​​​​​​​

SANJI

Knock knock knock- knock knock knock!

Sanji's eyes opened. Another day had arrived. On the dot. Again. It would never end.

Sanji sat up and stared at the door as though staring intensely enough would erase the person on the other side from existence. 7:47am... Who could it be?

Knock knock knock knock!

Sanji sighed and sat up slowly, very slowly. He swung his feet off the side of the bed and felt for the solid ground, one toe at a time. He didn't want to trip and have an accident now... The ground felt solid enough. He pulled his legs over and let his feet rest, sitting at the edge of the bed and stilled. Maybe they had gone away now..? The knocking persisted once more. The nuisance wouldn't even call out their name so he realized he really had to answer it.

Gingerly, he padded across the room to the door and stopped before it. Who was knocking for him this hour of a school day? Why would anyone even bother with him? There was no eyehole so Sanji leant against the corner of the doorframe lethargically and placed his hand on the doorknob, being as silent as possible. The knob turned slowly in his hand and he opened the door, one millimetre at a time till he had partial view of the person outside. It was Nabiko, arms folded casually and looking at opening crack in expectation.

His eyes lowered and met Sanji's at the corner of the doorframe. The shorter boy's eyes instantly averted to the floor. Ah no, why him??? Sanji thought, Is he mad at me or something? I don't want this. He turned his head away and started to close the door. Atleast, he tried to.

Sanji looked down. Nabiko had wedged his foot in between the doorway. His eyes met the incredulous stare. "Were you seriously going to close the door on me?"

Sanji's reddened slightly and he retreated his face behind the door a little bit further, "no I just, I..."

"Rhetorical question," Nabiko placed his hand on the door and easily pushed his way inside striding in beside Sanji who did not move. He stopped and turned to Sanji, his eyes roamed up and down the boy's body. "You're not even dressed for school yet."

Nabiko paused, he scanned the room like a concerned parent. Not only Sanji's attire, but his entire room looked dead and forgotten. He had assumed Sanji might be a neat freak, but there were two cafeteria trays on the bedside, dirty clothes piled in the corner of the room, and bloody bandages lying at the foot of the bed. "..." he thought it over in silence.. they'd have to deal with it later. "Come on, we have assembly now. Yoshi's already there." He looked at Sanji, still unmoving from the doorway, "or do you plan on sleeping in all day?"

Sanji quietly bowed his head and looked across at the view of his bed and room. He knew what it looked like. Sleep in all day..? Yeah... he didn't mind that if he could...

"Really man? You know I'm joking right?" Nabiko folded his arms and leant against the door. "Change your clothes now, I'm waiting. You can bathe during lunch time."

With great deliberation, Sanji walked toward the center of the room and stopped short. Nabiko reached up and began pulling his hair out of his ponytail, raking it back and forth probably for the hundredth time of the morning. His stomach peeked from beneath his untucked shirt as he waited for Sanji to make move. Sanji in response turned around slightly but without facing his classmate directly. "You shouldn't... you shouldn't bother with me. I'm not worth it."

"Yeah, okay, sure???" The elastic hairband hanged from Nabiko's mouth as he spoke muffling, "that's very nice to know but can you hurry up? I'm not so patient." Nabiko finished neatening up his hair and made his way over to Sanji's wardrobe. He reached through the hanging clothing in search of the school shirts. The jackets soiled in animal urine was sitting at the bottom of the cupboard. Nabiko looked at it but did say nothing.

Sanji hugged his arms to himself and watched Nabiko going through his clothes. He wasn't listening to him. "Urghh!!" Nabiko grumbled in exasperation as he flipped through the clothes for the third time. "How do you not have any clean school jerseys when you barely come to class??? Fine then." Nabiko turned around and glanced at Sanji as he marched toward the bedroom door. "I'll be right back," he said, exiting the room.

Quietly, Sanji turned around and took a meek seat upon his bed. He looked down at his hands as he waited. Why is he being so kind to me...? His eyes fell upon his pillow and he remembered what he had hiding there. Quickly, he reached into his pillowcase and grabbed the box of razorblades he had hidden there for secrecy. He was sure he was going to need it later. He tucked it into his pocket just as Nabiko returned with one of his own school shirts in hand. "There, now come on, you gotta atleast brush your teeth," he was grabbing and kicking the random clothing articles on the floor into a heap as he hurried about the room and finally picked the entire bundle up into his arms. "Let's go," he budged the door open with his foot and eyed Sanji, allowing him to pass through first.

"I'll drop this off for you since the laundry is close to the washroom." Nabiko let the door close behind him and the two started down the empty corridor, walking one arm's length away from each other as though complete strangers.

Nabiko was trying to hurry, bundle of clothing in his arms, but Sanji at his side was staring out the pathway daydreamingly. Nabiko shook his head in exasperation, though not quite contempt. Not even a bit of gratitude but I guess... that's the personality of this guy. He shrugged his shoulders. As they neared the dorm's bathroom, Nabiko sped up and zoomed around the corner to head to the laundry leaving Sanji to wash up on his own.

Sanji finished washing up by the time Nabiko returned and then they were off to the hall at the frontside of the school. Form 1 to form 6 gathered there every morning, whilst the younger ones had a different hall and briefer morning assembly.

It was a nice walk, albeit a fast one. The hallways had the school classrooms on one side, and the other side waist high concrete railings, sectional columns and the inner courtyard. It wasn't anything unusually fancy, but it was home- not stony interiors but a step into fresh air upon exiting every classroom, a beautiful morning sun that Sanji would miss every overslept day.

This time, the procession was blighted by the impending daunt of the assembly. Being late was a small fortune in hindsight; he didn't have to hear the principal redress what had occurred with Sanji the passed week and he didn't have to see students turn around to pinpoint the accused in their midst. The two scarcely made it in time for the principal to reiterate that the four towers were still off limits to students (because each one was said to hold the four elements for the school border), that no one was permitted animals outside of the class pet, teleporting was dangerous and not allowed and that classes were going to resume as usual of course. They said a morning pledge and then were dismissed row by row which quickly disintegrated into a moving pandemonium..

