Things that were yelled at me by the time I got home:

"Where have you been young lady?"-Hal

"Busted"- Ayame

"You're grounded!"-Hal

"Blah, blah, and blah"- more by Hal

No one cared when I pointed out that no one had come to pick me up, instead opting to ground me for three weeks; like that would work. It's a good thing they did not meet Aneko, or I could have been sent to the OB/GYN or something. I trotted to my room and shut the door before Ayame could barrel in and bug me. It was all I could do from socking her. I would have flung myself out of the window if the ground wasn't five feet away. Outside of the window, a person occupied the space. The dark shadows cranked open the window swiftly and the body crawled in covering my mouth before I screamed.

"Calm yourself Shirina-chan, it's only me," the face smiled uncertainly.

I whacked him on the head. "You scared me Ryo-kun!"

I instantly regretted the action when I remembered the last time I spoke with him. Ryo seemed to understand and held me tightly, "its ok, Shirina-chan, you did the right thing, ok? I'm not mad at you, do you understand?" I mumbled my yes into his chest.

Ryo pulled away and looked relieved, before moving on too a worried look mixed with pity, "Are you ok now? I mean, Ling-chan found you and started screaming, there was so much blood…" As he trailed off I touched the back of my head where the stitches were.

"I guess I knocked into something when I went into the seizure." I faced Ryo and gave a tired look. "We have a lot of stuff to talk about."

For the next few hours I dove into a one-sided situation about my life in all of its aspects, minus my little obsession with Seiji. That would be way too weird. I did not realize that I had fallen asleep being mentally exhausted after all that talking. When I woke up, it was in an awkward position. I was laying on the edge of my bed in a side way pose facing away from the bed with a large masculine arm was wrapped around my waist and a body pressed against my back. This was not good.

Well, hell yeah it was, but there is this whole moral rule going on about not enjoying a guy when you know his tongue has been down your stepsister's throat on more than one occasion. The thought jarred me into action. And with me being a coward, I took the cowardly way out; I grabbed a change of clothes and jumped out of the window to find Ling.

Once there I knocked on the door as loudly as possible, hoping that someone, namely Ling, would hear me. I kept slamming my fist into the door until I felt it hit something just as hard, but emanating heat. I looked up with burning cheeks to find I had socked Seiji in the stomach.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?" I gasped bent over trying not to faint. The positive thing was to know he had rock hard abs. He didn't even flinch at the hit, making me wonder just how much it took to hurt him.

We stood facing one another but not looking at each other because I was embarrassed. I covered my entire face with my hands (Hal used to call them man-hands until I hit him) and mumbled, "Can you get Ling here please?"

I was pleased to hear the door close and open again a few minutes later by Shuu. I cocked my head, where was Ling? As if reading my thoughts Shuu spoke, "Ling's got a shift today."

"Well" I was dismayed to hear that, "can I borrow your shower and change?" At his surprised look I sighed, "Don't ask"

As soon as the lukewarm water splashed my back I was content. I have a thing about water. If it's too hot I feel like burning and too cold I'd be freezing; just one of my many charming qualities.

I looked at the door constantly with a fear that someone would enter. The Japanese are smart with cars and electronics, but bathrooms are another thing entirely. What persons are willing to wash themselves in such an unprotected area? As I finished I threw on my bra, plain white I'll have you know, which turned out to be the only conservative article of clothing I had.

I looked in horror as I had picked clothes without thinking. It turns out that I would be wearing a neon green pair of underwear, a tight red v-neck shirt, flared jeans where the cut sliced up at the cuffs and holes at the knees with bright yellow stockings and black boots that came up to the calves. Oh yeah, it's like I'm a color blind whore working the streets. Luckily I was able to find a pair of scissors and could salvage the outfit…I think. I cut away the cuffs turning the pairs into Capri's and cut the arms of the v-neck but keeping the sleeves on by cutting of the stockings into ribbons (just using the soles for socks) and fastening the sleeves with them. I also tied a piece around my neck as a necklace and onto a lock of braided hair for the hell of it. I didn't do anything about the boots; they were kicking!

