Kame checked his watch for the 20th time. “We need to get going. Masami is waiting for us.”

Yamapi looked up at him. “Can’t you wait a little bit more? The attacker might still be lurking out there.”

“No Pi we can’t. We still need to warn the others.” Jin said

Yamapi looked at their serious faces and let out a sigh. “Okay, just be careful alright? We still don’t know who did this.” He gestured to the sleeping girl on his bed.

Jin gave him a reassuring smile before jumping out of the window. Kame grimly nodded at him and then he followed Jin outside.

The room was filled with silence once again. Nobody wanted to speak. All of them were still shocked at what happened.

Then they heard footsteps on the corridor and Shige immediately opened the door. Koyama entered the room.

“What’s wrong? Massu went to my room and said that something bad happened. Is everth- What happened to her? Why is she here?” Koyama said. He finally noticed Erika on the bed.

“We found her at the gate, covered in bruises, slashes and blood.” Yamapi said not looking at him.

“Had she been mugged?” Koyama asked, concerned for their new classmate.

Ryo stopped on walking. “No, if its ordinary robbers she could get away easily.”

Koyama looked quizzically at him.

Ryo growled. “Look closely at her!”

Koyama moved closer to the bed. His eyes went wide when realization finally hit him. “Oh my, she’s a moonchild.”

They have the ability to recognize people according to their race, a moonchild, hollow people or human with just one look or one touch. Usually it’s from a feeling or instinct, like a prey to a predator. That’s why they easily know their enemies.

“But earlier I’m sure she’s a human, I felt it.” Koyama said.

“Me too,” Yamapi seconded his statement.

They both looked at Ryo when he didn’t speak.

“I felt that something was not right with her, not only me, Maki too.”

“Maki didn’t say anything about her.” Yamapi was shocked with this information. Why didn’t he notice it before?

“She’s still new with this but I was watching her earlier and from the way she looked at her. I know she knows something.” Ryo said.

Yamapi remembered Maki’s expression whenever Erika’s around. “She’s a little bit wary with her earlier.”

“Guys, can we just focus on the attacker first? I think that’s the most important thing to discuss right now.” Shige finally speaks from the door.

“I think she had been mugged by a gang or something……..” Koyama trails off

“Because if it’s them, the hollow people, they would have killed her by now and taken her heart,” Yamapi finished the sentence for him.

“I know someone who would play with her prey first before killing it.” Ryo whispered but it was clearly heard in the whole room.

A shiver passes through them when they got what Ryo’s hinting to, Aoi.

“That would explain something, she used Erika’s appearance to enter the school and fool us all. But why does she have to use her?” Shige said his voice barely above a whisper.

“Massu didn’t see her today?” Koyama asked.

“Not at school, he was in the library finishing his project with Ayu.” Shige said.

Ryo cursed under his breath, he can’t believe that he let an enemy pass through them.

They heard another footsteps and Massu came running in the room. He looked at them all, panting. “I can’t find Tegoshi anywhere.”

“!” Ryo said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maki woke up with a start. She lies there on her bed panting, as if she had been running for hours. She sat up and wiped the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve. She tried to recall the nightmare that woke her up, she can’t remember much but what she knows is that it’s all dark and someone is attacking her. Someone was striking her with a sharp object and she can’t do anything to protect herself. She felt her body, her back, her right cheek, left side and left arm are stinging as if someone really sliced her in those places.

She got up from her bed and walked to the window. She opened it and a light cool breeze swept up on her face. It soothes the tension in her veins and the pain in her body but it doesn’t erase the agitation and fear in her heart. She looked up at the dark sky, a hundred or a thousand stars shines back at her but she can’t see the moon. Maybe it’s on the other side of the dorm.

A strange longing pass through in her heart. She had this uncontrollable hunger to see the moon. She doesn’t know where these come from but she knows the fear won’t ease until she sees the moon.

She picks her jacket on the table and put it on. She dashed out her room through the corridor until she reached the main door of the Girl’s Dormitory.

Just one look at the moon… one look and she will go back to her room, she promised herself that as she opened the door and went outside. She walked to the clearing that separates her dorm to the school. She looked up and there it is the half-moon. She closes her eyes and bathes herself with its soft kind light.

She can’t explain this feeling, a strange longing, an inconsolable sadness, it feels like she wanted to be a part of something…………………………. or someone.

