Chapter 14: A Fateful Meeting

The Next Day: Tenno Academy Class A

Keiko sighed deeply as she sat in her seat, her mind thinking only about the words she spoke to Arisa, was I too harsh? She thought about how she had turned Arisa away this morning. She had stood there already dressed in her uniform. When Keiko lectured her about losing her MS and having to stay home her shoulders slumped forward and she just nodded silently.

Keiko sighed, she didn't want Arisa to be sad, but what could she do? She had to keep Arisa safe! That is the only reason her and Aku are in this dangerous school situation, for Arisa.

"Oh, Keiko, where's Arisa?" Shou leaned on her desk and smiled at her.

"She said she wasn't feeling too well," she responded plainly as she unpacked her bag.

"Ohhhh, does that mean you will be taking notes for her?" he asked playfully, "Think you can stay awake today?"

She chuckled in response, but turned when Seiji’s voice cut through her laughter.

"Oh, poor poor Hiroto, got beaten by the elementalist huh?" Seiji grinned as he poked at Hiro.

Hiro sighed, "Speak for yourself, you've never beaten her either. At least Ryu and I were fighting 2 on 2,"

"What did you say to me?" Seiji growled angrily, "Don't forget who is a higher rank than you,"

Hiro glared at Seiji, "What rank? You're a disposer just like I am. Don't get so full of yourself,"

Seiji grabbed Hiro by the collar, "Watch your mouth third rank,"

"Hey, hey, Seiji come on. We're in class right now huh?" Shou laid his hand on both of their shoulders, "Let's play nice here hmm? Especially since people are watching," he whispered to Seiji who immediately let go and turned his head around to see Keiko staring at them.

"Kuma Keiko?" Kyoushirou walked in, sparing a glance at his subordinates as he walked over to Keiko. He spoke plainly and with distance- he felt awkward speaking to the sister of Arisa, "Akumako and your sister are absent today?"

Keiko nodded up at Kyoushirou, "Arisa wasn't feeling well and Akumako took the day off to take care of her. Since her and I are in the same class I'm taking notes for her,"

"Ah, should I give you notes for Akumako?"

"I'm sure she would be happy to have them,"

"Ok, I hope Arisa feels better," he turned to leave the room but was pulled into Shou's arms.

"Hmmm you just hope she feels better?" he teased, “Do you want to visit her with some soup after school??” he teased.

Kyou's face turned red as he nervously looked back at Arisa's protective sister, "Sh-shut up! w-why would I do that?" after pulling away from Shou he quickly stumbled out of the room.

Seiji snorted out a laugh, “Our great leader s-s-st-t-t-tuttered!!!” he blurted mockingly.

Shou too was laughing, “Did you see how red he got???” he took a shaky breath, “How does it feel know the Rank 1 of STAM has a crush on your sister?”

Keiko shot a glare at him, “He can feel whatever he wants,” she bit down trying to compose herself, “But if he will have to go through me if he wants Arisa.”

Shou felt his throat close up at such a strong response. The hairs on his neck stood up and he felt frozen.

The bell chimed, snapping him from his state and let out a shaky laugh, “Relax Keiko it's just a joke…” but as he made his way back to his desk he couldn't shake the feeling weighing on him- the familiar sour taste forming in his mouth.

Sector 3: The Apartment

Arisa had fallen back asleep after Keiko forbade her from leaving. When she woke up she could feel her face was morphed strangely. She always woke up shifted when she was restless the night before. She shifted herself comfortably into her Kuma Arisa form that she was so used to and went to the kitchen to make some food for her and Aku. There was a small sticky note on the counter in Aku’s handwriting, “Running and errand. Let me know if you need something while I’m out- Aku”

Arisa sighed, “I guess it’s just me for a little while...”

Sector 1: Thrice Inc

Aku stood in front of the large, grand building and walked in casually. Most buildings in this Sector were made of clean steel and glass, but the inside of this building was all white and black marble. The lobby was filled with smooth “clean” plants and their bright green colors were in such contrast to the white walls that she couldn't resist looking at them. At their radiation free beautiful forms and smoothness.

She was by far the youngest there but it didn’t seem to matter as everyone was too busy to give her any notice. She opened the door to the stairwell, immediately jumped into a shadow, and arrived at the top floor stairwell. She walked out into the dark hallway and headed straight for the overly large doors at the end. She knocked once and the door opened for her.

“You called for me Uncle?” she bowed deeply as she walked in.

“Ah!! Akumako my favorite child,” Mr.Black swiveled in his chair to turn to see her and immediately frowned. He was a thin man with frizzy brown hair held tightly in place with gel. His bones sharply poke from his face and his skin just barely showed the signs of aging. His eyes were sunk slightly into his face and those near black disks seemed to burrow through her, “Well we can’t do anything with you in that dreadful shell of yours..Chihiyo?”

From the corner Chihiyo stepped forward. She was thin and elegant with white skin that held no imperfections. Her hair seemed made of silver but her pale eyes were sharp and cald. Aku was covered in a thick black cloud, when it dissipated her human shell too was gone.

