"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."
– Laurell K. Hamilton

"The trauma said, 'Don't write these poems.
Nobody wants to hear you cry about the grief inside your bones."
― Andrea Gibson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{3rd Person Omniscient POV}

The entire class stood on edge as a shocked silence engulfed the mountain. Most of the class didn't understand what was going on, but they felt the horror. Takaoka was there. Karma had rendered Kayano unconscious. Why?

The few people who knew the answer to that question were unable to breathe. Nagisa stood at the back of the crowd, facing Karma, fists clenched at his sides. Jem was frozen on the roof, too shocked to jump down. KoroSensei's tentacles became entangled as he nervously slithered forward.

"Karma-kun!" The octopus called out, catching the teen's attention. "You've taken this much too far! Put Kayano-san down right now, or else!"

"Eh?" Karma tilted his head. "Or you'll do what? You aren't allowed to hurt us, remember, Sensei?" The redhead burst into spontaneous laughter, and KoroSensei fidgeted nervously, about to reply...

"KoroSensei may not be able to hurt you, but I can," a voice called from behind the crowd. The class rustled as Nagisa pushed his way to the front, glaring. "Karma, if you don't give Kayano to me, I promise that you that any pleads for mercy will go unheard." The class had never seen Nagisa like this before. Sure, during the summer trip, Nagisa's bloodlust had gone through the roof, but this time was different. The air around him was icy and calm, and his eyes were as dark and menacing as an endless abyss.

"Oho! Well, isn't this interesting?" Karma tilted his head, his eyes glowing. "Have you forgotten that you can barely walk?" The redhead laughed as Nagisa continued to hobble forward on his crutches. "How pathetic."

Jem gritted her teeth, snapped out of her daze. "That's enough, Karma!" She jumped from the roof, swinging her scythe. Karma grunted as he very narrowly avoided being decapitated. "Pick a fight with someone who isn't handicapped!"

Nagisa sucked in a breath. "Jem–"

"I'm sorry," she broke in. "I know this is your fight. But you won't win in your condition. I know it isn't fair, but you have to let me take this one, Nagi."

"Aw, really?" Jem jumped as the gruff voice came from behind her. She twisted, her scythe spinning in a deadly arc at the newcomer's neck before he dodged like it was nothing. Takaoka grinned. "You know, kid, trying to decapitate people really isn't the nicest way to say hello."

"Jemmy, you can't fight both of them!" Nagisa yelped, hobbling forward. "Let me take one of them–"

"Nagi? Jemmy?" Takaoka echoed incredulously, erupting into chortles of laughter. "Those are such a dumb nicknames! You guys must be really good friends to call each other dumb shit like that with straight faces. Too bad that friendship won't live much longer."

Jem froze, and Karma smiled slyly. "Oh yeah, you never did tell them your secret, did you? About your being a cold-blooded murderer." All at once, Jem felt like all of the breath was sucked out of her lungs.

The mountain was dead silent until Nagisa spoke up. "N-no way. That can't be true, can it?" Nagisa stared at Jem, his eyes pleading. "Jemmy? Why aren't you saying anything? Tell me it's not true!"

Jem wanted to say something, anything, but there was a huge lump in her throat. Why? Why NOW? Jem took a deep breath, trying to form words, but none came. She lowered her gaze, feeling utterly horrified.

"You see? She's not even trying to deny it!" Takaoka joined in the laughter, scratching his scars reflexively as his excitement escalated. "Class 3-E, I'd like you to meet Jemera Eld, murderer. Choosing to stray from conventional methods, she tore holes in her mother's throat and chest with a candlestick."

There was a shocked expression on every face in the class. Jem could barely bring herself to breathe. "It's not like that," she choked, her vision blurring. Jem blinked as she realized she was crying. "I was protecting myself. It was self defense. It wasn't like that!" Jem spun to Nagisa, desperate. "Nagi? You believe me, right?"

Nagisa's head whirled. There's no way that Jem would have murdered someone in cold blood. But... maybe... He gazed into her green eyes, overflowing with tears, and all doubts were wiped away. He returned his attention back to the class. "I believe her," Nagisa stated strongly. "After all, this is Jem we're talking about. And besides, I don't think she'd be crying nearly as much if she didn't feel guilt, don't you think?"

"Eh? How do you know she isn't faking it?" Karma challenged, pointing at Jem with a grin. The class started muttering amongst themselves again before Nagisa shut them up.

"I'm telling you," he said calmly, "no one can act that traumatized. I know that firsthand. You can act like you're okay, but you can't really pull off 'broken' until you've experienced it."

Most of the mountain was silent, trying to comprehend Nagisa's words, but Karma sighed. "Fine. Believe what you want, then. That won't change the final outcome." He laid Kayano on the ground, surprisingly gentle, then turned to face Nagisa with a stone-faced glare. "Whatever you try, Takaoka and I will win, and Kayano will be mine."

