Ugh. This time I really didn't update for more than a half year, did I? No comment. Really. I don't even want to hear the characters making fun of me, so I lock them away somewhere this time. Haha. Just enjoy the 29th Piece in peace :)
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
29th Piece: Wrong Target
Narumi was not that oblivious.
There was no way he was not aware of what happened to his own student when the hospital informed him about the black-haired girl's absence. And it was not because he did not care either that he hid it from the class she had been in.
He cared. A lot. Not to mention she was under his watching. But somehow, he thought he had to keep the information about her sudden appearance in the hospital in the middle of night from her classmates. He was sure she would ask him to keep quiet about that matter if only she had been conscious when he visited her.
The fact was, she was not.
Narumi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose using his thumb and forefinger. The assignment papers his students had turned in that noon were scattering on his working desk messily. He had just finished examining a half of them when he drank the last cup of his coffee, the rest untouched.
He glanced at the blue clock on the wall of his room, noticing it had been midnight. Another sigh escaped from his lips as he closed his eyes for a moment and let his thought wander off. A particular face came into his mind and he had no choice but pondering on his visit to the hospital that morning.
After he retrieved the call from the hospital regarding two of his students, Narumi, being a caring teacher he was, immediately changed his mind from skipping to the teacher's lounge to running to the hospital with worry clouding his head. He just had one thing in his mind at that time; to make sure his pupils were fine and uninjured.
He managed to be the first person to visit her once he arrived at the white building. He got his permission to visit both of his students even though just for a while because one of them was under intensive care.
The first room he visited was Natsume's room, which was restricted to common visitors. Opening the white elegant door, he stepped inside and made his way to the bed where the unconscious younger male was lying on with careful steps.
Once he got a good look of the fire caster, his lips turned into a frown, unhappy upon finding wires and bandages attached to the teen's body. However, the constant beeping sounds from the heart monitor on the other side of the bed managed to wipe the cheerless look from his face a bit. At least the boy was still alive. He could not feel anymore relief than this.
He realized the boy's pale feature though, and knew that the dangerous power called Fire alice within his small figure had affected him even worse than before. It weakened him from inside, killing him little by little as he went on with his life. Even as his teacher, Narumi couldn't do anything to stop it. The only key to Natsume's freedom was to change the academy and, until now, nothing much of what Narumi had done was able to turn the situation into a better one.
Slowly but sure, the boy was dying, and all he could do was just watch.
Narumi left the room later, after he wished the boy to be well soon, and continued his journey to another student of his who was also being hospitalized in the same place. He took a few turns, smiling to the nurses he encountered on the way, before he finally stood in front of a brown wooden door far at the corner of the corridor.
He stayed still for a while, just staring at the door before lifting his right hand to turn the doorknob and peer inside. The room was dark as usual, since the curtain was being dragged over the windows to prevent anyone from getting a view of a certain person inside, just like what she wished him to do since the first time she entered the hospital. It seemed like a few nurses remembered his message to them, which was not to let anyone have a chance to get a view of her winged form, since the girl ever told him she did not want her alice to be found out. Besides, it would be a big ruckus if everyone knew the angel was her and he was afraid worse things would happen to her in the future. Who knows?
Narumi stepped inside and closed the door behind him quietly. On the bed, a pair of white wings formed a comforting circle, covering its creator from being woken up from her peaceful slumber. Eyes lingering at the curtain over the window, he closed the distance between him and the bed where his other pupil was resting on.
He trailed his gaze back to her sleeping form once he stood beside the bed, and was very relief when he found her unharmed at all. Her condition was far better than the fire caster and he couldn't help smiling at the good news.
But then, a question nudged him in the back of his head.
What did the girl do with Natsume at the Academy's gate?
He thought Natsume was on a mission, or so Persona informed the night before. Besides, with the academy's tight security in dormitories at night, how could the girl stalk out of her room to the gate in the middle of night? And what for? There was no way she knew the fire caster would come back in bad shape that she went through all the hardships just for him, right? Or was it?
Narumi shook his head. No. She showed how much she disliked the lad anyway. Besides, there was no way she knew he did missions, right?
But now she knew.