Even though he had come in late, within one minute everyone knew who Sanji was and it was like moving in the wash of a spotlight. Deliberately, Sanji slowed his pace, shuffling amidst the crowds to lose Nabiko from his side. He didn't want to have the boy feeling compelled to defend him or be added to an embarrassing hazing. It was shameful enough not to drag someone else into his mess.

And so he lingered back, feet dragging to a crawl and eventually he became swept into the waves of the crushing crowd. Nabiko, he noticed, also became swept away far ahead of him, looking around with futile effort. He was finally 'alone'.

"That's him isn't it?"

"That's the new boy who was fighting on the tower."

Slow gossip pressed around him until the momentum became more bold. A few students were trickling by but more of the older students remained walking in time with him, none were prefects of the sixth form body who had exited off their appointed mezzanine seating already. A hand landing on his shoulder was the first move and Sanji was almost pulled back.

"Are you Sanji? What happened on the tower?"

"Why would you fight on the tower, that's where the border protection lies."

Whispers quelled and absorbed into each other to form one uniform voice. Sanji kept his eyes averted but he'd already been cornered and had to stop walking. The circle was made up of maybe 20 students, more older ones, the tall inquisitor in front seemed to be a form 5 student.

"Some of the sixth form students teleported there afterward and they said there were black stains on the ground," the student had brown neat hair and was not unfriendly but beneath Sanji's vacant gaze, his heart was beating rapidly. "Lightning can't burn an animal so bad to fry it like that, can it?"

"Maybe one of them did it."

"No way," someone else interjected, "only Migurigum can do that, the other guy clearly is an enhanced Bestial but this guy..." 'this guy' was referring to Sanji.

"This guy is no Migurigum," the form 5er finished, eyeing Sanji squarely, "if he did that then he would be have to be like a god or something."

"Yeah right," another one scoffed. A few more students trickled by but the ringleader continued to look down on Sanji with folded arms as Sanji stared at the floor... it wasn't anything he hadn't expected...

"Do you have an enhanced ability yet?"

"...no," Sanji muttered in a soft voice.

"Why's he talking down in his toes like that?"

A few chuckles came from the crowd and Sanji reddened. Ah, he wasn't used to the attention, but.. it was okay. It was to be expected, he shouldn't have been on the tower. He should stop being bad. He shouldn't have been here at all.

"Guys quiet," the others strangely obeyed the lead boy. He had his hands raised and a strange small smile on his face as he looked about him at them. Then he refocused his energies on Sanji standing just below his vision and caught like helpless cattle. "Don't mind them, I'm the form 5 rep and I'm a... clairvoyant psychometric or something like that," he stuck out his hand at Sanji, "it's nice to meet you."

Clairvoyant... Sanji thought he knew what the first word meant but a psychometry enhanced? What was it? Was this a trick- was the boy planning to hurt him in front of all the other students? Sanji stared at the hand and his body tensed. He had mentally accepted everything and was okay with being hurt but... but his body was still reacting and he couldn't control it...

"What's the matter???" the voice provoked him, "I don't bite..." Bite... Sanji swallowed a lump in his throat and had to close his eyes. What would happen if he broke? The students didn't notice his dismay. What would happen if he bit back...

"Miroku what are you doing?"

All the children startled and half the rabble scattered off instantly. Heads turned toward the skunk haired principal glaring at the bunch, his hands on his waistcoat, black and white tailored suit looking new. "Sirrr," the fifth former placated, "I'm just trying to keep order here-"

"I thought you wanted to be a prefect next year," the aging but stylish principal cut him off and was already walking away,. "All of you head to class or you get detention." They dispersed, Miroku disappeared with a bow and Sanji was left with a perplex of emotions. It hadn't tipped over the edge. HIs heart quietened and he relaxed his hands. So it was over. He looked up. The principal was staring at him. Then the man turned and walked away.

Why???

Sanji opened the homeroom door. The small classroom was filled with chatter, all eyes on one person. It ebbed and then snickering. Why snickering? Sanji walked over to the left of the room, the back by the window. His desk, behind Yoshida's empty one. Had they been called by Miss Taka again? He didn't look around for Nabiko either. It was more of a relief.

There were instructions written on the board but no one was doing the schoolwork. On one side, Sedata, Makenshi and the cast legged Ichiga sat chatting idly. Around Sanji and making a pathway for him to his seat, the students lounged on their desks staring and waited for him. He didn't give them a chance however, as he finished his procession down the plank, he slung off his bag and dropped it to the ground and immediately sat and put his head on the desk.

The din lessoned immensely- the circus monster was not performing as scheduled. You would think the bullying would end since Titan was gone from the picture now but no... now more people were noticing the strange sullen boy. "Hey!" Someone strummed rapidly on his desk, "we know you're not asleep."

"Why does he always act like that?"

A chair scraped nearby as though being pulled up to sit in front of Sanji's desk. Sanji could hear them taking a seat, he saw their legs straddling the chair from beneath the desk. They were simply going to ignore the fact that he wanted to pretend to be sleeping and talk at his head anyway. Someone strummed again, this time on the back of his head. "What happened to your roommate?" they asked, "Miss Taka teleported in the middle of class and then didn't return."

"Someone said he ran into the forest on the compounds."

"So is he expelled, is he coming back???"

"You can't get expelled from your home," someone else retorted with a huff, "and why wasn't Sanji punished too?? They both were fighting."

"It's because he lost," someone laughed, "the losers never get into trouble. It's not fair. Miss Taka is always defending him."

"Yeah we noticed." Sanji kept his face down. He couldn't tell if the entire class was standing round him or not but he could see many feet just standing around in his vicinity. His new acquaintances, were they joining in too? Guess it didn't matter, he didn't want to be noticed. This would be over in a few days and things could go back to normal.

"So did he kill the animals or not?"

"I doubt it, but he seems like the type who would."

"Yeah, the silent evil type who would just go off one day."

"Maybe we should be careful before he kills everyone-"

"Pshh, if he even thinks about doing that we'll deal with him. We're a family here- someone can't just come and mess everything up."

"I hate people like that." They continued making assumptions around his head as though he wasn't there.

"He probably tortures animals in his spare time... that's why he's never in class."

