Author's Note:

I'm really thankful for my readers, more so than before. With words of encouragement, the flames of imagination within me, which had been slowly but surely fading, has been re-kindled! Time to progress this arc, and start the change that's coming!

Chapter 57: The Blazing Trail

"Right, here we are..." Without thinking, the words just pushed themselves out. I could feel a slight tremble to my movements as my steps stopped before the open school gate, and I was pretty sure it wasn't because of the chilly wind blowing against my hair. Though my eyes kept falling to the gift basket I had in my hands, all packed up to the brim by Kiera and Aria, I did caught sight of the surroundings though, a rural school that seemed peaceful, quiet. Just one glance convinced me that school life around here must have been quite routine and boring.

Just as my eyes lingered for a tad too long, a small hand suddenly clutched onto my shoulders, tensing me up. Turning around revealed every one of my friends at my back, Kiera, Sergio, Johann, Aria, Dante and Vito. Everyone looked normal enough, except Dante, Vito and Kiera had their eyebrows furrowed, a serious look on their face. With a nod, Kiera reminded of what I was supposed to do today.

The plan was to personally present a gift to Hinata, after all she's been through while with us. Kiera said that she could have ran in fear when the Kaijin Palm attacked, but she stood her ground, brave enough to follow us all the way to that warehouse. And so, as the Boss, I should reward her courage the best I could. Glancing towards my Kiera, it made me wonder why she's so insistent on this. These material gifts seemed lame in my personal opinion...

"They're not lame! We needed a remedy to your awkwardness in your expressions! Materialistic or not, whatever amount of sincerity these gifts can amount to will have to suffice!" Popping up her volume, Kiera roared out just as the thought formed in my mind, her eyes flaring up quite a bit. I think she got the impression that I'm blaming her for forcing me to do this task, which I'm not.

"I-I didn't say anything!" The suddenness of Kiera's voice caught me by surprise, and even without thinking, I blurted back in my own defense. My eyes immediately dart away from her face, the authority of her voice knocking my body into motion, as if it's become a habit. Not that I was in any position to go against it, arguing back with Kiera never ends well. For me, that is.

"You may not have voiced it out, but your face showed it all." Kiera slowly continued after turning down her voice, as I carried on with my steps, walking through the school gates, the wide, metal doors pulled open at the sides.

"You have to admit, you do get clammy sometimes, especially when you're trying to express yourself." Sergio popped into sight, trying to convince me to try and look at the brighter side to this display of gratitude. No doubt his Bushido Code was mighty proud of the act itself, my best friend was grinning from ear to ear.

Past the huge gates, the calm, serene scenery of the schoolyard was instantly brightened up by the many groups of student pouring out of the school, their voices bringing the touch of life to this otherwise slow setting. Stopping in a corner, strange looks were flashed towards us, wary glances. In a sea of brown blazers matched with black skirts and pants, we stood out like a sore thumb. That was when I also realized that we had no real idea of how to find Hinata besides waiting for her or just combing through the crowds.

In the end, we decided to just wait for her by the gates. Seeing the number of student going home, she's probably on her way. Despite Hinata's rather eccentric personality, I nevertheless believed she was rather popular among her friends, and expected to see her face among the crowds of girls making their way to the gates and out of school.

"We really don't have any other way to find Hinata besides waiting?" All that waiting around was wearing down my patience, or rather, it made me feel more an more uneasy with all the eyes on me. When I turned to Kiera and the others, they just turned away as if they didn't hear my voice. "Bah, I look the weirdest out of us all with this basket in my hands..." With no response again, I had no choice but to resume the wait in silence.

But, even as the sea of brown, filled with many laughter and voices thinned down right before our eyes, Hinata wasn't in any of them. The largest group soon appeared, their smile and laughter louder than any group before them. Just as I tensed at the thought of finally seeing Hinata again, I turn to my friends to see the same light in their eyes. We were all expecting the same thing, until the crowd disappeared on us as well, as Hinata appeared a few steps behind them, alone, with her eyes drawn to the ground.

"What..." The sight caught me by surprise so much thoughts went spiraling within my mind. Sure, my expectation may have been a bit too much, but Hinata sure doesn't strike me as a loner. The way she moves just gave off the presence of someone disconnected from all around her, so much that it was saddening.

"..."

Neither of us said anything, Sergio, Johann, Aria and Kiera just quietly brushed off whatever conclusions our minds came to. With a nod, I begin making my way towards Hinata with the gift basket in hand, putting up a smile on my face.

