Chapter 22: Friends II

"He's late."

Kyla and Zander chuckled as they watched another vein pop on Andrew forehead. "Calm down, Fernandez-kun. I'm sure he's on his way."

"Well he better be," Andrew snorted as he sat back and crossed his arms across his chest, "I didn't bring any money with me."

"I brought some cash so we're good," Zander said as he took a sip of his drink.

"See, even if he can't make it Ramos-kun can pay for us," Kyla smiled.

"That's not the whole point," Andrew sighed. He reached into his pocket to dish out his phone. "I'm going to call him."

"Hm," Zander nodded as he continued to sip his drink. Kyla laughed before sending their waiter an apologetic look that they still weren't ready to order yet.

Andrew drummed his fingers on the table as he waited for the other line to pick up. "Ring. Ring. Ring." Another vein popped up as his fingers became even more persistent to dent the table underneath. "Even this ringing is annoying," he groaned as the voicemail came on again.

"So Kyla..." Zander started, "What happened?"

The woman looked up at him with a questioning look before she caught on. "Oh...that," she whispered before chuckling lowly, though there really wasn't any amusement in her tone. "Well, I kinda found out that day when we went to Walker-kun's apartment to check out that rumor. I heard you guys talking with him about Bushū-san."

Andrew tensed at what she just said. "I-I didn't know you were there."

Kyla shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "I came back to see what you had to talk to him about. It's a good thing that I did."

"Why is that?" Zander asked. "This couldn't have been easy for you."

"Eun," she nodded, "I ended up crying over a week because of it."

Andrew frowned. "Then why do you sound so relieved?"

Kyla took a sip of her drink before looking up at him. "Like I said: I'm free. Now I don't have to waste my time chasing after a man I can never have."

"What made you come up with that?" Chad asked.

"Bushū-san finally became the barrier that I've been searching for," she answered, "Before, while I might have said I was over Walker-kun, I still held the unwanted hope of getting his affection some day. But now, finally there's a reason to stop hoping."

"Still, it must have been hard for you,"Zander said.

Kyla nodded. "At first when I found out about his relationship with her, I was planning on exposing it or somehow get to Walker-kun with this scandalous information. But..." she looked down to keep her eyes hidden in case they saw her eyes brimming with tears again. "I knew he would hate me if I did that. If others find out, then not only would my dreams with him shatter forever, but so will whatever friendship that is left between us. And...I didn't want to do that."

Andrew smiled as he looked at his drink. "That's a pretty noble decision you made."

Kyla nodded again. "I might have loved Walker-kun as a woman, but I also love him as a friend. And that's more important to me in my heart."

Zander smiled at his friend as he patted her shoulder. "I will pray for your happiness."

"Thank you," she whispered.

Andrew sighed, unsure of how to comfort his dear friend. So instead he pulled out his phone and said, "I'm going to try calling him again."

Kyla looked up at him and smiled. "Okay," she whispered as Andrew placed the phone next to his ear.

The ringing continued again, bringing back the tick from before. The gloomy mood from before was quickly gone as the other two noticed his anger bubbling up again. After the tenth ring, the call finally got picked up. "Goddamit, Walker!" Andrew shouted into the phone, "Where the hell are you?!" The other two quickly looked away, trying to pretend they weren't associated with him when other people in the restaurant threw them a glare.

"Um, is this Fernandez-kun?"

The said man stiffened when he heard another voice beside that of his friend. "Yes...who is this?"

"Ah, long time no see! Or is it no 'hear?'" the man laughed.

Andrew immediately recognized the other person through his odd joke. "Walker-san?" he called out, getting curious looks from Kyla and Zander.

"Yup," Jacod answered, "I haven't talked to you since Ichigo moved here. How have you been m'boy?"

"Um, fine, thanks for asking," Andrew answered though he was frowning. "Excuse me for asking, but how come you're the one answering Walker's phone right now?"

"Because I'm visiting my son right now," he replied.

A moment of silence passed as cold sweat streamed down Andrew's face. "Um, are you really? W-why? I mean, wh-who, um... anyone else-that is, what about-"

"If you're talking about Angel-chan," Jacod interrupted, though his tone now serious, "I am already aware."

Now the sweats were falling down like waterfall and Andrew faced contorted like he was constipating. "Um, then may I ask just how much you know? And what's going on right now."

