Fight, Fight, Fight!
Lunch time. FINALLY. Karin had spent the first part of the day in her classes, studying hard without allowing herself to get too distracted. Now, however, she was going to meet Zaku for lunch and she was walking as fast as she could down the hallways to go meet him. After their previous weekend, they had gotten closer than ever and Karin had a restless night last night without him. They were suppose to meet up near the doorways walking out to the large courtyard, and Karin had seemed to gotten there first. I didn't pay attention to how fast I was going, I guess.
She stood there, eagerly waiting to see Zaku. Ugh, girl. Calm down or Kidou'll be joking about you next - and losing some teeth. She took a deep breath, collected herself, and stood by the doorway, very nonchalant.
Zaku was going to be a little late... after being held in a few minutes after class so his teacher could lecture him about how far behind he was in the class. Exhausted from not getting any sleep the night before, it all went in one ear and came out the other, but at least he remembered to go meet Karin for lunch today. His class wasn't too far from where he was going to meet her, and as soon as he saw her, he tried to look at least a little energetic.
"Hey, Karin. Sorry I'm a little late..." Zaku wandered over, and yawned briefly.
Karin mentally blocked the spring that was put in her step before walking over, standing in front of him and offering a warm smile, "Did you get any sleep last night?" She could easily see the fatique in him. "Well, let's go have lunch and maybe you'll feel a little better after that. Did you bring your lunch or did you need to go to the school store?" She looked down to his hand to see if he had brought anything. She held a two-tiered black bento box in her right hand that she brought for herself. I should start making him some...
"...I couldn't sleep at all." Zaku's expression showed it all... and he was rather pitiful to look at. "At least I had lots of time to make some lunch to bring. It's in my backpack..." Zaku indicated by stepping towards the door he wanted to go outside to eat. The weather was sunny and warm, making it the best choice to go and eat at as well as relax. "Shall we?"
Once Karin came along with him, they went outside and headed out to a favorite shady spot where few students ever really went. Zaku felt better the fewer people were around anyways.
"HEY, KAR! NO DOGS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS!" Kidoumaru smirked and yelled out across the courtyard when he saw Zaku and Karin walk out into the courtyard. Together with Sai, Kidoumaru had been sitting on top of the picnic table and having lunch in the very same shady spot that Zaku had been headed for, so he knew he had both of their full attentions.
Sai looked up at Kidoumaru in surprise at his words, nearly dropping the chopsticks he was deftly using to eat his lunch-- lovingly packed by Kidou's mother that morning for both of them before she headed to work. "Kidoumaru, why would you say something like that? Karin doesn't have a dog with her," he said. He didn't make the connection with the picture Kidou had drawn a few days before, despite the fact that the sheet was tucked into the front of the sketchbook sitting on the table beside his own bento.
Having learned, Karin's first reaction wasn't to get mad or yell back. Instead, she instinctively grabbed for Zaku's arm to make sure he didn't drop everything and go after Kidou with arms raised.
"We'll get him, calm down," she said softly to Zaku only before picking up her voice, "You really have a death wish, don't you Kidou?" And she looked back to Zaku, making sure he was going to play nice, "Come on. If he says anything else, I promise I'll let you go... But they have our table, let's join them for now."
She didn't wait on an answer, walking over and popping Kidoumaru on the head, "One of these days, Kidou..." Karin narrowed her eyes and reared her hand back like she was going to hit him again, to which he drawled back with a laugh. Then Karin looked over to Sai and gave a friendlier look, "Good afternoon, Sai."
Zaku wanted to pounce and pummel Kidou for the remark, but Karin caught him before he could do anything, so he just grumbled to himself a little and avoided looking at Kidou or Sai. He didn't want to go against what Karin wanted him to do, so he kept his cool, even though it was hard and he was feeling very irritable. He came over to the table without a word and sat down. Even after sitting down, he didn't bother to grab his lunch from his pack, feeling pretty sure that Kidou would just make fun of his food, too. He cringed a little when Karin was so friendly to Sai, but just sat there and didn't do anything of it.
Kidou pursed his lips together to hold in the laughter that accumulated when he had the sudden urge to pat Zaku on the head and go, Good boy! But he knew not to test their patience. Instead he fumbled with his chopsticks a little more before groaning and throwing them down onto the table, pulling a fork out of his back pocket instead. "I really don't see the point in wasting time with chopsticks. Forks are much more efficient," He said aloud, nodding his own head in agreement. After he took a bite to eat with his fork, he looked over to Zaku, "Wow, you look exhausted..."
Sai smiled just slightly at Karin, giving her a small wave. "Hello Karin, Zaku. I hope you're doing well today." He set his lunch aside and pulled his sketchbook closer, feeling the sudden urge to draw something, even if he didn't know what he wanted to draw. He settled on starting to sketch out a human figure, watching it morph into Karin as she looked standing there before him. It was a nice change from the other sketches that had ended up in his sketchbook when he wasn't really paying attention.
Karin nodded her acceptance to Sai's greeting and decided to go ahead and take her seat. She was aware that this seating arrangement probably wasn't the best for her sleepy, grumpy Zaku, but it had always been the table she sat at, and she figured she could make it up to Zaku later. Despite Kidou's playfulness, these two should learn to get along better, seriously. And Sai definitely needs more people to be around than Kidou... Finding her argument to be sound, she was ok with sitting at the table. She scooted over and left room for Zaku to sit next to her, with Kidou sitting in the middle of the table and Sai sitting on the other side of the table, and on the other side of Kidou. Karin had watched Sai pull out his sketchbook, but her point of view made it impossible for her or Zaku to see it. Thinking things had settled down, she opened up her bento box to eat.
Zaku sat next to Karin and propped his head up with his arm, unflattered by Kidou's comment. He was extremely tired, and didn't appreciate Kidou making a comment about it. "I had to pull an all-nighter for a test today." Zaku mumbled, continuing to avoid eye contact, trying to hold back every urge he had to throw a punch at Kidou. His mind wandered, too tired to really think about anything clever to say as a comeback. Zaku just sighed and closed his eyes a little, hoping nobody would notice, so he could rest a few moments.
Sai finished up the doodle quickly, flipping the sketchbook closed after he'd cleaned up the lines a bit. He tucked his pencil back into his bag, then took another bite of food before looking between Kidoumaru and Zaku. "Is he all right?" he asked the dark-skinned boy quietly. "He looks a bit ill."