“I need that! How am I supposed to walk around like this?” she pointed at her white hair and her red eyes, “STAM is right across the street!”

Mr.Black waved his hand, “When you come back Chihiyo will give you that horrible shell back hmm?” he slid a manila folder across his desk the tab reading BROWN, YongGuk.

Aku sighed and took the folder from his desk, “Time limit?” she asked dully.

Chihiyo answered for Mr.Black, “2 hours is the window,”

Aku nodded, it was plenty of time.

A Few Hours Later: The Apartment

Arisa sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees, she felt so useless just sitting at home. She felt useless at MRPA as an agent. Arisa felt like a burden to them sometimes. Especially when they babied her.

As her thoughts wandered she looked over to the kitchen and saw that Keiko had left her lunch like always, "Tsk,tsk, she always forgets her lunch," suddenly an idea came to her, "I know! I'll just stop by to bring her lunch! I won't even stay to eat with her...I'll just bring it,"

Happily, she jumped to her feet and grabbed the lunch as she left the apartment to make her way to school.

Tenno Academy

She walked through the gates to Tenno Academy and stopped,"I should call her so that no one sees me," she pushed her hands into her pockets and sighed, I can't believe I forgot it...oh well, I'll just bring it to her...

She walked through the courtyard and opened the doors to walk through the halls. She climbed the stairs to get to the second floor and made her way to the end of the hall where Class 2-A was. I'll just pop in and be out in a hurry. I can even grab my math book and get some work do-

It was in that moment that she felt it, that horrible bubbling feeling crawling over her back. She immediately stopped moving, her heart pounding as she shut her eyes completely, not now...please not now....For a moment she thought that maybe it would go away, that her body would not shift in the way it usually did; but then it erupted. The small bubbling became boiling. Her entire back erupted in the uncontrollable shift. She bit back a scream as she felt her bones grind against one another.

She dropped the lunch and ran to the restroom, tears falling from her face that had shifted into feathers.

The Nurses Office

"Stupid Shou, giving me a headache with his crazy questions..." he mumbled to himself as he left the office and made his way back to class.

As he turned the corner his thoughts were cut of by the spilt lunch in the hall, A spilled lunch? He walked over to it and sighed, "How can someone make a mess like this and then just leave-" he got silent as he saw the trail of feathers. They led from the mess all the way to the girls bathroom. He thought of the black pouch he had found before. Could there really be a mutant in Tenno? In this school?

Making little noise he walked slowly, pulling out his dogtag incase a mutant had made its way inside. He looked around to make sure no one was looking and poked his head into the girls bathroom. The Shapeshifter?! He could only see her back as she bent over the sink, her fingers white from the force she held to it. Her shirt had ripped and from it there was a giant, grey wing.

This is my chance to finally capture the shapeshif-

The girl lifted her face to the mirror and he saw her, Arisa?! There were tears streaming down her face and she was biting into her finger as to not make a noise. The wing on her back started changing and pushing back into her skin and from her mouth a small cry fell out. Her legs gave out and she fell to the ground on her hands and knees as the wing slowly pushed back into her body. The tears were now streaming off her face and pooling below her.

As Kyoushirou watched he felt a stinging pain in his chest. She was in so much pain, she was crying. He felt tears well in his own eyes and wiped them away. He couldn't watch anymore, he wanted to help her...but how could a STAM agent help a mutant?

-----

Arisa stood to her feet as the horrible bubbling went away. It had been so long since she missed a dosage of MS that she forgot how aggressive her powers were; how out of control they were. She washed her face and wiped the tears away as best she could. Her back still hurt and her muscles were sore all over, not to mention her shirt was ripped. It's probably best I go home without letting Keiko know I was here...she would be furious...what was I thinking? Before she started crying again she decided to go home. She walked out of the bathroom when she saw someone come over.

"Arisa!" Kyoushirou ran over with a shocked face. Arisa's heart stopped, she didn't know if he had seen or if-, "What happened? I thought you were sick- are you OK did you fall?"

Arisa let out a sigh of relief, "Keiko left her lunch...I wanted to bring it to her and I....I slipped,"

Kyoushirou looked at her fondly, he couldn't believe that he had just seen her in so much pain, now she just looked at him with her smiling face, "Your shirt!"

Arisa blushed, "I think it snagged on something when I-"

Kyoushirou took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders, "Here take this,"

"Kyoushirou, I could never! This is your-" she tried to pull away but his hands were firmly on her shoulders.

"Please, I couldn't live with myself if I let a sick girl go home without a jacket," he looked into her eyes and blocked out the part of his mind screaming at him for helping a mutant. He told himself that she wasn't mutant, that he didn't see anything. He desperately ordered himself to believe that lie. He never wanted to see her in that kind of pain ever again...he couldn't see her like that.

Arisa tried to hide how red her face had gotten and smiled, "Thank you, I'll return it to you tomorrow,"