A/N: Wooo, a bit late here, I'm trying to do every Saturday now but I cheated because it's 1:00 am Sunday morning. I'll try posting twice a week once I get into the habit of attempting to remember weekly, lol. Thanks for your patience, however, I really appreciate it :)) –whoosh19


"Welcome to Starbucks! How May I help you?" Nel greeted the customer that walked in the door.

"Oh, I'll just take a regular-sized coffee, no sugar, no milk, nothing."

"$4.27. Your order will be with you shortly."

Nel waited as the customer slid his card through the PIN machine.

"Thank you," the man said. Nel smiled at him, and then turned around to check the clock.

1:26 pm Wednesday afternoon.

Almost lunch break.

Nel had applied at Starbucks and because they were by no means short of applicants, each had a very intense interview. She was lucky they picked her, although she found herself shaking it off as her breasts getting the job for her. Work was on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. She had a very simple pay, but enough to keep her going until she could receive her degrees for a real job.

The time was now 1:28, and Nel stood at the register impatiently until two surprising people walked in the door. She gasped.

"Dondochakka? Pesche? Is that you, guys?! What are you guys doing here?!" she asked, smiling widely.

Immediately the two ran up to the register, their eyes filled with enthusiasm.

"Well, we were just in town and decided to stop by… but first we asked Hiyori where you were... oh and–"

"Neliel! You still have a minute before your break!" her manager screamed.

"You guys wait a second over there," Nel whispered, pointing to an empty table in the corner.

The turquoise-haired woman checked out one other person before taking her twenty minute break.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you guys even found me!" Nel exclaimed, sitting down with the two boys, taking out her packed lunch. "You've grown so much!"

Dondochakka Birrstane and Pesche Guatiche were Neliel's long lost god brothers, whom she hadn't seen since fifth grade.

"We could say the same thing about you, Nellie," Pesche teased.

"Oh God, you still want to call me that?!" Nel joked as the two laughed.

"So how are 'Mom and Dad'?" Dondochakka asked, innocently—wasn't it polite to ask such things?

"Oh… about that…" she started.

"What?" Dondochakka asked.

Neliel stayed silent.

"Nel…? What?" Pesche urged.

"I… haven't seen them for… eight years."

Both men gasped.

"What?! Where are they?!" he shouted.

"…I don't know, Pesche, I really don't know… they just… left one day, without a word. Foster Care assumed I disappeared with them, when I was really going from friends' house to friends' house on my own. Not an easy life, at all."

The two stepbrothers gaped at the woman as a new feeling ripped inside them.

Nobody was a kid anymore.

Everyone was past the days of wearing cute ribbons and little light-up Velcro shoes.

Nel looked down into her cup of iced tea, disliking their foreign stares.

"I'm sorry–"

"No… no it's fine…" she started to say as tears filled her eyes.

"I–I gotta go… my break is over."

She bolted from the seat, not wanting to let them see her weak side.

"Nel–!"

"Talk to you guys later, eh? It was… good to see you guys again."

With that, Nel ran inside the Women's room and locked herself in a stall.

She wanted so badly to just cry everything out, but her break, even though she lied to her god brothers, was pretty much over.

So she saved it all to 5:00 pm.

"I'm leaving, Miss Mayumi," Nel called out to her boss.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, right?" she yelled back.

"Yes ma'am. Bye."

"Have a nice evening, sweetie," Miss Mayumi answered.

Nel walked out into the overcast surroundings, a little drizzle forming.

It's so gonna pour…

The woman entered her car, starting it up just as the earlier drizzle turned into a slight shower.

With a sigh she backed out of the coffee restaurant's parking lot and turned onto the main street. Immediately thoughts began to cloud her mind as she drove on, passing a couple intersections.

"So where is 'Mom and Dad'?"

Nel slammed on her brakes, almost running a red light.

It's too rainy to be doing this!

Neliel tried to focus; she turned on the radio to try and tune out her thoughts, but she had realized long ago that when her mind was on her parents, it was difficult to tame.

Not to add the static of the station since the rain had picked up to a downpour.

Why in hell would they leave me?

With a soft weep, the green-haired woman took the next right swiftly, pulling into a gas station to calm down. She parked in a spot to the side of the car wash and got out, immediately getting pelted by the rain. Nel closed her car door and leaned over her car while putting her head on her folded hands.

I hate them…

She began to cry softly, her tears mixing with the rain.

I hate them both.

"Neliel?"

The voice was clearly a male, probably not much older than her. She looked up and saw a head of orange hair two parking spots away.

"D-Dr. Kurosaki?"

"What are you doing in the rain? You'll catch a cold!" the young Math instructor snapped.

"I-I… my… um…" Nel racked her brain of excuses.

"Why are you not in your car anyways?" He strolled over to the passenger side of Nel's car, opposite of her.

"Um… I'm out of gas…?" she tried.

"You're… out of gas? Then go fill your tank… we're at 7 Eleven," he slowly reasoned.

"Yeah, I know! I just, uh, left my card at home, and I was kinda… letting out my frustration…?" she rambled, flipping her drenched hair out of her face.

"Do you want to borrow some money? I'm pretty sure I have a fifty somewhere…" he mumbled, searching his pockets in the rain.

"No, no. I'm okay, I swear. I'll just, um, call Tatsuki to pick me up," she reassured him.

"Well why don't I just drive you home then?" he asked.

"It's okay; she shouldn't be too far from here–"

"Let me drive you home. Grab your keys and stuff. Then tomorrow you can come back out here and buy gas for your car because it's kinda late and rainy now," the young man told her, his clothes soaked.

"Oh… well, thank you…" Nel murmured, unsure of what to say in that situation. Dr. Kurosaki smiled in return.

"No problem."

He waited patiently for Nel to get her belongings out of her car and lock the doors. The green-haired woman followed Dr. Kurosaki two parking spots down to his BMW where he opened the passenger door for her and then walked around to the driver's side. Neliel got into the car and shut the door calmly, glad to be out of the rain. Dr. Kurosaki had plastic bag covers on his seats, which Nel was thankful for, since she'd probably feel guilty if she was wrecking his seat material while getting a ride from him.

The orange-haired man started his car and immediately turned the heat on.

"I swear, you are going to catch pneumonia or something. You should've just stayed in your car," Dr. Kurosaki complained, driving out of 7-Eleven.

"Well sorry! I was just really mad," she defended with a smile.

"Really mad my ass," he murmured. "You don't see other people standing in the freezing rain to let out their anger. Doesn't that just get you madder?"

Nel thought about this for a while.

"I guess. But I actually like the rain," she explained.

"That is something I never understood. Who the hell likes rain? It's so… repulsive!" He shook his head in mock disgust.

"'The hell you talking about?! Rain soothes the mind, Dr. Kurosaki. The sound of the droplets is supposed to make you relax," Nel told him.

"Yeah, yeah," he started. "It still sucks. Anyways, where were you coming from?" he asked.

"Oh, I got a job at that Starbucks down there, nothing big," Nel responded.

The rest of the ride was silent, until Nel gave Dr. Kurosaki specific directions to her dorm. When she got there, the rain hadn't lessened up much.

"Thanks, Dr. Kurosaki. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. Don't turn your AC on otherwise, I swear to God," he started to say. She laughed.

"Yeah, whatever. Thank you again," she repeated, opening the passenger door.

"You're welcome. Take care," he said.

"Bye," she replied, closing the door and walking up the drenched pathway to the girl dorms. She could hear the roar of his car as it backed out of the spot it was in and disappeared into the cold and opaque evening.