"Her? Who's that?" Riki asked, looking at her as she gave him a quick side glance. Maiko stayed silent, fiddling with her jacket as she looked up to the night sky, relishing the silence. "Maiko?"

"Hah, promise not to tell?" Juro heard his mother ask as he pressed himself against the wall, listening in on their conversation. His mother's next words didn't shock him as much as he thought it would've. He couldn't even pretend.

"I won't. What happened?" Riki leaned forward slightly, stretching his legs over the edge of the trailer.

"He had a sister." "A sister?" Riki's eyes widened and for a moment, his mind turning back to his own younger sister, Ibuki.

"Yeah," she smiled bitterly, running a hand through her hair as she bit her lip. "He had one. She was a still born. It was his twin sister."

Riki looked at Maiko as pained tears filled her eyes. With a shaky voice, she continued. "That's why I've always had an instinct to protect children, especially the girls. I felt that was the only way to atone for losing her."

"What was her name?" Riki asked quietly, turning to her. "We planned on naming her Jade, but we never actually signed the birth certificate or anything, so that was never her official name."

"What... What about your husband?" Maiko smiled at the mention of her loved one before she answered in a hushed tone.

"He was a bit shaky from hearing that but he still took care of Juro and I. He was dragged out by the doctors while I prepared for the birth of my children," Maiko sighed, "So he only got see his princess for a few minutes, thinking she was alive until the doctors pronounced her dead."

"Was she buried with her father?" "No, she died before all this started. We never had a baby shower since it was scheduled the day of her funeral."

Riki asked one more question. "Why didn't you tell Juro?"

"You think he wants to know that his twin sister died directly after they were born?""It was his twin, don't you think he'd like to know?" Maiko lowers her head and grips her hair, pulling her knees to her chest.

"I don't want to hurt him further. Besides, how do you tell someone as young as him that his sister died the moment they were born? Juro's always been sensitive about family talk ever since he was born."

The two stay quiet until Maiko sighs again, getting up and jumping off the trailer. "I'm sleepy now, I'm gonna get as much rest as I can. Thanks for the talk, Riki." She waves and walks off, overlooking the figure hiding in the shadows, listening to her talk.

"So I was right... I really wanted to trust you, mom, but what you said just doesn't line up anymore."

~*****~

"Has anyone seen Juro?!" Maiko comes storming out of her cabin, pulling on her jacket as she tucked her gun away. "He's not in our room and in the cabin... Is he outside?" she asked the rest of the Foxes, looking around the area.

"He's not there? I just made a full round of the place, he's not outside." Yuki answered, finishing his sandwich. "What...? Where did he go?!" she screamed, breathing picking up pace.

"Calm down, Mai," Hiro pats her head, "He should be around here. I'll help look for him!"

"Everyone can help out." Riki says, and everyone looks at each other before nodding. Maiko gives thanks and runs off to change into more comfortable clothes. The men begin their search immediately.

"Where could he have gone? He couldn't have left the compound," Atsumu says to Kenshi as they peek around the back. "I kept it locked last night and kept the keys. There were walkers around the place as well so he can't go out without help."

"Maybe he's hiding somewhere? Have you checked the trailer?" Kenshi suggests and the Boss immediately stands and heads for the said vehicle.

"Nope. Not in there, I went in there this morning to grab the things and bags in there."

"But..." "FUCK!"

A shrill voice cursed from the front and everyone came running to find Maiko pushing the gates of their compound open, the lock on it broken. "What do you mean it was fucking locked?! This is clearly opened, you asshole!"

Maiko cussed Atsumu off before Riki grabbed her and covered her mouth. "Are you trying to kill us all? They'll come running at the sound of this damn shout."

"They'll most likely come running from the dead corpse of my son if we don't find him now!" Maiko retaliated, lowering her voice.

"But no way he could've opened that... I still have the keys." Atsumu lifted the side of his shirt slightly to reveal a ring of keys hanging from his belt, before letting it drop over them again.

Hiro picked up the padlock on the ground next to the gate to investigate it, Takuto peering over his shoulder. "This wasn't key unlocked..." he muttered. "This was shot off."

"Goddamnit, that was the last lock." Atsumu mutters, but winces and whines in pain when he felt Maiko smack the back of his head.

"Well, it rained a little bit this morning before daybreak, there should be footprints, right?" Taiga questions, stepping out past the gates. "Yup."

Maiko break free from Riki and runs off to where Taiga is, eyes gleaming with hope before she ran off in the direction of the footprints. "Hey, Maiko!" Kenshi yells and runs off after her, before Riki turns to the rest with a sigh.

