Working with Isfelvic again. I want this story to go far.

Still seems rushed probably, but it has to. I add a lot of details to make the chapters longer. Hope you like it! XD The third chapter should be up in a few days.

Anyways, I hope you like it.

AU! OOC!

I DON'T OWN BLEACH!

Scratch…scratch…scratch…

At the window. Soi's eyelids fluttered open. Kukaku was passed out, legs bent at the knee, one arm behind her head the other across her exposed belly, mouth open in a snore.

She shivered as she remembered what Kukaku had told her earlier.

Hugging her bumblebee tight, Soi slipped from under her covers and nervously stood.

'What could possibly be scratching at the window of the third floor?' She thought to herself. Reaching out one hand she took the string for the blinds into her hand.

Scratch…scratch…

Soi prayed it was just some silly bird. 'But since when do birds scratch?' She inched back and tugged the blinds open. She gave a tiny squeak when her eyes met a glowing pair of a green/golden set.

She sighed.

"You're just a cat." She whispered to herself, trying to make herself feel better. The cat pawed at the window again, its claws lightly scratching the glass.

Holding her bee even closer, Soi pulled the window open. A blast of cold air his her abdomen as she let the cat in. She shut the window and darted back to her warm bed.

The cat wandered around her room.

Soi watched it carefully. It sat between the two beds and stared up at the desk. Soi smiled. Why were cats so curious. The cat turned to look at her. Soi held a hand down, fingers curled. The little black cat immediately walked over and sniffed the offered digits.

The teen laughed quietly. She pressed a finger gently between the cats eyes and ran it over its head. It purred. "How'd you get all the way up here?" Soi asked curiously, obviously expecting no answer.

The cat looked at her for a moment, crouched, and jumped up beside her. It wandered around her bed, head down, sniffing her bed covers. Soi rolled over carefully. The cat wriggled into what little space was offered between Soi and her stuffed toy.

She smiled and scratched its small head. It purred happily and nuzzled her collarbones. "You must've been cold out there." She yawned. "Hmm…" She looked at her clock. It was two am. She yawned again, looked back at the cat,…closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

"Hey, come on." Someone shook her gently. "It's seven. We've got forty five minutes to get out of the dorm." It was Kukaku.

Soi yawned and stretched. She looked down,…the cat was gone…but how did it get out of the room.

"Come on! Get up and ready for the day." Kukaku called from the bathroom.

"But," Soi pushed the odd event out of her mind. "It's Saturday."

"You want breakfast don't you?" Kukaku walked back out, hair pulled back into a thin braid.

Soi yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "Okay okay." She left her bee on her bed and collected her clothes and towel for her shower.

"Today, I'll give you an actual tour. Introduce you to some friends of mine. Maybe Yoruichi can show you a few of hers." Kukaku called as she tugged on her boots and checked herself over. She'd chosen a black shirt with another firework design on the front, her pants were black leather…again.

Soi washed her hair carefully. She kept thinking about that cat. …How had it gotten up there…she hadn't seen any trees near the window. Better yet, how had it left? She shook her head as she finished rinsing her hair and took her body wash in her hands.

Kukaku sat on her bed, she yawned again. "We got twenty minutes yunno!" She called lazily. Soi finally walked out, coming her hair back.

"I'm moving." She chuckled, glad she didn't get stuck with an awkward, mean, or stuffy girl.

She fixed her shirt. White with bumblebee stripes on the long sleeves. Checked her jeans. Plain blue with faded spots at the knee. She wasn't going anywhere special so why wear nice clothes? Well…nicer.

She slipped on her yellow and white shoes. "Okay." She stood and smiled at her roommate. "Ready."

Kukaku chuckled and stood. "Bout time." She turned to the door. "To the dining hall!" She snatched up her keys and marched out. Soi did the same, but calmly. Locking the door on her way out.

Kukaku led the way through the warm morning air. Soi followed a pace or two behind.

