Chapter VII –I've Got The Power

'Son of a bitch…'

Those words were way to 'gentle' to be used in his case. Or at least this is that she thought right then. And that is also what she just said in his damn ugly face. Still, maybe running away just like that wasn't such a good idea. Maybe it gave him just the satisfaction to see that she actually cared for what he told her. The truth was she didn't truly cared about him and his idiotic self. The truth was she was told such things every single day back when she lived with Cornelius, so she was already used with such treatment. But what hurt her was that he didn't even knew her for more then one day and he already threw that in her face, as if she was nothing more then a piece of junk for him. Yeah, he was a son of a bitch…

Running up the stairs and stopping at the end of the corridor to catch her breath, Nicole gulped away her sobs and violently wiped away the single tear the tickled her cheek. The girl tried to come back in her senses, gasping for air and hiccupping several times. He did not worth her tears or her stress, so why to bother because of these pitiful features she and other humans shared? The girl sighed; sometimes she wished her heart was made out of stone. A big ugly and cold piece of stone, so she didn't had to suffer for nobody. But, then again, Nicole was a very proud person. Being yelled at surely made her ego bleed, so it was pretty often when she tried to stop and breathe so she could also stop her tears or make the anger go away. Which she was already doing right now.

With her back slammed against the wall, Nicole rubbed her eyes violently, until all that eyeliner was smudged pretty much all over her face and hands. 'Calm down calm down calm down' she mentally repeated as she struggled to dry up her tears.

"Nicole!" she heard Monique calling out her name as she started to climb up the stairs as well. Gulping away the knot in her neck she yelled back at her, this time in her normal slightly angered voice;

"Leave me alone!"

Pushing herself so stand on her own two feet and with her gaze lowered she started to walk towards her own room. A minute later, Nicole pushed open the door and took a couple of steps inside, slamming the door behind her closed, just like she done until then. She was ready to throw herself on the bed and dig her face in the cool pillows when a voice called out to her.

"Nicole?"

Her eyes snapped open. The girl knew that voice, she was certain about that. Deep and strong, manly but still gentle. Her eyes slowly rose themselves as she scanned the surroundings. Even if there were several similarities, this wasn't the room Gray gave her. Nicole's eyes dropped on the bed. The sleeping figure of a black haired girl could've been seen and besides her, her friend was sitting down on a chair with an oversized violin between his legs. No, wait, it was a cello. Rising her eyes even more, the teen saw Hagi's eyes full of curiosity pinned on her own.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her as he pulled the instrument aside. Nicole felt her knees melting. She missed her room and now she was in Saya and Hagi's. Her hands rose as she started gesticulate fast.

"I-I just went to the kitchen a-and- Kai and I a-and then I missed and i-i-i-" In the next minute a hand was pressed against her mouth, making her to silence down her voice, and another one grabbed her shoulder tight yet careful enough not to cause her a bruise. The girl's eyes grew wide as she realized the man came in front of her and made her shut up, more or less. Staring in his eyes with her own irritated and surprised ones, Nicole heard him talk again:

"You will wake her up."

Turning her gaze towards Saya, the teen realized that she didn't really had that much control on her voice. It was pretty possible that she spoke too loudly. Inwardly she nodded her head a couple of times, and only after this his hand moved away from her mouth, but then other one still remained on her shoulder for a couple more seconds. Nicole sighed in relief when she was free from his gasp. Still, the thought that he touched her like that sent a shiver down her spine. Anyways, how did he move so fast from his seat to in front of her?

But something felt funny. The hand that covered her lips; she didn't felt the warmth of human skin. It felt more like a rough material being pressed against her lips. Touching her bottom lip with the tip of her fingers, Nicole's eyes dropped on his hand which was now hanging lazily on the side of his body. She noticed a bandage covering it from the tip of his fingers up to his wrist. What in the world would cause such a wound?

"How may I help you?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by Hagi's voice once more. Quickly rising her sight so she could stare in his eyes, Nicole remained silent this time. Even if she was a little shock she managed to keep her mouth shut. She really didn't want to make or say she was to regret later on. She wanted to tell him she was ok and she just missed her room but she missed one thing.

