Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 11 – Alone

The Angel followed Chiko trying to catch up to him. He found Chiko sitting in the grass at the side of the road crying. "Its time to go."

"No! I don't want to go with you!" Chiko got up and tried to run away again, but he grabbed Chiko's arm. Chiko out of reflex turned around and kicked in him in the shin.

"Ow! Stop doing that already, you're going to completely ruin my driving leg. Gah!"

"Mashiro?" Chiko said looking back at him. He made half an attempt to step near him not being so afraid of him. However, he stopped himself when he looked straight at him. There was blood on his face and even though that look he had before was now gone Chiko could not get the image out of his mind.

"Huh? I'm in control finally." Chiko stepped away from Mashiro as he tried to approach him. "What's wrong?"

"Stay away from me!"

"What?" Mashiro said in shock. He could not believe what he heard from Chiko. Chiko was crying looking down at the ground trying not to look at him. "Chiko…"

"J-just stay away!"

"What's the matter, Chiko?" Mashiro bent down to the ground to look at him in the face.

Chiko turned away not wanting to look at him anymore. "Go away, stay away from me!"

"Quit saying that and tell me what's wrong with you!" Mashiro said reaching out for him again, but Chiko back away from him.

"I-I saw you kill all of those people."

Mashiro pupils shrank in the realization. The way everything happened he knew that Chiko was there, but he did not know that he was actually watching him. He thought that Rachel had him hidden away from somewhere so that could he would not escape her. Mashiro dropped his arms to his side knowing now what was going through Chiko head. He wanted to say something to Chiko to ease his mind, but there was nothing coming to him.

"Y-you killed them for n-no reason. I saw it all. I saw that look on your face."

Mashiro did not know what to tell him. He had no answers for him that would make things any better. Mashiro hated that part of him and he could not control himself. It had been allowed to be free again and it knew no restraint. He did not know how long he would have continued like that if it were not for Chiko kicking some sense into him. It was that thought that worried him the most. He could not be certain that Chiko would be safe. That part of him knew what the objective was, but it was over and he still not retreated. How long would it have tried to remain in control of him? He let his own weakness take him over and now Chiko could not trust him. The person he had to protect could not trust him, he could not even trust himself.

"Say something!"

Mashiro did not if there was anything that he could say. There were no words that he had for this. "We need to leave." Mashiro by reflex gave Chiko his hand, but Chiko turned it down. It was hard for him handle and he was afraid that things were permanently destroyed between them.

Mashiro turned and began walking to the car hoping that Chiko would follow behind him at whatever distance that he was comfortable with. There was too much that happened that things were going to be so easily resolved. He found the way to his car and sat down resting his head on the wheel. He felt like putting his hand through the window, but that was not going to help him or the situation.

Eventually there was the sound of the car door opening and closing. Chiko got in the back seatt on the passenger side. Mashiro could tell that he was trying to keep his distance even though he knew that he had to force himself to do things that he did not want to do. There were no words he had for Chiko; he did not have words for himself.

The car drive back to the house was quiet; neither of them spoke to each other. The only noise was the engine of the car. When they returned home Chiko left the car immediately going into the house with his keys. Mashiro remained in the car for a while thinking. He was trying to find the words that he needed to speak to Chiko. Unfortunately, the entire time he was more thinking about himself and what happened. He felt selfish afterwards, but he knew that he was going to need to resolve his own problems first.

Mashiro walked into the house looking to see where Chiko was. He did not find him in living room, but in the room that was supposed to be his. It surprised him that Chiko had managed to get up the stairs. 'I guess that only goes to show how much this has affected him.' Chiko was lying on his bed asleep in his school uniform still. Mashiro thought about going in, but decided against it. Chiko looked peaceful sleeping there; he did not want to disturb that. It was going to be hard in the house for a while.

His bed was not so welcoming. The room was still trashed from the fight and he could see the cracks in the wall where he was thrown. There were memories now in this room and they made him think about the Crimson Angel. He thought that he was free from things that would draw up those old memories, but now his old life and new life were colliding with each other.

He fought Bear in this room. Then later he killed him as the Crimson Angel. His body was sore from the fight with Rachel, but he could feel the pain from Bear's crushing attack. Even though nothing was broken, his tender ribs were in a lot of pain still. Most of the feeling was coming back to him now since he was thinking about it. It made it almost impossible for him to sleep that night.

