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Chapter 3

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"I only transformed halfway!" Momiji said, shocked. He looked basically the same, except for a couple differences. One was the fact that he no longer had human ears, but bunny ears on top of his head. The other was the tiny claws that were in place of his fingernails.

"You… How…?" Kagome asked. She was freaked. She had seen plenty of rabbit youkai, though most of them were animalistic youkai, but the humanoid rabbit youkai she had seen looked like Momiji did, but with more rabbit features. They had the same rabbit ears and little claws. The claws weren't as long as Inuyasha's, or Sesshomaru's, or any other youkai she'd met, but they were definitely sharper.

"I… I don't know!" Momiji said, looking at the mirror next to the elevator.

"C-careful with the claws," Kagome said, seeing the claws go dangerously close to his eye. "They're very sharp."

"How do you know?" Momiji asked, turning to her. She was looking down the hallway both ways.

"I'll tell you later. First, we need to get you out of sight before people see this," Kagome said before grabbing his hand, careful of the claws, and started to drag him down the hall. She then dragged him into the empty girls' room. "Sorry about dragging you in here, there's no way I'm going in the boys' room."

"It… It's okay…" Momiji said, wondering how he'd kept up that pace without tiring. Kagome was much faster than the average human.

Kagome went over and locked the door with a sigh. "There," she said. "Now no one can walk in and see you like this." She then walked over to the counter that held the sink and sat on it. Momiji decided to just lean against a wall.

"Since it seems like we have some time before I change back, will you tell me how you know these… claws… were really sharp?" Momiji asked.

"Well… it's such a long story, I'm just gonna give you a summary…" Kagome said. This was her first time talking about it since she'd been forced to leave. She also knew she'd have to be careful what she said because the legend of the Shikon no Tama was a legend Kagome's class, and therefore grade, were going to be taught soon and she didn't know how old this boy was. "The day I turned fifteen, I was trusted to guard… something… But because of… circumstances… I had to… do something to get to a place where I fought youkai… but I'm back now, as you can see."

"So, you're saying that by hugging you, I transformed into a youkai?!" Momiji asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Well… Kind of. If I could say what it turned you into, I'd say it was a hanyou. It shouldn't be permanent, though, since my guess is that the spirits that are clinging to the Sohma's are youkai spirits." Kagome, seeing him start to freak out, quickly added, "The youkai aren't bad, or anything. I don't know why, but when a youkai or a youkai spirit is involved in a curse, they don't have any evil intentions."

"Youkai can be good? And how am I a hanyou right now?" Momiji said, still freaked.

"Yes. Contrary to popular belief, youkai are basically like humans, there are good ones and bad ones, though the bad ones are more common than the good ones. And, I'd say you're hanyou because your spirit is human, but the youkai's is, well, youkai. I'd say because the curse kicked in, plus something about me that wouldn't let you transform like you normally would, your body didn't know how to react to it and transformed you into a combination of the two spirits. Does… that make sense…?"

"I… I think so…" Momiji said, holding his head. It had started to hurt from all the information he was trying to understand. Suddenly, he transformed again.

"See," Kagome said when the smoke cleared, smiling at him. "You're back to normal!" She blinked when she noticed something. "Wait… Damnit! Why must youkai all have such silky hair!" she said, crying anime tears.

"Eh?" Momiji said, feeling his hair. It felt much softer than usual.

"Oh, sorry!" Kagome said, seeing him a little freaked out. "Didn't mean to say that you were a youkai! It's just, when you turned into a hanyou, you're hair became as soft and silky as a normal rabbit hanyou's. I normally wouldn't freak out about that, but when you changed back, you're hair stayed the same. That, and all youkai always have better hair than any girl I've seen… well, boys in general, not necessarily youkai."

"Um, okay…" Momiji said, trying to process the last bit of information.

"Well then!" Kagome said, hopping off the counter. "Now that you've transformed back and I've explained everything, we should probably get out of the building before the building closes!"

"Ah! Good idea!" Momiji said, checking his watch. "I promised to meet my dad in, like, thirty seconds!" After that, he rushed out of the bathroom, unlocking and opening the door first.

"Later Momiji!" Kagome called after him as she too walked out of the bathroom.

