Paradocs: Yes, that was a very short chapter. Oh well. You can deal with it, right? It gave you a cliffhanger, at least.

And, no, I don't think we're at the end yet. We've got quite a few chapters to go, kids.
Oh, as a sidenote, "Saku" means a bunch of different things in Japanese; my favorite is "plan". Fits Saku, huh? Intriguing...

Disclaimer: Paradocs does not claim to own any of the characters here mentioned, other than Rei and Saku.

"I wasn't?" Rei sounded surprised by Saku's question, brown eyes wide with shock. Her eyes returned to normal after a second. "Ah, no. I was at home, you know, playing around and stuff." For a moment, Saku had a feeling that her yami's surprise, and subsequent excuse, was a facade, but...

Well, she hadn't heard anything from Rei since before school that morning. Maybe Rei had been at home all day. It was odd, though, given Rei's usual tendency to butt into Saku's business.

The teen sighed and rubbed her eyes behind her glasses tiredly. It was nearly sunset, and she was starting to feel a little tired. Plus, the euphoria and freedom she'd felt earlier was wearing off now that she was faced with this 'little' problem. "Look, Rei. Were you home all day or are you just screwing with me? I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now."

Rei smiled gently, floating over to her hikari and patting her on the shoulder consolately. "I was home all day, Saku-chan. I'm just a little grouchy, that's all. Not much fun, giving you a day off, y'know?" The spirit giggled. "You look like you've had a bit of an adventure, though. Couldn't help but overhear that you cut gym with your little boyfriend today." She perched her ethereal body on top of the couch's back. "How'd that go?"

Saku had a sudden urge to slap Rei across the face; it'd do little good, though, seeing as Rei was pure spirit. Physical contact was pretty hard to get when you were just ether. So, the mortal girl decided that a few terse words would do just as well.

"Ryou is not my boyfriend, Rei," she said, seating herself on one of the sofa's arms without looking at the suddenly cheery yami. "He's a friend, and he's a boy. That's about it. You know very well I can't date, much less date someone who's just as unstable as I am, Rei." She turned her hazel eyes onto Rei, who looked straight back at her, saying nothing. "And besides, the teacher let us so I could go get a school uniform."

"But you hate shopping!" Rei exclaimed, flying up from her seat in surprise. "And besides, what're you going to do next week? You can't skip gym next week to go eat scones with Ry-"

"How'd you know we went to get scones?"

Saku looked at her mind-mate, growing more irate as the conversation wore on. She hadn't even mentioned eating scones, much less doing anything other than buying her uniform. Saku frowned. Something was wrong here. Rei shrugged nonchalantly.

"I saw the crumbs on your shirt. Besides, you love scones. Love'em, especially fresh ones." The yami said coolly, without the faintest flicker of a lie crossing her face. Saku sighed and leaned back until she slid backwards onto the couch's cushions.

"Rei, I'm...I'm going to bed now. Wake me up if anything odd happens, 'kay?" The teen pulled her glasses off her face and placed them on the coffee table as Rei shrugged, mischief gleaming in her brown eyes.

"If we're going by everyone else's definition of 'odd', I'll have to get up in a couple of minutes. By my definition, though, you might be asleep for a few dozen years, though. Just as a warning."

Saku glowered at the ghost as she pulled a blanket over herself. "Just get me up for school at least, all right? I'm not missing another day, ever since you got to go to Egypt History Day two years back." Rei giggled, and Saku closed her eyes, masquerading as asleep to better think.

Something was up here. Rei hadn't 'stayed home' since they'd 'met' two years ago. Now all of a sudden, she was staying home? Not sitting in her mind, giving questionable advice when it wasn't solicited? That didn't sit right with Saku in the least.

Then there was Rei's knowledge of her activities that afternoon. Saku hadn't mentioned any of them to her, yet Rei had known what she'd done, and who with, despite having been 'out' of her mind that day. Unless Rei hadn't bothered to sever their mental connection temporarily, she'd been lying about being gone for the day.

But why? Rei couldn't possibly have gotten up to anything yet, not without Saku's knowledge. She still remembered everything that had happened that day. Rei hadn't spoken up since before school.

That cemented Saku's doubts about Rei's honesty. Something was definately up.