Chereads / Love Like Hell / Chapter 23 - Chapter 23: Stab Who's Back?

Chapter 23 - Chapter 23: Stab Who's Back?

"No!" Daisuke shouted as he stood before Yuki and Hakura. "We're not laying a finger on Yuri!"

"Daisuke, she's a threat to everything we stand for." Yuki exclaimed. "I know how you feel. She's like a sister to me, but she's sided with Kagori."

"She's… never spoken to him." He said, looking for any excuse to keep this mission alive, as well as Yuri.

"Daisuke," Hakura said. "You're throwing a girl in the way of saving the world. Is that what you want? She's obviously doing something very wrong at this moment. We need to focus, and get our priorities straight."

"She's a friend, Hakura! She still an ally! I don't care what you guys say, she can still be turned to good! She's just… lost." The last sentence, Yuki could feel the slight pain in his voice.

"She's still going to grab your attention and mess you up and your focus, Daisuke." Hakura said. "She has to be destroyed. Do you not understand that you're the only person that is able to save the world?"

The three had been in the world of sacred Demon Hunters. The whole atmosphere had seemed white, and the only thing they could see other than white was each other. There had been a large tree that seemed to have no end in the center of the area that also glowed white, it's outline the only way you could tell it was there. But that was it; nothing else.

"How can you just expect me to kill a friend that I've had for almost a year. She's a really close friend to me– us," he corrected as he looked at Yuki. "And you just expect me to kill her off?"

"What do you think we should do? Try and win her back until Kagori had enough strength to destroy the entire planet? That's not going to happen in my book, Daisuke." Hakura had spoken back, her voice, for once, was actually strict. "If you let your emotions for some girl rule you, then you're going to get yourself killed, and perhaps others with you. Is that what you want?"

Daisuke and Hakura's face had been right in front of each other's trying to get the other to get their point. Their breaths were both jagged and rough. Until Daisuke looked away in pain, and defeat. He knew that Hakura was right, but he just couldn't do what she was asking him to do.

"Daisuke," Yuki spoke. "I don't wan to do this either, but we have to. It's for the sake of the world. You have to understand that. Please. The Yuri we knew isn't in there any–"

"She's still in there!" Daisuke shouted. "She's may be lost, but she's still in there. I don't know what she's thinking, or what going in that brain of hers, but I know the real Yuri is in there somewhere. You have to trust me on this."

"If you honestly think that she's still in there…" Hakura said.

"You're letting him try and get her back?" Yuki asked, surprised in Hakura's actions. This never happened.

"Well, it's obvious that he's not going to budge on this. If you honestly think that Yuri deserves another chance, and that you can communicate and convert her over again, then I don't see why I shouldn't give you another chance."

"You're kidding, right?" Yuki asked. "After what's she's done."

"All sins should be forgiven." Hakura said as she looked at Daisuke. The way she looked at him freaked Daisuke out a little. It was as if she was trying to tell him something.

"What do you mean by that?" Daisuke asked.

"You'll find out all in due time." Hakura said. "But for now, I think you should focus on the fight with Yuri."

"A fight?" Daisuke asked.

"You don't think she's going to go down without a fight, do you?" Hakura asked. "Her mother wouldn't have allowed that if she was with her."

"You knew her mother, too?" Daisuke asked. "How many people's moms do you know!?"

"I've said far too much. I hope the two of you can get a hold of her emotions. Hopefully we won't have any causalities."

"What do you mean 'hope'?" Daisuke asked with a grin. "Nothing's going to go wrong. I promise you guys that." He said with a thumbs up.

"I hope you're right Daisuke." Hakura said. "I really do."

"Well, is this meeting over?" Daisuke asked as she yawned. "I'm a little tired. You guys don't mind if I go home, do you?"

"No, go ahead." Hakura said. "Have a good night."

Daisuke gave a peace sign and left. Yuki looked at Hakura.

"Are you sure we should be doing it this way?" She asked, still concerned. "I mean, you even said we shouldn't get our emotions in our way. What do you call this?"

"Do you think we should just get rid of her? Throw her away like she was a piece of trash in our way."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just thought that maybe she wasn't the best for our mission."

"And what's our mission?"

"To keep the world safe of demons and other people of the side that leans on the world of evil."

"Do you think Yuri really leans on the side of evil. I mean, in her heart, do you think she would harm an innocent person for selfish ambition."

