Disclaimer: Shuffle! and all characters therein are property of outside companies and I claim no ownership of them.

A NOTE TO ALL READERS: In the course of writing Shuffle!Hope I am bound to make mistakes in grammar and especially in the story itself. Thereby, I implore all who read this to check my personal profile page for updates on Shuffle!Hope. It will give clear details on what chapters I'm updating and what in those chapters I am updating. And now without further adieu, here is chapter ten of Shuffle!Hope.

Shuffle!Hope

Rin wound back on his heels, he wanted to tear his heart out for even thinking of hurting Sia.

But Watanabe was faster. His phone turned into a remarkably accurate projectile, sending the box knife in Gyouji's hand flying, nearly stabbing Sia and the god holding her arms.

"Why you…" were the only words Gyouji hissed out. Watanabe was on him fast, throwing two quick jabs towards his face. They didn't hit, but his fast reaction forced him back towards the window. He threw out another punch, a more focused and powerful one, towards his mid-section. However, Gyouji blocked it, wrapping his arm around Watanabe's and bringing his leg up for a kick. That too was blocked by Watanabe's shin, ripping his arm free from Gyouji's

grasp immediately afterwards. Gyouji was too close for Watanabe's taste, bringing his foot up and placing it on Gyouji's chest, kicking him against the wall.

Gyouji's eyes burned with hatred, staring Watanabe downed as he regained composure. If it weren't for his goons, Watanabe probably would have been all over him.

The two others gods held Watanabe's arms fast, pulling up and out preventing him from making the tiniest step. That's not to say he didn't try his feet and legs becoming a whirling vortex of muscle. Much to Gyouji's dismay, he walked right into the middle of the vortex and his chest felt the explosion of two size eleven shoes.

Gyouji went one direction and Watanabe and his captors went the other. The two unnamed gods tightened their grip on him and pulled his arms back, hoping to use pain to put him in submission. It didn't work, as Watanabe continued to thrash like a wild animal. Meanwhile, as an accomplished martial artist it didn't take long for Gyouji to gain his breath back from his attack. The glasses he had meticulously worn for the months following this event had gone flying across the room just moments before, his hair that he would spend over an hour in the morning becoming a wild mess. But he didn't care. Slicking his hair back he stomped towards Watanabe, reading his every movement.

But not Rin's.

Rin's shoulder slammed into his stomach, sending the both of them into a massive heap on the floor. Even though the blow had knocked the wind out of both of them, they had enough energy to trade punches with each other, Rin having the obvious advantage as he lay on top of him.

"RIN!" Sia and Watanabe yelled. Sia reached out to help him, but pulled away as the two of them rolled around furiously, slamming into one of the standing easels. Watanabe settled down enough to catch his breath, and see the god let go of his arm and walk towards the two fighting on the ground.

"Gyouji-sama!" He yelled out, focusing his magic into his arm, causing it to burst into dull red fire. He made one mistake though; he let go of Watanabe.

The god heard the hiss of his flame and smelled the singeing of flesh. His entire body stopped for that matter. Looking down, he noticed Watanabe had grasped onto his flaming arm, smoke billowing from his burning flesh. Even though his other arm was being held fast by the other god, it didn't stop him from reaching out and grabbing him. Watanabe grinned widely as he threw the god back against the wall.

Rin and Gyouji continued to swap fists, each one trying to gain and keep advantage over the other by getting on top. After some time at a disadvantage, Gyouji got tired of Rin and with all his strength threw him off. Gyouji reeled back onto his hands, pushing off of them onto his feet. Rin settled for a more conventional method, standing up to face Gyouji in the eye. In the background, Rin could hear Watanabe rumbling with the other gods. If he was anything like Rin thought he was, he would be fine. But Rin had another matter to deal with. Gyouji had taken up a boxer's stance, raising his fists to block his face. Rin had taken several martial arts classes in the past, but only to a few belt levels. Still, he had to. Sia was watching him, Sia needed him right now, and he would protect her. Not just her, but any of the girls. He would protect them with his life. Gyouji took a step towards him.