"Well, both those idiots don't have weapons, I'm sure." Riki ruffles his hair, grabbing some spare guns and turning to Atsumu and Takuto. "I'm leaving you both with this responsibility, heard me? Let no one in, survivor or not. I got the talkie here, call me and I'll come back. If they're injured, send Taiga and Hyo out with either Yuki or Togoshi to make sure they can heal them with no trouble."

He runs off without waiting for a response and chases after his teammates. 

~*****~

"JURO! JURO!!!!" Her mother's yells resonated through the trees as Juro covered his ears, the smell of blood making his head spin, watching his leg bleed out before his very eyes.

Tears filled his tightly shut eyes as he muttered silent apologies, his hands pushing closer to his ears to block out the sound of terrifying moans coming his way.

"JURO! PLEASE!!!" her cries became closer and desperate. "Please... Where are you...?"

Maiko ignored the horrible moans of the undead as she relentlessly searched through the woods before she felt strong arms grab her. Whipping her around, she met the worried hazel eyes of Kenshi, who motioned for her to be silent.

Everything went quiet, and the rustle of leaves were heard before something jumped out at them. They both almost shrieked before they recognized their leader, who glared sharply at them.

"Are you both fucking insane?!" he scolded, tossing them guns. "You could've gotten killed!!"

They didn't reply, and instead listened to the sound of leaves rustling to the gentle breeze of the wind. They heard silent whimpers and the sound of flesh caught in something. It didn't sound... dead, though. Not like the horrible sounds the dead made.

It was human.

Maiko, blinded with fear for her son's well being, went off to look towards the source of the sound. Her scream tore the seemingly silent air and Riki and Kenshi ran to her to find her desperately clawing at a bear trap that was enclosed around her son's leg.

"Don't just fucking stand there, help me!" She shrieked. "Juro, Juro baby... Stay with me, stay with mommy, okay?"

'Stay with me, okay?' Such a familiar phrase... Where had he heard that before...?

He feel a tremendous weight off his leg and he opened his heavy eyes soon to see the worried face of his mother. "Juro! Thank god... Oh god, you're okay." Her hand, which clasped his tightly, was brought up to her forehead, closing her eyes.

"What am I doing here?" he asked stoically.

"What the hell were you doing in the forest by yourself?!"

For a moment, he wanted to retaliate with a secret he knew, but decided against it. "I wanted to go for a stroll."

"Before daylight?! Are you insane?!"

He stayed silent before Maiko sighed. "Riki left to get you food. You've been asleep since yesterday morning, you must be hungry. I'll speak to you later, I left some books in your bedside table."

She left with stiff movements, trying to hide her face from her son as she tries to bite back tears. 

After about ten minutes, the smell of food got Juro sitting up from his tired position, seeing Riki walk in the door with soup and some bread.

"Sorry, this is all we got. I tried to use as much as I could but this was all we could spare or else rations wouldn't last until tomorrow." he apologized, placing the food beside Juro, sitting at the edge of his bed.

"We'll be sending out people to scavenge later, a bigger group since we need more food." "Really?" Juro asked, disinterested. "How many will be left?"

"Just Takuto, Togoshi and the Kujos." "My mom's leaving? Even though I'm here crippled? Some mother." he scoffs and Riki sighs, carding his hands through his hair.

"She's been by your side the entire time since you arrived. She was actually going to stay but she suddenly told me on my away here she was going to go instead of Togoshi."

Juro says nothing and Riki stands. "Well, we got to get ready for scavenge if we'll be back by tomorrow. Cities are far from here. Take care here."

Riki leaves and Juro sighs, closing his eyes as he felt the bowl of soup in his lap get cooler with every passing minute. He placed it aside and carefully swung his legs over the edge of the bed and hobbled out the Kujos and Yuki's cabin.

By the time he got out, the group was already ready to leave. Maiko was at the front with Kenshi, who was driving. She was distracted by something and didn't notice him. The rest of the scavenging group clambered in and Riki waved slightly to Juro before closing the back of the van, driving off.

Juro watched as they left before watching Takuto close the gates and walk off. Juro looks at the closed gates, held closed by a small padlock and chains as he had destroyed the bigger one. For a moment he felt a strange emotion in his stomach, just from gazing at the wall.

Why did it feel like such a barricade between him and everything he wants?

~*****~

A/N: 

This isn't fair! Why does summer school have to send some homework home?! And why must freakin' kpop distract me every time I do it?!!!

I thought I'd be able to type out whatever I want, but nope, no electronics allowed. -_-

Whatever, here's another chapter!

Ciao!

~Dark Angel