[Disclaimer] I do not own Eye shield 21 or Garasu no Kamen! All credit goes to the awesome creators.

[Author Note] Here's the twelfth chapter. Sorry about any typos and other writing errors.

(Chapter Twelve – Horror after the Show)

It was now afternoon, 2:12 PM to be exact. It was almost time for the big play, but Maya wasn't feeling too well. She was still a little fazed about what happened not so long ago. She kept thinking about what could have happened if Sena didn't show up, and that put her in deep, deep depression. So much that she couldn't really get out of bed, so she got up about two hours late.

If she delayed any longer, Chigusa would have started barking at her, so she was now up and about her day. When it hit 2:50, everyone started showing up at the playhouse. It sure was getting crowded, but a huge audience was something she was very used of, the other actors and actresses, as well. Sena was one of the last ones to show up, but he still managed to get a front row seat, which was quite strange.

Soon enough, it hit 3:00 and that's when the play started. It was an action/adventure kind of play about a young girl who had to take down an army of ninja to redeem her assassinated parents. Maya played the girl, of course, and she actually had to learn how to properly use a katana, well at least know how to use it enough to make it look authentic.

This play was pretty dangerous because of the frequent scenes of fighting with real cold steel, but that's the name of the game, and no one could do an acting job better than Maya. After about 2 in-a-half hours later, the play was over. It ended with Maya dealing the final strike to her enemy, killing him dead.

She then fancily sheathed her blade, spit on the ground, and then said, "Mother, Father? I did it. Now, your souls can finally rest in peace." After that, the curtains closed and the audience went wild with handclapping. Sena was amazed at Maya's performance; she totally seemed like a different person. But he wasn't the only one that was amazed, the whole audience was astounded.

The story of the play itself was good, the other people in the play were all right, but Maya was truly the one who made the show. Everyone believed that this was Maya's best performance; Sena felt sort of sad since he missed a whole lot of her performances. Though her acting was very well received, Chigusa thought otherwise.

Maya did out-and-out nothing wrong, her acting was spot on, but that was the point. Chigusa was so used of finding the slightest of flaws in her acting, but this time she just couldn't, and she really didn't like that. So, instead of being happy about the play turning out perfectly, she wanted it to seem failed anyway, and her plan of doing that was to pick at Maya for no reason at all.

"You really are amazing, Maya," Sena happily said, the loud roars of the crowd hurting his ears. Maya then went backstage to see what was going on. Everyone was congratulating each other, but most of the spotlight went to Maya.

"Awesome job, Kitajima, you really shined out there!" spoke one of the actors.

She laughed in response and said, "Oh, thanks. I wasn't all that great, though." After saying that negative remark, she got a large feedback from her friends telling her how great she did. She felt so much like a princess at the moment, but sadly all good things must come to an end, and all the fun ended once Chigusa stepped foot inside of the room. Maya was full of confidence and was hoping to hear good things from her mentor.

She ran over to her and asked happily, "Tsukikage, did I do well?" The happy look on Maya's face disgusted the old woman. She now felt like she wanted to kill her. Chigusa was never THIS angry at Maya, but she seems to have found an inner hatred for her, and she plans to let it loose. Without any warning, she hastily slapped Maya hard in the face, quickly turning her soft cheek red, the sensitive flesh now burning with pain. Everyone gasped at Chigusa's random and violent action.

"You did absolutely horrible, Maya! Never in my life have I seen such a horrible display of acting!" she crudely yelled, looking as mad as ever. Maya's happiness instantly vanished into thin air. She was so self-confident, she felt so full of life, but her mean, old instructor slapped it out of her.

One of the actresses then said, "But she did a great job! What are you even talking about, Tsukikage?"

"Shut up! I know poor acting when I see it!" the wrinkled woman fired back, veins sprouting from her neck. All the others, except Maya, started to back away from her because of how scared they started to feel. The young, brunette woman touched her face lightly. Her skin felt so hot and irritated; she could tell that Chigusa really intended to hurt her.

She then turned her head and looked at her agitated mentor, later asking, "You mean… I didn't do any good?" She then received another solid slap to the face, which made her yelp in pain. The elderly woman hit her in the same spot, and that hurt really badly. I mean really, really badly.