"Hey Hinata!" Calling out to her, her beauty made it easier to forget about the feeling from before. When the girl saw me, her eyes blew wide open with surprise, but she didn't say anything. For a few seconds, she stood with her pretty amber eyes looking right at me. Even after seeing Sergio and the others, all of them waving at her from behind me, she gave no reaction. Before I knew it, I began walking at her side. That was when her eyes closed as if she was trying to calm herself.

With the strands of her brown hair flickering from side to side as we walked, Hinata still looked as stunning as when I met her, even without her costume and her accessories. Her beautiful amber eyes made all the difference. That is, until my eyes fell on the bandages around her face.

"Are those... injuries?" I cried out in worry and surprise, pulling Hinata's right arm. As her sleeve drooped down, white, pasty bandages appeared, wrapped around her arm and disappearing into the sleeve itself. It was one thing to see bandages on the face, but another to see a whole arm bandaged! However, as soon as I pulled on her arm, she broke out of my grasp with unusual strength, her eyes shooting open and growing wary. The way she looked at me, fear and suspicion in the light of her eyes, made me think I might have gone too far, and I dropped the matter almost reflexively.

"What are you doing here, Zanna?" Hinata finally started talking, but the tone of her words were a strict one. She walked on with her hands on the handle of her bag, not turning to even look at me. Her steps, slowly getting faster and faster, told me that something's bothering her. Worried, I did my best to keep up with her pace, the words to say having vanished from my mind.

"Ahem, Lord Amato?" Kiera's voice brought my attention back to the gift basket on hand. Kiera seemed way more serious than before.

"Sorry about that, Hinata." First, the apology. When Hinata heard it, the frown on her face disappeared, but no smile took its place. If anything, I'm glad her eyes brightened up a bit, even if the wariness was still there. With my fingers shaking a bit around the handle, I slowly nudged the gift basket towards Hinata. "I'm really thankful that you stuck around and helped when I was... um.. kidnapped." Mentioning the absurd incident from a few days before made me break eye contact. Hinata's just a normal girl, she didn't have to see all that.

"This is my gift of gratitude, as Boss of the Zanna Famiglia." These few words, however, I made sure I looked straight into her eyes to show my sincerity as I presented the gift before her.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Hinata accepted my gift without a single word, though she did looked slightly confused as she did. The crazy build up of tension left my heart beating, my face all heated up. As I stood there slightly shaking, I could feel myself sweating bullets even as I tried to calm myself down. I thought I was pretty calm, but the feelings just overwhelmed me when the act was over.

"Ha ha ha ha ha." What I thought to be Johann giggling and laughing away turned out to the voice coming out from my own mouth, my body's way of calming down was to laugh it off with a smile.

"Yeah, thank you very much for not running away when our blood was spilled." Sergio and Johann stepped in front of us, and gave Hinata their own small thanks as well, as if trying to back me up and help me out. Seeing my friends doing it did take away most of the tension, although I cringed when they smiled at the casual mention of blood. Soon, we all were laughing off at how awkward it felt just seconds before, as we continued our way pass the gates. Well, except for Hinata, who still looked worried, cautious.

Even with most of the remaining students on the way home giving us weird looks, our laughter came off as genuine joy, ringing across the previously serene, quiet courtyard of the school. In between my laughs, however, I wondered why Kiera, Dante and Vito still looked as serious as before, if not more so.

"Now, onto the primary objective..." Stepping in front and stopping us in our tracks, Kiera surprised me by speaking those words, her eyes pinned Hinata. That shut us up almost immediately, as we all could feel the intent just from Kiera's voice, she meant business. My mind was driven into slight chaos, Kiera never said anything about this.

"Hinata, hand over the crimson jewel, the stone of power." Kiera's tone turned low, as if pressure was poured forth from her voice alone. With that said, she began taking steps closer towards Hinata, while the rest of us were silent, Sergio, Johann, Aria and I were still confused while Dante and Vito watched on as if they knew this was gonna happen.

"Wh-what? I-I don't know what you're talking about!" It was strange, with each step Kiera took towards her, Hinata bounces behind another. A slew of emotions kept appearing on the look of her face, fear, confusion, disbelief then finally, anger. Though she denied what Kiera asked, her hands reached for what looked like a necklace around her neck, buried under her uniform. Whatever it meant, it told me Hinata had a good idea what Kiera wanted.

"Kiera, what are you doing?" Without thinking, the feeling that we've done something wrong instantly struck home, and I began to panic, calling out to Kiera. My eyes flying from one corner to another, I was relieved to find the school mostly emptied out of students, none of their curious eyes making this worse.