"So…speak up, I barely know ya. Not to say I won't. I'm gunna be here till 12th grade." Kukaku rolled her eyes as she took some dumplings and tea. Soi got the baked fish and honey and tea. She followed her roommate to the table she'd seen her sitting at yesterday.

"Mm…like what?" Soi start to cut up her fish.

"Where you're from, what you like, favorite band…the usual junk. Whatever 'usual' is of course." She snickered.

Soi smiled and nibbled at her breakfast. "In that order…I'm from China. Beijing. I like a lot of things. Namely bumblebees and fish and…games sometimes. I like to draw too. My favorite band…they're American I believe…or English…"

"What's the name?"

"Daft Punk."

Kukaku blinked. Grinned. And laughed after she swallowed her dumpling. "A techno girl eh?"

Soi blushed. "Don't pick on me."

The punk shook her head. "I'm not. I like 'em too." She took a gulp of her tea. "I like You, Me, And Everyone We Know better though. The Daft Punk, then HelloGoodbye."

Soi chuckled. Kukaku didn't seem the type to listen to a band like HelloGoodbye. "I like them too. And Plug in Stereo."

"Any Japanese bands?"

"Just UVERworld." Soi shrugged. "I like some singers, but no personal bands."

Kukaku nodded. "Nice." She chewed up another dumpling.

Soi glanced around, searching for her cousin. If you didn't want breakfast on weekends you could sleep in till ten. The close the dorms for the short amount of time so the RA's can take a break, switch shifts, whatever. If you asked and didn't leave your room, you could stay inside.

She didn't see him anywhere.

But she spotted Yoruichi and Kisuke making their way over. Kukaku glanced over and grinned. "Yo." She waved.

Yoruichi and Kisuke took the open seats. "Hey, morning." She nodded to her old friend and looked over at Soi. "Nice to see you again. How was your night?" Her golden eyes glinted with mischievousness.

"How come you didn't tell me this place was haunted?" Soi frowned.

"I figured you'd find out sooner or later."

Kisuke gave a small laugh. "Yeah, if she turned up missing." His voice was soft but gruff.

Yoruichi shot him a look. "She wouldn't have."

He gave her a funny look and shrugged. "Mm hm."

"Kisuke?" Soi piped up. He turned his olive green eyes to her, smiling a little. "Why are you so quiet?"

"I suppose it's because I never have much to say. My little brother is the talker."

"Brother?"

"Kise." Kisuke smiled. "My parents are bad with names. He's in his eighth year. We don't get along very well." He rubbed his chin, which Soi just noticed, was cleanly shaven. Making him look a little younger. "He's a smart kid. Good with making stuff out of junk."

Soi hummed thoughtfully. "Do you have any siblings Yoruichi?"

The teen shook her head. "Nah. Only child. Got a lot of cousins though."

Kukaku yawned. "I'd love to be an only child." She sipped her tea.

Kisuke nudged her. "You love Gonju. He's a klutz but he's your brother."

"Yeah, yeah. Kaien has better patience with him than I do though." Kukaku huffed.

"You have another brother?" Soi asked curiously.

"Yeah. He's in college." The punk nodded with a proud air about her. "But anyways, enough boring crap." She waved her left hand lazily as she ate another dumpling and sipped her tea.

"So, Soi, what cha wanna do today?" Yoruichi leaned forward a little bit. "Check out recreation, play video games, walk around? Your call."

Soi smiled. "Why are you so nice?"

The violet haired teen feigned hurt. "I'm shocked. And we were getting along so well. And I'm nice to everyone until they get on my bad side. Then…that's all they get." She grinned, flashing bright ivory teeth with a little larger than average canines.

Soi breathed a laugh. "What about that Rangiku girl?"

"Oh, I knew her before she was a bitch and annoyed me even more." She rolled her eyes and glanced behind her. Rangiku was leaving her groupies and quickly hopping over to her boyfriend, who was waiting for her at the dining hall doors, hands tucked in his baggy pale blue jeans.