He had trouble seeing Gyouji's punches, but there they were. Rin knew enough about defense to keep it up until the right moment. There were several opportunities, and Rin took them. He missed, but he was able to get right back on the defensive. Each punch Rin blocked stung, each kick the pain shot through the leg that he parried it with. There it was, Gyouji had raised his right arm too far. Rin wasn't a left-hander, but he knew how to use it. The punch connected and he could feel Gyouji's rib bend to his knuckles. Gyouji's face conformed to the fist in his chest, grinding his teeth and squinting his right eye. Unfortunately for Rin this wasn't enough for Gyouji. With remarkable quickness he took his left hand and slammed it into Rin's solar plexus that sent a shock wave through his body. Rin stumbled back, taken aback by this massive punch. It wasn't enough for Gyouji as he took one large step towards Rin, bending down below his ducked head, only to bring it quickly up into Rin's face. Without even taking a breath, Gyouji did not let up on Rin as he wrapped his arms around Rin's necked and pushed Rin's bleeding face into his shoulder as he locked his hands together.

Wham! Rin felt the first knee connect into his thigh. He felt that one a lot more than any other kick he had taken from Gyouji in the lower extremities of his body. It hit a nerve too, the wrong one that sent paralyzed his for a very brief period of time

Wham! The second knee strike hit, this time it was closer to home. It actually made Rin fade in and out of consciousness. There wasn't time for Rin to recover, he had to act now before that third knee strike hit him, and with the pressure Gyouji was putting on his neck he was going straight for the face. He had to act fast.

Bringing his arms inside his body, he forced them up between his and Gyouji's face. It hurt, he had to actually force his hands through his chin to break Gyouji's hold, but it didn't hurt nearly as bad if his head had stayed there any longer. He figured he took Gyouji by surprise by the width of his eyes. Not a very orthodox method, Rin assumed. Wrapping his arms around Gyouji's, he forced them up, locking them in place. He had probably raised his knee to strike Rin a third time, considering how off balance he was. Rin almost lost hold of him, but instead decided on a little payback. He gripped the sleeves of Gyouji's arm tight and forced him towards Rin. At the same moment, he threw his head forward, slamming his forehead into Gyouji's face. Much harder than he had done to him. This was the clincher, as Gyouji reeled back in a daze, a spray of blood flying out of his nose.

Rin finally had a moment's time to wipe the blood from his mouth, taking note that Gyouji had a thick forehead. Thank goodness it wasn't Watanabe. He was tired of fighting Gyouji, he was going to be completely unorthodox to finish this. One of the stools that had been left standing in the room was close enough for Rin to grab, and in doing so swinging it wide. Rin took careful steps not to crack him across the skull, no matter how much he wanted to.

The stool shattered into legs, seat, and other splintered parts. Gyouji went tumbling to the floor, gripping his right arm in pain. His teeth scraped the floor as he howled in agony while the rest of his body squirmed. Rin meanwhile, stumbled around exhaustingly, waiting for Gyouji to get up. It was at that time he took notice of his surroundings. The entire room had gone quiet, even Sia had stopped crying for a brief moment. He looked down at Gyouji, who continued to struggle with his arm, thrashing but not accomplishing anything. "I guess it's a good thing he's alive," Rin thought to himself. After being satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere, he looked over to Watanabe, who, now only in an undershirt, stood over the unconscious bodies of the two gods. One of them had the front half of his body pressed against the wall, and from the side Rin could tell that he had gone to town on his face. The other one lay in an even more undignified manner, his face planted in the floor with his rear end high in the air. Watanabe, a little battered, looked otherwise unhurt. Not even a bead of sweat on him.

Then he looked to Sia. She covered herself in the over-shirt Watanabe had worn earlier, Rin figured he had finished after Watanabe. Her eyes, her entire face still gave off the look of panic and terror she had exhibited earlier. But at least now there was a small glint in the corner of her eye. A glint of relief, hope, and love. Rin smiled at her, glad she was unhurt physically for the most part. This sign of affection made Sia squint her eyes, the tears so thick that the brown iris was just a blob of colors. Her mouth contorted, biting her lip to keep it from quivering. It didn't help. Her legs became restless, there was only one thing she wanted to do right now.

Gyouji's eye bolted open, shrinking back into his head. Inches in front of him was the box knife, blade fully extended. It begged to be used, it was satisfied with Sia's clothes. With his good hand he grabbed it, wrapping his fingers around it tightly. And with a mighty thud of the ground, he roared in anger.

The entire floor bucked to his beckoning, the tiles bending to the shock wave Gyouji's fist sent out. As it turned out, he was not only an excellent martial artist, he also had some magic abilities. The bending of the floor sent both Rin and Watanabe to the ground, Sia too falling from her four-legged crawl. Gyouji was unaffected, in fact standing completely erect, staring down Rin with burning hatred. The blade of the knife flashed in the rays of the setting sun, Gyouji's eyes trembling with madness.

