I'm ba~ack!

Almost done with my finals! (Yipee!) So I'm going to post my most recent chapter to my beloved readers as celebration! Now you guys can read Karasu's answer! Yay all of us!

And Summer Vacation is coming soon! ~(*0*)~

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my own characters and story idea.

Warriors Don't Cry

Chapter 14: Which Animal? – Karasu

"Here's a ticket to the zoo, Karasu. Enjoy yourself."

I knew he was up to something no good. There was never a 'nice' thing that he did that didn't involve some evil intention behind it. Either that, or he had something outrageous in mind.

But I went anyways because I knew that he'd find some other way to get me to the zoo and it wouldn't be as pleasant as this one.

So that was how I ended up in front of the zoo.

Because of the snow that fell heavily a few days after Valentine's Day, I made it clear that I didn't want to go out. So, I spent most of the winter indoors. Today, almost all the snow was gone and it was only a bit chilly.

"Dude, this zoo looks AWESOME!"

Yes, I brought Alana with me too. Wasn't that nice of me? I wasn't able to hang out with her lately so this seemed to be the best time. She loved animals too, so that was a bonus.

I heard a muffled yipping sound coming from Alana's baggy hoodie that was identical to my own. I sighed and gave my friend a look. She sheepishly revealed Pocky. "Alana, you know we can't bring him here."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Alana complained, "This is a zoo for crying out loud! What's wrong with bringing another animal? That doesn't make a difference! Besides, you know that he'll follow me here if I didn't bring him with me anyways."

She did have a point. Lately, Alana and Pocky were inseparable and seeing them apart was a rare thing.

"Fine, just don't let anyone else see you with him." I gave in. Alana let out a whoop and grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks buddy, I owe you one."

"Yes, you do." I sighed. I massaged my head. "Ugh, it's nerve-wracking when Reborn does something nice. Now I'm wondering what he has under his mini-sleeve."

"Are you sure it's just Reborn's random niceness that's bothering you?" Alana asked.

I nodded.

"So it has nothing to do with a baseball nut."

I blinked in surprise at Alana's sudden mentioning of Takeshi. "What gave you that idea?"

"I overheard your conversation with him last month." Alana explained with no guilt (that sneaky yet loveable imp). "It was my accident but I'm glad that I did."

I winced at the memory.

(Day after Valentine's)

"I'm sorry, Takeshi-kun."

I said those words quietly, but it rang through the classroom as if I screamed it to the world. Guilt seeped into my bones as I forced myself to watch that hopeful look that Takeshi had crumble at my words.

I almost took those words back.

"I see."

Rejection. I experienced that four years ago and I know how it feels. It feels like your stomach turned into some heavy metal and you feel numb for a while before the wave of pain washes over.

I never wanted him to experience this but I did this for the best. I made my choice a long time ago.

And when I make my choices, I never take them back.

I stood up and made my way to the door. I stopped for a moment and turned back. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out of my mouth. I resisted the temptation to go comfort him and left him in the classroom. If I went back and hugged his heartbroken form, I would give him the wrong idea.

I massaged my temple. Takeshi and I haven't talked that much ever since. I had a feeling that he was avoiding me, which was understandable since I rejected him. I was beginning to regret my decision but I reminded myself that I had to stick to my choice. Being unsure could hurt more than one person and I had enough grief with one hurt person.

But I was also a little hurt. Wasn't our friendship supposed to be strong? Wasn't he happy with just keeping everything the same?

Why couldn't everything just stay the same?

Alana patted my back. "You surprised me there, buddy. I thought you wanted him to like you back."

"That was before Rico died." I gritted out. "I changed a lot after that incident. You of all people should know that."

Silence fell between us.

"You know, it's not your fault." Alana said quietly. "You couldn't have done anything. It wasn't your fault."

"I was weak."

Alana shuffled her feet a little and Pocky whimpered.

"I'm not going to make the same mistake ever again. I swore that on the day he died." I murmured. "I won't lose Tsuna like that and I won't lose you."

"Of course not," she retorted, "I'm tough, remember? Now enough with the gloomy look, it doesn't suit you, bud. I know exactly what will cheer you up. Let's go and see the monkeys!"

Alana tugged at my hand and dragged me to some random direction.

I cracked a smile. "Okay. Just stay by my side because we can easily get separated."

I can't believe we got separated!

It only took twenty minutes of wandering around the zoo for Alana and me to get separated! What did 'stay by my side' mean to her?

I slapped my forehead. Of course it wasn't completely her fault. I wasn't even paying attention to her when she disappeared. Hopefully, she would turn up sooner or later. Okay, think. Look for the person who makes the most trouble in the zoo. That shouldn't be hard. Alana was the biggest troublemaker. How hard could finding her be?

