And here is the second installment! Sorry guys, it's a bit of a doosy, I didn't mean for it to be this long, but as I say to all my readers in my other stories, the story writes itself, I have little control over what it wants to do.

Don't forget to let me know how you think things are going. I really appreciate the advice and helpful critisizim.


Chapter 1

Normal World

"I understand that you're upset, Miss Devron, but I really should take a blood sample."

"And like I've been saying, I'm sorry, but I really don't want you to. I have my own doctor for this, just let me go see her."

She stared unfalteringly at the nurse with a heated defiant gaze, just daring him to keep trying to convince her otherwise. He stared right back, not the least bit intimidated by her.

At their feet lay shards of glass and the broken needle head of what had been the syringe, and around it a tiny pool and little spatters of blood, where it had all ended up after she had slapped it from his hand. There was another nurse already cleaning it up.

It wasn't that she was hurt badly, but her clothes were pretty much covered in blood from the shallow wounds she'd acquired in her latest quest for a thrill. She was surrounding by at least seven other nurses who were taking her injuries far too seriously, but this was not the problem she had with them. It was the fact that they were trying to take her blood on record.

Why did she have a problem with this? It wasn't just the paranoia she'd picked up from her father. Anyone who saw her blood type was bound to do a quintuple take, think that she might be alien, and then freak out at her. Usually, anyone who found out either made fun of her or had some sort of connection to the military, government, or a scientific association, and that always entailed trouble of the kind that involved experiments in the name of science, something she would rather avoid at all costs. The only two people that she trusted with her well-being besides herself, her family, and her best friend was her own specific doctor and lawyer, both specially hired by her father –who had had the same condition to a more severe degree– just to avoid this exact situation.

The Nurse, however, was not seeing it her way. "There is no time for this, Miss Devron. If I don't get a blood sample, we will never know why the meds aren't working on you or how to fix it and your injuries will get infected. If you won't give blood then at least tell me what condition you have."

"It's a private matter that I'd rather not disclose even with you. Now let me call my doctor, dammit."

"And if you keep refusing to cooperate, I'm going to have to assume you're either intoxicated, on drugs, or both. Go ahead and pick your poison. What will it be?"

She couldn't argue with his assumption. He had every right to assume it, and she knew it. But she had to stall for as long as she could. Her stepfather was already outside calling her personal doctor and her mother, but the doctor still had a 20 minute drive to the hospital and she wasn't sure how much time had already passed.

With a sharp sigh, she realized her mistake. "Look, I'm NOT on anything. My stepfather is outside calling my doctor right now. She'll be here any minute, and this wound is not going to get any worse in that period of time." She had woken up in a daze, saw the needle in her arm pull away like a mosquito that had had its fill of blood, went into a panic and, not knowing what else to do in that hazy moment, she had slapped at his hand so hard that the needle shattered to the floor, spilling its contents. After that, she knew things were only going to go downhill.

Not surprisingly, the nurse was so appalled by her actions that he was suspicious of her now, and he wasn't going to buy any of her stalling any longer. "That's where your wrong, Miss Devron. The lacerations could probably wait, but your concussion is too serious to ignore. I'm surprised you didn't even break anything from your fall, now hold still."

To her dismay, he began to order his assistant nurses to hold her down. She was strong enough that she could fling all seven of them off her at any time she wanted, but she didn't want to prove the head nurse right nor did she want to end up hurting them with her thrashing. All she could do was struggle just enough that they didn't suspect how strong she really was and hope to God that her stepfather would rush in through the door with her doctor before the needle was in her arm. Again.

Actually, it was about as the head nurse was inserting the needle into the most prominent vein in her forearm that they came bursting through the door, not after she had done all she could to stall him of course.

The first one to throw the door open was a girl about her age, thin wavy light ash blonde hair reaching just past her shoulder blades, stormy grey eyes wide with relief, wearing a blue corset style blouse, a pair of jeans that only reached her shins, and silvery-grey woman's rebook zig pulse IIs. "She's here!" The girl exclaimed as she came in.