"This is the reason we came to Japan, my Lord." Instead of backing down, Kiera took on a more aggressive stance, clamping down on Hinata's wrist as soon as she jumped close enough. With hateful eyes, Hinata instantly broke out of Kiera's grip, surprising me and Sergio.

"Hah... Hah..." Hinata's breathing had became irregular, as she slowly backed away from us. This crazy thing happening must be hitting her harder than I thought.

"Kiera, maybe we should try this another day perhaps? You're going overboard with the asking..." Sergio, after recovering and assessing what happened, voices his opinion, trying his best to persuade Kiera after catching sight of Hinata's reaction. I can't say I disagree, inside of me boiled a clutching feeling, as if my body was forcefully against what it was seeing.

"No, with each day passing, the risk of the stone disappearing from our sights grows!" By this time, her eyebrows had furrowed. Kiera roared out a slight desperation I never heard before. Sergio and I was still stunned and confused, we stood there wondering why Kiera was so adamant about getting her hands on that object, what it exactly was.

"Hinata, give us Kujaku!"

My eyes widened on reflex upon hearing that particular word. The name was familiar, but it felt as though it was something I learned off a long time ago, the memory itself fuzzy and distorted. I think Kiera was the one who mentioned it to me.

"No, you can't have it! I won't let you!" With a blink of my eyes, I returned to the scene in Hinata's schoolyard, with her voice now filled with anger, roaring back at the Valkyrie. Gone was the confusion she had on her face, and her voice returned to her previous, dominant tone. Her fingers tightened into a fist, I could see Hinata's rising anger, feel the boiling emotions she was giving out. But, Kiera isn't someone who would give in to anything, to anyone. Ever.

"I wasn't asking!" Kiera declared with conviction in her eyes, violently gripping down on Hinata's wrist with her left hand again, but this time, I could see Kiera crushing her fingers down, pressing into the flesh with all her strength. Hinata winced in pain but never gave out a sound, her eyes still defiant. I stood between the two girls completely unknowing of what exactly they were fighting about, but I couldn't watch on.

"Enough!" What I planned to speak out came as a roar of anger. Next thing I knew, I had them pulled apart, my hands on each of their shoulders. Immediately, I pulled my hands back when I realized it out of embarrassment, still distraught over the chaotic turn of events. Kiera had her eyes pinned on Hinata, particularly around her neck, while Hinata massaged her wrist, all red over the vice-grip, with tears welling up in her eyes. With all her strength, she held them back while glaring at Kiera, then turning to me.

"Hinata... I... We're.." Apology was the only thing on my mind, but the lingering confusion made it difficult to gather my thoughts, to form the words. Her back turned on me, she was already walking away, one step at a time. As I stared at her back, I could see a slight shiver from her shoulders. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back at me.

"I thought you were different..." Her eyes, her face, before she broke off to a run, was painful to see. It was the face of someone betrayed and suffering. Her words, though few, was enough to drive the wedge of guilt into my heart. Just like that, silence resumed across the schoolyard where we stood. None of us knew what to say, and I think none of us wanted to speak even if we knew. My eyes fell to the ground while my mind sought for an answer, an explanation.

"Why did you do that? Explain yourself!" The stress had blew up the irritation pent up within me worse than I expected, as the first thing I did when we returned to our hotel rooms was yell out the question to Kiera. It was one of the few times I actually raised my voice against her. The sun was setting as everyone of my Famiglia cramped ourselves in my room, the orange light seeping into the room through the windows, tinting the walls with an orange hue.

Kiera just stood there, silent. She hasn't said a word ever since her outburst towards Hinata back at that school. Even as I demanded answers, her eyes looked back at me with cold, clear focus. The look in her eyes was always present whenever situations of extreme importance was happening within the Zanna Famiglia, where it felt as though the friend I had lived with for the past five years locked herself from everything else around her, with her mind only on the mission. It was a frightening sight.

"This... is the reason." Life suddenly entered her eyes as she spoke, pulling a folder out of nowhere and handing it to me with almost immediately, her movements stiff and precise. As the stuff inside the folder itself was unraveled, I couldn't believe my eyes. They flew from one corner to the other, from the notes, observations, newspaper cut-outs to the picture of a stone smeared by light. I couldn't read everything, but I kept seeing the one word that linked all of these things together.

"Kujaku..." That's right, that's the name of the object Kiera wanted from Hinata, the glowing stone from my dreams! With the revelation, my eyes flew wide open as I finally realized when I heard that name before.

"The second Legacy Arm, catalyst of the Zanna Secondo, must come into our possession no matter the cost! This is why I got us here to Japan!" As if justified for her actions, Kiera declared her reasons with conviction, blatantly ignoring just how angry I was feeling. The only thing holding me back from lecturing her was the fact that she did what she did for the Famiglia. In between our words, I could feel a strain in the air behind us, Sergio and the others must be feeling as conflicted as I am.

