Hey all,

So sorry this took so long. The road to hell and all that. I got back into writing when I went through and did corrections, like a month ago, but then I got more classes added to my schedule and I had to find my balance again. Here's the next chapter, hope it was worth the wait. Shouldn't be this long for another chapter. I'm re-working a lot of the stuff I had written so I actually have a huge part I decided would not take place in this school year as I had written, but the next one, which has also thrown off my writing. Please review and let me know what you think! My friends are the only reviewers and though I love them, they don't count 100% because I harass them into reviewing. Hope you like it!

~Night~

PS sorry for the double email, I forgot to add my line breaks back in before posting.


Akaya was used to being alone at school. Since he was in a different class then his brothers they never really could be fully counted on. They helped him out when they could, but for the most part, he was on his own. He didn't mind it that much though. He'd never reached out as a young child for fear of the consequences. After Ana had adopted him he felt that his family gave him all he needed and never tried to expand. There were a few boys in the year above that had helped him when they saw him in trouble, but he doubted they remembered him. They certainly hadn't said anything when Masaharu and Bunta had brought them home. Now, though, he was truly alone, with his brothers in a different building then him, all the way across campus. He hid his problems as best he could from his family, not wanting them to worry, but now, halfway through the year, it was really starting to get to him. He wasn't even allowed to play tennis to relieve his frustration. Ana had found that that his darker side sometimes escaped while playing and he occasionally injured the player. It wasn't his fault that they whined so much had to be taken the hospital for a small sprain! So she'd forbidden him from playing until he could control himself better, and he was getting better, slowly. So here he was, hiding on the roof, hitting a tennis ball against a wall, alone, frustrated, and sulking.

"Wow, you're really good at that."

The sudden voice startled Akaya and he turned, green eyes wide. Everyone avoided him when he came to the roof, he may have accidentally pushed one of the boys who bothered him down a small flight of stairs to get them to leave him alone. But that was beside the point, there was someone here, talking to him. He wasn't wearing a uniform, and Akaya didn't really recognize him, Akaya tilted his head, confused, and the other boy giggled at him.

"Hi, my name is Ootori Choutarou. What's your name?" The strange boy said, smiling kindly and holding out a hand.

"Kirihara Akaya," He replied cautiously, shaking the outstretched hand. "Are you new?"

"I'm only here for the rest of the year, then I'm going back to Hyotei. My parents need me out of the house for a little while and this best school that I can board at. Hyotei starts boarding for Junior High and up only." Ootori said, his brown eyes dimming a little.

Akaya frowned a little, not liking this new boy's sad look. "Do you want me to show you around?"

"If it's not too much trouble, I would like that." The brown eyes lightened again.

Akaya felt proud of himself and held out his hand. "Give me your schedule." He ordered, not noticing the taller boy's amusement as the schedule was passed over. "Good, you're in my class that makes this easy. Why aren't you wearing a uniform?"

Ootori gave a slight grin, apparently entertained by Akaya's manner. "I haven't gotten my uniform yet, all I had was my old Hyotei uniform and considering the feeling between our schools I thought I'd better skip it."

"You look out of place." Akaya informed him. "You shouldn't do that. I'll lend you a uniform, come on." He grabbed the other's wrist in one hand and his things in his other.

"You're a bit smaller than me, wouldn't that look stranger?"

"It's not my fault I'm short. Tou-san says my growth spurt will come soon and then I'll be taller than everyone." Akaya said automatically before registering the question. "No, it's not my uniform; it's one of, Niou-senpai's. When he and Marui-senpai, and Saitou-tachi-senpai graduated and moved to Building 3 they gave me their old clothes as a joke."

Ootori blinked in surprise as they abruptly stopped and clothes were thrust into his arms. As soon as he realized they'd stopped, Akaya was dragging him off again.

"Lunch is almost over so we have to hurry. Change quickly." Akaya ordered before shoving him into a bathroom stall.

'Tou-san would be so proud of him, Akaya thought happily. He'd made a new friend. He had finally placed why the boy was so familiar, he was on the tennis circuit for their age group, which gave Akaya hope that they'd be able to play and this time Akaya wouldn't destroy his opponent so completely. The other boys had been a waste of time, that was why Akaya's darker side came out, he was so annoyed by how much they sucked. Was it too much to ask for a decent opponent? He also sort of remembered something Saitou-tachi-senpai had said about the Ootori heir being nice and polite, so that meant the new boy would listen and not laugh at Akaya. Also, he was bigger than Akaya, so maybe Akaya could use that to get the other boys to take him seriously before he had to beat them up again. He was getting bored of always beating on them, and he ignored the few times they'd gotten the upper hand because they cheated so it didn't count.

"Eto…Kirihara-san? Didn't you say we have to hurry?" Ootori's voice startled Akaya out of his thoughts and made him jump.

"Yeah. Let's go!" Akaya dragged Ootori to the classroom. "Why weren't you here this morning?"

