She's That Knight Known As Zero

Leo looked back in confusion when Akihiro and Yukimura even Feena and the other"s fathers were running towards him. All of them looked worried, they only relaxed upon seeing that Leo was fine. Well except for the side of his face which had bruised already. Obviously it was due to Raven"s punch.

"What are all of you doing here?" he asked as he looked at them, who are out of breath.

"Back at you. We did our best to finish all of our work upon learning that you have woken up. We just couldn"t return earlier and then by the time we came, we only rested and yet the person we were visiting was not even in his room," Ryosuke rebuked. He was obviously agitated.

The others nodded in unison.

"Then how do you know I was here?" he asked once again.

Akihiro and Yukimura noticed the drastic change in Leo, compared to when he first woken up and even after Azusa spoke with him. This time he had changed in a much better way.

The others looked at each other.

(Flashback)

The other four obviously went to Akihiro that same night when he and Haruka spoke with Leo. They arrived in the afternoon and have decided to rest first before visiting their old friend.

Upon knowing that Akihiro had just dropped a bomb to Leo, they decided to postpone their visit to the hospital. They had their chat for an hour or so before standing to leave when a guard came and had informed Akihiro that Akito found Leo"s room empty.

They jumped up and rushed out as Akihiro pondered. Dai was obviously with Leo, he didn"t stop him for a reason.

They tried searching the town with some guards but no one have seen him. Yukimura joined them not long after. It was a sight for the ones searching were of n.o.ble bloods even the king was searching.

Azusa who was helping them search, realized that Raven was not around as well. She had then informed them before saying that Leo must have went to their old home up in the mountain.

The search was already on going for three hours, adding it to when Akito found out that Leo was missing, it"s already more than four hours almost five.

Without waiting for the guards, these friends run towards the path that Azusa had pointed in the past. Azusa commanded that the search is over and no one must follow the king and the others.

Rino and Nana agreed to this. If Leo was indeed planning something else then Akihiro and the others were the only ones who could somehow help him. If more people arrive that will just disturb everything.

Half way through the forest, these people met Raven who has a dark expression on his face, even Yukimura couldn"t help but to swallow upon seeing this look on his son. Raven would iindeed get mad but he seldom get "this" mad.

"Wh- What happened? Where"s Leo?"

Raven looked at them and bowed respectfully greeting them.

"He was still back there."

"What happened to your hand?" Yukimura noticed the scratch on his son"s hand.

Somehow all six of them was able to come up with an idea of what had happened.

"I punched him, I shall be taking my leave now."

He once again politely bowed before pa.s.sing them.

Yukimura was about to call him but was stopped by the others.

"You do know your son. He wouldn"t raise a hand against an elder and someone he respects at that. There is only one reason for that, his bottom line must have been crossed," Kohei started.

Being together for so long, these guys obviously knew the quirks of their friend"s children.

"And if I"m not mistaken, his current bottom line is his daughter," Teiji added as he pointed Akihiro with his thumb.

"Which means that Leo must have been planning on taking his life. Tsk, even I want to smack him now," Akihiro couldn"t help but sigh.

This is already within their expectations, that is why he left Dai with Leo. And if Raven didn"t stop him, Dai would surely do so.

"I just hope he really did woke up already," Genjiro finished as they once again made their way up the mountain.

(End of Flashback)

Leo chuckled upon hearing this before he looked back at the rising sun.

"The world is really beautiful, isn"t it?"

The others looked at each other before standing beside Leo, they all watch the sun.

"Welcome back, I suppose?" Akihiro said as he placed his arm around Leo"s shoulder.

Leo smiled, "Yes, I"m back."

*****

After returning to the hospital, it was already close to noon. This group of friends enjoyed their time walking down the mountain as they kept telling stories to Leo.

What welcomed them though was the dark faced Akito, without much thought all of them pushed Leo forward.

"We found him," after doing so they then walked away, as if running for their lives.

Leo looked at his friends flabbergasted upon seeing this scene. He then scratched the back of his head as he looked at Akito.

Akito just motioned him to go back to his room. There he cleaned himself up and went to bed diligently. Not long after that Akito came with medicine and bandages. Obviously the wounds in Leo"s feet were both deep and shallow.

He was also punished by his friends. They allowed him to walk down the mountain bare footed. That is why he had more wounds.

"Suffer more *laughs*" that was how they teased him.

He then remembered there is no such thing as care in their group. That showed that they were mad at him. They didn"t berated him or anything, they just plainly made him suffer. He could only shake his head with this.

"Seeing your look, I presume you have finally got over with your depression," Akito said as he was busying himself in tending Leo"s wounds.

"I"ve troubled you," Leo couldn"t help but say upon hearing this.

"That girl touched everyone"s life, not just in this kingdom but the others as well. I was one of those that was able to watch her as she grew up for the past more than 10 years. I"ve seen how much she cared for life more than others, that is why I share the others sentiments and why they had been doing their best to keep you in here."

Leo watched him, this was the first time he had seen this man spoke so much. Even when he and Kaoru was young, this man had been with his book most of the time.

"That is why, I myself didn"t want you to do anything to your life. It was not easy for her to save you after all. I hope you can cherish your life even more," Akito finished tending to him and finally left.

"She really touched so many people. I wonder when I would really meet her," he thought as he watch Akito leave the room.

*****

After coming down from the mountain, Raven went straight to his house. His mind was still filled with rage. And he just wanted to take a cold bath to pacify himself.

He couldn"t stop himself, just the thought that all her efforts would be for nothing? He just wanted to get Leo"s head straight. She worked hard to achieve this, he wouldn"t allow anyone to destroy it just like that.

After taking a long cold bath, he went to his table and pulled out the drawer and took out the notebook. There were more pages that has something written on it. He flipped it to the next vacant page.

He started scribbling, writing line after line. His eyes looked tired and was on the verge of sleeping but he didn"t stop writing, as if he wanted to finish whatever he was writing before resting.

The way he wrote was different than before, this time his writing was heavier, indicating that he was still in the bad mood over what had happened. As if he was venting all his anger in the poor notebook.

Page after page, he was able to fill three pages on both side until he was done and just like before he wrote the date of today a few s.p.a.ces after the last line.

After doing all these he took a deep breath and returned the notebook, that is the only time he went to his bed and without bothering with anything else he drifted to sleep, allowing his body to recover from all the fatigue.

*****

In another person"s mind.

"She really could replace me, she had changed so many people"s lives even without being here. Somehow I really want to leave already, if only not for that promise."

That person could only shake their head as they thought of this.