This chapter is majorly just a separation of the original Chapter 4 done for easier reading, but some extra scenes were added in. If you scroll through, you can find Aki's PoV of her child hood and an additional scene with spirits featuring one of Aki's monsters.

The two of us remained in silence for quite some time after being dismissed from class. I looked over at the brunette beside me, unable to discern whether the expression on his face showed a sort of happiness for getting out of class early, or a concern over me being labelled a witch once more by the other students. His worry is what brought me back to what I was going to talk about before the teacher interrupted me with this exam.

I scanned the hallway, noticing a few kids who had skipped class still milling around doing whatever it was that delinquents did. After taking hold of Kaze's wrist, I began to make my way down the hallway, looking around for an empty room as I did. Kaze offered some questions of where we were headed, but due to the large number of unused rooms, we reached our destination soon enough. It was a rather small classroom, hence why it was rarely used.

"Kaze, I'm sorry," I said bluntly now that we were alone. He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Why? It's not your fault that they surrendered. They're all just scared because they don't understand your powers," Kaze said.

"Not that. The scratches, the burn, all the wounds I gave you during our duel. You keep being so kind to me, and yet I've never gotten around to apologizing for it," I tried to insist on my apology. I knew that he'd probably deny that I did anything wrong, as he did to Yumi and her friends, but still, it was eating at me from the inside.

Wait, eating at me...? I'd hurt tons of other students before and I never felt sorry for any of them, much less the need to apologize. What I had done to him was tormenting me much more than anything I've done before. It was odd, considering I've inflicted worse wounds upon others. Now that I think about it... wasn't this what Kaze was saying earlier in his story? Hurting that one girl struck him with guilt. That must be what I was feeling right now.

"Don't worry about it, Aki, honestly. In fact, it doesn't even hurt anymore," Kaze objected, just as I figured he would. Doesn't hurt anymore means that it did hurt at one point, though... I tried to recollect all the wounds that I inflicted during our duel, but the only major one that came to mind was the burn from my dragon. Ever since then, Kaze had covered up most of it, except for that part peeking out from his jacket.

That's when, for the first time, I got the urge to actually see what I caused. I couldn't really explain why, but I suppose I had hoped it would give me a better understanding of what it would be like on the receiving side of my attacks. I really had no idea of how I could ask Kaze if I could see his wounds. Sure we were alone, but that didn't take away any of the awkwardness in it. There was no chickening out though. I had to ask and I had to see the burn, no matter what. After all, I'd never get another chance like this, seeing as Kaze's room was on the boy's side of the Osiris dorm and we only really saw each other in class. Deciding that beating around the bush would only be more awkward, I figured the direct approach seemed to be the best choice.

"Kaze, will you let me see the wounds?" At first, he seemed a bit flustered, knowing it'd require partially undressing while I was in the room, probably as well as removing his hat and precious necklace. Kaze managed to recollect himself after a few seconds, however.

"A-are you sure...? I mean, I guess I don't have a problem with it, but..." Kaze trailed off. When he saw I wasn't backing down in my choice, Kaze took a deep breath before taking his jacket off. After that, he took a hold of his shirt and lifted it up just enough to expose his midriff before stopping.

"Kaze?" I questioned slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you taking your shirt off?"

"Well, you can see it, can't you?"

"If you didn't want me to see it, you could have just said so," I pointed out.

"No, you want to see it, so I don't have a problem with that... but I can't really take my shirt off here," Kaze spoke slowly, as if unsure how to approach the topic.

"Why not?" I asked. It seemed foolish to not be able to. It was a normal shirt and the only thing that could be preventing him taking it off was... "Kaze, take your hat off," I said, causing the brunette to jump slightly.

"I... I've never really taken my hat off in front of others before, though," Kaze muttered. Never taken it off before? Now that I thought about it, the only times I'd really gotten glances of his face were from under the shadow of his hat's visor... even then, they were only glances that quickly slipped my mind. I remember seeing his eyes a few times, but I couldn't really pinpoint any actual information about them, not even color. The times I had seen him with his hat on had long since overrode the glances I got.

"But you have friends now. You don't have to hide from people when you have your friends who accept you," I tried to reason with the brunette.

