She ran into her house and slammed the door shut, determined not to cry in front of anyone. She didn't need that on her hands too. Agura wiped her eyes with the back of her hand stunned when it came back wet. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes and leaned against her door.

The last time she had cried was before she could remember. She refused to take the practice up now. If she was honest with herself she didn't really even know what made her this emotional. But still she took everything and buried it. Into another bottle that hopefully the overfilling shelf would hold. But she just couldn't put this one away completely.

Moving on she took her soccer bag and put it in her room. Going to take a shower before she had to go to work she dropped the glass bottle again. It broke and all the feelings that she never expressed were thrown forth. Running as fast as she could she flung open the bathroom door and slammed it shut. Hurrying as fast as she could she turned on the shower and jumped in letting the water mix with her hot tears as they streamed down her face.

Sitting on her bed with her arms around her knees isn't one of those poses that says everything's fine. So when her mother barged in carrying laundry she scrambled to get up and look like she was doing something. As fast as Agura was she just wasn't fast enough. "I have yo… what pray tell were you doing?" Agura's head spun with possibilities but she couldn't lie to her mother. "I'd rather not talk about it, Mom." Agura said as she dropped her head. Her mother nodded smiled and left.

Stunned that her mother would leave her so easily but overly relieved she sat back down hard. Looking at the pile she sighed and got to work. Maybe it would take her mind off things. However as she began she realized it was too mechanical. She hadn't touched her phone despite several text messages she had received from friends. So she ignored the buzz on the other side of the room and continued.

Finished she started to move back to her fetal position but heard another buzz. Sighing she got up and walked over to see the ID. It was him. Agura didn't want to talk to anyone. Not now at least. She looked at all the texts she had received so far. Fifteen to be exact, all from her friends and all asking where she was and how she was and why wasn't she answering. Finally she got to Vert's texts. She almost smiled. But then it buzzed again making her drop her phone on her floor. Picking it up she went back to her bed. Taking a deep breath she read the texts.

(12:04) Vert: hey i heard nobody could contact u. i wanted to make sure u werent dead

(12:10) Vert: i know youre getting my txts

(12:15) Vert: can we pls talk?

(12:19) Vert: come on! talk 2 me

(12:21) Vert: i wont stop until u talk 2 me

(12:23) Vert: if i have to ill txt u every minute

(12:24) Vert: dont make me go to extremes

(12:25) Vert: fine. Just kno u brought this upon urself

She read them as they came. She almost smiled but it never reached her eyes. She didn't want to talk or text because she knew that she may not be able to cover up the fact that she lost control. It was safest to just stay silent. She could hear the home phone ring. That almost made her sit up. Nobody ever used the landline anymore. It was answered and she went back to her fetal position. Suddenly she could hear her mother, seemingly talking to herself, walking down the hall. Then her door opened.

"You have a call Agura." Her mother said handing her the phone. Stunned Agura didn't take it immediately. "Agura." Her mother warned. Trying not to tremble she took the phone from her mother's hand barely able to keep hold of it as she left the room in the same abrupt fashion as she came in. Trembling she brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she whispered, hoping against everything that nobody would answer. Unfortunately someone did and it was a someone that she had really hoped wouldn't call.

"I told you I'd take more extreme measures if I had to." Vert said over the phone. Agura couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say anymore. "Well say something or I'll go even further."

"Vert. I don't have anything to say." Agura congratulated herself. It seemed normal enough to her at the moment.

"The Agura I know would never admit that. She'd tell me that she'd beat my rear if I went any further." Agura could practically see him smiling over the other end of the phone.

"Well people change Vert." Agura said trying not to talk too much.

"Agura." Vert spoke her name softly and Agura winced and felt her cupboard with all her emotions cased in glass bottles shake and rattle. "Tell me what's wrong. Give me some hint. I want to help you. I want to be there for you."

"I can't talk to you over the phone." That one sentence took more effort to control than any one before.

"Fine. I'll come to you. Don't go anywhere. I'll see you soon." Vert said and Agura could hear him already revving the engine of the Saber. She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Then looked around her room and sighed again. She would have to clean because the way it looked now he would know something was up.

When he got there she wasn't even halfway through. She realized he must have been speeding pretty badly to get to her house that fast. Still she wasn't all that thrilled because her room still clearly displayed signs of having been lived in and not vacated for days.

Realizing she couldn't do anything about it now she went back to her bed and tried not to immediately curl into the fetal position. But that was still the way Vert found her when he got to her room. The first thing that went through his head was "Oh crap" but he remained in control and closed the door.

As he sat down on the bed she didn't even move which was a bad sign because by now her hunting instincts would have kicked in. Which meant she knew he was there and was okay with it or had committed suicide in the ten minutes or less it had taken him to get here which didn't seem likely. So he touched her shoulder and softly spoke her name. That's when her hunter reflexes kicked in and he was on the floor in seconds.

"Well, it's a start." He said as he tried to breathe and get up at the same time. Thankfully Agura released him quickly. He'd seen her take down Stanford and leave him unconscious in less than half a minute just for insulting her car. However he wasn't ready for her to collapse onto him shaking.

Taking action he picked her and himself up off the floor and deposited her on the bed. He was stunned yet again when he found her gripping his shirt. "Agura you have to talk to me!" He said to her in his leader voice because she was honestly starting to scare him.