Yoruichi looked back around. "Where's your cousin?"

Soi shrugged. "Still sleeping I imagine." On occasion he did enjoy sleeping in. "Yesterday was long." She finished her tea.

Kisuke smiled, brushing back a lock of his hair. "So…are we going?"

"To do what?" Soi blinked.

Yoruichi stood. "I say we go hiking. Show you the are from a little higher up." She grinned down at the new student.

Soi avoided narrowly tripping over another large tree root as she followed after Yoruichi and Kisuke. They were trudging ahead, up the larger side of the hill the academy was on. Soi and Kukaku followed. Kukaku, a bit more gracefully than Soi, who'd already tripped once and would have been covered in dirt now if her roommate hadn't caught her.

"You don't get much exercise do ya?" Kukaku snickered as Soi hopped a little to catch up.

"I do. I'm just not used to hiking. We can't really do that much where I lived." Soi smiled as she huffed out a little tiredly. Looking ahead she spotted Kisuke speaking to Yoruichi quickly, almost urgently. He looked slightly worried. Yoruichi waved him off and glanced back, caught Soi's eye and grinned before looking back ahead. Kisuke looked upset now.

"Wonder what they're talking about." Soi mumbled.

Kukaku shrugged. "Don't worry about it." Her voice held an annoyed tone. Soi brushed it off as they continued.

Suddenly Soi's foot caught in a root and she felt herself tip forward, hands out. A tight grip caught her right arm and pulled her back up gently. "Ya should watch where yer goin Soi." Kukaku smiled down at her. Soi blushed in embarrassment.

Yoruichi and Kisuke had stopped and were watching them. "You okay?" The blonde called.

"Yes. Thank you." She looked up to answer and turned back to her roommate at the last two words." The punk nodded and helped her over the root.

Yoruichi looked at Kukaku funny, the punk shrugged not knowing what to say.

They continued up.

"And here we are." Yoruichi grinned triumphantly as she led them to a small clearing on a short cliff.

Soi followed her out with Kukaku trailing behind a few feet. Kisuke stood off to the side, he smiled at Soi as she passed. "How's your ankle?"

Soi stopped and looked at her feet. "A little sore from all the banging into tree roots. But I'll live."

He chuckled. "Good to hear."

Soi smiled. He was kind. "Kisuke?" He raised a brow to show he was paying attention. He walked slowly over to where she stood with Yoruichi and Kukaku. "How come you and your brother don't get along? You seem to nice to dislike."

His smile widened slightly. "My brother is…difficult. He and I were raised quite differently. He's my brother so I can't hate him, but…because of his personality it's hard for me to 'like' him for any other reason."

"Oh." His brother sounded like Ggio. But Ggio was easy for Soi to read, though that could just be because they'd been raised together. If Ggio hadn't been born as her cousin, she was sure he'd have been born as her brother or best friend. "I see."

Yoruichi touched Soi's hand to get her attention. The teen looked over at her. The violet haired teen nodded outward. "Look."

Soi turned her grey eyes to the hill below. Only she saw more than that. She saw the small city that was nestled below the hill. It looked small from there. It's fancy buildings of glass glinting in the morning sun. It's one river that wound along the edge like a white/blue ribbon sparkling like crystals. "It's…wow."

Yoruichi smiled. "Yeah. It has that effect." She pointed to the academy, nestled neatly just below. "Okay…try and make a mental map of this."

Soi nodded.

Kisuke smiled and turned to look at Kukaku who rolled her eyes.

"That big building is obviously the school." Yoruichi pointed to the second building on top of the hill. "That smaller one on the other side of the road is Records. They hold all the information on the students. Only staff and family members can get info on other students." Soi nodded her understanding. Yoruichi pointed to a large building with the whole front wall made of glass. "That's recreation. It's right at the middle cause it's easiest to get to."

"What can you do there?"