"No. Never. Yuri's not like that."

"And that's what Daisuke sees this whole thing as. She wouldn't, couldn't, hurt a person. And before we go out and kill her, he's going to prove her innocence."

" I know, I know… but something just…"

"Doesn't feel right? Like you're going back on what you've been fighting for your whole life."

"You know us far to well, and sometimes, it scares me." Yuri teased with her dry sense of humor."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Hakura teased in the same dryness. Then, she took out another cigarette and as she looked at for her lighter in one of her pockets, she looked at Yuki, and smiled a little.

"What?" Yuki asked.

"Would you like to learn a new trick?"

"Trick? Like an illusion attack?"

"Not exactly an illusion, but still can kick somebody's ass if you use it right. I know something that's been known as a 'Dead Art', and hardly anybody knows it anymore. It's only old, but still useful attack that will leave you feeling sly every time you're about to use it."

"Is it hard to learn?"

"You can learn it before midnight."

Yuki looked at her cell phone for a second and said, "It's seven at night right now."

"So, are you up for it, or not?"

Yuki grinned. Every time that Hakura had thrown something out random like this, it usually was something worth learning.

"You know what I can or cannot handle. I'm game."

"You're getting strong, Yuri." Lily said as the two laid in a field of flowers. "You're really starting to find out the truth on your strength."

"Thanks, but I'm no where near as strong as you guys. I know that you hold out on us."

Lily didn't say anything. Truth was, the whole group gave everything they had as a team, and Yuri was still able to defeat them. She couldn't let Yuri know that they were being surpassed by her. So, she put on a smile and said, "You're doing great. Pretty soon, you'll be better than all of us put together."

"I don't think so." Yuri said with a laugh. "That's like Daisuke and Kagori getting around to liking each other."

"It's not an impossible dream." Lily said. Yuri looked at, deep in the eyes, making sure that there wasn't any sarcasm in the statement. After a couple of seconds of looking, Lily cracked a smile, and the two had burst out laughing, seeing the joke.

"So," Lily said, suddenly serious. "Do you plan on joining Kagori at all."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do that. I mean, I could fight against Daisuke, but I wouldn't be able to join Kagori. I don't believe in the things he stands for."

"Neither do we, but he's the strongest Demon Hunter in the entire world. You have to side with somebody if you want to live."

"Don't you want to fight for something you believe for, instead of just going with the winner? You know, show some loyalty?"

"Call me selfish and say I have no honor, but I'd rather live than anything else."

"What if Daisuke starts to be the winner of the battle? How are you going to switch sides if you're marked down as his enemy."

"I'll find some way out of it." Lily said with a sly grin.

"Hey you two," Po said as she sat with them. She smiled at the two, and then gave a look at Lily.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Well, Hakito says it's almost time."

"Already?" she asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Yuri asked.

"Well, we've noticed that Daisuke's been looking at us, and also been doing a little bit of stalking lately. We believe that he's planning an attack on us." Po explained.

"But we think that we can catch them off guard if we do a surprise attack on them."

"You guys are attacking Daisuke Yuri and the group?"

"No, just the Demon Hunters. The others are innocent, and are being lead by Daisuke's tyranny."

"Tyranny? What tyranny? Daisuke's just being friends with them because he likes to hang out with people."

"Are you sticking up for him?"

"Well, I can at least clear the air and tell you guys what he really is. He's not a tyrant. Sure, he may be dense a little at times, and he can lose focus of things that are important, and yes, he may be a leader figure in our group, but he's not a tyrant."

"Sounds like you're standing up for him if you ask me." Hakito said, coming up from the group.

"No, I just wouldn't want to be titled something I wasn't. Do unto others as you want others to do unto you, right?"

"Showing these kind of emotions are weakness." Hakito said. "We know you're not weak, Yuri. Prove it with your true potential."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are going to lead the fight against the three."

"Are you kidding me!?" she asked. "The reason I left that group is to not fight with, or even against, them. You expect me to fight them?"

"Are we friends or not?" Hakito asked.

"Of course we–"

"Are we truly friends?" Hakito said, emphasizing the "are".

"Yes, sir." She said as he hung her head low. She didn't want to fight any of her old friends. She really didn't. But she knew that she had to. If things were to work out the way she wanted them to, she would have to fight them with everything she had.

