Lame-o chapter heading your way. I promise I will have a better second chapter, though. The reason this one took so long was because I've been watching Adventure 02 for the first time (I've seen bits and pieces of Tamers, but my brother knows a heckuva lot more about it then I do XD). Anyway, Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

Enough is Enough

"Kouji? Kouji! I don't want to be late! Come on!"

Takuya impatiently paced back and forth at the fence of the Minamoto house, constantly checking his watch as the seconds rolled by.

"Kouji, dammit, get the hell out here right -!"

Suddenly, the front door opened to reveal Kousei, walking down the steps in a suit and a briefcase in hand. There was something in his dark eyes that made Takuya shiver.

"Er...Mr. Minamoto? Is Kouji coming to school today?"

Kousei glanced at him, surprised, and anger flashed across his face. He composed himself and paused at the gate.

"Kouji," he began. "Fell down the stairs when he was going to take Shadow for a walk, being as energetic as she is, that dumb dog,"

"Oh...will he be okay by tomorrow?" Takuya insisted.

He didn't like the long pause Kousei took before speaking again.

"Maybe...I'm not sure," he snapped. "Just stop stalling here and get to school,"

Takuya nodded quickly, and dashed to the the street that led to his next stop, Izumi. He was too shaken up by Mr. Minamoto to turn around and see a white-skinned, raven-haired boy staring at him from his bedroom window.

-o-o-o-

Takuya rummaged through his bag of Cheez-Its, one knee against the rim of the lunch table, the other jiggling like rapid fire underneath. Izumi, although annoyed with the constant vibration, said nothing and sipped some chocolate milk through her straw. Kouichi pulled out something from his lunch box and groaned.

"Ugh...pineapple. I keep telling my mom to stop packing them," he said in disgust, holding up the bag of slices of syrupy yellow fruit.

"Ha, ha...too bad Kouji isn't here to steal them from you." Takuya laughed. "I have no idea why he loves fruit so much -tangerines, plums, peaches, pineapple -"

"Why isn't Kouji-kun here today?" interrupted Izumi. The question that had been nagging her all morning had finally come up.

"Oh..," said Takuya, furrowing his brow and narrowing his eyes. "His dad was going to work and he told me he fell down the stairs when Shadow was going to be taken on a walk."

"Oh! That's terrible!" Izumi cried.

"Obviously, my father was lying, Izumi," snapped Kouichi, his normally calm and laid back personality consumed by sudden anger. "For all I know, he could have been hit by Kousei again."

"Can't Kouji just stand up for himself? Or call somebody?"

"Well, let's see...he is about your height, which is short for a seventh grade boy, and Kousei, like me, is tall. It would we kinda hard to 'stand up' to him, and his smart mouth is probably half the problem."

"You look like your old man and Ji-san looks like your mom, yet you act like the total opposite," scoffed Takuya.

"What a way to lay out the obvious, Takuya," Kouichi snapped. "That's the point. If Kouji sassed my dad yesterday for whatever reason, Kousei must have been really pissed off."

"Or maybe it wasn't just Kousei."

Takuya and Kouichi, surprised at Izumi's statement, followed her wide-eyed gaze at another table not much farther than theirs.

"...he's probably hiding in his room right now. We really bashed him up good," snickered Scott Jefferson to members of his gang, who were surrounding the table. "Yeah, he fought back, and we had to get out of there before someone caught us...but Minamoto's not here today, is he?"

The whole table laughed, and Izumi saw Takuya's eyes flash with realization, and Kouichi growl angrily. They both stood up suddenly, shaking the table, and started towards them.

"Stop!"

Izumi raced after them, grabbing their wrists, and pulling back hard.But when a short girl was trying to stop two tall boys from going on a murderous rampage, it wasn't working as well as she hoped.

"Stop, you two! If you get in a fight, we'll get in so much trouble -!"

"Did you just here what he did to my frickin' brother...!" hissed Kouichi, skidding to a halt, all of his usual innocence and friendliness evaporating, straining against Izumi's grip.

"We can't let them get away with it!" Takuya snarled. "You've been here as long as I have, Izumi, and you know they always do!"

"Just don't kill them and they won't!"

"What the hell do you mean?" Takuya snapped, but he stopped straining, as did Kouichi.

Izumi sighed with relief.

If only they could just listen to me once in a while! she thought exasperatingly.

-o-o-o-

"That's your brilliant plan."

Takuya stared blankly at the envelope that Izumi had handed her. Written across the front in her neat manuscript was 'Principal Skepter', and he had no idea what she had written inside.

"Yes," Izumi replied calmly. "I wrote on looseleaf that we suspect that Scott Jefferson and his gang has been going around and beating kids up, and that he needs to have better moniters."

"That'll offend him, if anything," Kouichi sighed. "But lets try it."

So Kouichi and Takuya waited patiently outside, while Izumi dashed in and set the letter on the desk. It was about four-thirty, and people were starting to go home. Takuya was taking a break from indoor soccer practice and Izumi had just had chorus. Kouichi had to stay at Shibuya's After School Club until his mother could pick him up.

Izumi came out, grinning and giving them a thumbs up. Takuya shrugged, and heard a whistle from the gym, calling all the players back in. He waved a hurry good-bye and left them to join his teammates.

Kouichi returned to the After School Club, and Izumi retrieved her backpack and started walking home. The entire way she thought of whether her idea was going to work, and if Kouji would ever be brought to justice.

Okay, that REALLY sucked, I know. I promise the next chapter will be better, sorry for the crappiness in this one.

Review!

WingsOfSilverSorrow