OMG, TWO IN ONE WEEK END?! HECK YEAH! WELCOME BACK FRIENDS! I HOPE YOU ENJOY! PLEASE REVIEW~!

Ch. 45: What Can Kick You're A** No Matter How Bada** You Are? F****** Studing

White and I padded down the sidewalk of the wide, arrow straight street with traffic blaring up and down it. Younger C.J, scratched cheek and all, strode along the cracked pavement about 5 feet ahead of us. I looked down at 'Yuri'. "And we're following her because…?"

"You need to follow her until you find the next door. They're her memories, so naturally they center around her."

I sighed and looked around the area. I found myself fascinated with the foreign world. So many people, all with different faces, and yet they continued on their way without as much as acknowledgment of each other.

Ahead of us, C.J turned into the pale and desperately in need of re-paving parking lot. A rather large white building was ahead of us, about two stories with lots of widely spaced doors and a window next to each. A mail box, names and numbers written on attached paper, was fastened on the wall near each door. C.J trotted up to the rusting green metal stairs and started up to the second floor awning. I had just started up when a shout stopped C.J.

The three of us turned and saw four kids, all boys between the ages 10 and 14. The tallest one with brown hair yelled up to C.J, "Yo, Thourn! You go pickin' fights again?" She grinned widely, "You know it!" One of the shorter ones looked concerned, "One of these days, you're gonna get in some serious trouble like that C.J!" Not even phased, C.J just gave them a thumbs up, "Hey, who do you think you're talking about?!"

She turned and continued up the stairs. We went after her, one of the kid's statements ringing in my ears as we left them, "Ya know it's no use to try and scare her! She ain't afraid of going down so long as she takes some bad guy down with her!"

C.J closed the door to apartment 2-B behind her. We followed.

We were greeted by the sight of a small and surprisingly neat living room with beige walls and dingy white carpet, a small box T.V sitting on a shelving unit, a plaid sofa, and a worn out rug. A tiny end table sat next to the sofa with a clock radio on top. C.J tossed her bag on the sofa and headed down the hall.

I looked at White, shrugged, and followed her. Past the living room was the opening to the hall and past that, the kitchen. The appliances in the kitchen were old and well used, the table more used for pilling crap than it was for eating. In hallway, C.J opened the center of the two doors, revealing a bathroom. The door was open, so we didn't have to go through it to see.

C.J flicked on the tap and washed her cut and face from blood. After cleansing herself and the cut, she turned the faucet off with a squeak and yanked open the drawer in the sinks base, rummaging around. She pulled out a standard Band-Aid and compared it to the cut. Sighing at the obvious fact the Band-Aid wouldn't cover it, she flung it back and searched the medicine cabinet.

After a bit of rummaging, she muttered a swear and simply pulled out a cotton pad and a roll of scotch tape.

She immerged with a homemade bandage taped to her cheek…well, I already knew she wasn't one for appearances.

She turned to the right and tossed open the door. I stuck my head in and saw what must have been her bedroom.

It was a pretty small room, but she managed to cram a twin sized bed in the corner, a small desk and chair alongside one wall, and a bedside table.

C.J let out a huge yawn and jumped eagle style on her bed. She laid there for a few moments before, "…F***, homework…." She then dragged herself up and trudged out of the room, returning shortly with her bag in tow. She plopped the bag on her bed, pulled out her chair, and yanked a 2 1/2" binder out of her bag.

She flipped a page of two in the binder, stared at it, and then flung it down and turned to the desk. The desk had two large text books sitting on it, along with an old Easter basket holding pencils and other various office supplies in their own Halloween themed cups. She grabbed the red and black text book. I leaned in ad caught the title, 'Advanced Placement World History Textbook'. My mind blanked for a moment.

"I looked at White, my holy s*** face coming on. "…Holly s***, C.J was in the smart people classes!"

C.J flipped it open to the dog eared page and started staring at the small print. White and I both leaned in next to her, reading over her shoulder.