"Kendo, Reversi, video games, outside recreation. A lot of stuff. Lots of arts & crafts." Yoruichi shrugged. "That building over there is the girl's dorm as you know." She pointed to the wide arrow shaped building. "And that two floor building there is the Health building. Unohana is a really nice lady, you'll like her." Yoruichi smiled down at Soi, who looked up at her curiously.

Kukaku leaned over Soi's left shoulder. "She gets strange cases sometimes yunno." Soi jumped and looked around at her.

"Like…what?"

"Weird marks students get during sleep, or when they go down to the basements under the dining hall or the Rec. alone." She smirked. "She's the one that has to check out the areas of 'disappearance' sites. For anything weird or out of the normal."

"Oh stop trying to scare her." Kisuke called.

Kukaku glared back at him. "It's all true!" She snarled.

Soi looked over at Yoruichi. "Is it?"

"Sometimes." She shrugged.

Soi looked back over the campus. This place really was haunted.

"Most of the staff will deny it all. Unohana and her assistant never do though." Kisuke explained quietly. "Her assistant is her wife by the way, in case you see them doing anything affectionate. It's not allowed, but Yamamoto needs someone with experience like Unohana."

"How come he let her wife come here then?" Soi asked curiously, looking down at the hill. "What's her name anyways?"

"Isane. And that was Unohana's term of agreement. If her wife could work with her too, she'd gladly come to work everyday." Kisuke finished and looked at Soi.

"Oh…" She mumbled.

"The last building," Yoruichi started again, though quietly. "Is the boys dorm." She pointed to the last plain white building that was in the same wide arrow shape as the girls dorm. "There are two smaller buildings but that's just property, maintenance, and transportation." She shrugged.

Soi nodded. Uncertainty creeping in. Should she talk to her parents about it? Did Ggio?

"Come on Soi-Chan." Yoruichi called. "We're heading back. I'll show you around the Rec."

The teen turned to find her three companions waiting for her, ready to head back. She blushed in embarrassment, again, and jogged over as they turned and headed down.

Kisuke walked beside Kukaku on the way down. They mumbled quietly.

"Yoruichi?" Soi looked over at her current walking companion.

"Mm?"

"Do you like it here?"

"It's alright."

"Have you ever seen anything?"

"No. But I hear things sometimes." Something told Soi that her new friend wasn't being totally honest. Maybe it was the stoic look on her face or the suspicious glint in her golden eyes, she wasn't sure.

"Like what?" She decided not to call her on what she's seen in her face.

"Growling out in the hallway. Screams coming from the woods at midnight." Yoruichi looked up at the green treetops. "Don't worry about it though. You'll be fine." She looked at Soi and grinned.

Giving her a skeptical look, Soi asked quietly, "How can you be so sure?"

"I just know. Trust me, we're gunna be great friends Soi-Chan."

"It's just Soi."

"Kay." Yoruichi laughed lightly, tucking her hands in her orange jacket pockets.

Soi huffed. Her mind was reeling. She wasn't sure what to do or say. She finally just decided to follow her cousin's old smart philosophy.

'When it doubt, let things play out.'

He'd come up with it at the age of eight. He'd seen a friend from school get lured into an alley by some guys the kid thought were his friends. Soi and Ggio peeked around the corner and watched. Soi had wanted to act right away, but he held her back and whispered those words confidently.

She smiled as she remembered it.

"Care to share?" Yoruichi asked softly as she caught the smile.

Soi shook her head. She pushed her thin ponytail with the gold hoop back over her shoulder.

"I wanted to ask,…what's with the ring?" Yoruichi pulled her right hand out of her pocket and pointed at the object.

Soi shrugged. "My mom. She did it when I was little. Only it was a longer piece of hair near my ear, and she tied the ring to it. Because my hair was so short it looked nice there. Now…I just tie it at the end of my hair. Habit I guess."

Yoruichi reached over and ran her thumb across the warm metal. "It suits you, oddly enough. I've never seen anybody do that before."