Karin looked over to Sai when he had talked and put his sketchbook away, smiling softly, "Like he said, he had a test he was studying for," she knew how to play along with the lie, "But he'll be ok." However, she turned to Zaku concerned, "Are you ok? Would you like me to go get you something from the nurse's? - Ah!" A thought crossed her mind as she was talking, to which point she looked back over to the other two, "I forgot, I had something in my lockers that I wanted to show you and get your opinion on, Sai. Let me go get it." She looked back to Zaku, placing a hand on his back with worry, "I'll stop by the nurse's office and pick you up something, too. And eat! You'll feel better." She frowned shortly before rubbing her hand up and down Zaku's back and getting to her feet. "I'll be back in a moment. Sai, please make sure these two play nice."
Kidoumaru watched her leave, waving sarcastically after her. Once she was out of sight, and he had leaned back to get a better look and make sure, he looked down to Sai's sketchbook on the table and snatched it up in his hands, "Hey, Zaku, Sai has that picture I drew for you. Would you like an autographed copy?" He looked down and grinned playfully.
Unamused by the noise Kidou was making, Zaku opened one eye slowly and shot a glare at the sketchbook. "No... I don't. So just... shut up..." Zaku closed his eye again, trying to keep his composure. I'll just wait for Karin... she will be back soon. He didn't want to lose his cool, it'd just make Karin upset, and he probably didn't have enough energy for it anyways.
"Tch, man. You really spoil my fun," Kidoumaru frowned, his arm going limp with the sketchbook. Of course, maybe it's better if I don't do too much without Karin or I'll have a problem, and a bigger one when she comes back. Kidoumaru sighed a little, now wishing Karin was back as the sleeping form in front of him wasn't much fun to tease. His eyes looked down to the sketchbook in his hands. Ooh! Something to do! He flipped open the cover and grinned mischeviously at the 'Zaku-Puppy'picture that Sai had put in the front. He looked back down to Zaku, and when he realized that Zaku really wasn't going to do anything, it took out the fun of things.
So, instead he decided to flip through the sketchbook from the beginning and found drawings of a lot of random, different people, "Hey, Sai. These are really good? Are these your model shots?" He continued flipping through, finding a few nude sketches, "Hot damn! And nude shots, too? These chicks are hot!!" Flip, flip, flip, like a young boy seeing his first issue of Playboy, "Oh yeah! Wow! That's! - " He got quiet, staring down at the picture he stopped on, a female figure that was clearly nude but barely covered her more private parts with a bedsheet.. Not thinking, he leaned over to Sai and whispered softly, but audible, "Hey, Sai... is this Karin?"
Sai looked up from his nearly empty box, his eyes widening a bit as he peered over at the page in question. "Yes, that's Karin," he said in his normal voice. He didn't have any reason to be quiet about it; Karin was a pretty girl, but there was nothing more to the picture but the lines and curves of a human form. "She posed for me a while back when I was trying to show Jiraiya-sensei that I could illustrate his new book. Why do you ask? Is she not recognizable? I tried not to make it too obvious who she was, so that Jiraiya-sensei would not know."
Both of Zaku's eyes opened at the mentioning of Karin's name, and suddenly Sai and Kidou's conversation had his complete attention. As Sai went on, mentioning illustrating Jiraiya's book, Zaku's blood began to boil at the thought of him drawing Karin. What the hell? Zaku got up from his peaceful position and grabbed the sketchbook away from Kidou so he could look. Once he saw the pictures, he couldn't help but sit and stare at them for a few moments, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. These... these are... these are of Karin!!! Zaku gritted his teeth as he began to feel as if his territory has just been trespassed on. He gripped the edge of the paper, causing it to crumple.
"Why..." he mumbled quietly at first, "What the fucking hell, Sai!!!" Without thinking, he yelled out loud and then leapt onto the table, and with his one hand, after dropping the sketchbook, he grabbed Sai by the neck and then shoved him down onto the ground backwards. Zaku jumped down on top of him, immediately tossing a punch to Sai's face and unable to say anything. He was tired, but that just made it harder for him to control himself.
Kidoumaru was mildly amused when Zaku had gotten up, upset, and snatched the sketchbook away, but when Zaku had made his way over the table and grabbed Sai, Kidou jumped to his feet to stop Zaku, Oh shit! When Sai hit the ground and Zaku hit him, Kidou's eyes flashed dangerously as he grabbed Zaku, both arms coming up under Zaku's armpits and his left hand grabbing Zaku's left arm, "Whoa! Whoa!!"
For Sai, going from sitting to laying on the ground in less than a second was more than a bit surprising. Being away from ROOT for so long had dulled his reflexes somewhat; they were no longer as honed as they had been, as he wasn't being trained as a killing machine. But that didn't mean he wasn't prepared to defend himself. He'd been about to push Zaku off when the boy's arms were suddenly pulled back. Sai struggled a bit to work his way out from under the older boy, getting to his feet.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, more surprised than angry as he rubbed at his cheekbone.
Zaku struggled to get free of Kidou's grasp, eventually shoving his annoying pain in his side away, despite being under-armed. He was breathing hard, being pushed by his short temper to attack once again. "Do you even have to ask???" Zaku growled, "You were fuckin’ drawing Karin naked, you perverted little punk!!" Zaku lunged at Sai once more, this time going for a lower cut up to make contact with his chin.
Sai didn't like fighting. He really didn't like fighting on school grounds. And the fact that Zaku only had one arm while Sai had two just seemed completely unfair to the dark-eyed boy. He didn't want to hurt Zaku too badly, especially since the young man was Karin's boyfriend and Karin was a friend of Sai's. So when he went for the chin, Sai just blocked his hand smoothly, the training coming back as if he'd never stopped. He wasn't going to attack, but that didn't mean he would let Zaku land another blow.
Kidoumaru hadn't been expecting to get tossed aside so easily, but now he had to pick himself off the ground from where Zaku had pushed him off. Getting back to his feet, his only priority was to stop Zaku from landing anymore punches on Sai. He was impressed to see Sai block fairly easy, but Kidou was not aware of what kind of attacks Sai could handle.
This time, he furrowed his brow and got in between the two of them, staring at Zaku, "Calm down, Zaku! Wait a second!"
Zaku was dismayed by the fact Sai could block his punch, and right when he was about to throw another at a different angle, Kidou ended up getting in the way. Even though Kidou wasn't his target, Zaku didn't hold anything back, throwing a hard punch right at Kidou's nose, not hearing a word he had said to try and break them up. "Get the hell out of my way, Kidou!" Once Zaku made his hit, he shoved Kidou out of the way again and went back at Sai, this time kicking his legs out from underneath him to get him on the ground. Zaku had a ferocious glint in his eyes, almost as if he was a predator addicted to the thrill of the fight. He put one foot on Sai's chest with the intent of crushing his ribs, a move he had remembered from his orphanage days...