"Oh my gosh! That makes total sense-"

"This class is too noisy!" Just as he began to think about them, he heard the familiar slightly grating voice of the infirmary girl; Sedata''s best friend jumped up slamming her hands on the desk and glared around the students. Sedata and Makenshi at her side didn't try to restrain her, used to her personality and following her as the surprising ringleader of the three.

"Eek, Ichiga's back," a student within Sanji's circle mumbled, hoping not to be heard.

"I heard that!" Ichiga pointed her crutch at their corner and glared at the spoken boy, "and I climbed the river tree the highest so you all owe me a dollar! Come on," she indicated to her friends, "noisy idiots." Hobbling professionally on her crutches, Sanji heard the girl's chair scrape back and then two pairs of feet follow her out of the classroom. It seemed the teacher probably wasn't coming back for the morning, maybe he could leave as well?

Silently, Sanji patted the lump in his pant pocket and collected his breath. He just needed courage to get up and leave, it was harder than it sounded and everyone was standing so close around him. It wasn't their fault for cornering him, he had entered their world and disrupted the unity. His fingers curled lightly on the desk, they weren't even bullying him per say, he was the bad one after all. He'd done something weird and disgusting and now everyone wanted to find out about it.

Wait... it hadn't been him, had it? And another important question arose; did he even care or did he just want to forget it? The animals that had died very suddenly, it wasn't torture so.. he didn't see the problem. Had he done it..? Had he done it deliberately? Something like that... he didn't want to get to the bottom of it. He just didn't want to know about it- it was over. Something about dead animals really triggered him. Did that make him evil?

He took a deep breath and stood up whilst the students around were distracted. They startled and looked back at him- "hey he's up!"

Sanji quickly shoved through as easily as he could, keeping his eyes downcast. He bumped a few angered shoulders on the way out of the throng. He walked fast toward the front of the class before he could turn to the exit, a few students overcame their alarm and decided to dart after him. "You're not supposed to leave the class!" they snapped behind his back but he hurried on just barely managing not to run.

He burst out the doorway, free, just as a hand caught his shoulder. He shrank back-

"Why are you running- ow!!!" the voice broke off with a whump.

The boy started hopping, holding his shin and they both looked down. Ichiga closed her eyes and brought her weaponised cast back onto her lap, feigning piety. "No shouting by my ears."

"Ichiga that hurt!" the boy squeaked.

"Why are you blaming me!"

Sanji glanced at the girls and Makenshi sitting cross legged on the floor just outside the classroom door. Sedata and Makenshi were sharing a sugar coated gummy like bean snack and not looking his way. Makenshi it seemed, did catch his eyes once but then looked away very bashfully. He definitely did not want to see Sanji at all out of some weird emotion; fear or shame perhaps? Ichiga made a thump on the ground with her cast leg impetuously and caught Sanji's attention.

"Go you idiot," she frowned.

Sanji looked back up. The boy and another exited the classroom like an old cowboy showdown. Sanji spun around and blundered down the corridors, automatically heading to his hiding spot. "Where are you going to in the middle of class?" Great. They had decided to follow him. How corny and undisputedly micro-aggressive. Sanji didn't look back.

"Come back to class or we'll report you." A girl's voice rang out with such conviction that Sanji faltered in his walking and considered stopping. No, he could not get into more trouble. He slowed, and the two back caught up to him, flagging him on both sides as he walked. "Where are you going anyway? You don't like anyone in class?"

"They're only trying to talk to you but you act like you hate everyone," the boy on the right continued, close to Sanji's ear. "That's why no one likes you."

"Yeah everyone's nice except you. You don't even answer simple questions."

The children came upon the bathroom door and two paused inquisitively, Sanji commenced and ducked in to find a stall as quickly as possible. "You don't actually want to use the bathroom-" they slipped in quickly after him and Sanji rushed to the furthest stall, a shower. "Hey!"

Sanji got in and slammed the door shut. He backed up against the wall and watched the feet of the predators beneath the stall door. They tried the doorknob and it resisted them. Sanji held his breath as he heard the two bickering. "We're going to report you," the girl called out afterward. A shiny oxford beneath the shower door pivoted and four feet departed from view. Sanji exhaled a kept breath slowly and slid down against the wall. It was over... He touched his pant pocket. Now, he could cut-

The sound of the bathroom door banging open shortly after brought him back, three new voices added to the criticising choir. "So someone's ditching class?"

"Yes!" Sanji's classmate piped out to the escalating rhythm of Sanji's heart, "He's in the stall."

"Okay, well you two head back to class," the new voices seemed to belong to older classes, perhaps form 4 or 5. The girl from Sanji's class grumbled but the two knew they had to listen to their seniors. The elders kept the bathroom door open for the two children to depart and then turned tentatively around. Sanji brought a hand to his mouth and kept quiet, listening closely.

A pair of the trio were orange haired twins. One twin had a fat weasel kit lying dormant in his hands as he stroked it with heavy performative melancholy, his eyes on it in a melodramatic pout. His sister at his side as she strode in beside him, looked at him with mild vexation and disgust. "You need to find a spot to bury that rodent and stop lulling it around with you."

"Why are you being so mean to Hamtaro, he was our class representative!" the orange haired twin wailed and started stroking the dead pet's fur defensively. "You fire haired meanie."

His twin rolled her eyes and walked past him up to the third boy who was opening each bathroom stall once by one. "So the weird boy's here? It seems empty."

"Don't do that, maybe someone's using the bathroom."

The boy ignored his friend and continued banging the doors open, getting closer and closer to the end. Sanji gulped and looked up at the shower handle. He should turn it on so they would leave him alone. In a second of deliberation, Sanji reached up from his seat at the corner and pulled the lever upward so water gushed out, more forcefully than anticipated. Of course, the three outside heard the sound and their attention was pried onto the bathroom's last cubicle.

"..." but they might leave as well... they wouldn't be so rude as to invade someone else's privacy, would they? There was no sound throughout the lavatory. Sanji kept his breathing muted and eyes on the door. The water was spraying up from the floor, pooling slightly against the incline of the shower floor to where he sat. It sopped around his sneakers as the seconds ticked by. Sanji wasn't sure what was going on. Something thumped in the stall beside Sanji's but then it disappeared. Sanji kept holding his breath. It was silent for a long time.

"Haha ha, are you really bathing with clothes on?"

