Chapter 2: Walk Down Memory Lane

We walk around for a while locking up rooms which were still open, talking about general things; she tells me about her college classes, how they've been going, I tell her about how things have been going in Russia, the swearing and condescension is minimal, there is a weird amenability in these conversations; they seem very superficial and artificial.

I wonder if Hiromi notices this too, but she doesn't say anything. I would apologize to her, to get things back to normal, but I can't, not because as Tyson would put it 'I'm almighty Kai afraid of saying what I feel', but because it wouldn't be honest, I am not sorry for having left the team again, I had to take the last shot at getting to be the world champion, she of all people should understand that. Though the way that I left, and cutting off all contacts with her again through the course of the competition is something I am sorry for, maybe one day I'll have the nerve to admit that. Besides I don't think I'd like to go back to the way we were, fighting and bickering , gives me more of an opportunity to interact with her, thought I can't help fear that one day this will completely tear us apart.

Hiromi stops speaking, and so do I, not having anything to say at the particular moment. The building seems eerie at night without the employees working and the kids training. It has that creepy look that the abbey had twenty four-seven. I still need to get something done with that place. After Ian and Bryan graciously blew the place up, it's been in the same shambles. I never have the nerve to get something built down there. It just doesn't feel right. Sure, a new place will help get rid of the terrible memories associated with so many kids, but it's hard to wrap my mind around.

While I try to find the key to Miriam's office, from the huge set of keys, Hiromi decides to amiably ditch me, to go off somewhere. I decide that looking for her would take longer than locking up the rest of the rooms, so I continue making my way through the building locking the place up. I pity the Miriam who does this each night; it is a long and monotonous job.

Walking into the records room which has the details of past tournaments, it's hard even for me to not feel slightly nostalgic; it also has the large portraits of each championship winners. I make my way towards the nineties and early two thousands.

There is a picture of me with the Blade Sharks, there was never any friendship between me and Carlos or any of the others, we all just had a mutual goal, and mutual plans for the fulfillments of that goal. But even in the picture I can see the happiness I felt that day, I felt that I had proved myself worthy; I was the best.

I shake my head at how delusional I was, in all aspects, thinking that just because of I was the best because I won the championships, there are thousands of people who don't take part in tournament, you may never determine who's best, and no one can remain the best forever; considering being the best to be so important to me, not realizing that there were things much more important and that people who love me will care for me even if I wasn't the best. Sure, I still haven't wrapped my thoughts around the concepts completely, even now. A thirteen year life time's worth of life policies don't get wiped out from your mind that quick, though it has been ten years since I realized the errors of my way. I sweat drop as I think of this. I guess I have to work on it.

Next in line is the picture of the first time I won the championships with the Bladebreakers, all of us are wearing medals. I even look happy here, I feel proud of myself even though I lost my match. I learnt an important lesson and made some important realizations at Lake Baikal; and that there is a group of people who actually care for me despite all my short comings.

After that is the second year with the Bladebreaker; Max and Tyson and won their match against Zeo and his partner, and we became champions second year in a row. We got more sense of the value of our bit beasts, Hiromi joined the team, and I found for myself in her a great friend whom I could trust and count on to kick my ass. The picture is the same which Ray keeps on his table, and I in my wallet. Tyson holding the cup, Ray laughing, Max winking and Kenny tripping, and Hiromi dragging me into the photo at the last moment; I wonder if a time will come when this picture will fail to be my favorite.

Smiling, I make my forward towards the championships before BEGA, I have never see this picture before, no one bothered keeping it, I guess. The picture has Tyson holding the trophy, Kenny and Daichi behind him, the latter of whom is cheering. I note that Hiromi is not in it, I will have to ask her about this some time.

Next is another great picture from the same year, it's not of any championships, but of the day Tyson defeated Brooklyn, the last match of the Justice Five tournament. The picture has everyone who was against BEGA that year. In the front is the G Revolution team. Tyson, battered and bruised is grinning from ear to ear, Max and Daichi are on either sides of him, Ray is a little towards the back, close to the White Tiger X team, Hiromi and I are standing towards the side of the picture, I am all wrapped up like a mummy. This is another great picture.

