Chapter 4: Partners

"You-chan!" Youichi stood there, shocked. Never did he expect his sister in a place like this. But he was really thankful. He assured himself that everything was going to be fine since his epic big sister was here – the girl who was always known as the best; acing in academics and sports at the same time.

"Nee-san?" He asked to himself.

Mikan giggled at the sound of his voice. "What?" She replied, grinning as she released her brother.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why? You want me to leave?"

His eyes widened; definitely a no. "No!"

"I'm just kidding." His sister smiled softly. "How did you get to this place?"

"Eh? Didn't Hotaru-nee tell you?" He raised a brow, confused. Nonetheless, he still thought that this was one heck of a reunion.

"Eh?" Mikan's eyes widened. "Hotaru is here? Where?"

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

"You idiot, I'm over here." Finally, the raven-haired girl stepped out of the shadows, holding her famous BAKA Gun. She stood by the pillar, emotionless as ever.

"See you all later. Tch." Youichi walked out of the scene, going over to his designated room.

As for our dear brunette, well she didn't dodge the bullets, making her fall down the floor in pain. "Itai! Hotaru, you're so mean!"

"Is that what you say after a week of zombie killing you idiot?" Hotaru rolled her eyes, somehow mad.

Mikan pouted as a child – her usual habit – and stood up, running towards Hotaru and giving her a tackle. Grinning sheepishly, Mikan let go after but raised her brows in confusion. "That's weird. Aren't you going to charge me for hugging you?"

Hotaru's eyes softened as she gave out one of her rare smiles. "That's my Mikan. If you want it that much, I'll charge you a thousand yen for that one hug."

Mikan sweat dropped. "I was just kidding!"

"Sorry for fainting over you like that," Mikan scratched the back of her head with a grin on her face. The two of them were ordered by Hotaru to be the look-out at the rooftop since the supposed to be look-outs were tired and hungry that they needed another break.

"Hn." Natsume ignored the apology, opening the door to the rooftop.

"Natty!" Out of the blue, a high-pitched too-girly voice called out. She came running towards Natsume and apparently, her chest was too over-exposed to the public because of her spaghetti strap top.

The blonde launched herself towards Natsume, snuggling and drawing closer to him as every second passed. Natsume didn't react though. All he did was hug her back and gave her a deep kiss that Mikan became disgusted of.

"You might want to get a room now." Mikan suggested, running towards the far end of the roof-top to avoid seeing the two doing their stuff. She held her rifle tightly, a bright blush coming to her cheeks. "I can deal with this look-out stuff by myself. It's fine. Consider it as a favor for carrying me back then."

"Hn." Natsume began to have second thoughts. He shrugged his girlfriend off and walked towards Mikan but was later stopped by his girlfriend giving his arm a slight pull. The blonde-girl who was later known as Luna Koizumi, made a supposed-to-be cute pout and begged Natsume as she looked at Mikan with not-so obvious fierce eyes. Even if it was not that obvious, Mikan rolled her eyes at her and ignored the two as Natsume sighed and agreed.

"Tch. Whatever." Rolling his eyes, he grabbed Luna's hand and dragged her back inside the mall, slamming the door on his way out – leaving Mikan.

"And what about you, permy? No intention to leave?" Mikan turned around, taking out her pistol and pointing it at the girl.

The green-haired girl stepped out of her hiding place with a smirk. She flipped her hair, cat-walking towards Mikan. "Go ahead. Shoot me."

Mikan dropped the gun, ran towards Sumire and grabbed her hands. Without any emotion, she dragged the struggling Sumire towards the corner of the building, lowering her body so she could clearly see what's below. "It's Sumire is it?"

"Let go you bitch!" Sumire struggled for her life – shivering at the things that were coming to get her if she fell. Her eyes widened as she struggled more.

"You know, you'll really fall if you keep struggling." Mikan pointed out, rolling her eyes. "I won't catch you if you fall."

Sumire had her eyes widened more. She stopped moving, knowing of the consequences. "Let go."