Sai wasn't expecting to have his legs knocked out from under him; it was a move that not many people without formal martial arts training could pull off, since it required really good balance. Then a foot was suddenly constricting his breathing, pressing down on his chest until his ribs felt like they might snap. He reached up to grab the foot, trying his hardest to lift it away and get a breath, but the wind had been knocked out of him and he couldn't muster the strength to his arms. His mouth opened in a gasp and he took to trying to punch Zaku's leg in an attempt to get him off.
Kidoumaru got pushed out of the way when he went to grab at his now bloody nose. He didn't manage to fall down this time since he had at least expected to get thrown out of the way. With a fierce look on his face, he stayed back for a moment to wipe the blood from under his nose, forgetting the pain as soon as Sai hit the ground. Without another conscious thought, he tucked his head down and ran straight at Zaku, tackling him in an attempt to get him to the ground, both arms embracing him to at least pull him away from Sai.
Zaku was startled by the force Kidou put on him and it knocked him down to the ground where he hit his head, but that only fueled his animalistic anger. He was quick to pick himself up as he realized Kidou had once again stepped into the game. Getting to his feet, Zaku had a death glare locked in to Kidou, keeping direct eye contact, "...I'm gonna kill you both..." he whispered under his breath, but just loud enough for Kidou to hear it clearly. A moment later, Zaku threw his next punch at Kidou's stomach, hoping to get him down that way. Zaku found himself struggling to stay himself, completely frustrated and overwhelmed by everything bad that was happening that day. He just couldn't stop...
Kidoumaru, having a few good fights under his own belt, wasn't completely worthless in the fight. He spit to the side, clearing out the blood that had drained from his nose into his mouth. "Kill us? Puppy-Dog, you're about to get put down." He hadn't really wanted to get into this fight, nor participate, but Kidou wanted to look out for Sai and was oblivious to Sai's own capabilities. Instead, like Zaku, Kidou was beginning to fight on Auto-pilot, not worried about anything else but stopping Zaku from getting to Sai again.
Thankfully, Sai was a bit faster than Kidoumaru, being smaller and more lithe. Before the boy could react, Sai was getting between them, trying to separate the two before they really did kill each other. There was also the fact that the fight was attracting a lot of student attention, which would eventually lead to teacher interference and probably suspension or worse for the three of them. Thinking quickly, Sai turned fully toward Zaku, his arm flashing out to jab at his right shoulder in an attempt to throw him off balance. Then he dropped into a crouch and swung out his leg, trying to do the same to Zaku that the boy had done to him earlier.
Fighting two people at once was a tricky task for Zaku, who could only keep track of one at a time, so once again, he was caught off guard. He fell onto his back, wincing when he felt the breath get knocked out of him. I can't lose... I always fail at everything... Feeling that no real physical damage was done, he began to try and get up on his own power, but struggled more this time than last, but still had a murderous intent in his eyes.
Seeing Zaku trying to get up recalled the training that had slid to the back of Sai's mind in the weeks since he had left his old home and joined Kidoumaru's: end any fight as quickly as possible--using any means necessary. He dropped to his knees over Zaku, straddling his legs while he reached out to hold down one shoulder and press his other hand to Zaku's throat. He tried not to put enough pressure to choke Zaku, just to pin him down.
Kidoumaru had made a jerking motion towards Zaku, in attempt to rush in and attack him, but Sai had moved faster than even Kidou had thought. Watching Sai knock Zaku to his feet and pin him down, Kidou tried to think of what he could do to stop Zaku from getting to Sai again, but with Sai having a hold of Zaku's left shoulder, there wasn't much Kidou could do at the moment. He stopped and looked around. Damn it all. There had been a crowd gathering, and this wasn't looking good. He stood at the ready, deciding to ignore the crowd for now, but had the conscious thought of wishing Karin was back from the nurse's... with bandages.
Zaku struggled against Sai's pin, finding it hard to move without completely strangling himself, though the way Zaku's behavior was, that wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility. He tried to move his legs to get Sai off, but that wasn't going to work, either. Frustrated, his eyes watered a little in the face of defeat, though he continued to struggle against Sai's hold.
Karin headed back after getting out the folder from her locker of all of Zaku's artwork to show Sai, thinking that maybe Sai's compliments on the picture would boost Zaku's self esteem in his art since he was a little sensitive to that. Then she stopped by the nurse's office and picked up some headache medication, too, just in case. When she finally made it outside, she couldn't miss the crowd that was around the area she had been sitting at earlier. Shit, KIDOUMARU! She figured Kidou had tempted Zaku while she was away, and knew that there was probably a fight going on.
"Hey, Sai, Karin's back," Kidoumaru saw Karin come through the crowd, and told Sai.
"Zaku! Kidou!" Karin broke through the crowd and looked at the mess before her, more especially that Sai had Zaku pinned down, "GUYS!"
At Karin's last yell, Sai practically leaped to his feet, pulling his arms back and scrambling to get away from Zaku. He really didn't want to upset his friend by letting her see him pinning her boyfriend. He turned to face her, his hands behind his back and his face a bit downtrodden. "Karin..." he started, unsure of what to say. Normally he was one of the most blunt people around, but he really didn't want to hurt Karin.
Zaku, so zoned in on the battle, didn't realize Karin was coming, and once he found himself free, he saw the opportunity to attack once again. Lost in his mindless aggression, Zaku lunged at Sai when he wasn't paying attention and pulled him to the ground. Within seconds, Zaku was on him pulling as many punches to Sai's face as he could. He aimed mostly for the side of Sai's head, causing blood to come rushing from his ear. The ferocious jabs were so full of uncontrollable and passionate rage that Zaku was unable to pay any attention at all to the world around him. It was just him and Sai now.
"Man, what the hell, Zaku?! STOP!" Kidoumaru growled out once Zaku was back on Sai. He gathered up all his strength and dove into the fight, getting underneath Zaku's chest and pushing him backwards and away from Sai.
By the time Zaku had been pushed off of Sai again, Karin had pushed her way into the inner ring of students. She had seen Sai move aside, and Zaku continue. "ZAKU! ZAKU, STOP!" She screamed out.
Zaku heard someone yelling loudly, but he was so lost in what was going on that he couldn't make out what was being said or who was saying it. He started to get back on his feet, preparing to attack Sai once more...
A little upset that Zaku had gotten up and was ready to head back into the fight instead of turning towards her and explaining what had happen, Karin walked up behind Zaku and grabbed his right shoulder a little firmly, pleading out for him to listen, "Zaku?!"
