Media: End of Metal Fusion

[Enjoy a long chapter! This was written around Chapter 25, actually, haha]

Another week, come and gone.

"So, I heard you're leaving."

I turned to see Riyui behind me, with her little sister stuck to her side. With sharp, alert eyes, Saki watched me carefully.

I smiled at the sight of her, absently touching the corner of my frontal lobe, where I had found a scar after looking in the mirror.

"Not really leaving. More like taking a break."

"Timon might fire you."

I shrugged, turning back to set my sights on the sunset. Swinging my legs back and forth, I spoke without hesitating.

"So what? I have another goal now- something I want to work towards more then ever. And I'm gonna prove Kyoya wrong- that I'm not weaker then him."

Peering past the edge of the roof, I didn't fear the emptiness below my feet.

Instead, determination channeled my soul, racing through my blood as if it was a car speeding through the highway.

"The struggle I'm going through today is going to be the key to my success tomorrow," I continued.

"See, you can't change what's going on around you until you begin to change what's going on inside."

I tapped a finger to my heart, looking out over the empty space again, at the vast land of trees.

"That being said, I'm leaving to change."

Under my hands, gravel pressed to my skin as I got up, dusting off my vest and pants, and with a final, proud smirk at Riyui and her sister, I started for the door.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs was my brother, holding two knapsacks.

"What's this for?"

"You, obviously," Shaun retorted.

"Heh. Thanks. What about the other?"

He rolled his eyes- a bit too sarcastic on his part, no? "I'm going with you, you idiot."

"Wha-"

"You want to train yourself to beat Kyoya, right? I can help," my brother said firmly.

"You've said your goodbyes and everything?"

"There's not much to say goodbye to. I have something to protect, you know? And you know what they say- we only regret the chances we didn't take. Now, go say bye to the others."

Before he left, he added. "Una's absent right now, so... She won't be in contact for a little while. I'll be waiting at the train station."

With that, he ruffled my hair. Shaun never did anything like that, I thought as I stared at his retreating back. Something to protect...?

Only when the door slammed shut did I jerk myself out of my thoughts.

"Oh... Huh, guess I should say goodbye to Grayson, Kato, the twins, Ryutaro, Tobio, and..."

And someone else.

At the thought, I felt a warm blossom in my chest, but immediately stamped it down with a quick scowl.

"Hey, hey, Grayson!" I called down the hallway, turning a corner around the staircase. "I know your room is on this floor!"

The door on the farthest left swung open, revealing Grayson in his messy-bed-head glory.

"Wha...?"

"I'm leaving J.C.I for a lil' while."

That seemed to shock him out of his little daze.

"Huh? Why?!" He exclaimed, a look of surprise claiming his features.

"Just... to, you know... grow."

Grayson just looked at me, a glassy film to his eyes. "... It's cuz of your goal, right? To beat Tatigami or whatever his name is? Tategami?"

"That's one of the reasons."

To my surprise, when Grayson stopped rubbing at his eyes, he was smiling. "Best of luck to you, then. See ya soon?"

He stuck out a hand.

"See you soon, Grayson."

OoO

Kato's goodbye had been the opposite of eventful- he didn't even look up from his book.

After the time I was released from the hospital, I had become rather close to Dan, Reiki, Ryutaro, and Tobio. All of them had quirks I had failed to see when we had first met (then there was the fact that Dan was an insomniac, which is why I stopped questioning it when he fell asleep onto hitting the bench after our battle), and I considered them close friends now.

They were probably at Ryutaro's apartment- most of our time was spent there, seeing how it was large, and Ryutaro's mother absolutely adored us, despite the fact she spent more of her own time at the hospital due to her own disease.

"Yo, you four!" I called as I opened the door.

"Die!"

"Wh- Dan, we're partners!"

"What else am I supposed to do?" The Gemios user retorted. "I can't do anything else!"

"Enjoying the Sorry game?" I asked, sitting down next to them.

Tobio spared a glance at me. "Dan's knocked out at least sixteen pawns altogether. This American game of yours is going to break friendships."

"Oh, shush. You're just jealous that you can hardly get out of home," Dan responded.

"You guys are so childish," the Capricorn user snorted.

"Says the one eating a lollipop right now," the twins responded in sync. But they both really were childish- under that hasty and impulsive mask they had, they were childish to the bone, although Dan was the more mature one.

"Hey, you guys..."

My sorrowful tone took everyone's attention off the card Tobio was about to flip onto the pile. "You're okay with me leaving, right?"

Reiki, who formerly had his elbows propping up his shoulders and chest, scrambled to sit up fully. "Why would you leave?"

"To get stronger, obviously."

"Oh, so you were paying attention, Ryutaro...?"

The Pisces user was sitting with his back faced to us, legs folded across one another as he sat in front of the open back door.

"Yes, I happened to be listening. Nonetheless, I predicted this would happen..."

Reiki bit his lip. "You can't get leave!"

With a childish pout, the younger twin bashed his fist against the board (Tobio scrambled to fix all the cards that flew everywhere).

"You really are a baby," I laughed it off uneasily, but his intense, blue-eyed gaze didn't inch from mine.

"You could train with us! Here!"

"Reiki, drop it." Dan commanded.

He didn't listen, and looked like he was about to burst out in a jumble of words when the red-clothed teen leaned over and hit him upside the head. Reiki let out a squawk.

