Note from author: HO HO HOHO~ For those of you that follow the christmas tradition; for those that don't : HAPPY HOLIDAYS HERE IS YOUR GIFT FROM ME TO YOU! :D -Rosey

Chapter 10

It was three days later that found Hika standing outside her school. She no longer needed the brace to hide her wings. Over the last three days she had fought with all her powers to be able to hide her wings with her magic alone, and had finally succeeded. Now her wings could be hidden for up to twelve hours at a time before she became too tired to hold onto the skill.

It was now Saturday, and she was very glad that it was only a half day that was filled with sports and extracurricular activities—or for the less studious students, a time to study and catch up on their work or grades. Hika stared at the school as she thought back to the days before. Charlie had visited every day with her homework. He had stayed only long enough to explain the lesson and for them to have a sweet, shy kiss before he went home. This had confused the half-demon more than the history lessons did. What had happened to the wonderfully forward Charlie that had kissed her before? The question had plagued her as she had trained and tried to sleep without a before sleep flight.

Inane had also visited, much to the demos' surprise. When asked why, Inane had retorted that it didn't matter what her friends were, just so long as they didn't try to eat her or her soul. This had succeeded in bring the whole family to tears with laughter.

The only one that hadn't visited, much to Hika's relief, was Kuronue. She wasn't sure she was ready to deal with that rock slide at all. The memory of making out with him in a stable was still clear to her the girl and she was sure that it was the same for the human Kuronue. Her stomach knotted on her every time it came to her mind. It was as if she wanted to feel that passion with him again while also wanting to forget it like it had never happened.

She felt her stomach curl as she brought herself back to the present and moved onto the school yard. Moving to her locker, a teacher halted her, and asked her what Hika was going to do for her required extracurricular activity.

"I was thinking of trying out for the track team or some other sport," Hika answered with a companionable smile.

"Then speak to Kuronue, He's the team leader," the teacher sad before turning to leave, before stopping. "Oh, tryouts start n about fifteen minutes. You had better go and get ready."

Hika blinked and watched the teacher leave. So she would have to take orders from Kuronue if she made the team? She smiled and shook her head before trotting off towards the changing room. That would be fine with her. It was better that way anyway. As long as he was team captain and she was a subordinate, she would never have to worry about uncertain feelings cropping up. She had learned early in her life to never let feelings for a person in a leader position even enter her mind. It was as if her mind took the person and put them on a pedestal with the words 'do not touch' attached to their shirt.

With this in mind, Hika hurried and changed into the gym outfit she had been given at the beginning of the week. Then she joined the boys and girls that were testing for the track team. The black shorts and white shirt made her blend in with everyone else, but at the same time she stood out for no one spoke to her.

When it was her time to run, she rose to silence. With the other athletes, there had been words of encouragement or cheering. Everyone had heard the rumors of what had happened on Tuesday and so now she found herself moving forward to take the start position with everyone's eyes on her. They wanted to know why she wanted to join a track team when she had let a male student get at her. They wanted to know what she was capable.

Kuronue, who up to this point, had only said start or 'next', stared at the girl with interest. Since the evening in which the Memory had hit him, Kuronue had been trying to figure out what to say to the girl when he saw her next. It seemed though that he wasn't going to get a chance. She hadn't even acknowledged him when she had walked from the group to the start line. What could he have said anyway in front of all these people? First of all he was dating Inane, and if he talked about kissing Hika then there would be rumors flying every which way about what was going on between them. And for another, the memory had quite literally been a lifetime before. He had Inane, and if his guess was right, she was going to have Charlie. Maybe silence, he decided was the best for right now until they could be alone to discuss it.

"Go," he shouted when he noticed that she had taken the ready position. He started the stop watch he held and watched her. He didn't know why, but his eyes were drawn to her face as she ran rather than the other parts of the body that he really should be looking at—leg strength, arm movement—everything that would tell him if she was a capable runner. Her face held a defenselessness he knew was not truly there. She ran as if a demon was after her; like she ran for her life. Her black hair flew around her head and for a second, Kuronue saw a woman with waist length black hair riding on the back of a horse as if trying to get away from some hellish creature. The vision remained only for a moment, before Kuronue saw Hika again as she crossed the finish line. Peeling his eye s away, he looked down at the watch that he held as he pushed the stop button and jotted down the time as she started towards him. Before she reached him, she seemed to change her mind and went back to sit among the girls as she worked to calm her breathing.

