The Shoot  (Part 5)

Shang was poring over the personal particulars of Katherine Kane using the master terminal of the school when Sheila suddenly burst into the room, chest heaving and cheeks flushed into a crimson hue. "There you are! I've been searching all over the place

for you." Sheila trotted to Shang's side, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Shang, you wouldn't believe what I've just discovered. I ......" Her expression darkened when she saw what was on the computer screen.

Shang had taken an extreme interest in Katherine Kane ever since his encounter with her at the Gabriel arcade. The thought of Shang being snatched away by that contemptible girl was more than she could bear. In her desperation to get rid of Katherine, she had approached the infamous 'Mean Max' - a big mistake on her part. But no matter. When this news breaks out, Katherine will just kill her ... himself and save me the trouble of doing it myself.

Shang was looking patiently at her with eyes devoid of emotion. However, after months of associating with him, Sheila could detect his annoyance at her interruption. Sheila hurriedly cleared her throat and continued, "Shang, I know Katherine Kane's dark secret." A slight narrowing of Shang's eyes told her that she had gotten his attention. "She is a boy."

Shang's reaction disappointed her. She had expected him to become utterly disgusted and lose every fragment of his interest in Katherine Kane after knowing the truth. Instead, he questioned her further, his face dead serious. "How did you come by this information?"

"I ... just know." How could she tell Shang that she, poisoned with jealousy and malice, had resorted to taking Katherine's nude photograph to force her out of the school? It was a very low-down thing to do - even by her standards. What would Shang think of her if he knew?

"You don't have to give me the details. I just want to make sure this is true and not some story you have concocted."

"Of course it is true! Why would I lie about this?" It hurt when Shang distrusted her. Not that she was complaining .... Shang was distrustful of everyone around him, regardless of the period of association.

Shang switched off the computer and turned to Sheila so that they were now face to face - which was something Shang rarely did. In the past few months, every time she tried talking to Shang, it was either to the back of his head or to the side of his face. He had never bothered to look at her when they were talking. Even during the times when his eyes occasionally fell on her, she got the feeling that he was looking through her instead of at her. "Did you tell anyone else about this?"

"No." But I'm going to.

"Good. Then don't do it."

"Huh?" Sheila could see no reason behind Shang's order. "Why shouldn't I? That guy is a drag, for goodness sake! People like him belong in asylums and shouldn't even be in school."

"I know you hate Kane." Sheila opened her mouth to protest but thought the better of it and shut up. She did not exactly try very hard to be less obvious about her hatred. "But this is important. I don't want Kane to leave this school. You mustn't breathe a word about this to anyone, not even to Kane himself."

Why is Shang defending her ... him?! Face twisted with hurt and frustration, Sheila demanded, "Why? Didn't you hear what I've just said? Kane is a boy! A male! A ...."

"Sheila." Shang did not raise his voice but the command for silence underlying his tone quietened Sheila just as effectively. "Whether Kane is male or female makes no difference. I don't want him out of my sight."

Mistaking Shang's words for a love confession, Sheila paled considerably. "You ... you ...." Could it be that Shang was 'not interested' in girls? That could explain his absolute lack of response when members of the fairer sex did all sorts of things to attract his attention.

"Perhaps I should tell you this ..." Sheila hastily drew her attention back to what Shang was saying. "I plan to mind-link with Kane, with or without his consent."

What?! "You can't be serious! That Kane boy is a mere civilian. A normal student. Not to mention that he is not even OZ's ...."

"Kane is not a mere civilian. Neither is he a normal student. He is a Gundam pilot."

Sheila thought she was becoming mad. The whole day had been a string of surprises, one after another - Kane a boy; Kane a Gundam pilot; Shang mind-linking with Kane. Shang had known this all along and had kept mum about it? It was treason of the highest order! "Shang. If this is true, we must inform our superiors." She was no longer speaking as a jealous, self-appointed girlfriend but as a soldier dedicated to her cause. "They would know what to do with him."

"They can have him only after he fails to link his mind with mine. Not before."

"Shang! What do you hope to achieve in linking your mind with his? Even if the mind link is successful - which I seriously doubt it will - he would still be the enemy! He would still have to die. I'm sure you wouldn't want to suffer a second severing of the bond."

Shang's hand shot out and gripped Sheila's neck, an intensity bordering on madness blazing out of his eyes. Sheila shivered despite her efforts to appear unafraid. "Any enemy of my wingmate is my enemy. Know this, Sheila, and know this well."