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The next day was the school cultural festival and class 1-D was currently keeping themselves busy building the booths for their rice ball stand. Kagome was, much to her dismay, helping Tohru sew… whatever it was they were sewing. Kagome hadn't bothered to ask.

"Hey…" Kyo said, gaining the attention of both the people building the booth and Kagome. "The booth is a little tilted."

"Cat addict really notices the little details," one of the three boys building the second booth said. The first of the two was already built.

"Yeah, cat addict," the second boy said.

"Just don't destroy anything, cat addict," the last boy said.

"Why are you calling me cat addict?!" Kyo yelled.

Maybe because of the little incident with the cats, Kyo… Kagome thought. Bored, Kagome said to Tohru, "Hey Ru, mind if I go hang up the curtain?"

"No, go ahead Kagome!" Tohru said, sending her a smile.

So, Kagome went ahead and brought the two large white sheets that would act as a wall for their store room over to the first booth. There was a rope hung up going just past its right side while the second booth was against its left side. Kagome, with one end of the first sheet crunched up in her hand, hopped onto the shelf of the first booth before jumping onto the part where the sign would be written, making sure to keep her balance. She may still be her usual klutzy self, but she had much better balance from having to make sure she didn't fall off of Inuyasha when he'd give her a ride on his back.

"Grr…" Kagome heard as she started to balance out the sheet. It would only stretch about half way, which was why they needed two. Kagome turned her head to see Kyo. "Why are you doing that!"

"What? My job?" Kagome asked. She'd been assigned to hand the curtains. They never said how to do it, so Kagome decided to do it the fun way.

"No! Why are you on top of the booth!" Kyo yelled.

"Because it's much less boring than if I were to use a ladder like a normal person," Kagome said with a look on her face that said 'are you stupid or something?'.

"Get down from there!"

Kagome smirked. She was going to mess with his head a little. "Gee, Kyo," Kagome said in a fake innocent/surprised tone. "If I didn't know you already had a crush on Tohru, I'd think you liked me!"

"I- don't have a crush on her!" Kyo yelled, a blush on his face. "I just don't want you to ruin the booth!"

"Aw, Kyo, you ruin all the fun!" Kagome said before going back to her task, totally ignoring the angry Kyo.

Not even two seconds later, she heard what sounded like a fan girl say, "Yuki…" Kagome turned around and saw two third years, a boy and girl, standing there, both with small blushes. The girl had her hands behind her back like she was hiding something.

"We would like to give you a gift, Yuki…" the girl continued. "We would like you to wear it during the cultural festival! Everyone chipped in to buy it! Look, look…" She took her hands out from behind her back to reveal that she was holding a very complicated looking dress. "Yuki's special used women's costume…"

Tohru and Kyo held a shocked expression while Yuki held a blank face. Kagome, on the other hand, was trying to hold in her laughter. Finally, when a boy was telling him to be strong and the third year girl was telling a nearby girl from Kagome's class how she couldn't believe that he liked it, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She started to laugh, causing the fan girls to all glare at her. Yuki still had his blank expression, the shock not yet worn off. She was shaking so much from laughter, she literally fell into the newly hung curtain, making the fan girls who had been glaring at her smirk at her predicament. Well, they were smirking, until they noticed the fall had not deterred Kagome's laughter any.

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It was the day of the cultural festival and business was booming for class 1-D's rice ball booth. Kagome had a large, oval shaped bruise going from the middle of her right hip to about the middle of the right side of her ribcage, not that she cared, though Tohru was pretty fussy about it. Though Kagome's been through much worse, Tohru didn't know that.

Tohru was selling the rice balls at the first booth with two random girls, a few boys were manning the second booth, Hana was dressed like a stereotypical witch, saying to anyone who asked that she was 'warding off danger', Kyo and Uo were doing whatever, Yuki was standing by the door, trying to pretend that he wasn't there, and Kagome was eating a rice ball in a corner. Though Yuki was wearing the dress the third years had gotten him to wear, she wasn't laughing. He'd been wearing it for a while, so she'd gotten over it.

"Hey! Don't take pictures without permission!" a random fan girl yelled, causing Kagome to choke on the bite she was trying to swallow. Since she wasn't actually choking, Kagome managed to get the bite down after coughing a bit. "Yuki doesn't seem to be very happy."