Her stepfather quickly followed, his receding salt and pepper hairline covered in an Ed Westwick Caesar haircut, facial hair shaved to chin strap style. His bright baby blue eyes were about as wide as hers with relief that he was only just in the nick of time. "Dr. Amel will take over now."

As he moved aside, a woman in a very formal business dress with a doctor's white coat over it walked passed him, her dark red hair as shiny as the floor and fluffy as if she'd just let it down from a tight bun, bouncing lightly in the short bob that framed her face. Her hazel-amber eyes, burning with a seasoned professional confidence, were framed by slim rimless silver eyeglasses meant mostly for farsightedness, but she had already grown so used to them that she was always wearing them for everything. With a body that men fawn over but nearly non-existed breasts for a woman who was about middle-aged and still looked decent, she quickly made her way over to the stretcher with a small bounce in her step and shooed the nurses away, annoyed that they would treat her patient in such a way. "This is ridiculous… Enough of this! Let go of my patient now or I will call a lawyer." She scolded them with an assertive tone.

The head nurse, having no inkling of just who she was, turned to the woman with an annoyed scowl on his face, as though his height plus the lean muscular build was intimidating enough to scare off a woman as fiery as the one he was up against. "And what makes you think you're qualified to boss us around or even take care of emergency patients, Miss Amel? The white coat doesn't make anything official." He then turned to his assistant nurses, who had all been successfully removed from the patient. "Will someone please call security and the head doctor, now?"

Before he had the chance to make that an order, Amel shoved a card in his face showing her ID as a professional freelancing medical doctor of more than one field. "If you need proof then go run this through your system. You might be disappointed, but I'm afraid you'll find it's not a fake."

The head nurse sighed in exasperation, took the ID, and scanned it, only to find that she was right. With great reluctance, he handed the card back to her begrudgingly. "Fine... take over Doctor Amel."

"Thank you, young man." She ignored his tone of disrespect and went straight to examining her patient. Without even missing a beat, she went straight to bedside manner talk. "So, Kya Devron, what exactly did you do this time?"

"I told you to just call me Kya, Fhenise." Kya answered, relaxing onto the stretcher now that the danger of her strange blood being discovered was no longer an issue. She could still feel the pounding of her pulse even as it subsided. It had been far too close for comfort, though this was not the first time, and so the rush –though still unwelcome even after all these years– was a familiar one. "Kirsi and I were skydiving this time, that's what happened."

Beside her, the girl that had come in with her stepfather added the detail Kya seemed to have left out with a slight tone of mockery. "She missed the mark and hit the trees like George of the jungle."

"Shut up, Kirsi."

Her friend just giggled and started singing the George of the jungle song, ending with an imitation of herself saying the famous line to Kya. "Watch out for that-! ...Tree..."

Kya glared at her, but Kirsi simply giggled more.

"Girls, this is not something to make fun of, Kya could have seriously gotten hurt." Her stepfather scolded them in the tone of a worried parent. "Your mother is going to be here any minute-"

"Oh, Richard, it's not as bad as it seems." Fhenise cut him off without looking up from her work. "You know how your girl can heal, even from fatal wounds."

"That's not the point, Fhenise. Azumi is always worried about Kya. You know how she is, and even if Kya is a fast healer, she should really be more careful about what she's doing."

Kya couldn't help but feel like they had forgotten all about her. "Guys, I'm right here." It didn't surprise her, but when they went on as if they hadn't heard, she sighed, feeling ignored. As the two continued to argue, nothing seemed able to stop the train wreck on its way... except one thing.

"Kya!" Came the grievous cry that she was dreading, audible even from all the way down the hall. Through the open door burst the woman in question, and though the nurses tried to keep her from coming in, even they could not stop the whirlwind of worry that was Kya's mother. In her fret, she knocked down several of the assistant nurses and even Kirsi and Richard just to get to the stretcher. It was almost a mystery as to how Fhenise remained untouched, although Kya was sure she knew. "Kya, my baby girl, are you alright! The minute Richard called and told me, I came rushing over!"

"Mom... can't breathe..." Kya found herself squashed face first between her mother's giant breasts, which were almost disproportionate with the rest of her stick figure. The skinny figure was common to the Asian lineage, but big boobs came from both somewhere outside that bloodline and from plastic surgery, which had been decided on after many years of ridicule for having as much cleavage as Fhenise and caring about it.

