A/N: Thank you Iloveyou568, Ti, CadetKatan for reviewing!

Regarding Kaoru's hair color, I read somewhere in the internet that they made it purple because black didn't match up with Momoko and Miyako's "odd" hair color- well, not exactly those words. Maybe they thought black was too plain. But yes, originally her design had black hair; still I liked it as purple-ish, blue-ish- or in between? idk Haha

What time was it now? 7- 8 pm? Kaoru winced at the indentations dug by the tight rope on her wrists. She managed to free her hands, glad that only her hands were tied. Above her, light seeps through the small gaps and a faint stench of fish enters the room. She examines it and finds one which was out of place. A hatch. The place was wobbly as she tries to find anything to climb on or a pole would suffice.

"We're on a ship, aren't we?" A senior, who kept on crying, spoke up. "They're going to sell our guts!"

"What!?" Another one spoke.

"J-Just calm down." Some guy cowering in the corner reassured. "I think the p-police are coming for us."

The place was suddenly filled with outbursts and doubts, most of them crying hysterically.

Two thumps of foot sent shivers on their spine. "Quiet down there or else you'll be the first one to die!"

"Come and get us then, bastard!" Kaoru shouted back.

"O-oi, don't rile them up!" Somebody hissed.

"Why you little-" The hatch was almost open but another voice came through. "Stop falling for their taunts. What are you five?" The voice was stern. The room got colder as he mentioned us.

"Save your screams for later, okay?"

Miyako's heels clicked as she faced the new place she'll be staying at. It wasn't that far from her school and the place was discreet. The entrance was mostly covered with huge trees, obscuring the traditional Japanese mansion. She took notice on how peaceful the place looked, trying to loosen her tense with nature. Miyako never knew her mother much. She was five when she was asked to live with her grandmother. And within those five fragile years, there's only one scene that burnt in her memory like an ugly scar.

A dim light flickered on the image of her mother in a small room. She was gripping on a bloodied knife next to a collapsed woman, her kimono soaking in something red. She turned and placed a finger on her lips, giving out a small smile.

Splash!

Miyako turned to see a pond with koi fishes in it. At the side of it was a bamboo fountain. It's a good place to relax but her sweating palms say otherwise. It was just a bad nightmare but she didn't want to cross out the possibility. It was too vivid.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" A familiar voice caught her attention. A woman who would pass as her twin if she was younger stood on the corridor wearing a faint smile. "I'm glad you got here safely."

"Thank you for the escorts you sent mother." Miyako bowed gracefully.

When they both entered, they were greeted by a parallel line of men who bowed at a respectful angle. They were in black business suits, metal swords in each of their sides.

It was her mother who led her to her room, unpack her things. They made small talk but she knew where it would end.

"By the way, you haven't mentioned about the events that happened in your school?" Her mother's hand was tight against her shoulder but in an instant pulled it away. "I'm just worried."

"It was just some criminal, mother." Miyako answered politely. "Merely a coincidence that his vehicle wound up in our school."

"I heard there were missing students." Her mother quipped.

She wanted to lie. Something inside her senses danger if she does and that dream was of no help. "Yes."

"You don't have to be tense around me dear." She grimaced. "I'm your mother, you can trust me."

Miyako only gave a faint smile. "I don't doubt that."

Her mother sighed and gave Miyako some space. Before leaving, she added. "Dinner will be ready in an hour."

Momoko couldn't contain her worry as she tapped furiously at her desk. Her eyes narrowed at the gleaming screen, focusing her attention to the smallest detail. Multiple shots from the city's surveillance cameras scattered on her screen.

"If only I had placed trackers on her-" No, she couldn't do that if she wanted to. She knew that'd be invasion of privacy. And she had enough of Professor's bickering. So she simply sighed as she waited for updates.

"Moccha, I think I've found them!" Boomer's voice echoed through her earpiece, breaking the silence. She flinched at the sudden noise.

"Don't scream!" Momoko hissed. "And don't call me that."

