Sho Nakamura's Story

A damn headache.

Colette walked slowly with her younger subordinates ahead of her, rubbing her temples rhythmically as she placed one foot continuously ahead of the other. Headaches weren't an uncommon occurrence, but she had never really gotten used to the beating pulse of the blood in her head that came with them. It was annoying and more than a bit discomforting.

She'd live; there wasn't any other option. It wasn't like dying would do her any good, or that she was willing to disappear.

Immediate to the building, she turned, looking back at Angel silently. She clenched her fist, her fingernails driving into her palm like pins into a cushion as she glared. Whatever it took, she wouldn't let this go. Whatever it took, she wouldn't let him have allies. She'd convince the girl.

Whatever it took.

The abandoned dorm was quiet, the normal chatter of the Alliance stifled by the melancholy of a canceled operation. Everyone here wanted answers, and it made her a little angry to miss yet another opportunity to chance. She sat against the wall, sliding to the floor with a little effort. She was disoriented, her headache getting worse, the adrenaline from the operation giving way to it's aftereffects like always.

"Goddamn it."

She hated debriefing. Rarely was it the result of success, but rather the failure that they often met in 'Angel' operations, and as such was a disappointment. It was hard to equate the enormity of their failures to anything productive anymore, never mind the circumstances.

Of course, she couldn't let that show in her face. She was responsible for keeping everyone confident and for looking after them. Besides Angel and Tatsuya, she had been here the longest, so she had to keep her chin up--even if she felt it was fruitless. She got to her feet once more and surveyed the room, a contrived grin on her face. She cracked her knuckles.

"Listen up!" she started, surveying the room with a sweep of her eyes "I know this sucks, but we have to keeping pressing on. We will have our chance, but we can't jeopardize it with these strange circumstances at hand." She put her hands on her hips cheerfully, lighting up her eyes with a fervor that only came from an acclamation to responsibility. "Any sulking will result in a helping of Mapo Tofu, as sulking causes belly aches and I don't want to see any of my cute little subordinates go hungry! So cheer up and shape up!"

She laughed to herself, her headache still rampant. It hurt, but that was the cost of her position. She knew that better than anyone. She only hoped the pain didn't show in her face.

"We're going to win this, so keep on fighting!"

She knew she would.

"Commander, let's start this, alright?"

Nobuo did not know what to make of what was happening. Westley seemed to be getting along fine with Angel, which added to his confusion. Even more confused when he heard the conversation between Tatsuya and Reika, since he never was raised in a civilian setting, he almost lost focus at one point. Of course, as usual, Kwei pulled some stunt, which made Nobuo roll his eyes briefly and refocus on the task at hand. At least, until he heard Tatsuya.

"Nobuo, shows over. Come downstairs for debriefing."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right over."

With his sniper rifle on his back, he carefully climbed down the tree before making his way to the room where the debriefing was to take place. As always, he faced the front of the room at attention, his head never jerking to the left or right. Nobuo kept silent the whole time, listening to every word. He would not speak unless spoken to. Whatever task he were given, he would accept. Though he did not show it, he was absolutely frustrated with how the mission once again ended in failure. It was one of his biggest pet peeves.

Of course, hearing Colette speak left his chest pounding some, yet he never could place a finger on why that was. Why was he only like that around her, if not on the battlefield? Worse yet, none of the NPC medics would tell him, only laugh at the thought. How was it in anyway funny? What if some major medical condition was making this happen? Regardless, Nobuo tried not to focus on that, only listened to what was being said.

"Jacob, when Nobuo get's down here can you debrief us. I'll give my peice after yours. Thanks."

Jacob knew his duty towards what to do, but showed no signs of nodding or saying anything. He was just... well... disappointed, you could say, since he didn't get his objective with getting to Angel. And, apparently, that didn't happen, so he was quite angry. Not with everyone else. Definitely not with them, but with himself.

Why? Well... there wasn't much of a reason. He was always hard on himself, and even if it wasn't his fault, he was still hard on himself. It was just like that, especially after his death.

Before he entered the building, Nobuo not being too far behind, he called out, "Julian, Michiyo, old lady," He referred to Akira, with a small smirk, despite how he disappointed he still felt about himself, "If you three want to get in on the information you missed, you may want to come inside just about now." He said before finally going inside.

Once inside, Jacob pulled up a chair next to his leader, their leader, Tatsuya. He saw the tired look on his face, and kind of understood. Jacob was also in a depressed mood, despite being a kid. He hardly showed it, though, those who knew him could tell by the small sighs he did here and there, and the dull expression he wore the whole time.