Without thinking, Zaku half-turned towards her and shoved her the opposite way, then he took a few steps towards Sai as something triggered in his mind that he had done something wrong. He stopped where he was as the world froze, then turned to look at who he had just pushed out of his way. His expression softened, but it was already too late...
With the unexpected push, Karin had lost her balance and began to fall backwards. In an attempt to save herself, she turned her body as best she could to cushion her fall, and caught the entire weight of her body on her right wrist. Due to the pressure, her entire nervous system fired at once and shot pain throughout her body. She pulled herself up to sit on her knees, but she had pulled her right wrist to cradle it to her chest and her face contorted a bit with pain, "Oww.." Once she had collected herself, she didn't feel badly injured except for a few cuts and bruises, and had gone to nurse her right wrist that was sprained, if not broken.
The crowd got deadly quiet.
Zaku couldn't move, though he started to shiver as his heart beat faster over what he had just done to Karin, forgetting all about Sai and Kidou. His expression lost all its life. ...W-why did I do that to her? It felt like an eternity to him as he stood there and watched her on the ground, caring for her wrist. He bit his lip, unsure about what he should do. "...K-Karin...?" Zaku called her name quietly, hoping it didn't drift away with the light breeze that had started to pick up. Pain hit him all at once in every corner of his body, and he fell to his knees, head down. He felt the tears well up in his eyes, in realization that he had hurt the one he was trying to protect. I don't deserve to be around her... I'll just cause her more pain. Slowly, Zaku found what little strength he had left and got back up to his feet. I need to get away from here...
Tears falling down his cheeks, he lifted his arm to wipe them away, and started to run towards the nearest gate exit of the school. Too many thoughts flooded his head, about Karin, and Kidou, and Sai, and school, and his dad... it overwhelmed him to the point of being completely lost and all he desired was to just... escape it all. With no destination in mind, Zaku rounded a corner and out of sight from the school, into the nearby neighborhood. It would be the last time anyone would report seeing him...
Moments later, Izumo was coming down breaking up the crowd around the group of teenagers. "Hey, get out of here! Nothing to see! Go back to your classes, the bell has already rung." He approached Karin first, giving her arm a quick glance, then noticed the blood coming from Kidoumaru's nose and Sai's ear. "You three, come with me. We're going to stop by the infirmary, then come up to the office, and you're going to tell Kotetsu and me what happened here."
Kidoumaru had watched Zaku run off before wiping off whatever wet blood was still left from under his nose and looking to Izumo, nodding his awareness before reaching out an arm to help Sai up.
Sai took the arm and sat up carefully, testing his body to make sure no permanent damage had been done. The only problem he noticed was that his ear felt plugged and tight, and he could barely hear out of it. But upon standing, he was suddenly hit with a terrible case of vertigo, and his body pitched around a bit before he reached out to cling to the nearest solid surface. He slowly lifted his head, looking up at Kidoumaru. "I'm dizzy," he murmured.
Looking to him, feeling a little bit like he had gotten Sai into this mess, Kidoumaru took Sai's arm and wrapped it around his neck, helping him up, "Here, I'll help you out." Then he turned to look at Karin, "Hey.. Kar?"
Karin had been left sitting on the ground, in a daze and her eyes staring off into the distance where Zaku had run off to, not quite sure what all had happened. Hearing her name, she looked up slowly to Kidoumaru and Sai, noticing that the secretary had come out to get them, before looking back to the gate where Zaku fled. It was cold suddenly and she was very lonely, but being watched by Kidou, Sai, Izumo, and all the other wandering eyes was uncomfortable. Silently, she got to her feet and walked back to the table, picking up Zaku's discarded backpack before walking over to the side of the desk jockey, nodding to him that she was ready to go wherever he needed her.
Once everyone had picked themselves up, and Sai had gotten his things from the picnic table, Izumo led the trio toward the school. They had to pause along the way a few times to disperse the remnants of the crowd, the students reluctant to go back inside to class. When they finally reached the door, Izumo held it open for them. "All right, kids. Let's get inside."
Kidoumaru followed along, continuing to hold Sai up, and began to follow Izumo into the building. He turned not too far in and saw that Karin had not followed the three into the building. "Come on, Karin, they need to look at that wrist of yours," he told her softly, trying to be comforting. Without waiting to see if she would follow, he sighed and walked with Sai to go catch up with Izumo.
Standing outside the doors to go back into the building, Karin couldn't seem to will herself to continue in. She kept hoping that Zaku would walk back through the gates and onto campus, calmed down and a little apologetic so things could return to normal. She willed him to come, but he never did. She was hurting where she held her wrist up to her chest, but it wasn't the wrist that hurt the most. Looking down for a moment, she knew she couldn't blame Zaku for it. He was fighting and she had no reason to try to butt in, she told herself. It was impossible to be mad at Zaku for something like that. She looked back up, hoping her hesitation would've been enough time for Zaku to change his mind and come back, but there was no Zaku there. With a heavy sigh, she accepted that he probably wouldn't come back to school today. There was nothing else she could do, and she wanted so desperately to run after him, but with her bad wrist and not being able to see past the school's perimeter would make it hard for her to determine which way he went. Defeated for the time being, and with Izumo standing inside and asking her nicely to come in and see the nurse, she dropped her head and turned back to the building, heading inside.
The sun was low on the horizon but time didn't matter to Zaku anymore. He didn't care how long he had been away from school, or where he had wandered off to. He followed the wall of a back alley with his hand feeling every bump and groove in the wooden fence, trying to remember what it was like to feel anything but depressed. Mind blank, he didn't even try to think, because all thinking did was cause him to feel worse. Having no idea where he was, he finally collapsed down to his knees. He hadn't eaten or drank anything since the night before... he didn't even have breakfast that morning. Cursing at his lack of energy, he forced himself up again. I just... have to keep going.
The orange sky of sunset above disoriented him a little, making him wonder if he was walking onwards towards the depths of Hell. Eyes half opened, he just kept on walking. It wouldn't be long before night would fall on him, and all he had on was his now dirtied school uniform, which wasn't exactly made to keep him warm at night. As soon as he let his mind wander, the only image in his memory that would replay itself in his mind over and over was that of Karin on the ground, hurt... hurt by him.
Karin... Zaku moped to himself as he walked, eventually tripping and falling face first into a mud puddle. Tears broke once again, but now at his own pathetic existence. I don't deserve to be alive, dammit. Zaku sat up and slammed his fist into the puddle, splashing the water everywhere. Even so, he decided he couldn't afford to just stay in one place. He had to keep moving. Someone might find me here... he thought, and in his mind, he didn't want to be found. He just wanted to disappear and dissolve into the far reaches of the planet... After the fall, he walked onwards in a southerly direction. It was where the closest wooded areas were... nobody would find him there. It would be a nice place to just lay down and never get up again... at least I won't be able to hurt her anymore once I'm gone...