"It isn't necessarily a trust thing... It's a safety blanket of sorts. Like how there are people who wear rings so that they can mess with them when they're nervous. That's what my hat is like for me. I feel out of place without it," Kaze said.

"We're the same though. So why would you feel out of place with me?" Kaze opened his mouth for a response but his words fell short. It felt bad somewhat forcing this upon him, but Kaze has been helping me with my problems, so the least I could do is try to help him get over his reserved approach. While he was still noticeably hesitant, Kaze at least was making a move to remove his hat and the rest of his shirt. So not as to add even more pressure to him by staring, I turned my attention to the burn that was being revealed.

It wasn't as bad as I had imagined in my head. I had figured I would have left his skin practically dead and burnt to a crisp. Instead, the tissue seemed to be simply tinted red with the very center where my dragon had hit at being a darker red than the rest. That being said, the lack of severity didn't change the amount of guilt. "Kaze, I-" I started to say as I looked up towards him. My words got cut off by my face suddenly heating up. I wouldn't go as far as saying he was attractive, but rather that fully seeing his face for the first time startled me. Given his background, I had always figured he would have a cold set of eyes, ones that had lost all hope for the world and its people. That wasn't the case, seeing how bright sapphire eyes were now glancing down at me. His hat has been giving off the impression that he was older than he was as well, as it covered the youthfulness in his features.

When I realized that I was staring at him, I ended up blushing even more before turning back to the burn, which easily sobered me up. "I... All I can do is hurt others with my powers," I muttered under my breath.

"That's not true. Remember Kattapillar...? We helped him. Your powers aren't bad," Kaze tried to reassure me.

"How can you say that after what I've done to you...? Even my father... my parents... they sent me here because they were scared of me!" I snapped before I could stop myself. Kaze was about to offer some words in rebuttal when what I said registered. Even he knew that he couldn't try and sugarcoat the past, especially not my own, which he knew nothing about.

"Aki... If something is hurting you, you shouldn't hold it inside until it has no way out. If you do that, you'll only hurt yourself more," Kaze said.

"I know, I know... It's just," I trailed off, my words failing me. It was just what? I couldn't say that he didn't understand. While he never had a conflict like this with his parents, as they were missing, he still had to deal with the exact same thing. Losing the people you care about because they were too scared to deal with who you were. All things considered, Kaze had already shared his story with me as well and never really demanded mine out of me. I eventually gave in, deciding to, as he said earlier, open up and trust him. It wasn't something I took too lightly, but I figured I had to give him a chance. Everyone that I had opened up to before didn't understand me, or rather, they didn't go through the same experiences. Kaze did, though, and he'd already been trusting me more than I probably deserved. The last thing I wanted to do was betray this trust and friendship by not trusting him in return.

I took a hold of my jacket's right arm sleeve and pulled it up, revealing that loathsome mark that ruined everything. The claw-like mark that was etched into my skin a few years ago and caused my powers to appear. When he saw the mark, Kaze was instantly taken back, and I couldn't blame him. I had never seen anything like it myself before it appeared, so of course it was foreign to most people.

"My father is the senator of Neo Domino. He's been the senator for as long as I can remember. That being said, I don't remember much about my father because he was hardly ever home. It was a fairly quaint lifestyle, albeit lonely with only my mother, but I could deal with it for the time. Much like your parents, my father always rewarded me with card packs and duel with me in his spare time. It was practically our only way of bonding. So when he told me that he would be home to duel me on my birthday, you can see why I was ecstatic. Even though I waited all night for him to come home, he never did. Since he left a present on my nightstand in the morning, I had figured I could forgive him. When I went to duel him, however, it turned out that he was leaving for a month. Not only that, but he wasn't going to duel me as he promised. Granted, it sounds a bit childish now, but back then, all I wanted to do was spend time with my father, but he never got the time.

"One day, I thought he did. He said he set aside time for me, so we began to duel. That's when a phone call arrived, calling my father back to his job. I was so enraged at the time that it must have awakened this mark, and in turn, my powers. Being scared at the time, I turned to my father for help, just like the little girl I was. Being struck by my blow, however, my father wanted nothing to do with me. He was the first person to call me a monster, and certainly wasn't the last." I tried to recount the tale in detail without going so far into it that Kaze would lose interest. Knowing him though, the brunette would at least act interested in my childhood even if he wasn't. Given by how he tensed at the last bit, however, I doubt he was acting at this point.