"Maybe that's why I do it." Soi blinked.

Yoruichi brushed the small sprout of hair that was sticking out of the hair tie. "Your hair is soft."

"Thank you."

"Oi!"

They jumped and looked ahead.

Kukaku and Kisuke were at the bottom already. And at some point the two had stopped walking. Maybe it had been when Soi thought of finally letting things just happen. Or when Yoruichi asked about her ring. Neither was sure.

"Quit flirting and come on! I want to play God of War!" Kukaku called, her face in a slight grimace, her eyebrow piercing making her look more upset.

"Since when is casual conversation flirting?" Yoruichi called back, her face twisting from its soft expression to an upset one.

Soi just laughed and jogged the rest of the way down, Yoruichi following a few feet behind.

Kisuke had gotten his PlayStation 2 and brought it to the Rec.

"I still don't see why you didn't get a PS3." Kukaku commented with annoyance as she powered her PSP.

"To much money for what my parents let me have, and it's over rated." He looked over at Soi and winked. "Can't beat the classics, right Soi?"

The pale skinned teen smiled and nodded. "Definitely not."

They sat in the TV room. Where the far wall was lined with booth for students who wanted to eat. And every few feet from the doors in the middle of the wall to the right was a TV with a wall to separate the TVs and the noise made by each.

Every small section had a row of five plushy chairs. Sat directly in front of the flat screen TV that hung on the wall. Kisuke sat in the second seat closest to the wall on their right. An empty seat, then Soi, then Yoruichi and Kukaku sat on the small ledge next to the table that held the game system.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "That's like saying Nintendo 64 never went out of style."

Soi looked up at her. "I still have one." She smirked when Yoruichi stuttered slightly.

"I-I do too, I was just saying. They don't make them anymore yunno." She scratched her cheek and looked away. "What I meant by that was the companies think they went out of style. So…they make newer crazier things. That's all." She blushed in embarrassment as Kukaku laughed at her.

Soi didn't see the blush, or really pay attention to the nerves her new friend displayed. She mulled over the words. "Yeah,…that is true isn't it?"

Kisuke nodded as his game started. "Yeah. Classics are the best." he clicked continue on Kingdom Hearts II. Kukaku had wanted to play God of War. Kisuke wasn't a big fan of that story. "The graphics were pretty bad though."

Soi sat back, crossing her arms. "Yeah, but the plot and game play are really good. You could play old games for over and month and still have more to do." She watched Kisuke fight the Hydra. "These new games…the graphics are great, but the overall plot of them sucks or is to short. And the game play system is crap."

"I think Final Fantasy is pretty good." Yoruichi sat back and looked at Soi, who returned her curious expression. "They're never connected, most of the time, but the graphics are good, the game play is decent albeit a little stiff, and the plot is good enough that you can play it for a long time."

Soi nodded. "True. It's about the only one nowadays. Besides Kingdom Hearts." She noted as Kisuke defeated the Hydra and went to another world after a long chat. "Though I don't think it counts because they were made by the same company."

"I like Okami." Kukaku piped up from her own video game. She chewed on her bottom lip and her brow furrowed in concentration. Soi smiled and shook her head.

"Soi." Someone called from behind their small spot. The room was pretty empty besides three other kids playing D&D at the far wall in the booths.

Soi turned to see her cousin. He walked over, he looked upset. Even more so because of the short sleeved black hoodie he wore with the decaying skull on the front and his gray pants with worn parts at the knee. "Where were you all morning, I was looking all over."

"I was walking around with these three. They gave me a tour. And you were waiting for me? Yeah right…I was looking for you all of breakfast. You slept in so I left."

Ggio frowned when he caught Yoruichi giving him a funny look from the corner of her eye. He huffed. "You gunna stay here?"

"Yeah, why? Where are you going?" She gave him a worried look.

Ggio pointed over his right shoulder with his thumb. "My roommate Jazek and his pal Nathan and I are gunna go check out Nathan's manga collection."