"When do you guys plan on attacking them?" Yuri asked.

"Sometime tonight. They won't expect it. Especially from you, Yuri." Hakito said.

"Just remember, Yuri: You're helping your friends."

"Yeah…" Yuri's expression still seemed questionable. "I know."

"So, you're going to do it, right?"

"Yes…" she said, her voice more confident this time. "I'll destroy Daisuke for the sake of my friends and my loyalty to you guys."

"Good." Hakito said with a large grin in his face. It even scared Lily a little bit. "I wouldn't have had it any other way."

"So, what's all this about Kagori in America?" Lily asked, trying to change the subject, seeing that it made Yuri uncomfortable.

"Oh, that?" Po asked. "Well, it's like this: there are a bunch of people he's needing to recruit in order to take down the president of DHA. But at the same they've been talking to each other in person."

"Why doesn't Kagori just kill the president then and get it over with?" Yuri asked.

"It doesn't seem right to Kagori for some reason. But I agree with you, I think they should just kill each other whenever they see each other next. That's not going to happen, and I think that we all know this. I don't know why, but Kagori just refuses to do anything outside of the war."

"War?" Yuri peeped. She didn't hear anything about this.

"Kagori and the president of DHA are going to gather as many warriors as possible, and they're going to duke it out."

"What? Where?! There's no place to battle in that big enough for the entire Demon Hunting population."

"I think it's going to be international."

"You mean they're doing it in public! Do they realize how much danger that's going to put innocent people in? No way people are going to fight."

"That's just it." Hakito said with a shake of his head. "They're planning on making some sort of gas to enhance the Demon Hunting chemical in our bodies. You know, the one that makes us go crazy around other Demon Hunters? Well, this new gas is going to make us blood cold killers of anybody we don't see as an ally. We won't be able to control ourselves."

"And Kagori's not stopping this?"

"He agrees with this whole thing." Po said.

"So, he's just picking up pawns for his game of chess all over the world?" Yuri asked.

"Pretty much." Lily answered.

"And we're all planning to fight?"

"What else are we going to do if we can't avoid the fighting. It's going to be a dog-eat-dog world in a matter of months. Maybe a year. You have to understand that we don't exactly want to be used either, but what are we going to do about it?" Lily explained.

"This whole thing is wrong."

"Yeah, but if we try to resist, than we're just going to get ourselves killed. Might as well live and let die."

Yuri thought about the whole thing and thought that it was ridiculous. The world fighting each other in just because two people couldn't duke it out in front of each other. How many innocent people were going to die because of this? Yuri knew she had to do something. She didn't know what, but she knew she had to do it, with or even without help.

"It's quiet tonight." Daisuke said as he looked up at the stars. They were on the field of their school, the place they met Ryuku, and also the place Doichi was killed. "Are you sure this is the place Yuri wanted to talk to us?"

"I'm positive." Ryuku said. "She handed me a note during P.E. and she told me to make sure it was just the three of us who came."

"I don't like the sound of that." Yuki said as he looked around. "There's something eerie about this whole thing. It sounds like a setup."

"That's exactly what it is." The group looked forward and saw Yuri standing there. "You guys are going to die on the ground you stand on." Yuki heard this, and couldn't help but lower her eyes. She wasn't amused by this.

"You think you can take on all of us? Yuri, you couldn't handle just one of us."

"Do you want to make that a bet, or just your last words?"

"If you want to fight, then we can fight. You've turned your backs on us, and you've pelted us in the face with dodgeballs. I'm not worried about getting back at you."

"Alright, Yuki. If that's the way you want it, then we'll go at it like we need to." Yuri said with a slight nod.

With a quick flash, Yuri was already in front of Yuki, a surprise to the whole team. Yuri socked Yuki in the face, and Yuki flew back, her feet on the ground like anchors, but not holding her down from sliding. When stopped her was a tree, and when she looked up, she saw Yuri already in front of her, ready to punch. When Yuri threw her swing, Yuki duck, and the blow had made the tree blow apart into six separate, large pieces.

Yuri came towards Yuki again, throwing punches left and right, and Yuki could only defend. What's going on? Yuki thought. She's so much stronger than before. I'm actually trying… and losing! This can't be happening. A punch in the cheek had sent Yuki flying off her feet and landing in front of Ryuku. Yuki stood and wiped away the small amount of blood that had spilled off her cut lip.