"Yeah because… his dress is too cute…" a random boy said, unheard by the fan girls.

"Really looks like Sohma is getting the customers all by himself," a random non-fan girl muttered. While she wasn't a fan girl, she still had a crush on him like almost every other girl in the school.

Kagome, done with her rice ball, decided to walk over to where Tohru was. She was standing in front of one of the booths, as the rice balls were sold out. Kagome noticed that Kyo and Uo were behind the booth.

When she walked up, she heard Kyo say to Tohru, "He's probably embarrassed about dressing up as a girl. When it comes to looking like a girl, that guy… has a strong sense of self-pity."

"Oh…?" Uo said. "Don't you know there are many people who are envious of him?"

"What… What should I do?" Tohru asked. She was having one of her odd depression spells. "In my heart I also feel… he is really very cute!"

Kagome walked up and put her hand on Tohru's shoulder. Tohru jumped, not expecting it, before turning to look at her. Kagome smiled at her. "You know Tohru, you could just tell him what Aunty Kyoko always told us when we told her not to call us cute."

"I… I guess…" Tohru said. "I guess I will, if I get the chance…"

"Du lieber Himmel!" a voice yelled. Suddenly, a very familiar boy landed on Yuki's shoulders, his arms around his neck so he wouldn't fall. "Yuki, you look like a girl!"

"Who is that?" a random boy asked.

"Ah…!" Tohru said, surprised. Kagome had to wonder why. She, of course, didn't know why Tohru had walked home without her six days before.

"…Why is that guy here at school?" Kyo asked, appearing at Tohru's other side.

"Huh?! Kyo, do you know him…?" Tohru asked, turning towards him.

"Momiji," a male voice said. Kagome turned towards it to see a tall man, about Shigure's age, standing there. He had ice green eyes and black hair. It was mostly short, except for his bangs which were mostly covering his left eye. He was also wearing a lab coat. "You shouldn't wander around by yourself, okay?!"

"Ja!" Momiji said, hopping off Yuki's shoulders to stand in front of the guy in the doorway.

"Hi," the man said, turning his attention to Yuki and Kyo. "How are you, Yuki? You too, Kyo."

All the fan girls squealed and crowded around Momiji and the man. Momiji decided to introduce them. "Guten tag!" he said. "I am Momiji Sohma, a Japanese and German mixed blood! He is Hatori Sohma. We are Yuki and Kyo's relatives."

"Hey Momiji!" Kagome said, walking up to him.

"Kagome!" Momiji said. He was really tempted to hug her, but he didn't want to freak out about changing into a hanyou again, especially in front of these random people.

"Hey… Yuki!" the man, Hatori, said, effectively stopping Kagome and Momiji's conversation before more than a 'hello' could be said. "When did you become a girl?"

Aggravated, Yuki replied, "You've seen me naked many times, are you making fun of me now…?"

All the fan girls, plus the few boys with crushes on Yuki, were drawn back in horror, asking if it was true. Seeing this, Kagome started to laugh again, falling on her bruised right side, not that she cared. To her, it was obvious that either Hatori was a doctor, or a pharmacist. By what Yuki said, she guessed that it was the former and not the latter.

"No!" Yuki said. "He's a doctor…" Hatori had taken out a stethoscope and was basically trying to give Yuki a checkup, not that it was very possible through the thick clothing.

Kagome, with her conversation with Momiji over, watched as said bunny started to climb the rice ball stand in a more clumsy way than Kagome had the day before. Everyone was complaining about it. Seeing this, she thought, Why is everyone so concerned about Momiji doing this, but not me? I mean, I know I'm not well liked by the fan girls, but I do have some… acquaintances, I guess, that would at least care if I fell. Which I did… Well, when I fell, they were distracted by the dress… But they definitely weren't distracted when I was getting up there… Well, Momiji does look and act like a child, though that small feel of his aura says differently…

Kagome blinked a few times to clear her eyes. She had been so lost in thought, she hadn't blinked and let her eyes fog over. She didn't see Momiji on the stand anymore, so she looked around. She didn't see him, Kyo, or Tohru, but she did see a slight waving of the curtains, telling Kagome that at least one of them was behind it. Kagome was about to walk away when there was suddenly a very loud 'poof' sound that sounded more like a 'boom' followed by a ton of yellow smoke trying to escape from underneath the curtain as fast as it could. Kagome's eye twitched, knowing what had happened.