Soi leaned over to see a pale boy with dark hair and funny looking red sunglasses dressed in a loose blue shirt with a game controller on it and baggy black jeans and clunky white sneakers. Soi resisted the urge to laugh. He was so skinny his arms and neck looked like twigs poking out of his clothes. His shoulders so bony they clearly stuck out from his shirt. And because he was so skinny his head looked entirely to large sitting on his neck. His face was serious.

Soi looked over at the other boy. He looked a right side better than the pale one. His skin was dark, about Yoruichi's color. His hair was black and neatly combed back. His shirt was black and pressed with a white cross that had red outlining around it on the right shoulder. His pants were black with those fashion rips at the knee. He wore shiny army boots. He was tall and muscular. His clothes fit him the way they were supposed to. He looked out of place beside the messy haired pale boy.

"Who's who?" Soi glanced up at her cousin.

"Nathan is the pale one. Jazek is the darker one."

"Nathan is from America isn't he?" Soi smirked.

Ggio returned the facial gesture. "Does everyone know how skinny teenage American boys are?"

"I think TV shows it enough, although they try and hide it with adult American's instead." She chuckled. "I'll see you at lunch then?"

"Yeah." He turned and waved, walking off.

Soi turned back to watch the TV. She didn't notice Kukaku and Yoruichi had stiffened. She just noted that Kisuke was closer to the TV with an oddly aggressive face on. She passed it off as the fight he was currently in with three heartless and more sliding across the floor.

Kisuke stayed at the Rec. for lunch. He didn't want to give up his favorite spot.

Kukaku was more than eager to chow down as she tucked away her PSP and bolted from the building.

"So what do you want for lunch anyways Soi?"

"Not sure. I like the ramen here." Soi tucked her hands into her worn jean pockets.

Yoruichi laughed. "Most people do. Surprising seeing as they make it, yunno?" She grinned.

Soi was about to respond when someone bumped into her, almost knocking her over. Yoruichi grabbed her shoulder's, helping her stand properly.

"I'm sorry. I was in a rush. I didn't mean to run into you." The person was a male. He sounded young. Soi looked over to see a boy of about her height with trim golden blonde hair. He looked like Kisuke. A younger version.

"It's okay. Accidents happen." Soi brushed it off and turned to Yoruichi. "Thanks." She smiled. Yoruichi just nodded, oddly quiet. She looked back at the boy. Soi turned back to him. "Are you Kisuke's little brother?"

The boy's face froze and he nodded. "I'm Kise. And you?"

"Shaolin Fon. But just call me Soi."

"Right. It's nice to meet you." He looked to Yoruichi. "Shihoin." He nodded stiffly and formally.

"Urahara." Yoruichi returned the mannerisms just as stiff.

Kise turned and walked away. He walked in awkward short jerks, shuffling his sneaker clad feet across the cement.

Soi turned back to Yoruichi. "You two don't get along either?" The violet haired teen shook her head. "Why?"

"We're just…" Yoruichi looked down at Soi, smiling awkwardly. "To different to get along. Come on. The hall will be nearly full by the time we get there if we don't hurry. Kukaku's probably gotten a table already."

Soi gave her a suspicious glance but fell back into step with the older.

Kukaku had indeed been waiting. She waved them over. Ggio was already tucked into a seat beside her. He smiled when his cousin sat beside him.

"How's your day been so far anyways?" He asked casually, eating a roll on his side dish. They had barely seen each other all day. It was strange, it hadn't happened in several years that they'd been separated for so long.

His cousin returned the smile. He was having separation anxiety. He was that used to having his cousin by his side. She shrugged. "Pretty fun actually. How was Nathan's manga collection?"

"Eh, not as great as he made it sound. How is Kisuke's game collection?"

"Nice. He has a lot of fun RPG games, FPS games and the such."

