Disclaimer: Sadly, we still don't own this anime.

AN: Hi! It's my turn again to set up the next bit of the plot. Have you had any thoughts on what might happen? After all, two different authors have two different sides of the story and where it will lead to. :) Btw, this is September of 2014.

Oh and I'll be taking on the role of responding to reviews. Satiety might respond to some, but it will mostly be me. I'll edit out his chapters so I can put up any reviews that I respond to in there.

Enjoy!

B-chanz's Corner

Otaku Rukia:

I'm glad it caught your interest! To tell you the truth, I made chapter one on the same day I posted it. So I was doubtful in how the first chapter would be. We'll update as frequently as we can!

Saru14:

Aha! We caught another fish here! Have any clues as to what we may be planning? Y'see, we're just going with the flow.

Mikee1:

Thanks! We've been working out kinks for future scenes, so stick around for those. Waiting is all a part of the game…! ;)

Mayumiligaya:

(Your name reminds me of this soap I'm watching. Lol.)

I'm glad you think our story sticks out from others. We think description is important since that's what you need to picture the scene. I'll gladly stop the Japanese words in future chapters; it was a trial run to see how readers would react to it. I'll still keep the honorifics on; I've notified Satiety of this. Don't worry about it! I prefer brutal and honest reviews…basically anything to improve on for future chapters.

Twisted Promises

Chapter 3

It has been three weeks since school started this September. For the seniors, it would turn out to be a really hectic year. The Student Council campaigns were to finish off at the end of the next month. There were also many other activities that are being organized for the following month.

Shana, however, was sitting at her desk, staring at nothing in particular. Her mind had blocked out everything as she began to dwell on a particular dream she had the previous night. She couldn't remember the details, but there was surely an image of…something.

"Ugh." She unconsciously tapped her pencil against her desk to the beat of a tune she was humming. Class had ended five minutes ago and she had volunteered to do cleaning duty once everyone had gone. This was one of her daily musings, an end of the day routine to clear out her thoughts and start fresh.

There were two of her classmates still present and it looked like they would be in the room for a little while longer. It wouldn't hurt to start cleaning a bit now; she surveyed the room to see what needed to be done. There was the chalkboard that just needed to be wiped down, stray papers on the desks, and sorting out the recycling bin.

"There's nothing much to do today, I suppose." Shana rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a bucket, and left the room to fill it with water. She closed the classroom door behind her, shutting out the voices of the two students, and headed to the nearest washroom.

Her thoughts drifted back to the dream as her feet guided her to her destination.

Some sort of tree was there and…

She turned on the tap and placed the bucket under it. She vaguely remembered that there were petals of some sort floating around her, but what really unnerved her was when a shadowy figure spoke to her.

He called me Shana. No honorifics, just Shana. Her face scrunched into frustration as she hurriedly turned off the tap. It may just be a dream, but someone I don't know is not allowed to call me by my first name. They'd have to be really close to me, or they're just plain stupid.

The corner of her mouth twitched at the thought, assuming it was the latter. She hauled the bucket out of the sink and drifted her way back to the classroom. She slid the doors open and stepped in. The last two students were gone, but another was in their place.

A confused look was etched onto her face. She looked at the clock, then back at the girl. "Kazumi? What are-…"

Said girl cut her mid-sentence. "I thought you could use some help." The brown-haired girl moved the boxes of recyclables to the side; it was all sorted.

Shana smiled appreciatively. "There isn't much to be done today." She paused. "But I thought you had to be at your club after school?" She moved over to the chalkboard, dipped the towel in the bucket, grabbed a chair to stand on, and started wiping the board down from top to bottom.

Kazumi grabbed the extra towel and started on the other half of the chalkboard, minus the chair. "Inoue-sensei had to leave early due to an emergency, so we were let out early." She stopped mid-wipe and glanced at Shana.

The girl felt the gaze and looked back at her best friend. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing." Kazumi smiled slightly before resuming her part of the board.

Shana was a bit skeptical, but she didn't pry. It was noticeable to her that Kazumi had been doing that a lot lately and always responded with the same answer whenever she asked. She kept telling herself that she would find out when the time came, but she couldn't help being curious about it.

Whoever said curiosity killed the cat has obviously never met me.

She cheekily grinned as she hopped down from the chair, wiping it down, before placing it back where it belonged. "I'm just going to throw out the water and come back, okay?"

"I'll finish up what's left since it's just those." Kazumi pointed over the scattered pieces of paper.

She nodded in response and headed for the washroom once again. It wasn't a surprise that her best friend wanted to help her. Kazumi was one of the few that Shana allowed to receive help from. It was either Shana gave help or none at all.

I would like to know what that dream meant and find out who that stranger was. She dumped the water into the sink. If I'm right, it was a young boy…but whom?

Kazumi waved. "Tomorrow morning?"

"Same time." Shana handed her a paper bag which left her friend confused. "I know your parents won't be home till later, so I'm giving you this as a snack."