"I had to do a lot of paperwork for my transfer and take a placement test." Ootori explained, grinning again at the smaller boy.

"Oh," Akaya shrugged, "Sounds boring. We have English right after lunch now so I'm going to take a nap. You can use my books if you don't have any yet."

Ootori blinked again, a little taken aback. "A nap?"

"Yeah, I don't do English." Akaya shrugged again, not explaining anymore as he fell into his seat and put his head down.

"Ok…" Ootori eyed him for another few seconds as he sat as well. "Where are your books?"

"Right, forgot." Akaya blinked, sitting up to dig around his desk to hand the books over. He quickly put his head down and closed his eyes again. He was willing himself to sleep when he heard his class returning.

"Hey, are you new?" Akaya identified the voice as Aoi, his main enemy.

"Yes, today is my first day. I'm transferring from Hyotei for the remainder of the year. I'll be boarding here." Ootori's voice was calm and flatter than when he had been talking with Akaya.

Akaya heard footsteps getting closer and surrounding them. He kept his head down and eyes closed, pretending to already be asleep.

"Since you're new here, we're going to help you out." Aoi said. "Be careful around Kirihara-san. He's a demon. The teachers favor him because they're scared of what he'll do to them. He beats up people for getting in his way. If you ever need help, we can protect you, though, because we seem to be the only ones who can see him clearly for the demon he is."

"Thank you for the warning," Ootori paused, silently prompting a name.

"I'm Aoi Koji."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ootori Choutarou. As I was saying. Thank you for the warning. It is good to see people caring so much for other's well being. In Hyotei nobody was ever as straightforward in their manner. There were many layers to anything that anyone said. I appreciate how open everyone is here. To be sure, if I ever have a need of your assistance, I'll let you know. I'll also keep my eyes open for any demonic behavior. However, class is about to start, so you'd best take your seats before the teacher comes."

Akaya cracked an eye open to see Ootori smiling politely as the other boys shuffled back to their seats, confused but satisfied that the other boy would listen to what they'd said about Akaya.

"Ootori-san," Akaya said quietly, trailing off as the bigger boy turned toward him with worried eyes and cut him off.

"You hear that? Oh, I'd thought you were asleep already. I didn't-"

"Ootori-san." Akaya interrupted. "That was awesome. I bet they don't even realize you insulted them! I'm never introducing you to senpai-tachi though. Word games hurt my head." He closed his eye and willed himself to sleep.


Ana and Kunimitsu sat across from each other in the Tezuka family's kitchen. Each had a mug of steaming liquid in front of them. Kunimitsu kept subconsciously rubbing his left elbow. Ana watched him silently, waiting. Her tired golden eyes met his angry and defiant ones.

"Why did you do this to me?" Kunimitsu finally broke the silence, the angry question cutting through the air like a whip.

"Turn you mortal?" Ana asked rhetorically, though her brother nodded, "because I'm tired, Kuni."

"What?" Kunimitsu growled, eyes flashing.

"You're my twin brother, and I love you, Kuni, but we are over 1,000 years old. You have to grow up sometime, little brother! I have spent far too much time cleaning up your messes, even before we became this way. I'm doing what I should have done, what Mother and Father should have done, years ago. I've watched your Seigaku team, before you left, they'll be good for you. Maybe they'll be able to teach you responsibility where I failed." Ana explained, taking in extra, unneeded, air to sigh heavily.

"If you knew I was leaving why didn't you stop me? If I hurt the boys that much, why didn't you protect them?" Kunimitsu didn't look at his sister, choosing instead to stare into his hot chocolate.

Ana's eyes flashed briefly in anger at the accusation before she calmed herself. "I knew from the beginning you were going to run, I just didn't know when. I cursed the potion every time I made it since we got the boys." She frowned slightly as he rubbed his arm again. "Is your arm bothering you that much?"

"No, I'm not used to lasting injuries." He shrugged. "So why this? Why not make me stay?"

"That would have hurt the boys more. They saw you pull away; if you had stayed it would have been worse for them. They wouldn't have understood." She reached across the table to grab his hand, causing him to look at her and their eyes locked. "Think of this as an opportunity, Kuni. When you're 25 the curse will lift, if you choose for it to. This is a second chance for you. Be a child again, enjoy yourself. Make friends without having to hide a part of yourself. Stay at Seigaku and rise above that injury. You can do this, I'll be waiting, and watching, to see what you achieve."

Kunimitsu stared at her in silence for another long moment. "Yamato-buchou wouldn't let me quit, neither would Oishi-san. We made a vow to lead the team to Nationals, together. The other First Years, Fuji-san, Takahi-san and Inui-san agreed to follow us."

"Don't run away from this."

"I won't."

"I'll come visit as often as I can."

The twins quieted and drank from their mugs in silence, thinking about the past and the future, trying not dwell too much on the present.


please review, it'll help me update faster :D