"He has Tomb Raider?" Ggio asked curiously. Soi nodded, holding up two fingers as she took a sip of her juice. "Nice. Mind if I hang out with you guys the rest of the day?" He looked at Kukaku and Yoruichi for acceptance.

They shook their heads and went back to heir mumbled conversation.

"Why?" Soi turned and glanced around for the two boys her cousin had been spending time with earlier. She caught Jazek sitting with a few other kids that looked his age. Some with skin like his and others with a few shades lighter. He caught her eye and smiled kindly before going back to his own conversation.

"Jazek is cool. Really cool. And nice, you'd like him I think." Ggio started explaining. "But Nathan,…he's really weird. There's some stuff he says that's just…nuts." Ggio glanced over his shoulder. Soi followed his line of vision to the back corner of the dining hall. They spotted Nathan sitting with a few other boys and girls. Ggio turned to Soi. "He talks about the stuff he's seen and heard. I get this place is creepy. I heard footsteps walking around the floor above me most of the night last night. But still…" He shivered.

"What's weird about hearing footsteps?" Soi's brow furrowed.

"Soi…the room above mine is empty." Ggio stared at her for a short moment. "The RA on that floor doesn't do rounds till one."

Soi blinked. "So?"

"The pacing was going from eleven till twelve. Nobody but the RA has the key to the rooms. Who could have possibly been in there?" He mumbled. Soi had a feeling his nerves were straining to keep him calm. He had, after all, never really believed in ghosts.

But seeing is believing, right? Or hearing in this case.

"Maybe it was Nathan." Soi snickered.

Ggio gave her a stressed look. "Not funny." He glanced over his shoulder again then back to Soi. "He talks about seeing funny shadows walking around outside. And weird glowing things in the dark when the main lights go off." He sighed. "Soi, this place is really creepy. We should just go home."

Soi frowned. "Don't worry about it. You do have a roommate. Anything weird happens, just wake him up."

Ggio looked down at his half empty tray. "…I dunno."

"Ggio," Soi took her cousin's hand in her smaller one. "Just calm down. Things always seem weird at a new place. I think some of it may be in your head." She smiled and pulled her hand back.

He nodded slowly. "I guess. Maybe." He frowned. He didn't like this place one bit. First day had been alright.

But wasn't that how it went? The first day was always good. Then, didn't it always go down hill from there.

When Soi had spoken to Kukaku later that night about her cousin, the punk had waved it off.

"He'll be fine." She sounded so sure. "I'll introduce him to my little brother if you like. I'm sure they'd hit it off. And Jazek looks out for all his friends. He'll be fine." She'd smiled at her roommate as she got ready for bed.

Soi had mulled it over as she took her night shower. "What about Nathan?" She called.

There was a pause. "I wouldn't recommend hanging around him. You or Ggio. He's a loon. Just got back on campus from a psychotic ward."

"Why was he there?" Soi asked worriedly as she stepped out of the shower, yellow towel wrapped around her tightly.

"Word is he went crazy on a holiday trip home. Started swinging katana around and said he had to kill them. Whatever 'them' is." Kukaku called back as she fell back onto her bed.

Soi stepped out of the bathroom in her night clothes.

"Get the light will ya?" Kukaku asked quietly. Soi flicked off the light.

Now the only light streaming into the room was the light from the window which had its blinds open. Soi passed on her way to hang up her towel. She got a prickly feeling at the base of her spine. Like someone was watching her.

But her roommate had turned to the wall and was humming a song lightly to herself.

Soi glanced out the window. But all that was outside was the streetlamp that flickered every now and again on the road below. Soi glanced around the flickering source of light. She didn't see anything or anyone. But she still had that tingle in her spine that told her someone was watching.

Nervously, Soi flipped the blinds closed and made her way to bed. Hung up the towel on the chair, turned in bed, and hugged her bumblebee to her chest. Trying to brush off the creeping feeling in her lower belly.

She curled up, tucking her head under her blanket. Trying her very hardest to press away the outside world, and that stupid scratching at the window.