Momoko immediately encoded his coordinates to the other two. "Why not? It's better than plain 'Red'."

Red. That was her agent code name. That was three years before the boys appeared. She promised herself that she'd be the best of the agents in the company. Started at a young age, a prodigy. It was somehow bittersweet. She was ready to be in the field when Professor presented the three. He made no explanation where they came from. But thanks to that, she remained in the facility.

At first, she hated them but things are different now.

"I've sent your coordinates, you better be right."

"Fuck, I hate the docks." Butch scrunched up his nose at the terrible mix of dead fish and bird shit. He was nowhere near it but his heightened senses picks up the tiniest smell of disgust.

"I'm sorry it didn't suit your taste, milady." Brick mocked behind him, checking their distance between Boomer. "We're close. Let's go."

Butch was still glaring at Brick while they dashed at Boomer's location. It was hard to spot where the actual location is. They did not expect that there would be a bunch of ships huddled in that place; though some were moving into different locations.

"Boomer, describe the ship." Brick commanded through the earpiece but the only response he got was a loud static accompanied by the sound of explosion somewhere beside them. "Damn it!" He took off the earpiece by reflex.

Looking back at the explosion, they saw Boomer trying to balance himself on air as he was pushed back.

Kaoru was mad. Not only that she couldn't find anything useful but also the fact that she couldn't get any help from anyone. Most were terrified, some were downright hopeless. Out of frustration she took off her shoe and threw it upward. It made a loud clank but did nothing else useful. So, she did it again.

"What the hell are you doing!?" It was that senior earlier. "You're gonna get us killed!"

Kaoru had no say on that. What happens if the hatch opens? They can't climb over it. It was too far. And what if those men came down? What would she do? Make a pile of their unconscious body to make up a stair? Unlikely. Plus, she doesn't know how many men were up there nor she can take them on. They were probably armed.

She clicked her tongue as a response. "I don't want to spend the rest of my days stuck in this cold smelly room."

The senior gasped and lightly hit her back. "It's as if you're accepting our death! The triad will save us! I'm sure of it."

Kaoru was about to retort when the ship they were on suddenly tilted, sending them all at the right side.

"We're going to die!" The kid who was sulking earlier gave a shrill cry.

Kaoru would've shut him up if they weren't in this kind of situation. "We have to get to the other-"

The ship moved again. There was obviously something going on outside. It was tilting a bit more. Kaoru hoped that she could reach the hatch but it was still too far. She took one step and made a small splash.

Splash? It was dark and they couldn't see it. But they felt the water rising from their feet.

Momoko was fidgeting on her seat since Brick had left her a message that they found some students but not all of them. She was starting to pray in every god that she knew for her friend to be safe. She was starting to doubt and she hated it. She has to keep being positive.

She heard the doorknob shuffle. It swung open revealing a woman who was out of breath. "Red, watch this." She fixed her long black hair, grey eyes focused on Momoko's computer as she typed some codes. "It was publicly aired just seconds ago."

A video popped from the screen showing a silhouette of a man wearing the ugliest grin Momoko had ever seen. "I'm going to keep this short. All we asked was a simple alliance. It seems that we were more of a threat. You should've known who you were going up against. Nevertheless, we have a small fun fact for you.

"We know who your precious grandchild is. We've got the address too. So if I were you, I'd crawl out of that rathole and stop the cowardice, Mujihina."

"Mujihina?" Momoko turned toward her co-worker.

"I don't know him but apparently he was around decades ago." She tapped on the keyboard again, accessing the information of the said person. "He was a leader of some sorts."

Momoko's eye widened when she saw the younger photo of Mujihina. He had a mess of a purple hair with strikingly familiar green eyes.

"…precious grandchild."

It couldn't be- must be a coincidence. Momoko mentally chanted.

At the Matsubara household, Tokio was having a conversation with the police through the phone. Dai and Shou were completely worried but their mother warned them not to panic over this even though she was the one who's most likely to throw a fit.

