(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 61: Springtime in Autumn

Sword-fighting class seemed to zip by. Kim leaned against the wall of the target range, waiting for the meeting between Ke'Undre and Michael. She wondered why Michael suddenly asked to meet Ke'Undre, and worse, the look that Ke'Undre had whenever Michael left. What Michael had to say to him could possibly be that bad, could it? If so, then what did he have to say to him? She remembered hearing something about Keiko, but that was just her growing taller, hardly worth meeting with him for.

She heard a door slam shut echo throughout the hallway. That must be Ke'Undre. She rose from the wall and walked down the hall where the door had closed.

Kim gasped once she saw Ke'Undre. He was covered in bruises, with blood dripping from his lip and forehead. One of his eyes was blackened and he leaned against the wall as if it took effort not to topple over. "What happened to you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just tried to cash a check my mouth couldn't cash. Were you waiting here long?"

"No. Was this Katherine's doing?"

"How did you know?"

"I have my hunches. What did you do?"

"You remember what Megumi was talking to us about at lunch? About her and Katherine kissing?"

"Yeah," Kim slowly said. She suddenly frowned. "You didn't bad-mouth her for being in a relationship with Megumi, did you?"

"Oh, no," he said as he vigorously shook his head, causing his loose, shoulder-length hair to fly into his face. "She was asking me if Megumi said anything about them two. I said that she did except for Ian and Rose, but I forgot to tell her why until after she got herself worried."

"And then she did this to you." Kim shook her head. "Do you think you'll make it to the target range? You're kind of limping."

"Oh don't you worry about me," Ke'Undre said, trying to put on a façade. "Look, I can put weight on my leg. Check it." He pushed himself off of the wall and immediately tumbled to the ground. "Ow. Okay, so gravity's a bit stronger than usual."

"Oh, come here you. Wow, you're a lot lighter than I expected" Kim said as she lifted him up and placed him on her back.

Ke'Undre grunted as he was placed on Kim's back. The scent of lavender sent him into ecstasy. They both made their way to the target range. "So, this is what it's like to be tall, huh?"

"You'll get used to it. Oh, wait..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at Ke'Undre from the corner of her eye, her tongue pointed out.

"Ok, you've been around Megumi for far too long," he said as he laughed. He groaned in the middle of his laughter. "Katherine tried to break my ribs this time."

"Try not to cash that check again, okay?" Kim suggested as she opened the door. Gunshots immediately filled the air, along with Michael barking at his subordinates. He turned at once; his face was impassive as he saw Ke'Undre on her shoulders.

"Is he still alive?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm all good. I'm a little dead the neck up, but I'm all good." He gave a meek thumbs up over Kim's shoulder.

"Hm... Come over here. We'll need to be away from the team- I didn't say to stop firing! No one gets lunch until they can get at least fifteen bulls-eyes!" he commanded to the group.

"But there's only sixteen bullets!" one of the teammates moaned.

"Then you'd better not miss." He gestured to the other side of the room, away from the team, and more importantly, away from Keiko. "If you're still conscious, Dre."