Everyone, save Kagome, Yuki, and Hatori rushed over to where the two curtains met to see what had happened. They started to say things like, "What happened?", "Where's Momiji?", "Are these Momiji's clothes?", and the one that almost made Kagome laugh, "What's with the rabbit?" Kagome just couldn't believe her classmates were so stupid as to not at least think the rabbit had something to do with Momiji's 'disappearance'. The fan girls even thought that Tohru was a witch, they thought she cast spells, so why didn't they think that she had turned Momiji into a rabbit… though she kind of did.

"Strange, say something… Honda-san," a random boy said.

"Strange?" Yuki said, making Kagome and everyone else turn their attention to him. He had a forced blush on his cheeks and an obviously fake sad look in his eyes. He had a hand, fisted lightly, placed just underneath his neck and there seemed to be a wind blowing, making him look like he was a sad girl in some type of sappy movie, making Kagome have a hard time keeping her laughter at bay. "Then, I am also… very strange…" he continued. "I… as a man… dressed like this is very strange…" He closed his eyes and looked down and to the side at the end, making a smirk appear on Kagome's face.

What made Kagome almost, almost, burst out laughing was the fact that the two boys who had crushes on Yuki were the ones that sped over to him to comfort him instead of his fan girls. Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome noticed Tohru running by with a rabbit followed closely by Kyo and Hatori walking after them as they left. Kagome slipped out of the crowd that had formed two seconds before that. She was going to follow them, but got bored with it after she'd walked out of the door. She decided to go to one of the game booths of the cultural festival.

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The rest of the festival past smoothly. Not even a week after, Tohru had up and disappeared, telling them she was going to a friend's house, though her nervousness showed she was lying. Kagome hadn't bothered with following her, knowing that Tohru would've been way more nervous if she'd needed Kagome's help. She had come back later that night with Shigure happier than ever. Now, it had been about two weeks since then, about two days until the New Year.

We find Kagome walking down the street, looking at the store windows blankly. Seeing a certain shop, she went in. The walls were painted black, there was black lace hanging everywhere. The appearance made Kagome think that Hana would have a blast there. Kagome had come here because this was a place that sold charms, sutras, and anything else 'magical'. Kagome ignored the lady behind the counter, not even bothering to look at her, as she scanned the different items in the shop. Finally, she picked up some 'stones of fortune' from Ireland (I don't know what they're really called, but I've seen them before so bear with me) that still seemed to have some of their original magics in them. It said a word in it in both letters and kanji for one reason or another, even if these ones really were from ancient Ireland. It also came with a cardboard card on it that said what the small, oval/rectangular stone was supposed to do. She picked up nothing but protection ones.

She then headed over to the part of the shelf where there were black necklaces with a charm on it. These, too, were ancient with their original magics still in them. She picked up different ones, but still all ones meant for protection. Last, she went and picked up some strawberry incense, the personal favorite of everyone in both the Higurashi and the Honda family for one reason or another. It's the one thing everyone in every branch of the two families could agree on.

Heading over to the counter, still not looking at the girl who would be ringing up the items, Kagome gently set the stuff on the counter. After everything was put into a plain, black fabric bag, the girl, in an emotionless tone, said, "10,363.76 yen please…" (used an actual monies converter for that cuz I wanted to be accurate at that for no apparent reason. If you're wondering, it's 132.5 including tax. Not sure if tax is the same though…)

Kagome looked up at the familiar voice. "Hana?" she asked, confused. Hana was there, the black bag with Kagome's stuff in her hands. She was wearing the same outfit that she'd worn to the cultural festival, so Kagome assumed she'd worn her uniform to school.

"Hello Kagome…" Hana said, sending her an odd smile. "What has you're usually upbeat electrical signals so scrambled and down today?"

Kagome looked down into her wallet, making sure she had enough. She sighed at Hana's question. "New Years' for my family, the Higurashis', was kind of like… Christmas for Americans… I guess. We exchanged gifts, sang joy filled songs, and spent time together, being happy. This is my first year without that. I'm getting these protection charms for everyone so I have some sense that they're going to be safe…"

"What about the incense?" Hana asked, sending Kagome a sad look.