"What happened to your eyes?"

Her eyes. All that rubbing and drying the tears up made her eyes look red and irritated, as if she was taking some really nasty eye drops or…Hell knew what happened to her. Quickly lowering her eyes, Nicole also rose her hand and pretended to ran her fingers through her hair, but what she truly wanted to do was covered her eyes. After several moments in which she remained silent, she finally opened her mouth and spoke quickly "Im ok. Why you ask that? Don't I look ok to you?"

Because she had her head down she didn't manage to see Hagi's reaction. His eyebrow slightly rose itself at her reply. It was more then evident she was lying to him. Too bad for him he was playing his cello while Nicole and Kai were having their argument, thus he haven't really heard the two of them yelling one to the other. It was the very same thing for Nicole. She never heard his music because of her own yelling. Hagi extended his bandaged hand once more, this time aiming for her chin, to make her head rose have a better look on her eyes, but his hand was slapped away as soon as it came closer to her face.

"Don't touch me!" she warned as her palm made contact with his hand. Nicole took a step backwards as she turned around and went at the doorway. Opening it, she exited Hagi's room muttering only a dry "Excuse me" while doing so, leaving the young man stare with his solemn figure in her direction. Despite his warning, she slammed the door quite loudly behind her.

Behind him, Saya rolled on her opposite side while moaning slightly. Turning his attention towards her, he went near her in a flash of a second and placed his palm on her forehead. "Hagi…" she called his name, eyes opening slightly. "It's alright Saya."

"I heard something… did anyone came?" she asked as her eyes slowly closed themselves. After a moment of thought her chevalier replied back smoothly.

"There is nothing you should worry about Saya. Please, go back to sleep. You need your rest."

Closing her eyes, and digging her face deep into her pillow Saya done exactly what she was told.

Nicole's room was filled by a thick smoke, despite the window being wide open. She knew the old man was going to kill her for this, she it was one of those moments in which she needed to calm herself down. And since the chocolate was gone in less then fifteen minutes, the best alternative was a nice and toxic cigarette, right? Or al least this was the logic Nicole used in these 'tense' moments. Pressing the old one in an improvised ash tray and lighting up a new match, Nicole placed the toxic roll to her lips and lit up its opposite end. After one or two deep breaths, she took it from her lips and exhaled the smoke in her lungs, along with a slight cough.

'Kai should feel pretty accomplished.' The girl thought as she stare out the window and then at the smoke in between her fingers. It was true. She managed to give up smoking almost two moths ago and started to eat chocolate like a pig. It seemed she could've lived her whole life without this bad habit, but then again, fuck it! She needs to calm down after a crises like the one she had a couple hours ago. She was human too, right?

The two hours passed by pretty fast. Locked up in her room and ignoring Monique and Gray's pleas to come out and talk, all those offers for comfort and so on, weren't really her cup of tea. Nicole was the kind of person who would most likely be found in a cave, by herself and will still survive just fine.

Right now she sat motionless, only her hand rising and falling from her lips to the ash tray, sitting on the edge of the window sash and watching as the smoke rose itself up into the summer sky. Her eyes were no longer tortured by the excess of make up; they were clean now, but there still were proof of the violent treatment she applied to them earlier. The redness around her eye sockets was still visible, and her eyeballs had a tired aspect. Nicole was simply waiting for the time to pass by, so she could get her ass out of that nicely decorated prison out where she knew her real place was; the streets. She already what she was going to wear and how she was going to escape from the house outside. The only two problems left were how she was going to get back inside and where the Hell, or what the Hell was "the dick of London".

Her head dropped forwards as she coughed out some smoke which the girl forgot to free from her lungs. So many problems, such little time.