* * * * * *

The classroom at the end of the corridor vibrated with the noise generated by its dwellers. Rumour-mongers tendered juicy gossips which were greedily consumed by hungry minds. Rumours, like fire, start as a tiny spark but can spread very rapidly with abundant provision of fuel and air. There was no shortage of loose-tongued chatterboxes to feed and fan those flames and consequently, the entire school was engulfed in the space of one day. The names of Hojo Tsukasa and Katherine Kane hovered on the tip of nearly everyone's tongue.

"Good morning."

The flow of gossips screeched to an abrupt halt. One boy who had been leaning precariously on his chair wobbled, lost his balance and landed on the cement floor with a loud crash. Another boy, who was in the process of knife-sharpening his pencil, bit back a yell and sucked his nicked finger. The rest of the class dropped their jaws and were gaping at the speaker as if he had sprouted horns. Oblivious to the impact of his behaviour, the boy sauntered to his heavily-graffitied table next to the windows. (It is perhaps worth mentioning that the vandalism of this poor, harmless piece of furniture was done by bitter, jealous rivals who had tried to court Katherine Kane in the past). He hummed a happy tune as he did so.

A group of girls spent the next minute screwing their eyeballs back into their sockets before gathering together for a conference.

"Could that be Hojo Tsukasa?" whispered one of the girls incredulously. They stole another glance at the subject of their discussion. His usual beetled eyebrows and sullen eyes were absent.

"I say he's an imposter," concluded one girl.

"What happened to him? He's a totally different person!"

"So the rumours are true," said another girl in a bemused tone of voice.

"Rumours? You mean those about him and Katherine Kane?"

"Yes. And I heard from a reliable source that they had shared their first kiss three days ago."

"Kiss? They're that close already? No wonder he has been acting pretty weirdly these past few days."

"(Sigh) .... Love doth change a person completely." The one who spoke harboured a dreamy look in her eyes, her hands clasped close to her beating heart.

"Stop being so melodramatic, Susan!"

* * * * * *

"That's the guy who managed to lasso Katherine Kane."

"What? You mean that new Japanese student called ... what's his name ... Haji?"

"Hojo. Hojo Tsukasa, that lucky dog." The words were spoken with envy and grudging admiration.

Four pairs of eyes peered at the figure below from a classroom window on the third floor.

"Hey, haven't we seen him before? He looks familiar."

"Wait, isn't he the guy who was with Katherine at the arcade?"

"Yeah, the same guy who ......"

"Who is this Hojo Tsukasa?" interrupted a voice as calm as the eye of a tornado.

The four boys tensed and immediately put an end to their idle talk. Try as hard as they might, they were still not used to Shang talking. For those three months they spent hanging around Shang (with the hope that girls who directed their adoring eyes at Shang would notice them as well), they had only heard him speak once - and that was when they had asked for his name. All that had changed after the day at the arcade. Where Shang used to be indifferent, unresponsive and silent in the past, he was now the exact opposite - especially in matters concerning Katherine Kane. They attributed his disturbing transformation to his sore loser attitude, thinking that his obsession with Katherine was just an aftermath of the injury to his ego. After Shang had milked every drop of information they had regarding her, he ordered them to investigate and find out more. Kyle, who was not used to being ordered around, had learnt to obey Shang unquestioningly the hard way. He was still nursing the two broken fingers which served as his punishment for challenging Shang’s orders. It was only then they remembered that Shang was the same dangerous person who had landed 'Mean Max' in the hospital. Definitely not a person to cross if you had any regard for your own skin.

One of the boys hastily replied, "Hojo is a new student from Japan who came to our school a week ago. I heard that he is an unsociable, introvert type of person .... you know, the type who hardly mixes around ..."

"I'm not interested in that. What is his connection with Katherine Kane?"

"Uh ... that is ... he's ...." gibbered the trembling boy under Shang's fiery glare.

Kyle came to his friend's rescue. "He is supposedly Katherine Kane's boyfriend. Rumours about the two of them had been circulating around the school." Kyle gazed intently at the laces of his shoes to avoid looking directly at Shang. He hoped the trembling in his legs was not discernible.

"Is that all you can tell me?"

Kyle nodded, his throat too constricted with fear to make a verbal reply.

Shang walked closer to the window and the four boys meekly parted to give way to him. "Which one is him?"

A shaky finger pointed Hojo Tsukasa out for him. Shang's eyes lingered on the mop of moss-green hair for no more than two seconds before its owner looked up to make eye contact. One of the skills that Cheng had imparted to him was the ability to read a person's eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul. Shang studied the steely blue eyes that stared straight back at him fearlessly. He mentally scratched Hojo Tsukasa off his list of potential hostages. Whoever Hojo Tsukasa was, he was definitely not an easy victim.