"You want to fight that badly?" Yuki asked. "We'll go that way."

Yuki dashed towards Yuri, throwing every single punch she could at a rapid fashion. But the only thing that happened was happening was Yuri blocking… with one arm. She didn't even need the other one, just blocking left and right, seemingly not even trying. Eventually, Yuki pulled out, getting tired and not wanting to make a mistake that was close to Yuri.

"She's gotten better." Yuki announced.

"Yeah. A lot." Ryuku said as he drew his spiritual sword and a grin on his face. "I haven't seen some action in a couple of weeks, mind if we team up?"

"I don't need your help." Yuki said angrily as she looked away.

"No. Of course you don't." Ryuku said in a teasing tone. "But you have to admit, two is much more fun than one, right? Besides, maybe you can keep up with me."

"Keep up!?" Yuki shouted as she also drew her sword. "I'll show you who's the one who needs to 'keep up'."

The two had sprinted towards Yuri and swung their swords, but Yuri didn't even draw her sword, and simply dodged the swings, not getting scythed by any of the attacks. Suddenly, Yuri ducked under one last swing, and grabbed Ryuku by the arm, and used him as a baseball bat against Yuki, and threw him into another tree.

Daisuke tried pulling a sneak attack behind her, but she ducked underneath that one two. She had pulled out a spiritual spear and tried swinging it behind her and hitting Daisuke, but he leaped back. As he looked at her, he noticed something different about her. Not only was she strong, but something else… something he couldn't quiet explain.

"You have a spear, not a sword?"

"Yep. You can get other weapons besides a sword. It just takes more energy from you to shape it into something else."

"If it takes so much strength, why don't you just stick to a sword? A spear is three times harder to learn than a sword."

"That's exactly why I do it. I'm proving that I can kill you all, even with a weapon I haven't mastered and with my energy running lower than yours."

Yuri flew towards Daisuke, and Daisuke had to play in double time just to keep up with her. She was one of the hardest opponents that Daisuke had ever had to got against. Her speed, the way she could read his moves, the way he couldn't read hers… everything she did made the whole thing harder for him. At one point, she had gotten the sword in Daisuke's hand to fly out, and as she was about to make a gash in Daisuke, Yuki leaped in the way.

Blood splattered on the ground as she held her stomach.

"Yuki!" Daisuke cried.

"I'm fine." She said in a hoarse, but demanding voice that said to stand back. "I've got things under control." She looked at Yuri, and grinned.

Yuki gripped her wound, and a light came out of her hand. When she removed her hand, the wound was gone and all that was in her hand was a black marble with a slight streak of yellow in it. Yuki threw it towards Yuri who had dodged it. The marble hit a tree, which was slashed in half.

"What was that?" Daisuke asked.

"It's something that Hakura taught me. I literally remove any wound I have on my body and get it into a small marble. Anything that marble touches outside my body, gets the wound in the area that the marble touches."

"So, it's sort of a cut-n-paste kind of thing?" Ryuku asked.

"Exactly."

"You may think that you're something, Yuki," Yuri said. "But your strength is nothing compared to mine."

"You're right…" Yuki admitted.

"What?" Yuri asked.

"I said you're right. I'm not as strong as you. You have surely passed my level of fighting in such a short time."

"You… you mean it?" Yuri asked.

"I mean every word of it."

"Well…" Yuri said in a grin. "It's too bad that this has to end." Yuri drew a second sword, both in each hand. "I guess it's time to finally end this."

"Yu–" Daisuke started to say, but Yuki cut him off.

"Daisuke, don't do anything!" Yuki ordered. "If she feels the need to end my life, than so be it. There's my proof that she's not going to come back to our side. But if she let's me live..."

"Shut up!" Yuri said. She put both swords away and drew an arrow, pointing it at Yuki's face. "I'll make this quick."

Yuki closed her eyes, and she heard the sound of the arrow be released from the bow, but she didn't feel anything. After a couple of seconds, she opened her eyes to see Yuri pointing her released bow far above Yuki's head. She had shot off onto the top of the school roof.

"What the…?" Yuki asked.

"There's no time," Yuri said as she grabbed Yuki by the hand and started to run with her, the boys following. "We've got to get out of here, now. Those three are watching, and I've got too much to tell you guys to get hunted down at the moment."

