned. "I'm sorry Cougar, but I'm part of the medical crew going out to the Lost Ground today…"

"Oh… that's too bad…" said Cougar, "Maybe some other time?"

Mimori smiled. "Yeah, maybe some other time. Right now I have to get going, I'm suppose to be there early to help pack."

"Alright then! See you when you get back Miss Minori!" he said quickly waving her off not wanting her to be late.

Mimori nodded. "Bye Cougar."

Cougar smiled as the Kiryu heiress walked away. 'Is it just me or does she look even more beautiful today?' he question himself before turning and going on his way.

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"No not over there! Put those medical supplies in the back!" Ryuho heard someone say as he approached the Medical Bay. People were busily stacking boxes and packing them into the truck to even notice his presence. He continued to make his way through the mess of people when he spotted Asuka Tachibana helping order the boxes and telling people where to put them.

"Good morning, Tachibana." He said as he approached the purple haired boy.

"Oh, hey Ryuho, what are you doing here?" Asuka questioned with a raised eyebrow and a curious expression.

"Commander Jigmar transferred me to this unit." Ryuho said simply.

"Really? So you're going out with the medical unit as well?" he questioned.

Ryuho nodded. "Has Miss Kiryu arrived yet?"

Asuka shrugged. "Not that I know of, but she could be around back."

"Alright thanks." Ryuho said as he made his way around back.

Sure enough once Ryuho reached the back he saw Mimori packing boxes into the back of the truck. He almost didn't recognize her at first, he had never seen her hair any other way but down. He stopped a few feet away from the truck; the Kiryu heiress didn't even seem to notice.

"Damn it." The ebony haired women mumbled as she almost tripped over a box in the middle of the walk way. 'Oh yeah leave me to pack the back all by myself.' She thought bitterly.

Ryuho had to stifle a laugh as he watched her almost trip over the box and mumbled under her breath. She had yet to notice his presence so he just stood there with his arms crossed watching her continuously mumble to herself and pack the remaining boxes into the truck.

"One more box and I'm done." She said aloud as she grabbed the last box and brought it over to the back of the truck. There was barely any space left for one last box so she shoved the box in a small space that was left but the out come wasn't good.

Mimori shrieked as one of the boxes from the top of the stack came tumbling down landing right on her hand that was still trying to force the last box all the way in. Unlucky for her, the corner of the box hit her square in the wrist. Mimori didn't even bother to muffle the scream she let out.

Ryuho's eyes widened. 'Did it really hurt that much?'

Mimori's eyes were glazed over with tears. 'Just my luck right?' she thought as she rolled her sleeve up. The bruise that was left by Ryuho was now visible and it hurt more than ever.

Ryuho was about to ask her if she was alright but seeing her wrist made him stop. 'That… that couldn't have been from that box,' Ryuho thought. 'What happened to her?'

Ryuho continued to watch her as she grabbed an ice pack out of one of the coolers in the back and placed it on her swollen wrist. He saw her eyes immediately snap shut at the pain; she tossed the ice pack aside deciding she could go without it for now, it hurt too much to put anything on it at the moment it seemed. He watched as her left hand instantly shot up to the purple crystallized pendant around her neck as she mumbled something to herself. The realization of last night hit Ryuho like a ton of bricks. 'I… I did that to her…'

Ryuho couldn't believe he had hurt her that bad. Had he lost more control than he realized? Fortunately for Ryuho, Mimori had still failed to notice him. Before wasting anymore time Ryuho fled back around to the front he couldn't be there anymore the realization was too much for him. The guilt was too much for him.

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"Miss Mimori," Asuka called.

"Yes Asuka?" the ebony haired female answered as she came into sight.

Asuka's mouth almost dropped when he saw her, he had always thought she was beautiful no doubt, but today she surpassed that meaning. "Miss Mimori we're about to leave so I came to get you." He replied, "How come you've been back here the whole time?"

Mimori snorted, "They decided to put me in charge of loading the back by myself."

Asuka let out a light laugh. "Well have you finished?"

"Yeah at my expense." She said bitterly.

Asuka raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "What happened?"

The Kiryu heiress sighed. "It's not important. We should get inside before they leave us."

Asuka nodded as they both made their way around front and into the HOLY vehicle. Asuka was first to enter followed by Mimori.

"Nice of you to join us Miss Kiryu." Someone said as she stepped through the door.

Mimori stopped mid-step at hearing that voice, she knew who it was. She turned to see the last person she wanted to see right now leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "Ryu-Ryuho what are you doing here?" she asked.

"It's really none of your business Miss Kiryu, but if you must know, Commander Jigmar transferred me to this unit." He said with an impassible expression.

Mimori just stood there for a minute staring into space, motionless. The only thing that brought her out of her trace was Ryuho pushing himself off the wall and walking past her to one of the computers similar to the ones he usually operated on all of his missions.

Mimori visibly tensed as Ryuho brushed passed her and Asuka seemed to notice. "Miss Mimori, are you alright?" Asuka asked in concern.

Mimori turned her head away from him avoiding his gaze. "Yes Asuka, I'm fine."

Asuka didn't believe her but he wasn't going to pressure her to tell him, if she wanted him to know she would tell him on her own. "Alright. Well we're about to head out."

Mimori didn't reply she just made her way to one of the back rooms of the truck. She wanted to be alone. On her way she passed Ryuho eyeing him out of the corner of her eye, for a moment when Ryuho looked up they locked eyes but Mimori averted her eyes else where. 'This is going to be a long trip.' She thought as the door to one of the rooms slid open and she walked in.

End of Chapter 2

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So... how was it? I know, I know, it's going a little slow but I don't want a rushed story so I'm taking my time. But no really, what did you guys think? Not as good as the first chapter or better? You know.. reviews really are a writers best friend, so do me a favor and yourself sense I have to have at least 5 reviews on every chapter to update, and push the review button! Ok... so I don't have to have 5 reviews I just want them! That's how I determine when I should start typing the next chapter. Unless of course I'm in a good mood like I am today: ) Review people! Please and Thank you! (08.25.06)