~Chapter 12: Enemy of the Past ~

Zero P.O.V.

We finally made our way through the packed halls of the school. Krystal was right behind me, trying to keep up.

After entering the lunch room/ restaurant, I was glad to look up on the second floor to see Zoey waving at us. She had saved us a booth. We had to climb two sets of stairs to get up there.

"Let's go sit with Zoey." Krystal said leading the way. I got in front by people pushing past me and somehow it just happened. I had already gotten to the top and thought Krystal was right behind me.

"Ugh! What are you doing back here? Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Amber, who had long curly blond hair and a cheerleader said.

"It's none of your business. I'm apart of school as much as you are Amber. Excuse me." Krystal replied. I could tell she was starting to get annoyed. Amber still blocked her path and a crowd had formed at the bottom of the steps. Everyone was silent.

"Oh really, we'll none of us want you here."

"Who's that just you three?" Krystal countered. "It's obvious that no one here wants to be my friend for whatever reason—"

"It's because you're poor. Everyone here is rich and can afford to go to this school. Plus, just look at you. I mean if I looked like that I would've committed suicide too." Amber's friend, a redhead with short hair said.

"So what, I got in here because I have earned it with my good grades. Unlike you three who apparently bought their way in. If you had any idea of what I've been through, you—" Krystal started to say but was cut off.

"Tch, whatever." A brown haired boy piped up. "Oh yeah, we all know what you've been though. No friends, being a slut, and you were raped and probably got pregnant. How's that?"

"Here let us give you a hand." A girl named Katie sneered as she threw her food which consisted of lasagna and garlic bread at her and then everyone started doing it and laughing. Krystal ran out of the lunch room immediately.

Zoey glared at them all. She went up and smacked Katie right in the face hard as hell and everyone got quiet. They looked at us both in shock. We were far beyond pissed off.

"Bro, go check on her. I'll deal with these punks." She said cracking her knuckles.

"That was uncalled for and extremely rude! You selfish girl, what if you were in her position?" She yelled.

"She's a very kind person and just wants to get along with everyone. She's not a slut, you're all the sluts around here. Say and do anything else to hurt her and you'll have to answer to me!" She roared. The last thing I saw was Zoey picking up the kid with the brown hair by his shirt collar.

She's gonna kill them all.

Krystal P.O.V.

I was in the girl's bathroom trying to get the lasagna out of my uniform. I only had one pair left back at my home. Tears slowly streamed down my face as I continued to scrub.

Huntington Academy's bathroom were so top notch. There were of course toilets in each stall. A complete locker room with mirrors that included hair products and hairdryers and of course showers.

I was on my knees in the shower room. Each one had a wall and curtain for privacy. I had quickly turned the hot water on and that's when the tears came.

I thought I was doing great standing up for myself instead of letting others do it for me. I had to learn to be strong. But those walls I had thrown up in my mind to keep those horrible thoughts out were blown back in my face.

I was so embarrassed and upset and they just had to throw food at me. I was sure glad Zero and Zoey were there. They saw how the students really treated me as a piece of garbage. No one wanted anything to do with me but those two.

While I sat on the wet tile floor scrubbing the stains out, I didn't hear footsteps approaching me.

"Krystal?" That was Zero and I didn't want to turn and face him, not when I was like this. He got down and sat next to me. He closed the curtain for privacy even though no one else was in here.

He cupped my chin in his hand and turn my face around to meet him. He moved wet strands of my brown hair out of my face and wiped a few tears from my eyes. "It's alright to cry. I understand that that brought up some unpleasant memories. But, you did impress Zoey and I both with the way you stood up for yourself and didn't take any crap. As a matter of fact, she is still in the lunch room tearing everyone's head off with her speech."

That made me laugh, thinking of how everyone looked cowering under Zoey's glares. "Do you think I'm weak Zero?" I asked avoiding his gaze.

"Hey, look at me." He said sternly and I did with hesitation. "It took a lot of guts for you to do what did in there. So no you are not weak at all. You just need to work on trying to ignore what everyone says about you. I know it hurts, but you can learn to block it all out. Zoey will make sure they all apologize later today. You know how she is."

I smiled and continued scrubbing my skirt. In a few minutes in was the stains were out. Zero and I were soak in the now warm water streaming down on us. We didn't seem to mind though. I was happy he was here and he and his sister were helping me through this mess.

I felt I owed them so much already. Winter is coming up soon and so many things are happening during that semester. "How can I pay them back?" I said out loud and instantly covered my mouth.

"I already told you, you don't to worry about it. We are your friends." Zero said leaning against me. I raised an eyebrow. I just thought of what I could do.

"Zero?"

"Hm." He said looking at me. I instantly leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He deserved more than that though. I turned my head away out of embarrassment. I had never done that before.

"You're one sly girl, Krystal." Zero said and I saw a faint blush on his cheeks. How cute. "It's my turn now." He teased as he brought our faces closer together and my eyes widened as he kissed me on my lips for the first time.

I was hesitant at first but leaned into the kiss, trying to send as much passion back as I could. Zero pulled me closer to him as his back was against the shower wall. We were still in the shower and the warm water was still raining on us.

I wrapped my hands around his neck as he had one hand in my hair and the other around me. Our kiss was magical, sweet and perfect. We soon ended to breathe some much needed air back in.

I was still reeling a little bit from shock but I had a bright smile my face and Zero laughed, boy was that a site to behold.

"Was that too much?" He asked making sure he didn't cross the line or something.

I shook my head. "I was surprised you even did that. Not that I didn't want it to happen. It was amazing!" I blushed deep red.

"I'm glad to see you've cheered up." Zero stood up and finally cut the water off. We were soaked and didn't care. We walked side by side to go to the blow drying area when someone yanked my arm back hard and I yelped in pain.

Zero brought out his Bloody Rose gun and I could see the shock on his face as he looked at a potential enemy who had me kneeled on the shower floor with their fingers threatening to close around my neck and kill me.

I turned my head enough to see a woman. She looked older than Zero but was strikingly beautiful. She had very long grey hair. Her skin was pale. Her eyes were a light red color as she continued to glare at him. She wore a long light blue kimono with a huge purple ribbon tide in the front and below it was red string with a yellow bell attached.

Who was this woman and Zero seemed to be scared of her, I could see it in his eyes. He had obviously encountered her before.

She smiled and said, "My name is Shizuka Hio, it's been a long time Zero."

A/N: Just to knock out the confusion, obviously, Zero's mother and father aren't dead. But there was something else that happened back then in his past that was horrible. It will be explained in the next chapter.

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