But her muffled protest went unheard as Azumi turned to the freelance doctor. "What's the matter with her, Fhenise?"

With a smile at Azumi's over the top motherly concern, Fhenise spared a glance at the oriental woman. "She'll be fine, Mrs. Brogan. Just a few lacerations and a minor concussion, nothing to worry about, and you know your daughter. She heals fast and right as rain! You might want to let her go before you cut off her airways though…"

"Oh!" As if just realizing what she was doing, she released Kya from her grasp only enough that the girl wasn't gagging for air. "Forgive me, sweetheart..."

"I'm... ok..." Kya replied in between gulps of air. "I wasn't dying... really..."

"By the way," Fhenise turned to Richard, ignoring Kya's sarcasm, "You didn't call that airhead of a lawyer, did you?"

Richard shook his head. "I only put Mr. Gardale on alert. I figured you could handle it unless worse came to worst."

"Good," She said with relief, never pausing as she worked on Kya, "That big oaf would have only made things worse. Being the heir to a big law firm seems to go to David's head."

While the nurses looked plenty annoyed by this, Kya and Kirsi shared a grin amid the chaos of the moment.

Fhenise then proceeded to oversee every treatment that Kya underwent until she was finished. After that, despite the protests of the hospital staff, she ordered that Kya stay home for a few days and only attend school through skype. This way, Fhenise had full control over the girl's recovery, Kya could heal fast, and the issue of her unusual blood was out of the way. One of the worst things about being coddled was that she was rarely allowed to get up, even when it wasn't a danger to her healing process, and any time they saw her it was like seeing her up and walking around even though she was perfectly fine made them almost wet and soil their pants and have a heart attack all at the same time. This never stopped her, however.

As she walked through the living room to get to the kitchen, her objective to scrounge around for some leftovers from dinner, she had to pass by her little half brother and his two friends while they were playing wii.

He was about four years younger than her, had the raven black hair of his father, spiked up in a kind of spiky Japanese hair cut with a small goatee on his chin, the brown eyes of their mother, and that common European-Asian crossbred look. He was wearing his classic attire, waterproof watch on his right wrist, a green T-shirt with a single left chest pocket and a darker patch of green across his shoulders, a pair of flare jeans a size too big for him so they dangled around his lower half so loosely it was a wonder he was able to keep them on, or without his underwear showing all the time, and a pair of black sneakers. Sometimes she worried about what kind of fashion statement he was trying to make to the world, but their parents never protested and she wasn't about to correct him if he refused to listen.

"Kya?" He flew up out of his seat, almost making his friend drop the controller. "What are you doing up? You're still injured! Why aren't you resting?" Part of what he said was in Japanese, and though his friends may not have understood, she knew what he was saying perfectly. Being born in a bilingual family had that kind of effect.

She hardly stopped in her path to the kitchen to acknowledge him and his statement. "Because it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, as usual. I can walk just fine, Frank."

He seemed to get frustrated when she called him by his name. "Satoshi, dammit! How many times do I have to tell you, One-san?"

"Whatever, Franklyn-chan." Still ignoring his concern, she arrived unhindered at her destination and peered indifferently into the fridge, knowing that even if they didn't understand everything that was said, mentioning his name would get a laugh out of his friends and distract him, giving her more time to ponder on what she was going drink or eat or whatever she decided she wanted. She still wasn't sure yet.

The younger of the two friends burst out into laughter the minute she said Frank's real name, as if the sound of it was far too Ancient America for him to stand it. He had to be the nerdiest little runt she'd ever seen, heart of gold, but a state of mind in all the wrong places. He wore the stereotypical purple flannel shirt complete with the pocket full of pens and loose fitting jeans that he had no business wearing, both of which didn't suit him well. He was short, his frame small, and he probably weighed just slightly under the norm for his size. His hair style, although plain, was actually pretty normal, and it made his bright orangey-red hair stand out, but it didn't go at all with the rest of him. And, as expected with the nerd stereotype, he had a pair of glasses with frames too big for his face, but magnified the one thing that made him stand out: his deep brilliant blue eyes which, like his hair, did not fit with the rest of him. "Who names their kid Frank? Seriously! He doesn't even look like one! Satoshi is far better suiting!"