She stood there, eagerly waiting to see Zaku. Ugh, girl. Calm down or Kidou'll be joking about you next - and losing some teeth. She took a deep breath, collected herself, and stood by the doorway, very nonchalant.
Zaku was going to be a little late... after being held in a few minutes after class so his teacher could lecture him about how far behind he was in the class. Exhausted from not getting any sleep the night before, it all went in one ear and came out the other, but at least he remembered to go meet Karin for lunch today. His class wasn't too far from where he was going to meet her, and as soon as he saw her, he tried to look at least a little energetic.
"Hey, Karin. Sorry I'm a little late..." Zaku wandered over, and yawned briefly.
Karin mentally blocked the spring that was put in her step before walking over, standing in front of him and offering a warm smile, "Did you get any sleep last night?" She could easily see the fatique in him. "Well, let's go have lunch and maybe you'll feel a little better after that. Did you bring your lunch or did you need to go to the school store?" She looked down to his hand to see if he had brought anything. She held a two-tiered black bento box in her right hand that she brought for herself. I should start making him some...
"...I couldn't sleep at all." Zaku's expression showed it all... and he was rather pitiful to look at. "At least I had lots of time to make some lunch to bring. It's in my backpack..." Zaku indicated by stepping towards the door he wanted to go outside to eat. The weather was sunny and warm, making it the best choice to go and eat at as well as relax. "Shall we?"
Once Karin came along with him, they went outside and headed out to a favorite shady spot where few students ever really went. Zaku felt better the fewer people were around anyways.
"HEY, KAR! NO DOGS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS!" Kidoumaru smirked and yelled out across the courtyard when he saw Zaku and Karin walk out into the courtyard. Together with Sai, Kidoumaru had been sitting on top of the picnic table and having lunch in the very same shady spot that Zaku had been headed for, so he knew he had both of their full attentions.
Sai looked up at Kidoumaru in surprise at his words, nearly dropping the chopsticks he was deftly using to eat his lunch-- lovingly packed by Kidou's mother that morning for both of them before she headed to work. "Kidoumaru, why would you say something like that? Karin doesn't have a dog with her," he said. He didn't make the connection with the picture Kidou had drawn a few days before, despite the fact that the sheet was tucked into the front of the sketchbook sitting on the table beside his own bento.
Having learned, Karin's first reaction wasn't to get mad or yell back. Instead, she instinctively grabbed for Zaku's arm to make sure he didn't drop everything and go after Kidou with arms raised.
"We'll get him, calm down," she said softly to Zaku only before picking up her voice, "You really have a death wish, don't you Kidou?" And she looked back to Zaku, making sure he was going to play nice, "Come on. If he says anything else, I promise I'll let you go... But they have our table, let's join them for now."
She didn't wait on an answer, walking over and popping Kidoumaru on the head, "One of these days, Kidou..." Karin narrowed her eyes and reared her hand back like she was going to hit him again, to which he drawled back with a laugh. Then Karin looked over to Sai and gave a friendlier look, "Good afternoon, Sai."
Zaku wanted to pounce and pummel Kidou for the remark, but Karin caught him before he could do anything, so he just grumbled to himself a little and avoided looking at Kidou or Sai. He didn't want to go against what Karin wanted him to do, so he kept his cool, even though it was hard and he was feeling very irritable. He came over to the table without a word and sat down. Even after sitting down, he didn't bother to grab his lunch from his pack, feeling pretty sure that Kidou would just make fun of his food, too. He cringed a little when Karin was so friendly to Sai, but just sat there and didn't do anything of it.
Kidou pursed his lips together to hold in the laughter that accumulated when he had the sudden urge to pat Zaku on the head and go, Good boy! But he knew not to test their patience. Instead he fumbled with his chopsticks a little more before groaning and throwing them down onto the table, pulling a fork out of his back pocket instead. "I really don't see the point in wasting time with chopsticks. Forks are much more efficient," He said aloud, nodding his own head in agreement. After he took a bite to eat with his fork, he looked over to Zaku, "Wow, you look exhausted..."
Sai smiled just slightly at Karin, giving her a small wave. "Hello Karin, Zaku. I hope you're doing well today." He set his lunch aside and pulled his sketchbook closer, feeling the sudden urge to draw something, even if he didn't know what he wanted to draw. He settled on starting to sketch out a human figure, watching it morph into Karin as she looked standing there before him. It was a nice change from the other sketches that had ended up in his sketchbook when he wasn't really paying attention.
Karin nodded her acceptance to Sai's greeting and decided to go ahead and take her seat. She was aware that this seating arrangement probably wasn't the best for her sleepy, grumpy Zaku, but it had always been the table she sat at, and she figured she could make it up to Zaku later. Despite Kidou's playfulness, these two should learn to get along better, seriously. And Sai definitely needs more people to be around than Kidou... Finding her argument to be sound, she was ok with sitting at the table. She scooted over and left room for Zaku to sit next to her, with Kidou sitting in the middle of the table and Sai sitting on the other side of the table, and on the other side of Kidou. Karin had watched Sai pull out his sketchbook, but her point of view made it impossible for her or Zaku to see it. Thinking things had settled down, she opened up her bento box to eat.
Zaku sat next to Karin and propped his head up with his arm, unflattered by Kidou's comment. He was extremely tired, and didn't appreciate Kidou making a comment about it. "I had to pull an all-nighter for a test today." Zaku mumbled, continuing to avoid eye contact, trying to hold back every urge he had to throw a punch at Kidou. His mind wandered, too tired to really think about anything clever to say as a comeback. Zaku just sighed and closed his eyes a little, hoping nobody would notice, so he could rest a few moments.
Sai finished up the doodle quickly, flipping the sketchbook closed after he'd cleaned up the lines a bit. He tucked his pencil back into his bag, then took another bite of food before looking between Kidoumaru and Zaku. "Is he all right?" he asked the dark-skinned boy quietly. "He looks a bit ill."
Karin looked over to Sai when he had talked and put his sketchbook away, smiling softly, "Like he said, he had a test he was studying for," she knew how to play along with the lie, "But he'll be ok." However, she turned to Zaku concerned, "Are you ok? Would you like me to go get you something from the nurse's? - Ah!" A thought crossed her mind as she was talking, to which point she looked back over to the other two, "I forgot, I had something in my lockers that I wanted to show you and get your opinion on, Sai. Let me go get it." She looked back to Zaku, placing a hand on his back with worry, "I'll stop by the nurse's office and pick you up something, too. And eat! You'll feel better." She frowned shortly before rubbing her hand up and down Zaku's back and getting to her feet. "I'll be back in a moment. Sai, please make sure these two play nice."
