Heiji barely heard the sniffle as Kazuha passed by. It was there, though, and that was enough. The eight-year-old boy immediately spun around, his small hand flashing out to catch her wrist. "What happened?" He asked, voice fierce.

She shook her head wildly and yanked her hand free. Then she was off, running down the street with all the expertise of one who had played Tag all their life. Luckily, Heiji was no stranger to the game. His slightly-longer legs soon carried him over to his friend, where he grabbed her a bit roughly by the shoulder and jerked her to a stop. "Kazuha!" The child yelled.

She spun around. Her face was red, eyes puffy and brimming with tears. The cheeks, though, were not flushed from crying. Those were undoubtedly the marks of being slapped. She sniffed once before suddenly throwing herself at the dark skinned boy. Arms wrapped around him as she pressed her quivering body to his. "H-Heiji," Kazuha hiccupped.

He could do nothing but stand there in shock. Hesitantly, the child put his own arms around her and stood there stiffly. "Um—" he stammered out. "Are you… alright?" He could only wince at how utterly lame that sounded. Boys were supposed to be cool.

When they finally parted, much to Heiji's relief, Kazuha was still sniffling. Small sobs bubbled up out of her throat. Heiji was aghast. They never taught kids the important stuff in school, such as what the heck you were supposed to do when your childhood friend (who was a girl) was crying right in front of you.

So he did the first thing he could think of. He dragged her to the nearest convenience store and bought her an ice cream.

Five minutes later, they were sitting on the bench, drumsticks in hand as Kazuha timidly lapped at her treat. "Right," Heiji said through a mouthful of vanilla. He swallowed it and continued, "Now what happened?"

From there, Kazuha proceeded to explain how Akari-kun had tried to steal her Pokemon cards. She had, naturally, resisted. In typical childish fashion, Akari-kun began to yell at her, and she yelled right back.

She really wasn't expecting him to slap her, though. It was an unspoken law that Boys Did Not Hit Girls. You just didn't do that sort of thing. Anyone who tried to hurt a girl was shunned on the playground for at least a week. No one seemed to care when boys roughhoused, but if a girl got hurt... things got serious.

Heiji tensed, feeling a surge of protectiveness and rage rush through him. Kazuha's quiet voice jerked him out of his fury.

"Heiji?"

"…Yeah?"

"You're not gonna hurt Akari-kun, are ya?"

He put on his best smile, the one used to fool his dad and get his mom to buy him candy. "Of course not," he promised.

Hours later he arrived at home, face completely bruised and small cuts weeping on his scraped knees. Nevertheless, a triumphant smile was on his face. "Oyaji," he announced as he walked into the kitchen. "I want to learn how to fight."

The massive scolding was diverted when Heiji explained that Kazuha was being picked on. The police officer then took Heiji upstairs to browse for options. None of the martial arts seemed to pique his interest, but Kendo looked cool…

The next day, the news was relayed to Toyama and, from him, to Kazuha. She had burst into tears, screamed at Heiji over the phone, and then got herself another ice cream to calm down. Then she went up to her father. "Daddy," she had announced. "I want to learn how to fight."

And while Karate didn't appeal to her, Aikido was very promising.

'I'll protect you,' Heiji swore to himself as he picked up a bokken for the first time.

'He'll never have to protect me,' Kazuha promised as she stepped out onto the map.

Nine years later, Kazuha heard some sharp raps at the door. She immediately snatched some tissues out of the box to wipe her eyes and nose. Hoping she was presentable, she answered the door.

Heiji stood there with a black eye and blood weeping from a cut on his cheek. A toothy grin beamed at her. "So," he said conversationally. "I heard that bastard broke up with you."

She gaped at him. "HEIJI!" He laughed as Kazuha yanked him inside and immediately broke out the first-aid kit.

"If you think this is bad," he chuckled as she pressed frozen peas to his eye, "ya should see that bastard. I was this close from shoving my bokken up his—"

"Thanks, I'd rather not know," Kazuha cut in dryly. He hissed quietly as she swabbed the cut. "Oh, don't be such a baby. You just beat someone up, didn' ya?"

"I didn'," he growled, "beat him up. I was avenging someone."

"And that would be?"

"No one special. Just some girl I've known for a while."

She whacked him over the head, and he laughed.

Utterly pointless and plotless… But I suppose that's not so bad every once in a while. I feel like I've been neglecting these two.

Also, I finally have a computer. Yay, me! For those of you reading Ace of Spades, a new chapter should be up soon. Also, I'm playing around with video making. If you don't mind, could you watch it? It's a Kaitou KID AMV for the song To the Sky by Owl City. I'd like some tips/opinions.

/watch?v=ZsON50Lmn-w

Thank you much! It's not great—I'd be so much better if I had Adobe. I miss my video class. :'(