"I can't take it anymore. I've avoided touching garbage for all my life, and now, all day, I've had to bathe in it. Fine, if this is how I have to live, I'M GOING TO CREATE AN OCEAN OF FILTH!" As insanity took over him, he charged at Rin, holding the knife high in the air, ready to bring it down across Rin's face, chest, he didn't care. Rin was grounded and there was nowhere for him to go. Not even Sia and Watanabe crying out his name slowed Gyouji down.

In an instant, Gyouji's arm was taken from him. Knife, fingers, elbow, everything gone in the blink of an eye. No pain, no feeling at all. It just…wasn't there anymore. Until, that is, Nadeshiko pushed it further up his back. When the arm reaches its stretching limitation it becomes well known where it is. Gyouji grunted in pain as he was forced to drop the knife from his hand. Nadeshiko didn't mess around with him, gritting her teeth to force herself to stretch his arm to its limitation without breaking it. Gyouji felt every muscle reach pull, every muscle that snapped from the strain that was put on them. He looked back as far as he could, seeing her shoulder poking out from behind his back.

"Why…you…bitch!" He hissed out, ducking under his arm to come out facing Nadeshiko. He didn't care what the gender was; he was going to knock her head off. Nadeshiko had other plans, however. The long-winded ripping noise indicated that her miniskirt was unable to handle her wide roundhouse, the lower part of her thigh slamming into Gyouji's abdomen. And that, as they say, was that. Gyouji stumbled until his back was against the wall. His breath had left him, his sight had failed him, his legs were about to crumble under his weight. He didn't even try to fight back as Nadeshiko grabbed him by the collar and threw him on the ground, quickly grinding her knee into his back and twisting his arm behind him once again.

Silence hung over the room once again. Rin and Nadeshiko's heavy breathing were the only audible sounds in the room. The reek of sweat overpowered the feint smell of blood, as bucketful's of sweat ran down Rin and Sia's face. Even Nadeshiko's nose became a leaky faucet, every second dropping a bead of sweat onto Gyouji's back. Gyouji's goons stirred, but never completely gained consciousness. Calm finally came unto the tiny little classroom.

Rin patted down his body, still in the daze of Gyouji charging at him with a knife. Satisfied that his body was completely intact, he turned on his knee to Sia, and reaching out to her to brush the hair out of her face and pat her on the head, he said, "Are you alright?"

Sia lost it. She lost all composure. Everything that she was taught as royalty was gone, as she leaped out of Watanabe's overcoat towards Rin, screaming his name at the top of her lungs. She would have strangled him with love if she had the strength, instead limply clinging onto his shirt and crying loudly into his chest. As time went on, the tears only poured faster, and the crying only got louder. No matter how hard she shut her eyes the tears never stopped, no matter how hard she tried to silence herself, her voice always came out. She cried for a long time, held comfortably in the arms of the only man she loved.

-------------------------------

"Sia-san, I sympathize with the ordeal you've just been through, but…" Nadeshiko paused for a second, taking notice of Sia clinging tightly to Rin's neck, still sobbing silently into his shoulder, "If I'm going to give Rin-san first aid you're going to have to let go of him for a second."

Sia peeked over her arm, her bloodshot eyes looking at Nadeshiko pathetically. With each gasp of breath her entire body trembled, as she answered back to Nadeshiko, "Oh-oh-okay…(sniff) sensei…"

Nadeshiko sighed as Sia let go of him, placing her hands in her lap and looking down at the ground. Nadeshiko dabbed a cotton ball into disinfectant and wiped it on the cut near Rin's mouth, causing him to wince.

"Yeesh, that burns."

"That means its working. Anthony-sensei told me to use this in case anyone got hurt. Of course, at the time I had no idea I'd actually be USING it," Nadeshiko said. After putting away the disinfectant and tossing the cotton ball into the trashcan, she turned to Watanabe, "Speaking of which, he'll be in soon to take a look at your hand. Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

Watanabe waved her off, "No that's ok, it's just a little burn." He held up his ridiculously bandaged hand, no visible signs of any fingers, "My wonderful Nadeshiko-sensei fixed me right up, so it feels much better now."