And then last is the picture of the championships after BEGA, the last tournament any of us participated in. Ironically it has two teams in it; Bladebreakers –minus me – and the Blitzkrieg Boys. The same teams made it to the final again, and it was a draw all over. Though ironically Tyson and I, we didn't get to battle. Mr. Dickenson decided to deny the teams of the privilege of who got to battle who. In this photo we're not holding the trophy because well, Mr. Dickenson forgot to bring it. At the back row are Tala, Bryan and Spencer; Kenny stands here in front, behind his is Daichi being his usual idiotic self, behind him is Hiromi – pointedly making an effort to look sulky an ignore me – standing between me and Tyson and finally next to Tyson are Max and Ian. This was a very awkward picture, we were all satisfied with how the tournament ended, but not completely jubilant; and Hiromi was being persistent at remaining mad at me.

It's the last picture that has anyone I know in it. I turn around one time looking at the dozens of pictures covering each wall; each one filled with happy faces I can't help but wonder how those who had lost that day felt, probably like I did, when the fourth picture was being taken.

Making my way out of that room, I continue my chore, checking to see if each door was locked and locking the ones that were not. I don't come across Hiromi anywhere and wonder if she left. I finally reach the top floor again, which is the head quarters for our organization, which we had decided to name G Revolution, it seemed a name as good as any, and G Revolution was originally the first organization formed against Boris Balcov, and it also had quite a number of people that are a part of this one, so, it just felt appropriate.

After being done with locking up all the offices, I make my way towards the conference room where we all were a bit earlier this night. I open the double doors to see the lights open; I can't see her anywhere, and by anywhere I mean anywhere, I even look under the giant table.

I made my way towards the balcony and open the door and sure as anything, I see Hiromi standing there looking at the dingy alley behind the BBA building. I sigh and take a step in; another step and I'm leaning against the railing against just like the brunette, who is the virus plaguing my mind. The gallery is pretty narrow; it's actually a fire escape, not a terrace for people to spend their leisure time in, and two steps led me to the end of it. I look down at the ground below; we're on the thirty-third floor and it's a pretty huge fall. She seems zoned out; I can't tell why she wants to stand here, looking down at the deserted alley.

"You done, or did you waste an hour looking for me?" Hiromi asks without looking at me.

I narrow my eyes. "I locked up the place. Now please let's get out of here."

Hiromi shakes her head. "You go; I'll lock up and leave after a while."

I don't answer her; I just stand there looking down at the alley. "How long are you here for?" Hiromi asks turning to look towards me.

"Depends upon Kenny and his meetings," I say looking at her. "And what assignment I get. Last time I got stationed in South America; turned out that the man who was responsible for the kidnappings and all the experiments was a student of the abbey."

"What?" Hiromi asks in shock, the mask of hardness gone from her face.

"I recognized him, he was a couple of years older than me," I say to her.

"Oh," she replies not knowing what else to say.

"Did he escape from the abbey?" she asks looking at me, her eyebrows furrowed.

"No," I decline with a shake of my head. "When Voltaire ended up in jail and I got the abbey tore down, all the kids got released, he was one of them."

"Oh God, that's terrible; he got freedom from that hell, and that's how he repays you: following your grandfather's footsteps; that's terrible." Hiromi says her hands gripping the railing, she clearly sounds pissed.

"A lot of people died wanting the freedom that he got." I say thinking of the man I had gotten arrested a few months ago. He felt no remorse for what he was doing; he considered it to be revenge for his childhood being ruined; it was sadistic and it irked me; nothing could justify what he was doing to those kids.

Hiromi sighs deeply, there's not much room here, and I can feel her breath on my face. "You should really do something about the abbey."

"Call it sadistic," I say looking square into her eyes, her eyes always remind me of my own, just a whole lot darker. "But I just like seeing that place as a wreck."

