Sorry I'm half an hour late. Did you notice the similarity between the names of Mikan's parents? Yuki Aoshi and Yuka Azumi --- I'm sorry, that was entirely coincidental. I tend to make up names on the spot and "Yuki Aoshi" just popped into my head while I was writing and it wasn't after I wrote their names side-by-side last chapter that I noticed.

Please, please don't be a ghost reader.

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Two Quarters And A Heart Down
13: Where It Hurts The Most
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Save for Natsume, Narumi-sensei, Koko and Aoshi-san, six stunned faces stared back at me. Hotaru's slightly raised eyebrows, which were apparently the extent of her shock, was nothing (since she's the "ice queen") compared to the gaping faces of Ruka, Yuu, Sumire, Kenta and Hiro.

Seeing as none of the "spectators" was in any sane mental state to voice his or her opinion on the matter, Hotaru stepped in. "That still doesn't explain the blood."

"True," I concurred, slowly sipping my tea. I assessed my friends' faces over the rim of my teacup. "Shall I continue?"

Hiro sat up a little straighter. "Please do."

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The dishevelled remains of what used to be Aoshi-san's tie fell away from their lethal grip on Urumi's neck. She was free.

And she had survived; meaning that she had indeed answered the questions to the extent of her knowledge on the matter.

Once free from her restraints, Urumi wheezed as her knees buckled. Saliva dribbled down her chin as she struggled to take in air to breathe. Aoshi-san dropped his end of the mangled necktie and fell over. I immediately broke away from Natsume's grip to steady my father. Narumi-sensei and I rushed to his side and led him over to the plush leather sofa to rest. His incredible Alice must have drained him.

"Mikan-chan," Narumi-sensei said curtly, nodding towards a small table situated in a corner of the vast room. A pitcher of water and two glasses were atop it. "Please get some water for Yuki to drink." I complied swiftly.

As I handed my father his much-needed glass of water, Urumi seemed to have gotten her second wind back. Crouching slightly and clutching her heart, she spat out, "You guys… aren't very bright, are you?" We didn't miss the lethal gleam in her lavender eye.

Koko backed away further from the demented woman in case she tried to attack him again. Natsume dashed in front of Koko and got into a battle stance, ready to retaliate if Urumi was ever stupid enough to aggress us in her weakened state. I ran to Natsume's side, ready to defend.

However, the dark-haired woman was unfazed as she belched out a resounding, hearty laugh. "No good. There's no way in hell Kuro Neko-kun could ever defeat me at his current level. I'm better than Persona after all," she cooed. "Sakura-san, don't forget: I created your fighting skills. I can take you out anytime I want to."

A low growl escaped Natsume's throat. Urumi's hand was hovering slightly above her right hip, as though ready to unsheathe a concealed knife. I dug my right boot into the soft carpet, preparing myself for a quick dash to disarm her if my suspicions were correct.

Eyes narrowed, Narumi-sensei's indignant voice cried out, "Exactly what do you mean by 'stupid', Tenaka?"

Urumi's thin lips curled into a sneer. "So, you found out that I work for the All-Seeing Eye so your main prerogative became finding out my master's intentions, correct?"

Struggling to make his narrowed emerald pupils meet Urumi's gleaming purple eye, Aoshi-san sputtered, "Of course. I am one of three Headmasters of the Alice Academy. Our job is to protect our students from the greater threats, not to have our insight clouded by petty vendettas." He smirked in satisfaction upon the look of flushed indignation on the dark-haired woman's face.

However, her frown turned into a sinister smile. "Oh? Is that so, Aoshi-sama? But that does not disprove the fact that you are still an emotional and naïve fool. I thought you got over Yuka ages ago, no? So then, why do you want to know so much about what she's doing with her life now? Ah, does it still hurt, Aoshi-sama? What do you call it… ah, your heart? You're an emotional fool, Aoshi. You can't keep hiding behind your big desk and fancy title forever."

I gulped down the lump that had formed in my throat. I was determined not to let Urumi out of my sight.

"So what if I couldn't resist your Alice?" Urumi drawled callously. "So what if you managed to squeeze a few bits of information from me? I'm just a pawn in this game, after all. I'm not particularly close to the All-Seeing Eye. My answers were based on rumours spread through the anti-establishment grapevine. It's stupid to even try interrogating me because you can't be sure the information is accurate."

Koko gasped in astonishment and all eyes swivelled to the sandy-haired boy, whose eyes were wide with shock. "She's lying!" he exposed. "I can read her mind. The truth is the All-Seeing Eye himself told her that through telepathy! She is the only one of his minions that has successfully infiltrated the Academy to this point so she's the one closest to Mikan. All her orders are directly from him!"

Aoshi-san chuckled weakly. "A pathetic attempt to save whatever's left of your pride, Tenaka."

I couldn't help but wag my forefinger at her. "Tsk tsk," I chided smugly. "Bad Urumi-san. You've betrayed your master. What will you do about it? He'll be so angry with you!"