Sanji jumped and looked up at the talker who was leaning on the upper right corner of the shower cubicle wall. By his leisurely gestures, head propped on arms, he seemed to have been standing there for a while, observing Sanji. The boy with his neat black fringes, grinned widely and hopped over the wall from the other side of the adjoined cubicle. Sanji pulled his feet in as he landed almost gracefully just out of reach of the water's spray. The boy leant over and pulled the faucet off and then walked over to the bathroom door. He opened it, the two twins emerged from the side where they had been lying in wait.

The orange haired boy leant against the sink directly opposite the shower with the weasel in hand whilst his sister stepped into the stall carefully, and leant at the corner looking down on Sanji. Unpleasant questions surfacing in her mind muddled her expression as she took in the suspicious scene.

"Interesting fellow isn't he?" The former asked his female friend rhetorically as she rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively at him. "Sanji Sabuto... Titan told us about you," the boy was looming where he stood. "He used to be in our class year before he had to repeat."

"He always skipped class to go walk his animals in the woods," the girl continued the story for Sanji's information.

"Yah," boy one looked back from his friend, "every time he went into the woods he came back with a new animal. Everybody knew what his enhanced ability was."

"He brought back this kit for our class," orange haired at the sink raised the weasel a little for Sanji to see. "And since that incident last Friday with you, a lot of the class pets have dropped dead."

"Stand up when we're talking to you."

Sanji's eyes widened. All the time, Sanji had been sitting in the corner whilst the three introduced themselves and their scant connection to him. The atmosphere had a thinly veiled friendliness on the surface, but the commanding voice told Sanji he was in deep trouble and no one was around to help. Automatically, he braced his back against the wall and supported himself up as he got to his feet. His hand was still on the box of razor blades so as quickly as possible, he snuck it into his pant pocket behind his back hoping no one would care to look.

But he wasn't so lucky. "Aha," The fringe haired boy darted forward and seized Sanji's hand from inside his pocket and raised it up into the air, way above Sanji's height. Sanji strained and tip-toed and tried to pull his arm down. Instead the stretching caused his hand to open wide and the small box of razorblades dropped onto the bathroom floor. The orange haired girl darted forward and scooped it up quickly from the floor and then skipped back to examine it.

"It's a box of razors," she said disapprovingly. Finally letting go of Sanji's hand, the first boy turned to his friend and confirmed the small weapon with his eyes.

"Well isn't this suspicious..." a slow cold smile edged on his face as the two stared at each other with raised brows.

No, what did they mean... Sanji stepped forward, it wasn't bad. He reached for his comfort razors but the first boy stepped in front of him immediately.

"Hold up," a solid grab on Sanji's shoulder to keep him from resisting, then shoved him against the shower wall tiles with its momentum. Sanji winced. He instantly recognized his inferior strength and decided not to fight. The boy did not apologize, his words cold and face darkening slightly, he stepped closer to Sanji facing him full view and forcing him harder against the wall. His fingers gripped down on the quiet boy's shoulder.

"Titan was right, you go around cutting up animals, don't you?"

The boy came closer to Sanji's face. Sanji couldn't tell whether the other boy was smiling or teasing him or was serious or what. His shoulder hurt. He came to the conclusion that things were not going to go nearly as peaceably as earlier morning encounters had. He stopped himself from wanting to tug the grip off his shoulder knowing he'd only make his situation worse. The fingers of his other hand trembled and he held it against his chest, not looking directly at his superior's intimately close eyes.

Orange hair at the door stopped stroking the weasel kit in his hands to join in. "We should have believed him, he said you're evil"

"Now everyone knows," the girl finished.

Orange boy took a step into the small shower stall. "Can you prove you never hurt an animal before?" Two framing pairs of eyes turned from their friend at the doorway back to Sanji held painfully against the wall. Could he prove... that in all those blackouts he had... he wasn't doing something evil? Something that made him want to throw up whenever his consciousness returned? No, Sanji grimaced and his lips drew to a line. He really could not. What Titan his former dormmate had suggested was probably true. He could see flashes of blood in his mind but he would never allow himself to concentrate on it. The blood.

The red.

And bloody hands....

"Kiss it."

Sanji's breath caught in his throat. The girl and boy also seemed alarmed at the orange haired boy's random proposal but then they both started smiling evidently amused. "Ah what the hell kind of suggestion is that?" Fringe boy rubbed his free hand on his forehead and shook his head. "You really think he's that sick?"

"He should kiss it in the form of an apology," orange haired boy defended. "It's not really a big deal, I'm touching it."

"Maybe you're right," Fringe nodded his head in contemplation. "It's not like it has maggots or anything. Yeah yeah," Sanji glanced between the both boys back and forth wondering what was really going to happen. "Bring it here," Fringe let go of Sanji's arm and stepped aside for the third form 4 student to enter.

It was becoming crowded in the cubicle, and the voices echoed around the empty room emphasizing its isolation from the rest of the student body. The three of the seniors circled affront Sanji with their taller frames, there was nothing he could do. Orange boy smiled and then brought the weasel up face level to Sanji.

"Isn't he cute???" he cooed.

His twin made a face, "do you really think he's that freaky?"

"We do," Fringe smiled down on Sanji. "Now kiss it good."

Were they... joking? Sanji wasn't good at reading people at all. He always did what they wanted but at the same time, dead animals really triggered him. Some thing vague in his memory that he had to press down because it bothered him too much. Way too much. One of the few things that could break him from this numb peace he had managed to create for himself. It was best to keep the past in the past, not to relive it. It would unravel everything if he couldn't separate the two. He might turn into someone else.

"Are you waiting for the wedding bells?" Fringe grabbed Sanji's hands and spread them open. Orange hair dropped the partially stiffened and heavy animal into Sanji's hands and smiled wide. "Do it for a good five seconds."

"Ugh just do it," the girl said too, "stop making a big deal out of things."

"You're becoming annoying." Sanji looked at the fringe boy becoming testy. "Why do you have to cause so much trouble?"

"Just do it oh my geez," the girl whined.

"What is your problem??? Do it!"

"Stop making everything so difficult!"