Maki stands there alone for a long time until the fear finally ebbs away. She opened her eyes and smiled when she realized how silly she had been. What she did seems like a crazy idea, almost childish, looking out for the moon to ease her fears?

She almost jumped out of her skin when someone suddenly tapped her shoulders. She spun around and saw Massu standing before her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Massu said.

“What are you doing here?” Maki said

“I should be the one asking that. What are you doing here at this time? Why are you standing here all alone?”

Maki looked up at the moon again. “I had a nightmare and I felt like I wanted to see the moon.”

Massu stared at her oddly. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that it soothes me.” She said lamely. She feels like a fool saying that to Massu.

Massu looked up at the moon then back at her again. “It soothes you? Why?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like it. I have this… this… What are you doing here anyway?” Maki said, trying to change the subject to save herself from more shame.

Massu didn’t seem to notice as his brows are now knotted with worry. “We are looking for Tegoshi.”

“Why?”

“Something bad happened and we can’t find him anywhere.”

“What happened?”

“We found another victim.” Massu said.

“Victim of what?” Maki said. She’s getting a little bit annoyed at his short replies.

Just then something bluish white shoots out in the dark sky, it looks like a fireworks or something.

“What’s that?” Maki said

“It’s Nishikido-kun.” Massu said. He immediately ran to the place where that thing came from.

Maki followed him. “What’s happening here?”

“They’re attacking us again.”

A great fear gripped her heart, a different kind of fear that sent her legs running faster to match the pace of Massu. She hoped that no one was terribly hurt tonight.

They went outside the school to the main road. They ran a few more distance before they saw Yamapi looming over to someone on the ground. Ryo was talking to a girl with glasses that she didn’t know.

“She has a long black hair and she’s really beautiful.” They heard her talking as they got nearer to them.

The girl stopped on talking when she saw her coming towards them but Maki completely ignored her. Her attention was fully centered to the person lying on the ground. It’s Tegoshi and Maki was horrified to see that his face is covered with blood. She can’t bear to see him like this. He looked so lively and happy when he was talking with her earlier that day.

She cannot help but notice the deep slashes on his right face, on the left side of his stomach and on his left arm, the same places where her body had hurt earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yamapi touched Tegoshi’s forehead and Maki was astonished when she saw the wounds slowly close and healed. She knew already that Yamapi can heal wounds and everything but it was still different when she witnessed it.

Yamapi looked up and saw her standing there. “Maki, what are you doing here?”

“I followed Massu here.”

“Is he okay now?” Massu said. His eyes were filled with worry and fear for his friend.

“Yeah, he’s safe now.” Yamapi stood up, lifting Tegoshi with him.

“What is she doing here? She’s not supposed to see that right?” The girl with the glasses said, looking at her.

“She already knew about us, Naomi,” Ryo said as he helped Yamapi with the burden of Tegoshi’s body.

“But it’s forbidden, she’s a human. I thought its Tegoshi-kun’s job to-“

Ryo cuts her sentence. “Tegoshi’s gift won’t help. Her case is different, she has a gift too.”

Naomi looked at Ryo then back at her again. “Huh?”

“We’ll explain it tomorrow. Spend the night with us. It’s still dangerous out here.” Ryo said.

Maki saw Naomi’s eyes went large at that and she stammered when she spoke. “N-no, m-my place is near here. I-“

“Naomi,” Yamapi sternly said. “You’re alone and we already have an idea who did this and I tell you…. That girl is dangerous. It’s better for you to stay with us for the night, you can go home tomorrow morning if you want to.” He said under the weight of Tegoshi.

“Maki come with us too. We would like to ask you about something.” Ryo said.

Maki stared at their serious faces then at Tegoshi. Something stirred inside her heart.

“Okay,” she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They all piled up in Nishikido’s room. It is the first time for Maki to be inside a boy’s room and she had the impression that a boy’s bedroom is always messy but from seeing Nishikido’s room, it seems like she is wrong. His room is immaculate, so clean and spotless you cannot see any stray books or papers anywhere. He had only one bed, one cabinet and two guitars on the corner. Apparently, there is no chair for they are all sitting on the floor except for Tegoshi who is sleeping peacefully on the bed and for Ryo who is standing and towering over them.

