Will of Fire

Panzela reached her aunt's house and knocked before walking in. "Hi Auntie." she greeted her aunt with a quick hug. "How are you?"

 

Mrs. Ayume looked at Kairuto. "Becky seems to have somehow gotten sick..." She said softly. "Not sure exactly what it is, though..."

"Oh hello, Panzela!" She greeted her and gave her a hug, smiling. "I'm wonderful, thanks for asking. How was your day?"

 

"Pretty long, but alright." Panzela answered. "Is Anthony home from school yet?"

 

"Do you think the Hiwatari's had anything to do with it?" Kairuto asked, starting to pace.

 

"Yes, he is..." She said, her tone dropping. "He's in his room, upset... He's been dealing with some... bully problems at school, and today doesn't seem to have been very good for him..." She explained, rubbing the back of her head.

Mrs. Ayume thought for a second. "That's a very possible reason..." She muttered softly. "But it's hard to tell. It seems more like she just picked up a bug or something, and I heard that they did an experiment in class today involving blood... But it's hard to be sure if the Hiwatari's were really behind it or not..." She explained.

 

"Oh," Kairuto stopped pacing. "Well... um... Okay then. I'm just gonna go study... or something." He grabbed his bookbag and headed to his room.

 

"Oh no..." Panzela frowned. "Well, I'll go talk to him... maybe I can even help with the bully problem." she gave her aunt a quick smile and walked back to Anthony's room. She knocked gently. "Anthony, can I come in?"

 

"All right..." Mrs. Ayume said.

Anthony didn't answer. He hugged a pillow tightly to his chest and put his chin on his knees. He was staring at the wall with tears falling down his cheeks.

 

Panzela bit her lip and opened the door a crack to peek inside. "Anthony... what happened?" she asked, softly, making sure not to open the door anymore than the little she already had.

 

Kairuto tossed his bag onto his bed and went to his desk to dive deeper into the history book. There's got to be SOMETHING in here that'll give me a clue about what happened.

"I already told you," Rei began. "This has never happened before. Whatever Megumi did, it's new."

 

Anthony didn't respond. His gaze was intent on the wall.

Becky woke up to find herself in her room. Huh? I thought I was at school... Hmm... I must've gotten picked up... She thought and sighed.

 

"Your mom said you've been having trouble with kids at school..." Panzela added, gently. She could see he was crying and felt horrible.

 

"Leave me alone," He said to her in sign language before burying his face in the pillow.

 

"No, Rei, there's HAS to be something! ANYTHING!" Kairuto flipped through the pages. "This can't be new! It's too good."

"That's why it's so good. She's never used it before so it's more powerful than anything else she does." Rei explained.

 

"Okay... I'll see you later." Panzela said, knowing better than to push him, softly closing the door and standing there for just a moment, in case he changed his mind.

 

Anthony looked up from his pillow when she left and thought for a moment. He then quickly jumped up and dropped the pillow, running to the door and opening it. "Wait..." He signed to Panzela and hugged her.

Becky didn't get up from her bed. She could tell that she had a fever and was sick. Great... No wonder I felt so horrible at school... She thought and sighed.

 

Panzela smiled a little and hugged him back, tightly.

 

Anthony was crying now as he held on to Panzela tightly. One of his eyes was bruised with a black eye.

 

Panzela pulled him away just enough to be able to look at him, "Oh, Anthony. What happened?" she touched the side of his cheek, careful not to touch the bruise.

 

Anthony winced a ittle when she touched his cheek and he looked away from her. "Some kids were picking on me at school and I tried to stand up for myself but they were bigger than me..." He replied.