Author's Note: I'm not promising anything, but as my days in high school are now over, I will hopefully be able to complete this fanfic over the summer time. As I speak, I'm pleased to say that I have had positive results the last two nights that I spent typing away for hours, non-stop. I've regained my inspiration, all thanks to my want to finish this fic for all it's readers.

To everyone out there, thank you for your wonderful reviews. You're who inspired me to write.

I promised a good chapter this time, but I'm sorry to say that I may have failed. Once again, there is a fight scene and so, this may not be the best chapter. Once again...

I tried to get this chapter out earlier, I honestly did, but because the end of the school year had approached for me, I found myself studying for the finals instead. I hope everyone understands. I'm not leaving anyone hanging, I've just been really busy.

Anyway...

Disclaimer: .................... duh............... um..............

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~Chapter 7~

The dust and sand began to cloud the air around the punching bag as it continued to take hit after hit after hit. Only a few more punches and it would indefinitely break. A punching bag could only take so much force before popping.

SNAP!

Rika growled angrily. She muttered a few words of inaudible profanity, narrowing her eyes at the bag of sand, now lying limp on the mattress of the Hypnos training gym #1. She mentally dared the bag to jump back up to retaliate as if it were a living thing. But it didn't move. It only lay there, a hole at the top where the sand poured out onto the blue mattress, leaving a mess for the unlucky person who'd have to clean it up.

The agent narrowed her eyes at the sand. Whoever would clean up the mess, it sure as hell wasn't going to be herself!

She huffed and spun around, immediately eyeing the occupied wooden training person. She still felt the need to punch something. She needed to release all the anger she still felt inside of her. The punching bag just wasn't enough.

The wooden person was occupied, however, and so was the training pole and the other punching bag. If she wanted either of those, then it would require her to speak to one of the three people in order to ask them to leave. Socializing wasn't exactly Rika's strong point at the moment. Scratch that, socializing was never Rika Nonaka's strong point, ever.

She tilted her head watching unenthusiastically as the blonde boy, about her age, clumsily and tactlessly played around with the wooden person. Wherever he had learned his fighting techniques, he either didn't pay attention too well, or the teacher didn't teach too well. His techniques just sucked! She contemplated simply shoving the boy aside and taking over the training item, but decided not to. For one, she didn't really need that particular training item. Second, she didn't feel like wasting any time or causing any trouble. Not that she couldn't get out of trouble easily. No one ever dared to oppose Rika. She was way too intimidating.

"Hey, Nonaka, you wanna spar?"

Rika didn't even bother to answer. She just picked up her towel and decided to head to the other gym. Maybe there would be a vacant punching bag. She didn't have time to entertain someone by sparring with them. She didn't really care to either.

She was stopped by a hand landing on her shoulder and pulling her forcefully back around. She didn't struggle too much. Whoever thought they could get away with even touching Rika Nonaka would soon enough receive his or her due. Everyone knew better than to keep Rika from where she was going.

A scowling glare now confronted the auburn haired agent from a pair of hazel eyes. Rika just looked on, unamused. The man before her continued to glare daggers at the younger girl, "He asked you a question."

Rika just studied the face of Andrew Chen. He seemed serious and he seemed angry. Her face remained expressionless and tired. In her most snide, uncaring voice, she responded slowly, "Doesn't mean I have to answer you." She yawned, sending the signal that she had better things to do than to converse with any other low-class agent. Not that Andrew Chen wasn't a good agent, he just wasn't good enough. The man was a top agent, but to Rika, he still wasn't good enough.

"You-" Andrew would've blown his top at the girl if not for his best friend being there. He didn't want to have anything to do with Rika Nonaka, but the girl was being way too rude and disrespectful. And he hated it when people ignored either him or his friend. When Sean was ignored by Rika Nonaka herself, Andrew couldn't take it anymore.