Urumi's seemingly defiant but weak visage crumbled. "I only betrayed the Academy!" she hissed angrily, her lavender pupil dilating. "I will remain true to my master to the very end! Damn the Academy!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Aoshi-san yelled. He hurriedly got to his feet, panic evident in his emerald eyes. "Mikan, Hyuuga --- restrain her!"

Urumi began screaming; an ear-splitting, blood-curdling shriek coming from the pit of her stomach as she turned her face heavenward. It seemed as though her emotions had overcome her and thus losing her sanity. Whatever was left of it, anyway. Natsume and I closed the gap between her and us and clutched each of her arms. We pinned them firmly to her sides as Aoshi-san fumbled with the belt on his pants.

It was my turn to gasp as foam started rising up from Urumi's mouth. Had the woman gone rabid? At that point, I was genuinely scared. What if she tried to bite me? Especially since I was this close to her! My pupils must have been as large as saucers.

"I've got more questions for you!" Aoshi-san choked out as he pushed Narumi-sensei away from him and cracked his belt like a whip, aiming for a part of her body…

…but it didn't work out.

With another scream and a mighty burst of rage-induced strength, Urumi forcefully raised her arms and pushed me roughly onto the ground while she elbowed Natsume in the gut. The temporary distraction and recoil was enough for her to bat away Aoshi-san's belt and jump a few metres out of immediate reach.

"I said before that the higher-ups had an Alice control device implanted inside me, no?" Urumi's voice had transformed into a dangerously low hiss. "Do you know where it is?"

All mouths were hanging open in sickening, agonised anticipation as our wide open eyes followed the path that her hand made. From its crouched position above her right hip, it gracefully drew upwards to her face and parted the dark portion of hair concealing her right eye to reveal a gleaming green orb where her eyeball should have been.

Koko, Natsume, Narumi-sensei, Aoshi-san and I simultaneously let out gasps that we hadn't known we were holding in. Kuso, was Urumi going to do what I thought she was?

I winced inwardly as my sneaking suspicion turned out to be true. Urumi, with her thumb, forefinger and middle finger, tentatively eased out the green ball (the Alice control device). Skin and blood made a sickening vacuum noise at the disturbing contact. Yuck!

"This is my penance! I will remain true to the All-Seeing Eye!" Urumi declared before completely pulling out the green orb from her right eye socket.

And so, with her Alice unlocked, all hell broke loose.

Well, that's one way to put it dramatically, I guess.

To be honest, the bloody Armageddon didn't begin quite as suddenly as that.

First, as we all watched like gaping idiots, thick trails of blood began oozing out of Urumi's eye socket and down her face. After the first few globs of the red human lava dripped off her chin and stained her black robes and the carpet we were standing on, the blood seized to pour out in trickles (well the cascades of blood seemed like trickles compared to this) and everything came out all at once.

Yes, it seemed like all the blood that her body contained were all being squeezed and accumulated to exit through only one escape point --- her tiny right eye socket. Aoshi-san's vast office room was once again filled with intervals of the demented woman's hysterical screaming and maniacal laughter as impossibly ample amounts of blood swished on the floor around her. The thick, viscous red stuff swirled around her and created a spherical blood barrier between her and us.

"I can hear it!" Koko roared over the cacophony of the demented abomination's laughter and screams and her blood sounding akin to pounding waves at the ocean. The metallic scent of human blood forcefully invaded our nostrils.

"What?" Natsume glowered as a stray drop of blood landed on his tongue, causing him to spit violently. I would've laughed at his untimely fall from grace if I weren't so busy trying to back away from the rapidly growing blood sphere barrier. I stole peeks behind me to check on my two fathers --- Narumi-sensei was supporting Aoshi-san while they limped away to find a safe place from the Blood Control Alice.

"I can hear it!" Koko bellowed, cradling his head with his arms as he tripped over a lump in the carpet and landed brusquely on his buttocks. "The All-Seeing Eye! I can hear his voice! He's talking to Urumi!"

This time, we all heard Koko. "What is he saying?" Aoshi-san demanded.

"'You've done well, Urumi-san,'" Koko quoted. "'You've been very loyal to me. Yes, take your own life for succumbing to our enemies. Give you life to our cause!'"

Pure, unadulterated fear lingered in Koko's amber eyes as he shook his head wildly. "The voice… It doesn't care about Urumi's life, or any of its followers' lives. I don't get it…" He groaned as he squeezed his head in a futile attempt to cancel his Mind Reading Alice. "Make it stop… Make it stop…"

Poor Koko… I wanted to reach out to comfort him but he was so far away. But I couldn't just stand around while my dear friend was being tormented! Taking a deep breath, I made a beeline for my amber-eyed classmate.

"Oi, Baka!" snarled Natsume from my left, heightening my awareness for a moment as I narrowly missed being hit by the bloody sphere by barely an inch. Who knows what could have happened if I was hit by that… thing?

"Thanks," I yelled as I grabbed Koko's arm and threw it over my shoulder to bring the trembling boy to his feet.