Sighing, he went out of the room after taking a last glance at Jacklyn. He couldn't stay longer since he had classes to teach, no matter how much he wanted to wait until the girl woke up and ask the questions he piled inside his head.
His reminiscence about the morning event ended when three knocks were heard on his front door. Standing up, Narumi reluctantly ambled to the door with the empty glass in his hand and pulled the door open. Misaki's expressionless face greeted him on the other side.
Leaning his side on the door frame, Narumi gave the other male a tired smile and spoke, "What's up, Misaki?"
"I just got news from the hospital that Hyuuga has come to consciousness," Misaki responded plainly. "He will still have to stay there for a few days until he is completely healed though."
Nothing could describe how happy Narumi was when he heard the good news. A relief sigh slipped out of his lips, followed by his softening expression; a mix of gladness and joy. At least one of his concerns was lifted off his mind, though it still didn't lessen his worry toward the boy's decreasing lifespan because of the alice he had. "Any other news?"
Misaki shook his head and turned away to go back to his room, but not before saying, "Don't worry too much. You'll only have more wrinkles and panda eyes."
Narumi had to chuckle at that. "Are you worried, Misaki-chan?"
At the nickname, the said man shot him a displeased look through his shoulder.
Narumi continued to chuckle, but it reduced eventually and, before disappearing behind the door, he uttered, "I'll try." Misaki gave a small huff and continued walking away, missing a teasing grin on Narumi's face.
Closing the door, Narumi staggered to his clean kitchen and placed his empty cup in the sink, a smile playing on his lips all the time.
Misaki was right. He was worrying things too much. Jacklyn might only be there coincidentally when Natsume came back from his mission injured. She might just sneak out of the dorm, simply out of boredom. Besides, it was not unusual if there were one or two students trying to sneak out of the dorm. That was what the dormitory's robot for, to keep them in their place. Jacklyn just happened to be lucky to be able to go out using the wings she created on her own.
Yes. It was just a coincidence.
Once the weighting thoughts were gone, his head felt light and the forgotten drowsiness came approaching him again. A small yawn managed to escape from his mouth. "Ah, time for sleeping! I think I'll make a small test tomorrow," Narumi chimed while trotting to his bedroom, leaving the dirty cup to be cleaned the next morning.
As for the other mysteries about the black-haired girl, he would think about them tomorrow, or ask the person herself. It seemed easier than trying to solve it by himself until a massive headache hit him.
-x-
Jacklyn hated the sun. Almost every morning.
It always rudely woke her up, even when she didn't want to end the only peaceful, comforting darkness she had embraced the night before. It would mean a new beginning, a start of a new day, a start of a new passion of life…and a start of another problem, which would only turn ugly at the end of the day. Eventually, she would ponder over the tiring events she had the whole day and become depressed and try to find solace again. It seemed that had been her routine ever since she came to Alice Academy.
And she was sure today wasn't an exception.
Feeling like stalling her wake, Jacklyn kept her eyes closed despite how bright the sun shone through her window and how warm the sensation on her back was as the sun rose higher and higher as time passed. She let her hand wander around her bed to feel, knowing something was missing from last night. The other side of her small bed was empty and cold under her traveling hand. The warmth that engulfed her the night before had disappeared, replaced by a thin layer of blanket which was now draping around her.
Lying on her side, Jacklyn curled herself into a ball and heaved a soft breath, upset and tired. She was upset because she could not extend her sleep longer when she still needed it. No matter how long she had been floating in her quiet slumber last night, she still felt tired, both body and mind. All she wanted to do was just to sleep, closing her eyes and not waking up for a long time, at least until all those problems decided it was time for them to go and leave her alone to her peaceful life again.
But a cold, yet gentle caress on her cheek determined to stop her from pitying herself and drowning in the unrealistic thought, followed by a smooth, teasing voice near her ear along with the fresh smell of soap. "Stop wailing in your misery and wake up already, creator."
She grumbled, knowing well who the intruder was, and hugged her knees. "I'm not wailing."
"You're wailing in there." A cold finger was pressed tenderly against her temple. "And it's so noisy that your head feels like blowing up anytime soon."