"Chill, Andrew," Sean placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's no big deal. If she doesn't want to spar, she doesn't want to spar. We'll spar. It's no big deal. Really."

"Yes, it is," Andrew continued to scowl at Rika, "I've never ever seen anyone as rude as her. When someone asks you a question the least you can do is give a response. Just because you're the almighty and popular 'Midnight Fox' doesn't mean you can go around doing whatever you feel like. You have to think about other people too. Especially towards one of your own. That's what a Hypnos agent does."

"Are you done?" Rika asked, rolling her eyes in annoyance, "I don't have time to hear your sob stories about the proper code of conduct. I am Rika Nonaka. I do whatever I want to do and nobody tells me what to do. Not you. Not your friend. Not this organization. Not my uncle. Not. Even. Yamaki. Got that?" She crossed her arms, daring the Chinese boy before her to challenge what she'd just stated, but he only narrowed his eyes.

"There is only one person who determines what Rika Nonaka does and doesn't do," Rika continued, "And that person is me. Do I make myself clear, Agent?" Again, silence followed as the whole gym was now watching the exchange between two of their fellow agents. One of them being the all too well known Rika Nonaka- top agent.

Andrew finally just nodded, remembering to keep his cool. He would find a different approach at dealing with this girl. He wasn't going to get himself into trouble by losing his cool. That wouldn't be smart. He turned around to face his friend.

Satisfied that she got her way once more, Rika just turned, ready to head for the gym's exit. That is, she would've left if she hadn't been challenged behind her back.

"Well, if Miss High and Mighty doesn't want to spar, we'll spar, Sean," Andrew spoke, calmly, "She probably doesn't have it in her to fight. Probably why she never really trains with a living breathing person. Probably can't take all the pressure. All bark.... and no bite." He spoke the last part with a dramatic emphasis, making sure that Rika would hear him. He may not have known Rika Nonaka very well and he may not like her very much, but he knew enough to know that people like Rika loved their pride more than anything. If he challenged her with those words, chances were, she'd accept just to show how tough she truly was.

And he had been right too. He'd hit the right buttons. Immediately, Rika spun back around and glared daggers at the boy, "You're on." Her voice was dripping with confidence and anger, "I need something other than a punching bag to beat up anyway. I guess a moving target is all the better. At least you'll fight back. Even if you aren't much."

"And what makes you think that I want to spar with you now?" Andrew responded snidely.

"Because you have no other choice," Rika stated simply, "A challenge is a challenge. Now you have to live up to it. Or face the humiliating consequences." She glanced around the gym, looking at no one in particular, only noting the paused activity from the rest of the Hypnos agents, waiting patiently to witness an all too rare spar between two of Hypnos's top level agents. Both may not have been at the exact same level, but were known very well throughout the underground organization by the rest. Under her breath, Rika added a menacing, "You'll wish you never even spoke to me in the first place."

And now- a face off.

***

Wet and heavy, the towel slapped the poor man in the face. Kazu looked up at his friend sheepishly, stifling a tired yawn as he pulled the towel off.

"How are you?" Henry circled the counter in his apartment, reaching into his refrigerator only to find that he hadn't stocked it yet, thus there was nothing inside. At least nothing consumable that didn't require cooking. He furrowed his brow, making a mental note to take a trip to the supermarket soon for choice foods that he could snack on- the usual T.V. dinners and slices of ham and cheese. He sighed and glanced out the window at the bright sunlit sky of Los Angeles. It was almost noon and the sun was shining from overhead.

"My neck hurts like hell," Kazu stated. He leaned back and draped the towel across his face, breathing in the musty air through the wet towel. He placed his hands to his sides, seemingly trying to relax his body.

"You took a pretty hard blow," Henry nodded in understanding. He looked at the security guard, now sprawled on his couch. The events of the night came back into his mind. He shook his head, wanting to forget. He wanted to block those thoughts out for now. He shook his head at Kazu Shioda. He sympathized with the young man. Even though the security guard should've been alert last night to the impended heist, there really wasn't anything he could've done if confronted by the infamous thief. She would undoubtedly be able to take him down in less than a second. Alert or not.