Frank immediately sent a glare of death his way. "Shut up, Ivan!"

"Well, it is!"

Chuckling, the older of his friends who was playing paused the game so that if he got distracted, he wouldn't screw up. "Easy there, little brother, it's not like he picked the name." He was the far better looking one by far. She wouldn't go as far as to say he might be the most handsome guy at school, but he certainly wasn't hard on the eyes with that smooth medium length cropped hairstyle that framed his face. The off-white blond color of his hair went well with his sunkissed skin. His hazel eyes were certainly nothing compared to his nerdy little brother's, but they were so warm and charming that it could melt any unsuspecting girl. Unlike his brother or Frank, his sense of fashion was actually quite normal, with the typical black white-beater shirt, a well fitting pair of jeans, and a pair of combat boots to go with it. Ok maybe that last part wasn't so normal, but also unlike the two, his heart was more of silver than gold. It wasn't that it wasn't in the right place, it was just that he was a just bit egotistic –ok, a lot- which made the charm not as effective. She wasn't sure why the girls threw themselves at him. He was nothing special at all.

"But isn't it true, Everette?" Ivan went on even despite being told to shut the hell up. He was the kind of person who could just keep going on so long about a subject that he could literally write a whole book about it.

"Ivan I said shut up!"

Kya smirked to herself as they argued. Her diversion plan had worked. Now all she had to do was figure out what she wanted from the kitchen that was satisfying. And then she saw it. There, sitting pretty on the counter, was the freshly made sushi that Azumi had made earlier. She'd already had some, but her mother had denied her seconds unjustly, so there was no reason she couldn't help herself now. Well, there was, but looking at that beautiful set of food made all reason fly out the window.

Grabbing a plate full and taking only a little under half of what was there, she made it passed the living room and up about 3 steps of the flight of stairs to the upper floor of the house when she heard Frank call out to her again.

"Kya, I thought mom said no to seconds?"

She heaved a sigh and tried to play it off like she hadn't heard him, but she only made it up about 5 more steps before his voice reached her again.

"Kya! I know you heard me!"

"What was that, I'm sorry?" She replied as she stuffed her face, still climbing the last 9 steps.

When she didn't hear a response, she assumed he gave up and continued toward her bedroom, quickening her pace in case she assumed wrong, which she quickly learned was once she picked up on the sound of angry foot falls following behind her. Rolling her eyes, she ignored this, choosing to again pretend like she suspected nothing and arrived in her room, placing the plate on her night stand before she had to deal with the confrontation presenting itself to her. Nothing she couldn't handle.

"Look, Frank." She said in Japanese, standing in his way at the door. Wasn't it normal between siblings to not want them in your room? "You know I'm fine and mom is over reacting, so why are you doing the same thing? It's not like my life is in danger."

He facepalmed and looked her in the eye boldly not with anger, but with resoluteness, his reply in Japanese as well. "I know that, we all do, but you really scared all of us today. Could you at least pretend for a few days? There's no way mom's gonna believe your ok yet, and I'm sure you know that too."

Kya groaned. "I know... God, I wish she would take it easy already. It's only been 21 years and I've never even come close to death ever, even in that car crash."

"Mom's never gonna fully get over that one either." Frank cracked a smile. "She's had it hard this week. Just do this one thing for her, would you?"

"Heh, you know I'm not a patient person." She had to laugh at his suggestion, and they both knew she was right. "I belong in the fast lane, not with the slow as hell people. And also, I have a midterm to take at college Friday. I can't sit here and miss that. However... I suppose you have a point."

"Mom's tougher on you than me sometimes, but you've always been the wild one."

"And you're the family grease monkey."

"I'm an engineer, not a car guy!"

"But you're good with cars."

"I'm good with all sorts of things!"

This time she cracked a smile, and then made a move to close suggest she was ready to close the door, hoping he would finally leave her alone. "In any case, I'll try, but I make no promises."