In the morning he made breakfast for them, though he did not hear Chiko getting up. Mashiro went to check on him to find that he was sitting at the top of the stairs. He grinned slight and started up them. "Why didn't you call for me?" Chiko remained quiet as he approached him. Mashiro bent down attempting to pick him up, but Chiko backed away from him.

"Stay away!"

Mashiro hesitated; his pupils became small learning that Chiko still did not trust him. He backed away to give Chiko some room. Mashiro was at a lost as what to do for him. There was nothing that he was going to be able to do for him right now. Mashiro walked down the stairs letting Chiko make it on his own.

Chiko stared at the stairs knowing that he needed to get down them. He was scared to even touch them, but he was more afraid of Mashiro right now. It left him in a confused state; he had trouble last night as well. He was not able to get to sleep for long without an image of Mashiro coming into his head. Then he would see Mashiro killing those people and then he would turn to stab him. Chiko would wake up then sweating in his bed.

The entire night was like that; he was even seeing images of the scarred man. However, it was more frightening knowing that the man in his dreams, Mashiro was in the same house as him. It was that thought he was wrestling with. Chiko did not know when Mashiro might turn into that monster again or even if he could be trusted in that state. He heard that Mashiro said that he was in control finally, which made him even more afraid. If Mashiro could not control that part of him, what was there protecting him from that part of Mashiro? He did not want to be near him if he lost control again.

In front of him the stairs stared back at him. He was not sure how he was going to get down them. Every time he looked at them, they seem to grow longer on him making his fear grow. They looked so long, too long for him to reach safely. Down at the bottom Mashiro stood looking at him, which was not helping him any. "Just go away!" he said starting to cry with fears compounding on him.

Mashiro realized that he was making things worse for Chiko, even though he wanted to try to help. He sighed and walked away from the stairs going back to the kitchen. The food was getting cold so he started warming it up. He wanted to see how Chiko was doing, but knew that he could not help him right now.

Chiko took one step down, his legs shaking completely. He slowly took another and another feeling his entire body shaking and the urge to flee to his room. The feeling was strong, but he fought back trying to resist the urge. He took another step, but he legs were shaking so much that he slipped and fell down the stairs. He rolled down the stairs sideways until hitting the floor and smacked into the door.

There was pain all over his body and he wanted to cry, but he heard footsteps. It was Mashiro coming to see what happened. Chiko did not want to be near him and got up and fled out the door slamming it shut loudly that it shuck the walls. Mashiro stood at the entrance looking helpless knowing that Chiko was gone.

He was afraid if Chiko would return in the afternoon when school finished. The way that he was feeling right now, Chiko did not want to be anywhere near him. Mashiro had to find a way to talk to Chiko without him running away, but even at this point Mashiro wanted to run away as well. It was one of the reasons that he ran away from his team those many years ago.

Chiko ran out of the house until he bumped into Sakura. She stopped him from running any further bringing him to the realization that he was away, far enough.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. I just thought I was going to be late."

"Oh."

The two kept walking to school. Chiko was uncertain how he was going to handle it. He was away from Mashiro and the house, but he would have to return eventually. That thought was making him afraid as well as distracted him. It was not until they were going into the school that he realized that there were several other students with him, Nobu included.

Chiko sat in his chair trying not to think about everything and listen to the teacher about the lesson. He was hoping that he could not dwell on the problem at hand. He hoped that his fear would fade away and he could stop being nervous. Yet he was looking around all the time. There was no reason, he knew it, but he was scared. Mashiro could lose control and come for him. The scarred man could be trying to find him to kill him. He was alone now without anyone to protect himself. There was only one person that could protect him not and that was himself. He was only an eight-year girl though; most of the things in the house were out of his reach still. He was too small to be able to do anything to help.

His thoughts swirled around continuing until it was time for lunch. Chiko needed some fresh air to think, there were too many voices in the classroom. Sakura wanted to come with him, but he wanted to be alone. However, she did not listen to him and followed behind him at a distance. Her curiosity and interest in him made her follow him.

Chiko wandered around the playground in his own little world not seeing Sakura following him. She was smiling and skipping behind him pretending that it was a game. Unfortunately, she ran into an upper classmen from the sixth year. He had two friends and did not like her bumping into him and stopping their conversation.

"Hey, you better watch where you're going little girl!"

"I'm sorry," she said to the boy she ran into.

"Sorry, are you blind? You bumped into me!"

"I didn't see you. I'm sorry."

"You didn't see him?" the boy's friend said.

"How could you not see him?" the other one said.

