Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Be Like Normal" (by the Sights) which appears in this chapter. I also don't know if the lyrics are correct. Every time I listen to the song it changes for me and they don't have them online.

Once everyone left the room, and things in the house settled down, Seiji decided to take a shower. He had rummaged through his closet and dresser, trying to find something worth wearing, but nothing seemed to work for him. It all seemed out of date, or it had holes in them from moths.

"Yeah, thanks for taking care of my clothes guys." Seiji mumbled as he finally settled on an over sized, black t-shirt and some black pajama pants. "Not like I'm going out anytime soon." He said grabbing some underwear and socks.

He was able to get some help from Shin, in ways of a towel and some needed bathroom supplies. He then got settled into the bathroom and started the shower. After adjusting the temperature, he slipped into the shower and just let the water run over him. He was tired, both physically and mentally.

He stayed that way a little while longer before moving on. He washed his hair and his face. He had to sit down to catch his breath once. He didn't notice when the water turned cold. He decided to get up and turn it off. He climbed out and dried himself off. He decided not to put his clothes on quite yet as he grabbed a toothbrush and some toothpaste. After that he started to brush his hair.

While he was brushing it, he thought of something. He looked so young, but yet he was much older than his looks showed. He set down his brush and picked up a comb and a pair of scissors. He stood there, thinking of what to do before reaching up with the comb and pulling a piece out. He then brought up the scissors and snipped the hair to his desired length. He repeated this process several times until he was satisfied.

He looked in the mirror and found a much older looking man then what came into the bathroom before. His hair was cut much shorter. He still had that one piece over his eye, but it too was shorter, and didn't cover his eye quite as much. He also decided to not put any gel in this hair and let it dry naturally. He cleaned up the bathroom and dressed into his clothes. Taking one last look at the mirror, and being satisfied, he walked out.

"Seiji, you've been in there for. a. WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?"

"Don't worry Shin, it's my hair anyways. I just cut it. It needed a trim anyways." Seiji said walking back to his room. He peaked his head out. "Oh, where do you want me to put the towel?"

"Um, uh, in your hamper will, um, work just fine." Shin replied, still shocked over the change. This was Seiji Date, a man that prized his looks, and cutting his hair so drastically was just not a common thing.

Once the door was shut, Shin ran to the nearest room he could. "Touma!"

"What is it Shin? I'm busy right now." Touma was reading through some papers, writing something, then reading again.

"It's Seiji." Shin breathed out.

"Is it Badamon again?"

Shin shook his head. "No, he cut his hair."

"What's so wrong about that?"

"I mean, he really cut it. It's short compared to what it was."

Touma set down his papers and looked up at Shin. "He's been through enough, if he wants to change something about his physical appearance, there's nothing we can do. Also, he's old enough to make his own decisions about such things as his hair and clothes." Touma picked up his paper again. "Oh, that reminds me. He's going to need some. Should we send him out with the girls?"

Shin just stood there dumbfounded. "Um, sure, I'll go with them just to be safe." Shin turned around and left the room, only to run into Ryo.

"What's all the commotion about?" Ryo seemed confused. There was running, and yelling, but now everything seemed fine.

"It's Seiji, he's, well, he cut his hair pretty short for him." Shin replied. "Touma says to not worry, but he's got to see it for himself."

"Hey, don't worry about Touma. He knows what he's talking about." Ryo placed a reassuring hand on Shin's shoulder. "Listen, I was going to go help Shu with his family's rooms, wanna come help? You know we can't do it right without you there."

Shin laughed as he nodded and followed Ryo to another part of the house.

Seiji sat out on the balcony as he looked over the landscape. The day was still warm, typical for summer, but the cloud cover let next to no light through. Seiji felt the light agreed with his mood. He was glad he did something other than just sit in his bed and listen to the others talk about him like he wasn't there. Still, he wasn't happy. He had heard Touma talking to Shin and it was expected that he would do something like this in his state. Seiji leaned his head against the railing guard and closed his eyes.

He looked back up in surprise when he felt someone press against his back. "Warm light." A tiny voice said from behind him. "Mr. Light is very warm today."

