It had almost been four weeks since Jack ran into the Japanese girl. Every day, he found his thoughts drifting to her. He didn't know what was happening to him, and he didn't really want Steven's opinion. It would probably be stuff that isn't safe for little kids to hear. Since Steven's car had to get serviced, so they walked to school, and eventually ran into Raf on the way. It turned out that he had skipped a couple grades because he was so smart. The three of them idly chatted until Jack hit someone and fell on his butt. "Sorry 'bout that," Jack apologized. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Jack was about to get up, but a boot pinned him down. He looked up, and saw a black-haired woman wearing black leather all over with Kaon's symbol on the back. Her shirt was very low cut, revealing more cleavage than should be legal. It also showed off her toned stomach. Her shorts were so short and tight they looked painted on. Her high-heel boots were digging into Jack's shirt enough to possibly tear it right off his body. She leaned in, revealing to have dark-blue, almost black, eyes while wearing mascara, dark-blue eye shadow, and pitch-black lipstick. She looked to be about his aunt's age, but had a definite hooker look to her. "That's alright, boy," she said. "I've got a couple ideas as to how you can make it up to me." Jack saw a couple sketchy guys get in Raf's way and hold his arms so he couldn't leave to get help. He had a bad feeling about this. This lady had 'bad news' written all over her.

-With Miko-

Miko was walking to Kaon alone again, finding her thoughts constantly drifting to the black-haired boy she ran into. It distracted her constantly. In fact, she was so distracted, her English teacher Miss Beatrice Webb offered to give her tutoring. However, with the way she dressed and acted, especially when around the members of the BuGang, Miko had a feeling she wouldn't get any actual studying done.

As she turned the corner, she saw her English teacher with her boot on the boy who constantly invaded her thoughts. The other boy she saw was a short boy being held back by two members of the BuGang: Harold and Bob Crawl, otherwise known as "Bombshock" and "Hardshell". She walked up and knocked out Bombshock's lights. She engaged Hardshell in a stare-down, which Hardshell lost due to the rep she gained in the first two days alone as a tough girl who wouldn't take crap from anyone. Hardshell let go of the smaller boy, and she turned to Miss Web. "Okay, doing that in school is one thing. Doing it in public is another thing, Miss Web," Miko said.

"I suggest you not interfere with my fun, Miss Nakadai," Beatrice hissed, unhappy at being interrupted.

"I suggest you get off my sister's kid before this gets ugly," a new voice said, carrying a threatening tone.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Rachel. "Aunt R.C.!" Jack and Steven said in unison.

"Well, well. It's been a long time, Rachel. How have you been?" Beatrice asked, an evil smile on her face.

"Better than I was after what happened at Iacon," Rachel replied bluntly.

Beatrice took her foot off of Jack, and started walking slowly toward R. C. "You want to talk about the old times?" She asked darkly. "I like to think of them as a group of years wasted, all because I thought I could be a friend to you and others."

"You definitely fooled me," a soft voice said from nearby, above their heads. A figure jumped down from the fire escape, wearing a black t-shirt that said [True strength must be earned through hardship] on the front and back in Japanese. He was barefoot, but Miko had no doubt that with the way his feet looked, he could slow-walk over hot coals and not get burned, since he clearly didn't seem like the type to moonwalk. He had no weapons, but his muscles were so well-formed, it didn't look like he usually had need of weapons. He had a scar over his left eye. Miko recognized him almost immediately. He was Nathaniel Drake, one of the security guards at Iacon. Bulkhead had told her about him, saying that he'd studied under the legendary Philip "Batman" Hakama while in the Army, and had been part of the elite army group known as the Wreckers. He'd also told her that no one ever made trouble while he was in the room. "He's got eyes like a hawk," Bulkhead had told her. "He misses nothing. Nothing. Even Jackson couldn't get anything by him, and he was the class clown."

"You know, I never thought I'd see your face again," Beatrice said with a smirk. "Still handsome as ever, I see," she added in a flirtatious tone.

"Still as depraved and decrepit as ever," Nathaniel said in a flat tone. Beatrice glared at him, but she said nothing. Ignoring her, Nathaniel looked at the BuGang, who nervously looked back. "I warn you. If you attempt to attack me, I will strike back," Nathaniel promised with a threatening tone, starting to settle into a fighting stance. The BuGang immediately scattered, and Beatrice, realizing that she was a gang short, left after firing a scornful glare at Nathaniel, leaving just the family, Nathaniel, and three friends.

"Thanks for that, Aunt R.C., and Mr. Drake," Steven said.

"No problem. Now, you should go, girl," Rachel replied.

"What? Why?" Miko asked.

"If Mike sees you with us, not only will you be expelled, but Kent may end up paying the price. Mike doesn't like being lied to, and I don't think he's aware of old Bulky being your guardian. He also doesn't like Nathaniel very much at all," R. C. cautioned.

"Wait, how do you-?" Steven started, but his aunt stopped him.

"We all used to go to Iacon. Also, you going to Kaon is the only reason she would know your last name. Now, get going," Rachel said. Miko wisely ran, leaving just the three boys, Nathaniel, and the mature woman.

"What are you doing here anyway, Aunt R.C.?" Jack asked.

"I was on my way to the gym to meet with Cliff when I saw what was happening," Rachel replied.

Jack had a knowing smirk on his face. "Oh, you mean your boyfriend?" He asked in a teasing tone.

R.C. blushed at that. "He is not my boyfriend!" She protested while trying to hide her flushed face.

"Mm-mmm," the three younger boys said, not convinced.

Nathaniel's face was unreadable as always, but underneath that, he was smiling. (Cliffjumper her boyfriend? I'm not surprised. She has good taste,) he thought, silently giving his approval.

"Look, just get to school before you have to deal with Tim," R.C sighed. "He was bad enough when he was the head of the morals committee."

"Those were good times," Nathaniel replied sarcastically.

The five all went their separate ways, four of them unaware that someone was watching the entire thing, and recorded it to show to a certain principal. Nathaniel look directly at the hidden watcher. "So, we meet again," he said coldly. He stood there and stared at the hidden watcher until he (or she) had fled. Satisfied, Nathaniel walked away.

1) Same as the Decepticon symbol from G1

Care to take a guess who that was at the end of the chapter? I hope you liked that chapter. Ninjusk Noir the ninja/assassin was so popular in Dead To Emotion, Alive to Vengeance that I had to carry him over to this fanfic. What did you think of Nathaniel? He's had a "bit" of a rough past. Want to know how rough? Drop a review, and I'll give you a hint. Read and review. Remember, I upload faster when I get lots of reviews. sTell your friends, and tell them to tell their friends.