"But… I thought you were with them!" Yuki said.

"Only long enough to get stronger. I knew they'd teach me things that we couldn't learn from Hakura. But then I heard some plans between the president of DHA and Kagori. And I must admit, it's pretty juicy info."

"So, you got them to trust you long enough to tell you stuff, just like I told you to?" Ryuku asked.

"Yep. You know, you're not that bad of a master mind, Ryuku."

"Ryuku thought of all this?" Daisuke asked. "Why?"

"Oh, c'mon. Those three obviously were looking for some trap to make you two to trip up. They knew that if they could handle Yuri, Yuki would have lost a sisterly best friend, and Daisuke would have lost a potential lover."

WHACK!

"Don't call her that." Yuki said plainly as she rubbed her fist from abusing Ryuku's scalp.

"Anyway," Ryuku said as he rubbed his head. "They knew you two would freak, and they even got the idea that it would be better to Yuri to turn on you guys. So, they trained her well enough, and when the timing was right, Yuri put on her death look during the dodgeball game. The whole thing was to make it look like she was never going to join you guys again. Eventually, the three had believed everything she acted out."

"And you thought about all this?" Daisuke asked.

"Yep."

"How did they know if Yuri would turn on them?"

"I've been giving them messages to get them to go along with the play. I pretended to be a worker of Kagori, and I threatened them with their lives. They don't know much about me, so they wouldn't be able to tell it was me."

"You know, we don't know much about you. Why don't you ever tell us stuff, like where you're born and that kind of stuff?"

The crew slowed to a walk as they entered the busier parts of the city. Ryuku smiled and gave a peace sign.

"It's my little secret."

"But, we're your friends aren't we? Shouldn't we know at least a little about you?"

"It's because you're my friends that I'm not telling you guys my past. Don't worry, everything will unfold eventually and then you'll get to know the real me."

" 'The real me'? What are you talking about, Ryuku?"

"Like I said: in all good time." He looked at Yuri with a smile. "Don't you have info you wanted to tell us?"

"Oh, yeah! You guys have to hear this!"

As Yuri had started to ramble on and on about the whole Kagori and DHA thing, Ryuku sat back and smiled. At least he got to change the subject. But as Yuri talking, he couldn't help but feel the cold glares coming from Daisuke. Or perhaps they were just concerned. Either way, he knew that Daisuke was hurt that Ryuku wouldn't tell him his past. Ryuku had a reason for doing this. If he had told his friends who he really was, there was a possibility that he'd lose them, and the friendship.

"She double crossed us!" Po said in a whining tone.

"She went back to her friends. I can't say that I'm surprised. What about you, Lily?" Hakito asked.

Lily didn't say anything. She sat there, her hair in the way of her face. Her breathing was hard, and her body was trembling. Po walked over to Lily and saw tears running down her face.

"I… I trusted her." Was all Lily's hoarse voice would come up with. Po wrapped an arm around her, and trying to comfort her. "How could she do this…? I thought that we had gotten through to her."

Po didn't know she was tied so close to Yuri. She thought the whole "friendship" was an act to get her with Kagori. She actually cared about the traitor? Po didn't know why, seeing Lily crying had made Po angered in a way. She wanted to get back at Yuri for hurting poor innocent Lily.

"Well, it seems that she's spilling the beans on what we told her about Kagori and the president of DHA." Hakito said.

"You can see them from here?" Po asked. They were still up on the roof of the school.

"No, but it's only natural for Yuri wanting to feel needed and be praised with giving out good info. She needs attention from the group to keep herself motivated."

"Do you really think that she'll completely turn on Lily's trust?" Po asked.

"What do you mean?" Hakito asked.

"Do you really think that she will actually kill us if the timing is right? Do you think she'd attack us with that kind of motive, or do you thing she'll hesitate?"

"I didn't think you thought so complex-like." Hakito teased dryly.

"Just because I break hearts doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm smart when the time is needed to be. Now answer the question."

"What difference is it going to make is she does?" Hakito question with curiosity.