A small sigh was emitted through her parted lips. Lifting one of her hands, Jacklyn reached for his finger, which was pointed at her temple, and moved it away. Only, the interloper's hand was reluctant to lose the contact and instead wrapping around her small wrist when she let go of it. "Jack…" she growled quietly while trying to tug her arm away from his hold. "I'm tired…I want to rest…I don't care if I have to be absent from classes today…"
"You're acting like a kid."
"I am a kid."
A warm breath touched her neck for a second, warning her of how small the distance between them, and she fidgeted, torn between contented and uncomfortable at the proximity. His thumb rubbed circles on her wrist, right on the flesh that covered her fast beating pulse. Almost immediately, a tingling shiver came from the touch and ran down her spine to her entire insides.
Jacklyn then decided that her creation had invaded her personal space and shifted away from him to cease another shiver. She yanked her hand a bit hard, forcing him to let go off her, and quickly brought it to her chest, now aware of the heat creeping on her cheeks.
"You're so stubborn."
Even though she had her back to him, she could imagine him shaking his head when the sentence rolled off his tongue. "Mind your own business," she muttered. "Just go to the class already, or you'll be late."
"Not that I care about that." One side of her bed weighed down and a gentle nudge teased her back the next second. "I just don't want you to be sulking in this tiny room of yours alone. It's not good for your mental health. Can't you feel the gloomy pressuring atmos-"
"Shut up, Jack," she interrupted while waving her hand to him. "I'm not going to get up in any second whatever you say, so shoo, shoo!"
When the weight was lifted off her bed, Jacklyn sighed and closed her eyes, assuming her creation finally gave up and decided to leave her alone that day. Another sigh of contentment came out of her lips again as she waited for sleep to claim her that morning. At last, she thought, peace.
But when she felt her body being hauled the next minute and the softness of the mattress was gone, Jacklyn had no choice but to snap her eyes open once more, squeaking in surprise when the suspect threw her over his shoulder not quite gently and moved away from her bed.
Oh, the rising anger after she overcame the shock was unbearable. Face red in embarrassment and infuriation, the black haired girl did the first thing that came into her head: balling her hands into fists and hitting his back with the strength she could muster at that time. "JAACCCKKK!" Her voice matched her frustration and the boy could not bring himself not to twitch at the high pitched sound. "PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"
Jack did not do as she commanded, but he did stop to speak, "Only if you promise you'll attend the classes."
"No."
"Suit yourself then." He continued his journey to the front door, this time not heeding all complains and rough treatments from her.
Jacklyn resumed hitting his back, sending harder and harder punches each time her fists made contact with Jack's back. Still, that didn't make the boy surrender and drop her off. When she turned her gaze to the soon-to-be-opened door, her face paled. There was no way she would go out of the dorm in her sleeping attire and let the whole academy see her messy appearance. It was a humiliation!
"JAACCCK!" she shouted with all her might as they neared the door. "Stop! Stoooopp! I can't go out like this!" She heard a faint hum of joy as a response and inwardly growled. The creation of hers really enjoyed teasing her now.
Irritated because the lad still didn't put her down to her feet, Jacklyn blew her fringes out of her eyes and delivered a firm pinch to Jack's back, hard enough to make him yelp, though it still couldn't change his mind to stop humiliating her.
What a guy.
"Good morning, Jackly-"
Along with the voice, Jacklyn felt a hard blow on her bottom, followed by an abrupt manly gasp and the view of her surroundings suddenly swirled. The next thing she knew, half of her body had been sprawling on the floor while another half was on top of Jack's upper body. Her forearms were sore a bit after shielding her head from making direct contact with the ground. She moaned in pain. "What the heck...?"
Standing in front of the door was Mikan with her mouth forming a big 'o', her hand hanging in the air near the doorknob. Behind the brunette, Hotaru watched with both eyebrows raised in interest. "Did we disturb something?"
Jacklyn groaned.
What a nice occasion to start the day.
-x-
"What do you think our special ability class will hold for the Alice Festival this year?"
Mikan lifted her head up to smile at Jack while trying to match her steps with his large ones. "I don't know. We haven't thought of any yet." A grin graced her face. "But I'm sure we will able to come up with something soon."
