Soyeon stirred weakly, groaning. Jiyeon was by her side at once, the other T-ara members following more slowly. Jiyeon leaned over Soyeon, worried, “Soyeon-unnie? Are you awake? Can you hear me?”

Blurrily, she opened her eyes, “Ji…Jiyeon, is that you? Am I…am I dead?”

Han Seungyeon strode over to Soyeon, “Not remotely, Soyeon-sshi. You were close, but luckily the Warriors saved you fast enough. For what reason though I can’t fathom. I can only saw that you were very, very lucky, Soyeon-sshi.”

Soyeon gritted her teeth as she pushed herself up with her right hand, “The Warriors saved me, after all?”

“Yeah, they did.” Hyomin replied. She glanced at Eunjung’s red-rimmed eyes and bit back a sigh.

Soyeon nearly slipped; her left hand reached out to steady herself, and a jolt of pain shot through her arm; Soyeon gasped, falling to the bed with a thud, “What the…my hand…”

The blood drained from Jiyeon’s face and her eyes met Hyomin’s. All of them looked away, unable to meet Soyeon’s gaze.

Soyeon looked down at her hands, stunned.

Her middle finger and ring finger were twisted at impossible, inhuman angles, and her little finger was missing. Completely missing.

Soyeon stared disbelievingly, her breathing heavy.

“You’ll never regain the use of your left hand, I’m afraid, and your left foot was broken, but with plenty of practice you should be able to walk just fine. You were lucky, though. It could have been much, much worse.” Seungyeon replied off-handedly.

Hyomin’s eyes flashed fire, “Much worse? Is this not bad enough?”

Seungyeon turned her steely gaze on Hyomin, “Hyomin-sshi, you may be the leader of T-ara, but I am still your superior and I still expect respect from you. And yes, it could have been much worse. I have only seen two other assassins escape after being captured by the Warriors. One died two days later, and the other’s knees were sawed off, such that she couldn’t walk for the rest of her life. Soyeon-sshi was very lucky indeed.” On that note, she left the room.

Soyeon bit her lip and managed a weak smile, “So I guess we ought to be grateful. Who saved me?”

There was a long silence as everyone stared at Eunjung. Soyeon guessed, “You saw Taecyeon-sshi and Chansung-sshi, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and another guy, short with jet-black hair. We didn’t recognize him.” Qri replied. Soyeon glanced at Eunjung, who had collapsed back into her seat, then at Jiyeon. She supposed that JB hadn’t showed himself to them. For a moment, she contemplated telling her the truth. Then she decided against it. They had helped her, after all. So JB wouldn’t hurt Jiyeon.

“We need to go into hiding. Taecyeon told us that they know who we are, and they’ve been ordered to hunt us. So we have to hide.” Hyomin told Soyeon. Jiyeon interrupted, “I have to go back to school first. Erase all traces of myself and Eunjung.” She shot a worried glance at Eunjung, who did not respond. The other members nodded, “We’ll do the same.”

They got up to leave, as Hyomin told Jiyeon, “I’ll pick you up after school.”

As they left the room, Soyeon turned to Eunjung, who was still slumped lifelessly on the chair, “Eunjung-ah…he’s not a bad guy.”

Eunjung looked up, but her eyes were dull. Soyeon tried again, “He’s not a bad guy, Eunjung. He tried to save me. Ok Taecyeon…I think he really loves you. He even saved me for you, even though he knew he would be punished.”

Eunjung spoke for the first time, her voice tired, “But he’s a Warrior.”

Soyeon sighed, “So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill him? Can you kill him? Or will you force one of us to do it, then hold a grudge against us for the rest of your life?”

Eunjung was silent. Soyeon shook her head, “I’m not telling you to run away with him or anything. I just think sitting around and not doing anything isn’t helpful either.”

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

JB leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, exhausted, as he thought about the previous day. He had come so close to jumping out when Junho had been in danger…but Taecyeon had done it before him. Still, JB felt bad. Taecyeon was in despair now; there was no way his relationship with Eunjung could be saved. And yet JB had hung back in the hope that it would save his relationship with Jiyeon…

There was a light slap on his back, and Jr murmured, “Myungsoo’s coming.”

JB looked up, surprised. Myungsoo’s expression was uneasy as he strode to JB, “Did you hear? The woman got away.”

JB glanced at their classmates, but they paid no attention to them. Nevertheless, he murmured, “I really think this is not the time and place to be discussing this.”

Myungsoo ignored him, “The Elders are in a rage, especially Elder Yoochun. Elder Yunho says he wants to see you the moment you get back.”

JB stiffened, and behind him, Jr’s body tensed as well, his eyes flickering to his older brother.

Then the door opened, and Jiyeon entered, looking tired, but more cheerful than before.

Myungsoo immediately returned to his seat, and JB tried to act as casual as he could, but Jr hissed, “What the hell is she doing here? Didn’t Taecyeon-hyung tell them all to go into hiding? Is she crazy?”

JB made a shushing gesture and smiled at Jiyeon, “You look better today; did something good happen?”

Jiyeon smiled back, much brighter than JB had seen in a while, “We found our sister.” And in that instant, JB was glad that he had helped Soyeon.

Before they could say anymore, the teacher entered the room, a tall, pretty girl following behind him. The girl had a belligerent expression, and was glaring at everyone in the room. JB started, his eyes widening in shock; he turned slightly, and both Jr and Myungsoo were wearing the same expressions as him.

“Class, this is the new student, Jang Dani. She’ll be transferring to our class from now on, so take care of her.” The teacher glanced at Dani, but she kept shut, glaring at the ground. After a moment, the teacher indicated a seat at the back, beside Myungsoo, “You can take that seat, Dani.”

