Yooo, I'm back! This chapter was actually going to be part of the next chapter, but to keep things organized and to not confuse you even more, I made a separate chapter for this. It's short but sweet. Hope you enjoy reading this, and please let me know what you think!

Also thank you for your reviews, I loved reading them! You guys rule!

SPECIAL shout out to skyelolbff tumblr who drew adorable fanart of Masami!
Link can be found on my profile here on for anyone interested! You can also find contact info if you want to submit me anything

CHAPTER 16:

► Children

It was early summer. A nice change, especially after the harsh winter and the rainy spring season. The rain had just been annoying, but winter had provided the orphanage with more orphans, and had taken just as many orphan lives. An equivalent exchange, he thought. Life was cruel, he knew that. In the streets, he had to steal, fight and rummage through trash all day long to survive. He was used to it by now. But at least, he had been free. Freedom; he imagined it as something his, something you could own.

Freedom.

The orphanage that had taken away the last thing he had, the last thing he truly treasured. The world was really, truly cruel.

Anger overwhelmed him. He couldn't afford to be sad or to cry. It was a sign of weakness, Lucks had told him. You have to be hard to survive out here. And so, he turned his tears into a beastly rage. His days in the orphanage consisted of him fighting anyone that challenged him, anyone that disrespected him, or his older crew. It was how he coped and how he kept reminding himself that he had to fight to survive. He realized that even though his body was larger than the average kid of his age, he was still so weak. Mentally, especially. By becoming stronger, his chances of getting out of this hell hole might be a tad bit larger. He craved for the thing he had lost not so long ago. Freedom.

His way of life had come to a full stop on the day his fight was broken up by a girl. They'd been thrown into the isolation cell and for the first time in a long time, he had laughed.

She'd even shared her treats with him. Sugar, she called it. It was so sweet and delightful, and he wished the taste could linger on his tongue forever. His pain, loss and misery were all forgotten, if not for just a moment. For the days to come, they'd see each other and sometimes she'd sneak him a few cubes of sugar. He always insisted on sharing, and never took more than one. Though, he couldn't deny that he felt happy whenever she urged him to take a few more. Kou always disapproved, saying his teeth would rot and fall out.

That bastard could never understand.

The next months however, had been bad. The war had taken a turn for the worst and the flood of kids ending up in the orphanage had never been bigger. The struggle for food, deceases spreading among children and staff and the abuse were only the tip of the iceberg of problems. Misery spread like a wildfire. More than anything, Bear was getting desperate. He wanted to get out.

"Hey, Bear," she called out, waking him up from his daze by shaking him roughly by the shoulders. For a second his worries ebbed away. He wondered how exactly she managed to do that.

He groaned, and swatted her hand away. "Could've sworn you were a man, dammit. Shaking me like that."

"Don't be an ass," she replied curtly, before taking a seat next to him in the grass. "Be happy you're blessed with my company, Ponytail."

Bear just rolled with his eyes, as she laughed at her own joked. He could've said something back, but he liked to see her laugh so he made it a point to look annoyed instead, the exact reaction she wanted.

"Here," she then said, and held out two sugar cubes.

He hesitated for a second. For her it was a second too long, so she grabbed his wrist and placed the cubes in his hand.

"You should take one too," Bear replied, trying to ignore the warm flutter he felt in his stomach. It was a strangely pleasant feeling. Somehow, he got this feeling more often as of late and he didn't quite understand why. He didn't feel sick. He was hungry, but this wasn't what hunger felt like. He knew for sure, since he was overly familiar with feeling hungry. A bit too familiar, if he thought about it.

"No, besides I don't enjoy them as much as you do. So, eat or I'll shove them down your throat myself," she grinned broadly.

Bear shoved her with his foot, but did what she said in the end. He plopped the cubes into his mouth and sucked on them, enjoying the sweet treat to its fullest. He leaned back; his palms supporting his weight on the fresh grass, his face towards the sky, eyes closed. The sun peaked through the clouds and gave off a little bit of warmth that felt so incredibly good on his skin.