After finding everyone in the base room, Jacob coughed a little to get everyone attention before beginning. Now, keep in mind, Jacob is the type of person to make long speeches, especially about their battle with Angel, and other things of that sort. Most times, they'd attempt at beating Angel. Though most times they'd never win, at least they tried. This time, many things happened, and Jacob.... well... he really hated Angel, and do lose a perfect opportunity is just....

"Alright, so, long story short. We all were ready to fight. Some pink-haired girl fell from the sky or something, we talked, she made a friend with Angel, we lost an ally, we're here. Done." He finished, a bit of a harsh tone to it. Without warning or saying anything though, Jacob stood up from his chair, and just left. It was now obvious how frustrated he was as he headed out of the room to get some fresh air, slamming the door behind him just before he said, "Tastuya may amend my speech."



"Hey Kei, you alright. Be more careful."

Kei rolled over from the back of the tree, lifting one foot and planting it on the other side so he was in full sight. A grin was on his face as he giggle childishly, "Aha... so you saw me? Well, I guess it's hard not to! And dont' worry! Calm down now, Tatsuya! No one can die in this world, it'll hardly even hurt!" He laughed, being the insane person he is.

"Kei, you wanna play the hunting game? Follow that girl for me would you. Make sure nothing crazy comes of her."

The blonde haired male looked up at his leader with a surprised face, 'Hmmm... so he's actually asking a favor of me? How rare.' He thought to himself, usually not being assigned what to do since he was such a ditz and usually strayed off task. But this time was a little different, 'Perhaps I'll switch things up a bit, shouldn't I? That'll be fun.'

He nodded and responded with a lazy salute, "Yes sir~ I'll keep an eye on that little girly for you! And honestly, I think you should be concerned about what I'll do when you leave me alone." He laughed, though knew he wouldn't do anything since he felt like changing for that one night, "Well then, I'm off~"

Kei said before hopping back into the shadows, where he'd disappear, once again, like always, heading in the direction of Angel and the pink-haired unknown girl, being unseen.



"I figured you weren't. I don't get it; they seem to have an all-out war going on with you, while you just don't seem to care either way,"

"Well... you shouldn't really trust my interpretation of myself either you know." Sho said, his hand slowly leaving his gun as he put it back into his pocket. The girl didn't seem intimidating, or dangerous, or have any intentions of harming him, so therefore, he had no intentions of doing the same either, "I don't even know when it started, but all of a sudden, we just began to hate each other, then fight, and over time, it just became the usual greeting. If they won't fight me, I won't fight back. If they do, then I will. Those are my rules." He bluntly stated.

"I think that I get bloody noses when I have migraines ... A little blood never hurt anyone,"

Sho continued to stare at her for a while before turning back to looking straight in front of him, propping his elbow on his knee to hold himself up. He then murmured, "Well... Not all the time... But that doesn't mean that it's good to just bleed out of no where..." He said quietly, making sure he wasn't looking. Sho didn't want to admit it, but he had a great fear of blood. It just disgusted and terrified him.

"It's kind of funny, you know ... I don't remember anything from my life. But when I speak without thinking, and remember without remembering, I say things that I can only imagine are from when I was alive. But they're simple things, and I just think that maybe it's a sign. A sign that people should think less then they do and go on instinct,"

The black-haired young man continued to listen to Westley, not looking in her direction, but continuing to listen before then saying, "It happens to all of us. Well.... From what I know. It happens to me, but... more like it's all a dream. I remember it when I sleep, but when I wake up, it's gone. Like it never even happened. I can't even remember anything afterwards. It's... normal, so don't worry."

"What's it like here, Sho? For you, I mean,"

"It's... just... going to class, as an older student. People will stare at me weirdly, things of that sort. But other than that, nothing's really different. Act human during the day, fight in the night. Nothing... that special honestly." He shrugged, explaining how he saw it in his eyes

Suddenly, he heard her stomach growl. He had never heard such an obnoxious sound before, and couldn't help but laugh a little, despite his nearly emotionless look on his face all the time. Of course, he concealed this by looking the other way, and allowed her to speak, though he was still chuckling a little.

"I suppose that means it's time to go see what I can do about getting some food. I'm pretty sure that the Alliance isn't going to want me coming back, at least not this soon, and after what I said, I'm not budging on my point of view. So, I suppose I'll go and find out what I can do about some food and a place to sleep tonight."