Kidoumaru watched her leave, waving sarcastically after her. Once she was out of sight, and he had leaned back to get a better look and make sure, he looked down to Sai's sketchbook on the table and snatched it up in his hands, "Hey, Zaku, Sai has that picture I drew for you. Would you like an autographed copy?" He looked down and grinned playfully.
Unamused by the noise Kidou was making, Zaku opened one eye slowly and shot a glare at the sketchbook. "No... I don't. So just... shut up..." Zaku closed his eye again, trying to keep his composure. I'll just wait for Karin... she will be back soon. He didn't want to lose his cool, it'd just make Karin upset, and he probably didn't have enough energy for it anyways.
"Tch, man. You really spoil my fun," Kidoumaru frowned, his arm going limp with the sketchbook. Of course, maybe it's better if I don't do too much without Karin or I'll have a problem, and a bigger one when she comes back. Kidoumaru sighed a little, now wishing Karin was back as the sleeping form in front of him wasn't much fun to tease. His eyes looked down to the sketchbook in his hands. Ooh! Something to do! He flipped open the cover and grinned mischeviously at the 'Zaku-Puppy'picture that Sai had put in the front. He looked back down to Zaku, and when he realized that Zaku really wasn't going to do anything, it took out the fun of things.
So, instead he decided to flip through the sketchbook from the beginning and found drawings of a lot of random, different people, "Hey, Sai. These are really good? Are these your model shots?" He continued flipping through, finding a few nude sketches, "Hot damn! And nude shots, too? These chicks are hot!!" Flip, flip, flip, like a young boy seeing his first issue of Playboy, "Oh yeah! Wow! That's! - " He got quiet, staring down at the picture he stopped on, a female figure that was clearly nude but barely covered her more private parts with a bedsheet.. Not thinking, he leaned over to Sai and whispered softly, but audible, "Hey, Sai... is this Karin?"
Sai looked up from his nearly empty box, his eyes widening a bit as he peered over at the page in question. "Yes, that's Karin," he said in his normal voice. He didn't have any reason to be quiet about it; Karin was a pretty girl, but there was nothing more to the picture but the lines and curves of a human form. "She posed for me a while back when I was trying to show Jiraiya-sensei that I could illustrate his new book. Why do you ask? Is she not recognizable? I tried not to make it too obvious who she was, so that Jiraiya-sensei would not know."
Both of Zaku's eyes opened at the mentioning of Karin's name, and suddenly Sai and Kidou's conversation had his complete attention. As Sai went on, mentioning illustrating Jiraiya's book, Zaku's blood began to boil at the thought of him drawing Karin. What the hell? Zaku got up from his peaceful position and grabbed the sketchbook away from Kidou so he could look. Once he saw the pictures, he couldn't help but sit and stare at them for a few moments, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. These... these are... these are of Karin!!! Zaku gritted his teeth as he began to feel as if his territory has just been trespassed on. He gripped the edge of the paper, causing it to crumple.
"Why..." he mumbled quietly at first, "What the fucking hell, Sai!!!" Without thinking, he yelled out loud and then leapt onto the table, and with his one hand, after dropping the sketchbook, he grabbed Sai by the neck and then shoved him down onto the ground backwards. Zaku jumped down on top of him, immediately tossing a punch to Sai's face and unable to say anything. He was tired, but that just made it harder for him to control himself.
Kidoumaru was mildly amused when Zaku had gotten up, upset, and snatched the sketchbook away, but when Zaku had made his way over the table and grabbed Sai, Kidou jumped to his feet to stop Zaku, Oh shit! When Sai hit the ground and Zaku hit him, Kidou's eyes flashed dangerously as he grabbed Zaku, both arms coming up under Zaku's armpits and his left hand grabbing Zaku's left arm, "Whoa! Whoa!!"
For Sai, going from sitting to laying on the ground in less than a second was more than a bit surprising. Being away from ROOT for so long had dulled his reflexes somewhat; they were no longer as honed as they had been, as he wasn't being trained as a killing machine. But that didn't mean he wasn't prepared to defend himself. He'd been about to push Zaku off when the boy's arms were suddenly pulled back. Sai struggled a bit to work his way out from under the older boy, getting to his feet.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, more surprised than angry as he rubbed at his cheekbone.
Zaku struggled to get free of Kidou's grasp, eventually shoving his annoying pain in his side away, despite being under-armed. He was breathing hard, being pushed by his short temper to attack once again. "Do you even have to ask???" Zaku growled, "You were fuckin’ drawing Karin naked, you perverted little punk!!" Zaku lunged at Sai once more, this time going for a lower cut up to make contact with his chin.
Sai didn't like fighting. He really didn't like fighting on school grounds. And the fact that Zaku only had one arm while Sai had two just seemed completely unfair to the dark-eyed boy. He didn't want to hurt Zaku too badly, especially since the young man was Karin's boyfriend and Karin was a friend of Sai's. So when he went for the chin, Sai just blocked his hand smoothly, the training coming back as if he'd never stopped. He wasn't going to attack, but that didn't mean he would let Zaku land another blow.
Kidoumaru hadn't been expecting to get tossed aside so easily, but now he had to pick himself off the ground from where Zaku had pushed him off. Getting back to his feet, his only priority was to stop Zaku from landing anymore punches on Sai. He was impressed to see Sai block fairly easy, but Kidou was not aware of what kind of attacks Sai could handle.
This time, he furrowed his brow and got in between the two of them, staring at Zaku, "Calm down, Zaku! Wait a second!"
Zaku was dismayed by the fact Sai could block his punch, and right when he was about to throw another at a different angle, Kidou ended up getting in the way. Even though Kidou wasn't his target, Zaku didn't hold anything back, throwing a hard punch right at Kidou's nose, not hearing a word he had said to try and break them up. "Get the hell out of my way, Kidou!" Once Zaku made his hit, he shoved Kidou out of the way again and went back at Sai, this time kicking his legs out from underneath him to get him on the ground. Zaku had a ferocious glint in his eyes, almost as if he was a predator addicted to the thrill of the fight. He put one foot on Sai's chest with the intent of crushing his ribs, a move he had remembered from his orphanage days...
