(A/n: Thank you Shadow-Ninja-Fay, RedRoseInADarkAlley, and Thunder Ring for reviewing, and everyone else for reading:) Sorry about the wait!)

Chapter five,

Income

Zamba got up again a short while later, removing herself from her cocoon of blankets. She wandered into the bathroom, and glanced into the mirror, then laughed at how she looked. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, and she looked quite disheveled.

After preening herself, she emerged from the bathroom looking more presentable. She headed downstairs to find Hoai and Mrs. Minamino eating breakfast. She gave them a sleepy greeting and went to the kitchen to forage in the cupboards for food. As she sat down, the older woman turned to her and said, "You've been wearing these clothes for days, you want me to wash them? You can borrow some of Shuichi's old clothes." Hoai seemed to be already wearing a pair.

"…Thank you." Zamba replied, standing up to follow Shuichi's mother. They went up into the attic of the house, and the long-haired woman pulled over a previously opened box of clothes. She rummaged around for a few minutes, and then pulled out a set for the girl, who took them gratefully. "Thank you, Mrs. Minamino." The dark-skinned girl headed for the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She came out later, bearing the slightly smelly, worse-for-wear clothes. Shuichi's mother took them, and Zamba rejoined her brother at the table.

After an afternoon of helping around the house, Kurama came home. "I was wondering where you went." Zamba greeted, waving at him. The green-eyed boy smiled; he looked tired again. He headed for his room, and looked like he wasn't planning on reemerging for awhile.

After finishing the things Mrs. Minamino assigned her to do, and after making sure that there wasn't anything more she could do, she dug around for some paper and a pencil. She took them to her room and sat down on her bed-mat. It still felt weird to sleep so close to the ground, but she was getting over it. She began recording the approximate costs of every meal they had had so far, along with what she thought was a reasonable rent for room and board. She sighed at the amount, but resolved to pay it back.

When she was through, she flopped backwards into the mattress and scrutinized the ceiling. She slowly lost herself in thought. 'Now what? Okay, so I have weird powers I didn't have before we came here. Whatever, cool beans, but did anything happen to Hoai? Did he get any unnatural powers?' She suddenly had a mental picture of herself and her brother dressed up in superhero outfits, fighting crime and saying really stupid catch phrases. She giggled to herself, pushing the picture away. 'But seriously, what if his powers were really dangerous? Like some kind of degenerative power? What if that was the way hers were?' She began to worry. 'Who'd I ask to find out? What if no one knew and she ended up dying?' Her stomach began to twist uncomfortably.

The sound of a knock on the door causes her to jump out of her revere and jerk her head to door. It was just Hoai. "Zamba?" He asked tentatively, looking curious. She motioned him in, sitting up and leaning on the wall behind her. "How'd you bend that guy's sword?" His sister shrugged, looking frustrated. "Your guess is as good as mine. I don't really understand it either."

"What happened when Kurama and that one guy took you to where ever it was that they took you?" Hoai sat down on the floor nearby. "They took me to their boss. And they said that I had 'powers' or something. It was weird."

But Hoai looked jealous. "You know, whatever affected me most likely affected you." Zamba told him, and instantly Hoai's healthy imagination kicked in. "So I might have powers too?" He looked quite like an eager puppy. "Do you think mine will be like yours? Or maybe I'll have powers like Yusuke!" He made a gun-shape with his hand, pretending to fire it. "Rei Gun!" He exclaimed, and then he ran out of the room.

Zamba gave the door a quizzical look. "What's a Ray gun?"

A half an hour or so later, the olive green-eyed girl meandered downstairs. Hoai was outside yelling "Rei Gun!" and pointing his 'gun hand' at the trees. His sister watched with an amused smirk for awhile, and then pulled open the door, stepping outside into the sun. She instantly smiled gratefully at the whitish orb in the sky, and sat down in the grass. Hoai ran over and jumped in the way of the sun, so he cast a shadow over her. He pointed the 'gun' at her. He pretended to fire, and she went along with it, falling over dramatically and sticking her tongue out. He laughed, and she jumped up, pretending to snarl.

"Ah, you got me good that time, but let's see if you can do it again!" Hoai began to run, shrieking with laughter; which caused Zamba to laugh, because his voice was changing and it sounded squeaky. She ran after him, causing a chase-game that transformed into tag.

When they got tired, they flopped down on the grass, laughing and gasping. Kurama came out and stood over them, an eyebrow raised. Zamba flopped a hand onto his shoe, and laughed. "Tag, you're it!"

To which he replied, "Dinner's ready." They all went inside and ate, and Zamba added the expense to her list. Eventually everyone went to bed

The next day started out like usual. She rolled out of bed, sleepy and bleary-eyed, stumbled into the bathroom, did her normal morning ritual, Changed back into her old clothed so her new one's could be washed, and stumbled downstairs.

Halfway through her cereal, the phone rang. Kurama answered it, and then turned to her, mouthing, 'it's for you.' He set it down and watched her expectantly. She gave him a curious look as she picked it up. It was on of the places that she had turned in one of her applications. They wanted her to start immediately. She happily accepted the offer.

"Who was it?" Hoai asked from the table, watching his sister. "It was one of the restaurants, Kramer's; they wanted me to start as soon as possible!" She replied excitedly, bouncing from one foot to the other and clapping.

"When do you start?" Kurama asked, smiling slightly. "Tomorrow! And I have no idea were it is!" The sepia-haired girl laughed her happiness and relief undaunted by that fact. She finally had a job! And from what she remembered, the place was really nice, a pretty high-class place. She bounced around the room joyfully, pulling open cabinets in search of the cake mix she had found a few days ago.

"Can I make this?" she asked Kurama, giving him a pleading look. He consented, and she tore into the box. She collected all of the ingredients quickly, and began furiously mixing them together. Kurama sweat-dropped and sidled out of the room. She had a cake within the hour, and it didn't taste half-bad, considering she didn't follow the directions at all. She added this expense to her growing dept list, but this time it was worth it. Mrs. Minamino was surprise and pleased, she was use to doing all of the cooking and such.

They all split and shared the cake after dinner that night. They watched a movie and played a few card games before heading off to bed. Zamba dreamt happily that night, content with the way things were improving. Or maybe it was just all that cake. Who knows?

(A/n: I would have had this up sooner, but Fan Fiction was being weird.)