Unfortunately, Kazu's boss didn't think in the same way. That was why the poor young man was going to be sent back to Japan as soon as possible. There was no use for him in Los Angeles anymore, especially since he'd failed his task. When he arrived back home, he would have to face the professor who'd hired him in the first place. There was no telling what might happen to Kazu. Would he lose his job? He didn't know.

Kazu sighed aloud through the towel, still draped across his face. The only thing that he could remember from last night was that he'd been admiring the Shinjuku Blade when he was suddenly knocked out from behind. The next thing he knew, he was looking into the familiar face of the Detective Henry Wong, also a friend he'd known as a child back in Japan. He was still lying next to the Krita-Yuga's display case, but he was no longer in the dark of the lobby... and the blade was missing. Lights had been flipped on and there was a busy crowd shuffling around the case to find any possible finger prints or clues as to who the thief was- as if they didn't already guess.

He pulled the towel down, peering toward Henry as the detective took a seat adjacent to the couch. Kazu grinned sheepishly, "I didn't even see it coming."

"Nobody ever has," Henry reassured the man, I certainly didn't, he thought. He sighed, hesitating before continuing, "The thief, they call her Midnight Fox, she's very tricky. Very skilled and talented. It's been, practically seven years..."

"'Midnight Fox?'" Kazu furrowed his brow. He'd only been to Los Angeles for a few days and didn't know too much about the local news in the City of Angels. He chuckled slightly, "Sounds like some cheesy superhero."

Henry nodded, chuckling himself. When he had first heard of Midnight Fox, that was the same thought to cross his mind. In his opinion, the media and the people of the city were going a little overboard when they nicknamed their famous criminals. "I wouldn't doubt that this person may have super powers of some sort." He leaned back and breathed in, "No one has been able to come anywhere near her for the past seven years, I believe..." The detective trailed off, unnoticeably. He wasn't sure whether or not to let on that he had been able to confront the famous night thief AND find out who she was. His eyes drifted off into space with one thought rising to the surface of his mind: Rika...

"Have you?" Kazu broke his friend's thoughts.

"Huh?" Henry blinked a few times.

"Have you come anywhere close to... arresting her?" Kazu asked again. He was in the midst of bunching up the towel in one of his hands. He looked back up at Henry, waiting.

Henry bit his lower lip, sitting up straight, suddenly. He looked at Kazu's expectant expression. He looked down at his hands, contemplating the inquiry over in his mind as if it were a million dollar game question. He finally looked up, only saying, "I've been following her for a year..." He trailed off once again, but added, "and I haven't been able to close the case up yet."

Kazu nodded, "She must be tough. I'd like to meet this person one of these days." He leaned back after dropping the towel on Henry's dark coffee table. He then took in a deep breath, his mind now focused on how bad of an ass chewing he'd receive when he returned home. Mentally, he thought of all of the worse scenarios he could possibly be put in: delayed promotion, messed up profile... being fired... He wasn't sure what could be worse. He sighed, knowing that there had been a reason why his parents wanted him to become a doctor like Kenta was doing. But could he help it if "doctor school" was never really his interest?

Henry smiled nervously at Kazu's remark. He leaned back, thoughts of Rika beginning to flood his mind. He didn't understand how everything could've come down to this. How, for the past year, he'd been following a dangerous, infamous, possibly murderous criminal... and she turned out to be his best friend, Rika Nonaka. He just didn't understand why life was playing with him this way. What was he supposed to do now?

Kazu mumbled incoherently, barely pulling Henry out of his thoughts, about how pissed his supervisor was going to be. About how "not happy" the professor would be. He just wasn't going to hear the end of it for a long time to come. Again, he mumbled, "I'd really like to meet this Midnight Fox. Give her a piece of my mind..." His mumbling continued as he seemed to drift into a tired sleep.