Sai wasn't expecting to have his legs knocked out from under him; it was a move that not many people without formal martial arts training could pull off, since it required really good balance. Then a foot was suddenly constricting his breathing, pressing down on his chest until his ribs felt like they might snap. He reached up to grab the foot, trying his hardest to lift it away and get a breath, but the wind had been knocked out of him and he couldn't muster the strength to his arms. His mouth opened in a gasp and he took to trying to punch Zaku's leg in an attempt to get him off.
Kidoumaru got pushed out of the way when he went to grab at his now bloody nose. He didn't manage to fall down this time since he had at least expected to get thrown out of the way. With a fierce look on his face, he stayed back for a moment to wipe the blood from under his nose, forgetting the pain as soon as Sai hit the ground. Without another conscious thought, he tucked his head down and ran straight at Zaku, tackling him in an attempt to get him to the ground, both arms embracing him to at least pull him away from Sai.
Zaku was startled by the force Kidou put on him and it knocked him down to the ground where he hit his head, but that only fueled his animalistic anger. He was quick to pick himself up as he realized Kidou had once again stepped into the game. Getting to his feet, Zaku had a death glare locked in to Kidou, keeping direct eye contact, "...I'm gonna kill you both..." he whispered under his breath, but just loud enough for Kidou to hear it clearly. A moment later, Zaku threw his next punch at Kidou's stomach, hoping to get him down that way. Zaku found himself struggling to stay himself, completely frustrated and overwhelmed by everything bad that was happening that day. He just couldn't stop...
Kidoumaru, having a few good fights under his own belt, wasn't completely worthless in the fight. He spit to the side, clearing out the blood that had drained from his nose into his mouth. "Kill us? Puppy-Dog, you're about to get put down." He hadn't really wanted to get into this fight, nor participate, but Kidou wanted to look out for Sai and was oblivious to Sai's own capabilities. Instead, like Zaku, Kidou was beginning to fight on Auto-pilot, not worried about anything else but stopping Zaku from getting to Sai again.
Thankfully, Sai was a bit faster than Kidoumaru, being smaller and more lithe. Before the boy could react, Sai was getting between them, trying to separate the two before they really did kill each other. There was also the fact that the fight was attracting a lot of student attention, which would eventually lead to teacher interference and probably suspension or worse for the three of them. Thinking quickly, Sai turned fully toward Zaku, his arm flashing out to jab at his right shoulder in an attempt to throw him off balance. Then he dropped into a crouch and swung out his leg, trying to do the same to Zaku that the boy had done to him earlier.
Fighting two people at once was a tricky task for Zaku, who could only keep track of one at a time, so once again, he was caught off guard. He fell onto his back, wincing when he felt the breath get knocked out of him. I can't lose... I always fail at everything... Feeling that no real physical damage was done, he began to try and get up on his own power, but struggled more this time than last, but still had a murderous intent in his eyes.
Seeing Zaku trying to get up recalled the training that had slid to the back of Sai's mind in the weeks since he had left his old home and joined Kidoumaru's: end any fight as quickly as possible--using any means necessary. He dropped to his knees over Zaku, straddling his legs while he reached out to hold down one shoulder and press his other hand to Zaku's throat. He tried not to put enough pressure to choke Zaku, just to pin him down.
Kidoumaru had made a jerking motion towards Zaku, in attempt to rush in and attack him, but Sai had moved faster than even Kidou had thought. Watching Sai knock Zaku to his feet and pin him down, Kidou tried to think of what he could do to stop Zaku from getting to Sai again, but with Sai having a hold of Zaku's left shoulder, there wasn't much Kidou could do at the moment. He stopped and looked around. Damn it all. There had been a crowd gathering, and this wasn't looking good. He stood at the ready, deciding to ignore the crowd for now, but had the conscious thought of wishing Karin was back from the nurse's... with bandages.
Zaku struggled against Sai's pin, finding it hard to move without completely strangling himself, though the way Zaku's behavior was, that wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility. He tried to move his legs to get Sai off, but that wasn't going to work, either. Frustrated, his eyes watered a little in the face of defeat, though he continued to struggle against Sai's hold.
Karin headed back after getting out the folder from her locker of all of Zaku's artwork to show Sai, thinking that maybe Sai's compliments on the picture would boost Zaku's self esteem in his art since he was a little sensitive to that. Then she stopped by the nurse's office and picked up some headache medication, too, just in case. When she finally made it outside, she couldn't miss the crowd that was around the area she had been sitting at earlier. Shit, KIDOUMARU! She figured Kidou had tempted Zaku while she was away, and knew that there was probably a fight going on.
"Hey, Sai, Karin's back," Kidoumaru saw Karin come through the crowd, and told Sai.
"Zaku! Kidou!" Karin broke through the crowd and looked at the mess before her, more especially that Sai had Zaku pinned down, "GUYS!"
At Karin's last yell, Sai practically leaped to his feet, pulling his arms back and scrambling to get away from Zaku. He really didn't want to upset his friend by letting her see him pinning her boyfriend. He turned to face her, his hands behind his back and his face a bit downtrodden. "Karin..." he started, unsure of what to say. Normally he was one of the most blunt people around, but he really didn't want to hurt Karin.
Zaku, so zoned in on the battle, didn't realize Karin was coming, and once he found himself free, he saw the opportunity to attack once again. Lost in his mindless aggression, Zaku lunged at Sai when he wasn't paying attention and pulled him to the ground. Within seconds, Zaku was on him pulling as many punches to Sai's face as he could. He aimed mostly for the side of Sai's head, causing blood to come rushing from his ear. The ferocious jabs were so full of uncontrollable and passionate rage that Zaku was unable to pay any attention at all to the world around him. It was just him and Sai now.
"Man, what the hell, Zaku?! STOP!" Kidoumaru growled out once Zaku was back on Sai. He gathered up all his strength and dove into the fight, getting underneath Zaku's chest and pushing him backwards and away from Sai.
By the time Zaku had been pushed off of Sai again, Karin had pushed her way into the inner ring of students. She had seen Sai move aside, and Zaku continue. "ZAKU! ZAKU, STOP!" She screamed out.
Zaku heard someone yelling loudly, but he was so lost in what was going on that he couldn't make out what was being said or who was saying it. He started to get back on his feet, preparing to attack Sai once more...
A little upset that Zaku had gotten up and was ready to head back into the fight instead of turning towards her and explaining what had happen, Karin walked up behind Zaku and grabbed his right shoulder a little firmly, pleading out for him to listen, "Zaku?!"
Without thinking, Zaku half-turned towards her and shoved her the opposite way, then he took a few steps towards Sai as something triggered in his mind that he had done something wrong. He stopped where he was as the world froze, then turned to look at who he had just pushed out of his way. His expression softened, but it was already too late...