Seiji turned around, knocking the small boy to his bottom. The boy sniffled as he started to cry.

"Oh please, I'm sorry. You just startled me." Seiji quickly apologized. It didn't seem to get through. So he reached out and picked the kid up and placed him in his lap. "I'm truly sorry. My name is Seiji. You're Ruko, aren't you?"

The little boy sniffled as he nodded. "Yes, and I'm sorry for scarring you Mr. Light." The boy used his hands to dry his eye.

"Hey now, don't cry. Here." Seiji pulled out a handkerchief, one that actually survived and didn't smell so musty. He used it to dry the boy's tears and wipe his nose. "There, better?"

Ruko nodded as he leaned against Seiji's chest. "You're warm, but the light's fading from you." The little boy seemed sad about that.

"Well, I've been through quite a bit. I promise some day my light will shine bright for you. You also don't have to call me Mr. Light. Seiji will be nice. Or you can call me Uncle Seiji, if that makes you feel better." Seiji petted the kid's hair.

"Okay Sage e." The little boy said cuddling against him, obviously trying to get warm.

Seiji felt a pain in his heart as he wrapped his arms around the little boy and closed his eyes. He felt complete holding the small child in his arms. He didn't want to let go of the child, but there were other things to do.

"Ruko, where are you?" Shu's voice filtered out from Ruko's room. He looked out to see Seiji holding Ruko. "There you are little man. Getting to know your Uncle Seiji?"

Seiji loosened his hold on the child as Ruko turned to his father. "Uncle Sage e is very warm and kind and gentile. Plus he has light!" The boy seemed happy to find Seiji.

"Yeah, well, that's what his armor is all about, bringing light to the darkness." Shu answered as he moved over to them. He decided to sit down in a chair instead of on the balcony floor.

Ruko shook his head, as if disagreeing with his father. "His light is fading though."

Seiji didn't like that Ruko told Shu that. He flinched at the look of surprise on Shu's face.

"It's nothing Shu. Just, with everything going on." Seiji didn't finish his sentence, but let it hang.

"Hey, it's okay Seiji, I understand what you mean." Shu said getting up. "Anyway Ruko, you have to get cleaned up. Mom is going to be out in a few hours and she wants to see her little boy all nice and clean." Shu bent over to pick Ruko up.

The little boy clung to Seiji much more tightly. "No, I don't wanna take a bath."

"Come on Ruko, for your dad?" Shu pleaded with the toddler. Ruko shook his head no and clung tighter to Seiji.

Seiji smiled as an idea crossed his mind. "Ruko, would you like for me to give you a bath? I bet I can make it fun for you."

Ruko looked up at Seiji, then at his dad, then back to Seiji. "Daddy, I want Uncle Sage e to give me a bath. Is that okay?"

Shu looked at Seiji, wondering what in the world he had in mind. The smile on Seiji told him that it would be okay and that Ruko might learn to actually like baths. "Oh alright, just be careful with him Seiji." Shu said turning around and going back into the house. Ruko and Seiji shared a triumphant smile.

Seiji carried Ruko back into Ruko's room and sat him on his bed. They took an hour deciding what Ruko should wear for when his mother came out. They settled on a white shirt and Kaki overalls. Seiji then grabbed a towel for Ruko and took him to the bathroom. As he ran the water, he helped Ruko undress and into the tub.

They started to play instead of actually cleaning. Seiji had to grab a towel for himself as Ruko kept splashing him in the face. Once Ruko grew board of that he let Seiji help clean him. Ruko did help some, but Seiji wouldn't let him near the soap. Then they cleaned his hair. After that was done, Ruko told Seiji that there were some bath toys in the cabinet. Ruko settled down and played by himself in the tub as Seiji sat by and watched.

Seiji ignored the coldness that came into his heart again. He figured he just felt lonely. When it came again, he knew something wasn't right. The room then went dark and he felt himself hit the floor and Ruko start screaming for help.

Ruko screamed and screamed. When that didn't work he mixed it with banging on the walls, hoping to get someone's attention. He then heard people outside the room.