Sanji closed his eyes tightly and brought the cold nose furry nose up to his face. He kissed it. His lips touched upon the cold stiff face and he kept it pressed for the seconds rolling by. It was a small creature but with a long body in his hands that he had to support it well whilst keeping its head straight toward him. It was dead yes but not yet completely stiff, so his lips forced on it almost engulfed the mouth to keep the head straight and not twist around.

He might have kept his lips on it for a far longer than five seconds but he only stopped when he heard a satisfied chuckling about him. "Goodness, he's just too weird."

Sanji opened his eyes and lowered the weasel to his chest. The fringed haired boy seemed delighted and surprised and his other male friend slightly so. "You're gross." Sanji bowed his head a little. Yes he knew that.

"How about you..." Orange hair stroked his chin callously and then shrugged his shoulders, "eat it."

!!! Sanji's body stiffened. Fringe started laughing. "That's crazy," but he didn't seem appalled. He looked at Sanji in the eyes as though they were having a casual conversation. "He can't eat bones too, or can you? I won't be surprised."

Sanji looked down at the dead eyes staring at him. The body was malleable but- "yes yes please." Fringe clasped his hands together as though in prayer, "please let us watch," he pleaded.

They were acting as though it was his idea. So much bright red blood he saw in his mind. When an animal died within your hands, the blood was so comedically bright with the overflowing oxygen. It was so scary. He shook his head to dispel the image from wherever it had come from.

Sanji wanted to plead. It was the only thing he didn't want to do. It flashed, blood exploding from a dying dog's neck. He shook his head again more vigorously this time. Should he try to make them feel sorry for him? Should he act obediently and beg, should he cry or should he remain still till they got bored? The smell of burning fat coming from pigs in a deep dug trough. The pigs in the ditch were covered in oil and with a single flick of a wrist, they were all burnt alive, squealing about and unable to run in the crammed quarters. Loud squeals and heavy fatty burning skin.

Panic rose up in Sanji. All he could see was blood. It was rising fast. The three faces with a range of sardonic to sadistic expressions were planted on him expectantly. Sanji could feel himself tripping off. Something was about to happen. He gripped the body tighter, something was going to happen if he couldn't control himself. He felt the little bones in the weasels chest... The stomach was softer, squishier...easier.

Blood. The familiar crust caking the bottom of fingernails. Whose hands??? A dead cat floating in the bathtub. He felt the rush. Drawing up like an ocean wave ready to engulf him and everything around. He had to stop it. He squeezed his eyes shut and he bit down hard.

The weasels stomach that was tough in the outside broke down into a soft acidic collection of browned intestines becoming mush between Sanji's teeth. The stomach was much easier to bite into. The three gasped. Unbelonging liquid pooled out of the weasel as Sanji bit down. It was tinged brown and viscous, the acid sting was strong; collected and builded upon death. Tears stung Sanji's eyes from the effort. But he'd done it and he could feel his insides were calm again.

The girl was the first to step back as the interiors of the carcass rushed to pour out the opening and dropped, with a plop into the already puddled shower floor. The intertwined organs floated on the floor and drips sprayed at their ankles. "How could you do that, what kind of monster are you???"

Sanji swallowed the lump of flesh in his mouth. The girl stepped backward and then turned, storming away from the view of the stall and exiting the lavatory in disgust. Sanji lowered the carcass all the way down. Orange hair didn't say a word but his expression was thin and vague and he nodded slightly with only the hint of a smile. He looked at his friend and then walked out of the bathroom as well. Fringe's smile was more controlled now and he looked at Sanji with a satisfied look in his eyes. "You have a bit of entrails on your lip," he pointed. Sanji blinked, and wiped his lip quietly. The older boy stretched. "Oh well, guess I'll see you around sometime."

One arm over the other, Fringe folded his hands behind his head and sauntered away from the mess as well. The bathroom had gone silent. Sanji looked down at the death at his feet and what he had done. Those images...

How long, would he able, to deal with this. How long before something happened?

SICO

Mmmrph. Sico groaned where he laid. A rock had struck him in the forehead and then he had wiped out. Again. Maybe he needed to slow down and find ways to battle the Migurigum properly. He was lying on hard ground and he could hear rain pelting very loudly around him. Had he been saved again?

Sico groaned again slightly and touched his forehead to feel the size of the bump. Surprisingly, there was none. He opened his eyes. A rocky ceiling... must be a cave. He pushed up unto his right arm and leant over onto his side, looking across. Who had saved him this time then..?

He froze. The figure had their back before him, seeming unaware because of the thunderous rains. Their cloak was slipping around their slender shoulders casually with a limber neck bent forward to breathe in meditation. But that long whiplashing braid, Sico knew it well. The braided Migurigum; the ghostlike ninja in the flesh before him. But why?

"..." Slowly, Sico drew his legs up toward his body so he could get into a crouch. He was pounced like a feline staring straight toward his prey. His sword, where was it? Without turning his neck, he quickly scanned his scant surroundings. His sword was lying against the right wall nearer to the Migurigum than him. He didn't want to take the chance and go for it however, his opponent was a ninja after all. So he took a steadying breath and shifted his weight onto his heels some more and then, he dove forward full tilt.

The fabric of the cloak flew up as they spun around but Sico got there in time. Oof! Success- the Migurigum didn't do anything to defend himself as Sico straddled him. Sico took advantage and planted his knee to hold the braided Migurigum down, he clasped his hands around their neck. He tightened his hold, not wanting to allow such a devious enemy to slip away and he choked down hard...

"-WhAAT!??" It was deja vu. Her reddening face looked slightly different, disheveled and exhausted but no doubt it was her again. The mysterious girl. Sico yelped and fell back and gaped some more. "Why are you always here- no, are you really the braided Migurigum???" The words hurt to say but it was apparent.

Ayaka drew up slowly, recovering and touching her neck with some small coughs. "Yes young Sico I am," . her head still bowed, she looked up from beneath her lashes at him and grimaced lightly. "I have been following you since we met on the boat," her words were soft but Sico could hear each and every carefully enunciated syllable that sounded like a magical haunting song. "I had to find you."

"Ayaka are you a Migurigum!?" His shouted words cut her off. He was horrified. The prints of his hand were red on her neck, her braid coiled around her knees where she sat docile, cloak looking larger now on her body.