"..."

"Walker-san?" Andrew called out when there was no answer.

"... Fernandez-kun, may I ask you to come over to Ichigo's apartment right now? I really would like to talk to you."

Andrew throat dried up and he tried to swallow to loosen it up. For some reason he felt like a kid who got caught for helping a friend break the neighbor's window. "Um, sure. I'll be right there."

"Good. I'll see you in a few minutes," Jacod said before hanging up the phone.

Andrew slowly peeled the phone away from his ears and stared at it as he heard the dial tone coming from it.

"What was that?" Zander asked.

"Seems like Walker in trouble," he answered as he closed his phone and stood up, "His father wants me to come over right now, but I think all three of us should go there."

"Why?" Kyla asked.

Andrew looked at her as he grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and pulled his arms through the sleeves. "It's about Walker and Bushū ."

The two immediately got up, Zander threw a few bucks on the table, and the three friends were running out the restaurant with their umbrellas and towards Ichigo's apartment. With their insane speed, it took them only ten minutes to get there.

Zander quickly went to the door and gently banged on it with his giant fist. In no time, the door was unlocked and opened.

"Ah, I didn't know you two were coming as well," Jacod gently smiled, "Good to see all of you guys again. It's been too long."

"Good evening, Walker-san," Kyla bowed, followed by the two men, "How have you been?"

"Quite well," he answered, "I've been good. Come on in." He pulled the door open wider and motioned for the three to enter. They slowly stepped into the apartment and slipped their shoes off and stepped into the living room. They immediately took a spot on the couch while Jacod sat on the single, adjacent seat.

"Um, excuse me for asking-"

"You sure do ask a lot," Jacob grinned.

Andrew merely pushed up his glasses and coughed. "Ahem, well, I just wanted to know where Walker and Bushū might be."

Jacod's smile immediately fell and a serious atmosphere surrounded them. The three friends gulped, already feeling uncomfortable by Jacod's sudden uncharacteristic expression. "Before I tell you," he started, placing his elbows on top of his knees and placing his hands near his mouth, "I just wanted to know one thing: how long have you three known about Ichigo and Angel-chan's relationship?"

"A little more than a month," Zander answered.

Jacod nodded. "And were you guys also aware that Angel-chan is Ichigo's student?"

It suddenly got really hot in the room.

"Um," Andrew coughed as he tried to pull his collar that felt like it was choking him, "Well, we knew right away since she is a student at our school. One of the top students in fact."

Again Jacod nodded. "I see. And was nothing done to stop this relationship?"

"They were already passed home base by the time we found out," Jacod answered.

This time Jacod sighed as he brought up his hands to rub his temple. "What could have possibly gotten into them to start such a risky relationship?"

"Simple: they are in love."

The four looked up to see Lucy and Mark standing by the door that Jacod had forgotten to lock when Ichigo's friends came inside.

Jacod's eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at his friends. "You two told me Ichigo finally found a girl. But I never expected Angel-chan to actually be a girl."

Lucy shrugged her shoulders as she walked over to sit on the floor across from the couch. "I was way too busy just celebrating over the loss of Ichigo's virginity to really think about that."

"Besides," Mark continued as he sat next to Lucy, "You weren't complaining when we told you about her through the phone."

"You didn't tell me she was Ichigo's student!" Jacod yelled. "And now her fucking brother-with a missile up his ass-broke in here and took Angel-chan away after threatening and beating up my son!"

Kyla gasped while Andrew and Zander stared at the older man with wide eyes.

"Ah," Mark nodded, "So it finally happened. Guess we were right."

"Yeah, and sometimes I hate that," Lucy sighed as she looked out the window to see that the rainstorm still hadn't let up.

Jacod groaned as he leaned back against his seat. "I had to drug my own son to sleep since he's been trying to go after Angel-chan in his condition. I think he might have broken a rib."

Mark nodded. "I'm really sorry for not having told you about Bushū-san, my old friend. But you must understand, Lucy and I knew it was for the best."

Jacod eyed his two friends for a while before nodding. "I know. I have yet to doubt your amazing ability to predict the future. After all, you two did help me with Aira."

Lucy smiled. "Pretty much the same way we got Ichigo and Angel together."

Jacod chuckled as he closed his eyes to reminisce about the good ol'days.

