Seven was naked and struggling, heart pounding and tears streaming down her face. Her parents had told him. And now he was here. In front of her. Naked. And aroused. That last one shouldn't have been possible. Not physically, but she was staring at it fearfully. She felt like a weak little girl. And she was going to be conscious this time.

"K-Kaiden, please…" she whispered.

"You're not getting out of this, Junia," he growled.

"Leave me alone. My friends will k-kill you."

"Well, I don't see 'em. Looks like they don't care about you. There's nobody here to hear you scream."

She trembled as he parted her legs to leer at her. He touched her and she felt panic setting in. He positioned himself and began to inch forward…

Then he screamed as Nine plunged a blade in his shoulder. Nine's golden eyes contained the fires of hell, the threat and promise of delivering him to that undying napalm. Kaiden spun around jerking the knife out and glaring at him. He threw the knife at Nine's face, but it never reached its target. It just stopped and hovered there in front of him. He grabbed the handle and stalked forward.

"Little shit, where did you come from?!" Kaiden barked, blood gushing out of his shoulder.

~You are going to either die, or wish you had.~

Seven shook in fear as she saw Kaiden react with a start. Nine's mouth hadn't moved, and for most people, that was a huge shock.

"N-Nine, he's bigger and stronger than you!" Seven moaned.

Nine shrugged stiffly. ~I'm the one who's going to win. I don't have to be Six to know that.~

Kaiden lunged forward suddenly, and Nine disappeared with a pop. Even Seven gaped at that one. He reappeared behind him and gave him a long scratch down his back, causing blood to ooze down. Kaiden turned and lunged again. Nine again disappeared and materialized behind him, giving him a deeper cut. Kaiden spun around, but didn't attack.

"Fight like a man!"

Nine flung the knife to the ground where it stuck, quivering, then he put up his fists and slipped into a defensive position. Seven recognized it as professional, though she couldn't place it exactly. She had no clue that Nine was trained in any sort of martial arts. Kaiden approached. Nine didn't move. Not until he lunged forward again. Suddenly, Kaiden was missing an eye, and he shrieked in shock. Another move and his right elbow was bending the wrong way. There was an audible crack! as Nine broke his leg, and a pop as the knee joint of the other leg was destroyed. As Kaiden went down, his other eye was gone just like that. Nine straightened when he hit the floor. Seven was astounded.

Nine picked up the knife and cut her free. ~Call the police. Now.~

Seven had given her statement for the third time, and Nine the first (it took an hour and a half to find a sign language translator) when One and the others sprinted into the house. They took in the huge stain of blood, the broken furniture, which was from when Kaiden had chased her around the house, and the shocked Seven.

"I demand to know what's going on!" One roared.

"Calm down, sir," a female officer said.

"No! I will not! Tell me why Junia is shaking like that!"

"Look, Mister, what's your name?"

"David," One growled.

"Look, David, Joshua has said that when you got home, we can leave. He will inform you of what's happened. If she goes into shock, take her to the hospital. It's bizarre that she hasn't yet."

The police began to leave, and the last one out looked at them and said in a very bland tone, "I hope you can speak sign language better than me. He used signs that I've never seen before."

The door shut and they heard them drive away. They were left with Seven staring blankly at the floor and Nine stroking her arm. One hurried over, taking his precious Seven from her boyfriend to coo at her.

"What in the hell happened, Nine?" Zero demanded.

~Kaiden decided to pay his Seven a visit.~

"Who's Kaiden?" Six asked.

"My ex. He's the one who raped me," Seven whispered, looking up at One.

They were so shocked that they couldn't make a sound. One finally kissed her head lightly.

"I'm sorry we weren't here, Seven."

"Nine was…though not sure how. I thought he was out with you."

One nodded. "He was. Then we hear a pop, and when we turned around, Nine was gone. Nowhere. I couldn't track him, either. We looked around for a while then Nine told us to get home as fast as we legally could. We disobeyed him. He sounded like he was about to usher in hell on Earth."

Seven nodded then reached out to take Nine's hand. "What kind of martial art was that?"

~Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.~

"Shit, Nine! That's one of the most brutal fighting styles out there!" Seven exclaimed. "Where did you learn to do that?"

~Brazil.~

They all kept their eyes on him. Answers that short were not a part of the Nine they knew. One sat between them, holding both of them close. Nine began to cry, and when he lost it, Seven lost it. The twins helped One to hold them until they had calmed down. Nine stood then began to pace. He was clearly agitated. Seven sat up.

"Nine? Are you okay?"

~No.~

"What's wrong?"