"Kayano?!" Voices erupted from class 3-E, finally understanding the situation. "What kind of game are you playing, Akabane?" Terasaka called out, scowling. "The shrimp doesn't even like you!" Calls of agreement echoed throughout the mountain.

"I've been shipping NagiKae for way too long for you to kill it now!" Another voice called, unmistakably Fuwa's. She clenched her fists dramatically, her eyes burning as if she were in one of her favorite manga. "MY OTP IS FINALLY CANON, AND YOU PULL THIS SHIT ON ME?"

The entire class's eyes bulged as Fuwa rocketed forward to stand beside Nagisa. "I didn't understand a word of what you just said, but okay!" Nagisa said, looking a bit confused. Fuwa grinned.

"Aw, Fuwa can't be the only one looking heroic, now can she?" Nakamura huffed, striding up to join them. She inhaled deeply, eyeing the redhead that she called her partner in crime; her best friend. Her eyes narrowed. "Karma, I don't know what you've become, but I'm gonna knock some sense into that head of yours. You got that?"

Karma glared, unsettled, as one by one, the rest of the class joined Jem and Nagisa. How could his words have such a great impact on them? Words have power, I guess... The redhead narrowed his eyes. No matter. I have a much better weapon...

"Do you guys know why people are afraid of me?" Karma asked the class. "It's because I'm not afraid to take what I want. Kayano knows that better than any of you. I'll have you know that she kisses quite well, even though it wasn't what she wanted."

The class bristled. "You kissed her?" Nagisa exclaimed, his voice contorted with rage.

"Oh, yes," Karma laughed. "And do you know what I realized that day? Kayano is special. And not just to me; oh no, I mean as a whole. I thought I tasted something strange when I kissed her... something I later confirmed to be... this." Karma reached down, lifting Kayano's hair from her neck.

Nagisa held his breath, unable to believe what he saw. "Th-that's... those dark injection points... those are..."

"Tentacles," Karma confirmed, grinning. "When I realized what a deadly, easily concealed weapon these were... how could I resist adding them to my arsenal?" The class gasped as blood red tentacles of his own sprouted from Karma's back, twisting together. "And besides, now my jade beauty and I have something in common."

The tentacles weaved together, forming bloody, almost demonic wings. Karma rocketed upwards at speeds about as fast, if not faster, than even KoroSensei. Fire burst in their wake, setting nearby trees aflame.

As if awoken from a trance, Jem jolted forward. Howling, she leaped, spinning her scythe wildly. Karma laughed, dodging her attacks easily by zipping aside. "Have you gone mad, Jemera?" The redhead called, his voice rickety. "I'm at the advantage here!"

The class stared in amazement at the scene that had unfolded before them. Intona shook his head. "It's like he's gone insane," he analyzed. "Which he probably has. The heat of the tentacles, producing so much energy, is frying his brain, scrambling his nerves. If he keeps putting up a show like this, he'll die in the next five minutes!"

"Karma-kun!" Nagisa called, waving his crutch to grab the redhead's attention. "You're better than this! Stop! If you don't calm the FRICK down, you're going to die!"

"Never!" Karma hissed. "I'll kill all of you, and then Kayano will be mine alone." He spun to Takaoka. "You! Help me! Start killing them!"

Takaoka glanced at the class, then back up at Karma, then at the fire raging around them. "Fuck this shit," he called, running for the woods before they burned down completely. "I've got better things to do than dying here!"

The class stared after him, no one in more shock than Karma, whose mouth hung open. Well, at least one of us has some sense, Nagisa thought, scratching his head. The bluenette spun to Karma. "You see? Even your partner doesn't see the logic in this! Just give it up already!"

"No!"

"Why?!" Nagisa shot, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Why do you really want this, Karma? Why do you like Kayano? Or do you even love her at all?!"

"What?!" Karma's face contorted with rage. "Why would I go through all of this trouble if I didn't love her? Kayano is sweet, and kind, and beautiful!"

"The same could be said of a lot of the girls here!" Jem cut in, going in for another swing. This time, Karma couldn't dodge as quickly, and the blade connected with his face. The redhead screamed bloody murder as Jem's scythe mutilated his left eye. "So why only Kayano, huh?"

Karma fell to the ground, nursing his eye. Something shifted within him, and the redhead started crying as he screamed, "What would you know, huh?! How can you just explain your love for someone? You want reasons? Fine! She's sweet, kind, beautiful, smart, cute, childish, bold, caring, sensible, charismatic..." Karma choked, inhaling deeply and glancing around at the class before continuing, "and... she reminds me of my best friend."