I walked out of the bathroom semi confident that I looked okay. As I walked into the living room I overheard a conversation between Shuu and Seiji about, take a guess here, me!

Here's how it went:

Shuu: You don't' seem to like Shirina-chan much

Seiji: I just don't trust her

Shuu: (insert laugh here) It's not like Shirina-chan is evil, dude, lighten up!

Seiji: Don't you ever wonder how she could learn a language so fast? Or why she is suddenly getting seizures all of a sudden. It is too weird.

Shuu: Look, Shirina-chan is a good kid. You should just give her a chance.

Seiji: (insert sigh here) …..

Yeah, that conversation seemed to be at a stalemate. I casually walked in and smiled at Shuu, not even bothering a glance at Seiji. It's just not nice to talk about people behind their backs.

Unfortunately my frosty attitude did nothing. Seiji just sat there on the floor leaning against the sofa. Shuu was busy playing a fighting game. You know, one of those games with those fighting chicks with insanely big tits that bounced with each step.

Videogame bimbos.

Hot.

Not!

Need a change of tactic. I lumbered over to the sofa and sat right above the place Seiji sat on the floor and draped my legs over his shoulders, dangling my toes. A hint of pink shot up through his neck. It was interesting…. How red could I get him?

All fear seemed to wash out after that shower and I found myself running my hands through that luxurious hair. Pink…wait, there's some red…yep bright red. Suddenly the color edged back to its original state and the softest of moans escaped his lips that only I could hear. Now it was my turn to blush, and when I blush, it's usually a blotchy red like I've been crying. I pulled my hands away as carefully as possible before whipping my legs, and my body, to the other side of the sofa.

"Hey guys, I won!" Shuu thumped his chest and smiled like a fat kid who got his cake. His eyes held a look of puzzlement while taking in my state. "Why are you wearing those clothes?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was planning on getting a job at the street corner." I blew a strawberry at him. "Seriously, I kinda ran away from Ryo?"

This caught Seiji's attention. "Ran away from Ryo?"

Did he not remember what had just happened? What a weirdo. At least I know what to talk about when I want to get Seiji's attention.

"Yeaaahhh, after I got home last night, we talked, and when I woke up…he was still there." The look on those two boys was one of incredulous.

Shuu of course, ending the look off with, "Woo-hoo, go Ryo!

I curtly smacked Shuu with a pillow. "You moron, I don't put out with Ayame's exes."

"Who doesn't put out with Ayame-chan's exes?" Ling asked as she breezed into the room pulling on her coat while aiming for the door. Before I could reply, Ling spoke again, "Whatever let's get out of here, my demonic siblings are waking up."

At this Shuu let out a mock girly scream and Seiji just went to grab his coat.

As the three of us flocked out of the house, Ling appraised my outfit. "Wears the faux leopard coat?"

"Probably on Aneko"

"Who?"

"Uhhh…no one."

After a few minutes of walking I enthusiastically dragged everyone into a playground, going for the swings.

I pounced and landed on the rubber mats before heaving myself onto the swing. "Shuu-kun, push me?" I looked up with pig puppy eyes and watched Shuu melt. Seiji and Ling chose to sit on the other two swings.

"So what happened before Ryo slept over?" Shuu asked with a mighty push. This question nearly caused Ling to fall over. "Ryo and you, when the hell did this happen?" She sputtered.

So I relayed all the juicy gossip.

"You gave away all that money…to a stripper?" Ling was properly shocked.

"You could've gotten arrested" Sage just had to point that out.

"Was she hot?" I kicked Shuu in the head on the next push.

"Does it really matter? The only thing I cared about was someone visiting me in the hospital, at least one!" All looked thoroughly scolded. I sighed, "It doesn't matter, and it was a learning experience"

"What exactly did you learn?"

"If I want a good price for a hooker, I need to look Asian."