The brown-haired girl took the bag and peered through its contents. "Shana-chan, no! I can't take this!" She held out the bag for her to take back, but it was refused.

"Kazumi, take it, I won't hold anything against you." Shana smiled. "You need it more than I do right now. If you don't want to think of it that way, think of it as a thank you for helping me with cleaning duties."

This seemed to convince the girl and quickly embraced Shana. "Thank you, Shana-chan." She whispered before dashing off across the street. "Tomorrow!"

She watched her friend disappear around the corner before heading up the steps of her home. "I'm home!" Silence was her response.

Leaving her shoes by the door, she walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. She padded around in her socks for awhile until she found the note she was looking for on the kitchen table. It was scribbled in one of her guardians writing on a plain sheet of white paper.

Shana read it out loud, "Alastor is working an evening shift once again. I will not be home till late. Ingredients for dinner are in the fridge. Don't stay up late -de arimasu. -Wilhelmina."

She placed the note down and sighed. This type of late afternoon was really starting to annoy her. "I guess it's just the three of us for dinner again." She looked down at their tabby cat, Tiamat. She was a mix of light brown and white, and also had the friendly, but picky, attitude.

"Mrowww." Tiamat purred.

Shana looked at her watch and walked back to the front door. "I'll start dinner after I pick him up." She tapped her shoes to make sure her feet were fully in. "Just wait a little while longer, Tia." She didn't bother waiting for a response from the animal as she slid out the door.

She zipped up her jacket as the air was chilly in the afternoons. Winter was right around the corner and she wasn't in the mood to catch a cold and miss school; not with the campaign reaching its peak.

Her decision last year to run for Student Council President wasn't sudden. It had actually been on her mind since middle school, she had a strange feeling that something or someone influenced her before that. Regardless, she has the qualifications to take over in their senior year. Her studies are never a problem as she always got straight A's, even with her club and sports activities.

I know I'm forgetting something very important. Her eyes focused on a petal floating with the wind in front of her. This is just like my dream…

She held out her hand and waited till the petal settled in her palm before looking at where she was. Somehow her feet had directed her to a place she was not familiar with in the park, but felt surprisingly familiar.

"Did this come from that tree?" She craned her neck up to find a fully bloomed Cherry Blossom tree. Shana couldn't describe what she was feeling at the sight of this one tree. There were other Cherry Blossoms in the park, but this one struck an unfamiliar chord within her.

Not knowing why, she placed her left palm against the tree's bark, her right hand closing around the petal she held against her heart. "Are you trying to tell me something?" She closed her eyes and listened. She could hear the breeze of the chilly pre-winter wind, the smell of water, and even hear children in the near distance. Her eyes snapped open.

Water?

Her eyes grabbed onto the image of a small pond just behind the tree. It was hidden, but can be found if anyone took the time to search for it. She took a step forward and around the tree to get closer, when a sudden wave of nostalgia came over her. Shana ignored the feeling and walked to the edge of the pond.

Closing her eyes, she breathed in the scent of the small pond water, it was very relaxing. She would have to come here more often as of today. However, she still couldn't shake off the feeling that this was a special place and her mind kept telling her that this wasn't the first time she was here.

Sighing, she picked up a flat and smooth rock next to her shoes and stood up. With her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, her face was full of concentration with her right eye closed, and feet in place, she flicked her wrist, letting go of the rock. Shana watched as it bounced on the surface of the water a few times before finally sinking.

A piece of her memory rushed back, though short, it was enough. While the memory was still fresh in her mind, she walked the few steps to the spot she had seen the object. It was a large, gray, boulder with dry moss covering the top part of it. Not caring if her hands got dirty, she removed the moss.

Her fingers traced the scratches that were forever engraved in the stone. "My name…" She moved her fingers over to the name next to hers. "Kazumi? Does that mean we used to play here together?" She didn't dwell on it as she spotted another engraving just to the left of her best friend's name. "There's something else here…" She crept closer to get a better view, until a certain voice broke through her thoughts.

"Myoop!"

Huh? Was that…

"Myoop!"

He's in trouble!

She forgot what she was currently doing as her feet pulled her towards the cries. She spotted her friend in front of someone she has never seen before.

Shana's eyes flared with anger, so much that you could almost see fire burning in them. A frown was set upon her face as she stomped towards the culprit. No one would dare hurt her friend while she was around.

Her brown eyes clashed with those of the boy's blue eyes as glared. There was definitely something strange about the boy, but she couldn't figure out why. She was behind the marshmallow-like animal now and kept up her glare, she spoke with venom in her voice.

"Just WHAT do you think you're doing to Myoopi?"

AN: Well, that's it! R&R!

Satiety will be doing the next chapter, lookout for that!

Credit for Myoopi goes to Anime News Network.

Direct Link: http : // img. photobucket. com /albums /v78 /kwazistar /comic-4 .jpg (Just DEL the spaces)