"Mikan! Over here!" Narumi-sensei gestured wildly for us to hide under Aoshi-san's vast wooden table. I nodded and began dragging Koko over there, who seemed to be having a headache. Feeling a sense of foreboding overcome my instincts, I gingerly turned around to find the bloody sphere growing closer to Koko and me.

Natsume quickly pushed me forward and I landed gruffly on the rough carpeted floor, getting the wind knocked out of me as Koko's weight crashed on top of my body. However, as suddenly as the impact had come, Koko's weight was lifted off me as Natsume slung the poor boy over his shoulder like a sack of rice and haphazardly grabbed my hand and dragged me to the room "shelter".

"Baka," he repeated once we were safely under the wooden desk with Narumi-sensei and Aoshi-san. I was crudely pushed into a seating position next to my father.

"Thank you, Natsume," I gushed sincerely. I only received an annoyed grunt in response but I didn't miss the faint shade of pink creeping onto the ruby-eyed teen's cheeks.

We could hear the sound of the swishing blood looming closer and closer… What was going to happen to us when the blood and the wooden desk came into contact?

I didn't have to wonder very long though; Narumi-sensei poked his head out from under the desk and all but screamed, "It's coming! Brace yourselves!"

I latched myself onto Aoshi-san's arm and closed my eyes, preparing for the worst. We felt some kind of large force hit the wooden desk (thump) then the crashing sound of waves turned into the noisy torrent of innumerable needles of rain.

When I dared to open my eyes and look, I saw nothing but red raindrops soaking the carpeted floor through the small opening from the desk. Next, we saw a red blur --- a shade darker than the red of the rain --- crash through the window, blood raining after it. We could only assume that that figure was Urumi, who had taken her own life.

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"And after a while," I said, munching on a biscuit, thankful that "my long story" was finally over, "it stopped raining blood and then that was when you guys came. Oh, and we never found her body," I added as an afterthought.

Aoshi-san, Narumi-sensei, Natsume, Koko, Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu, Sumire, Kenta and Hiro blinked at me as I swiped my long-coveted teddy bear-shaped cookie from under Hotaru's nose. Haha, I bet she never saw it coming!

Ruka was the first to react. "And… you're okay with it?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I had a long day. I'm tired. We're all tired. I don't want to think about this anymore today."

Murmurs of mutual agreement were exchanged and Aoshi-san, the authority figure of this gathering, stood up to dismiss us.

"Just because of these seemingly world-shattering revelations," he cleared his throat, "this is no excuse to miss your lessons tomorrow morning. Students are students because they go to school. Now, all of you go to bed. Narumi and I will clean up here."

The students murmured their wary thanks as we all stood up to leave. I giggled at the blond man and I noticed the ghost of a smile tugging on Natsume's lips as his crimson eyes traced my olive gaze.

"Oh, Narumi-sensei," I called out sweetly. "I think you wet your pants."

"I'm going to make a fortune," Hotaru announced softly, whipping out her "best friend".

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We walked out of the forest clearing in relative silence. Save for hushed personal chit-chat and the occasional yawns (from Kenta), all was silent in accordance with the night. Only the chirping of the crickets filled the air.

I looked sheepishly at our strange little group: Kenta was walking in the lead unsteadily, rubbing his eyes every now and then while his kohai Hiro was nervously walking behind me, arms outstretched ready to catch the shorter boy in case he fainted from sleepiness. Koko, Yuu and Sumire were walking side-by-side, careful not to talk about the "incident" in case they aggravated Koko's delicate mental state. Ruka and Natsume were walking together with the former petting his pet rabbit gingerly and the latter (Natsume, not the bunny) was staring absentmindedly at the moon with his hands in his pockets. I was amazed at how he walked with such precision considering he wasn't even looking at where he was going.

Hotaru and I were once again left alone together at the back of the group.

Hotaru was reviewing the pictures of Narumi-sensei (the "pee" on his pants was actually the spilt tea from earlier on) on her digital camera while muttering business plans to herself.

I found myself smiling wistfully as I stared at Hotaru. Oh, how I missed my Ho-chan-sama!

"Hotaru," I interjected softly, afraid she might fly off the handle at me since I interrupted her moneymaking schemes.

"Mikan," Hotaru echoed my tone. "What is it?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

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Breathing in the soft, vanilla-like scent of Hotaru's silky white pyjamas, I hugged my pillow tighter and sighed contentedly. How long has it been since I last slept with my best friend?

"Silly Mikan," Hotaru said monotonously, climbing into her four-poster bed and settling beside me. She switched off the bedside lamp so now only the moonlight shining through her window was the only source of light. "Don't you feel anything about your trainer being dead?"

I frowned and buried my face into the pillow, inhaling the scent of Hotaru's shampoo. "Honestly, I'm happy about it. But who really cares," I muttered as sleep began tugging at my senses.

"She's already dead."

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To be continued...

Reviews are much appreciated. PLEASE DO NOT BE A GHOST READER.

No updates until Thursday or Friday the earliest, I'm afraid.