"After that, everything started spiraling out of control. None of the kids wanted to be near me after hearing or seeing my powers. Slowly, I found myself alone. My own father was nowhere to be found. He did come home every once in a while though, but it was usually at the worst of times. The kids at school would tease and torture me. It was to the point where my mother was considering having me home school, especially when I started fighting back with my monsters. My father would conveniently come home at these times, and I'd get punished as a result. Sometimes I'd be grounded, other times I'd have to listen to a lecture and apologize. Usually, my father just slapped me as punishment, treating me like the monster I am." At this point in the tale, Kaze was clearly beyond just listening. His fists were slowly clenching up into fists, unable to control his rage at my father but being polite enough to keep his tongue.

"My father eventually saw that he couldn't control me. No one could. That's how I got sent here to Duel Academy. They wanted to get rid of me without blatantly letting me know, but their feelings have been clear from the very beginning. They never wanted me, and they never will." I finished off my story on a bit of a melodramatic note. Whether it was finally letting the emotions all out or being able to talk to someone who finally understood, I didn't really care, but it took a weight off of my chest.

"Don't worry, Aki. It'll be alright, because I'll protect you," Kaze said in a matter-of-fact way after a brief silence to calm himself.

"While I appreciate the sentiments, you can't do that. You'll be leaving by the end of the month. How are you proposing you'll protect me?" I questioned. That stumped him for some time.

"Well, that does present a problem... Oh! How about you come back to DA with me?" Kaze offered, taking me by surprise. It never occurred to me to actually leave this academy, regardless of treatment. It was so close to home that I always just assumed I should stay here in case some emergency happened. "Don't worry about the papers or anything too. The chancellor owes me a few favors, let's say," Kaze chuckled at some inside joke. I figured it had to do with all that he had to help with around his duel academy, though.

In all actuality, it was a tempting offer. Escaping all the hate, actually being with someone who accepted me, and probably being able to enter Kaze's group of friends. Going off to some island of the middle of nowhere, though? Top that off with the chance that none of the students will accept me there either? After all, Kaze himself had been hiding Brionac from all of his friends. He even told me about these Shadow Duelists, who were somewhat similar to me in terms of powers, who were hunted down. Granted, they had actual malicious intents...

"I... I'll think about it," I said. It wasn't a definite answer, so I'd be able to mull it over a little more before I committed to anything. I probably wouldn't have to decide until a day or so before Kaze actually left. Upon realizing that our conversation about his wounds was over, Kaze quickly made a move to put back on his shirt and hat, causing me to sigh. As he did so I rolled my sleeve back over the mark on my arm. I doubted it was necessary, but you could never be too sure with these students. They'd turn a little thing into a huge problem just to ruin your life a little more.

"So, what do you guys really do here besides class and sitting at the dorm? I haven't been out and about too much. The card store is the furthest I've gotten," Kaze chuckled lightly once more.

"Unlike your Duel Academy, we're in town, so there isn't any real sightseeing to do. If you're into shopping, there are stores around, I guess," I said. Personally, I tried to stay off-campus as much as possible, whether it was staying inside my room or wandering around town to avoid the students. Since I'd seen it almost every day, I suppose I'm a biased person to ask for sight-seeing.

"Do you guys have an ice cream parlor near here?" Kaze pondered out of the blue. I took a few seconds to try to recall the surrounding stores, going through a mental check list as I did.

"There should be one a few minutes from here if you want to go. We just had lunch not too long ago though," I pointed out.

"But it's ice cream!" Kaze protested, as if that was a legitimate answer. Boys and their insatiable appetite... "Besides, Duel Academy only had sandwiches and some cheap stuff for the dorm meals. I've been dying to try some ice cream, but I kind of got lost when I went into town last," Kaze continued. I was easily able to take the hint. He wanted the both of us to go, not just him by himself. That probably was for the best, seeing as he was new here. But if it was just the two of us out eating... what if someone saw us and spread some weird rumors? It wasn't exactly myself that I was worried about, but rather Kaze. Just by being my partner in a tag duel exam he was getting labeled as weak and cowardly. What would something like this get him labeled as?