"That's not right, Kai," Hiromi's voice sounds a lot gentler, she places her hand on my own; I try not to draw back mine, too much contact, I'm still not use to it. I don't say anything in response to her words. I'm confused, why is she suddenly being so nice? Is she alright? She could show her care through a thick layer of scorn and contempt, is she by any chance trying to patch things up?

"Kai, I know they're bad memories connected with that place," she pauses and takes hold of my other hand. "I know that place is a huge part of you and you don't want to lose it, but you have to let go, watching a piece of land in a state of relapse and ruin isn't going to change your past. You have to stop clinging to the past; start the construction of something in that place, a change of scenery at that place will be a good solace and way of moving on for everyone who ever stayed there."

Hiromi stops and let goes of my hands, and draws back from me. I take in each word she says, I can tell she is truly concerned, she always has been when it came to issues of the abbey and everyone and anyone who suffered in it.

"Maybe I should just sell off the place," The idea comes into my mind and I tell her to get her two cents on it. What to do with the abbey is something that has been bothering me ever since it came under my control, and I honestly want to get the load of it off my chest.

"That's just stupid, Kai." Hiromi says flatly, her eyes narrowed. Ah, there goes the niceness; I smile inwardly, nice to have her back. "You have to face your fears, selling the place or keeping it in a state of wreckage and mutilation won't make a difference."

I blink at her words and try to think over them. It is kind of peaceful in this place, constricted, but quiet; I can see why Hiromi made her way here. If I look not at the ground but up, it's kind of even nice to look at, the Japanese night sky is always, no matter where you are. As always, it's hard to decide on anything and I try to let go of the thoughts.

Hiromi's voice clearly shows that she's annoyed. "Why are you so confused?"

"I don't know what to do," I say, taking a deep breath. "Even if I do decide to tear down the place and start something new, but what would I build there? It's a huge decision, it should be something which symbolizes a change, an end of the tyranny that went on there; the abbey should be replaced with something completely opposite."

"How about an orphanage?" she asks all of a sudden; she turns around to lean against the railing.

"I've thought over it, but no, it doesn't feel right." I follow suit and turn around too. "I want it to be something that's connected to me; I don't want to lose that place."

Her voice sounds resigned. "Kai, I honestly do not get what you want to do with that place."

I've thought about resignation too, but the thought keeps tugging at the back of my mind. "Come to Russia one day, I'll show you the abbey, and then you'll understand."

"Probably not," Her voice sounded down; I can't help but wonder why. I look at her face to find traces of the reason, but it is as composed as before. I turn away. "I wouldn't even then be able to understand; I haven't gone through what you have, I wouldn't be able to understand why this is so hard for you."

Her words catch me off guard and suddenly, for the first time in my life, my scarf feels too tight around my neck. "No, that's not it," I say immediately.

Hiromi doesn't answer; she no longer faces me, her face is turned towards the sign of the building next door, a curtain of chocolate brown hair conceals the side of her face from view.

"You're always the person I talk to about the abbey, Boris, Voltaire, wanting to be the world champion," I pause for a second. "There's a reason I want to see the place and give your opinion before doing anything."

Hiromi turns her head and I can see her face once again. Her eyebrows are furrowed and she's biting her lip. I don't get why she's being so apprehensive. Even if she doesn't understand, what's the big deal?

"Can you come?" I ask, as good a time as any to ask, and I needed something to say. I've been wanting for her to come to the abbey; I wanted her opinion before considering doing something with the place.

"Sure," Hiromi says in a cheery voice. "Though as soon as Kenny and classes permit."

"Right," I say with a smirk.

"Now come on," she says taking a step towards the door and ushering me to follow; I stare at her for a second before my brain responds to her words.

Before I could reply, she arches an eyebrow and speaks up, "What? Do you wanna stay here the whole night, in this fire escape?"

I narrow my eyes at the cockiness in her voice.

"Come on," she says grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the narrow gallery. She takes the keys from my hand and makes her way towards the light switch. She switches off the single light, shining in the entire room; I make her way towards her in the dark, she's at the same spot near the switch board.