It seemed she had to take care of the second problem once she would get in town. Then again how could she get there in first place? A taxi would be too oblivious and the cab drivers always were asses. Walk 20 or more kms until she would reach it? No way. Ask Gray like the nice girl she was (notice the sarcasm please..) to drive her himself to town? Totally out of discussion. As Nicole kept thinking about what to do next, her eyes went wide when she remembered something. As she Saya and Hagi were walking back from their little walk earlier that day, they passed a garage, which was left open. What caught her eyes was an old motorcycle or motor scooter thingy, and she was more then just sure she saw Kai's red hair behind it. It seemed the great mechanic was fixing up his little baby, right?

A smirk curved Nicole's lips as she rose her head and took another deep breath from her almost finished smoke. What better revenge could she find then steal for one night only his little baby? She had once a scooter herself, that until it was stolen, but she knew how dear it was to her. And it was pretty possible for Kai to care about his own the same.

Pressing the cig in the ash tray where 12 others were 'resting' as well, Nicole got up and went to the bathroom; it was time for a quick shower to wash away that smell off of her.

The real fun started around midnight. It was then where the best gangs would gather up to the floor and show what they worked on in the meantime. The crowd would cheer or swear out to the participants if their performance was good or if it was bad. There were also the so called battles, where the dancers went one-on-one on the floor using different surroundings such as blocks with different sizes, ropes, springboards and so on. They guys who were making the design of the floor were full of imagination.

That was Nicole's target for that night.

The sun set two hours ago and the clock showed 10;35 pm. Nicole threw one last look into the mirror. It was as if there was someone else standing in front of her and claimed to be her reflection, but it was true. This was herself. The girl was so shocked, because it was the first time when she used the clothes she wore after a really long time. Her torso was covered by a black sleeveless turtle neck which had fishnets for a sleeve. It was also kind of short since it showed up some of her belly. She wore a pair of dark gray jeans which were slightly more tight then the ones she wore earlier, but they seemed to be pretty old due to the rips and decolorized knees they possessed. Her whole body was covered by a long leather jacket which covered her butt and her feet were digged deeply into military styled boots. Her hair was really messy and puffed, making her head appear two times bigger then it actually was and her eyes were tortured by thick black eyeliner and mascara. She had no accessories whatsoever, only her hands were covered by a pair of fingerless gloves, for safety measures while driving the scooter thing.

The teen sighed. She wasn't too happy with this appearance, but this way the risk of being recognized was lower. Who knew what relatives or friends anyone in the house had that could see her and then unmask her? No sir, this happened once, long ago when she and the Maniacs first went out. It didn't came out pretty at all back then.

Nicole looked around the room to see if there is anything she missed. Her cell phone? In her pocket. The key to her room? In the pocket. The key to Kai's motor? Stolen from his jacket and in her pocket. Enough money? She had that as well. Last but not least, the pack of Dunhill, black edition? In her backpocket.

The girl nodded to herself. Everything was settled. She opened the window and then jumped out landing in a big hayrick. This way she managed to avoid waking everyone up by leaving on the front door. Anyways, she moved pretty quickly. Cleaning herself, then running smoothly towards the garage and opening the old rusty door as quietly as possible, but she kinda failed on doing the second task. As she grabbed the handle and pulled it on her right to open up the door, the heavy metal made a long creaking noise which was pretty distinct in the deaf of the night. Gulping and making an "oopsie" face, Nicole hoped that it didn't woke up anyone and quickly slinked inside.

Inside the house everything was calm and silent as every single person living there rolled in his or hers sleep, enjoying their sweet dreams. Monique ended up sleeping in the living room on the couch since she was so tired from washing dishes and doing laundry she found it was of no use to climb up those stairs to sleep. The couch was good enough for her. Upstairs, sleeping peacefully was Javier, dreaming that some day she would visit a big arcade or fun park. In her tiny arms rested a dirty brown teddy bear, guarding her from the evil nightmares. A few rooms from this Kai fell asleep on the floor, as he was reading some reports or other documents about chiropterans Joel gave him. In the room next to his, Gray dreamt of the perfect fishing adventures along with his friends, adventure which came right after a nice little get together at a picnic. David, on the other side, slept dreamless, his head full of worries and dark thoughts along with the fumes of alcohol. In the room right next to Nicole's Saya was still asleep. But this wasn't a sleep meant for dreams or nightmares, it was a sleep which was meant to rebuilt her strength. Right besides her, in the dark room, the only person still awake was him. Her chevalier, Hagi.

