Welcome to chapter two! Thank you so much for continuing to read Reality Check.

This chapter is still pretty tame. Not much cause for concern, though it does kind of mention the possibility of a traumatic experience? I guess? Whatever. It's PG 13 at worst.

I know I said I'd only be posting to once a week, but then I remembered I was going camping all next week and wouldn't have access to my laptop. So... here ya go! I'll post the third chapter the Tuesday after I get back.

A big thank you to Arianna Le Fay for the favorite and follow!

Now, without further ado, please enjoy!

~xXx~

Sayuri held her breath a moment, tears welling as the fear and confusion grew to be too much for her to handle. Her frustration at her own perceived cowardice, however, was just enough to prevent the tears from falling. She wanted to be brave, to surge out of the closet with all the fury of a natural disaster and demand answers. She wanted to know why she was here- wherever here was- and why this boy knew her name when she was positive she had never seen him before in her life. And why, if they were EVs with chakra, didn't they have Tags?

Were they EV hunters? Those radicalist Norms who used machines and Power Drugs to kill EVs, displaying their bodies as a warning to other EVs? Were they going to torture her for information on the rebels? She wasn't even a part of the rebellion! She was just an I EV, weak and nearly powerless. The closest to being a Norm that an EV could be! Maybe she could talk her way out of this? Make them see reason?

Still, she remained huddled in the closet, trembling in a volatile mixture of fear and anger.

"Sayuri?" The mother questioned, stepping back from her child to give him a fierce, motherly glare. Sayuri waited, heart pounding out a rather vicious beat. Why did they know her?! Why?! Had she been stalked? Researched? "Not this again." The woman groused as the boy sat up, clutching at his skull as though it ached. Sayuri's own head throbbed, as if reminded that it ought to hurt.

"Sayuri." Tadashi murmured once more, blinking rapidly. "Sayuri!" He suddenly exclaimed, head shooting up. Those bright, silver eyes of his scanned the room, and for the span of a single, stuttering heartbeat, Sayuri was certain he was staring right at her. But his piercing gaze moved on, and Sayuri relaxed infinitesimally. "Where is she?" He queried, glancing up at his mother, before apparently realizing her anger. "Mom?"

"What were you thinking?!" She demanded of her son, hands on her hips and eyes narrowed. Sayuri flinched back, the wrath of the frightened mother almost a physical force in the air. Tadashi merely winced, however, clearly far more used to withstanding the woman's anger. "You could've killed yourself!" Tadashi looked ready to speak up and defend himself, but his mother continued to speak before he could. "I've told you over and over to stop this! You've got so much talent, and all you're doing with it is risking your life to bring some stupid-"

"It's not stupid!" Tadashi protested, though he quailed beneath the force of the glare it earned him. "It's not." Tadashi repeated firmly. He looked down at his hands, searching for something Sayuri could not see. "I'm not just doing this for fun, Mom." The boy grew a little more confident, meeting his mother's gaze with wide eyes. "And when I figure it out, when it works..." He stopped, realizing something, before a look of pure and utter joy spread across his features. "It worked! Mom, it finally worked!"

"Tadashi..." The woman warned, fury abated but replaced by a tired sort of anger that was nearly as frightening. Tadashi shook his head, holding firm.

"No, Mom. I saw her. It worked." His tone pleaded for his mother to believe him. Whatever this was, it was important to him. His mother seemed to realize this and softened, more resigned than anything else. Tadashi took it, apparently believing that it was the best he was going to get.

Sayuri, watching on, had never been so confused in her entire life. She was sure, in fact, that nobody had ever felt this confused ever before, nor would anybody else from this point onward. Confusion, it seemed, made up her very being in this moment.

Three more of those important questioned still needed answering, the fourth could still use a little clarification, and at least a thousand more had cropped up during the argument between mother and son. What did any of this have to do with her? The conversation had devolved from a repetition of her name to a nonsensical squabble that meant absolutely nothing to the girl. All that terror, all that frustration... Now all she felt was was the desperate need for answers, and she was just about ready to walk right out and ask for them.

"Tadashi..." The older woman spoke, breaking the tense silence with her slow drawl of realization. "Did you leave your door open?" As she spoke, Sayuri's blood turned to ice water in her veins. A quick search through her memory revealed that she, not the boy, had been the one to leave the door ajar in her haste to hide. She berated her own stupidity, hoping against hope that the boy would think he had.

"No..." Tadashi replied, shattering that hope with a single word. He stood slowly, swaying, and headed directly for Sayuri's hiding spot. Terror returned tenfold, the tears overflowing now as her will to hold them back crumbled beneath the weight of her fear. She was doomed. She had been stupid, and now she would be killed by this family of EV hunters, her body left in the street for all to see. She should've run the moment she woke up, should've gotten the hell out and gone underground until she could find a new house far, far away.

Now, she was cornered, stuck in a room with two EV hunters. She didn't stand a chance.

"I didn't leave my closet open, either." The boy said, coming to a stop before the closet in question. A hand reached for the gap Sayuri had been looking through, nearly hitting her nose as it curled around the edge of the door and pushed. A sob escaped her before she could stop it, loud and raspy, full of the dread that threatened to consume her.

The hand pulled away.

The door had been opened just wide enough to reveal her crumpled form, her body caving in on itself as sobs wracked her small frame. It was all she could do to close her eyes, and wait for the pain to begin.

~xXx~

This chapter was pretty dramatic, but her fear is pretty justified. As her world is revealed more and more, you will hopefully understand. Besides, waking up in a strange place with strange people who know your name would probably be terrifying to anyone, really.

I hope this chapter provides a little insight into both of the main characters. It was actually fairly difficult to write. I didn't really like how I worded it for a while, and kept having to go back and tweak bits and pieces. I still don't think it's perfect, but I can't think of anything to change without changing the characters themselves.

Anyway, please feel free to leave a review! It would be much appreciated.

Thanks again!

Until next time,

The Monochrome Dragon