"I'm going to be visiting my family's graves for the entire night… I wanted to burn incense sometime during that…"

"You do know that all these charms are fake, correct?" Hana asked, wondering why Kagome thought that they would actually work.

Kagome sent Hana a smile. "Hana… I'll tell you later…" Kagome started. So that way your boss doesn't get greedy when he finds out he's selling actual magical items and sell them for a fortune! She finished mentally.

Hana nodded before giving Kagome her change and saying their farewells to each other. Kagome headed towards a secluded park, which wasn't really a park. More like a square forest that was the size of a park. No one ever went here, but there were picnic benches scattered through it. Kagome went towards one in the middle.

She sat down at a table there and started to pull out all her items, minus the incense, one by one. Leaving the incense in the bag, Kagome picked up one of the protection stones she'd bought. Holding her hands like a hand sign from Naruto with the stone between her fingers, she gathered a small bit of her ki into the stone. Setting it down, she did the same with the rest of them, including the necklaces. When she finished, she was slightly winded, not having to use her powers like that in a long while.

Kagome suddenly felt two people coming towards her. Kagome, being Kagome, was a very odd creature. For one reason or another, she had better control over her powers the less she had instead of the other way around. Carefully setting the recharged stones and charms into the black bag, Kagome fake rummaged through it so the people heading her way wouldn't know she knew of them. Two got within hearing range, she calmed down. While she didn't recognize one voice, but the other was so hard to forget.

"Come on Haru!" the familiar voice complained. "You won't let me eat anything until we get there! So hurry up so we can get there!"

"Calm down Momiji," a calmer, more laid back voice said. "We'll get there when we get there."

"But it's this way!" Suddenly, Momiji and an unknown boy walked through the trees. The unknown boy had odd colored hair, though Kagome assumed it was natural. White with black roots. He was wearing black leather pants, a black shirt, and a white coat with cream colored faux fur around the color. His eyes were a lazy gray color and he had a couple ear piercings. Momiji suddenly took notice that someone else was there with them. "Kagome!" he called running towards her, going to jump on her. He was, but he stopped himself last second, not wanting a repeat of last time.

"Kagome?" the boy said, his eyebrow raised. "So this is the girl who caused you to only half transform…"

"Yep!" Momiji said. "Oh, right! Kagome, this is Hatsuharu Sohma, Haru, this is Kagome Higurashi!"

"Am I right to assume that you're also a part of the zodiac?" Kagome asked him, actually rummaging through her bag. "Or more specifically, the ox…"

Surprised, the boy, Haru, said, "How'd you know that?"

She looked at him disbelievingly. "You wear a lot of leather and nothing but black and white, and you expect me to think you're the, what, monkey?" Kagome asked him seriously.

"Yeah, Haru," Momiji said. "Now that I think about it, your outfit does scream 'I'm the cow!'."

"Hey you two," Kagome said, catching their attention. "Want a little New Year present?" Seeing Momiji's eyes light up at the sound of the word 'present', Kagome giggled lightly. She noticed Haru about to refuse, so she sadly said, "I just wanted to celebrate it at least a little like my family used to."

"What happened to your family, Kagome?" Momiji asked, sitting next to Kagome.

Looking down at the two stones and two necklaces held in her hands, Kagome's eyes saddened. "The murder of Sunset Shrine happened…" she muttered, just loud enough for them to hear. The reaction was immediate. The surprise was so great, both Haru and Momiji gasped. Even now, a couple months after the murder, they were still looking for the killer, scaring people because all the targets seemed to be completely random, though Kagome knew that was far from true. There was one thing that connected them all.

"B-but isn't that the murder that they're still talking about in the news?" Momiji asked.

"'The teenage daughter wasn't home until the incident had occurred. When asked what the killer looked like, she only said the word 'supernatural' and wouldn't give the whole story when asked what happened.' That's what the newspaper said," Haru quoted. "The seemingly traumatized teenage daughter was you?"

Kagome nodded slowly before glancing back at the four charms in her hand. "Aw!" Momiji said, interrupting Kagome's thoughts. "Poor Kagome-chan!" He then threw his arms around her shoulders, seemingly not caring that he'd transformed back into a hanyou again, making Haru stare at him. Momiji looked odd in that form to him.