Nadeshiko's eye twitched, "Boy, you better shut up while you're ahead." This sent Watanabe into a state of fear, despair running down his head. "There you go Rin, you're a little banged up so you might be sore for a couple days, otherwise…"

Sia couldn't hold it any longer, launching herself at Rin and hugging him once again, continuing to cry into his shoulder although much softer than before. His aching muscles told him that this was not a welcome gesture, no matter how sad and sweet it was. Still, he let her find solace in his embrace, gently touching her arm that was wrapped around his chest. Sia only hugged him tighter.

Nadeshiko cocked her head, the right half of her mouth curling to a slight smile. She sighed, reminiscing on her younger days (which she would claim weren't long ago at all). The day was ending, the chaos had subdued, all that was left was for her to do was tidy up the nurses room.

"Hey sensei, what's going to happen to Gyouji and his goons?"

The mention of his name jilted Sia, although not enough to cause much of a reaction. "The police picked them up a little while ago. But they're juveniles, not to mention that he comes from a prestigious family, so I have no idea how long he'll be in custody."

"Rin-kun…" Sia sniffed out, lifting her eyes up to meet his, "I'd…I'd like to go home now, if that's ok."

Rin smiled, patting her head, "Sure thing Sia-chan. Sensei? Is it alright?"

Nadeshiko nodded, "It is. But if you want we can wait for Anthony-sensei to get here, and I'll come with you. It shouldn't be long."

"Thank you sensei, but I think we'll get going now."

Nadeshiko nodded, "Very well then, you two take care of yourselves."

-------------------

Moments later, Rin and Sia were slipping on their outside shoes, Watanabe standing by the door with his hands behind his head.

"Is it all right for you to leave without telling Anthony-sensei?" Rin asked Watanabe.

"Meh, Nadeshiko-sensei will explain it to him. I might get some flak in a couple days but nothing I can't handle."

"You sure like to push his buttons," Sia said sheepishly, a tiny smile pursing around her lips.

Watanabe raised his hands head-level, sighing, "Tony-sensei doesn't have buttons. He has one large, red button that says 'DON'T PUSH' in big letters. What do you expect me to do?"

Rin had his shoes on faster than Sia, which was probably a good thing as he saw Watanabe motioning for him to join him. He was reluctant, but slowly snuck by Sia to Watanabe's side. In doing so, Watanabe wrapped an arm around his neck and brought his mouth close to Rin's ear.

"I'll be about twenty yards behind you two, so if you want to grab for anything go ahead and do it without repercussion from me."

Rin's left eye suddenly developed the twitch again, "How kind of you…"

"If you want your privacy with her, just wave or give me some kind of sign and I'll be gone in no time."

"Ok how about this?" Rin asked, holding up a middle finger, an inch away from Watanabe's face.

He scoffed, "Fine then, if you want to be that rude I'll use that as the signal."

"No. You don't understand. I'm giving it now," Rin replied apathetically.

Watanabe gasped, "Right here in the school?! You're an animal!"

The force of Rin's punch made Watanabe buckle over his arm, groaning pathetically in pain. Not long after that, Sia walked up to the two looking up at Rin, her eyes still showing off a hint of fear and worry. Although the mood was lighter than it was, Rin still recognized the seriousness of the situation. He removed his fist from Watanabe's stomach, who stumbled back a couple steps into the door. Sia slowly wrapped her hands and arms around Rin's right arm, nuzzling her face into the soft muscle of his bicep. As he held the door open for them, Watanabe waited a couple seconds to give them enough space, and when the distance was right he proceeded in following them.

-----------------------

"And then what happened?" Rin asked Sia, who still clung to his arm but had settled for resting her cheek against it instead of her entire face.

She sniffled, still feeling a bit uncomfortable bringing it up. But Rin was by her side, and every word they spoke to each other only made her feel better, "They started taking pictures of me, tied up and naked. But they didn't stop, they just continued to strip me and take pictures. He said if I didn't give up on you and marry him he would send the pictures across the school, my home, everywhere that he could. He said he would ruin my reputation and that he would start…" she paused, burying herself deeper into Rin's arm, "…by ruining me for marriage."

If Sia wasn't latched onto his right arm, he probably would have reached over and punched something. His left hand curled into a fist, his nails digging into his palm.

"But…" Sia continued, "I'm ok now. Because my Rin came to my rescue." She looked up at him, the first time she truly smiled in hours. Rin could feel the anger wash away from him, Sia's beautiful face looking up at him with watered-over eyes.

"It…it was nothing," he replied, turning his blushing face in the other direction. This only made Sia hug him tighter, actually pushing him towards the buildings on his left. Rin tried to protest, but it was no use, Sia had a death grip on his arm.