"Outside, what would we do to get food?"

Bear clacked with his tongue. It was a game she had made up. Imagining when they'd get out of here, and making up scenarios and asking the most ridiculous questions.

Outside, what would we have to wear to a fancy party?

What if we are on a boat and the boat sinks, what do we do? I can't swim.

It was annoying, and he did tell her how the world outside really was.

Unfair. The wealthy had everything, while the poor had nothing. It was simple and she knew that already, yet she continued to pester him with these questions. Kou would always answer with some half-truth. But Bear? He knew only what he had seen with his own eyes. The streets, the filth, the struggle for survival.

After telling her off once, which he regretted almost immediately, she asked him about life on the streets. He had asked her why she even wanted to know, and she'd simply replied that if they ever got out, she had to make sure she knew the rules of the streets.

Bear didn't take long to respond to her question this time. "I'll make sure we have food," he simply said. His mind went back to Lucks, who had worked as a slave to get Bear a single piece of bread. Masami worked hours and hours on end, more than any other kids and her small rewards—the sugar cubes— she gave to him without question.

"Ha, really?" she said. "How, then?"

Bear turned his head. "Tch, do the stupid questions ever end?" he muttered. His response didn't faze her in the least, and she kept looking at him with those big, curious eyes. Bear thought for a while. He wouldn't want her to eat from the trash, not like he had in the past. Not that he would ever tell her that, though.

"I don't know…I'd get a job or two and earn some money."

"Oh! I want to work too, then!" she exclaimed. Her cheery voice was aggravating.

"Oi, aren't you tired of working?" Bear asked. He turned his gaze towards her. He saw the purple under her eyes, the bruises on her knees and the rawness of her hands. He could see that she was exhausted, hell, he could feel it himself. Wasn't she tired of working? How did she keep going? How did she manage to keep smiling? He didn't understand her at all, he realized.

Masami was sitting cross-legged, pulling grass from the earth. She always did that. "I am, but at least out there I'll be working for a reason. I'll be making my own money. Besides, I can't possibly let you do everything. You'd be absolutely hopeless without my help." She laughed again and threw some grass onto his hair.

The grass throwing was their own declaration of war. A joke between just the two of them. "Ha, you wanna fight, Masami?" Bear laughed. They ended up pushing and shoving each other for a bit, throwing grass onto each other like children.

Right. Like children.

Sometimes, Bear even forgot he was a kid. He forgot that playing around was a normal thing to do for kids. Only when he was with her, he was aware that he had this playfulness in him. A brash kind of playfulness, but silly nonetheless. He didn't ever think he could be silly, yet here he was, throwing grass at this person he couldn't understand.

Once she got tired, they both laid down with their hands behind their head. The grass tickled Bears neck as he tried to regain his breath. He thought about what she'd said before they started fighting. He also thought about Lucks again, and his desire to be like him.

"Masami," he finally said. He waited before continuing until he heard her "hmm". He wanted her to hear this loud and clearly.

"Once we get out, you won't have to work ever again. I'll make sure of that."

"Don't worry, fool," she responded. "I'll take care of myself, and Kou and you. We will be just fine, right?"

Bear doubted that optimism and he preferred the hard truth over sugar-coated lies. But he somehow couldn't make himself say the words. He couldn't tell her that it wasn't as easy as she thought it was. Instead, he made himself agree.

"Yeah, fine I'm a fool. If we're together, it'll be alright."

NOTE:

- Masami met Ruki and Azusa way later, so at this point she only knew Yuma and Kou.

- Next chapter will be back to the main plot: so a continuation of the raft race, and finally: the first blood drinking scene! Might not be as you expect it to be *WINK*

- I'm planning to do a similar orphanage days chapter of Kou as well if you guys liked this one. I do enjoy writing the orphanage days flashback lol, gotta love them when they were still pure and innocent children :")

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