* * * * * *

Mrs. Cecilia Rhodes - a small, compact woman with grey, wiry hair - had been teaching in the school since her early twenties. A dedicated and maternal teacher, she was especially concerned with the welfare of the students under her care. During her thirty years of service, she had been the confidante of many students facing the problems and worries of adolescence. She had met students who were trapped in the emotional whirlpool of B-G relationships. Students who had attempted suicide when the pressures of parents, peers and examinations were more than what they could cope with. Students who lived in constant misery after being repeatedly bullied by Mean Max and his gang.

Rape victims were the most difficult to handle. Such occurrences were rare and the culprits were normally adult perverts outside the school. Yesterday's incident had shown, for the first time, that perpetrators of such an atrocity could be students of the school. She had known that the boy would bring nothing but trouble and shame to the school the moment he was accepted. Her firm objections were ignored in the face of the huge monetary 'donation' to the school offered by Mean Max's parents. As the school was seriously under-funded at that time, the administration office had no choice but to comply with their wishes of having their precious son accepted into the school. As a result, the school staff could not expel Mean Max from school no matter how many times they received complaints about his treatment of both pupils and teachers.

But what he did yesterday was unforgivable! He'll be lucky if he doesn't get thrown into the slammer. She observed the girl who had fallen victim to Mean Max's raging hormones. The girl had too much ethereal beauty for her own good. It was a surprise to see Katherine Kane attending school as usual after the traumatizing incident yesterday. The girls she encountered in the past who had similar experiences needed at least a month of psychiatric aid before they could get on with their lives.

The poor girl must be stoically putting up a brave front so as not to worry the people around her. Well, she was definitely not letting any of her students suffer in silence alone.

"Katherine Kane."

"Yes, Mrs. Rhodes?" No hint of anguish in her voice. The girl was good in hiding her pain.

"See me in the staff lounge after this."

* * * * * *

Duo yawned noisily as he made his way to the staff lounge. He had not slept well last night due to another troubling experience with Heero yesterday evening. Duo had never seen Heero so furious before - he was like an enraged bull goring Mean Max upon sight. The pathetic boy was now lying in the hospital intensive care unit, bandaged like a mummy. Duo shook his head as he thought about this. Why was Heero risking his cover like this? Mean Max's parents would not take this quietly and the school authorities would be pressured to take action against Heero. Duo had wanted to shoulder all the blame but none of the teachers believed that a 'girl' with such a slim frame could defeat Mean Max and his gang alone. At this time, Heero willingly stepped out to bear the brunt of the blame .... for Katherine Kane.

He reverted his attention back to the matter at hand as the entrance to the staff lounge loomed before him. I wonder why Mrs. Rhodes wants to see me.

No one else was in the lounge besides Mrs. Rhodes. Two mugs of steaming, black coffee were prepared on a glass table. "Take a seat and help yourself to the coffee."

Accepting her invitation, Duo did as he was told. He sipped his coffee silently, waiting for the teacher to speak first.

"I won't beat around the bush." Mrs Rhodes paused, as if deciding the best way to approach the heart of the discussion. "I heard about what happened yesterday. Do you want to talk about it?"

What's there to talk about? I'm sure she's not interested in finding out the number of ribs and teeth I had broken during the brawl yesterday. "Not really. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing is wrong. It's just that ... um ... I'd like to inform you that all those boys who were found in the sports equipment room with you yesterday were suspended from school for two weeks. Severe measures had been taken to deal with them, so you can rest assured that they will no longer be a threat to you in future."

"That's good." Mrs. Rhodes widened her eyes in surprise upon hearing Duo's reply. Her scrutiny made Duo feel self-conscious. What does she expect me to say?

"Katherine, I know it's hard for you to think, let alone talk, about your... experience. But keeping everything shut in will only make it worse. I won't betray your trust. You can unload your fears on me."

"Wha ....?" blurted Duo. He could not tell where this conversation was headed. He took another sip of coffee to wet his throat which was becoming dry.

"I've talked with girls who had been sexually assaulted before, so I perfectly understand how you're feeling ......"

Duo choked on his coffee and went into an extended fit of coughing. While his ciliated windpipe was busy sweeping up droplets of beverage that had gone down the wrong tube, Duo began to understand why his classmates were behaving strangely around him since early morning. Sympathetic looks were thrown at him and even Doyce and Laila were consciously avoiding his eyes. Can't blame them for jumping into that conclusion... the torn skirt and ruffled hair were enough to give anyone that idea. After his coughing subsided, Duo spoke up. "Mrs. Rhodes....."