"It makes a large difference. If she hesitates, it means we've done our job. She won't be able to see us be killed by Daisuke. She'll try and spare our lives. She may even accidentally kill Daisuke during it. You know, out of impulse. And when she does that, she'll feel so horrible, she won't be able to live life with Yuki, and come crawling back to us. Then, we'll harden her heart, and she'll be an unstable killing machine."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"It will." Lily said, standing up. She wiped her tears away, and she stood up with a straight spine of confidence. "I swear I'll get her back. No matter what, she'll join us. She won't turn her back on me and get away with it. She'll pay with Daisuke's life…"

"I still don't see why you don't tell us what's going on." Daisuke said to Ryuku as the two walked into Daisuke's house. Daisuke decided that Ryuku could spend the night and the two could go to school together in the morning. Daisuke was still pondering on Ryuku's whole lifestyle, and wanted to know about his past.

"Isn't it simple?" Ryuku asked. "I want you guys to learn about me without me having to say anything. It's a game of concentration. Whoever has the best wins."

"Wins what?"

"Don't know, but isn't the fact that you get to know me a prize in itself."

"I really don't understand you a lot of the time, Ryuku. I really don't."

"It's okay. You'll understand in a good fashionable time."

Daisuke threw his backpack on the couch. His dad had work late tonight, maybe to eleven again. It was only seven right now, and for some reason, Daisuke didn't have too much homework he needed to do. He finished most of it at school in his classes, which was weird for him. He usually was so left in the dust that it would take about an hour to catch up with his class work at home.

Daisuke looked around and smelt something. Something familiar and weird. It smelt like… alcohol. His dad drank once in a while, so Daisuke knew the smell right of the bat. But wasn't his dad at work. And he had left before Daisuke had to go to school. So, what was it. Daisuke followed his nose until he came into… his room! He looked around and found three empty sake bottles.

"What the…" Daisuke said as he looked around. Why where there sake bottles in his room? That wasn't usual.

"What's wrong?" Ryuku asked, following far behind Daisuke. When Ryuku peeked his head in, he smelt it as well. He shook his head, as if trying to get the scent out of his nose. "What is that?"

"Sake." Daisuke said, looking around his room, lifting up shirts and other stuff, trying to find another lead to the mystery of the sake bottles.

"I know that." Ryuku replied, leaning up against he wall. "I mean, why are there sake bottles in your room to begin with."

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Daisuke said, still pondering, and still looking around.

"What's up with your antenna?" Ryukyu asked. Daisuke looked at him, and when he saw where Ryuku was pointing, he saw a giant knotted antenna on top of his TV.

"I didn't have an antenna before. I have normal cable."

"Dude, Daisuke. You're house is starting to freak me out, man."

"You're not alone." Daisuke said as he continued to look around.

"Yo!" Daisuke heard behind him, as his closet door opened and out came a flying white thing. It latched onto Daisuke's face, and the reeking smell of sake had been found. When Daisuke plucked the white object off his face, he saw that it was… Gi!

"Gi?" Daisuke asked surprised.

"Daisuke, my man! How're you doing! I haven't seen you in months! How the hell have you been!?"

"Where did you come from? I thought you were a DHA program! I can't talk to you!"

"Daisuke, why do you have a ferret and why is it talking?" Ryuku asked, freaked out to see a half drunk ferret talking.

"It's an old DHA devise that helped me calculate Demon aura and other stuff," He said looking at Ryuku, and then he turned to Gi. "But I thought I got rid of you when I quit working with DHA."

"That Hakura chick got me reprogrammed."

"What?" Daisuke and Ryuku asked. "Hakura's in all this?"

"Yeah. She got me to be programmed to receive messages with DHA, but not to give anything out. If I come within a one mile radius of the DHA head quarters without your aura around, my body implodes." He said with a smile, and sounding kind of happy about the whole thing. Daisuke guessed it was the whole reunion thing that made him happy. "So, I work with you guys now!"

"And that's why you're drinking sake in my room?"

"Yeah. And speaking of that, you're all out. There were only three boxes full in that stupid cabinet of yours with the three locks. It took forever to chew those off."

"You chewed the locks off of the cabinet for my dad's liquor!" Daisuke shouted. "He's going to kill me!"

"And you're also out of junk food."

"But we bought thirty pounds last week! How are we out already!?"

"Oh, and you're TV's stupid. You don't get any reception for any American porno."

"What the hell are you thinking!?" Daisuke asked, yanking off the antenna. "You're going to get me killed. How am I going to tell my dad about this! And when did you start drinking! Three boxes full!?" Daisuke had just remembered that news.