"Ano, then what's going to happen to Walker-kun?" Kyla asked.

The three older adults looked at each other before becoming all serious again. "Well, Angel-chan's brother did threaten to call the police."

"But seeing how none came, I'm guessing he took pity on him," Lucy said.

"Or maybe he thought his men already killed Walker-kun," Mark suggested.

But Jacod shook his head. "Or Angel-chan did something to get her brother to leave Ichigo alone."

Another silence surrounded the six as they thought about how likely the last statement was.

"What do we do when Ichigo wakes up?"Zander asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to need you guys to help me keep him down," Jacod nodded at Andrew and Zander, "I don't want him running out after Angel-chan just yet."

"Good thing it's the weekend," Kyla added, "We have Saturday and Sunday to figure things out before this gets to the school."

This time Andrew groaned as he rubbed his temples. "I don't think two days is enough time. Walker is going to need more than that to get better and go after Bushū. Not to mention it might take a couple of days before anything really happens."

Immediately Kyla face fell and she looked at her feet. Just when she finally got over Ichigo, his love life gets twisted upside-down. She felt bad for him, this time not as a secret admirer but as a dear friend.

Mark pulled out his fan from inside his sleeve, and started fanning himself like he always did when he was in deep thought. "Then I guess you three might have to think of some excuse for the two."

"And not to mention you should get to school and intercept any fax or mail that might contain this issue or of Angel's transfer. If I'm guessing it correctly, her brother will most likely pull her out of Tokyo High School and send her to another school by next week."

Zander nodded. "I have to go to school early tomorrow morning to help with our sports club. I'll go there earlier and keep an eye out for them."

Lucy nodded. "And since I'm still listed as her roommate, I can write up some excuse that she's ill and won't be coming to school until she gets better."

"And I'll think of something for Ichigo," Jacod added, "I can just lie that one of his sisters got extremely ill and was sent to the hospital. I'm sure Fernandez-kun's father is willing to write a believable letter back at Tokyo," he grinned at the young man.

Andrew face fell at the thought of his father. "Are you sure Kent will be willing enough to write something like this?"

"Why not? He owes me," Jacod snorted.

"But would Walker-kun's sister like the idea of being used for this lie?" Kyla eyebrows wiggled in concern.

"Don't worry," Jacod told her, "Megan and Megumi really love Angel-chan and thinks of her as their sister. I'm sure they would do anything to see her back with Ichigo and making me grandchildren."

Lucy smirked. "Same old Jacod."

"And I'm damn proud of it," he gave her a thumb's up.

Mark chuckled, happy to see some improvement in the air. "So, what shall we do when Walker-kun wakes up?"

"I know what I'm going to do," Jacod said as he slammed his fist into his open palm, "I'm first going to beat his ass for lying to me, and then I'm going to beat him up for being so weak that he couldn't protect his woman."

"I have a lecture prepared," Andrew added.

"I'll take Ichigo out to exercise his stress off," Zander raised his arm.

"Then I'll make him my special soup! It's made with chicken broth and sweet bean paste along with honey and mustard. It'll bring his mood right back up!" Kyla pumped her arms into the air with enthusiasm, although the others were turning slightly green.

Lucy shook her head as she laughed. "Looks like maybe things are going to turn out alright after all."

"Of course it will," Mark winked at her, "It took us so long to get those two together, there's no way we can just sit here and watch all our hard work go to waste."

"Touché, my love," Lucy smirked.

Angel stared out the dark window as the rain continued to collide with her window. She was lying on her giant bed in the room she had left over five years ago. Nothing had changed but the person now occupying it.

The very place she hated. The very place she had been trying to escape all this time. In the end, she was back to the very place she wanted to leave behind forever. It seemed she had been only going around in circles.

It's been over three hours since Angel was shoved back into this confiding room by her brother's bodyguard and the door was locked from the other side. It was almost like her room finally became a prison. And for the past three hours she stayed completely still with the lights off as she lied on her bed, her eyes with a far away look as they peered passed her window and at the crazy downpour that seemed to be crying her tears for her.

Angel barely heard the knocking on her door.

"...Angel?"

Her ears suddenly perked up as she heard a familiar voice, but ignored it as she continued to act dead.

"Angel," the person called out again as he-the voice clearly that of a man-continued to knock. "I brought you some food."