He bought it, but she was pretty she he got the message before that. "Thanks, one-san. Goodnight."

"Night, oto-chan."

Once he walked away, she closed her door and changed for the night. Plopping down on her bed with her laptop as she continued stuffing her face, she sighed, knowing that she had said she would make an attempt to follow Frank's advice, but it was going to be difficult to stick to it. She put on a movie on her computer and attempted to keep herself busy, but only 20 minutes into it she felt itchy about the whole sit-still-for-a-few-days plan. There was only so much sitting still she could take. It wasn't long before she found herself back down stairs looking for something to drink.

She noticed that Frank had noticed, but didn't seem to want to say anything, probably believing that they had an understanding, which she was afraid they might not. She hadn't forgotten that she was in her sleepwear, but she didn't much care as it wasn't horribly revealing. She usually lounged around in a white spaghetti strapped shirt with a built-in bra and the logo for her favorite soccer team across the front, a red button up satin blouse, and a pair of thin satin black pants and a pair of white socks, and that was what she wore when she wasn't sleeping. But she knew how some guys might find this hot nonetheless. Despite that however, she just couldn't bring herself to care...

Until, as she was looking in the fridge again, Everettee came into the kitchen and joined her by looking over her shoulder, almost as if to hint at some sort of desire for some intimate moment with her. "You sure you're supposed to be up and walking right now? The whole family is worried about you and your own brother just told you to get back in bed, didn't he? Such a stubborn girl." His voice was soft, that charm warming his tone, a girl grabber if there ever was one, but only for dumb chicks. No amount of tenderness could conceal the sound of conceit.

Not at all surprised, caught off guard, or even flustered by this, but very much disgusted, she simply sighed, rolled her eyes, and shook her head all at once. "Too close, Eve, I keep telling you. Do you want me to drop kick you in the balls again? Cause I can do that, in fact I'd be glad to oblige to your request."

As if the memory of what she had done to him the first time he tried to hit on her was vivid and painful enough, he backed off immediately at the mention. "Fair enough. But really, shouldn't you be in bed resting? I saw how Miss Brogan was acting. She was pretty worked up."

"She's always worked up when I get hurt, but it's never anything to actually freak out about." Kya corrected him as she selected her favorite orange n' cream soda to drink. "I would assume you've been Frank's friend long enough to know that by now." She closed the refrigerator and opened up the cabinet above the stove that held all the cups and glasses and reached for one.

"That's true, and I'm sure you can take care of yourself just fine." He closed in again and leaned an elbow on the counter so that he was looking up at her, a clever trick designed to charm unsuspecting women.

But Kya was far too smart for that. She didn't even spare him a small sideways glance, ignoring him without much effort. "I'm sure you know that well by now." She only turned to him once she had her drink prepared and took a sip of it first. "By the way, Everette, you should really think twice."

"About what?" He asked as he stared at her with those charming eyes, not really thinking about what she was saying as he admired her. He was either really of the belief that he had her now or he was really hoping he did.

"Hitting on a girl who can kick your ass easily." She glared daggers at him, daring him to continue his little scheme. "I know your tricks, you pulled them on Kirsi. Luckily, she had me to see right through it and save her. I guess I should at least break the news to you... your really not as good looking as you think you are."

He raised a brow as if he didn't understand where she was going with this. "What are you talking about?"

"Then let me put it in terms that your small male brain can understand: The main character of Ninja assassin is hotter than you." She said it quite smoothly, in which she put quite a bit of pride, especially when she got the exact reaction she was hoping for.

He looked extremely confused. "Wha-? What-?" She could see his brain working, trying to figure out what that meant. He had heard of the movie title, but he had no idea what it involved besides ninjas. And of course, who could possibly as good looking or more so than he? However, she wasn't about to wait up for him as he tried to catch up.

"While you figure that out, I'm going to bed. Tell Frank and Ivan good night for me!" And with that, she headed back into her room, deciding that was it for the night... at least until everyone was in bed.


"Hey, Satoshi! Why is your sister so closed minded?"