"LET ME FIGHT THE BEARS!"

I sweatdropped.

The voice was too loud (which is surprising because Alana can be really loud if she wants to) and she isn't a guy.

I guess there are other troublemakers in the world.

I went to the direction of the yelling anyways. Alana would be attracted to loud and interesting things, right?

She wasn't there.

Though, I recognized the guy who was making the racket.

"Huh? Ryohei-senpai? What are you doing here?" I asked the loud senpai. Of course I would know him, he was Kyoko's older brother. He was also the annoying senpai who wouldn't stop trying to recruit me into the boxing club ever since he saw me roundhouse kicking a perverted senpai from Nanimori High.

"Ah! The other Sawada!" Ryohei grinned at me and stopped struggling against the zookeepers for a moment. "Funny seeing you here! Are you here to fight the bears too?"

I shook my head to the relief of the zookeepers. "No. I prefer sparring with humans. That would be animal abuse, Ryohei-senpai. Have you seen Alana?"

"Alana? Oh! You mean your tiny, American friend!"

"You better not say that to her face." I warned him. "She's sensitive with her height. She might box your face."

"Box? Do you think she'll be interested in joining the boxing club?"

"No."

Ryohei shrugged, not at all bothered by my blunt comment. "Okay. I'll keep my eye out for your tiny friend."

Did he even hear what I just told him? I shook my head and left the scene as Ryohei resumed his struggle. "I WANT TO FIGHT THE BEARS!"

And Reborn wanted him to be part of the family? Well, it can't be avoidable considering Tsuna's obvious crush on Kyoko. Gah, I'm going to have an idiot for a brother-in-law.

I bumped into someone while walking to where the snakes were. "Oh! Gomen- wait, you're Bianchi-san! What are you doing in the zoo?"

Like Ryohei, she had zookeepers blocking her from doing whatever crazy thing she had in mind. I'm sort of afraid to find out. "I'm here to try some rare delicacies."

"…Okay then. Um, have you seen Alana? We got separated."

"No, but tell Alana-chan that I send her my greetings if you ever find her."

That's all I needed. "Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to tell her that, Bianchi-san. Um, enjoy the zoo animals?" With that, I hit the road and never looked back. Oh god, she's pretty and all, but Bianchi was a little scary. She randomly chucks cooking made out of poison onto people's faces! Poison! Even Jung won-nim never did that!

"Karasu? So you came to the zoo too?"

Speak of the devil. Ugh, this is definitely not my day. I grimly turned and faced my Seonsaeng-nim. Not really noticing my expression, she slung her arm around my shoulders in a friendly manner. Believe me, she's a great person and all, but she was also part of my chaotic life back in America and I didn't want to be reminded.

"Crow-girl…"

"Where's my little sister? Wait, let me guess, she wandered off and you're looking for her."

I nodded miserably.

Jung won-nim patted my shoulder understandingly. "I know. I'm her Unni remember? She'll turn up sooner or later. If you need me, I'll be looking at the otters after I fetch myself a snack."

I knew my teacher's love of otters so her announcement didn't surprise me but she already used up the money she 'borrowed' from an unfortunate person

"But Seonsaeng-nim, you don't have any-

Jung won-nim wagged a leather wallet at me with a mischievous smirk. I remembered seeing that wallet before…it was Dino's wallet, wasn't it? I hope he didn't have anything important in there. I sweatdropped. "Of course."

"Okay then, Karasu! Bye, bye and good luck with finding my little sister!"

As she walked away, I walked toward the lions while messaging my head. Oh where, oh where can my little friend be? A cold gust of wind blew at me so I put the hood of my hoodie over my head to keep me warm. I hated being cold.

I stopped for a moment to admire the majestic felines. I moved over to the leopard section and smiled a little when I saw that they had new cubs.

Fierce yet tiny

That thought reminded me of my mission at hand so I forced myself to look away. When I looked around to see if my friend was around, I caught sight of Gokudera. Involuntarily, I began to smile at the familiar, scowling face. We couldn't talk that much either because of the insane things that were happening lately but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence like Takeshi's.

I jogged over to him. He didn't recognize me so he scowled at my way. "What the hell do you want?"

For a moment, I relished the fact that he was treating me like the way he treated other people. But, I didn't really had time to be selfish and he looked as if he would blow me away with his dynamite so I put down my hoodie and grinned. "Gokudera-kun!"

The look of hostility dissolved into a look of pure surprise. "Juuhime! You surprised me!"