"I'm still scared though," she told him, trying her hardest to sound frightened, "I might need Rin-kun to sleep in the same bed as me to protect me during the night."

"N-N-Now wait a minute Sia-chan. I don't think your father would approve of that."

"Aiya!" She yelped, pushing him closer towards the buildings, "I'm so scared Rin-kun!"

Small sweatdrops ran down the back of Rin's head, who looked exhaustingly at her, "Sia-chan…"

"My father won't mind. In fact he's been trying to push me to act more frightened and startled, for previously mentioned reasons."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Rin thought to himself.

"I hope you don't mind but…" Sia looked up at him, her cheeks bright red. She turned away enough to hide her cheeks, but still was able to peek at him from the corner of her eye, "…I don't sleep in much during the summer."

The thought of Sia in one single, large T-shirt was the first thing that passed through Rin's mind, the large sleeves barely covering up her hands while the bottom of the shirt just barely reached past her panty line. Knowing Sia too well, she probably even went to bed in her underwear, her supple breasts barely supported by one, tiny, lacy bra. Or maybe she went to bed in something less than that.

Rin could feel his nose begin to run, quickly acting to squeeze his nostrils together hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, "Sia-chan! I never said I was going to sleep with you!"

Sia squealed, pushing him further into the sidewalk. The passerby's didn't settle her down one bit, teasing Rin with thoughts of her slender frame in less than a bathing suit. The sun was setting, although it still hung high in the sky. The rest of the walk home would prove to be fast, evening never truly settling in.

All the while, Watanabe looked at the two of them from a distance. His cheek puffed out in frustration, a depressed look in his eyes.

---------------------------

"Gyouji-sama, your mother has instructed us that we bring you home immediately!" A tall god turned to him, trying not to take too much of his attention away from the road. That did not please Gyouji, as he raised his foot into the air and kicked the dashboard.

"Fuck that bitch! She was completely against my father when he was still alive. Equality my ass, why should God's adhere to the like of humans and demons?"

Nobody in the car answered him. The driver bit his tongue to keep from lashing out at the boy, the guard in the back of the car not giving another thought to it. It was pitch black outside, his body was tired from this last night excursion to bail out the Master from jail and he had a wife to get home to. This boy's rants were the same thing every day, so it was easy to ignore him.

"But enough of that. I'll be old enough to properly wrest control of my family in a couple months, then we'll see who gets the last laugh. I'll decimate Tsuchimi Rin, I'll make him wish he was never born."

"Gyouji-sama! How do you expect to do ANYTHING after today?! The Japanese legal system might be lenient on you, but you attacked the Lord of God's DAUGHTER! Do you think he'll let you get away with it?!"

Whether he hit a cord or just infuriated Gyouji, he didn't know. All that happened was Gyouji punching straight through the dashboard of the car, slowly pulling his fist back out, scratches and cuts running all over his fingers and wrist. He looked at the driver with intensified hatred, his fist trembling, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

The driver reeled back in fright, quickly changing his vision to the road ahead. There was no arguing with Gyouji, for a spoiled brat he was very influential in many ways. It didn't make the driver respect him any, however. Continuing to look back and forth between him and the road, he began to mumble.

"Rotten little…"

He never finished what he wanted to say. The lights of the car rounded a corner only to meet head on with a statuesque figure standing in waiting of the car. The screeching of the brakes deafened the three in the car, accompanied with the powerful force of physics that sent Gyouji slamming into the passenger side window. There was a loud but swift sound, unrecognizable to him, like the scraping of metal on metal. Gyouji waited patiently for the thud of the person standing out in the middle of the road, but it never came. Instead, the car quickly slowed to a stop nearly flipping on its side.

The blow to his head wasn't much; he had prepared for it the moment he saw the figure in the road. For that matter, he didn't care much for that person either. It was his fault for standing in the middle of the road in the dead of night.

"Driver! Let's go, I want to get out of here as fast as possible!"

There was no answer.

"Driver?! Driver are you listening?!"

Again there was no answer. Infuriated, Gyouji reached over and grabbed the driver by the collar of his shirt, forcing the driver to face him, "Are you deaf?! I said-"

Gyouji stopped. He stopped dead in the middle of his sentence. It wasn't the snapping of flesh that stopped Gyouji, it was how only the top half of the chauffeur moved when Gyouji grabbed him. With horror-stricken eyes he looked across the driver, to see that there was a long, perfect gash in the metal and glass of the driver's side. What the hell had they hit?

