Battle Four

Technical Zone: Low

Again with the same old dream.

Aka wonder if she should even talk to Uncle Ku and Auntie Ra about them. Even since her parents died, she's been having them. Over and over again. But tonight's dream was different. Her dreams usually ends with her laying on the white man's lap…but it didn't end like that. The white man was talking to her. That was weird…the voice was muffled, but it was light and sweet. She could only make out some words.

"Different…you and I….defects…escape….better life…protect you."

She then received a kiss on her cheek and he tightens his embrace. "Protect you…promise."

Protect you…promise….Protect you…promise…..Protect you….promise….

Aka quickly jolt awake from the dream, tears streaming down her face. Why was she crying? Were those words meant to mean something? She just couldn't stop crying; it felt like her heart was ripped into two and then burned in front of her. Why did it hurt so much? Did that white man mean something to her?

Ai nudged on her arm. "Aka…are you okay? What did you dream about?"

It took her a moment to realize that she was in her Yaoi paradise room and her Allmate friend was trying to get her attention. She told Ai what happened in her dreams and that her heart was hurting.

"That is unusual", he said. "Though it was a dream, maybe it's something from your past?"

"You…think so?" She sniffles, trying to calm down. She didn't really remember much about her childhood. All she remembered were being in a white place similar to her dreams, being adopted by her parents that later died after a month of living with them and living with her Aunt and Uncle until now. "Maybe…the place did look familiar, but I couldn't find it on the internet." She sighs and lay back on her bed. She was a bit calm, but her heart still stung. "Maybe I'm crazy…Schizo or something."

"Highly doubt it." Ai pounced on his owner's stomach and curled there. "If you were mentally unhealthy, I would know. We've been together for a while and I would've picked up on some things. So you are fine. Recurring dreams that are emotional do happen, Aka."

"Yeah…you're right." She pats his head, making his ears twitch. "Thank you so much, Ai. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Anytime."

Ai words did make her feel better, but her heart says otherwise.

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"Hello Cruel World, did I keep you long", Aka sang, skating her way, making a delivery. Her heart has yet to recover from her dream, but she didn't want to stay in bed for too long to sulk. She has made it this far not to be in her room unless she was tired or relaxing. So she helped her aunt and uncle bright and early in the morning and also made a fresh batch of her cookies and treats. When she was finished, business was booming and she had to make over ten deliveries.

And so, the day started out as normal.

Waiting to cross the street, she continued to sing along with her Voltaire song. "And I've complained, again and again." She was about to cross the street, not seeing a man zooming on his motorcycle. As she took a step out, she was yanked from behind, avoiding the man. The event has startled her as she cautiously took out her earbuds. "Holy shit dude…"

The person riding the motorcycle turned his head towards Aka. He glared at her with his cold teal-colored eyes and continues to speed on.

"Good thing I pulled you out of the way in time." Koujaku, pulling her next to him, sighs. "Honestly, that guy shouldn't be on the streets if he can't see pedestrians in bright daylight."

"Yeah", Aka nervously answered. She just avoided death, thanks to Koujaku. "Thanks. That was scary."

"Making a delivery?" he asked.

"Huh…oh yeah!" she answered, carefully crossing the street along with the hairdresser. "My final one and I thought I'd go visit Aoba."

Koujaku nods. "Is that so? Then I'll accompany you."

Aka shot an annoyed look at him. Sure, she was grateful that he saved her from certain death, but Koujaku was known to skip out on errands to hang with the ladies. She wasn't an exception though she didn't like him like Aoba does. "Don't you have hair to cut or fans to pleased?"

"I don't need to please my fans", he said. "They all can wait for me. I'm only one person."

"You're a piece of work", she giggled. "It was a good idea that I shipped you with Aoba." She glanced up at her friend. "Speaking of, did you guys do it yet? Huh? Huh?"

Koujaku's cheeks were tainted red as he looked away. "That's not something to discuss right now…Aka."

"Whatever", she said with a shrug. 'I'll just have to ask Aoba.'

With Koujaku tagging along, she made her final delivery and headed off to Junk Shop Heibon. Koujaku was a fun person to talk to. When Aoba first introduce her to him, she already had her 'Yaoi two-sense' butting in until it became reality. But in all honesty, Koujaku was like a big brother to her, full of confidence. He was lax and nice. He seems to understand her poor social skills and still accepted her as his friend. 'I wish I could be as confident as him' she thought to herself.

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"You ought to take off that mask if you're gonna stay in here", Aoba told Clear as Aka and Koujaku walked into the shop. "The customers already think that you're a woman." Aoba had to deal with Clear since he came to work. Clear walked in and sat in the corner while customers would walk in and be confused about Clear's gender.

"Waaaaah, but I can't do that!" Clear held onto his woman mask as if his life depended on it.

"He still has that thing?" Koujaku asked, shaking his head.

"Oh, hey guys." Aoba waved.

"Aka!" Clear ran over and embraced the girl. "Aoba wants to take off my mask and I can't do that!"