He looked so calm and composed when they were still outside earlier but now even though he is not speaking, Maki can feel the anger radiating from him.

“Could you tell everything to us again?” Ryo said to Naomi in a calm steady voice.

“I was walking in the main road when I saw him flying straight at me. He’s already wounded and he looked like he was fleeing something. From behind him, I saw this beautiful girl running after him. I instantly knew that she was one of them so I stopped her.” Naomi said from Maki’s right.

He is flying straight at her. So they really have wings, Maki thought.

“But why him? Her real target was Yamaa-kun right. What was Tegoshi-kun doing? He didn’t tell us that he’s going out tonight.” Koyama said.

“The question is what she did to lure Tegoshi away from here.” Shige said.

“Who is she?” Maki said. She is already involved in this so she has the right to know about everything.

“Aoi, the same person who caught Ayu the last time,” Yamapi said.

“Guys, I would like to ask a question.” Naomi said. She shifted in her seat. “Have you already seen Tegoshi’s wings before?”

Silence filled the room as they all look at her. “No why?” Ryo is the one who answered her.

“It’s just that it’s different from the other wings… I mean the color.” Naomi said.

Maki remembered the time she saw Koyama and Ryo’s wings. They were beautiful. She can’t help but marvel what kind of creatures are they.

“What do you mean?” Ryo said.

“It’s silver.”

All the boys gaped at her.

“It’s impossible, only girls can have silver wings.” Shige exclaimed.

“Are you saying that Tegoshi is a girl?” Koyama said.

Shige turned red. “N-no, I mean-“

“Only the people from the temple have silver wings and they are all girls.” Ryo said explaining what Shige had meant.

Maki remembered the images that she saw when Tegoshi touched her… the woman with silver hair and silver wings and the bloodied silver wing. What does that mean?

“So does that mean that Tegoshi is one of them?” Koyama said.

“It’s still impossible. People with silver wings are different they are made not born. I don’t know what they are doing inside the temple but I know that when you joined them they do something to change the color of your wings and your eyes too and they only accept girls. So it is impossible for Tegoshi to have silver wings. Even if he’s a part of them his eyes would be different right?” Shige said.

“But I saw it! It lightened up the whole street.” Naomi said.

“We could ask him about that when he wakes up.” Yamapi quietly said in the corner. They still didn’t know where Tegoshi came from.

Ryo looked at him and Maki saw they exchange a silent message to each other.

“Remember I saw a girl with silver eyes right?” Maki said. She can’t keep it a secret anymore. She needed to say this maybe this could help them.

They all looked at her when she spoke.

“That girl…. She looked like Erika Sawajiri our new classmate. But she’s different because the first time I saw her, her eyes are silver and I can’t hear her thoughts.” She saw from the corner of her eyes that Naomi was gaping at her. She ignored her and continued what she is saying. “But today at class, her eyes are black and I can very well hear her thoughts.

“That’s it.” Shige said.

Maki looked at him and base from his expression he already understood everything. “What that’s it?”

Nishikido looked gravely at her. “We found Sawajiri’s body at the gate earlier with the same state with Tegoshi, covered with bruises and wounds. She’s okay now and sleeping in the next room.”

“I don’t understand” Maki said.

“The first girl that you saw in the woods and whom you can’t hear the thoughts of is a moonchild, our race. The girl that appeared in our class, our new classmate, belongs to the hollow people, our enemy. She is not really the same person with the silver-eyed girl that you saw. The real Erika is sleeping in the next room. Our guess is that Aoi used her power of illusion to copy Erika’s appearance to fool us all and to lure Tegoshi away from here.” Ryo said.

__________________________________________

minna~ thank you so much... after i posted that chapter... ideas keep on flooding in my head.... *sheez*
but thank you so much for all of your support... that really revived me... sorry if i scared you... its my first time being a writer and i didn't know that its just a normal thing to happen in writers...

to Go-chan: so your dephi huh? OMG you're one of my fave authors in lj!!! ^_^ so that's why i see some resemblance in writing... i really love your fics.. especially the tegopi fics.. The start of a Sin.. that's my favorite.. and i love your nishikato fics too!! sorry for the ramblings.. i just love you that's all... i guess my depression came from wanting to write a tegopi fic.. but can't produce one... can i add you in lj? ^_^

to Rei: my lj is stigma2008.. you can reach me there anytime... ^_^