As the rest of the class stood in shocked silence, looking from Karma, to Kayano, and finally to Nagisa, the definite object of comparison, KoroSensei shook. This is it, he thought. Karma's tentacles are loosening. If he lets go of just a little more hate, I'll be able to zip in there and remove them...

"Of... your best friend?" Nagisa asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Do you mean... me?"

Karma looked down, unable to meet Nagisa's gaze. Of course I mean you. Who else could I mean? Who else has always been there for me? Aloud, he said, "Yeah. You. We've always been together, Nagisa. The reason we're friends is because I love your personality... who you are. Isn't it natural that I wanted to find a girl just like you? And when I met Kayano, I found that girl!"

"So why injure me? Why try to have me killed?" Nagisa demanded, his voice back to a shout. "You keep saying we're friends now, when just a few minutes ago you wanted my head on a spear!"

"I can't explain what I felt!" Karma snapped. "It was a really strong feeling... I had to do something to you! I found the person most like you, but you wouldn't let me be with her! I was dying! And you didn't even care!"

The two boys stared at each other, unable to speak, until finally, Nakamura took a step forward. "Karma..." she said gently, "I know this may sound crazy, but I think Nagisa was right when he suggested that you didn't actually like Kayano." She took a deep breath, letting the silence hang for a second. "From the way you're talking, the only reason you feel anything towards Kayano... that's because the one you like is Nagisa."

Nagisa's head whirled. "Karma?" He whispered, "Is that true?"

Instead of answering, the redhead gazed at the ground, blinking rapidly. The class could hear his intakes of shuddering breaths; they could see him trembling from head to toe. After a few seconds, Karma shocked the entire class by rushing to Nagisa and wrapping him in a tight hug.

This is my chance! The octopus excitedly rushed to the boys, removing Karma's tentacles with exact precision. With the removal of all that extra energy, the strength was sucked out of the redhead, and he collapsed, unconscious, into his best friend's arms.

"That... was unexpected," came a hoarse croak. The class spun to find Kayano, conscious and on her feet, stumbling towards them. "Who... woulda... thought?" Everyone was too shocked from the train of events to even help her over, and Kayano slowly stumbled all the way to Nagisa and Karma. She flopped down next to them, sighing. Honestly, why couldn't this idiot have just said all of this? Kayano observed the boy who had nearly killed them all, surprised to find that she felt no hate, only pity. It would have saved us all so much trouble.

"So... he's actually gay?" Terasaka blurted, breaking the silence in the most uncomfortable way possible. He scratched his head, frowning. "Huh. Wow. Never woulda' thought. I guess that tricky little bastard was subconsciously using Okuda and Kayano as cover-ups."

The air around the class was now twenty times more uncomfortable. "Let's just forget about all of that," Nagisa sighed. "Everyone's safe now. Everything's finally sorted out."

"Not everything."

The voice that muttered those words was so small that, at first, no one recognized it. Gradually, the class realized that it was Jem, who was standing just outside the group. She was trembling, her eyes bright, like she was about to cry. "You still can't trust me, right? Not when I'm a blood-lover, right? A cold-blooded murderer?"

"Jem..." Nagisa whispered, "Please, tell us... what happened?"

Over the next few minutes, Jem recounted everything for her classmates: her mother's jewel obsession, the attack, stealing the gems... everything. The class listened in shock as their classmate's past was finally revealed. It was terrifying, every second of it, and they felt terrible for making Jem relive it.

"Oh, Jemmy..." Nagisa whispered, at the story's conclusion. This time, he was the one to stumble over and wrap his friend in a hug, as she bawled into his shoulder. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I'm so, so sorry. It must have been hard."

Gradually, class 3-E started to smile. What a peaceful situation. Finally, no one was out to kill one another. Everything had been cleared up. And people had changed... for the better. It had been a long day, but finally, everything was over.

Kayano couldn't take her gaze off of Karma. So you never really liked me at all. You liked Nagisa, but you were too scared to come out and admit it to him. She sighed, smiling. You and I really are kind of similar. Kayano raised her gaze to the sky, surprised to find that the sun was already setting. Soon the glimmering stars would fill the night sky, as beautiful and magnificent as diamonds. She smiled to herself, blissfully in the moment, not caring about anything else in the world.

The sky is full of stars.
And even though they're all beautiful, you only truly have eyes for one.
Yes, there are truly many stars in the sky.
But you can't pick and choose. You just have to follow your heart.
Eventually, no matter how many times you lose your way, you'll find your love.
Your very own North Star, shining like a diamond, even in the darkest of nights.

(A/N)

Guys, we did it. Thank you all so, so much for supporting this book, through everything I've thrown at you. It would've been so easy to give up on me when I didn't update for months on end, but you guys didn't. You stayed hopeful, sending love and support. Really, I can't thank you enough. No words can describe how much I love you guys.

Go find your stars.

~Abigail Nekoria