Hika was chosen plus four others for the team and were put to running laps to get used to longer runs. The whole time, Hika steered clear of Kuronue and did everything he asked without question, even if it seemed repetitive and pointless. That was what a good subordinate did after all. When she was put to running against the other students, Hika slowed her running a tad so that she came in second or third place every time. She had to 'blend in' after all. She didn't want to be too much in the spotlight. She saw the looks of disapproval she got form Kuronue, but she ignored them and kept at her steady pace. She didn't need to impress anyone, not even him.

When practice was done, Hika ignored him when Kuronue called after her. Once they were out of the track, she had no reason to pay attention to the boy that made her so confused. She couldn't let him continue to make her this way though. She quickly escaped into the girls changing room and then slipped out the back to avoid him further. Having thirty more minutes before she could leave the school, she took the small lunch she had packed and found an empty classroom on the second floor to eat it in. She was sitting in the open window when Inane found her.

"Hey, there you are! We were looking for you," the human said with a large smile before it faded when she saw the saw face Hika had tried to hide with a smile.

"We?"

"Charlie, Kuronue and myself," Inane explained as she cross the classroom to stand next to the half demon, looking out over the school yard below. "It is really wearing on you isn't it? Pretending to be human, hiding your wings, trying to figure out what the Demon is planning?"

"Not really," Hika said before laughing at the doubtful look that Inane gave her. "Okay, yeah, but not in the way that you are thinking."

"In what way then?" Inane inquired.

"I'm more worked that next time you, or Charlie, or Kuronue will get hurt. I don't mind if I get hurt, well I sort of do when it comes to my wings, but otherwise not all that much. But I don't want my friends to get hurt. The demon is after me, not you all," Hika said, before taking a bite of some rice. "It just doesn't make sense really. Hiromi was just a spy that turned informant for two very powerful demons that captured her. What could she have done to warrant such treatment and obsession from a demon mind switcher?"

This had been bugging her since the story behind the earrings was told. She reached up then and fingered the earrings that now adorned her ears. They would protect her as long as she wore them, but she still worried about her friends. It wasn't easy to take the earrings out for they looked in and out of themselves to make sure that they didn't fall off. And in order to protect her friend she would have to not wear them and risk being taken over herself.

"Those are good questions," Inane said with a nod, before breaking out into a grin. "You know what? We should contemplate them together tonight! We can meet up at my home and have a girl's night! Just the two of us." Hika stared at the girl in surprise. Inane's laughter broke through to her though and the half-demon couldn't help but smile in return.

"I can't tonight. Charlie's family invited mine over for dinner and we picked tonight. How about tomorrow or tomorrow night?" Hika asked, tilting her head to the side as she grinned at the human.

"That's fine with me. Tomorrow it is! I'll come by your place tomorrow morning," Inane said before waving down to someone below. "Which brings me to another topic I wanted to bring up with you," Inane's eyes glinted evily and she had an impish smile on her face that worked Hika almost as much as when Night brought Roger the giant poisonous spider out.

"You and Charlie," Inane began, "it may not be obvious to him, but you like him don't you?"

Hika nearly fell out of the window when Inane asked her question. Her cheeks became a bright pink that gave Inane all of the answers she could possibly want. Hika looked down at her lunch as Inane started to talk excitedly about how they were going to have to come up with a plan to get Charlie to notice Hika's feelings for him.

Hika was about to say that she thought he already knew when the man in question entered the room. Hika's eyes met those blue ones of the elemental and she froze—her words caught in her throat. Even, it seemed, Inane sensed that it was time for silence for she fell silent to watch how they reacted to each others prescreens.

Charlie navigated the classroom to stand between the two women. Hika's eyes flicked from Charlie to Inane for the briefest moment before she dragged her gaze away so that she looked out the window again. Charlie watched the demon sit there and blush, before turning his gaze on Inane who seemed completely fascinated with the floor. Should he…?

"Hika, I heard you made the track team. Congratulations. Inane, Kuronue is looking for you. Something about lunch plans?" Charlie relayed. It didn't take anything more than that and Inane was rushing out of the room, before stopping and looking back inside.

"Don't forget Hika—tomorrow bright and early!" inane said as she rushed from the room.

