Two Weeks Later
        Ami lay sickly in her bed; she had been infected with a raging fever that no hypothecary could heal, a headache that made her feel as though she was under a large boulder and a choking sensation in her chest due to pneumonia.  She had been thus sick ever since her design of the security room had been accomplished; yet she had been too unwell to begin her bid to return home.
        For days, she had only been half conscious; the frustration of not knowing what was going on, or what medication was being placed into her mouth, it was all beginning to get to her.  She had rarely ever been so sick in her life, and when she was, her mother would be there for her, carefully explaining to her what she was taking, and holding her hand to give her the strength to recover.  Now, in her mother’s place was Lord Takeuchi; when she had first fallen sick, she had been repulsed at the thought that he was holding her hand and wiping the sweat from her head, but time had changed that.
        During the times when she was delirious, she was glad for him to be there with her, and now, not only was she glad that he was with her during her sickest days, but that he continued to be with her even now that she was already on the mend.  The medical officer of the Kuriverse Go was tending to her at the moment, but at the corner of her eye she could still she him sitting at the foot of her bed gazing out the window looking at changing of guards ceremony, waiting for the doctor to give his verdict regarding her condition.
        The door opened, but the doctor did not appear, it was a young man dressed in a servant’s clothing holding a tray with a steaming bowl on top.  “Ma’am, your porridge.”
        She took the bowl from him and began to take a tiny spoon full, “thank you.”
        He looked at her briefly and bowed.  Her spoon dropped from her hand and spattered noisily onto the tray as she saw his face.  During this time, she had almost forgot what her original aim of coming here, to save Asuka-kun, one of her best friends, Asuka Akiyama.  And here he was, standing right in front of her, serving her porridge.  She nearly fainted at the sight, but seeing Lord Takeuchi’s gaze on her, obviously not realizing who it was before her, she smiled at him and breathed out softly, “I’m afraid that I am not as recovered as I thought I was, I’m so sorry, my arm’s strength has left me.”

A Week Later
7:00pm
        “My dear, are you quite recovered to be up and about?”
        “Of course I am, you were with me yesterday when the doctor announced that some fresh air would do me well.”  Ami replied to her hovering and anxious companion.  “Not to mention that there are some things that I would like to take a look at in the security chamber.”
        “Oh?  And may I ask what it is?”
        “A few little things which have been on my mind since I have been able to think clearly, do you really want to know what it is that have been nagging?”
        He smiled at her and shook his head, “no, not unless I mean to earn a headache.  I take it that it is an important task for you?”
        “A trifling matter, that’s all, I remembered that the day before I became sick, there was an alarm that rang in the security system reminding me to do something, it was one of Avarice’s system reminders, but I didn’t have a chance to take a look at what it was that it reminded me to do.  Perhaps you would like to accompany me to take a look?”
        “Of course, my dear.”  He stepped in behind her and allowed her to lead the way.

        Tsuzuki Asano glided on the ice backwards, his legs expertly pushing and pulling his body at the same time to control the contour of his movements.  The moment he heard the door clank open though, his concentration was shattered in the routine that he was practicing, with Asuka Akiyama out of the way, there would be no reason why he could not be number 1 and dominate the position even when Akiyama returned.  Fuming at the interruption, he turned and faced the intruder.
        He gave at the tall woman a quick ‘once-over’ and noticed the air of confidence that she espoused, almost as though she knew that what she had to say would be of interest to him and that no matter what happened, he would listen to her little ‘talk’.  His eyes narrowed rebelliously, his mind already determined that no matter what she would say, he would not listen, after all, no one dominated him, no one ordered him around, certainly not this woman who looked to be only a reporter.
        But Tsuzuki was not blind, he saw beneath her dark serious features on her ivory skin, she was a woman who enjoyed life.  Her black cropped hair gave her a professional style, her eyes were examining, yet the curve of her lips showed a young woman who knew smile and loved to laugh.  While he continued to pretend to ignore her to finish his practice routine, his eyes could not, his mind could not, and soon, he gave up the pretence.  He had a feeling that they would be friends in time, brought together by understanding in hard circumstances.  What he saw in her was not an attraction to her looks, but to her mystery and to those deep knowing eyes.  He felt that predestined companionship and friendship from memories not yet awakened, but he knew that the preordained could not be resisted when there was no third party in existence.
        Once his routine finished, he skated towards the side of the rink to face her, now that he was only a few inches from her, for the first time, Tsuzuki felt awed, overwhelmed by this person standing in front of him.  Although he tried to calm himself down by saying that she was but a reporter, the same as those he had to deal with on a daily bases; that was the price one had to pay for being in top ranks of the Juniors amateur Japanese skaters list, but in his own mind, he wasn’t buying it.
        “Can I help you, ma’am?” he asked politely.
        The strange woman seemed to stare straight through him, her eyes piercing into his own, shaking her head, she held out a pink rose and threw a handful of rose petals on the ice behind him while he stared at her actions, almost in a trance and unable to stop her from ‘contaminating’ the ice.  “No, I am actually looking for a gentleman, a fighter, an intellectual if you will.”
        “I don’t know how I can help you.”
        “Do you fit the description?”
        “It does depend on your definition, ma’am.”
        “I suppose it wouldn’t matter anyway, would it?  I am looking for a gentleman by the name of Zoicite, should you see him, would you please give this to him?  It belongs to him.”  She gave him the rose, and he mutely accepted it, while his mind argued to how ridiculous the request sounded, he did not feel like he could question her, nor resist following the order.  His hand seemed to co-join with the rose by instinct, the moment he touched the rose, his hand and the flower melded into one and he felt a growing strength which felt familiar to him.
        He held on to the rose watching her leave the rink that her arrival and aura her previously filled.  Feeling a stinging sensation starting from the hands that held the rose, he dropped it and collapsed onto the bed of petals which rested on the ice.

        In reality, Ami Mizuno already knew what it was that had to be checked, and there had been no reminders from the computer for her to check on certain things, what she had on her mind was a task much more dangerous than that she had had to do ensure the taking of the Kurozuishou.  That was where Lord Takeuchi came in, she knew where the file was, but if anyone found that she had accessed the file her cover would be blown, but by being accompanied by Lord Takeuchi, and her previous little spiel of Avarice’s implant, the blame would continue to lie on him.
        Since having seen Asuka here, she had become determined to find all the other brainwashed people taken by the Kuriverse Go.  Using her computer, she had prodded the system to see if a certain file existed, and she had been rewarded with a file which had been updated only on the date of Avarice’s execution…
 

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