The Jian

Chapter 16: Eye for an eye

'Where's Hiro gone to now?' asked Ichigo. 'He was here just a second ago.'

'Pro'bly wif the uwa girr...' Futoshi's hands and mouth still had food in them as he was standing up. "Snacks for the road" he called them.

'"Other girl?", what other girl?' said Ichigo. 'There's no other...'

'Found him.' said Goro, pointing to where Hiro had just stopped at.

Hiro stood at Zero two's table. He had barely paused her eating and continued as if there was no one there. Hiro continued to stand there.

'Zero two.' said Hiro.

Her eyes lifted towards him and truth be told, did not look like the eyes that said: "come in and we'll have a nice chat, while I try to eat my breakfast."

No, her eyes were scowling as they usually were.

'I was wondering if it would be okay if I can some of my questions from yesterday? I know that you felt uncomfortable, but the curiosity is killing me.'

Zero two seemed to have finished sucking the honey off of all of her hands and fingers. Amazingly enough she managed to not ruin her red scarf.

Her unamused look that she had given Zorome turned into a smug and evil looking smile. It almost looked as if she was curious about Hiro herself.

'Hiro's about to get his ass kicked!' mocked Zorome, who had arrived with clean shirt, and a grumpy Miku.

The squad all waited for her response, even if they didn't know what she would be responding to.

'Sure,' she finally said.

Hiro looked a little pleased.

'but only for you, darling~' she said, getting up out of her seat.

'...' Hiro began to blush.

'Where shall we talk? What more questions do you have for me. There shouldn't be that many more, is there?'

'Yeah... There's not that many I have for you.'

'How about, we go to the gardens then?' she leaned forward, tilting her head to the side and her smile only a little less scary.

'Um... sure...'

The pair began to exit the cafeteria.

'Oi, aren't you coming with us?' called out Goro. ' I even got you up in time!'

'Sorry guys, maybe next time.' Hiro turned back to Zero two, who was waiting at the exit.

'Hey, wait-'

'Let him go, Goro... tomorrow is another day...' Ichigo put a hand on Goro's shoulder.

'... I miss him...'

'Me too...' Ichigo lead him Goro towards the opposite side of the cafeteria, where the rest of their friends were waiting for the two.

Ichigo's eyes couldn't be seen, but the dark blue they usually held, had managed to become a very fiery blue.

'Zero two...' she thought to herself.

≈ θ ≈

It was a nice day. It was a nice Saturday. For teens, it could be flooding weather and they'd be happy. Everyone would be, having to stay inside with "nothing" to do.

Being in the school gardens was nice enough in its' own right, rain or clear blue skies. This was most likely thanks to Kokoro and a few other students. Not many would be into that sort of thing: maintaining and caring for a whole, contained ecosystem. It was easier than what most were lead to believe, but it was hard work no matter what way you looked at it.