"Well, when Hakura reprogrammed me, she thought it would be better to make me a little more human like. Plus, I like to see you suffer. I haven't gotten to see you suffer with your dad yet, so I thought that would be fun. And do you realize how hard it is for a machine to get drunk?"

"Gi, you're going to get me killed!"

"And that's what my mission in life is."

"Life!? You're a machine! What 'life' do you possibly have?"

"Um… Daisuke. No that I wouldn't love to hang with you, it's kinda weird having a talking animal."

"Not as weird as somebody trying to win the heart of a girl who's already taken." Gi grinned at Ryuku as he spoke about him and Yuri.

"How did you… did you tell him?" Ryuku asked Daisuke as he switched for glancing at the two.

"I haven't seen this thing for a matter of months. What makes you think that I would tell him something like this? I didn't even know."

"How could you not tell!"

"Well, I knew that you liked Yuri, but I could have never guessed that she had her heart given to somebody. Who do you think it is?"

"AUGH! You still don't know?" Gi and Ryuku said in unison. "How dense are you?"

"Is it somebody we know?" he asked with a devious grin.

I'm not sure if he's trying to mess with us, or if he really doesn't know about how Yuri feels about him. Ryuku thought.

"So, you're going to America, huh?" Gi asked Daisuke.

"Do you still have a connection to my memory and brain?"

"Yep. And since I know the answer, I just want to make sure I gave you these?" he gave Daisuke three small tablets. Inside had three were ten small pills. Daisuke looked at Gi with a slight hint of confusion.

"What are these?"

"Hakura told me to give them to you. They're pills for your English. You take one for every month, and every word of English you hear, it will be automatically translated to Japanese, (with proper grammar and lingo of course) and everything you say will be translated to English to the ears of those who speak English. If you want to speak Japanese, the pill can read you're brain waves, and they'll make sure you speak your native language. Same with listening."

"Where did she get these?"

"She stole 'em from the DHA."

"These are some pretty weird stuff." Ryuku said. "It gets me to want to join them a little."

"But we think they're siding with Kagori, so…"

"Then why would they be having a war?"

"I…" Daisuke didn't know the answer to that, and caught himself short of something to say. "I don't know." Daisuke thought about it, and it seemed like something seemed very wrong about the whole thing. "I don't like how this is turning out."

"Yeah, it sounds a little weird." Ryuku agreed. "What do you think is going on with those two? Partnership and war at the same time? Something about this is just plain wrong."

"Obviously. But the question is: what?"

"Well, I think it might be something we'll have to look into." Daisuke said. "Ryuku, I'll be leaving in four months now. When I'm gone, I need you guys to keep yourselves from Kagori's gang, and I need you to find out all that you can about Kagori and the president of DHA and their intentions with each other."

"Four months? Man, I can't believe that it's been a month since we last talk about this. That's insane."

"Yeah. I'm going to miss this place for a while, I guarantee you that." Daisuke said with a forced smile. "Only four months. It may sound like forever, but it's not. It really isn't."

"What's your plan for you to get back?"

"I don't know. I'll do something to make up my missing. Don't worry, I'll make sure I make a penance." Daisuke smiled at Ryuku and said in a fake fatherly tone: "And while I'm gone Ryuku, I'll need you to be the man of the house."

"Yes, daddy." Ryuku said with a small child's voice. The two chuckled as they shook their head. "But seriously, dude. We're going to miss you. Make sure to come back in one piece."

"Don't worry, I will. It's only America. It's not like I haven't been there before. I know what to expect."

"I know, but I'm just saying. There might be a couple of Kagori's goons down there, and I just want to make sure you don't let that skinny-ass guard of yours down. I don't want to be the one to clean up the girl's tears. You know how emotional they get. And handling two wouldn't be hard enough, there's the whole lunch table group, and–"

"I get the idea." Daisuke said with a smile. It was a different kind of smile. It wasn't a smile of happiness, but it wasn't forced. It wasn't cocky. It wasn't anything like that. It was more like, "I'm-going-to-save-the-world-no-matter-what" kind of smile. One of a merciful leader who had slain thousands, but saved more. "I'm going to make sure that there will be absolutely no more misery, and I'm not going to stop it alone." He looked Ryuku square in the eyes. "We're doing this together. All four of us."