Angel heard the lock being undone outside and someone coming in, but she remained still in her position, only thinking it was a butler who would leave after he dropped off her meal. But after hearing the sound of the tray getting placed on her desk, she heard footsteps coming closer to her. She flinched when she felt weight pushing down the other side of the bed and when the man placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Angel."

Finally recognizing the voice, Angel looked up to see the familiar red head of her childhood friend. Immediately, the tears that had stopped an hour ago finally started up again.

Justin smiled. "Angel. How have you been?"

Angel's lower lip trembled as she sat up and wrapped her arms around her friend. "J-Justin! Wha-who?"

He just smiled as he held her back. "It's okay now. I'm here."

"J-Justin," she choked again, "I-Niisama, he...he-Ichi-"

"Shh," he patted her head, "Don't worry. It's going to be okay. Your back home where you should be and nobody is going to hurt you anymore."

Angel's shoulders stiffened and her sobbing started to die down. As his words started to sink in, she pulled away to stare up at him. "W-what?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

Justin continued smiling. "That's right. That Walker-bastard can't touch you anymore."

"Wa-Ichigo?" Angel breathing started to slow down and she detached herself from Justin. "Yo-you know a-about Ichigo?"

Justin tried to reach out for her again but Angel slid away from him on the bed. He sighed as he tried to reason with her with his eyes. "Of course I know. I'm the one who discovered you guys and told your brother."

"You-"

"You owe me now," he smirked, "After all, I'm the one who saved you from that fucked up teacher."

Angel's eyes widened as she slipped off her bed. "I-Ichigo," she breathed.

Justin nodded. "I was hoping the rumor I started back at Tokyo High School would have been enough to get him but I guess it didn't reach the principal's ears fast enough. So I had no choice but to go to your brother. It took a while but once I did, he quickly took care of everything."

Angel started to back off as Justin also got off her bed. Her eyes were wide as plates as she continued to gape at him. "You started that rumor?"

Justin nodded.

"But...but why?"

This time a frown appeared as Justin looked at her. "Why? Isn't it obvious? That citrus head was using you and keeping you captive back at his place."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "And how did you know I was living with him?"

"Well, when we came over to visit that guy's apartment for a study session, I went back to walk you home but noticed you never came out." A dark expression quickly appeared on Justin's face as he thought back to that day. "I was so close to going in there and beating the shit out of that guy but I decided to do this quietly in case people get the wrong idea about you." He approached her, shaking his head as he continued. "Let's not talk about that now. I'm angry just thinking about it."

Angel's heart started beating faster and her body tensed up. "It was you," she whispered before anger took the best of her and she yelled at him. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Justin was taken aback by her certain outburst. "W-What do you mean it's my fault? I did what I could to save you-"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Angel yelled. "Because of you Ichigo might be in danger!"

Justin glared when he heard her using Walker name so familiarly. "Why are you acting like I did a bad thing?"

"Because you did!" she screeched as her tears welled up. "If it wasn't for you I would still be with Ichigo and ni-isama wouldn't have attacked him!"

Anger started to bubble up inside him as he noticed her obvious distress over the matter. "You were being manipulated by him!"

"No I wasn't! I wanted to be with him!" Angel yelled. "Why did you have to interfere?!"

"Because I was looking out for you!" Justin shouted, "Why can't you see that that dumbass teacher was just using you to get a piece of ass-" his words got abruptly cut off when Angel slapped him across the face, sending his head flying off to the side.

Time seemed to stand still as Angel's teary eyes glared at him. "Congratulations," she said, "You have just successfully fucked up our friendship. From now on, don't you dare come near me."

Justin stayed frozen in his spot, his cheek burning hot as Angel turned around to walk away. But the second she took her third step, a growl came from the back of his throat as his eyes narrowed into slits. He took a giant stepped towards her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back into his embrace.

"Justin! What are you-"

This time Angel's words got cut off when Justin suddenly smashed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened in shock as she stood stiff, not really sure what was happening. But the moment she felt his tongue run across her lips, she was brought back to reality and quickly pushed him off of her.

"What's wrong with you?!" she screamed as she quickly wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "Why did you do that?! Are you that determine to terminate whatever is left of our friendship?"

"Friendship, yes!" he shouted back, "Because I want to be someone more than that to you!"

Angel's eyebrows narrowed as she snorted. "Are you crazy?"

