Oh how I've missed updating this story :(.  I hope to update more often from now on if life allows me.  Enjoy!

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“Jaejoong oppa,” Noriko quietly called as she held a wet rag on his forehead.  His eyes opened slowly.
“Mmm,” he mumbled, “how early is it?” 
“It’s about 11 AM already.  I made you breakfast if you’re in the mood for it.”
Although his body ached, he sat up in her bed; she kept the rag still on his head.  His forehead pulsed in pain.  “I haven’t eaten in over a day.  I probably should.”  Noriko nodded, placed one of his hands over the rag then got up.
“I’ll bring it to you.”  She walked to the kitchen and filled up a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast with jam.  She filled a glass of orange juice then set the plate, cup, napkin and utensils on a tray.  She carried it into her bedroom.  “Breakfast in bed,” she smiled, setting the tray next to him.  She reached into her bedroom drawer and snatched a tube of pain ointment then sat in front of him.  “I know you feel weak but please eat.”  She removed the wet rag and he took the fork in hand.  He took a bite of the scrambled eggs and chewed slowly.  He grinned.
“This is really good,” he complimented her. 
“Thank you, but I think you’re just really hungry,” she chuckled.  He politely laughed back.
“Thanks for taking care of me,” he kindly said.
“I’m sorry this had to happen in the first place.  I suppose it’s really my fault.” Her mood dropped.
Jaejoong took a bite of toast then swallowed.  “SM is to blame for all this.  Rather, one unknown person.” 
“I just wish you weren’t hurt in the process.” 
“It’s because of you I’m not in worse shape.”
Noriko smiled.  “You know how to cheer me up, oppa.” 
“You know how to cook.”  He started attacking his food faster, suddenly feeling the burst of hunger that was hiding.  Noriko watched him eat, checking his wounds for any improvements.  His eye was still black and blue but most of his cuts stopped bleeding and started closing.  She observed for any sore spots to stick out from his motions.  She noticed he twitched anytime he had to move his neck down.
“How is your neck?” She asked. 
“It’s a bit sore in the back.” 
“Let me fix that for you.”  She opened the bottle of pain cream she had been holding and applied a dab to her finger.  She positioned behind him.  She put the bit on his skin and he jerked his head. 
“Ahh, it’s cold!” 
“Sorry,” she giggled.  “It will get really warm in a minute.”  She rubbed in the cream evenly all over the sore area.  He could feel it heating up as she kept going. 
“You weren’t kidding.”  Jaejoong temporarily stopped eating at the sudden burning sensation.  When she saw it was all rubbed in, she backed off.  “You should be feeling better in a bit.”  She got of the bed and headed to the bathroom to wash off her hands.  When she came back, all he had left was orange juice.  He set the tray on the night stand.
“All done,” he wiped off his lip then stretched out his arms.  She took the tray but left the orange juice. 
“Let me get you some pain reliever,” she said.  She snatched a few pills from a bottle on her kitchen table then took them in.  “Take these.”  He swallowed them with a gulp of orange juice.  She took a seat back down on the bed.  She took a deep breath.