"I'm standing right here. You should respect those older than you."

"I'm sorry."

As the conversation continued Chiko had made a full lap around the playground. He was walking at a brisk pace at this point that there was a fog of dust in the air. When he reached them he accidentally ran into the boy as well. Chiko knocked the boy down as his friend's came between Chiko and him.

"What you think you are doing running into him?" the boy said placing a hand on Chiko's shoulder. Chiko looked up at him with the other boy standing at his right. As the two boy's looked ready to start a fight with Chiko the one he knocked down pushed the two aside. The boy stood in front of Chiko staring him down with anger in his eyes.

Chiko was hardly fazed by these three boys, though Sakura was hiding behind Chiko now. "Kohana, they are upper classmen."

"Yeah, so? Just means they'll fall harder."

"That some mouth you got girl," the boy said before pushing Chiko.

Chiko did not hesitate to push him back; though the push was hard enough send the boy back into his two friends. The boy's friends lifted him up and let him go back at Chiko. The boy took a swing at Chiko, the punch knocked Chiko to the ground, as he was not expecting it. Chiko immediately stood back up as Sakura was lying on the ground from being behind Chiko. He ignored helping her up and resumed his fight with the boy.

It was at that point Chiko was tempted to kick, though he did that too often. He needed something new or different. Since he could not think of anything better at the time, he simply punched the boy in the stomach as hard as he could. The result sent him to the principal's office with him getting scolded for picking a fight. The three boys were in the nurse's office for cuts and bruises. They would be getting Chiko's same lecture later once they recovered.

"I'll being having your parent in here to talk to later, Chiko," Mrs. Toki said.

"He's not my parent," Chiko mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Chiko walked out of the room where Sakura was waiting for him. He kept on walking as she followed behind him again. Chiko sighed as he looked back. "What?"

"Are you okay? How much trouble did you get in?"

"Its fine."

"I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault," he said and walked away. She kept following him for a while until something shiny distracted her (it was the drinking fountain). Chiko made it back to class where he was the subject to an interrogation by the entire classroom. Most were in awe for his daringness to stand up to the upper classmen. They were even more surprised that him being a girl of small stature beat up three upper classmen without getting so much as a scratch on himself.

Mrs. Toki had called Mashiro into school; he did not know what it was about. He assumed that it had something to do with the way Chiko was acting. However, to his surprise it was about a fight, though Mashiro figured it still was probably related to the personal problem they were going through. "Who did she get in a fight with?"

"Three sixth grade boys in the playground. Kohana bumped into them and it apparently fell apart from there. The boys are in the nurse's office right now."

"I'm not surprised."

"What?!"

"Anything broken?"

"Broken? What makes you say that? Don't you care about Kohana?"

"Of course, she didn't hurt them too badly?" he said, though there were other things he was thinking about. 'She is stronger than a normal eight-year old. If he was feeling like it, he could put all three of those boys in the hospital.' The principal did not seem to understand. "I'm sorry. I just figured that if something bad happened to Kohana you would have told me immediately. She is alright, right?" he said trying to sound sincere.

"Um, well yeah. She doesn't have injuries at all surprisingly. The boys are pretty scared, the way they made it sound it could have been a lot worse for them."

Chiko sweated in embarrassment. 'Yeah, not surprising.' He nervously laughed. "Really?"

"Is Kohana doing okay? I know that the police were able to find her quickly, but did anything happen to her while she was kidnapped?"

"She hasn't said much about that. She has been quiet since she got back home. I don't know what to say to her."

"You're her parent. She looks to you for her guidance. She needs you."

"I don't know…I wasn't able to protect her. How can she need me if I wasn't there for her?"

"You need to talk to her. You need it just as much as she does I think."

"But what do I say?"

"Why don't you start with 'I love you'?"

"I'll try. Thanks." Mashiro walked out of the office not really assured. He was able to talk to the principal, though his problem was far worse than he was able to tell her. It was not going to be so simple as a few words. Though she was right about need to talk to him. However, Chiko did not want to even be near him right now. He did not know how he was going to change that fact.

The scarred man was called to the Superiors suddenly in the middle of the night. He had been sitting doing nothing for too long. When he was told that they wanted to see him he was pleased, though he did not show. He ordered his men to get ready as he went to see what the Superiors wanted from him. If they were calling it meant that they had something for him to do, preferably it was involving the matter of Chiko Toyozama.