No kidding.

"What are you doing here in the zoo?" I questioned while putting my hoodie back up. "Everyone seems to be here. Seonsaeng-nim came too."

"We're here to pick a pet for Juudaime. You didn't know?" I shook my head. "Reborn seemed to have failed to tell me that. Anyways, Alana and Pocky came here with me but we got separated. Have you seen her?"

Gokudera made a face and shook his head.

I laughed lightly at his reaction. "Okay then, I won't bother you anymore, Gokudera-kun. I'll be off then." I began to leave but was abruptly stopped when he grabbed my arm. He didn't grab me in a way that made my arm hurt (it would take more than that to hurt me), but his grip was strong enough to stop me from moving. I felt my cheeks flush at the sudden contact so I didn't turn around immediately until I was sure my cheeks cooled down. "Yes?"

Gokudera, himself, seemed to be surprised at his own actions. He hastily let go of me and muttered his apologies while shoving his hands into his pockets before quickly walking away from me, cheeks flushing in either embarrassment or from the chilly wind.

I suddenly felt very alone and colder as he walked away. I was suddenly filled with a sense of urgency to stay near him. It was as if there was something that would take him away from me the moment I lost sight of him. Without thinking, I ran after him and grabbed his arm.

More like hugged it like some koala bear to a tree.

He flinched in surprise. His whole face looked as if someone painted red all over it but I ignored that. "I don't like wandering alone in the zoo so…please? I'll try helping with picking Tsuna's pet while looking for Alana at the same time."

"Well…"

"Please?" I begged again. Gokudera gulped nervously.

"O-O-Of course, Juuhime!"

I grinned at him. "You're the best!" I cheered.

We wandered around the zoo a little bit and I pointed out at some animals (making sure that they were small and harmless for Tsuna's sake) while Gokudera looked around for my best friend's face.

I didn't realize this until later that I forgot to let go of his arm.

I came back to where Gokudera was waiting with two cotton candies at hand. The line to get the cotton candy was pretty long so it took a little bit. I decided to surprise him with something sweet.

BOOM

I jumped a little at the explosion but managed to save the sweets.

What happened just now?

"It seems that there was an explosion that destroyed the cages that held the lions." Jung won-nim's voice said suddenly. I jumped again and managed the save the cotton candies from falling off of their sticks again. "And how did you know this?"

Jung won shrugged and tapped her head. "It's pretty easy to know things when you know how to put the pieces of the puzzle together."

Then, it suddenly hit me.

I mean, who else had countless dynamite on them? Gokudera and I are going to have a long talk about when or when not to set off explosives.

"And you're not helping, why?"

"'Cause I'm on vacation. You go do it." Jung won said a little childishly reminding me that this was Alana's older sister I was talking to. I sighed and handed her the cotton candy. "Fine. Make sure these stay safe until I get back."

"Aigoo(1), are you trying to order me around, Karasu?" Jung won asked me playfully. I shivered a little at the dark undertone to that question but managed to refrain from bursting into apologies for being disrespectful. "I have lions to take care of, Seonsaeng-nim. We'll talk about respect later."

With a gust of wind to enhance my running, I jumped away from my teacher and ran toward the place where the exploding sound originated.

I know that I possibly sealed my early death but I was a little upset. I knew that Reborn was somehow involved with this. And if Reborn was involved, Tsuna would be too.

"Dammit, Reborn. What the hell are you up to now?" I asked aloud. I skidded to a stop when I saw a pair of lions dangerously close to my brother. I gritted my teeth and, with as much strength and wind I could muster, jumped up and kicked one of the lions in the jaw. I hardly noticed Ryohei-senpai punching the other lion while shouting "ULTIMATE!" in the top of his lungs.

"THAT'S MY BROTHER, YOU POOR EXCUSE OF A FELINE!"

I was about to kick the lion again but changed my mind when I realized that it was out after that one kick. "Um…oops? I didn't kill it, did I?"

Tsuna stared in horror at the unconscious feline. "S-Sis, did you just-?"

I laughed sheepishly. "Air power, remember? It's like getting slapped with an oar if you concentrate enough together. I doubt even a full grown house pet would be able to stand against that."

"S-Scary."

I deflated a little when he said that but perked up a little when I saw Kyoko. "Kyoko-chan! I never knew that you were here too! Are you enjoying the zoo with my brother?"

Kyo nodded. "It was exciting!"

I'm impressed. She could still talk after she saw all that? Boy, my brother picked a good one. "Good. Now I need to find Gokudera-kun."

Speak of the devil, Gokudera slaughtered over to us with two unconscious lions under his arms. "Zoos are sure noisy. Isn't it fine as long as we just catch them?"