He sat on his chair arms crossed and eyes closed as if he was meditating. The cello was out of his case, which meant it was played previously. Only a small candle lit up the whole room, making the young man look more human, and giving him some color in his pale cheeks. It made him look so calm and relaxed, but the truth was he was ready to strike at any time if he felt anything out of the ordinary around him. Never letting his guard down, he was ready to protect both himself and his queen.

But then he heard a sound.

His eyes snapped open as he rose from his chair and quickly scanned the room. No movements whatsoever. The sound came from outside. Heading towards the window he leaned a little to see if there was anything he needed to see. The sound was loud enough for a normal human to hear, but still not load to wake them up. A chiropteran would've been so careless if it wanted to sneak inside. Still, he didn't wanted to take any risks. Hagi narrowed his eyes and used his incredible speed to jump outside the window and run exactly where the sound came from: the garage.

"Damnit!" Nicole grunted as she finally managed to take that damn scooter out of its place. It was true, she dropped it a couple of times on her foot, but as long as it will have the gas tank full and it will take her to London and back it was good enough for her. By this time she was considering looking for a night job or something like that. "Good…" she muttered as she started to push it towards the exit.

But then she heard something. The garage doors opened themselves? 'What the heck?..' the girl thought as her eyes went wide. Turning her head towards the exit, she saw the silhouette of a very tall and slender person, holding the door open with only one hand! Not to mention, it was fully open! She barely managed to open half of it with her whole body weight. Still, it still was a surprise there still was someone around besides her. Letting out a small squeak as she jumped in surprise, Nicole went in the back and put her hands in front of her body as a defense.

"Who the hell are you!" she shouted trying to make it sound as if it was a warning. Much to her surprise, the figure already knew her name.

"Nicole?" The girls eyes went wide as she went in a normal position again.

"Hagi?!"

The young man came closer inside the garage as he kept his solemn and serious figure. When he got two feet away from her, the girl saw that his eyebrow slightly rose itself. Shaking her head and the confusion away, Nicole spoke again.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" she asked him as she put her hands on her hips, in superiority.

"I could ask you the same question." He replied. Without her knowing it the young man scanned her from head to toes. And thus the raised eyebrow. Her appearance was at least bizarre, it was nothing like what he saw her wearing earlier that day. It seemed that an evil Nicole took the old one's place. After this, his eyes dropped on Kai's scooter, which was out of its place. Was she going out? This late? He rose his gaze to the girl, their eyes meeting.

"What happened to your face?" he asked monotone as he took one more step forward, to see the 'damage' better. It seemed Nicole didn't liked his question. She punched him in the arm, but as a chiropteran, Hagi barely felt when her fist made contact with his skin.

"It's none of your business! Just get out of my way!" the girl told him as she grabbed once again the scooter's handlebar and tried to pass by the man in front of her, but she was rudely grabbed by the shoulder. "Let go of me!" she yelled at him as she struggled to get his hand away, but since her own two hand were grabbing into the scooter, she didn't really managed to slap his hand away again. But then her eyes dropped on his hand. The bandaged one again…?

"You sneaked out."

Nicole's gaze dropped. Yeah she did sneak out. Did he had a problem with that? Pressing her lips together, she let go of the motor thing and turned to him, slapping away his hand from her shoulder while doing so. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, before lowering her head and sighing. How the hell to say this?

"Ok, I know I look weird, something is wrong with my face and so on but…" she made a little pause. Hagi's eyebrows slightly narrowed. "Would you please shut up for me?" she rose her head to met his eyes. It was a good thing she was so tall. Out of her crew, she was the tallest girl and compared with Hagi, he was only a head or so more taller then she was.

The young man in front of her tried to keep his serious figure. What did she just do? Did this girl ask him to lie for her? His eyebrows narrowed themselves even more at the thought. He never lied, not even for Saya, and now he was asked, pretty politely though, to lie for someone he did not knew for more then a day. He opened his mouth to tell her it was impossible and eventually carry her inside with or without her will, but then Nicole slapped her palms together as if she was praying and burst out loud;

"Please? I swear this is really important. I will be back before anyone else would notice."