"Help, help, Uncle Sage e is hurt." He yelled to the people outside.

"Ruko, stay calm, the door is locked, can you open it." It was Touma on the other side.

"No, I'm in the tub." Ruko replied. "Help Seiji, his light has gone out." Ruko felt like crying, but decided to stay calm.

"Just stand back son, I'm coming in." Shu replied this time. Ruko started to hear someone trying to break down the door.

Ruko remained calm as he looked at Seiji. Ruko tried to wake him up by splashing water on him, but it didn't seem to work out to well. Seiji would flinch, but it seemed he was more fearful of the water. Finally Ruko saw the tip of an ax break through the door. In a few more swings of the ax, Shu and Touma were running into the room. Touma immediately went for Seiji and tried to snap him out of it. Shu grabbed a towel and pulled Ruko out of the bath.

"Come on Son, we'll leave this for Touma. He knows how to handle it better." Shu carried Ruko out of the room and down the hall to his.

"Seiji, come on, fight it." Touma started to shake Seiji, hoping it might pull him out like it did last time. "Come on Seiji." When that didn't work, Touma slapped Seiji across the face.

Seiji's eyes snapped open, fear and disorientation clearly shown in his eyes. "Touma, it happened again." Seiji looked like he was about to cry.

"No Seiji, don't cry. Remember, no matter what you do, you can't cry." Touma pulled Seiji to him, trying to take the fear away from him. "There's no need to cry over this."

Seiji just sat there in Touma's hold as the pain and coldness played through his mind one more time. He let Touma's body heat melt the coldness away from his heart and calm him down. "Touma, it's just so horrible. He's playing with it, changing it every time I see it."

Touma closed his eyes as he held onto Seiji. He didn't want to hear what Seiji was about to say, but knew Seiji had to get it out.

"I was in the darkness, just like all the other times. I could stand it then, but then the darkness lifted and you were all lying before me, dead, and your blood was on my hands. A mirror appeared before me and I saw I had been crying those tears of blood." Seiji started to shake as the image replayed in his mind.

"Don't worry Seiji; we are all here to help you. We'll make sure he doesn't get a hold of you. You just have to keep from crying. That's all we ask of you, please." He felt Seiji take a few deep breaths before calming down.

"Thank you Touma. I've been such a burden to you all." Seiji pulled away from Touma and stood up a little shaky at first, but steadied himself out. "I think I'll go back to my room for a nap." Seiji slowly walked from the bathroom and down the hall to his own room. He silently closed the door and lied down on his bed.

Touma stayed on the bathroom floor looking out the door where Seiji left. "You're not a burden Seiji." He whispered silently. "You'll never be a burden. You're a friend who needs help and I'll always be there to help you out." Touma picked up the things in the bathroom and put them away before going back to his study.

Seiji couldn't stay in his bed any longer. He was restless, now that he had most of his strength back. He needed to move around or do something. He figured reading a book wouldn't work because he needed to move. So he started looking through some of the CD's and tapes that were in the room, noticing that some had been used recently.

"You would think these would be considered oldies. Maybe one of the guys listens to them." Seiji could see Ryo or Shin stuck in the oldies music. Touma would be out of music and Shu would be to into his kids to care.

Seiji pulled out a CD he hadn't seen before by a band named the Sights and decided he might as well try it. He found his CD player and noticed the batteries were expired. "Darn it, I'll have to see if Shin has some around. I wonder if they still use this kind." Seiji pulled out the batteries and walked down stairs to find Shin, but he wasn't there.

He noticed some stairs and a new hallway that seemed to have been added on. He looked down the hallway, but decided they weren't there. So he walked up the stairs and started to look for his friends. It took him a while, but eventually he heard Shu yell out and Ryo laughing. Seiji walked around a corner and ran into Shin.

"Oh, Seiji, I'm sorry." Shin bent over and helped Seiji up.

"It's okay. At least I ran into you and not Shu." Seiji dusted himself off. "Anyways, I was looking for you." He picked up the batteries. "Do you guys still use these?"

Shin looked at the small batteries and smiled. "Yes, we do still use them, but they have more life to them. I take it you need some?"