Sighing, Mikan pulled her back to the ground and let her go. Sumire went running towards the door – not looking back, making Mikan giggle a bit. But despite her smiling face right now, deep inside she was confused.

Confused about her feelings to be particular.

She shook and scratched her head, getting frustrated. She picked up the pistol she dropped earlier and went for a stroll around the huge rooftop.

There was nothing interesting for all that matters. Many air vents were by the corners – not that Mikan cared. But there was this concrete room about the size of a normal bungalow. Its windows were covered with rectangular pieces of wood; nailed to the wall. The door was metallic and it has a bloody hand mark by the middle that seemed to look fresh.

Mikan's POV

The minute I saw that room, I had a feeling it was time to leave.

I walked closer to take a peek at the small hole by the window. The lights were on and there seemed to be no-one inside. And then I jumped back, screaming for my life as a head suddenly appeared in front of me after blinking my eyes. I frowned deeply, panting and took a peek again.

Zombies. Dozens of them. Including mutated dogs and mutated rabbits. They're mutating. Fast.

Everyone or everything that seemed to get infected goes through stages of mutation that are still unknown. For all my knowledge, normal zombies become runner zombies; normal zombie dogs become human-like werewolf and they now stand with two of their feet instead of four; zombie rabbits become kangaroo-like creatures but instead of hopping just 3 inches high, they hop and stick through walls like spiderman. So much for watching too much hero movies.

And with that, I went into action.

I looked for a way – any way to get out of here even if I would need to kill anyone along the way. It doesn't matter now anyway.

When I had my plan, I ran downstairs, leaving the rooftop unguarded. As fast as I can, I went to look for Ruka and spotted him by the bench with Hotaru.

"Nogi-kun! I need to talk with you. And Hotaru too!" I butted in their conversation, panting lightly.

Ruka stood up, staring at me confusedly. "What is it, Sakura-san?"

"You don't kill the sick people in here? You keep them in a room at the rooftop?"

"Uhh, Yes since they were some of the evacuees family members. They asked us to let them be and store them in a room." Ruka replied, shrugging. "Is anything wrong? If something happens we have you and Natsume to kill them all. There's no way they'll get passed you two.

That was it. Everybody was putting too much trust on me and him."Anything wrong? Of course there's something wrong! You don't even lock the door at the rooftop! What if some evacuee gets mentally depressed by their loss and opens the door? We all die!" I clenched my teeth, speaking through them. I tried to make my voice as low as possible.

"Oi! Relax! And don't you dare plan to leave this place. I know what you're planning, you idiot." Hotaru frowned deeply.

"Sorry, Hotaru." I sighed and softened my eyes, calming myself. "It's been nice to see you again but I just have to leave. I'm leaving with Youichi tomorrow." And with those words, I didn't even bother listening for their reply.

When I opened the door to our room, I saw Youichi sitting by the edge of the bed, taking a look at the guns. "We're leaving aren't we?"

I nodded, shrugging. "Yup."

"'Kay." He stood up running outside towards his room. I sighed after, grabbing the guns he left by the bed and grabbing my backpack. I was thankful to the Lord that Youichi wasn't that stubborn. I knew myself ever since I was a child he was smart enough to follow my orders.

Knock. Knock.

I didn't turn around by her presence. That girl was never really that interesting anyway.

"Leaving so soon?" Her high-pitched voice echoed throughout the whole room. "Well, break a leg. Natsume won't be coming with you now anyway."

I twitched. "Yes he is. We're travelling together."

And then she took out a small black box from her pocket. "I'd rather be with you than that girl. You know that right?" My eyes widened. It was his voice.

"But you're partners right? You can't separate from her." Luna said.

"Then you're my partner now."

That was it. I was frustrated. How dare he – after I finally trusted him. "Tch!" I composed myself again and faced her.

"Keep him as you wish. He's yours now. Not that I care." I zipped the backpack up after packing. I put my katana's at my back and re-equipped my utility belt with pistols, bombs and ammo. I slumped my backpack over my back and held my rifle in my hands.