And that was the button that made him explode. He spun to her, hellfire again in his eyes. Everybody besides Seven drew back in shock, having never seen that particular look in that particular set of eyes.

~I hate that son of a bitch! I have never hated anybody before! I know that now! But him! Oh, I wanted to kill him. Just to have him looking at our Seven, my Seven like that! I didn't do enough to him! Oh, I should have cut out his heart! I should have made him a complete eunuch! I should have shoved something inside of him to see how he liked it!~

Nine probably would have gone on past that, but Seven went to kiss him. It was their longest kiss to date, and it seemed to calm him down considerably. He shivered and pulled her close.

~I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, Seven.~

"You were here when it counted, Nine," Seven whispered, tears in her eyes again. "I don't want to sleep alone. Please?"

Nine stared at her. ~You know we can't do that.~

"I can't sleep alone, Nine!"

"Then let's all sleep out here," Five suggested. "We can bring out our mattresses and move the furniture around. I think that both of you need some company tonight."

One smiled. "That sounds perfect."

"Before we do that, we all need food," Two said sternly.

"What do we want?" One asked, heading for the take-out menus.

"Can we go out tonight?"

Everybody turned to Seven; her face was tight. Nine's was blank, but he nodded.

~Yeah. Going out sounds good.~

"They need normal, One," Two said in response to his confused glance.

"Then we shall go out! And you two can decide where we go."

Seven huddled against Nine in the car as they listed a few places. They decided on Mexican, and they soon pulled in to the best, most expensive Mexican joint in town where they rented a party room. Nine got three beef enchiladas smothered in cheese sauce with a double helping of rice, while Seven settled for fish tacos with a double helping of beans, and they both ate quite a few chips. Two watched them, taking a bite of his steak enchilada.

"Nine? How did you get home?" he asked when he'd swallowed.

~I teleported.~ Nine said as he took another bite.

"You can teleport?!" One gasped, his red eyes wide.

~Yes. I can teleport. It's how I got from country to country without being able to afford airline tickets.~

"How far can you teleport?" Seven asked with her mouth full; One kept in his reprimand, fearing she wouldn't take it well, but she looked guilty and glanced at him, an apology in her face. He smiled and nodded in forgiveness.

~A couple thousand miles, but that exhausts me. I can get from the bottom of California to the tip of Maine, but then I just sleep for the next few days. I barely have the energy to eat or even get up to use the bathroom. There have been…accidents.~

"I'm not surprised. That's a lot of miles," Six said. "Can you teach me how to do it?"

~I could teach all of you how to do it.~

"Besides Six and myself, and you, of course, we don't have strong powers," One said.

~Then why is it that we all flash when you look for us in your visions?~ Nine challenged. ~Why is it that everybody has stories of pure weirdness happening around them? Like the way the dogs literally exploded when they wouldn't stop biting you, Five?~

"They did what?!" Two gasped, gaping at his friend.

~Why is it that Seven can learn all those martial arts like that? Why is it that Eight's such a great composer at such a young age? And the twins? Yes, they are gifts of God, but they are enhanced by the gift of the power of whatever the green stuff is. The twins' eidetic memories can be projected in front of them. Nobody finds this odd? What about One's little power that nobody talks about? The one where he can pick out emotions and thoughts that are supposedly 'strong enough'? Is he just looking at our faces? Or is he reading us more thoroughly?~

Nine set down his fork and leaned back, eyes gleaming in amusement at the looks on their faces. ~I promise you, all of you could do it. It would take time. Teaching. Patience. Trial and error. But it is possible. Now, how about sopapillas for dessert?~

When they went home, they got ready to go to bed. Seven went to take a shower, and Six warned One that somebody needed to go in there with her. One went himself, leaning against the sink while she scrubbed herself. There was a thud ten minutes in, and One shouted for Two, who had been standing outside the door for just that moment. They dried and dressed her then Eight carried her to the living room, where the mattresses were set up. One allowed Nine to hold her for a few minutes then separated them. Seven whimpered reaching out for her boyfriend.

"No, Seven. I will sleep between you. You aren't married yet, and neither of you need the temptation," One said.

"Kiss?" Seven asked.

"One."

Nine kissed her gently then curled up against One's side. He was so tired, mentally, emotionally, and physically, that he fell asleep in minutes. One sternly stated that there would be no talking. Only sleep. They settled down, but they knew sleep wouldn't last. Six whispered that they would be up in an hour and a half with Seven. Then two hours later with Nine. They didn't mind too much. They were family, and what had happened was harrowing for them. So, they relaxed into sleep. An hour and a half later, they awoke to a sobbing scream. And they began to soothe their female companion. Because that's what family is for.