There was silence after that until Hika finished her food. Then she packed it away and got back up to sit in the window sill. She was surprised that sitting there brought her to eye level with Charlie who had neared so that there was less than a foot between them. Hika grinned and took the moment without hesitation. She placed a gentle, searching kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, she pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear nervously without much effect since it just seemed to fall forward again.

"You've just been so shy lately that I wanted to know if you regretted them," Hika explained to the grinning fool.

"No, but every time I was over your father was always within ear or eyeshot. I didn't want him to murder me so soon is all," Charlie explained with a laugh.

"Oh," Hika replied, feeling like she was the fool this time. It had never occurred to her. After all, her father hadn't been a part of her life since she was the age of ten. She was more used to her mother being the one to watch out for.

"Oh," Charlie replied knowingly, before gently reaching up and brushing light fingers down her cheek. "So I will see you around four? Dinner's at five, but mother wanted to meet and greet with your parents beforehand."

"Four it is then. Can't keep the hosts waiting, now can we?" Hika said before getting caught off guard. Charlie had leaned forward, looped his left arm around her waist, and kissed her. It was not one of the shy kisses either. She looped her arms around the young man's neck and relished in the kiss. It was just like the one they had shared in her room three nights past.

The kiss lasted a good minute before he pulled away, though his arm remained around her waist to keep her from falling out the window. Hika was smiling like an idiot and glad that he held her for she could very easily have fallen out of the window at that moment. They stayed like this until the bell that released them from school rang. Parting ways resulted in another set of hot, passionate kisses that left Hika with a grin the size of the planet on her face.

The whole way home she smiled and kept smiling when her good-for-nothing father attacked her to see if she could keep her wings hidden under pressure. When she threw the older man into a tree, he bowed down and let the young woman go about getting ready for dinner. The next three hours went like this: a happy Hika would keep her wings hidden while someone from her family would attack her as she got ready.

Eventually they—Tyali, Noki, and their daughter—found themselves walking up to the front door of Charlie's house at 4:11 pm. Haki had changed from her school uniform into a pair of her nicer jeans and a gold on black button up shirt that was left open to reveal a gold tank. She had used two silver clips to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Each clip hosted a small red rose.

Tyali wore a dress that stopped just below her knees. Matching her daughter a tad, the dress was made of gold material with hand stitched black designs over it. Her husband was the most casual of the group in clothing. A pair of plain black jeans and a red button up shirt with a pair of black bat wings printed on the back adorned his body as he wrapped a loving hand around his wife's waist.

A woman of about forty-five opened the door and gushed as she invited the group in. "Charlie said there would be five of you," she said when she had welcomed and directed everyone to the living room.

"Aunt's Takji and Night have a date." Haki explained, "They weren't expecting an initiation since they weren't really blood relatives."

"Oh, well I'll just have to send some of the desert home with you," the woman said before starting to pay attention more to the parents of the young girl than Hika herself. Hika sat there nervously until she felt she didn't have to worry about her parents blundering up and mentioning demons. Then she excused herself and went to find Charlie.

What she found instead was Charlie bent over a desk showing Kuronue how to do some piece of math homework. The three seemed to stop what they were doing and stare at each other. Hika had done such a good job of staying away from the human Kuronue that day that she had forgotten that he may come over that evening to hang out with Charlie.

"Sorry," she said with a smile, "I just couldn't stand the gossiping that our mothers are doing. Hello Kuronue." She walked into the room and went over to look at the problem that they were working on. Making a disgusted face, she looked away and went and sat in the window that not a week before Charlie had climbed out to see her in his tree.

"I needed help with a math problem," Kuronue admitted, taking note of how she had spent just enough time next to him to see the problem and not a second more. He still wanted to talk to her but couldn't figure out a way to do it.

"I saw," Hika said with a sweet, meaningless smile.

It was then that Charlie moved over and kissed her cheek. Right there. In front of Kuronue. Hika blinked and looked at Charlie as he looked at her. Her heart pounded and she smiled sweetly at him, leaning in and kissing him on his cheek before looking back out the window, a blush mantling her cheeks. However, her eyes met with Kuronue's for a moment and she couldn't help but notice a flicker of confusion and pain before acceptance.

"So Inane wasn't making up romance stories when she said that you two were keeping a romance secret," Kuronue said, the moment vanishing and he smiled