"Uhh…seriously, Clear", she said warily, breaking from his embrace. "You ought to take that thing off and stop procrastinating."

"Eehh?! I'm not procrastinating, Aka", he said, shaking his head.

"Oh please", she snapped, "it's been three days since I told you to", she had to pause, not waiting to spill his secret, "take the stupid thing off. Do it or I'll rip it off and snap it in half!"

"Thank you", both Aoba and Koujaku agreed.

Clear began to fidget, tugging on his white gloves. "Uh…um…I…"

Aka really didn't have time for this. She knew he'll spazz out on her more and she didn't want last night's accident to happen again. "Look, if you would like, I have a hospital mask you can borrow so people can tell your gender."

Clear got excited. "Really? Yay!"

Aka then focused her attention on Aoba behind the counter. "I came by to say 'hi' before I returned back to the shop."

Aoba nods. "Thanks for checking on me, but why are you here?", he glared Koujaku.

"I thought I'd tag along with Aka since I wanted to say 'hi' myself." He winked.

That was Aka's cue to leave the secret couple alone. She grabbed on to Clear's yellow scarf and dragged him out of the store. "Then Clear and I will be going. Bye bye!", she was able to call out before running out, pulling Clear with her. 'And they better do it today', she thought with a smile.

"W-wait! Aka!"

"Hm?" When they were nearing the bakery, she slowed down. "Sorry Clear. You gotta give Aoba and Koujaku some space sometimes."

He tilted his head. "Eh, why?"

'Damn…I can't tell him yet', she thought. "Well…I think they had something extremely important to discuss and with us butting in will cause them some problems."

"Really? I see…" Nodding to himself, he grabbed Aka's hand and marching on towards the bakery. "Then let's leave them be until they're done."

'I can't believe he believed me'. A small sweatdrop came down her face. Entering the shop, five desserts were waiting on her and Auntie Ra was on the phone, writing down an order.

"Auntie, give me five minutes", she said as Clear pulled her up the stairs. "I'll deliver those soon."

Auntie Ra covered the speaker on her phone. "Dear, a Quickie takes a little longer than that."

'What?' Aka didn't have time to question her Aunt. As she and Clear made it up to her room, she went over to her bookshelf in search of her hospital mask for Clear. "I swear, Clear. You could've made life a lot simpler for yourself if you had actually found that person and talked to them. Or maybe I should talk to them for you?"

"T-T-There's no need, Aka", he stuttered. "I'll talk to them…some day."

She rolled her eyes. "I give you a week…Ah ha!" She was using it as a bookmark and she found it. Sliding it out of her BL book, she examines the white hospital mask that had a drawing of a cute pink jellyfish on it. It was her favorite. A man in town gave it to her when she was little when her parents were still alive. She would wear around the house. She was surprised that that and some other items survived the fire.

"Here you are, Clear." She stood up and handed the mask over to the man.

In the eyeholes of the mask, Clear's eyes widen. "It's a jellyfish!"

"Yeah", she nodded. "I like jellyfishes."

"Me too!" he said, holding onto Aka's wrist. "My Grandpa used to tell me all about jellyfishes. I even have my own jellyfish song. He loved it when I sing it to him."

Aka giggled. He was so cute when he got this excited. "Really? You gotta sing it to me sometimes." She could see his eyes twinkle in excitement.

"I will! I promise!"

Aka nods, and then looks down at the ground. She has yet to apologize for breaking his mask. "Hey, I'm really sorry for breaking your gasmask. It was an accident…I…" she still couldn't comprehend how she did it in the first place. While avoiding the man's eyes, she saw that her waste basket was full of pieces of the gasmask, which only made her feel worse.

"It's okay, Aka", Clear said, breaking the silence. "It wasn't your fault. I…need to have more confidence." He then took the hospital mask from Aka's hands. He stared at it, pondering about the choice he was about to make…and then he finally gulped. "Um…Aka?"

She lifts up her head. "Yeah?"

"Would you…would you like to see my face?"

She gasps a little. She was going to finally see his face, but she notice how nervous he was acting. "Uh…are you sure, Clear? You've been a bit anal about showing your face to people since we've met." 'It has only been a few days too', she thought.

He nodded. "I know but…I'll only show you, Aka…because you're my friend and I want to be close to you like you're close to the others."

'Is that what it's all about?' Her face couldn't get any redder. "Uh…"

"But", he continued, "I apologized for whatever you see. I know I am very ugly, so please please don't hate me for this."

Aka blinked for a moment. 'Oh…so he is a shut-in like me.' She felt good and sad for Clear. Sure she had someone to relate about not having friends, being weird with odd habits or just being weird all together. But she finally gain some friends and she and Clear were on the same boat, at least that's what she thought.

She reached over and touched Clear's hand that was holding her jellyfish hospital mask. "Clear, it doesn't matter if you're ugly or not. You can be a monster, but you'll still and forever be my friend."

His eyes widen from behind his mask. "Really, Aka? Do you really mean that?"

She nods. She truly meant it. "Of course."