"Well, I was hoping to listen to some music. If you're busy though, I can wait." Seiji said looking around Shin to find Shu limping out of the room.

Shin looked behind him at Shu and quickly pulled Seiji around the corner and out of the section of the house. "Don't worry; I was on my way to make some lunch anyways. By the way, what were you doing out of your section of the house?"

"I have a section?" Seiji looked at Shin as they climbed down the stairs.

"We all have sections. It's for our families and work. Once Shu and Ryo get around to it, you'll have one too, but for now you're in Touma's wing." Shin opens the door to the kitchen and Seiji sees it for the first time.

"Whoa, you guys did some major remodeling to this place." Seiji looked at the white walls of the now two story kitchen and dining room. The Kitchen was like a professional restaurant's. There were two places to sit in order to eat, the top floor or the bottom floor.

"Yeah, with all the family members coming out here and everything, we found it easier to just have it this way." Shin said while digging through a junk drawer. "I know I saw those batteries around her somewhere."

Seiji decided to wander around the kitchen some and take a look at everything. He went up to the top floor to notice there was a locked gate. "Hey Shin, why's this locked up here?"

Shin looked up from the drawer to take a glance at Seiji. "Oh, that's for the adults. Plus, we don't want the kids up there incase they get too rowdy." Shin returned to digging in the drawer.

Seiji looked at the room and smiled before walking back down. "So you guys have your own little privet place to hang out right here at home."

Shin nodded as he pulled out a pack of batteries. "What kind were those again Seiji?"

"Double A's Shin. Same as always last I checked."

Shin nodded again as he opened the pack and popped two of the small batteries out. "These should do it." Shin handed Seiji the batteries. "In a few days Ryo's going to have a key made for you so you can go up there." Shin gestured to the second floor seating area. "It's going to take him some time because he also has to change the lock. Some of the kids had gotten a hold of a key and have been going up there."

"I don't mind. Thanks for the batteries." Seiji left the kitchen smiling.

Shin stood in the door way as he watched Seiji climb the stairs. "I hope everything goes well for you Seiji." With that he turned back around and started to make lunch.

Seiji returned to his room and placed the new batteries in the player. He placed the CD in there and started to play it.

'Thank God decided
You're no good for me.
When I see ya comin' 'round
With your head held high'

Michiru came in to check on Seiji, only to find him listening to some music. He had his eyes closed and was nodding his head to the beat. She smiled as she could faintly hear the music.

'Chances and romances,
What's the point of being right?
Love when your tongue is in like a gun
When I see ya comin' 'round with your head held high
Chances and Romances
I'm not surprised
It's a gift from you'

Seiji started to sing to the music, faintly, but enough that Michiru could hear him.

'That's when I say to myself
Got to get out now, get out on my own
Hell, I just wanna be like normal
God forgive me now, I don't know how.'

Michiru was sad when Seiji stopped singing. He had a nice voice and could sing to her anytime. She shook her head of all thoughts when she noticed he stopped moving, but just stood there.

'I am decided Yesterday's dream
When I see ya comin' 'round with your head held high
Chances and romances,
What's the point of being right?
Love when your tongue is in like a gun
When I see ya 'comin' 'round with your head held high
Chances and Romances
I'm not surprised
It's a chore for you'

By now Seiji had sat down on his bed and just looked at the CD player. The words were really touching him, and the way he felt. Confused, off, and like being with someone was pointless because of that.

'That's when I say to myself
Got to get out now, get out on my own
Hell, I just wanna be like normal
God forgive me now, I don't know how.' (Repeat one last time)

Michiru walked over to him once she noticed the song was done and placed her hand on his shoulder. She jumped back when he jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Seiji turned off the CD player and pulled off the head phones as he looked up at Michiru. "It's okay." Seiji looked over at a window. "What did you want?"

"Um, Shin-san says that sandwiches are ready, if you want some." Michiru replied.

The two stayed there in silence before Michiru decided to leave. Seiji got up shortly after, deciding to listen to the CD after he ate. Possibly there were more songs on it that weren't like the one he had just heard.