CHAPTER 11:

He paced back and forth across my mini-receiving area, constantly giving his midnight hair a pull or two once in a while. I started to think he would never start talking. Maybe he really wouldn't. Yet again, maybe he would.

So forced myself to patiently wait for him to talk despite my itching feeling to just knock the answers out.

"What the fuck am I doing?" he whispered almost to himself, "I shouldn't be saying this to her! I'll get completely terminated off this mission if they find out,"

I puffed an impatient sigh out of my lungs. I've had enough of him pacing around and talking to himself.

"As much as I hate to break it to you, you already gave up information to me, Ikuto,"

He abruptly stopped on his track and whipped his head at my direction, looking like he just realized I was still there. His dark eyes became ever darker, the pupils swallowing up the irises. He swiped a shaky hand across his handsome face and along with his hand, his panic-stricken aura disappeared, leaving a plain, emotion-void Ikuto at its wake.

He assumed a neutral face and stepped toward me. Ikuto took my hands into his. The hands that held mine were cold and calloused, like the hand of a skilled fighter, a professed killer - just like me.

I almost jerked away as he tugged at my hand. He guided me to the sofa and gently pushed me down. My eyes searched his but he was very careful on making eye-contact.

And just when I thought he wouldn't meet my eyes, he surprised me by slamming his emotion-filled eyes to mine, almost making me hitch my breath at the intensity of his stare.

"I was hired to protect you-"

I waved him off. "Yeah, yeah. I already know that. You're one of my father's men and he hired you to keep an eye on me. What I want to know is who wants me dead?"

Ikuto eyed me with a you-have-no-idea look and shook his head reprimandingly. My left brow automatically hiked up. What was that reaction about?

"I don't have anything to with your father. He didn't hire me,"

My heart pumped faster at the information, cold hard fist suddenly clenching around it. I was curious and nervous at the same time. Who the heck would protect me other than my family?

But somehow, I knew this was coming. My father already paid fifty men and women to keep watching me in school. Hiring another one was just an obvious idiotic expense.

"Tell me," I ordered.

Ikuto shook his head. "You don't have to know,"

My anger flared up. "It's my life we're talking about here! How the hell do I not have to know who bloody hired me a bodyguard?"

His head snapped at my direction so quickly he must've had a cut or two from his hair. "First, I. AM. NOT. YOUR. BODYGUARD. Second, I'll have to kill you if you find out who hired me, making me completely eliminate the purpose of my mission in the first place,"

My face could not possibly get paler than it was now. This was some twisted shit I got myself into. Not that being in a mafia wasn't twisted, too. But still...

I glared at Ikuto head on. "You don't have the guts to assassinate me...or even if you do, I'd kill you first. YOU KNOW IT,"

I stood up and grabbed his collar for the purpose of smacking his face but he moved so swift and fast that I thought I blacked out for a second. Next thing I knew, he was pining me down on the sofa with his gorgeously long body on top of mine.

We were breathing hard and staring right into each other's eyes the exact same time Nagihiko walked into the room.

"Amu-chan! Whe-" his voice got caught in his throat as he saw the tangled mess on the sofa.

Frozen in shock, Ikuto and I were unable to move.

Visible pain flashed across his face. He clenched his jaw and turned around. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't know you had company,"

I never knew one could put so much hatred in just one sentence.

"Amu-chan!" a perky voice greeted me as I entered my room.

Sigh.

I meant, our room.

Yes. I had roommates now.

Since the fire in the men's dormitory almost took every room in it, us girls were forced to cram up and share our building with the boys. The first and second floors were for the guys and the third and fourth ones were for us. The ratio of students in a room is 6:1. We were still one student short. Hopefully, though, we'd stay like this. I had enough bunch of girls, laughing and squirming and giggling.

So, a day right after the fire, the Guardians called for a meeting and announced their solution to the problem. We were going to share rooms - whether we liked it or not.

And I'd be stuck with these four delinqs until they finish fixing the other dorm, which was probably until the end of winter.

"Amu-chan! Amu-chan!"

That's Ran. Kurosaki Ran - the cheerleader. She's always noisy, cheering and jumping around doing incredibly dangerous stunts without mats. She's the one who got to my nerves a lot.

I shot her a silencing glare, which was, by the way, very effective on her. To my surprise, Ran dashed behind an easel and clumsily bumped the painter on her way.

The painter's face heated up with red, hot rage. She had been working on that 'masterpiece' for almost a month now (or so they say) only to have it ruined by Ran.

"You clumsy, dweeb!"

Miki's face was contorted to fits of anger, making her terrifyingly beautiful face become even scarier than before.

Miki was an artist. Drawing, painting, dancing, composing, playing instruments, fashion designing, anything of the like. She was freakin' showered with all possible talents in the world. But she was also cursed with a very short patience.

She chased Ran throughout our now-crammed dorm room. And just when Miki thought she had Ran, the girl did a cartwheel and escaped her captor. Miki, on the other hand, was unable to stop her fall and dove her face on the humongous whipped cream on the cake Suu was holding up.

"E...to, gomenasai, Suu," Miki reluctantly took a step back and tentatively licked the whipped cream off her lips.

"BAKA JANAIYO?!"