"…okay." The man put the jellyfish mask onto Aka's bed. Then he nervously raised his hands over to his woman's mask. "Again, Aka…I apologized for what you're about to see…" With trembling hands, he slowly took off his mask.

The sight was astounding. In front of Aka stood not quite a man, but a young man. Probably close to her age. His face was smooth and flawless with the cutest duo moles on the right side of his chin. His eyes were a beautiful shade on pink, avoiding looking at her as they stared at the ground. To Aka, he was too beautiful. Yaoi beautiful.

"That's not fair", she said, her jaw nearing dropping to the ground. "You're…seuke!"

"E-excuse me?"

Aka quickly shook her head, trying to rid her thoughts of Yaoi. "It's a compliment, no worries. It's just…, damn it, Clear! You're a spazz but you're a cute spazz."

"Eh?" He tilted his head to the side. "So…I look okay? I'm not a monster?"

Aka blushed slightly. "You are extremely cute, Clear. Thank you for showing me your face." Her heart couldn't stop fluttering. It was making her face even more red.

"You're beautiful when you blush, Akaku." Clear smiled gingerly. "Thank you for being so kind."

Aka couldn't take it anymore of this cuteness. Her heart felt like it was going to burst and go on a cuteness frenzy. She wanted to glomp the young man in front of her, but there was a knock on her door.

"Akaku", her aunt called from behind the door, "It's been over five minutes. Are you two having sex?"

"WHAT?!" Without hesitation, Aka went to her door and fling it open, seeing her aunt grinning like a cat. "Why would you…why did you…what's wrong with you?"

Auntie Ra laughed. "I'm just teasing. You have over fifteen deliveries now so chop-chop!" She peered over her niece's head to see Clear with only the top half of his face showing, wearing a hospital mask with a drawing of a jellyfish. The mask covered from his nose down to his chin. "I see you downgraded from your gasmask, Clear. Good for you!"

"Th-thank you, Misses Ra." Clear bowed.

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After fifteen deliveries, Aka done for the day. Clear had tagged along throughout her deliveries, waving and greeting the customers. They were on their way to Junk Shop Heibon to see Aoba, but right outside they heard Koujaku yelling at someone.

"What's going on?" Aka, along with Clear, raced up to the junk shop.

Koujaku was there, along with Aoba trying to calm him down with Mizuki. Across from the men was another man in green. Getting a closer look, the man looked closer to her age with all the piercing on his face and the 'I don't care' attitude he was giving off.

"Do you really want to fight", Koujaku barked at the green guy.

"Tch, are you sure you won't break your hip, old man?" The green guy didn't make direct eye contact with Koujaku.

"Wah, Noiz!" Clear next to the green guy, "you promised you weren't going to pick a fight with Koujaku."

"I didn't promise", Noiz said, glancing over at Clear. "I said that I'd tried. Besides, he started it. Nice mask, by the way. You finally downgraded."

"Don't be such a brat!", Aoba said. "Koujaku only said 'Hi' to you."

Mizuki sighs. "Why can't we ignore him? He's a Rhymer."

"Eh?" Aka stared at the green guy. Sure, his clothes looked a bit odd and cool-looking at the same time, but she spotted his Allmates looped around his belt.

Noiz caught her staring, his emerald green eyes looking her over. His eyebrows raised in curiosity. "You look too normal without your mask…"

"I do?" Clear started to spazz out. "I knew it! I look terrifying!"

"Not you, dipshit", he grunted. "You." He pointed his chin towards Aka.

Aka was confused. "Me? I don't wear a mask."

Noiz looked her over. "Rhyme name: Rosemary. Your belt is your trademark; it appears every time you're in battle, though you're mask hides your face."

"Wah…what?!" Aka was freaking out. She never told her friends that she did Rhyme and hope to keep it a secret.

"She doesn't do Rhyme", Mizuki countered. "She would never play such a pointless game. She has better things to do", he snarled.

"You might have her confused as someone else", Aoba kindly added. "Aka never played Rhyme before."

Noiz didn't believe the guys, nor listened. He continued to stare down Aka, whom was looking at the ground to avoid his gaze. He knows that he's right. The belt buckle was proof enough. Throughout his research, no one knew the true identity of Rosemary because her face was covered. But the only clue Rhymers had was that she had a Rose belt buckle and a black cat Allmate, which the girl has around her neck. Rosemary also had red hair like a lion, but this girl has bobby pins to hold her hair down.

Then he sighs. "Whatever." He turned on his heels and started walking off, away from the group.

"What's his problem?" Koujaku asked.

"Who…was he?" Aka asked warily. She doesn't remember battling the green guy before, but he seems that he knew who she really was.

"That was Noiz", Aoba answered. "He's…an acquaintance of ours."

"He's our friend", Clear said, clapping his hands. "He's really smart though he seems to be mean."

"He's a shithead", Koujaku added, shrugging off his anger. "He plays Rhyme like the others shitheads."

"He's annoying to put it nicely", Mizuki added. "Rhymers should stay in their place, in their heads."

"Oh…" Was all Aka could say.