The young man gulped the excess of saliva in his mouth. She sounded as if she was begging her father to let her out. This situation put Hagi in a rather delicate position. She was just a child; it wouldn't be wise if he was going to lie for her while she went hell knew where. And judging from her clothes and make-up… Hagi mentally shook his head. From what he noticed in her behavior in the park and when she came in his room, she didn't seem the type to sell herself for money. Every single gesture she made, indicated a very proud person, not a slut.

The chevalier sighed barely noticeable.

"If this is as important as you say, then I shall lie for you."

Nicole's lips curved into a grin as she heard him talk. This meant she was free to go? The girl felt like jumping two feet into the air.

"But I will ask you to keep your promise. If you will not come back before sunrise, I shall announce Gray of your absence."

"I swear with all my being." The girl crossed her chest with her index finger as another smile was planted on her lips. Without any kind of warning, the girl jumped towards Hagi and wrapped her arms around his muscular torso, hugging him tight.

His eyes widen in surprise. This was something he would never expect, especially from a girl such as Nicole. But he had to admit, this was the first hug he received in a long time. As far as he remembered, it was back at Joel's mansion when he and Saya hugged for the last time. It was in the morning of the day when he became a chevalier. Inwardly, he rose his arms as well, and he intended to place them on her shoulders but before he had the chance, the girl pulled away quickly and returned to the scooter once more, leaving him with his hands up in the air.

Nicole didn't knew why she hugged him. She had her moments in which she didn't really thought of her actions and just acted like she felt it was was right. She didn't remained on her position to see Hagi's expression, but she was sure he wasn't the kind of person who would get mad if he was hugged without warning. Taking the motor outside, she sat down on it and fixed her leather gloves on her hands. After this, the teen just digged the key so it would make contact and switched it clock wise. A huge grin lighted up her lips as she heard the motor running. "Yes!" Nicole hissed as she punched the air. Turning her head towards the garage again she saw Hagi standing right where she left him, watching her with his normal blank stare. She smiled as another thought ran through her mind.

Leaving the engine to run, she got up from the seat and ran towards the young man, and as she got closer to him, she quickly planted a smooched kiss on his cheek. It happened so fast, in the next second she was already three feet away from him, leaving the chevalier with a slight confusion written in his eyes. Hagi did not move at all, he remained in the same position, only his head lowered itself a little as her lips made contact with his skin. Other then this, he just watched her as she planted herself on the seat once again, this time covering her head as well, with a half-helmet which had a pair of glasses attached to it. It was oblivious that too belonged to Kai.

"Hey!" his attention was drawn by her strident voice. Hagi had to admit it; he didn't really wanted to hear her sing... she continued to speak;

"If it proves to be safe I'll try to bring you too next time, ok? Take care!"

With that she was gone leaving behind only the noise of the old scooter and the dust the spinning wheels caused on the road. Still in his position, the chevalier watched her until she went out of his sight. Only after this, he turned around to enter the house, the exact same way he went out; through the window. This orphan surely had something curious. Hagi decided it would be wise if he kept an eye on her, of course without her noticing it. As he got again inside his room, his eyes landed on the sleeping figure of Saya. He walked over to her and brushed her bangs out of her face before leaning again on a wall in deep thought, as he always done.

But only after several minutes, his eyes narrowed themselves again. He realized something; Nicole's last words before she left. What did she meant by "If it proves to be safe?"…

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Ok, my hands hurt...long chapter, and still no real fun.... ARGH! i have so much more in mind!!! I wanna type it faster!!! T.T anyways, i want to apologiaze if i made Hagi ooc, but i tried to keep it as ...he normaly is ^^() oh and just to make it clrea, Nicole 'disguised' herself into a ghothic chick. This really isnt her normal style. Review please! Oh, and if you have an idea how i could improve this story, please yell me, ok? I will make sure to give you credit! ^o^ see you around!