Dani strode over and slammed her bag down; Myungsoo hissed, “Yah, Jang Dani, will you quiet down the ruckus?”

Dani shot him a cold look, “Mind your own business, Kim Myungsoo.” The older boy looked offended, “Hey, I’m your sunbae! How can you talk to me like-”

Dani gave him a look of mock-sweetness, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I came from an American school so I don’t know Korean that well.”

Myungsoo stared at her, wide-eyed, “You…” With a growl, he turned back to his table, fuming. Dani smirked.

Jiyeon stared at the girl, impressed. She had fire and grit, and Jiyeon had the feeling that she would make a perfect assassin. JB nudged her, “What are you thinking about?”

Jiyeon shook her head, “Nothing.” She hesitated for a moment, then looked at JB, “Meet me at the roof later, I need to talk to you.”

JB stared at her, but she had already averted her gaze. Nevertheless, he knew.

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

Park Hyomin glanced about the computer lab, making sure that no one was looking at her. With incredible speed, she hacked into the school’s system, typing so furiously that you couldn’t even distinguish the sounds of the letters being typed.

If anyone found it weird that a twenty-four year old woman was sitting in a high school computer lab typing furiously, her cold, intense look turned them away at once.

Within seconds, she was in the student database. She scanned the list of names furiously, and quickly found the one she was looking for. She typed briefly, and it was done. The name Park Jiyeon no longer existed in the database, and would never be found. She quickly did the same for Eunjung, and logged out before anyone could see her, before deleting the history and turning off the computer. She glanced about suspiciously at the people in the computer lab, but no one paid any attention to her. Quickly, she left the computer lab, pulling her jacket more tightly around her.

As she got to the ground level, she suddenly heard a familiar voice, one she really didn’t want to hear. She rounded the corner, and she saw the owner of the voice arguing furiously with a girl; she snorted. Why was she so not surprised to find him here, doing this?

But as she listened more closely, she realized that her initial assumption was wrong.

Jang Wooyoung fists clenched as he issued the words in a low growl, “Don’t argue with me anymore, Dani. Just get your bag and go to your class.”

Dani sneered at him, “Make me.”

Wooyoung took a angry step forward, then stopped, closing his eyes as he tried to control his temper. He breathed through his nose for a moment, then snapped, “Before I lose my temper and do something we’ll both regret, go.”

“Like you have any right to order me around. The only two people who did died a long time ago, and it was your fault we didn’t get to see them go. Why don’t you just off and let me lead my own life before you screw mine the same way you’ve screwed yours?” Dani retorted coldly, icily.

Rage flared in Wooyoung’s eyes. His hand whipped up, and a loud, resounding crack echoed. Hyomin flinched.

Dani stared at Wooyoung in disbelief, cupping her cheek, “You did not just slap me.”

Wooyoung took a step forward, until he was towering over Dani, his voice a dangerous snarl, “You take your ing bag and go to class now. And if I hear you mention them, either of them, it’ll be more than a slap you get, you hear me? I’ll break your ing arm.”

Dani hesitated, but the fury in Wooyoung’s eyes was enough to make her pick up her bag, and trudge miserable up the stairs as she muttered curses under her breath.

Hyomin stared, surprised. Jang Wooyoung always seemed so carefree and happy, she hadn’t thought that he would have this side in him. But he did, and Hyomin had to admit, he did look kind of hot all of a sudden.

Wooyoung’s body slumped, as if all the fight had gone out of him. He glanced up to where Dani had disappeared, “I didn’t want to do that, so why the hell did you make me? Goddammit, Dani, you’re my sister and I don’t want to hurt you.”

His voice was so weak, so defeated, that Hyomin couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Before she knew what she was doing, she had strode up to him, “Free for lunch?”

Wooyoung’s head whipped around, “You…you saw that? What are you doing here?”

Hyomin ignored the question, “I asked if you’re free for lunch. I guess you aren’t, then. Well, whatever.” She strode away, and just like she expected, Wooyoung caught up with her, “Hey wait up, I didn’t say no, did I?”

Hyomin barely kept the grin off her face, “If you’re coming, then hurry up, or I’ll drive off without you.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widened, “What? You’re driving? No way, man! My pride won’t take that!”

Hyomin stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Wooyoung gave a look of mock-outrage, and lunged playfully for the car keys she held out. Hyomin laughed and began to run, and before either of them knew it, it had become a fun game of chase between them.

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

JB waited alone on the roof, his breathing measured, his eyes closed. He was perfectly still as he sat on the bench, waiting.

The door opened, and he knew that it was Jiyeon, but he did not turn.

“JB-ah.” Jiyeon suddenly threw her arms around him from behind, burying her face in the hollow where his shoulder and neck met. JB smiled gently, touching her hair, “What’s wrong, Jiyeon?”

“I need to talk to you.” Her voice was sad, serious. Slowly, he turned around to face her. She withdrew, stepping away from him, creating a distance between them. He waited. She took a deep breath.

“Let’s break up.”

-----------------------------------------------------

*Gasp* Jiyeon broke up with JB! Anyway, this is the next chapter, and nothing much happens here; this is more of a setup for the next plot arc. JJCouple gets a new complication, Dani is finally introduced, and Hyomin starts softening towards Wooyoung. Spoiler: Dani and Wooyoung's parents are very important. There was a bit of Dani/Myungsoo; i still ship Myungsoo with Jiyeon the most, but i think Myungsoo and Dani will look cute too. And Soyeon's injuries...she's essentially crippled, but even though she's hurting she still tries her best to help Eunjung. True friendship!

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