Jack retorted her grin with his excited one. "I can't wait to find out what it will be."
"Me too!"
Not too far behind the two happy friends, Jacklyn watched with a boredom kind of stare with the silent Hotaru beside her. The quiet atmosphere between her and the inventor somehow made her comfortable, too much that she felt bored and the forgotten sleepiness came back to her faster than she hoped for. Too bad, the sun and the hard pavement she was stepping on now were in the way. If only they were a lamp and a soft mattress, she would already turn off the light and go to Dreamland.
A yawn managed to break out of her lips. Bringing one hand up to cover her mouth, Jacklyn inwardly cursed the lack time of sleep she had recently, due to the secret training with Hirai at midnight to toughen her physical strength, though it was not often, and Natsume's missions. Sure, it was exciting at first. But as the routine went on, slowly and without doubt, she became troubled and, moreover, tired of the lies which kept on coming out of her mouth from time to time.
'Liar.'
Her lips curled down at the memory and her shoulders slumped.
Yes, she was a liar, wasn't she?
Not only to an innocent kid who actually believed she was an angel, before he found out the truth that was, but also to other people who actually cared and worried about her. But she didn't do anything wrong! She was just trying to save, or prolong Natsume's lifespan. Besides, by doing this, she would get stronger, and then she could help her friends in case if they were in trouble. She wouldn't get bullied and be a burden to other people.
"They seem to get along well there," Hotaru's voice interrupted her complex mind. "An idiot sure is best with another idiot."
Jacklyn snapped out of her own gloomy thoughts and directed her attention to the emotionless inventor, looking lost about the topic of the conversation. "Uh?"
With a steady gaze on her objects, Hotaru did a small jerk with her head to give the clueless girl a hint. It didn't take the black-haired girl more than a second to fix her stare on Hotaru's current interest. Indeed, Mikan and Jack were chatting and laughing merrily ahead of them, seeming to forget the other two silent girls' existences.
Jacklyn blinked. "Ah…Mikan sure is fast in getting along with other people, isn't she?"
"It's because she's an idiot," Hotaru responded indifferently.
"Hm…" The possessor of drawing alice released a small sigh, stealing a secret glance at the brunette for a second. That was until she felt her right wrist heat up.
…Heat up?
Her eyebrows creased at the realization. Her curiosity dragged her gaze to her right wrist, where she found the gem of bracelet Hirai gave her vaguely shining in an unnatural way, and, for some reason, she started to panic. "A…Ah! I forgot something!" Her other three companions turned their heads to her at her loud and sudden exclamation. "I'll go back for a while! You guys just go ahead!"
And she dashed off from the place without second glance.
But of course, Jacklyn didn't run back to the dormitory as what she had told her companions. In the middle of the way, she ran out of the track and went into the sea of trees on the side of the path. She ran deeper and deeper, until she was sure no one would find out whatever she would be doing later.
When she believed she was already secured, she glued her back to a bark and lifted up her right hand in front of her. The gem was still shining faintly and the heat hadn't gone. She gulped and then bent her head low enough to press her lips against the faultless surface of the gem. As she pulled her head back in the next second, a hologram screen appeared out of the empty air and Hirai's face showed up.
"Bad timing, Hirai-san," she grumbled, only to get a grin from the man in the screen. "Don't grin. It's not funny."
"But it's exciting, isn't it?"
Jacklyn scowled. "Which part of it?"
Hirai chuckled, only making her even more annoyed.
"What is it, Hirai-san? I believe you didn't try to burn my wrist just for this meaningless joke."
His lips curled into a mysterious smile and quickly changed into a serious thin line later. "There's a mission for you."
As the sentence was spoken, Jacklyn's eyes turned into surprised rounds. "You must be kidding! There's no way I will be absent from classes again after yesterday! People will start getting suspicious of me!" she countered. "Besides, Natsume is still under the hospital's care. Why would they send him to a mission when he's not well enough to do it? Or have you forgotten our deal, that I'll only be going to missions which only involved Natsume?"
"Natsume isn't in the hospital anymore."
"Yeah, right, he's—WHAT?"
"After I got the information about his next mission, I checked on him this morning, and it turned out that he's not in the room he should be resting in."