With the unexpected push, Karin had lost her balance and began to fall backwards. In an attempt to save herself, she turned her body as best she could to cushion her fall, and caught the entire weight of her body on her right wrist. Due to the pressure, her entire nervous system fired at once and shot pain throughout her body. She pulled herself up to sit on her knees, but she had pulled her right wrist to cradle it to her chest and her face contorted a bit with pain, "Oww.." Once she had collected herself, she didn't feel badly injured except for a few cuts and bruises, and had gone to nurse her right wrist that was sprained, if not broken.
The crowd got deadly quiet.
Zaku couldn't move, though he started to shiver as his heart beat faster over what he had just done to Karin, forgetting all about Sai and Kidou. His expression lost all its life. ...W-why did I do that to her? It felt like an eternity to him as he stood there and watched her on the ground, caring for her wrist. He bit his lip, unsure about what he should do. "...K-Karin...?" Zaku called her name quietly, hoping it didn't drift away with the light breeze that had started to pick up. Pain hit him all at once in every corner of his body, and he fell to his knees, head down. He felt the tears well up in his eyes, in realization that he had hurt the one he was trying to protect. I don't deserve to be around her... I'll just cause her more pain. Slowly, Zaku found what little strength he had left and got back up to his feet. I need to get away from here...
Tears falling down his cheeks, he lifted his arm to wipe them away, and started to run towards the nearest gate exit of the school. Too many thoughts flooded his head, about Karin, and Kidou, and Sai, and school, and his dad... it overwhelmed him to the point of being completely lost and all he desired was to just... escape it all. With no destination in mind, Zaku rounded a corner and out of sight from the school, into the nearby neighborhood. It would be the last time anyone would report seeing him...
Moments later, Izumo was coming down breaking up the crowd around the group of teenagers. "Hey, get out of here! Nothing to see! Go back to your classes, the bell has already rung." He approached Karin first, giving her arm a quick glance, then noticed the blood coming from Kidoumaru's nose and Sai's ear. "You three, come with me. We're going to stop by the infirmary, then come up to the office, and you're going to tell Kotetsu and me what happened here."
Kidoumaru had watched Zaku run off before wiping off whatever wet blood was still left from under his nose and looking to Izumo, nodding his awareness before reaching out an arm to help Sai up.
Sai took the arm and sat up carefully, testing his body to make sure no permanent damage had been done. The only problem he noticed was that his ear felt plugged and tight, and he could barely hear out of it. But upon standing, he was suddenly hit with a terrible case of vertigo, and his body pitched around a bit before he reached out to cling to the nearest solid surface. He slowly lifted his head, looking up at Kidoumaru. "I'm dizzy," he murmured.
Looking to him, feeling a little bit like he had gotten Sai into this mess, Kidoumaru took Sai's arm and wrapped it around his neck, helping him up, "Here, I'll help you out." Then he turned to look at Karin, "Hey.. Kar?"
Karin had been left sitting on the ground, in a daze and her eyes staring off into the distance where Zaku had run off to, not quite sure what all had happened. Hearing her name, she looked up slowly to Kidoumaru and Sai, noticing that the secretary had come out to get them, before looking back to the gate where Zaku fled. It was cold suddenly and she was very lonely, but being watched by Kidou, Sai, Izumo, and all the other wandering eyes was uncomfortable. Silently, she got to her feet and walked back to the table, picking up Zaku's discarded backpack before walking over to the side of the desk jockey, nodding to him that she was ready to go wherever he needed her.
Once everyone had picked themselves up, and Sai had gotten his things from the picnic table, Izumo led the trio toward the school. They had to pause along the way a few times to disperse the remnants of the crowd, the students reluctant to go back inside to class. When they finally reached the door, Izumo held it open for them. "All right, kids. Let's get inside."
Kidoumaru followed along, continuing to hold Sai up, and began to follow Izumo into the building. He turned not too far in and saw that Karin had not followed the three into the building. "Come on, Karin, they need to look at that wrist of yours," he told her softly, trying to be comforting. Without waiting to see if she would follow, he sighed and walked with Sai to go catch up with Izumo.
Standing outside the doors to go back into the building, Karin couldn't seem to will herself to continue in. She kept hoping that Zaku would walk back through the gates and onto campus, calmed down and a little apologetic so things could return to normal. She willed him to come, but he never did. She was hurting where she held her wrist up to her chest, but it wasn't the wrist that hurt the most. Looking down for a moment, she knew she couldn't blame Zaku for it. He was fighting and she had no reason to try to butt in, she told herself. It was impossible to be mad at Zaku for something like that. She looked back up, hoping her hesitation would've been enough time for Zaku to change his mind and come back, but there was no Zaku there. With a heavy sigh, she accepted that he probably wouldn't come back to school today. There was nothing else she could do, and she wanted so desperately to run after him, but with her bad wrist and not being able to see past the school's perimeter would make it hard for her to determine which way he went. Defeated for the time being, and with Izumo standing inside and asking her nicely to come in and see the nurse, she dropped her head and turned back to the building, heading inside.
The sun was low on the horizon but time didn't matter to Zaku anymore. He didn't care how long he had been away from school, or where he had wandered off to. He followed the wall of a back alley with his hand feeling every bump and groove in the wooden fence, trying to remember what it was like to feel anything but depressed. Mind blank, he didn't even try to think, because all thinking did was cause him to feel worse. Having no idea where he was, he finally collapsed down to his knees. He hadn't eaten or drank anything since the night before... he didn't even have breakfast that morning. Cursing at his lack of energy, he forced himself up again. I just... have to keep going.
The orange sky of sunset above disoriented him a little, making him wonder if he was walking onwards towards the depths of Hell. Eyes half opened, he just kept on walking. It wouldn't be long before night would fall on him, and all he had on was his now dirtied school uniform, which wasn't exactly made to keep him warm at night. As soon as he let his mind wander, the only image in his memory that would replay itself in his mind over and over was that of Karin on the ground, hurt... hurt by him.
Karin... Zaku moped to himself as he walked, eventually tripping and falling face first into a mud puddle. Tears broke once again, but now at his own pathetic existence. I don't deserve to be alive, dammit. Zaku sat up and slammed his fist into the puddle, splashing the water everywhere. Even so, he decided he couldn't afford to just stay in one place. He had to keep moving. Someone might find me here... he thought, and in his mind, he didn't want to be found. He just wanted to disappear and dissolve into the far reaches of the planet... After the fall, he walked onwards in a southerly direction. It was where the closest wooded areas were... nobody would find him there. It would be a nice place to just lay down and never get up again... at least I won't be able to hurt her anymore once I'm gone...