"Slow much?" Hiromi snaps in an annoyed voice, grabbing my hand again. She pulls us out of the room, locking it with one hand. She continues to drag us both to the stair case saying she wanted to walk down a couple of floors before taking the escalator. I want to protest, but I don't, and let her drag me down with her.

"Why are you so happy and not PMSing all of a sudden?" I ask as we make our way towards the elevator after climbing down to the thirtieth floor.

Hiromi narrows here eyes and then smiles, without answering. We make our way inside the elevator and Hiromi finally speaks up, "Nothing, it's just been a long time since I last saw you, four months, I didn't want to argue."

I resist the urge to bang my head; she's being extremely vague today, it's confusing me, wait, what did she say? Did she just give a straight answer? Huh, she is right; it has been four months since I last saw her.

I blink a couple of times, not sure how I didn't realize it. Maybe that's why I was so anxious to come to Japan for this meeting; it has been four months since I came here, four months since I last saw Hiromi. I loosen the scarf from my neck, I see Hiromi smirk at this. I would have raised my eyebrows, but I don't. I hope I get a chance to catch up with her before we have to take off to wherever Kenny wants us to take off for. Neither of us says a word, till the elevator door dings open, enveloped in our own musings. Just as quietly we exit the building locking the main doors which require a security code.

My car is just in front of the building; I offer to drive her to her apartment, but she says it's fine and that she drove over. I nod in response and watch her as she makes her way towards her car. I can't help but notice that she looks just the same as when she did when she was fourteen. I chuckle at this thought, of course she looks older, but other than that the same short edgy dark brown hair, knee length dress with a jacket on top and sneakers; yup, exactly the same, glad to see that. Attitudes pretty much the same too, she's as violent, short tempered and caring as when we were kids.

I lean against my car waiting for Hiromi get to hers which is parked on the opposite side of the lain. Turning her head around to look back at me a couple of time, she walks over to it, gets in and puts it in reverse and pulls it onto the lain. She then looks at me in the rear view mirror; sticking her head out of the window, waves a good bye and then drives off.

Unable to help it, I smirk as I enter the car; maybe I'll go see her before the meeting, I think it's about time I patched things up with her. I don't want wake up one day to find her gone, and then finding the first trace of her to be invitation accompanied with a scoffing Ian in front of my bedroom door one day. It's not like I like her in that way, but I want to be friends with her again, close friends, like before I blew up and joined the Blitzkrieg Boys for a second time, and then we can see what happens… though I can't deny the thought of Hiromi being with someone even with my knowledge, and not out of the blue, seems pretty terrible to think about.

I bang my head on the steering wheel, I cannot believe I'm thinking this way about Hiromi, well Hiromi is the only girl I've ever actually thought about so, this isn't all that big of a shock. Ian is right she is slowly taking over my hard drive, I mean my mind. I need to sleep over, that is the only thing I think of as I drive over to the dojo.

Wow, an update withing month, my personal best. *grins* I hope everyone liked this chapter; sorry if Kai was OOC, but it's kinda hard to write it in his POV without going slightly OOC. :P Poison by the All American Rejects and Box of Stones of Benjamin Leftwich, two very awesome songs, these two were the ones I was listening to while I wrote this chapter. *dances*

Thank you to Moonlight Serenity, Smile-bestthingintheworld, cOOlzannimeaDDict and Dead-by-n0w for reviewing. Thank you to the favers, alert-ers and readers. xD

Oh, and those who haven't read my fics before, I tend to only use the Japanese name of Hilary, that is I use Hiromi, but the rest of the names are of the English version, that is because I like the name Hiromi, much more than Hilary. Thought I'd point that out. I last did in chappy 1 of A Stitch in Time an year ago, about time I did it again.

Eight publish of the day, I'm heading off to have dinner; damn I'm hungry. Oh, one more for the night, that will be The Little Things Give You Away as soon as authoress Dead-by-now gets done beta-ing it. And the rest of the three updates after I sleep and then get up in the morning. =P Which will make it 12 updates in 24 hours. *dances*

Hope everyone enjoyed. xD Please review. :P

29th May, 2012. 02:50 a.m.