"Youichi, we're going now!" I hid my bangs and ran over at the store across mine.

"What? I thought we were leaving tomorrow?"

"No, now!"

"'Kay!"

I rolled my eyes and turned around, eventually bumping into someone. The man took hold of my arm, frowning. I looked up at him, frowning also.

"What do you want?" I asked, hiding my eyes under my bangs.

"What do I want? You're leaving and you ain't even gonna tell me?" I shook my head. He was a dumbass at times. I can't believe he doesn't know what's happening.

"Who are you for me to tell you? My partner?" I looked like I was gonna explode from anger.

Natsume rolled his eyes, as if I just stated the obvious. "Well, yeah."

"I'd rather be with you than that girl. You know that right?" I repeated as I looked emotionlessly at his face. I saw his eyes widen a bit but he still remained his composure. I was grateful that he admitted I was his partner. But the people here depends and put too much trust on me. They expect me to save every single one of them? Well, I'd love to but sorry I can't. Also, with that blonde girl and Sumire here… I don't think I'll be able to survive. Just seeing him and her do that makes my chest hurt because of unknown reasons.

"Get it now?" I shrugged his hand off forcefully as I walked off towards Youichi.

"Traitor." I mumbled and pouted along the way.

After filling up our water and food supplies, Youichi and I asked some of the evacuees to guide us to the sewers.

"And here we end up at the sewers." Youichi pointed out sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, giggling a bit. "It's not that bad." Shrugging, I heard a moan. "Zombie on your left."

"Somehow I think I wasted my time playing and finishing those Resident Evil games you bought me. This is cooler." A gunshot was heard coming from Youichi's gun.

I stopped on my tracks, receiving a stare from Youichi. "Why'd we stop?"

I observed him. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants. He had his favorite Nike shoes on and his ever-so shiny black watch. He had a rifle in his hands; two pistols we're hanging in his utility belt and ammo. He has a backpack and a sword on his back – a samurai sword. "When did you have such a style like mine?"

"What?" He asked but understood the question after. "You mean my clothes? How is my style similar to yours? My style is definitely better!"

"You-chan!" I smirked. Yes, he actually hated the nickname.

"Stop calling me that! Sheesh!" He frowned as his eyes widened before my eyes.

"S-s-sis! There's a freaky bunny-man behind you!" He stuttered then shook the fear off, and began shooting. The bunny-man zombie jumped over me, bloody without skin.

I didn't have time to be surprised while my brother was being chased by a monster. I took quick action, grabbing my gun and aiming for its head.

But it was too fast. I missed a few times but those other bullets hit its body making it scream ferociously.

"Youichi! Hide!" I shouted over to him, pointing my head at the nearby wall.

"But -!" He tried to protest.

I dodged the claws of the bunny-man by jumping over it. After that, I shot its legs hoping it wouldn't be able to jump after that. "Now!"

I took a quick peek if Youichi hid and he did. But when I blinked my eyes, I was flying – backwards. I hit the wall after that, falling to the ground as a sharp pain hit my back. Good news is I didn't let go of my gun and I continued shooting the thing while I was in pain.

And then there was this smoke bomb that seemed to come out from no where. I felt rough hands slip under the joints of my knees and my back. My eyes widened as I took a look at his face.

That stupid smirk. Why does it have to follow me all the way down here?

He looked down at me, lowering his face to whisper at my ear. "You're not going anywhere without me…" He stopped. I felt him grin by my ear as he continued what he was saying. "…partner."

BLAME MY SCHOOL. YES BLAME THEM! HA!

Sorry, I was supposed to update last week but I had some really important matter to finish. I didn't get to upload this chapter .

Well, now I accept flames. Yes, bring it~!

flames on the reviews :) and yes I appreciate your reviews very much ^-^ I keep smiling while I read them I just don't know why xDDD

See you all soon~! Mata raishu ne! :D

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN. =/