“Oppa?”
“Yes?”
“How are you really feeling?”
“Much better,” he said convincingly. 
“Is anything else coming to memory about the attacker?”
“Hmm,” Jaejoong thought.  “I honestly didn’t see his face at all.  I know that much.”
“Do you remember how tall he was or how he was built? Anything?”
“From what I remember he was slightly shorter than me.  He was a bit lanky.  His frame was thin.  He definitely wasn’t someone muscular but he had quick movements.  It wasn’t that I was overpowered, he just was too fast.” 
“Interesting.”  Noriko scanned her mind for anyone fitting the description.  There was no one particular she could remember.  “Do you remember his hair color?”
“It was dark out but I’d have to say black.  I can’t say for sure the length.”
“Is it definitely a male?” 
“Yes.  In fact,” Jaejoong popped up a finger as an idea came to his head.  “I remember him speaking.  It was a male voice with an annoying tone.  He sounded a bit nasally.
“Really?” Noriko leaned closer.  “What did he say?”
“Um… he knew my name.  All he said was ‘no one will save you here.  Goodbye, Jaejoong.’”
“Wow seriously? So he really thought you were going to die?”
“I guess.  I’m surprised he didn’t come back and make sure I didn’t escape.”
“Wait,” Noriko paused.  “Maybe he was going to but had something else to do.  If it’s someone from SM we can check schedules and see if anyone was working late.  Then of course, we can see if they were free the night before.  It would make sense.”
“You’re right.  Maybe since you’re training over there you can get ahold of that information.” 
“Oh yeah, about that,” Noriko sighed.
“What is it?”
“I got banned from the rest of training.  Someone saw that little stunt the other night.  I got in trouble for putting a trainee in danger and for having them stay past curfew.”
“Who saw you?”
“I don’t know either.  I’m thinking it was the same person that attacked you.  I’m assuming it was around the same time.”
“I think the person must be a spy for our target enemy.”
“They almost have to be.  Once we catch them perhaps we can find out who is the true evil.”
“Don’t do anything to daring though,” Jaejoong warned.  “I would hate for you to get hurt too.”
“Thanks for the concern.  I’ll be careful, I promise.”  Noriko gave him a thumbs up.  Just then, her phone rang. 

‘Give it to my Y
Listen to my Y’

“That’s your ringtone?” Jaejoong remarked.  “You have it bad for Joon, don’t you.”
“Shut up,” Noriko snapped, answering the phone.

“Yoboseyo?”
“Hey it’s Siwon.”
“Oh, Seonbae-nim, aren’t you in middle of training?”
“Everyone is just about to break for lunch.  Listen, I got a mission for you.  The heads want you to check out some Shade sightings.  I’ll give you details so please stop by the gym.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a bit.  Thanks, Seonbae.”
“Bye.”

They hung up.  “I need to head to over.  They need me somewhere.”
“Aww, so you have to leave me.”  Jaejoong pouted. 
“You’re a grown man, you can take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like being alone.”
“Junsu oppa should be home soon shouldn’t he?”
“Yeah, he told me last night on the phone he would.  He has a flight in today sometime.” 
“I’ll leave a message for him to call my house phone when he gets back.  He can pick you up.”
“I guess I can be by myself until then,” Jaejoong sarcastically replied. 
“Help yourself to whatever you like.”
“Thank you.”
Noriko gathered her purse, phone, keys and hilt, then opened the front door.
“Hey Noriko,” Jaejoong called from the bedroom.  She hurried back.
“What is it?
“Remember, be careful,” he said in a serious tone.
“I will.”
She headed out the door.  “Ugh, I left my car there didn’t I,” she whined, staring at her parking spot.  She went to the bus stop and plopped down on the bench.  “You can show up anytime, bus.”  She crossed her arms and waited.

**

“Try it again,” Onew instructed Junichiro as he repositioned his sword.  With only twenty trainees left, the groups were getting smaller and smaller.  Each 2^nd seat was in charge of training two students, except for Onew.  Since Noriko wasn’t part of the training anymore, he had to take on an extra person. His trainee group consisted of Junichiro, Michiko and Taiki.  Today was more advanced sword training.  Michiko was squaring off against Taiki while Onew focused on Junichiro, mostly likely the strongest of the group. 

Junichiro corrected his stance, taking a big breath. 
“Remember, always keep a step back,” Onew said.
“I’m not sure how that does anything,” Junichiro mumbled.
“The step can save your life by just an inch.  It’s critical.”
“Whatever you say Onew hyung.  You’ve been doing this longer than me.”
“Okay now, I will attack you.  Counter please.”  Onew charged to Junichiro.  Junichiro panicked, throwing his wooden sword in front of him, only barely blocking Onew’s powerful swing.  He listened and took a step back before the attack. 
“Without that step you would have died in a real battle,” Onew remarked. 
“I guess you’re right.” 