"It couldn't be…"
"And he's not in the dorm either."
That shut her up for a moment, completely. "They…they might move him somewhere," she reasoned lamely. "Yeah, maybe they just moved him somewhere. There's no way the academy will force him doing missions when he's not in good condition for it, right?"
Hirai remained silent, which also drove her into a thoughtful stillness.
They could not be…the academy could not be this wicked. No matter how much she had heard of them working students behind the screen for various jobs, she still couldn't believe they would go this far as to be so ignorant about the students' condition. She trusted there was a limit to evilness.
But here, in front of her, Hirai revealed that malice could pass over the border of sympathy. The proof was Natsume who was forced into another mission before he could even recover from his previous wounds.
"This world isn't as kind as you think it is, Little Angel."
Jacklyn gulped.
"There are many kind of such person, who only uses other people for their purpose. Deceit is not an exception."
Jacklyn didn't miss the change in Hirai's look as the words seeped into her mind. She could see his eyebrow twitch and the grim line spread across his lips briefly. Those made her think if the man had experienced this kind of thing once. Seeing how older he was than her, she wondered how many terrible things he had tasted, whether it was physically or spiritually.
Came to think of it, she didn't know much about the man who had offered her his hand to stand up and be strong. She never questioned about his background. But somehow, after so much time they spent for secret practice, something about him made her put her trust on him entirely, without a doubt.
"Are you dazing off?"
His silky voice intruded her ears all of a sudden, startling her a bit. "I…I was thinking about what you had just said…" she mumbled, turning her face away from him.
Hirai's friendly chuckle resounded in the quiet air around her. "Don't take it into your head."
"I just couldn't pretend as if I've never heard of it," Jacklyn said and heaved a submissive sigh. "Fine."
"Fine what?"
"Fine. I'll take the mission."
Hirai smiled his usual smile. "You're really an angel."
She growled. "Am not."
Seriously, who was Hirai for real?
-x-
"So, today's absentees are Natsume-kun, Bourne-kun and…Jacklyn-chan again?" Narumi furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the list of absence in his hand. "Is there anyone who knows why Jacklyn-chan is absent?" He looked up and found no one of his students raising their hand to answer his question, not even Mikan who he thought was quite close to the missing black-haired girl. "Mikan-chan?"
The said brunette shook her head. "She was with us when we're on our way to the academy, but she said she forgot something and headed back," said Mikan. "She didn't show up again after that. I thought she's just late…"
"Oh." The teacher sighed and lowered the list onto his desk. "Maybe she'll show up later." Clapping his hands to get the students' attentions, Narumi smiled and cheered, "Okay, let's start our classes today! Today, we will be learning about…"
The heavy atmosphere which almost engulfed the room a while ago vanished right away, replaced by a lighter feeling. The stillness was broken by small murmurs among the students as Narumi explained the lesson and gave brief details about the task he would assign to them later. Even so, the changing air didn't affect three certain students. One was staring at both empty seats with worry, the other was hiding his thought with his impassive eyes focused on the blackboard, and the rest was stealing a wary glance at Bourne's vacant desk.
All of them, though not saying anything, somehow knew something wrong was happening.
-x-
Swaying her legs on one of the branches of a wild tree, Jacklyn carefully watched the rundown five floors building not far from her current position in her complete disguise. Long black hair and ornamented silver mask. Yes, they should have been enough to cover her identity, just like usual.
It should have been enough…if only she didn't wear the Alice Academy uniform.
She had been really cautious since she started her mission, especially about her clothes. Just in case Natsume would find her stalking him or she would be forced to show herself up if the situation was not compromising, she paid an extra attention to the attire she wore so the fire caster wouldn't find out that she was in the same academy he went to. If he ever found out, she believed the lad wouldn't just be silent about this and eventually started to search for her. That, if Natsume was really curious about the mysterious girl who dared to interfere with his missions.
Sighing, Jacklyn gripped the hem of her skirt and gave it a peeved glance, inwardly blaming herself to be so careless this time for immediately heading to the destination without taking another look at her appearance. This way, she had to be extremely aware of her movement, making sure she would never show herself up this time and only helping from behind the screen.