That and the fact that whenever I looked at him, I always imagined his with his hat off and how I got flustered over nothing. That one moment haunted my mind for the whole trip to the ice cream parlor that I was dragged on. I've seen boyfriends and girlfriends before and I've seen girls hanging out with guys in a platonic way before too, and even with that knowledge, I wasn't able to sort out exactly what that was about. Though, trying to even think about Kaze and I being romantically involved made me laugh, as it was just preposterous. He'd only been here for, what, a week? I'm not that shallow.

After dismissing that thought from my mind, I decided to focus myself on the present and more pressing matters, like not taking wrong turns and looking like an idiot. As time passed, however, I noticed that Kaze was unusual quiet. I snuck a glance behind me, noticing that the hatted duelist seemed to be in a sort of trance, though he was still following my steps. Deciding that something was wrong, I slowed to a stop, causing Kaze to bump into me moments later. He blinked a few times before seeming to return to normal.

"Eh? Oh, sorry. It was the duel spirits again," Kaze admitted. Duel spirits? Was this the same as with Kattapillar?

"So, there's a spirit in trouble?" I questioned.

"No, I wouldn't call it troubled," Kaze spoke after a while. "I can't really understand it. All I heard is this buzzing noise. It might be because it's not channeling me directly."

"But if you can't understand it, then how can you tell if it's troubled or not?" I continued to ask, still new to this.

"Well, it's coming from your deck, after all," Kaze revealed, taking me by surprise. One of my monsters? Why were they calling out to someone? Why now? Was it because they finally discovered someone who could hear them? Were they trying to flee while they had the chance?

Noticing the grim expression on my face, Kaze gave me a reassuring smile. "It's not as bad as it sounds, honestly. They don't sound distressed. Why don't you just talk to them if you're concerned," Kaze suggested out of the blue.

"I can't understand the Duel Spirits, you know that," I said. This clearly put a damper on his plan, as Kaze slowly tugged at his necklace, like it would give him some idea.

"Even if the monster is a human...?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you have Night-Rose Knight. Can't he speak human?" Kaze pondered. I slowly thought back to all the times that I summoned the monster to see if it ever spoke. To be honest, though, had I ever paid attention to my monsters? When I summoned them, it was usually brief and only for duels. "Though, I suppose if he could talk to you, he would have already," Kaze seemed to be mumbling to himself.

"Either way, we're in public. You know how people react when they see me summon monsters," I pointed out, causing Kaze to quickly meet my gaze.

"Aki, your powers aren't bad. You aren't bad. It's just the environment around you, the people. But it's not you. Trust me," Kaze said. I waited for him to smile and make another offer to go to his Duel Academy or something, but the brunette just continued to stare at me. It caused me to realize just how serious he was. "Your monster… it was Black Rose Dragon," Kaze began slowly, taking me by surprise. "It's not mad. It's not angry. It's worried."

"I… It's… worried?" I repeated. Why would Black Rose Dragon be worried about me…? Shouldn't it be worried about itself?

"I can't understand her very well, but… maybe she's worried that you're blaming yourself too much? Maybe you can try talking to your monsters a bit more? You don't have to understand their words, but rather their actions," Kaze suggested. I found myself reaching to my deck to retrieve the monster in question. Staring at the holographic white card with my ace's spirit inside, I really had no idea what to feel. They didn't hate me…? Why didn't they hate me? I practically used them as slaves…! I didn't have a strong bond like Kaze had with his monsters, so why… "I'll go stand in line," Kaze excused himself, which caused me to notice that we had reached our destination already. Deciding that Kaze left to give me some time to my thoughts, I turned my attention back to my card. Black Rose Dragon… and all of my other cards… Suddenly there was what sounded like a low growl, causing me to look up from my card once more. As I looked around, I found that no animals were around. Did that mean… a duel spirit? Ha, that's ridiculous! I pushed the thought aside as I placed Black Rose Dragon's card back into my deck and headed into the ice cream parlor to meet up with Kaze.

Notes:

- I threw in a bit of foreshadowing at the end to those of you who care to notice. For those of you who haven't seen all of the anime, don't pay much attention to it. For those of you who have and don't mind a bit of disclaimer, the foreshadowing is not Aki being able to hear spirits. Aki will not be able to communicate with the spirits ever in this story/any spin offs of it. It is just to show that she has an affinity, as later, she will be able to see them in the WRGP.