"Nee-chan's strong, right?" Shou mumbled as they ate dinner. "She'd come home."

Dai patted Shou's head. "She'll be home soon."

Meanwhile, their mother had been silent the entire time. Mitsuko's head was full of anger and worry. She couldn't stop herself from blaming him. If he hadn't sent gifts- no, she couldn't blame him. She was partly at fault. If she didn't agree to that compromise, maybe this wouldn't happen. Still, if they knew who exactly to kidnap then why were there other students?

They said grandchild not granddaughter. They don't know. Yes, they don't.

"Shit. Butch, can't you fight with minimal damage?" Boomer straightened up an innocent fishing boat that was almost sunk by the said person. It was near the cargo ship where the hostages were kept.

"Well, is it broken?" Butch grinned as he punched the person manning the cannon.

"You know what I'm implying." Boomer kicked the last enemy on the cargo ship where some students were locked up.

"The rescue boats are ready. Here give these to the hostages." Brick handed Butch some life vests and immediately dashed off to check the other ships.

Butch was about to toss it to Boomer but he gave the middle finger and took off. Butch growled and turned to the hostages. Some even flinched at the face he was showing.

"Go help your-fucking-selves." Tossing the stuff off of his hands, he was about to go after them when he spotted the fishing boat earlier looking a little bit over-submerged by the sea. Shit. It was broken after all.

Fuck. We're sinking.

The water was already above their waists and somehow the ship miraculously straightened itself up.

"Do all of you know how to swim?" Kaoru suddenly asks only to be responded by a "We're going to die!"

Later on, she concluded that only the two of them, the other was the senior, could swim and they were seven of them inside. The water was moving faster. The level was now up on their shoulders. Kaoru had managed three people to cling unto her. They couldn't just move to the center, where the hatch was, Kaoru would sink along with the three people. She was glad there were pipes at edges.

"Okay, you two have to stay-" Before finishing her plan, Kaoru was interrupted by the noise outside. The voices were kind of muffled so they stayed still until the hatch was opened violently.

"You brats if you want to live then come with me." One of the armed men gestured with his pistol on hand. He then pulled in a long pole for us to hold unto. "Hurry!" He hissed.

The senior complied and made an assuring look. The first ones to go were those people who couldn't swim. Kaoru was the last one to step out of that prison. It also dawned in her how cold she was. It didn't help that it was breezy.

Then there were gunshots. Not aimed at them but someone behind. Her first instinct was to run but she was quickly grabbed by the enemy with a pistol aimed at her head. There hovered before them was Butch with an annoyed look.

"Don't make this hard for you. Drop the gun." He crossed his arms seemingly bored of what was happening.

"You don't get to give-" Kaoru allowed herself to fall down, catching the enemy off guard by the sudden shift of weight. Butch proceeded to knock the guy out in a flash.

In the corner of his eye, he saw two armed men ready to fire. Butch then had to shove Kaoru to a barricaded corner. "What the hell!?"

"Cover yourself. I don't need a handicap."

"A handicap?" Kaoru narrowed her eyes on Butch but then remembered the other students with her. She looked around and saw two of them hiding in a corner while the other four was still captured by the enemy. Looking closer at the two, behind them was an escape boat.

She looked back at Butch, who was proud of his work. He wiped out the entire armed men. The students thanked him, his ego feeding off of it.

"Hey guys, we found a small boat!" Kaoru ushered the four students.

When they were setting up the boat, they realized it could only fit six people. They had to decide. Seeing everyone was reluctant to be left behind, Kaoru volunteered.

"When's the rescue team gonna get here?" She watched as the students sail away, rubbing her hands for heat.

"We're not going to wait for them. The ship will sink by then." Butch grinned and gestured for a piggy back ride. "Just hop on."

"What!?" Kaoru's face flushed. This would probably the first on her list of most embarrassing moments. What choice does she have?

"Don't make it weird."

"I wasn't." She said with a venomous tone as she clung on his back.

Ch.3 end

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