"You'd be so surprised," Henry glanced at the other man, "Everyone would be..." He sighed sadly, But not as much as I was.

***

Rika blinked. She blinked again. Her mind had started playing tricks on her as she looked across the mattress at her opponent. What is wrong with me? she thought, Focus, Rika! You have to show these people that Rika Nonaka is NOT to be taken lightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Reopening them again, she looked at Andrew Chen, only to see Henry's face smiling at her.

She dropped her arms from her fighting stance and growled inaudibly. Closing her eyes once more, she turned her head away. She had to get him off of her mind. She felt like she was going to go crazy! She just didn't understand it. Andrew Chen and Henry Wong were two different people... with that same shade of warm hazel eyes.

Damnit! Rika cursed to herself. She took a deep breath once more, then glanced back over at the young man before her. This time, she was satisfied to find that he was Andrew Chen again.

"Are we going to begin or not, Nonaka?" Andrew's voice pulled her back into reality. He turned up his nose lightly, adding a snide remark, "Or are you having second thoughts because you can't fight?" He glanced over at the younger girl, only to be faced with a hate filled glare. He blinked a few times, finally noticing those dark, mysterious violet eyes of the famous Rika Nonaka. And what he saw... shocked him. His own expression softened, unnoticed to those around.

"Let's go," Rika spoke sternly. She raised her arms once more to the delight of the audience, now crowded around the outside of the blue mattress. They all waited patiently for the two agents to begin their battle. It had been a few moments because of Rika's apparent space out, but they knew it would be worth the wait. It wasn't every day that two of Hypnos's top agents faced off like this. Besides that, no one had the guts to make any snide comments about the few seconds of delay. No one really wanted their asses kicked.

Andrew nodded and he raised his arms up, prepared to either lunge first, or dodge any attack that Rika would throw at him. But being the aggressor himself, he figured that he would make the first move. And so he charged at Rika with a full force, prepared to throw a punch at her face. Apparently, Rika Nonaka was also an initiator when it came to fights. The auburn haired agent was also rushing at him, supposedly about to do the same thing he planned to do.

The two met in the center of their advances with a series of kicks and punches from one another, each barely blocking and dodging the other's hits. Rika aimed for the other agent's stomach of which he countered with a punch toward her face as he blocked with the other arm. Rika, herself was able to block the attack as she brought her knee up toward Andrew's stomach. Again it was blocked. For the next few seconds, the rest of the agents only watched in amazement at the speed and tact of the two agents' attacks toward one another- punch, kick, block, punch, kick, block... And it went on.

Until finally, Rika felt bored of the routine and dropped to the ground with lightning speed, sweeping her leg out. Before Andrew even guessed what happened, he felt himself fall backward. The agent growled angrily, as he quickly hopped back onto his feet only to be faced with a kick to the stomach which caused him to topple over in pain. He grabbed at his stomach and glared up at Rika who now stood with a satisfied expression, arms crossed, seemingly waiting for him to throw in the towel and give up.

The agent pulled himself to his feet, glaring daggers at Rika, though mentally, he felt impressed. Rika Nonaka no doubt lived up to her title as top agent. She was fast, she was tactful and she was strong. And oddly, he didn't feel the least bit surprised, nor did he feel outraged at that fact.

She didn't speak. She only stared at him with a snide expression on her face. As he raised his arms into another starting fight stance, she did the same.

He didn't speak either. He only stood there, waiting for the next blow. But it didn't come. It didn't seem to be coming either.

Rika waited. She decided that she wouldn't be the aggressor this time. She would wait for him to attack. It wasn't every day that she came across someone who was able to take a forceful blow from her like that, and still remain standing, asking for more. So she waited patiently, anticipating every first move that he would possibly make, and thinking up a counter move for each.