It was not an easy work to do. And it was much more difficult to be done at day than night.
"That stupid boy better doesn't do anything unexpected anymore," she muttered under her breath, eyeing every window at the building hoping to catch a glimpse of her target. "I seriously will strangle him to death if he brings another trouble for me this time." Jacklyn hopped down the tree, deciding to find a closer and safer place to hide as well as watch her target. But firstly, she had to locate where her objective was.
Muttering a few incoherent words under her breath, definitely not a pleasing one, Jacklyn set off to the building, searching for the entrance. It was not as easy as she thought. All the visible entrances, whether they were on the front or the back of the building, were being watched over by guards. Each of them had two guards stood tall at either side of the door. Though it was expected, Jacklyn found it frustrating as she waited behind the lush bushes for a quite long time. The guards didn't budge, not even excusing themselves for a short break or bathroom business. To make it worse, her patience was wearing thin as minutes passed by.
Be patient, be patient, she reminded herself. All the while, her hands clasped tightly onto her knees and her shoulders went rigid with precaution as she watched with intense eyes, not wanting to miss even a single movement which might be able to give her the chance to sneak in.
The opportunity hardly came.
Fifteen minutes later, Jacklyn's tolerance almost reached its limit, her eyebrows furrowing in displeasure and her dull nails digging into her knees. Where was her chance? She had been hiding for a long time, yet she could not find any gap to slip in, not when both guards stayed alert to their surroundings. What were they? Robots?
"Don't kid with me," she murmured, her eyes narrowing dangerously in impatience. She grabbed the small note dangling in front of her chest and took out her fancy pencil. A smirk formed on her lips. "If the chance doesn't come, then I'll make one." Her hands moved smoothly on top of the empty paper, creating lines and combining various shapes into a solid form of thing she imagined inside her head.
When she was done, she gave a last examination at her new creation. Her lips stretched into a satisfied smile. Her right hand moved on top of the paper. When she pulled it back, an egg-shaped thing had been in her grasp. A mischievous glint sparked in her dark brown eyes. "Get prepared for a fog party, guys," she muttered and then threw her creation to the direction of the guards.
The mysterious shadow which jumped out of the bushes caught the securities' attention. Their guarding posture turned into a fighting stance, a few seconds before Jacklyn's newly made weapon hit the cemented ground with a loud 'thunk' sound, and they were caught off guard when the egg-shaped thing sprayed out a white mysterious fog as well as a hissing noise. "The fuck—?"
Jacklyn leapt out of her hideout at the cue. A winning smile graced her face as she closed her right hand over her nose and mouth and dove into the thick screen of fog. She turned slightly and bumped her shoulder to the hard surface of the entrance door, forcing it to open. When it did open, she stumbled inside and made a quick check to the new place she just entered, a few coughs escaping her lips.
"Intruder!"
Crap. The black haired girl dashed into a random direction to escape the recovering securities. She could waste no time. She would be in a big trouble if she wasn't hurry. Oh, she would, especially when her presence had been found out.
In her panic, Jacklyn took every turn she could find and quickly hid in the nearest empty room or seen closet when a guard came to her sight. One immense huff of sigh was spent every time she managed to save herself from being discovered. Lot of energy was wasted during the escaping. Still, she hadn't catch even a glimpse of her target's shadow, nor had she heard any ruckus about another intruder. If there was any, her pursuers expanded as she travelled deeper into the building. There was no clue about the raven-haired lad's whereabouts.
She was getting frustrated.
"There she is!"
Oh, damn.
Placing her hand upon her opened notebook, Jacklyn halted on her way and turned to her pursuers, a determination in her gesture. Her armed hand rose up, the mouth of the gun pointed to the chasers. Her forefinger closed over the trigger. Uttering no word, she released two shots. The expression of the hunters immediately changed to surprise. However, it was already too late to avoid it.
The bullets blew up and create a thick smoke before it reached the men, serving as Jacklyn's escaping curtain. The black-haired girl stepped back and turned around, running again to find a safe place to hide. Gosh, she didn't come to this place for a cat and mouse game. She came just to keep an eye on the fire caster!
"There's the intruder! Catch him!"
