Disclaimer: See initial chapter

Awakening

"You look great, sis!"

"Thanks."

Alice smiled as she came down the steps, stopping just at the base of the stairway. Clad in a white sleeveless gown and matching skirt, she was the picture of simple beauty. She felt a light blush at the admiring faces of her mother and sister on her; even Kenji had a light smile on his face. Shinn was the only one that didn't react, or at least, he tried not to, as Uriko kept glancing in his direction in the hopes of a quick tease. But she was disappointed as he did manage to keep his composure enough to head to the door after giving her a quick glance.

"Oh, are you leaving now?" Alice asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure you won't stay for dinner?" Mitsuko called to him from the other end. "It is close to nightfall now."

The young man shook his head. "I have to return before curfew."

Alice blinked. "Oh, really? Well, can we at least drive you back to Garden's Well? I'm sure Yugo wouldn't mind."

"Thank you. But I don't want to get in the way of your evening." he replied

Uriko was about to let out a sad sigh when a great idea suddenly popped in her head, turning a sigh into a smile. "Hey, maybe Kenji and I can walk with you back. How about it, Mom? Kenji?"

Shinn blinked in surprise at this while Mitsuko gave the idea a thought. "Well, as long as you are all together and you get back before dinner's finished, I see no reason why not."

Beaming, Uriko turned to Kenji, who shook his head and muttered. "Guess I don't have much choice."

She then turned back to Shinn, whose surprise had turned into confusion and he was now stammering (causing her to grin). "You don't... Ah... I...mm..." Sighing, Shinn lowered his head a bit.

"I guess...I...don't have much of a choice either."

With a triumphant cheer, Uriko rushed ahead toward the door. "Nope! So let's go!"

Opening the door, Uriko almost rushed into a large mass that stood in front of her that was about to knock on the door. Uriko jumped back before she slammed into him, gasping as she did so.

"Hey, nice timing." the figure grinned. "Thanks for letting me in, 'Riko."

Frowning, Uriko childishly stuck her tongue out at the young man as he entered the house. Medium build, with brown hair and an X-cross scar on the bridge of his nose, Yugo Ohgami stepped into the Nonomura home, stopping in the front and dressed neatly, but casually. Upon seeing his younger brother and the background, the man grinned.

"Figures you'd be here too, Kenji." His glance lowered to Uriko and a mischievous smirk came up on his face. "Seriously, if you two want to double, all you have to do is ask."

Uriko pouted at this, but that didn't stop the light blush that formed on her cheeks at the comment. Kenji on the other hand, remained stoic, although his eyes narrowed ever so slightly at Yugo.

"Not funny."

"You really shouldn't tease them, Yugo." Mitsuko lightly admonished. She then slyly added. "That's my job."

The response to this was a pitiful moan from a lowered head of the now-embarrassed girl. "Mom..."

The two chuckled at this for a bit before Mitsuko continued. "Now Yugo, how about you tell you date how great she looks."

Blinking, Yugo turned toward the stairway to see Alice standing there, a radiant smile on her face. Blinking twice, Yugo returned the smile at his date. "You look great, Alice. You really do."

The smile on her face grew and her cheeks colored at the compliment. "Thank you."

At this point, Kenji began to move toward the doorway. As much as he liked Alice and Yugo and the relationship they had, there was only so much he could take at seeing his brother's tough exterior giving way to a more...sappy temperament.

"We should get going."

"Hm?" Yugo managed to turn from Alice to regard Kenji, the teasing smirk back on his face. "So you're taking me up on my offer, eh?"

"Stop it." Uriko interjected, not wanting to be embarrassed further. "We're just...walking a friend home."

"Friend?" Blinking, Yugo turned the opposite way to see the third teen standing there quietly. A little too quietly for Yugo's taste. "Wow. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"He's pretty quiet." Uriko giggled as if reading his thoughts. Moving over to stand between the two, she introduced. "Yugo, this is Shinn. Shinn, Yugo."

Yugo lent his hand to Shinn, who hesitantly took it. The young man appeared to frown, but his eyes wavered with an odd confusion, as though he was trying to remember something.

"Yugo...Ohgami...?"

The older man grinned. "Oh, you've heard of me, eh?"

His grin slipped however when the frown on the boy deepened. 'What's with him?' But then Shinn's eyes rolled and the boy slipped backward. Still holding his hand, Yugo held him up to prevent him from falling and only slipped back halfway, his other hand grabbing hold on the side of his head. Uriko and Alice quickly moved behind him, steadying him to his feet where they heard a light groan echo from his throat.