He finally lunged at her with a punch, but midway, he pulled back and threw an uppercut at her. Rika bent backwards in order to dodge this blow, missing it by a few centimeters. When she straightened back up, he came at her with a punch aimed at her face. To this, she responded by ducking to the side and grabbing his arm with hers. She shifted her weight and with her strength, she pulled the boy over her head, planning on slamming him onto the mattress below. Hard.

To her surprise, Andrew used the airlift to his advantage, twisting in midair and landing on his feet, immediately sweeping out one leg, tripping the girl onto her back.

Rika cursed her carelessness as she pushed off the ground immediately, but didn't have time to dwell on it as she was bombarded with punch after punch after kick all aimed at random places: face, stomach, side... She almost smirked at this boy's persistence and his ability. He wasn't bad. Of course she wouldn't admit that aloud. She blocked and dodged the coming blows that seemed to be gaining speed. She smiled inwardly. He was going to wear himself out before he even knew it.

Seeing an opening in Andrew Chen's fighting stances, Rika took the advantage and moved in, thrusting her palm forcefully at Andrew's chest as he threw a punch upwards at her face. The force of the blow threw the boy backwards, as it seemed he would fall to the ground once again. Rika smirked, knowing that a few more blows like that would definitely finish him off.

At the last moment, before the male agent fell, however, he reacted by grabbing onto Rika's out thrust hand about to pull her down with him. Rika stood her ground, however, angrily cursing inaudibly. Her strong horse stance kept her standing and unfortunately, it also kept Andrew Chen from falling. Rika cursed a little more loudly this time, quickly slipping her hand from the man's grasp, spinning around and attempting at an elbow to his face with her other arm. To her surprise, her opponent blocked the elbow with one arm, while skillfully and smoothly slipping his other arm around Rika's elbow and then twisting her around and away from him.

Rika furrowed her brow as she stood a good few inches away from him after he'd twisted her around. His movements were fluid and smooth. And they seemed so familiar. As she watched during the next few milliseconds, Andrew Chen's arms moved himself into a familiar stance. The moves were so natural that it seemed he'd done this many times before. The movements were so familiar to Rika, as if she'd seen them many times before.

She watched closely once more as Andrew began to move his arms and legs around slowly and smoothly into another starting fight stance. She had seen this movement before... Slow, yet forceful... Fluid and smooth...

Rika stood for only a second longer before she began her next attack with two roundhouses, not even paying any heed to what Andrew was doing. Her leg came down toward Andrew, but was pushed away, practically bounced smoothly back into the air. She came at him with another kick, but it too was pushed away in a semi-circular motion.

Rika narrowed her eyes at Andrew's new technique. Where had she seen this before? He pulled his left arm upward slowly and pushed his other arm forward, not even paying attention to the person before him, focusing solely on his different stances. He looked up at Rika, a dead serious expression on his face.

"Tai Chi Chuan, Rika... My dad says it's the way of Yin and Yang. It focuses on the inner strength. When you're up against someone who wins solely with brute strength, Tai Chi will always come through..."

She blinked once... and gasped. Her eyes went wide and she barely missed one of the palm blows that suddenly came toward her face as Andrew took his first offensive attack. She blinked again as one barely audible whisper escaped her mouth, "Henry..."

No! Rika bit her lip, trying her hardest to focus on those attacks, frantically trying to rid her mind of any thoughts of Henry Wong. But the harder she tried, the more she saw him... in the man before her. With each move that Andrew made, she saw Henry as he was the night before. The Henry who was attacking her for the sole purpose of capturing and arresting Midnight Fox. Her mind kept making her see that dark haired boy. The slow motion attacks that came to her became twice as fast and twice as deadly, as the girl could not make herself focus clearly on the different stances.

But that wasn't Henry! The person she was sparring with was Andrew Chen. A Hypnos agent who annoyed the hell out of her. Not Henry.

Not Henry! Not Henry!