Alerted, Jacklyn stopped in her way and ran into the nearest closet. After securing the door, she pressed her back onto the cold iron surface and listened to the crowd outside, all the while trying to calm her tattered breathing. Catch him? Jacklyn swallowed and then resumed to calm her breath. Has Hyuuga been found out?
Jacklyn peeked out through the small barred window on the closet door, hoping she could catch a glimpse of what actually happened seconds ago after she managed to escape the pursuers. She found nothing but her previous chasers who were running frantically to find her. She heaved a quiet sigh and closed her eyes to think, her brain replaying the running and shout which occurred just now.
Judging from the memories she grasped, it seemed that the shout came from the stairs at the end of the corridor, but she didn't dare to walk out of her current impermanent sanctuary. The option to keep on hiding and let the boy handle the situation himself was so tempting in her head at that time. But still, there was always something sitting in the corner of her heart, nudging her to forget the wicked thought and risk herself to…save the lad.
…
Damn him.
"…You're one heck of a troublesome guy, Hyuuga," she hissed, before opening the closet door and made a run to the stairs where she heard the yell. "And I'm so stupid to actually care about your being. Wait. It's my stupid mind that cares."
When she neared the stairs, Jacklyn gulped and held onto her created gun. Carefully, she set her foot on the lowest step and huffed in fortitude. Here we go. Her feet then moved hesitantly, climbing the stairs in wary.
BANG!
She startled and instinctively took one step down, stunned as she heard more awful noises from the above floor. There must be a really great battle happening up there, which included the walls and painful screams in it. She couldn't help shuddering a bit. The noises sounded so violent than the usual missions she went into.
She opened her notebook and took out more fog bombs, hoping it would help her this time as well as it had been in her first mission. "All right," she encouraged herself and moved her feet, not looking back anymore.
The first sight greeted her when she was only two steps from her destination was a man flying through the corridor. She was astounded then that she clutched on the railing on impulse. Curses almost coursed out of her mouth had she not quickly bitten her tongue to keep her lips shut. What a sight.
Here goes nothing. Jacklyn fixed her mask and took a deep breath, before dashing into the scene and threw one of the bombs to a random direction creating a thick fog in an instant. From here on, she could only rely on her instinct and senses, and her luck. Holding onto her mask, Jacklyn leapt into the emerging fog, opening one eye to find her target by figuring the height of the shadow she encountered. She could feel her side brushing against moving objects, probably the guards, but she tried to ignore them and concentrate on her own objective.
The fog almost cleared up when she sighted a shadow, which she assumed tall enough to be the size of a middle school student, a meter away from her. She quickened her pace, reaching her hand out to the arm of the figure, and swam out of the fog into the fresh air. It was so bright that she wanted to stop and got herself used to this new surrounding after being in the fog a few minutes ago, but she knew it wasn't the right time.
Her legs made their way forward, turning and stumbling as she tried to save both of her and the fire caster from the guards. They had to run and find a place to hide to think of a good plan to escape, just like before. "Closet…hidden room…closet…" were uttered from her lips as her head turned to the left and right frantically like it was going to fall off. "You're unusually silent, Black Cat," she stated without looking back, still leading them to a safer place.
A hard tug on her wrist stopped her from running all of a sudden she almost fell back. She was irritated that she could feel her insides were boiling. She was trying to bring them to a safe place and he had the nerve to stop her in the open unsecured corridor? He better had a good excuse for this. "Black Cat," she hissed. Her shoulders shook in anger before she turned to him abruptly. "What the hell do you think—"
"Nice to meet you, Little Angel."
She froze. Her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she got a clear view of the person she had dragged all the time.
The first apparent difference she noticed from the person was the color of his hair. Instead of the color of raven, it was blond. And it was also spiky on top of that, the exact contrast shape from Natsume's straight one. The second dissimilarity she caught was the color of his face. Natsume's face was way paler than his, considering his worsening health. Besides, the shape of the fire caster's face was way more round than—
"You look like you'll faint anytime soon."