That man had disgraced him, though indirect in manner it was dishonorable. It was even more dishonorable that the man did almost nothing to cause such disgrace. Most of it lay on himself for failing to do the job correctly, but in the process of correcting that mistake he failed again. The blame was his; he failed while the man still lived somewhere, most likely in Osaka under the protection of the government. He needed to find the man himself and kill him if he was to regain his honor. He was in shame now as the Superiors ordered him not to make a move. The shame was too much for handle for him and he had thought about going against the orders of the Superiors. However, this sudden request for an audience gave him the hope he could restore his honor.

The escort of his led him to the center of the room to face the Superiors. The five of them were gathered at this late hour.

"We have called you here for an important reason. As you might already have guessed it is about Chiko Toyozama. We have lost contact with our assassin in Osaka. There has been no report in six hours since they confirmed the capture of a child."

"A child?"

"They were not forth coming with information, but it was part of a plan to draw out a government agent that was believed to have information on Chiko Toyozama's whereabouts. The situation has changed, if the assassin has failed then you are the only one that we can rely on to finish their work. Go to Osaka and discover what happened to the assassin. Report immediately on their status, you will receive new orders when you report in based on the situation."

"Understood. I shall leave immediately."

That was last night. He looked up from staring at the bottom of the car floor. This was not what he was wanting, but if the assassin was dead that meant he would have his chance back. It was about honor.

The car came to a stop outside the warehouse that had been the last known location of the assassin that was working for the Superiors. He had not been giving much on who the assassin was other than it was a woman from the North American States. They provided him an image of her so he knew who he was looking for. He had his men run a profile check on her to see whom it was that the Superiors had replaced him with. It was some foreigner with no interest in their affairs, just a hired assassin. She was ranked as an S-Class assassin, the best in the business. That did not please him, but it did give him something to go on.

He exited the car examining the empty lot that they parked in. There were bodies lying around the ground. His men looked around the lot grounds finding several more bodies. They return to him as he was examining the body of a woman who was tied up by wire. He could tell from the look of the work that it was careful and a professional.

"All of the bodies are the same, one bullet to the head each bullet in the same place. Who ever did this was an expert," one of his men said.

He continued into the warehouse finding the same thing inside. All of the doors were open and each man in them was dead with one bullet in the forehead. The work was specific and methodical; it was ruthless without any room left for chance. It almost seemed to be the work of an assassin, but it did not make any sense for another assassin to be here. The work spoke for itself though; whoever did this were a professional and not some simple government agent.

They walked into the back of the warehouse where there was nothing to be found. The entire place was empty. He could see that there was a setup from the way the dust was moved around. There was also a lot of blood on the floor that was pushed around. A fight had been in the room, though it was unclear who the victor was at the moment.

He continued to examine the area trying to find answers to what happened here. But there was too little for him to work from. The place was not perfectly cleaned, but it was clean enough to make it impossible to figure out what happened. The obvious thing was that the woman lost to whoever came here. She was forced to retreat and took everything that would be evidence with her. The assassin was now in hiding recovering from her lose. But what had him curious was to know who was so skilled that they were able to beat an S-Class assassin. Whoever it was that beat the woman was as skilled as an S-Class assassin. The thought made him almost invigorated; his prey would be a worthy foe.

"Sir, I have the Superiors for you," one of his men said. He wanted to strike the man down immediately for acting without orders. This put him in a position that he was undecided about how to handle. He took the earpiece from him.

"What have you learned?"

"The assassin is dead." His men looked at him confused wanting to say something, but knew not to say anything.

"It is as we thought then. The equipment, is there any information about what they were doing last to explain what happened?"

"Nothing, it was wiped clean. There are the bodies of a number of men dead. The way they were killed is definitely the work of a professional. Since the assassin is dead as well, they are better than the assassin."

"Find out what they had learned and continue the work. Do not fail us again." The line went dead after that. He tossed the earpiece back to his men and began walking out of the warehouse.

"Sir, what is going on? Why did you tell them that the assassin is dead? We don't know that for certain."

"Don't ever question me again. There used to be equipment in there, find where it is now. We need to find the assassin."

"Sir?"

'A warrior cannot live with disgrace.'

Chiko walked out of class with the day now over. However, for him his day was only beginning. He had to return back to his house where Mashiro would be waiting for him. It was that thought that brought back his fears and the images that went along with them. Ever since the fight he had not really thought about Mashiro that much, there were other things that were confronting. It was actually nice, even though he was in trouble at the time he was not thinking about Mashiro. The thoughts, fears, everything was forgotten and he was able to have a day that felt normal.