"As Ryutaro said," I gestured to the magician. "I'm leaving to train. I need to beat Kyoya."

At that name, everyone quieted.

"Fine..." Reiki said crossly.

"Thanks, mom," I said cheekily with a grin.

He made a face, then in a sickly-sweet voice said, "Honey, please don't come home with any boyfriends or girlfriends. You're enough as it is, as much as you help me with baking cookies."

"Oh my god, Reiki-!" I burst out laughing.

He stood, motioning for the other two people on the floor. Dan and Tobio straightened as well, and after some name-calling from the latter, got Ryutaro to hop on over.

"Wh- Reiki, no hugs."

"Why not? Can a mom not hug her daughter?"

"... fine," I laughed. "A mom can hug her daughter."

Without warning, he basically glomped m, then trapped my head behind his arm and shoulder before giving me a noogie.

"Love ya, despite us technically meeting a little while ago," he teased before releasing me.

"You were a complete ass when we first met."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Proud of it."

Dan offered me a fist-bump, but before our fists connected, he instead spread his palm. "Turkey!"

"I'm not sure which one of you two is more childish."

"Can we just get an award already?"

Ryutaro nodded towards me in acknowledgement, as I realized he wasn't a really touchy person while Tobio handed me a lollipop- his trademark ones, with the baby-blue wrapper that had his face printed on it and we shook hands.

"Keep in mind, when I return, I'm gonna kick all your asses at the same time!" I called as I exited the house.

Ringing laughter.

I'm gonna miss those guys.

That brought me to the last person I had to say goodbye to- Kyoya.

Branches underneath my feet crunched as I stepped over them, the fall breeze tickling my nose and hair.

The spiked, forest-green hair against bark gave his location away. I shuffled around the tree, only to see Kyoya in resting position, his legs crossed beneath one another. Eyes closed, back leaning against the trunk of the tree... He looked, actually, at peace for once.

That illusion shattered when he opened his eyes to look at me, the same steely look in them as the first day I had met him nearly two months ago.

"Hey, Kyoya," I greeted, and placed my hand against the bark so some of my weight would be supported by the tree.

"Hi," he mumbled in response, not meeting my eyes. Refusing to meet my eyes.

"So about the whole Ryuga-coma thing..."

"It wasn't a coma."

"What was it, then?" I challenged.

He cocked an eyebrow. "It doesn't matter."

Kyoya stood up, brushing flecks of dirt off his green vest-trenchcoat-thing.

Without a word, he started to stride away, leaving me at the tree.

"Hey-!"

He didn't go far, stopped by my hand wrapping around his shoulder. Slowly, he tilted his head so I could see his profile, giving me the stink-eye and cold-shoulder.

"You know... I just... Ugh."

"Just what? If there's something that you have to say, spit it out."

"Make sure to taste your words before you spit them out," I reminded him.

"If that's what you wanted to say, it was a waste of my time," Kyoya said, his tone warning.

"No- it's just..."

"Just what?" He repeated, venom slithering through the two words like a snake in hiding.

"Look, I just want to thank you, okay? So stop being an ass!"

Kyoya stared at me, his expression a cool mask. It surprised me, how he was able to stop from blowing up when the words left my mouth.

After all, he was like a volcano- ready to blow at any moment, lava bubbling at the mouth as smoke rose out of his ears.

But he didn't respond the way I expected him too, just blinking at the word 'ass'.

When I looked up from where I had averted my gaze, he was staring at me with an intense expression.

"W-What? I say something that's like a rock in my throat and really hard to say, and you just stand there?" I said, heat creeping up my neck.

There was several moments of silence.

"... You've matured."

"What?"

Kyoya studied me for a moment, cold, sapphire-colored eyes piercing my soul. "What I mean..."

He huffed, casting his eyes to the tree beside me. "You're not as annoying."

"Wow, thanks," I said, my words dripping with sarcasm.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

I looked at him in surprise, my mouth in an 'o' from the accuracy of his guess.

"So you are."

"I am," I replied at last, crossing my arms over my chest. "Problem?"

"Not at all. An annoyance like you... I'm not going to miss it."

"Didn't you just say I matured?"

"You're still annoying. Not as much," Kyoya stated, leaning his shoulder on the tree.

I stared at him, the red now residing from my cheeks.

"Eh, so, um, yeah... Thanks. Although you may hate me, you've supported me a lot."

I bowed, then slowly straightened, only to find that his gaze had finally dragged from the ground to me, as if he was actually taking me seriously.

"Besides, when I come back, I'ma whip your butt!"

"In your dreams, Rixen," Kyoya replied, a teasing smirk on his lips.

"My dreams usually have something to do with reality!"

Kyoya finally cracked a smile, the corners of his mouth pulling up to reveal his sharp canines.

With that, I whipped around on my heel, hastily calling out 'bye'.

My stride was quick as I hurried in the general direction of the train station.

"Tess!"

My head snapped over my shoulder, only to see Kyoya leaning against the tree again, his arm held out.

Leone was clenched by his fingers, the gleam of the sun casting a shadow over some of its' green designs.

"When you get back, I want to be your first battle!"

I slid a hand into my pocket, feeling the cold touch of Eagle and bringing him out.

"Deal!"

He never hated you.

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