"I am a Geltun Migurigum young Sico. It is not surprising most people don't know the difference as they have never seen an actual Migurigum," she said, "so by that extent yes, I am a Migurigum.

"No you're not," Sico decided, shaking his head firmly, "You can't be."

"Yes I am young Sico."

"No Ayaka, you're not!"

"But I am," Ayaka replied softly.

"You're not," Sico shouted, "you can't be!"

Silence.

"Say something!"

"I am a Geltun young Sico-"

"No you're not!" Sico protested again.

"..."

"But Ayaka, you have emotions," Sico fought to think through the questions that had multiplied in his head. "How could you even touch my sword?"

"Geltun Migurigum... we are just like you," Ayaka breathed out. Finally, the girl was able to sit up straight and she faced Sico head on from across the flashingly illuminated cave. "Migurigum have no reproductive organs. We the Geltun, are born into the world to human parents. We grow, we age, and at a young age oftentimes our unique abilities manifest in small but significant ways. At this point our parents notice and try to rid of us, by death or abandonment. They called us witches, then they called us demons. That is the story of most Geltun, though not mine."

Sico curled up in his corner of the cave. He was sitting with his back against the wall for support and drew his knees up as his attention became enraptured. He felt strangely safe enough now knowing that the Migurigum was Ayaka. Ayaka was still drawn and tired from carrying Sico all the way up the mountainside but she didn't let it show. She hadn't expected him to wake up so fast but it was as it was and she knew that this moment would come eventually although she had not time to prepare for it since that rushed morning.

"There is..." Ayaka could see that Sico's attention was fully on her now and he was waiting to hear her words, "a lot of misinformation regarding Migurigum. No one, humans or Geltun alike, knows much about Migurigum, they don't even correspond exceedingly amongst themselves."

"I grew up in a dojo." Lightning crackled outside illuminating the Geltun Migurigum at the entranceway as she commenced her story. "My parents were quiet and stern but kind masters. When I was about 10 years old, my abilities manifested. My parents knew of ways to contact the Migurigum and they sent me off to live and learn with the Migurigum in non antagonistic terms. So I lived in a special boarding school where they taught us the basics of our existence and our shared latent power. My enhanced potential manifested early and I isolated myself from the others, focusing on honing and controlling my ability as I was conditioned to all my childhood. Before I entered form 6, a founding Migurigum requested the assistance of one of the more talented form sixes to join them on their missions. My teachers recommended me even though I was not yet at form 6 level because of my training as a ninja.

I was delighted to be of use. The Migurigum, I learnt, always travel in pairs with a Geltun. We are always the ones in contact with the humans whenever they send a special request for us. Geltun are more capable of knowing how to understand and communicate with humans and we are also there for their... safety," Ayaka paused and lowered her voice, "The Migurigum's safety that is."

Sico did not catch what Ayaka said until she had stopped talking and then he crinkled his nose. She must have made a mistake because as far as he knew, Migurigum had no weakness except for his heirloom sword which already gave enough trouble to get close enough to be of use. "What do you mean for the Migurigum's safety?" he asked shortly, realizing she was not correcting her words at all. "Protect their what, cause I know they're immortal." And if there was a way to kill them I would have known by now.

"Correct young Sico, they are immortal beings but they can be... bound and trapped."

Sico silently contemplated the words. Bound or trapped.... "You mean like with prayers?'

"Prayers or spells, I do not believe in labels," Ayaka replied. "There are some Migurigum hunters who have studied this for a long time and developed different methods to trap and immobilize Migurigum. Though it would not work on Geltun, these spells if performed swiftly enough, can stop Migurigum from doing any harm and even send them to the Astral realm temporarily."

There's a way to defeat them after all! "I should learn this," Sico couldn't help the excitement seeping into his voice. "Where do I learn this!??"

"Migurigum barely communicate amongst themselves about the prophecy, their goals or anything whatsoever." Ayaka did not seem excited, "I was taught this at the end of my form 5 year because it was necessary. So far, my Migurigum have never been trapped on my watch. They do not sleep, they become statue like unblinking until it was time for us to travel. We didn't teleport because it is dangerous- it involves passing through the Astral realm where all manner of spirits reside. So we travelled underground and we travelled by night."

"So where is your Migurigum anyway?" Sico asked the obvious question though he didn't expect anything substantial to come of it. "I don't know any other ones, but..."

It was at that point that Ayaka suddenly got to her feet and walked over to the entrance of the cave with her back to her companion. The storm was raging outside and it was dark enough that nature could not indicate to them the time of day. She had already decided but she still seemed to contemplating, contemplating something private and unknown, wanting to walk out into the pouring sky and be washed away. Sico had no implication what was going on. Ayake turned then, and dropped her sodden cloak off of her shoulders as though wanting to completely reveal herself. Making herself open and vulnerable to the court before her. She could barely look Sico straight in the eyes.

"For the past four years, I have journeyed as the Geltun of Migurigum Konohimae when he was not playing the daytime protector of you Sico Renji. A group of us travelled on various expeditions, liberating young Geltun from their persecutory villages and training the youngest of our group. But we did not only do these virtuous deeds."

"No..." Sico did not expect the words that were coming out of Ayaka's mouth and he hadn't prepared himself. It was like someone had winded the breath out of his stomach, followed by a stinging pit of fear coiling inside his centre and making his stomach fall and his body dizzyingly weak. "No no don't say anymore-" I'd rather not know.

"Furthermore, my name is not just Ayaka," the Geltun said without pause in delivery, "I am Ayaka Fugo. I was one of the Migurigum present who annihilated your family." Fugo...

"Oh, alright," the monotonous one responded disappointedly, "but I'm in such a bloodthirsty mood."

As Konohimae's figure moved away from the door, Sico dared to peer inside the room after a moment. From this angle, he could see some of them but their backs were to him. Snort was now standing calmly beside Konohimae and there were two other people Sico didn't know standing affront him. The bloodthirsty one addressed the other as 'Fugo'.

"Guess I'm done now Fugo. Let the kid get a chance."

"I know Kira," the androgynous voice sounded. Sico sensed hatred between these two. Their figures were slighter than the expected Migurigum build, maybe even human, garbed in black attire and blades in hand. "But I shall wait on Axishi's command."