Suu's scary as hell voice bounced on the four corners of our room. You see, she wasn't usually like this. She's usually cheerful and kind, very innocent-like and gentle. But if you unfortunately messed with her cooking, you'd surely face Hades himself.

Miki trembled under Suu's horrifying glare. Poor kid.

I ignored them and went straight to my bed but as I passed the couch, my feet unexpectedly caught something hard and hairy. I looked down and saw...Dia lying on the ground, apparently asleep again.

Now, Dia here could possibly be the laziest person I had ever known. It was either you'd catch her sleeping on your bed or you'd find her slouched on the sofa. Lazy as she was Dia had her own reasons for sleeping a lot. First, it was better than listening to the others quarrel. Second, nobody would disturb her if she's asleep. And third, it took tons of her strength to be a pop singer and a student at the same time.

Yes, my roommate's a superstar.

And it made me care even less.

"Will you kids just shut up for a sec?!" I found myself yelling at the top of my lungs.

The trio stopped mid-smack, mid-pull and mid-kick.

"Seriously? You're totally not acting like siblings,"

Did I forget to mention my roommates were freakin quadruplets? Well, I'd say it now. THEY'RE FREAKIN QUADRUPLETS!

Shocker, huh?

"Gomenasai, Amu-chan!" they chorused, all red-faced and closed eyelids.

I ignored them again and headed straight to my bed.

The pebble I kicked rolled back to my booted foot. I was wearing deadly combat boots right now - literally. It was more of a necessity than a fashion statement, really. Ever since that day from the hospital, I was overly cautious, if not paranoid. Not that I was scared to die. Heck, I could die right at this moment and not dread it. The only thing I was worried about was my family.

My mother Midori was the only person other than me who had actually faced Death and survived. My father was constantly protected by the mafia and only knew how to use a gun. Ami? Well, she was always the pure one. She wouldn't hurt a soul.

In order to keep my family safe I had to be alive enough to fight bastards away from them.

"Nice boots you got there,"

My head snapped up to meet those loving eyes. He never brought up that day with Ikuto. But he never let go of me since then.

I snapped away from my deep thoughts and gazed back into his topaz eyes. Another person I unconsciously forced into the mess that was my complicated life. Another life I would be held responsible for if - God forbid - taken.

How could I endanger this man's life? How could I give a pure soul like his to the hands of the devil? Maybe Rima was right. I truly was a wrenched bitch.

A user.

I probably never cared about anyone. I shut out the world and only tuned in for my family. Death was as certainty in our lives and I would probably use anyone just to keep my family safe. A life of one in the exchange of three? Not so bad, wasn't it?

Yet I couldn't bring myself to do that. I was torn from saving my family and doing something noble for once. My conscience, if I even had one, was eating me inside out.

That doll. That doll from the explosion. It wasn't what I first thought it was. I only thought it was a decoy, a thing to lure me in to be killed. But it wasn't only that.

The doll had a face. A face I was very familiar with. It was Nagihiko's face. And its wailing wasn't actually wailing. It was a recorded threat or a bargain or whatever.

They wanted me to give Nagi to them in exchange of cutting off all ties my family had with those notorious devils. It was the perfect escape - an escape I was dying to find ever since. And it only came off with a single life.

Any sane Executioner would've done the deal.

But I was beyond sane.

I'm selfish.

Nagihiko's hand took mine, making me lift my gaze up to his glistening topaz eyes. I rose up from the pathetic mound I was sitting on and followed him.

"This is where I got the roses I left you," he guided me through a beautifully well-kept bushes of rose. His hand squeezed mine just as my heart squeezed the blood out of it.

A soft gasp escaped my lips. "They're beautiful,"

"Just like you,"

His finger lifted my face up to meet his. Topaz irises stared back at me with heated passion. A blush crept to my cheeks but I wasn't able to pull back. The things this guy did to me...it was unspeakable.

Nagi dipped his head and brushed my lips with his. I closed my eyes as he smiled against my nervous lips. I was tempted to pull away. Someone shouted inside me, like we were doing something we shouldn't. My eyes fluttered open as I pulled away from him.

Why was I feeling this?

Why was I feeling guilty?

Maybe because you are putting that boy in the hands of Death just by being with him.

Great. Now my non-existent conscience just decided to pipe up.

I stared back at Nagi. He gave me a reasssuring smile. But I couldn't give him one back.

"Let's go," he took my hand and guided me out of the greenhouse.

I took one last look behind me and sighed.

"I gotta tell you something, Nagi,"

He looked back at me and flashed one of his sweetest smiles.

"What is it?"

"It's something really important,"

My voice probably gave it away because his billion-dollar smile dropped so hard I almost felt the earth shake. "Tell me,"

He eerily echoed the words I used on Ikuto. The very ones I used to take information that would've sealed me into signing up for the death row.

Now, he was using it on me. And I had the perfect reason to wave him off like Ikuto did. But I wouldn't.

I'm selfish, remember?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Bet y'all hate me now, don'cha? Hohoho! There's a new bomb to blow your minds, dear readers. Please do review. Somehow I'm lacking the motivation to write two chapters a week, so any comment from you guys (especially the long ones) would probably do me a huge boost :)

By the way, I'm writing down this story's timeline and if I'm able to follow it, we will probably reach the end by mid-May. Not so bad, eh? Hehe *_*v

With all the love for writing,

Lace Ashdown