We both came up again after about 5 minutes, our minds blown. We didn't REMEMBER, to hell with UNDERSTAND had we had just read! Absolutely none of it stuck! I looked at White, "F***, that book is horrible! C.J really is way smarter than I thought she was!"

I was immediately proven wrong when C.J suddenly slammed her head down on the table, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS! F***, I'M GONNA FAIL!" We sweat dropped.

She remained there with her head on the book before something caught her eye. She looked over on her nightstand, at the picture that sat next to the stuffed tiger. (I really have to ask her about that later.) I looked closer at the picture, eyes widening as I saw that it was a torn and bent picture of a super young girl, probably no older than 5, with long blonde hair in the arms of an older boy that looked suspiciously like her.

I flashed back to when I had witnessed the tail end of C.J's nightmare, remembering her as a little girl. …So that's her brother…they look alike.

C.J sighed and I turned back to her. I double took to see she had the strangest, most bitter-sweet smile on her face. "Yeah, I know Ni-san." Suddenly, her vigor magically restored, she fist pumped the air, "It ain't over till the F is on the table!"

She buried her head back in the book, new focus drawing her features tight.

We stared at her for a few seconds, not sure what to say. White broke that silence, "Well…she's defiantly a hard worker." I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, like we didn't already know that."

I let my gaze wander, and then I stopped. I elbowed White, "Yo, I found the exit!"

C.J's bedroom door had become a large, jet black door with strange marks the color of blood streaking it. A chrome handle shone brightly from the dark surrounding.

I looked at White and nodded. I walked up and threw open the door.

In front of me, C.J body slammed a guy into a tree.

I blinked and looked around, seeing that we were now in a dark forest. C.J was pounding the crap out of this guy.

She twisted his arm behind his head and shoved him hard against the tree again. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Where's the kid?!" She twisted harder.

He yelped in pain, "S-S***! S-She's in the basement, ok?! Under the rug! We didn't touch her, I swear!" C.J grinned and reared back her hand. It came down on his head. Hard.

With a short grunt of surprise, the guy went limp. We heard someone scoff in the trees near us. The three of us turned to see a guy with bright, golden eyes coming out of the trees. He grinned at C.J, "Wow Thourn, you really can handle yourself. I owe Glenn 10 bucks." C.J glared and dropped the guy, "Can it Heartnet. You cuff him; I'm going after the girl." He sighed and ran his hand through his already messy dark brown hair, "Or you could wait up." "No way! That little girls been in this creeps basement for 3 weeks! She's not staying any longer than she has to!"

The young man, 'Heartnet', shrugged. "Fine, but remember, he said WE. There are probably more of them at the cabin." "Nothing I can't handle."

He paused, looking at her, "…Just don't get shot. I don't want to have to fill out the papers for a new partner so soon." C.J smirked, "I won't, and you can bet on that Bedhead."

C.J turned and tour off into the forest. At first I was numb, and then I realized C.J was moving. We both ran after her in the heat and dark (luckily, we went through anything we actually hit!).

Suddenly, C.J stopped ahead of us and got down. We ran up next to her, also feeling the need to be quiet for some reason. She drew a gun from her belt holster.

She got up and ran through the shadows, silent as an owl on the hunt. Tree to tree, until she pressed her back against the wall of a log cabin.

She took a deep breath, and then tried the door. It clicked without yielding. She hissed, reared back, and kicked the door in.

No one in the room.

Her breath echoed quietly in the empty room as she took a step into whatever was beyond the threshold.

~! CLIFFHANGER!? YES I DID :D I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPPY! NEXT TIME, WE'LL BRING THIS LITTLE MEMORY TO A CONCLUSHION AND…I'LL COME UP WITH SOMETHING XD

POSSIBLE IMPROVMENTS, COMPLAINTS, OPINIONS? PLEASE DROP A REVIEW! ESPESHIALLY IS YOU HAVE A MEMORY YOU'D LIKE TO SEE COME TO LIGHT!