A revelation of such significance in any circumstance would take a time to process and also instigate the fight flight or freeze instinct. A mixture of panic, hurt and anger brought battles inside of Sico emotionally but it was yet to be understood proper. Why, why did he have to know this? He'd already decided on his path and granted forgiveness for a single enemy he had met. Why did his world have to be shaken up again?

Ayaka was Fugo of the five Migurigum who had birthday massacred his family? "No!!" Sico leapt up and ran into Ayaka, shoving her to the ground outside. They fell and slid against the wet earth, high up on the mountainside they were, blanketed inside the engulfing grey sky. "I don't want to know! Don't say such things!"

Rain poured upon Sico's back and down through his fallen hair as he crouched hands and knees above Ayaka. She lied with the remnant rain dripping onto her face off Sico's cover, unblinking and unfazed and speaking evenly as before. "I have an enhanced ability Sico, and it is empathy-"

"No, shutup," Sico cried out sharply. His teeth gnashed and he tried to beg the girl even stronger in his mind to stop annihilating him further with her confession to no avail.

"We carried out a lot of destructive missions. We killed.... many times. It was to help the boy manifest his abilities. Learning is one thing, but you have to be pushed to manifest your own abilities. It all made me feel so strongly and so badly... all the things that we had done. I had to shut myself down- I turned off all my emotions because it was easier that way. And then we came to your mansion..." Ayaka's voice broke off and a wet look gleamed from the corner of her eyes. Seeing her, Sico was reminded of his emotion he felt deep down beneath the anger and the hate and he did not want her to force it out of him with her words, tears or feelings.

Sico clasped both hands around the Geltun's throat. "Stop lying AYAKA!" He yelled shrill above the rain, "you're going to make me kill you!"

"I couldn't continue after that day," her words still managed to seep through crystal clear above the thunder and Sico's yelling and the rain, "we all separated; Konohimae lead the boy away- Kira was angry about this and disappeared, and I was left with Axishi for a time. He told me to guide you to him but I couldn't anymore. Not after meeting you and feeling how you feel, how much it affected you. I won't work with him anymore. I can't..."

"You tricked me!" Sico pushed back against his rising primary emotion, anger was easier to feel. "You used your power on me and made me like you!"

"Feeling others emotions happens automatically but manipulating them is a conscious thing young Sico... I have never done that."

"Lies..." Sico's hands quivered.

"It is okay," Ayaka said quietly, "you are free to kill me." The quivering stopped. "I deserve it."

Her face was calm again but those were surely tears pattering upon her face. But whose tears were they? Sico shut his eyes and squeezed the willowy neck within his hands. His head bowed. Tighter... tighter! Kill her! Get your revenge! His hands started tightening and shaking again. What was this emotion underneath it all? What did he want to do?

He collapsed on top of her and broke down. He couldn't do it. "Why did you have to come into my life?" he started weeping openly. "It hurts so, what should I do? How do I get rid of these emotions... how do I get rid of my anger? I don't know what to do. Please... help me."

Ayaka stared up into the uniform grey sky around them. It did not even appear as though they were on the earth anymore but a limbic, in between clouded realm. "..." Silently, Ayaka raised a hand and put it on the back of Sico's head as he laid weeping upon her chest. "I can show you how to control your emotions young Sico. I can help you appease it."

"Please, take it away from me. I don't want to feel this anymore."

"I will teach you," Ayaka cooed gently.

Sico did not know what to say or if to be grateful at all but he finally exhaled. The two fatefully entwined enemies continued to lie on the wet earth in new born silence.

"I've done this once before, with the boy we journeyed with." Ayaka Fugo the Geltun Migurigum and Sico Renji both were sat inside of the cave a few minutes later. The storm was still howling outside and they had to accept their dwellings where they were for a bit longer.

"Are you sure it would work?"

"It would," Ayaka responded with her signature quiet confidence. "Manipulating emotions is my gift and with my help, the boy successfully tamed his mind. More than he should have to be honest."

Sico bit his tongue. Even though Ayaka was an exception and he had forgiven her, he was solely sure about how he felt about all of the others. Newly, he was not certain about what he was supposed to do about people who had killed his family, especially since no officers of the law would go near any of the beings for justice to be done. They were untouchable.... and here, he had been given a weapon born specifically to kill the things. But he was becoming tired, he wanted to reach a conclusion with the guidance of the only one who knew what he was going through. He had been alone for some time and now ironically, a new Migurigum was his beacon once more. Whatever he was to feel after the Geltun's hopeful experiment with him, he wanted to accept it.

"Can't you just take it away from me?" he said, "if it's your power?"

"Yes I can instantly do that," Ayaka responded deftly, "but that's temporary. If you want to permanently alter your emotional landscape, or anything you choose, you yourself have to search for it and feel it before I can take it.

Emotion is a form of energy that transfers from one person to the next, but sometimes, it can get blocked." she then launched into her lesson and Sico hurriedly sat opposite the girl. copying her cross legged pose and looking back intently at her. "When you have an unresolved unexpressed emotion inside of you, you will forever be drawn to people and situations that cause this emotional energy until you release it. If you are an angry unstable person, you may be drawn to someone who is the opposite of you so that you can draw it out of each other. The angry person transfers their energy to the one who suppresses their emotions. They stir up the other till they express it and vice versa. I can control emotions outside of this and take it from someone else into the universe or capsulized into myself."

"You think I need to work on my anger?" Sico interrupted, wondering if that was what she meant but Ayaka immediately shook her head.

"Your anger is just an outlet, you have a deeper emotion on the inside that you refuse to feel anymore. Maybe it is too painful. Do you think I draw anger out of you... or is it something else?"

Sico couldn't say anything. Her example made him realize there was not only contentment he felt with the girl, but knowing who she truly was made him remember, and it caused him, what could be the word. Distress.

As if sensing his inner dialogue and blooming awareness, Ayaka's eyes started to drift close . "I can actually see your energy around you, clouded in certain areas. Your first four centres are blocked. Your base, sacral, solar plexus and heart centres are blocked." Sico looked down and physically felt that his heart chest and his lower half were indeed generally tense and hurt. He never suffered from headaches as much as his stomach and heart had hurt him these months. These parts of the body manifesting his pain was a strange concept to him. But it also was as though Ayaka was enhancing these feelings themselves.