Jung won walked over to me with a grin and handed my cotton candy back. "Here."

I thanked her and walked over to Gokudera while holding out one of the fluffy sweets. "I was getting these for us. Sorry if it took a while, Gokudera-kun."

A wide grin spread across Gokudera's face as he dropped one of the lions to accept the candy.

Then he collapsed.

Jung won chortled in laughter while pointing at the now mouth-foaming bomber. I didn't need to turn to see that Bianchi was behind me. "You sure picked an amusing one, Karasu!"

I ignored her and moved the other lion off of the bomber (Giving the cotton candy to Jung won first). I lightly tried to rouse him. "Gokudera-kun? Hey, are you still alive?"

Well, he was still breathing so that was promising.

"Are you guys okay?" I heard Haru's voice from my far left. I looked up to see Haru holding little Futa by the hand. Lambo was giggling in Takeshi's arms. He grinned at all of us. "Seems like you're all having fun."

Takeshi looked at me.

For a moment, I seriously thought that he was going to come over and mess up my hair like he always used to do when he greeted me.

But, of course, he disappointed me yet again with a friendly nod and a light wave that he usually gave to the others. "Nice to see you, Karasu-chan!"

I politely nodded. "Nice to see you too, Takeshi-kun."

The strange exchange didn't seem to escape Tsuna. He looked at me questioningly but was distracted yet again when Reborn hauled the lion that I kicked over his shoulders. "This one will do as a pet."

Gokudera came to and I immediately slapped my hands over his eyes. No need to have him foam up all over again after seeing Bianchi's face. "Juuhime? Why-?"

"Do you want to pass out again?" I asked him rhetorically. He quickly shook his head at that. "Besides, you still didn't eat the cotton candy that I spent such a hard time trying to get."

"Oh! Of course!"

Gokudera did his best to eat the cotton candy with his eyes closed. He managed the feat but got his face all sticky in the process. Laughing a little, I took out a wet napkin (something that Jung won-nim conveniently had in her 'borrowed' purse) and dabbed it over his face as if he was a baby.

He blushed a little in embarrassment and took the wet napkin from me. He took it from me gently, of course. I restrained myself from squealing at how cute he looked right now with his overly red, cotton candy-covered face. "You don't have to do that much for me! I can do it myself, Juuhime."

"Then should I help?" Bianchi suggested, making Gokudera pale and look a little sick again. "N-No need, Aneki."

A very un-Kyoko-like gleam flashed across her eyes and made me a little weary. "Karasu-chan, did you come to the zoo with Gokudera-kun together?"

Takeshi coughed a little. Hmm, seems like he's coming down with a cold. Lambo noticed this too. "Bless you."

"Thank you." Takeshi said a little stiffly to the child.

I raised my eyebrows. "No. I came with Alana. I bumped into him a little after-" I slapped my forehead in realization. "Oh my god! I forgot! I lost her and I still need to look for her!"

"YOU FORGOT?" Tsuna shrieked.

I nodded. "I was having so much fun in the zoo that I forgot."

Jung won shrugged casually. "Don't make such a fuss. She'll turn up eventually."

"But-

"She'll be fine. I used to loose her all the time when we were younger and she managed to get back home by herself. Yeah, she was bawling her eyes out and all, but she was still alive."

All eyes were on Jung won.

"What kind of older sister are you?"

(What Happened with Alana)

"Let me go! I demand to be put down!" Alana yelled from Kusakabe's arms. Pocky barked from another pompadour member's arms, as equally annoyed as his master. "I need to get back with my best buddy! She's probably worried sick about me!"

See? This time, it wasn't Alana's fault. She actually tried to stay by Karasu's side. She was snatched away when they stopped to see the monkeys.

"I'm sorry, but Kaichio needs your services right now."

"Now? NOW? What the hell would he want from me during the frickin' WEEKEND?"

(1) It's the equivalent to an 'Oya', Yamamoto's "Maa, maa" or a tongue click.

So that's the chapter! Thanks for the wait! My finals aren't quite finished yet until the end of this week but I still found time to make this chapter! (Yay me!)

It's official! Karasu knocked Yamamoto off of her potential boyfriend list! Sorry to those Yamamoto fans out there!

Now in the next chappie, we'll be seeing Alana's POV again in her battle against her greatest foe: allergies. In the next chapter you'll be seeing Karasu and Alana's unique abilities in action too!

IF YOU DON'T REVIEW, I WON'T BE GIVING POCKY ANY MORE CANDY TREATS!

Pocky:(whimpering with glassy, chibi-eyes)