Sho looked at her for a moment, then looked at the school building and said, "The infirmary." He stated, "That's where you may want to stay. They have beds there. It's a good place to sleep." He said, knowing this from experience since he'd sometimes stay there when he didn't feel like sleeping on the roof.

"It was very nice meeting you, Sho Nakamura.

He nodded, and added a slight bow of respect, "You too, Westley Turncot." Before she left though, she added something else.

"You should talk more. You have a pleasant voice to listen to. And smile. You can't forget to smile, Nakamura,"

Sho looked at her with a surprised face, slightly red even from the compliment he never heard for months, maybe years depending on how long he stayed in that after death world. After hearing that, he couldn't help but let out a little smile, but stood up and stretched his arms so it'd be hard to see. He also concealed it with his regular dull voice, "Whatever you say. Ah, do you know the way to the infirmary? That school is huge... you'll get lost."

It was when they reached the doors that the first strike hit.

The lightning crashed through the darkened sky, and before she even touched the door, she froze. Jacob and Izumi walked on, but Reika couldn't move. Her legs were locked and her feet almost staked into place, for she couldn't move them even if she wanted to, which she did. It was already sprinkling, and she was lucky that she had made it under the arch that would shield them before it had begun to thunder and lightning.

Another clash of lightning lit up the darkened sky, and was fallen by a loud crash of thunder. Her hands flung up and over her ears, her knees clacking together as her body began to tremble. Another crash sent her to her knees and caused tears to spring to her eyes. Her heart was hammering in her chest, deafening to her own ears, and she could barely control her breathing.

Stop it, stop it, stop it ...!

Another boom caused her to cry out a bit. Her hands were clamped over her ears, her knees were bruised and scraped from the drop, and the insides of her cheeks were bleeding slightly from her biting down upon them.

---

"Reika, it's okay honey, hush now ... Mama's going to make it all better ..."

"But I'm scared, Mommy! I'm scared!"

"I know, sweetheart, but I'll make it all better. There's no need to be afraid. Mama's here now, and the doctor's aren't going to come in. They know that you're afraid of the storm, so they're letting me help you."

"Mommy, please don't leave me!"

"I won't, Reika. I won't."

---

Get out of my head!

Her fingers curled over the tops of her ears as the thought echoed through her mind. Despite the protection of the arch above her, she was still somehow getting wet. The rain was blowing in through the sides, and she could barely feel the chill as it sank through her school jacket and pants and into her very bones. All she could feel was the immense fear coursing through her as another clash slammed through the sky, seeming to tear it apart, for that one was so great.

You have to get up ... Get up! Stop acting so childish and get up! You can't be afraid of storms anymore!

She didn't budge.

Get up, Reika! Move it!

Her legs trembled a bit.

I said ... Get moving!

After the inner battle, she managed to push herself up so that she was standing on shaking legs. Tears trickled down her face and her hands remained over her ears, but her eyes were cast in shadows. A glint shone off of one tear, and after a moment, she managed a step towards the school dormitories. She was only a few feet from the doors, but nevertheless, it felt as if she were miles away from the comfort of the indoors. It wasn't as if being inside would dull her fear, but at least she would be out of the brunt of the storm.

With that thought in mind, she flung open the door. Of course, everyone was already inside. Just her luck.

I can't afford to let them see me like this ... I'm Reika Setsuko, the stone-girl. I can't let them know that I'm afraid!

Her head bowed even lower, the shadows cast over nearly all of her face, and she moved into the room.

"I'm going to bed," she murmured, her attempt to mask the hoarse undertone of it, caused by both fear and tears. As soon as those words were out, another loud boom of thunder echoed, this one so powerful it actually caused some of the lamps to rock where they sat. This sent her into a mad dash for the stairs, which she took two at a time.

Everything after that passed in a blur. One moment she was running for the stairs, and the next, she was slamming the door to her room loudly behind her. A momentary fear that she had cracked the wood fluttered through her mind, before it was replaced by the fear from the storm, which rose up and crashed around her. Something close to a whimper escaped her lips. She dropped where she stood, which was just on the other side of the door, tore a blanket from her bed, and wrapped it around her soaking-wet body. She would get through this, of course, but at what cost to her sanity? Hopefully the debriefing would go on for a bit longer, at least until the storm passed, so that her pathetic whimpers wouldn't be heard, even through the door. Inside, she moved over and away from it so that she sat beside her bed, her back against the side of it, and hid in the blanket. Each crack of lightning and thunder caused her to cry out softly and huddle further into her blanket, but in a fetal attempt to muffle the sound, she shoved the corner of her blanket between her lips.