"... there comes a time for you to put all these unpleasant memories behind you and ...."

"Mrs. Rhodes!"

"What is it, Katherine?" She was slightly miffed by the manner in which she was interrupted.

"None of that sort happened yesterday."

A moment of silence. "You mean you're not ...."

"I'm not," confirmed Duo grimly.

Duo could see her face taking up the colour of fresh, ripe apples. Still retaining her composure, she stood up and walked to the coffee-making machine in the corner. "More coffee?"

* * * * * *

Heero had stationed himself at the school main gate, his eyes on the lookout for a particular violet-eyed girl with long, chestnut-brown hair. If he was lucky enough, he just might get the chance to walk Katherine back to the dormitory. Even as he was thinking about this, he could not help feeling a pang of guilt for jeopardizing his mission with his passion for the girl. He had stopped denying his feelings for Katherine Kane. The ribbon, the kiss, the suffocating emotions – it had all amounted to one thing. He was in love. Hopelessly in love.

"Will you all please leave me alone!" Heero immediately turned to the source of that voice, fully alert. He saw his dream being surrounded by a mob of at least fifty males. The green worm of jealousy began to eat the core of his heart.

"But Katherine, a girl like you needs protection. We are more than willing to help."

"Please don't misunderstand. We're doing this because we care for you."

"With us around, you will have nothing to fear. We'll beat up any guy who dares to lay a finger on you." The hand of the boy who said this was slowly making its way to one of Katherine's shoulders.

"Didn't you hear what she just said? Leave her alone." Heero's bone-biting, icy voice carried with it a measure of threat. The boys forming Katherine's convoy froze in their tracks. The rumours about how Hojo Tsukasa had single-handedly thrashed Mean Max and his entire gang were still fresh in their minds.

Katherine took advantage of the distraction to break free from the protective shell of boys, her face mirroring great relief. She walked directly towards Heero and wrapped her arms around his left arm, taking him completely by surprise. A pleasant surprise. He could feel the softness of her.... Heero grimly pulled his mind out of the pigsty.

Katherine faced the overzealous boys who had been dogging her steps around the school. "Hojo Tsukasa shall provide the 'protection' I need. So I suggest that all of you stop pestering me before I ask him to give a demonstration of what he does to people who pester me."

Taking the hint, the crowd in front of them dispersed in ten seconds. Katherine turned to Heero after the last of her convoy disappeared from sight, her lips forming a grateful smile. "Thanks for your help. I was at my wits' end trying to figure out how to dispel that irritating bunch."

Heero's heart soared with joy. For some reason, he had only been successful in making Katherine angry and frustrated with him during his previous encounters with her. This was the first time that she reacted warmly to his actions. Strike while the iron is hot. Confess your feelings to her now! It was a command screamed out by every cell in his body.

Heero gripped both of Katherine's shoulders, his fingers rigid with tension. He opened his mouth, hoping fervently that words would not fail him now. "Katherine, I ...."

Cat-calls and wolf-whistles erupted from the students and bystanders who had congregated around them. Heero could see Katherine's face colouring. The last time this happened, she had proceeded to place as much distance between them as possible. Without further hesitation, he took hold of Katherine's hand and pulled her along as he beat a hasty retreat from the scene. "We can't talk here. Follow me." Katherine allowed herself to be dragged along without much resistance.

* * * * * *

In the crowd, Laila patted Doyce's back in an attempt to cheer the other girl up. "Why the long face, woman? You saw the rewards of our efforts. There is no doubt that they'll be together now."

Doyce was still torturing herself with yesterday's events. "Of course I'm happy for them, Laila. But ... how can I face Katherine now? She could have been ...." Doyce choked with unshed tears. ".... And it would be all my fault!"

"But nothing happened, right? Mrs. Rhodes had told us that Katherine was perfectly fine."

"But ...."

Laila rapped Doyce's head with a knuckle, cutting off her whimpers. "Stop blaming yourself for something that is not your fault. I don't want to see anymore of this masochistic behaviour."

Doyce wiped away the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes and nodded. She blew noisily into her wet tissue and gratefully accepted another one from Laila.

"I think we'd better go back to the dorm now. It is getting late."

Unbeknownst to the two girls, they were observed by a pair of azure eyes burning with a cold fire.

                                                                                                                             < To Part 6 >