"Careful with the claws! Careful with the claws!" Kagome said, a laugh in her voice.

"Oh, right, sorry…" Momiji said, scratching the back of his head.

"Anyway," Kagome said, separating the four charms so there was one necklace and one stone in each hand. "Momiji, Hatsuharu, I want you two to have these." She handed them both a handful, careful of which one she gave which. "These are the real deal protection charms unlike their cheap, manufactured knockoffs."

"Why these, Kagome?" Momiji asked as Haru wasn't usually one to talk a lot.

"All the murders made by that guy… even if the police say there isn't a link, there is… and it's me. Like I said, these are real deal protection charms. They wouldn't have much effect had I not done what I did before you two got here. I had gotten a good feel of the attacker's ki, and my powers have built… an immunity to it, I guess you could say. I filled these charms and stones with the immune ki. If the attacker ever gets too close to you, the necklace will activate a barrier. If the person can somehow get through the barrier, the stone will through up a nearly indestructible barrier. If you'd prefer to fight, the necklace's barrier will fall and the stone will lend you enough strength to hopefully beat the person into the ground."

"Wait, what?" Haru said, thoroughly confused.

"Oh, right…" Kagome said, looking up at the treetops. "I never told anyone since then…" She looked back at them. "I'm a miko." (I skimmed through all the chapters of this story, including this one, and as far as I can tell, she hasn't told anyone yet. Also, if you're wondering, I have so many stories on my computer that I haven't posted that I can't remember every detail.)

"Is that why the curse reacts so odd with you?" Momiji asked, looking at the necklace with a bunny charm in his hand. She had given Momiji one with a bunny charm and Haru one with a cow charm.

"Probably…" Kagome said. She then remembered something. "Hey, can you two do me a favor?"

"What?" Haru asked.

Kagome rummaged through the bag some more. "Are there any of the zodiacs that you see on a regular basis?"

"Hm…" Momiji said, thinking. "I see Hiro-kun and Rit-chan a lot…"

"I usually talk to Kisa-chan and Rin-chan…" Haru said, slightly sad look on his face when he mentioned Rin.

"Which ones are they?"

"You're giving them some of these charms too?" Haru guessed.

"Mmhmm…"

"Kisa-chan's the tiger, Hiro-kun's the sheep, Rit-chan's the monkey, and Rin-chan's the horse," Momiji told her.

"Alright," Kagome said, pulling out four of the stones and the charm necklaces of the four mentioned animals. Handing the sheep and monkey ones to Momiji and the other two to Haru, she said, "Would you mind giving these to them? I may not have met any of them yet, but I want to make sure that they don't get hurt."

"Alright, I'll make sure to give these to them!" Momiji said, Haru nodding.

"So, why'd you guys come here in the first place?" Kagome asked. "Not a lot of people like to come here."

"This is our favorite spot to have a picnic," Haru said, motioning to the picnic basket he'd set on the table.

"Alright," Kagome said, looking at her wrist where there was a purple watch. Her eyes

"Bye Kagome!" Momiji called after the quickly retreating girl.

"Later guys!"

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Sorry for the short chapter. (this is just over eight pages instead of it being halfway through the tenth) I just thought it'd be a good place to stop. I'm also really sorry about the late update (I've been updating on Friday's in case you didn't notice). I got the Sims 3 Supernatural on Monday, had to catch up with my fanfiction after missing a couple days of that because of Supernatural.

I'm probably not going to update for a while because another story idea popped into my mind, making it harder for me to keep this story in line. I won't update this 'til that's done, sorry 'bout that. I also don't mean to scare you into thinking that I'll never update again with this next comment, but I wanted you all to know that I've never actually finished a story I've written, but I plan to first, start and finish the story in my head, second, finish this story, third, finish NP1, and last, fix up and finish ASL.

Anyways, thanks to Elemental64 for being a first time reviewer on this story from Chapter 2. Also, special thanks to leslie2132, and Suzume Batchii Taichi for being continues reviewer! You two are awesome for that! So, everyone! If you want to be awesome too, send me feedback so I can make this story awesome when I'm done with the next one! I love reviews so much, that I'll almost, almost, accept a flame as a review (though I don't)! Hope you enjoyed it and, as I've said before, review!