Dammit! Why can't I just be normal? Why does this have to happen to me?

---

---

"It's... just... going to class, as an older student. People will stare at me weirdly, things of that sort. But other than that, nothing's really different. Act human during the day, fight in the night. Nothing... that special honestly."

Westley only looked at him for a moment, her eyes searching his, and finally, she spoke.

"That's really sad. It's just ... Sad. Living that way, I mean. Or, well, not living that way. You know what I mean," she said with a sigh, straightening and running a hand through her hair in frustration. What was with this guy? He didn't seem to care what someone said to him, and with her acting as weird as she was, she was surprised that he hadn't kicked her ass yet. She would've, if she were him.

"Tell you what ... I'm going to make 'life' here more interesting for you from now on. And that's a promise," she said, with a slightly vindictive smile on her face. Her eyes took on a bit of a psychotic glint to them, and she smiled at him, her entire face that of a frightening promise.

After a moment, the look faded, and she slumped over at the waist, her arms hanging down in a way that slightly resembled an ape when it walked around.

"No, I have no idea where the infirmary is. Thank you for the advice, though. I'm sure I'll find it eventually. Do you know where I could get some food, though? I really am hungry," she said, straightening to rub at her stomach as it growled once again.

It was then that it began to completely downpour. Westley was almost immediately soaked. It was as if someone had flipped a switch to 'On' for rain, it was that instantaneous.

She took on a slightly masochistic aura in that moment. Getting drenched by rain was obviously the last straw for her. First she finds out she's dead. Then she realizes she doesn't know anything about herself. Next she gets a migraine that's almost crippling, followed by a very-insulting speech by a boy she'd never met before, which caused a heated argument with several of those dumbasses, and now, on top of all that, she was hungry, tired, and completely soaked by rain?

It was enough to drive a person to madness.

With an angry look on her face, she whirled away. "God fucking dammit!" she shouted, her fist flying out and striking the trunk of a tree. It was a hard enough punch that several pieces of the bark chipped away and so that it caused her knuckles to crack and draw blood. She switched hands and punched it once more, drawing blood from those knuckles, before switching hands again. By the time she was exhausted enough to stop, her hands were bloody messes, her shoulders were heaving with breaths, and she was left with tears in her eyes, which she rubbed at furiously with the sleeve of her school uniform - which, to point out, she had no idea she had been wearing. And what was with the skimpy skirt? It barely even covered her ass!

With a shout of anger, her leg shot out, striking the tree hard enough that there was a small cracking sound, and a line formed across the trunk where she had struck it, having successfully split the trunk.

She dropped her arms, and with a small sigh of defeat, shook her head. "See you, Nakamura," she muttered. She began a slow walk to the school, swaying slightly with each step, and halfway there, she stopped.

"Whoever you are that's following me, I don't really give a damn, but that leering is really starting to piss me off. I'll know if you're staring at my ass or my tits, so don't you even try to look there, got it? Follow me all you want, you stalking asshole, but don't stare at the goods, or you'll get the ass-kicking of your life!"

Out of nowhere, dizziness assaulted her. Dark spots dotted her vision, almost blindingly so. "What ... The Hell ..." With a small sway, she collapsed to the wet grass, the rain mixing with the blood on her hands and sliding across her unconscious face.

(So I need to sleep, and i wanna get this post in, so I'ma make jacob really short =w=)

Jacob finally decided that he needed some sleep, and seeing how Tatsuya was occupied and what such. He decided that it was about time he had some sleep. It was a long day after all anyways.

He didn't really care where he slept, but since Angel was still outside, he didn't want to be outside. So therefore, he entered the building again, and headed for the library. They had chairs there. Were they comfortable? Sometimes. For sleeping? No, but Jacob could pretty much sleep anywhere actually.

He thought about reading, but shook his head and decided not to, "Later." He told himself, since he kind of liked reading from time to time. Instead, he grabbed one he was thinking of reading when he woke up, and put it over his face as he sat, kind of in an awkward position, and began to slept.

If he was tired, Jacob could easily sleep. And since he was very tired, he fell asleep immediately, being sure to wake up for the next day, whether it be late or early.




That's really sad. It's just ... Sad. Living that way, I mean. Or, well, not living that way. You know what I mean."