"No!" he quickly responded, "I loved you ever since I could remember and I wanted to take our relationship to the next level but that fucking circus-clown suddenly came in and ruined everything!"

Angel gasped as she stepped back. "Wait a second," she held up her hands, "Are you trying to say you actually wanted to ask me out?" she cringed at the thought, "What made you think I would want to jeopardize our long time friendship by suddenly going out with you? And Ichigo didn't ruin anything since there was nothing like that between you and me in the first place!"

"There would have been! I was planning on asking you out when we graduated!"

"What kind of stupid excuse is that?!"

"A valid one, considering who your brother is!" Justin face reddened from both embarrassment and anger.

Angel took another step back and shook her head. "It never would have happened even if Ichigo didn't come," she said, calmly this time, "I don't love you like that."

A sharp pain ran across Justin's chest as he took a step forward. "You don't know that. There might have been a chance if only-"

"Stop it," she took several more steps back, "I don't want to think about 'maybe's.' I love Ichigo and I'm happy-well, I was happy before you went and told ni-isama everything."

At her sudden confession, Justin hands rolled into fists and he saw nothing but red. "What?"

Angel remained quiet as she tried to get away, but Justin continued to follow her.

"Y-you...you love him?" he asked.

"Yes," Angel swallowed as she noticed that the room was starting to feel small, "I love him."

Justin came to a sudden stop, much to Angel's relief, as he continued to stare at her as if she was crazy. "Does he love you?"

Angel looked straight into his eyes and nodded. "He loves me."

"That's bullshit!" Justin slammed his fist against the wall to his side, breaking through the drywall.

Angel gasped by his sudden show of violence, and she took the last step before her back hit against the wall.

Justin's shoulders heaved up and down as his breathing became labored and his eyes gave off a murderous glare. "That fucking guy is just spouting out lies to get in between your legs!"

"And you would know?" Angel glared the moment he continued dissing Ichigo, "I know Ichigo and he loves me-"

"Stop calling him by his name!" he shouted at her, "You sound like you already slept..." his voice slowly died off but his eyes widened at the realization. "You already did, didn't you?"

Angel bit the inside her mouth as she looked away.

That was all she had to do for him to understand. Justin gasped as he took a few steps back this time. "No fucking way," he muttered.

"Like I said, I love him and he loves me back. What's so wrong with showing each other our feelings?" Angel's asked, though she still wasn't looking at him. She remained still, waiting for him to scream, yell, punch or just all out destroy things but nothing happened. The room remained silent for several seconds before she heard Justin low laugh. She looked up to see his head facing downwards, blocking out his eyes, as his shoulders shook up and down.

Justin laughter slowly increased and he threw his head back to laugh out loud. "That's just fucking great! Now Bushū-sama has a new reason to get that bastard arrested! Not only did he sprout out lies about loving you to get you to live with him, but you two fucked each other! And I bet he knew about your inheritance too!"

The discomfort from hearing Justin menacing laughter remained but Angel glared at him. "Don't be stupid. Ichigo doesn't care about my inheritance; he didn't even know anything about this until a month ago! And we've been together since summer-"

"I don't want to hear this!" Justin suddenly shouted as his eyes turned red with rage. "I don't care so you better not bring him up again!" Without even waiting for her to retort, Justin quickly pushed passed her and headed to the door. He slammed the door shut after him and leaned against the wall to control his breathing.

Just the thought of that guy holding his Angel and whispering sweet nothings into her ear while making love was making his blood boil. It wasn't supposed to go like this. Angel was supposed to be his and they were supposed to live happily ever after. But some dumbass suddenly entered the picture and took away the one good thing in his world.

Justin was about to slam his fist against the wall again, cursing everything and everyone. His heart was being ripped to shreds and things just got worse when he heard crying from the other side of the door. His arm fell limp as he stared at the ground, slightly dumbfounded, before leaning his ear against the door to hear more clearly.

No doubt about it. Angel was crying out loud in her room.

And he was the cause of it.

"Congratulations. You have just successfully fucked up our friendship. From now on, don't you dare come near me."

Angel's words ran over and over again in his head and Justin logical mind started to come back.

He did it.

He finally fucked up his friendship with Angel.

Justin slumped against the wall and slid down it as he listened to Angel's nonstop crying.

It wasn't suppose to go like this.