Frank looked up and saw Everette returning to the couch with him and Ivan. The older boy was coming back from the kitchen where he had attempted another pass on Kya, which had failed, like all of his many other attempts. Frank sighed at him. "Because she knows what you like to do with the women you date, moron. If you think you know her so well, then you should know by now that if you hurt one of her friends, especially the one she's closest to, you'll never have a chance with her. Ever."

"What are you talking about?" Everett stormed back to his spot and restarted the game of Grand Theft Auto they were playing. "That Kirsi Arawn was a horrible girlfriend!"

"You mean because she dumped you after Kya proved to her that you were going to throw her away once you got her in bed?" Ivan glared at his older brother. Even if he was a giant nerd and looked the part, even he disapproved of his brother's way of handling women.

"What?" Everett glared back at him, almost causing him to lose the whole game.

Frank stayed out of it. As the two continued to argue about how a woman should be handled, he shook his head at them and took the controls from Everett so that they wouldn't lose the game, but continued sitting between them so that they wouldn't get into a wrestling match that Ivan would most likely lose… with some serious injuries. He never got in the way of their brotherly quarrels. The last time he did so, it ended up being a huge fight between all three of them, which was something he would rather avoid at all costs. It had not been fun. Not because he missed Everett, but because the older boy was a jock, the captain of the high school Baseball team, and being targeted by a jock… well… that never boded well. Why he hung out with these two? Even he couldn't answer that, but he did know that even if he wasn't a womanizing jerk, Everett was and would always be WAY out of Kya's league.

Kya was the type of girl tomboy who preferred manly sports, or what she considered a man's sport, such as wrestling, football, and soccer. A guy like Everett who played baseball was considered unmanly to her, especially if they couldn't keep up with her in her own game. That and she had just become a sophomore in college. Everett was still a junior in high school. Oh, and he had tried to play his horrible game on her BFF. That was why he had no chance in hell with her.

As it got later, he was glad it was a Friday. He had already finished all his homework for the weekend -his mother wouldn't let him be if he didn't- and so he didn't have to worry about more until Monday. Everette and Ivan were also spending the weekend at his house so that they could work on the self-appointed project they had planned: a cosplay party for Frank's birthday. They had already gone through the surprise part of it, but instead of putting it on the exact day that he turned 18, they did it a month before, so that they could plan everything with him every weekend they had together. In fact, it was getting close to bedtime, so he turned the console off and turned the attention from women to his birthday, which set them both straight.

"So what kind of theme do you want, Satoshi?" Ivan asked as they set up the living room with the plans.

"Don't pick anime, ok? That's lame," Everett goaded, "Go with something like Demon's Souls or... Ninja Assassin!"

Frank gave him a dead-pan expression, having clearly heard the conversation in the kitchen with Kya. "Eve... you don't even know what that is, and last time I checked, a gaming cosplay and movie cosplay is just as lame as anime cosplay."

Everett stared back a moment, as if trying to make up something in his head that would sound like he actually did know what it was, but before he could get whatever he had planned at the last second out, Ivan interrupted, his seemingly unlimited brain space filled with information both useless and useful.

"I've never seen it either, but even I know that it's a movie depicting ninjas like monsters in a horror survival film. The movie consists of two main characters, the first being Mika, played by actress Naomie Harris, but the real star of the film is Raizo, played by the Asian actor Rain, always popular with his ever growing base of fangirls." He proceeded to surf the internet on his smart phone and pulled up a picture of the movie and of the actor himself and showed it to his brother. "This is what he looks like, shirt on and shirt off, in movie and out. I think you can see why girls would gush over a guy like that. He's like an Asian Brad Pitt. Nothing you can compete with, Eve."

With all this information, Everett cursed and almost broke Ivan's phone, which got him a slap on the back of the head and a cursing back.

"Don't choose either of those things, Satoshi!" Ivan announced with a glare his brother's way. "Choose Harry Potter! Or, or! Or D&D! That would be cool!"

"You've got to be kidding. Only a geek would choose something like that." Everett said nonchalantly, staring at Ivan like the younger boy was dead to him just for saying that.

"Uhm, I AM a geek?" Ivan retorted, unmoved by his brother's statement. "And besides, you'd be surprised how many non-geeks like Demon's Souls, oh brother of mine. OHHHH BUUURN! Who's the nerd now? HAHAHA!"