Sadly all of that came back to him and he was afraid to go home. He walked slowly with Sakura on the sidewalk. "Hey, Sakura you mind if I come home with you?"

"Sure, we can play in my room!" Sakura started bouncing down the sidewalk holding Chiko's arm. He had avoided it for the time being, but he knew that Sakura's mother would not let him stay at their house. It at least gave him time to think about what he was going to do.

They arrived at Sakura's house, which he realized that he had never been to before. It was a large house with a gate and brick wall around the house. There were trees lining the wall and a small walkway up to the house. Chiko did not realize that Sakura's parents were so wealthy, it did not really explain Sakura's personality. This was actually a strong contradiction to what he was expecting.

The two entered the house; Chiko was half expecting maids or something to help him off with his shoes. There was no one at the door, though Sakura shouted to her mother that she was home. Her mother came out from another room in casual clothes, though she was nicely dressed all the same.

"Oh you have company, Sakura. Who is this?"

"She is my friend from school. Her name is Kohana."

"Oh, so this is Kohana. Sakura talks about you a lot."

'Some how I'm not surprised she has a one-track mind.' Chiko smiled and bowed politely. "Hello…"

"Well, I imagine you two have a lot to talk about. If you want something to eat just ask."

"Thank you, Mrs. Namimura." The two walked up stairs to Sakura's bedroom. It was filled with the usual things that he was expecting. There were toys lying around the room, large stuff animals sitting in the corner and an expensive multi-purpose monitor. Sakura sat in the lap of a large bear inviting him to join her in her stuff animals. 'She really does have a carefree life.'

Mashiro sat at a bar staring at his glass that was half empty. He had been staring at it for the last hour thinking about what he was going to say to Chiko. There was nothing that was coming to him. All the advice in the world was not helping him figure out what he was going to do. Nothing was going to change things until he could be near Chiko long enough to talk to him.

"I noticed you staring at the glass. Want some company?" a woman said.

He would have normally said yes without even thinking about it. Though he was not feeling like being talkative or even charming. "I don't think I'm going to be much company tonight." The woman sat down next to him in spite of what he said.

"You seem like you got a lot on your mind."

"I thought that it was the bartender that was suppose to be the psychologist."

"I think he is annoyed that you haven't ordered something more."

"And you? Come to celebrate or drown the sorrows?"

"Changing the subject quickly, must be something serious that you won't talk about it to a complete stranger even being drunk."

"Well I'm not drunk yet," he said gulping down the rest of the glass and letting it hit the counter.

"Still haven't answered my question."

"And I'm still not drunk. What's a pretty woman like yourself looking in someone sitting alone in the corner of a bar?"

"They're usually the more interesting ones."

The two continued to talk, though Mashiro was careful not to actually answer her initial question. She tried a few different ways to find out what it was that was on his mind, but he remained stubborn about revealing it. It was at nine that he realized he had been at the bar since he had finished speaking to the principal and that Chiko was alone somewhere. He rushed out the bar and let the car drive him back to the house.

It had been years since he felt this drunk. It might have only been a few drinks, but he had not drunk since he had joined Section Three. The amount that he had had did not seem like a lot to him at the time, but he was starting to feel the effects as he was driven home. He entered the house stumbling through the house collapsing on the couch in the living room trying to find Chiko. Mashiro woke in the morning to find that Chiko was already gone. The kitchen was in a mess from Chiko going through it. He did not know what he was going to do with him.

Chiko was still avoiding him. It was going to be hard to approach him if he never saw him. He wanted to speak to him, try to say something to him. All he could do right now was clean up the kitchen. When he finished with the kitchen he moved to the rest of the house, getting it in order from the mess. Most of the things were still not cleaned up with what had happened. It was a constant reminder to him and probably Chiko as well. He needed to try to remove that, maybe make things easier.

Mashiro got a call from the principal in the afternoon telling him that Chiko got in another fight. This time he beat up four boys and scared a girl into a wall. Mashiro did not know what was going on with Chiko, but he had to try to talk to him. He needed to resolve what was between them. There was nothing being said and it was creating a void that was only growing larger. It was not going to be easy he knew, but he had to try to stop Chiko long enough to talk to him about everything.

He waited for him to come home after having another talk with Mrs. Toki. She was not really helpful in trying to resolve the issue. Though she was insistent that something needed to be done soon. If Chiko were left alone he would end up giving the entire sixth grade black eyes.