A forceful kick to the stomach sent her sprawling onto the mattress. She breathed in surprise, hearing the shocked gasps from the crowd around. Oh no... she thought. She had failed and she had been beaten. She slowly glanced around the room. Every second seemed to tick by slowly. Painstakingly slow. There were surprised looks on the other agents' faces. There were satisfied expressions and there were confused ones.

Rika blinked a few times, feeling an oncoming rush of tears. But not from being beaten. From the fact that she couldn't get Henry Wong off of her mind and that she had let the ghost of his past and hers beat her. It had caused her carelessness. She finally looked at Andrew Chen, standing before her, expecting to see a snide look of satisfaction. She shook her head before she even saw his expression, because the next thing anyone knew, she was on her feet, glaring daggers and Andrew Chen and attacking him with a jump kick.

He had blocked the best he could, pushing Rika back into the air where she did a back flip and landed into the splits, prepared to fight again. Andrew stood, feeling a little confused at how easily he'd been able to knock the Rika Nonaka over with a simple kick. But then again, she seemed... distracted. Her sudden oncoming rush of attacks surprised him greatly.

He didn't have time to contemplate the situation. Rika had already lunged at him with an uppercut while at the same time planning a kick to the stomach. He blocked the first punch, then blocked the next, then grabbed onto her arm after her third punch.

He furrowed his brow. Something didn't seem right. Before, she'd been using different tactics to attack him. But now, she was throwing random punches and kicks at him which he was sure she knew were easy to block. Something had happened.

Holding onto her arm, he reached up and took hold of her other arm as it came in with another punch. He gripped her arms tightly, still a look of confusion in his face. What was wrong with her? Again, he found himself looking into those violet eyes. And surprisingly, they were entrancing and they showed him the same discovery he'd made earlier before they began fighting. To his own surprise, he loosened his grip on her arms. Taking this to advantage, Rika twisted out from his hold and flipped him over her. This time, he slammed into the mattress as expected. And he stayed there.

Rika looked down satisfied that she'd finally finished the match. But she didn't smile, nor did she feel content. She walked over to him and offered him a hand, pulling the male agent to his feet. Then finally, she walked away without a word and without even making eye contact with anyone. As she did, the crowd dispersed, knowing that the fight had ended.

"You did that on purpose," Sean put a hand on his partner's shoulder, "I thought you hated her. Why didn't you-?"

Andrew just shook his head, "I don't know." He kept his eyes on the female agent's back as she retreated out of the gym. He knew he could've taken advantage of Rika Nonaka's ruthlessness at that last moment. He could've beaten her. Defaced her so she wouldn't be seen as the best anymore. But he didn't do it. Having looked into those violet eyes twice during the past few minutes, he'd discovered something that he thought he'd never see in a person such as Rika Nonaka.

In that rude, angry, snide and egotistical woman he'd just sparred with, he discovered a weakness and possibly the reasons to her anger. Behind the mask that Rika Nonaka wore in public, behind that "greater than thou" attitude she portrayed, inside those mysterious violet eyes, Andrew Chen saw sadness and an emptiness that only someone as lonely as Rika Nonaka could possibly possess. She was alone and she was sad.

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Well, well, well... Another chapter. What'd you think? I honestly, honestly tried my best. Didn't go too well, did it? :(

Oh well! ^_^ It's the plot of the story that counts, right? At least that's what I keep telling myself. ^_^ Keeps me happy.

I hoped to get this chapter out before the weekend. I'll be out of town for the weekend and wanted to make sure I took care of this.

BTW, what does everyone think of Andrew?

There will be more coming soon. As I already stated, I've had positive results from the past few nights of typing non-stop for hours. I'm actually almost done with the fanfic. And if everything goes the way I want it too, I should be done with this in a matter of time. I make no promises, however, so...

Until then, keep reading.

I thank each and every person for their support and encouragement and the great reviews. I'm glad you all like this fic.