Throughout the whole argument, Frank had been thinking hard on the subject, ignoring both of them, and just as Everett was about to pound his little brother for his comment, Frank came upon his choice and blurted it out, silencing them both. "BRUTAL LEGEND!"

Both boys stared at him, Ivan locked in Everett's neck lock and Everett with fist poised in the air for a noogie, but both were on pause as they gapped, knowing what he was talking about but still in shock.

"Brutal what?" Asked Everett. Having never played the game and only ever seen Frank play it once or twice, he had no real idea of what Brutal Legend was.

"Why that game?" Ivan inquired as he removed himself from his brother's grip while Everett was unsuspecting. He knew what it was, being a pro-gamer and a computer hacker, which was where Frank had learned most of his computer skills.

"Well, because everything in it is based on music." Frank answered. "We could have people come dressed in costumes not just mimicking the characters, but stylized after their own favorite music. It's either that or just let people come as the please and... well... I'm pretty sure that most people would come as their favorite anime character."

Everett and Ivan shared a grimace. It wasn't that anime was horrible, just that there was far too much of it, and they were sick to death of it already. Frank on the other hand was a closet anime and manga fan, both brothers new that, but he wasn't obsessive over it. He hadn't seen everything there was to see, and most of what he knew of wasn't extremely popular. Instead of Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin, he liked things like The Twelve Kingdoms or Nabari No Ou, or Kya Kara Maoh. He did like some of the popular things though, such as Eureka 7, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ninja Scroll, and Ghost in a Shell.

"Why not just tell them to just come as their own character?" Said a voice from the hallway.

They all looked up to see Kirsi in her long purple satin night gown come out of the bathroom. She approached them from the shadows and leaned on the couch to look at the plans they had drawn out, being careful Frank noticed to lean the farthest away from Everett and closest to Ivan.

"But that would just encourage them to use their fanmade anime characters and just... ugh." Everett grimaced. He almost looked like he might puke from the idea.

"What's wrong with that?" Kirsi reluctantly replied in a disinterested tone, avoiding even looking at him.

Frank also noticed Ivan blushing bright red, since her breasts, which were barely covered by her nighty, were so close to his head that he could literally rest his head on them if he wanted to, and he had to stare blankly at his own arm to avoid even thinking of doing so. Now Frank knew she was no slut, she was just not always conscious of herself. This did put her slightly under the blonde stereotype, but she was actually a fairly smart girl. She was in some of Kya's college classes, though she was still a freshmen fresh out of high school, and though she was somewhat on the religious-spiritual side, she was pretty good at mathematics, game designing, fashion and writing, and she was very interested in culture, especially the Japanese kind, which was why she hung out at the Brogan household often. She could be seen spending just as much time with their mother as she did with Kya. The only reason he could think of that Kirsi and Kya could have become such close friends was because of Kirsi being... well, Kirsi.

"I suppose it's not a bad thing..." Frank said, purposefully avoiding mentioning everything that came to his attention so easily. He was far too observant for his own good sometimes, and he had already learned why. "It's just that not everyone likes anime and this might prompt some people not to come. We want to do something that everyone will like."

Kirsi gave Frank a very warm older sororal smile as she turned to look at them, still avoiding letting her eyes even stray onto Everett's form. "If that's the case, then a theme like the one you've already thought of is good, come in a costume designed after your favorite music genre. Just make it clear that anything that looks like a character already made up in the media that fits the part is cheating, and anyone who cheats gets thrown out!"

Frank blinked a few times at first, but he had to smile back, finding her suggestion to be a good one as usual. "The voice of reason as always, Kirsi."

She seemed almost insulted that he had called her by her name. However, instead of getting upset, she took on a firm almost motherly tone and looked at him with that matured silver gaze. "Now, Sato-kun, I keep telling you, call me one-chan! One-chan!" She scolded him gently. She then turned away and sighed. "Oh, but I have no right to force myself into your family, do I? What kind of girl would take advantage of such a gracious family like that? Oh, I'm sorry, Sato-kun, dear, you can call me what you wish."