"Are you alright?"

"I..." he moaned. "I think so."

As he straightened out on his feet, he was met with Uriko's worried gaze. "What happened?"

Closing his eye, he again held the side of his head. "Not...sure. I just felt a little dizzy for a moment."

"You should sit down." Alice replied, her medical instinct kicking in. But just as she was beginning to tug him to a seat, he managed to break out of her hold and step back.

"No, no. It's fine. I just..." He paused for a moment and then turned to the mother of the household. "May I use your bathroom please?"

"Oh sure." Mitsuko pointed just up the stairs. "It's upstairs to the left. Are you sure you're alright?"

With a slow nod, he moved up the stairs and up, seemingly shaky, but ultimately making it up. The silence of the group stretched until they heard the sound of the door closing upstairs, with each one of them wearing expressions of either worry or confusion on their faces.

"That was weird." Yugo replied, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." Alice nodded in worry. "I hope he's alright."

"Well, don't you worry about it." Mitsuko replied, beginning to shoo the two young adults out of the door. "You two just head out and have fun tonight."

Her worry set aside, Alice's face managed to brighten as she relented and exited the house with Yugo. "Alright. See you guys later."

The two teens bade the pair goodbye as they left the house. Uriko then turned around and headed upstairs to check on Shinn. Like her sister, she was quite worried about him. Just as it seemed things were going fine, he...well, she didn't know what happened. 'Maybe he just came down with something.' It was strange, but it was the only things she could think off. Reaching the bathroom, she knocked on the closed door.

"Shinn? Are you okay in-?"

She was cut off by the sound of a loud crash coming from behind the door. Turning the knob and finding it unlocked, Uriko quickly swung the door open and immediately saw two things. The bathroom window shattered to pieces...

...And Shinn missing.

"What was that about?"

The pair had just gotten to the sidewalk when they heard the sound of shattering glass coming from the side of the house. Turning around, they began making back when from out of nowhere a dark blur 'emerged' out of the air and smashed into Yugo, knocking back Alice as well as she was beside him. Instinctively, Yugo rolled backward and growled as he settled back on his feet, recognizing the impact that hit him as a kick.

"What the hell...!"

Meanwhile, Alice had managed to break her fall halfway by throwing her palms down and stopping her descent. She then whirled about and was back on her feet, surprised at the sudden attack. 'I hadn't even heard anything.' Her zoanthrope abilities gave her uniquely sensitive hearing, so for something like that to happen without hearing so much as a whisper was quite a feat. But upon rising up, she was then greeted with a bigger surprise.

'Shinn?'

Indeed, it was the same young man that had been invited into her house. The same quiet boy who was...currently attacking Yugo? Stunned, the brunette could only watch as Shinn launched himself at her boyfriend, unleashing a series of sharp airborne kicks that made it seem like he was defying gravity.

'The way he's fighting... It looks almost like...'

Just then, the front door opened, causing Alice to turn around and see Kenji looking out of the doorway. There was a brief moment of surprise in his face before he sprang into action, speedily rushing toward the fighting group just as Shinn had managed to evade a blow from Yugo and hit him with a sharp chop around the back of his neck, flooring the older man. With Yugo down and possibly unconscious, Shinn appeared to move in to finish him, but stopped upon sensing Kenji's presence and jumped back, meeting Kenji face-to-face.

"Kenji!"

Uriko stepped out of the now-open doorway after having run down the stairs after seeing Kenji rush out of the doorway. The sounds of fighting had reached her ears just before she came to the doorway, but she still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Kenji and Shinn were facing off against each other, neither one of them moving. But she recognized the deadly glare in Kenji's eyes and turned to look over at the other combatant.

"What's going on?" Her gaze moved over to the other boy. "Shinn!"

"That's not Shinn." Kenji quietly replied.

Blinking in confusion, Uriko took another glance at Shinn and almost gasped. The sharp gaze she had always noticed about him was completely void of feeling, more than mirroring the gaze Kenji was giving him. 'Wait... Like Kenji?' Now she saw it completely, but still couldn't believe it. Just as Alice had seen, their posture and stance was nearly identical, revealing that, like Kenji, Shinn was a practitioner of the Kato-ryu shinobi arts. And this was confirmed by Kenji's next word, a name -alias- he had been formerly under.

"Bakuryu."

"Bakuryu?" The eyes of the young man narrowed, almost as though in memory before he coolly replied.

"Yes... I am Bakuryu."