His statement snapped her out of her deep inspection and she quickly let go off his hand. "Sorry. Wrong person," she muttered quickly before walking away. Her thoughts were in disarray. Shouldn't she only be in mission where Natsume went into? If Hirai told her to go to this place today, shouldn't it mean that the fire caster was also here? Then why the heck the one she dragged was the boy she met when she and Natsume were caught by AAO before?
Her step halted halfway when his large hand clasped around her wrist. Jacklyn gasped and glanced at him. Panic developed inside her. "Y-yeah?" she asked anxiously. The way his lips set in a grim line and his hand looping around her small wrist in a solid hold alarmed her.
"Who did you think I was?"
Now, that question was a bit hard to answer. She wondered if she should tell him the truth. "Eh…uh…"
"Is it Black Cat who you came for?"
Ouch. That surely hit right on the spot.
"Yes or no?" His stare was burning through her being.
"Uh…"
"There they are! Kisaki! Your alice!"
Jacklyn didn't know whether she should thank the guards for showing up right on time or curse them for the violent wind which assaulted the two of them without warning. It was a hard blow and she flew to the end of the corridor in no time. Her hands came up to protect her head on instinct and her body curled in defense.
Damn.
An agonizing yelp escaped her lips when her side hit the wall hardly. She was sure it would be really painful later. Opening her eyes, she found her breathing turning ragged from the sudden attack. Her side was throbbing from the collision and her strength left her all of a sudden. She felt like just laying down there and closing her eyes for a while to recuperate, but she knew it was not safe for her to let her guard down right now. It was the wrong time and place to be resting.
Jacklyn shook her head to keep her consciousness awake. The first thing she caught when she opened her eyes was a flash of bright light. It charged toward the guards and struck them in a smooth motion, undisturbed by anything the guards casted to its way.
She was astonished, at first, before she remembered the situation she was in and what she was about to do if only the guards hadn't caught up with them. Just on time, her right wrist warmed again; the same sensation she felt a few hours ago and the same reason for her existence in the enemy's nest.
Glancing at the battle ground from the corner of her eye, Jacklyn curled into a ball, pretending she was still recovering from the impact, and quickly kissed the glowing gem. Hirai's face immediately came into her view, strangely not in his kind and cheery expression. His look was serious and he seemed to be troubled by something she had yet to know. Despite her curiosity, Jacklyn still put on a displeased face and hissed, "Hirai-san, this is definitely not the right time to—"
"Get out of there. Now."
Dumbfounded. That must be what was written all over her face at that time because she noticed Hirai shaking his head in the next second. "Sorry?" She narrowed her eyes. "You say?"
"Black Cat is not in this mission." Hirai's lips were in a thin line. "I've been misinformed."
Jacklyn couldn't believe what she just heard. "What? But you have never been—"
A strong wind hit her again, even stronger than before. Jacklyn wrapped one arm around herself and inwardly prayed for the battle to be over soon, or for someone to come to pull her out of this situation. But that was most likely impossible.
"Little Angel!"
"I understand!" she cried out in frustration and hoisted herself up. With a strong bat of her right arm, Hirai's figure disappeared. With another swing of her left hand over her opened sketchbook, she took out the hairdryer-shaped weapon she ever used to confront Marika and pointed it toward the guard, who was once again using his Wind alice to their direction. She pulled the trigger and held onto the so-called weapon tightly when the wind was being sucked into its hole. Her new found partner registered the situation fast into his head and immediately sent a few bolts to the opponents, halting their movements as well as earning agonizing shouts from them.
Now!
Jacklyn took this chance to turn away and run from the battlefield, her eyes scanning the corridor in panic searching for a way out. She couldn't believe she was sent into a wrong mission. Hirai was never mistaken before. Not even once.
"Hey!"
She ignored the lad's shout and kept running, only to get surprised when a few guards showed up from the opposite direction of hers.
Crap.
Her mind changed as fast as she made a sharp turn toward the nearest window. Her arms were crossed in front of her face as she jumped and broke the fragile glasses, evading her pursuers.
The only thing that prevented her from feeling relief was the law of gravitation. The latest dread had made her forgotten that she just jumped out of the fifth floor of the old construction, but the hard pull to the ground under her jogged her memory again.
"You must be kidding me!" was her desperate shout as she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the upcoming impact.
This time, she was done for.
-To be continued-