"Uh, its ok, Kir- er, One-chan, really..." Frank couldn't help but notice how stiff Ivan had become, and when he went to look, he noticed the reason why. One of Kirsi's medium sized breasts had plopped themselves on top of Ivan's head, which made him tense and shiver with what Frank assumed was that familiar tingle of manhood when a woman made such a move on a boy so unversed in the ways of sex. Frank was sure there was going to be an erection soon. He wasn't sure if Kirsi was doing it on purpose or not, but either way, he had to feel sorry for Ivan. "I, uh... already accept you as another older sister."

It seemed that calling her by the requested title and telling her that he accepted her as such made her very happy, because she gave a little blush and a soft squeak of appreciation that he would oblige so willingly. He could understand why, but he really had already accepted her as another older sister, and certainly a better one than Kya, not that he didn't love his half-sister.

"Thank you, Sato-kun," she said sweetly, beaming warmly at him and patting him on the head, "It makes me very happy to hear that. Good night, boys, and Early Happy Birthday, Sato-kun. I hope all your plans come out well." As she walked back upstairs to Kya's room after they said good night and he said his thanks, it was very clear that her words were in no way applied to Everette, only himself and Ivan, simply by the way that she gave him only a short glare as she left the room, but otherwise avoided any sort of eye contact with Everette at all.

"Man, whatever happened between you two, she is REALLY pissed off." Frank said as he turned back to write down her idea on their list of plans.

Everette made no reply, as though he was keeping up the act that she didn't exist either. "Hey, don't write what she said down!"

"Sorry, Eve, but that's not for you to decide." He smirked at the older boy, knowing that he was right and that he deserved the treatment he was getting from Kirsi, but he was not going to tell him that. "It's my birthday plans after all. Whatever I say goes."

As Everette humphed and left the room to go cool down, Frank turned to Ivan and noticed that the predicted erection was present, along with a small dribble of drool on his chin. Frank shook his head. "Pull yourself together, man." He grabbed a tissue and wiped his chin as the younger boy began to ramble.

"She... she... touched me with her BOOB! What... what does that mean, Satoshi? D-Does... does she like me? D-Do I even have a chance with her? How old is she anyway? What am I saying, she's way too old for me, she's in college! And I'm... just a lowly junior who skipped the second grade... Oh, god, but older women are so hot...! Is it a crime to like older women? Am I going to hell, Satoshi? OH GOD I'M GOING TO HELL WHAT DO I DOOOOO?"

Frank sighed and tried to hold his laughter in. He knew Ivan was over reacting, but he had also been in his shoes once. So once he had himself under control and could talk with a straight face, he looked at Ivan and spoke as many words of wisdom as he could pull out of his ass. "Look, Ivan, you're not going to hell. It's perfectly normal to feel this way. Even I will admit that Kirsi is hot, although she's no Halli Berry, and I only consider her a sister. She's the type of girl who looks at a guy and sees the person, not how good they look or if they wear the latest fashion. And actually, I think she's fresh out of high school which means... you might have a chance with her. If you want to pursue a relationship with her, I'd say go for it." Well, he wasn't as good as Kirsi was, but at least he could say he was learning from her.

But even if he was as good as she was with words of wisdom, it wouldn't be good enough for Ivan. "But I'm the nerdy little brother of Everette Ferren! And there's no way I'm even close to being in her league... It's hopeless, Satoshi... I have no chance at all... none..." And with that, he curled into the futile position, fell over and just laid there sobbing.

Frank sighed. "Look, if you need to use the bathroom, just go, but use the one in my room. You can use the magazines I stole from dad's stash." It wasn't something he would normally have said, but he let the invitation sink in as he left Ivan to lay there, knowing that the younger boy would take the offer, and it wasn't long before he was up and gone before Frank could tell him to just go already. He shook his head and continued making plans by himself, trying not to think about what was going on in his bathroom right now.


...Yeah… hope that last part wasn't too awkward… it was meant to be funny but somehow I don't think it leaves that impression… But isn't Ivan just so damn cute? X3

Anyways, like I said before, please help me out and let me know what you think in a review.