"I do not want to force them out of you. In order to give these emotions to me, you have to step back and observe them. In order to step back you have to accept and feel it first.. Once you do, it simply becomes an observation, you can hold an open flame once you overcome the initial pain. Then it is simply a separate outside sensation. Close your eyes young Sico, and I will pull it out."

Sico did as Ayaka instructed him do. He didn't want to feel it, but as soon as the emotions emerged, he realized Ayaka was pardoning him as he felt it quickly draw away. He felt a somatic feeling in his stomach. He wanted to open his eyes to see whether he was being touched but did not want to disrupt the process. It was more physical than anything, somehow in his blind eyes he felt s bright sphere pulled out from him, like a vortex one by one up and up then out of his body through the crown. Each time it left his body felt less tense and he was forgetting his anger, not forgetting per say, but it was as though he could not remember why he had ever felt that way. And he did remember per say, but it was as though the story had happened a million life times ago, like it was a different person it had occurred to and it felt good. The blackhole vortexes were leaving his body.

Sico did not know how long they sat facing each other sightless but the passage of time did not occur to him. He was no longer tempted to open his eyes to be shown what was happening anymore. He was pleased. Breezes around his abodes and whistling storm screams on the outside. It was right.

And when he was instructed to open his eyes several metres later, Sico finally felt as though he was wiped to a clean slate.

They hadn't eaten for the day and hell only knew what time it was but Sico was feeling satisfyingly content. It was preferable really. To have nothing more to lose but be somewhere desolate and be happy about it. All that you needed to care about was there with you. Nobody in the rest of the world even knew they existed, but likewise, the rest of the world failed to exist in the dank place that was there.

Lying on the thick cloak in the back of the cave, Sico hugged an invisible affection to his chest as he looked at Ayaka sitting cross legged at the front of the cave. "Why are you sitting over there?"

Ayaka glanced at him over her shoulder before turning her gaze at the sheets of grey before her. "I'm keeping guard young Sico."

"Guard against what in this storm..?" he responded. He hugged himself tighter as the winds blew into their abodes. "Can you come sleep with me?"

"..." Ayaka paused for a moment and contemplated. Then, she got to her feet and walked over to where Sico was, lying comfortably on her thick cloak. She got to her knees and turned her back to him, then lowered herself delicately to rest upon her side on the floor. Sico watched the rise and fall of the small back before him. He trusted this person so much. The new person he had met, but the only one he still knew in the entire world. He crawled closer to her and reached his arms about her body, snuggling close to her back.

"This is so cozy," Sico mumbled quietly so close behind her. Ayaka kept her eyes on the outside without saying a word. Sico himself, closed his eyes and let his heartbeat slow. "You could never be evil, even if you killed anyone."

"No one is evil young master," surprisingly Ayaka whispered back to him. "Migurigum are not evil either. Evil is just a concept."

"Please don't say that," slightly disturbed, Sico tucked his head into the girl's long dark hair flowing down between them. "Migurigum kill people..."

"Killing itself is not evil and Migurigum don't view it that way," she spoke with calming indifference. "It's the intent behind the act. Things are either destructive or constructive, not good or evil. Migurigum don't kill for pleasure, and death is not the end."

Sico shook his head slightly without responding. How Ayaka could keep on and on surprising him was really astounding. He wanted someone to look up to and be an adult for him. He did not want to disagree with her, simply to see through her eyes and be beside her, but he did not want to lose himself either and what he believed to be right either.

"I have a hypothesis. Migurigum they, simply reflect whatever people project onto them. They are like mirrors," she said. "I have seen the grass curl to death beneath Konohimae's feet when confronted by a hostile mob, I have also tasted the freshest blossomed nectar from a herbal concoction he made for me when I ailed. When I was near Konohimae I felt.. nothing at all from him. Neither wicked nor grace."

"But why does Axishi act like that." Sico shivered at his youthful memories. "He tries to be intimidating, he really does."

"I don't feel anything sinister off of Axishi either," Ayaka was quick to counter even though she'd spent little time with the latter Migurigum. "Rather, another person may have been the negative influence on him. Demons or angels," Ayaka concluded with a deep breath, "these descriptions do not exist. Spirits are spirits, our concept of right and wrong is specific only to our small humane existence. Spirits may do mischievous things but our perception of them as evil is only of fear. One person may write the tale of a spirit as a saviour in his life and for another, they have seen this same spirit as an imp. Our own spirits, cannot be categorized as inherently virtuous entrusted to fight for the right hand path. Our spirits have no alignment, no gender, no roles. These things are not real."

Sico shook his head mentally and hugged his arms around her body tighter. His 12 years of knowledge just could not compete with hers. "I don't care anymore, I just want to stay here with you forever. You can catch the insects and I'll make us a feast every day"

"..." Ayaka paused and thought about it. "I don't that would be enough young Sico," she reasoned.

"Yes it will, I promise you," Sico mumbled, starting to drift away, "gluten free or vegan. However you want it."

"... I will try my best young Sico," Ayaka whispered back but Sico was already almost asleep.

"I trust you." The day faded away.

Small clouds of the heavy weather drifted around the two sleepers huddled in the cave. Whilst Sico still kept his body insistently close to his saviour, nemesis and protector's in slumber, she had managed to remove his arms from gripping her body and also managed to fall asleep peacefully on the cold stony floor. It was certainly late night at this juncture.

"Ayaka Fugo..." It was just like a whisper but the voice was not in the wind. It was drifting and quiet but resounded all around in the confidant's mind. "Ayaka Fugo, come to me."

Ayaka's eyelids fluttered. She had decided it was safe to do so and had fallen fast asleep with Sico Renji. Her eyes snapped open abruptly. The telepathic voice had awoken her. "Come to me Ayaka Fugo." Ayaka sat up on the floor and looked over at her sleeping companion dead asleep from his wear. She got to her feet and looked out into the rain. No one was there of course, only the voice in her head.

She knew who it was.

The air tickled for a second like a vibration and then there was a ripple. And then Ayaka Fugo, teleported out into the night.