Chiko arrived late, probably trying to avoid him again. However, Mashiro was sitting on the stairs when he opened the door. He had been sitting on the stairs for the last several hours waiting on him to open the door. Chiko did not close the door when he saw Mashiro sitting there in front of him. He tried to step outside, but Mashiro spoke up.

"We need to talk."

"No, stay away from me."

"You can't keep hiding from me."

"I don't want to see you."

"You can't avoid me. You live here."

"I can't trust you."

"It won't take control of me again."

"You don't know that. It happened already."

"What you want me to say?" Mashiro said almost yelling. He stood up look down at Chiko. Chiko remained quiet. "What you want me to say? I made a mistake. I'm human, I have things from my past that I'm not proud of. It's unavoidable. What you want me to say? That everything is going to be alright. That it won't happen anymore, that I overcame it and I'm strong enough not to let it happen again."

Mashiro approached Chiko frustrated and confused. It was not what he had been practicing. He was making things up as he was going along at this point. Nothing coming out seemed right, but there was nothing better that he could come up with anymore. He just hoped that it was reaching Chiko in some way that he could sit down and talk to him.

As he approached Chiko, Chiko back away into the corner of the doorframe. He was feeling cornered by Mashiro and panicked. Chiko punched Mashiro in the stomach and ran to the stairs to get away from him. Mashiro collapsed to the floor in pain reaching out at Chiko. "Chiko…please…"

Chiko stared at him from the middle of the stairs starting to cry. He had multiple fears compounding him again and he suddenly collapsed on the stairs blacking out. Chiko's body fell down the stairs until Mashiro rushed up to catch him. Mashiro carried his body to the couch to let him rest.

Mashiro went about some minor chores while keeping an eye on Chiko. He was worried what happened to him that he passed out like that. It was obvious that he was taking this harder than he was originally thinking. Mashiro knew that Chiko was having a hard time dealing and sorting through what he saw. Though he expected that he would eventually get through it, but if it was affecting him so much that it was physically hurting him in some way. He needed to know what was going on inside Chiko mind.

The time passed as Mashiro was now pacing around the living room waiting for Chiko to wake up. He looked at him every few seconds hoping to see some life in his body. However, he was equally afraid of what was going to happen when he woke up. He already blew up on him once that it scared him too much to deal with. Mashiro was concerned that if he was there when Chiko woke up that it would be too much of a shock in his condition. There was not much choice though, he needed to know that Chiko was feeling well when he woke up.

He finally saw Chiko's arm move signaling that he was waking up now. Mashiro approached him, but not too close. Chiko's eyes opened blinking as he looked around. When he saw Mashiro he stared at him for a moment. Then Chiko suddenly leapt out of the couch smiling towards Mashiro wrapping his arms around him.

"Daddy!"

"Daddy?" Mashiro looked puzzled at Chiko's surprising change. He was pleased to know that he was awake again and that he did not seem afraid of him. However, this change did not seem right, there was something wrong with him. Mashiro knew Chiko well enough that he would never call him that name in private. "Chiko are you feeling alright?"

"Huh? I'm feeling great now that I'm with you daddy."

"Chiko?"

"Why are you calling me by that name daddy? Is this some game? How do you play?"

"What? What's going on Chiko?"

"What do you mean, daddy? Don't you know my name?"

"What? What is your name?"

"Silly its Kohana! Don't you remember daddy?"

Mashiro stared at Chiko confused. He pulled Chiko off of his neck and looked at him closely. He was staring at him with a genuinely happy expression that was not hiding fear. It was not the same Chiko that collapsed on the stairs or that was afraid of him for the last two days. 'What is going on here? What has happened to Chiko and who is this Kohana?'

Preview for the next episode:

"Hi all again! Kohana here in place of Chiko."

"And I'm Sakura filling in for Mashiro!"

"Sakura!"

"Kohana!"

"Sakura!"

"Kohana!"

Kohana suddenly is hit by something. "Owie!" Kohana begins to cry. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"We were getting off topic. Sniff."

"You alright? Owie! Wahhhh!"

"Fine, be that way, you made Sakura run away. Well I am back in the next episode. You will get to see my adorable face more and I get to spend more time with Mashiro. I bet Chiko is going to be so jealous of me when he wakes up. The next episode of The Inner Man, Innocence!

"I'm cute too...but I don't want to say it. Make him say it. Oh fine. Don't miss it or Chiko will kick you in the shins. Tee hee! Owies! Wahhhh!"