Sho nodded his head, a little slowly since he didn't see what was so sad about it. That, or maybe he forgot that feeling, of being sad, that is, "Not... exactly... Well, maybe. Maybe to other people, or to people similar to you, but to me, it's just life. I can't say it's bad. I'm actually really fine with the way things are now. I'll go with how Death's Alliance approach is." He shrugged.

"Tell you what ... I'm going to make 'life' here more interesting for you from now on. And that's a promise."

For a moment, Sho continued to nod, like he always did until he finally realized what she had said and nearly choked on air from his surprise. At the same time, as he did such, he looked kind of childish, or stupid, in other words, especially the emotion on his face. Even more so when he stood up as quick as he spoke, "E-eh? What? Y-You know that's not much of a good idea... You're going to be hated. And that's not the life someone like you should have you know..." As much as he didn't want her to do so, Sho was a little glad someone said such, but at the result of becoming friends or something, there's always a punishment. Always one when it came to him.

"No, I have no idea where the infirmary is. Thank you for the advice, though. I'm sure I'll find it eventually. Do you know where I could get some food, though? I really am hungry."

Sho finally snapped out of his daze and immediately responded, lowering his tone and speaking more naturally for once, "A-ah... well... for the infirmary, it's on the second floor, room B-1. And you could probably find food... in the cafeteria? I'm unsure if the machines are working since i hardly eat, but I think they may have some in the back of the room where they store it and stuff. First floor, Cafeteria room. First door on your right if you go through that door." He pointed to a certain entrance, seeming to have memorized the whole set up because of how long he stayed there.

All of a sudden, it began to rain, even a little thunder and lightning perhaps. Sho looked up to the sky, blinking every few seconds since the rain got into his eyes, "Raining? That's a surprise..." He murmured, not really caring though."[/color]

Suddenly, he heard Westley shout, God fucking dammit!"

It made him jump a little at the racket she made, but he got used to it after the first time she hit the tree. He calmed down again and was about to ask if she was alright, being slightly concerned actually, but then heard her say her leave, "See you, Nakamura."

Again, Sho was about to say something, as he held out his hand to say something and opened his mouth as well, but then shut it and lowered his hand, saying in the same tone she did, "Yeah... you too..." He grew slightly attached to the girl who had finally talked to him naturally after all the years he'd been just fighting with real people and socializing with the fake people. But what could he do?

Misfortune came to everyone he met, so he decided to not do anything about the situation. Instead, he got up and walked over to the school, staying underneath the roof and watching the rain drop from the ceiling and onto the cold ground.




"Whoever you are that's following me, I don't really give a damn, but that leering is really starting to piss me off. I'll know if you're staring at my ass or my tits, so don't you even try to look there, got it? Follow me all you want, you stalking asshole, but don't stare at the goods, or you'll get the ass-kicking of your life!"

Kei couldn't help but let out a very loud laugh as he came out of the shadows, being completely seeable and gripping his stomach, never really seeing someone so fierce all of a sudden, "Ha...ha... You're really a funny girl! Getting so angry over a little rain and lightning with some thunder! Aha... you're going to have to get used to the weather, dear!"

He said, skipping along side her like he was a best friend or something though he felt a threatening aura coming from her which didn't bother Kei since he was such an insane person to even sense it, "Forgive me for following you though, it's orders. Orders from a certain someone, who I shouldn't give the name out since you'd probably go and murder who's name I'd list." He chuckled.

"You know Death's Alliance, right? Yeah, I'm one of them, I'm surprised they accepted an insane idiot like me really!" He stretched his arms, still keeping up with Westley's pace, "Oh well... Anyways, I'm sent by that group to keep an eye on you so you don't do anything suspicious or weird. So... don't, alright? I'm not one to follow orders. So try not to cause trouble to make my job easier, yeah?"

Kei sounded so casual, even though he could have been punched, which he was already thinking about, yet he didn't exactly care since it was an endless world. Besides, he was already jumping from the second floor and stuff, so what would a punch or kick or two matter to him? Nothing. Exactly. Kei was much too insane for that.

But then, out of no where, the pink haired girl collapsed. Kei stared at her, a bit disappointed they couldn't talk since he always liked a good conversation now and then, but he just shrugged and decided he'd report back to Tatsuya later as he grabbed her, picking her up and moving to the infirmary since he eavesdropped onto their conversation before plopping her onto the bed and just simply walking away, disappearing since he didn't feel like reporting back just yet.