"Then why couldn't you at least told me? Why was Sergio and I left out in the dark?" The question came with a hushed tone of disappointment. This isn't the first time these things had happened, Kiera would sometimes carry out entire operations behind my back. Though the fact that it ultimately benefits the Famiglia and me softened up the problem, I always found myself reminding Kiera not to do it again, or at the very least inform me of it.

"Ngh..." Finally, her eyes shined with the light of regret, even if it was a fleeting one. Kiera understood the reason for my anger, and felt a tinge of regret. That much is enough for me.

"Sigh..." The swirling chaos in my mind finally began clearing, and I tossed myself onto my bed, thinking of what we should do now. Certainly, Kiera's words ring truth, the Zanna Famiglia will greatly benefit with Kujaku in our hands, as opposed to just having Fenris at our side. But, doesn't that mean I'll have to go through intensive training again? To master Kujaku? Argh, why do I have to be the only one who can use Legacy Arms? All the talk about bloodlines and whatnot, I didn't understand any of it!

Soon, my thoughts derailed to the point where my body twists and turned around in bed, fear, confusion and reluctance pouring out of me. In the end, it only meant more stuff piling up for me in the future, and more pain being drilled onto my body.

"Ahem."

I didn't know whose voice it was exactly, but that brought me back into the hotel room, with everyone else huddled around me with curious eyes. Darn, I forgot that they were still in the room!

"Ah ha ha ha ha... " The only thing left for me to do was just sit back up and laugh it off. I don't know exactly why, but everyone looked more relaxed than before, as if the moment my conflicting emotions left me, the tension within my Famiglia vanished as well.

"In any case, Lord Amato, we'll need to get to Hinata's residence and obtain that Legacy Arm." Kiera declared once more, the cold, almost emotionless side she showed a few minutes before now all but evaporated. In swift motion, she whipped out her cell phone and brought it to her ears. Strange, who could she be contacting? Everyone's here-! That was when I realized Dante was missing. Thinking back, I didn't feel his presence for a while now, could it be that he didn't actually come back with us?

"You already looked her up?" My question was replied with a sharp nod from Kiera. That must mean she checked out all she could and obtained every piece of information regarding our new Friend. Even when I understood the nature of this act, something we always do when making acquaintances, I still found myself shaking my head gently in disagreement, as if it was my body's way of reminding myself.

"Hinata... I wonder how she's doing... Will she really hand over the Legacy Arm just because we asked?" The memory of what happened bursts into my mind whenever any thought of her surfaces. The look on her face was difficult to forget. She seemed really distraught when it happened. Kiera's forceful try at obtaining the Arm aside, she seemed overprotective of that pendant. Then, a flash of white, dull linen came into mind.

"Right, not to mention those painful injuries I saw..." That heavily wrapped arm was painful to look at, I still wonder how she got them, they certainly don't look like small injuries.

"What did you say...?" Just as I got up on my feet and began to get ready, just as everyone else, Kiera stopped after hearing my words. A wave of change left her stunned for seconds, going deep into her thoughts.

"Yeah, her right arm was covered with linen, and her face seemed to be covered with scratches..." The eyes of my Famiglia grew worried as I described what I saw, plucking it out from the image in my mind. Perhaps I was the only one who actually noticed them, still, it doesn't explain why Kiera's so affected by a few injuries Hinata has here and there.

"Of course!" Her voice almost pilling out, Kiera's eyes exploded, one look and any of us could tell it was dire. "With the Arm being so powerful, and thus, valuable...!" The words she muttered out gave me no real idea of what thoughts were going on through her head, but sweat started falling. Kiera was losing her cool, getting worried, a crossed expression on her face.

"Wait, w-what's wrong?" Her emotions were contagious, as I got worried in the next instant. After all, Kiera rarely gets worried over anything!

"No time to explain, Lord Amato, we need to go!" Yelling out to not just me, but the rest of my Famiglia as well, her thundering steps broke past the door as soon as her words ended. Slight panic seeping into me, I turned to Sergio and the others, only to see them as just as confused as I am. With no objections, we stormed out of the room behind the steps of the Black Valkyrie.

Sorry for the late update, I know, it's been a week or two. It seems I'm getting blocked in the mind, I hope it clears soon. Hit by a revelation, Kiera leads Amato and the rest of the Famiglia in what seems like a race against time! Just what's happening? Whether you like this chapter or hate it, I would love to hear your thoughts in your reviews!