Meanwhile, Taiki and Michiko were sword fighting. 
“Hey!” Michiko shouted.  “Be careful!  I bruise easily.” 
“Maybe you shouldn’t be a fighter then,” Taiki snidely remarked.
“Oh, I can fight but I’m not putting up with your dirty tricks.  Seriously, kicking in a sword fight?”
“You must be really stupid.  To win a fight you use every technique you possibly can.  But perhaps, it was a mistake for you to come here in the first place.”
“A mistake eh?” Michiko was fired up.  “I’ll prove to you I’m no mistake.”  Michiko held her sword with both hands in front of her body.  “You better be ready,” she warned him.  “YAH!” She yelled as she sliced her sword down.  Taiki blocked and rolled to the side.  He tried to strike but Michiko blocked him.  She tried another attack and only met his sword again.  She managed to keep him from running this time, but he kicked her back.  “I see how you are,” she said as she got up.  She charged again.  He saw her coming so he put his sword ready to stab her.  As she swung down this time she turned her body and knocked him in the shoulder with the handle of her wooden sword.  “Two can play at this!” She yelled.  They turned around to face each other.  He smirked. 
“You learned something, didn’t you.  You still aren’t as good as me.”  Taiki threw his sword over her and ran behind her.  He elbowed her in the back, pushing her down as he caught his sword.  She was now sprawled out on the ground with her face staring at the floor.  He rolled her over then put his foot on her stomach.  “You’re just scum,” he snarled with the blade of his sword in her face. 

“Take a break you two,” Onew waved them down.  “It’s lunch time.” 

Michiko pushed his leg off of her. 
“What the hell is your problem,” Michiko snapped, brushing herself off.  Taiki ignored her.

“Woosh, that was rough,” Junichiro said as he walked over to them.  “How did it go for you guys?”
“Oh really well,” Taiki excitedly responded.  “I should show you my skills sometime.”
“That’d be cool.  We can probably practice a bit over the weekend.”
“Hey oppa!” Michiko waved to Junichiro.  “Taiki hurt me.”
“What did he do?”
“Look at this bruise on my arm!”
“Ouch that looked like it hurt.” 
“She at fighting,” Taiki stole Junichiro’s attention back.  “So, let’s go have lunch?” 
“Yeah, I guess we should.” 
Taiki grabbed Junichiro’s arm and led him to get lunch.  He turned his face quickly to Michiko and glared at her.  Michiko glared right back.  Taiki smiled and looked back at Junichiro. 

“Hey Michiko,” Noriko walked up beside her.
“Umma!  Where have you been?”  Michiko was happy to see her.
“Umma?  When did you start calling me that?”
“Oh sorry.  I told Sanghyunnie you yelled at me the other day for making the oppas fight.  He said it makes you sound like my umma so that’s my title for you now.”
“That’s cute,” Noriko laughed.  “Since I’m your umma now, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Keep an eye out for Junichiro,” she started to whisper.  “Jaejoong oppa was attacked when I took Junichiro out fighting.”
“Oh no!  Is he okay?”
“Yeah don’t worry I took care of him.  I’m just worried about Junichiro now.  Can I trust you to tell me if anything seems odd?”
“Yes you can trust me!  I’ll make sure oppa isn’t in any danger.”
“Thanks.  I knew Thunder would date a good girl.”  Michiko giggled.  She spotted Siwon across the room.  “I might be gone for a bit.  Call me if there are any issues.” 
“Okay umma!” 

“Ah Noriko, I was just thinking about you.”  Siwon warmly smiled.
“Sorry, I had to take the bus.  How are you Seonbae?”
“I’m doing well.  This is a very strong group of students.  Not as strong as your group of course.”
“Well, we do have some of the best,” Noriko chuckled.
“My question is how you are,” Siwon seemed concerned for his 2^nd seat.
“I’m a bit sad about missing out on this but I’m holding up.” 
“I promise we’ll pick strong candidates in your absence.”  Siwon patted her on the head.   
“So what is your mission for me?”
“Eunhyuk hyung told me he told you Kai and Chanyeol were doing research in Pyeongtaek.  There have been a lot Shades appearing in that area.  We need you to meet with them and help them figure out the source of the problem.  It actually worked out you were free because you’re the only person I’d trust with something like this.”
“I won’t disappoint you.  I’ll head down there once I get packed.”
“Be safe and if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Seonbae-nim, I couldn’t ask for a better leader.”
“I’ll be praying for you.”