"Shut up, you worthless trash! Next time! Do better, you hear me!" she yelled at her, grabbing a fistful of her hair.

Maya started to cry as she nodded her head. "Y-Yes," she whimpered pathetically, tears and tears just rolling down her face. Maya felt so confused, she thought that she did well, but now she feels like she did a crappy job. Chigusa once again slapped her across the face, and then she did it again, and she continued to hit her in the face. Everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Maya did the best she's ever done, and here she is getting beaten up. Each slap had a loud sound to it, and every time they heard that sound they would wince. It was just so terrible. Nobody was even trying to help her; she was just left to get pain inflicted on her. Maya's cries made it even worse, it was hardly tolerable. Every time Chigusa did something like this, she felt like she couldn't really fight back.

She always felt like she deserved whatever punishment she had to endure, but even this one seemed a tad unnecessary. She felt like Chigusa wanted to kill her, and she pretty much did. Poor Maya, she couldn't even feel her face anymore, and Chigusa was getting a sadistic joy out of this.

"Yes! Cry like the baby you are, you cur!" yelled the woman, now adding her nails to the beating, scraping her face; Maya's volume increased with the pain she was feeling. Sena felt like something wasn't right, he felt like something was going on backstage, so he decided to go check and see if Maya was all right, but she really wasn't doing so well at the moment.

As he began to walk around the back of the playhouse, he started to hear screaming, and it wasn't any ordinary screaming, it was Maya doing this. "Maya?" he said to himself as he began to run down the hallway. Her cries were so loud; he wondered how he didn't hear her before.

He felt scared; he was expecting to see the worse when he opened the door, and when he did open it up, he did indeed see the worse. He saw his cherished one getting brutally slapped in the face; he also noticed that her face was bleeding very severely. He quickly ran over toward Chigusa and roughly pushed her away from Maya.

"What the heck's your problem!" he deeply yelled at her in ire.

Chigusa had a shocked look on her face as she stared at him. He wanted to choke this old hag until she died, and if he lets his anger get the best of him, he might do just that.

"Why? Why did you do this to her? WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO DESERVE THIS? She has done nothing! She has done absolutely nothing to you! Her performance was brilliant, it was incredible! After a while, I started to think that Maya was somebody else! That's how amazing she was! That's how amazing she is! Maya told me years ago that you beat her like this! And no telling what kind of heck she's been through for all of these years because of your ugly, old self! Dumb, old woman! How dare you beat on an angel like Maya like this! I want answers now, darn it!" He then turned his head toward the other people who were in the room. "And you guys!" he continued.

"You stupid buzzards didn't even try to help her, huh! You all were just standing there like idiots while Maya was getting the heck beaten out of her by this wrinkled up hooker! Well, scrub you guys! You all stink, and I bet you're ALL just jealous of Maya! Without her, you all would be nothing but garbage! If she quit, all of your sorry behinds would be getting outshined by somebody else and you know it!"

He then turned and faced Chigusa again, this time pointing his finger at her as he spoke, "I'm going to make sure you get fired! Maya's going to find a new and decent mentor, someone who is not like you! Your beating days are over! If you want to beat something so much, why not do something right for a change and beat yourself, half-faced geezer!" Sena was usually nice, but when he gets mad, he gets mad, and there's no stopping that.

He then grabbed Maya by the arm and walked from out of the room. As they were walking, he heard her silently hyperventilating, and that made his heart sink into a black hole of despair. "Curse that stupid, pervert guy and curse that sadistic, diaper wearing granny," he grumbled to himself.

"I'm sorry," she started to say, she said it so low, but he was still able to hear her. He didn't respond to her, he just wanted to get her some medical treatment and get Chigusa arrested. Maya's day started out good, despite the way she was feeling because of yesterday, and it all turned into a mess, as usual.

Sena took Maya to a hospital and the doctors tended to her wounds. Sena later called the cops and confronted Chigusa, which got her arrested. A few hours later, Sena walked in the hospital room that Maya was in. She turned her head and looked at him, their eyes meeting and locking in place.

"Maya," he whispered. "Tomorrow… I promise that tomorrow will be the best day of your life… and mine." Words were not said, only smiles were shown as they gazed at each other.

Aw! Poor, poor Maya… I'm sorry, but I never liked Chigusa, either ^_^.