A week later - x.x.x Mist Kingdom

"One day, your painful memories

will definitely become the knowledge you need

to protect yourself, and the people you love "

When they first met, Kazuya encountered her during her worst state. He came back later at night and found her amid her mental break down. Lyn couldn"t forget the words Kazuya said to her then.

Kazuya is the one who said those words aren"t you? But even now, she can"t see what good those memories would do to her. If he were to find out, if he were to find out that it was because of her.

Kazuya never forgive her. No, a part of her knew it already that he would welcome her back with open arms. "No matter what she reveals to him."

Lyn understood that all too well. That"s kind of person he is.  He would welcome her back with a bright smile no matter what happens. No matter how much blood is shed because of her, he would treat her the same.

"Sorry," Lyn apologized in her head. All she can do is hurt people."

Her gaze landed on the red colour on her hands. She supposes it can"t be helped. The last few guys were rather persistent and beating up this many and sustaining only a wound like this was already enough. 

She took out her messenger crystal and weakly brought it to her lips. "I"m done master."

"Ah good work. I"ll the others. Hey Lyn, did you at least left them alive? They need to be questioned after all."

"Don"t worry I left them alive."

Sometimes she found herself being afraid of Kazuya. She tended to be mean to things that she liked. A sick and twisted mind set that developed a long time ago.

But it was different with Kazuya. That fool who smiled all the time looked so fragile in her eyes. Despite how strong he is, whenever she saw him, he looked so fragile and vulnerable. 

Kazuya is strong, brave and courageous and yet there is something about him that draws people"s attention. Because of that even now she can"t take her eyes off him.

Her entire body felt terrible and she was still unsteady on her feet. Her feet had yet to make a full recovery, so she still limped slightly. "This was a bad idea." Rhys and her had a fight about this, which ended up with him not talking to her for two days. Whenever she returned to his place, he wouldn"t be there. It"s like he purposely timed when she would go home, since she would see signs of him having been there.

Her thoughts broke off when she heard footsteps behind her. "Just what she needed."

Lyn didn"t need to turn around to know who it was. "I finished."

"Hmmm, what a good job. When you"re not fooling around you can actually do work it seems." s.h.i.+oka commented as he strolled over and inspected the bodies on the ground.

She couldn"t miss his mocking tone and sighed. "I already did the work, why are you still being annoying?"

"I"ve heard that you made a deal with that Silver guy."

"It was long before I met you," Lyn mumbled. "He ignored me for so long so I thought I no longer had any use."

"It"s still annoying."

Lyn sighed. "Does that matter right now? Get it already."

s.h.i.+oka glanced down at the people sprawled on the ground. He reached over and fiddled with their pockets before pulling out a small emblem. "You know, I heard that guy is making a move huh? I didn"t think that he would end up going to such a degree."

"But you knew who he was didn"t you?" Lyn wanted to confirm this for awhile now. But this guy is very hard to contact.

"That"s true. We could have easily stopped him then. Yet if we did that then we would have trampled on his wishes of you leading a happy life."

Lyn looked away, "it"s all because of her again." She still doesn"t recall exactly what happened between Kazuya and her in the past. But, it seems like everybody knows about it.

"Hiding the truth isn"t necessarily saving him."

                                                                          "Your so blunt and to the point. Your like him in that sense I suppose. That"s true we could have told him but along the way he already found out and yet you still treated him normally right?"

"If you knew Kazuya, I wish you told me. It feels like I was sneaking around for nothing."

"That guy is dense and innocent despite what it looks like. He leads the entire underground world in his shoulders and has frightening strength. He does things so perfectly sometimes that you would doubt she is human sometimes."

Her sweat dropped, hey, hey isn"t that taking it a bit too far? Even though she can"t deny it. "When I asked him about black markets and underground matters. Kazuya was always uncomfortable. I only just learned the reason why recently. It seems I did something unnecessary. I wish somebody told me sooner."

s.h.i.+oka pulled out his cigarette and lighter. "Want one?"

Lyn nodded and s.h.i.+oka pa.s.sed her one. Lyn didn"t put it to her mouth and just watched the small pieces of smoke around the cigarette.

"He didn"t do it deliberately. I didn"t know it was him who came as the Sound Kingdom"s amba.s.sador. Even then, I had a hard time recognizing him."

"He faked his name before?"

"Yeah, he went by the name Zero before and well his appearance.. He had black hair and the presence around him.. He was frightening."

Then that makes sense. From that description, it"s normal s.h.i.+oka couldn"t recognize Kazuya. Yet if it were her, Lyn knew she could recognize him. That sounds so conceited of her. But, "I think I met him before," Lyn mumbled. Now that she has learned of his other appearance, something came to mind. Not the boy she met in the park that day. But another time, another place.

Kazuya was an unusual guy.

She often found herself bewildered at by his actions. Despite his perfection though, Lyn understood all too well that he isn"t satisfied with what he has now. Kazuya isn"t satisfied with the ability he has now. He is someone who always tries to reach higher, someone who always tries to aim for more.

This was one of the reasons why she found it difficult to be with him. Unlike Kazuya, her goals and aims seemed so small.