It wasn't until his right arm had fallen away from the elbow that Gyouji bolted from the car, retching and gagging on his own vomit. Then he looked up. The figure was alive, well, and walking towards them.

"Ga-Ga-GUARD!" Gyouji yelled, hoping that his other bodyguard was conscious. Indeed he was, the door of the car kicking out to be followed by the barrel of a pistol. The guard emerged, his pistol aimed directly at the figure who took his time walking towards them.

"Freeze!" he yelled at the figure. It didn't stop. It took its time gaining ground on them, but it was definitely coming towards them.

"Shoot him!" Gyouji yelled, panic-stricken.

The guard hesitated. The figure was completely unarmed, no guns in his hands or anything. Instead his wrist was bent backwards at his waist.

"A magic-user," the guard thought. Still, he had been trained to shoot as a last resort, and if this person was a magic-user, they would have been attacked by now. Instead, he yelled out one more time, "Freeze!"

The figure still didn't listen, nearly ten yards away from them at that moment.

"Dammit stop being a pussy! Kill him!"

In the dim light, it was impossible to make out any distinctive marks about the figure. They were underneath a light from a telephone pole, far away from the city, but the figure was only illuminated by the light of the moon. The child behind him never quieted down, oh if murder was tolerated. Raising the pistol to eye level, he fired.

The still wrist came to life, swiping across the front of the figure's body in a flash. No wait. There was a flash. A flash of sparks. Something happened to the bullet.

The guard took a few steps back, stunned. If the sparks were any indication of the trajectory of the bullet, it would have hit him right in the heart. He raised his gun and fired twice.

Another array of sparks appeared from thin air, the figure twisting his wrist like he was an acrobat.

"He must be deflecting the bullets!" the guard screamed in his mind. It wouldn't matter, as long as he calmed down and focused, he couldn't possibly deflect them all.

As the figure got closer, the distinct sounds of bullets clashing with metal was recognizable. But how? There was nothing in his hands. Closer he drew, bullets bouncing off his force field like they were nothing. Finally, the figure came into the streetlight.

He was tall, immense almost. Slender and well built, every inch of his body was given away by the skin-tight, black, padded body suit he wore. On his head, he wore a large helmet, his face protected by a transparent visor that showed off his blue eyes.

The guard was panicking, he had lost all calm and reasoning. The figure was no more than ten feet away and completely unharmed. His gun had run out of bullets, but no. This was not a time to give up. He still had some time to reload, pressing the button on the pistol that dropped the magazine onto the ground. Quickly, he reached behind his back into his belt for one of his spare…

The wrist that was so acrobatic arched upwards towards him, and the guard stopped.

Gyouji trembled in fear, waiting for the guard to do what he was paid to do. He opened his mouth to yell at him, to discipline him. But it's hard to yell at someone, when blood begins to seep through the median of his entire body.

He screamed, pushing himself back onto the car as the guard dropped to his knees, then to the ground. His eyes shrunk back as the figure stopped, his menacing physique looming over him. He reached up and unhinged the straps of his helmet, his long, gray hair tumbling down behind his back.

"It's…it's…" Gyouji looked up at him, at this tall demon. His dark eyes and long hair was so familiar, this was the same being that had threatened him only months early. The same being that had hindered his plans so long ago, "It's you!"

The demon looked at him apathetically, cradling his helmet in the arm opposite of his once flailing wrist. In a docile tone, he spoke, "What did I tell you?"

In a panic, Gyouji slammed into the car, pathetically climbing to his feet to look this demon into his eyes. He couldn't though, the demon was tall.

"I, I, I don't know!"

Through apathetic eyes, the demon spoke again, "I told you. If you were to interfere with my plans that you would pay for it."

"How-How was I to know that what you meant?!"

"Leave the girl alone. That is what I told you. And yet you continued to pursue her, obsess her, and even tried to damage her."

"Look, my family is very rich! Very powerful, we could give you anything, just let me go and I'll get it for you, promise!"

The demon was not amused, "I don't need anything from you. All I asked was that you leave the princess alone, as my plans for her far exceed yours in importance."

"Don't…don't talk to me like that," Gyouji hissed, running the spectrum of emotions and reactions, hoping one of them would give off something he could use against him. It didn't work, as the demon raised his hand in the air, pressing his thumb against his middle finger.

"This is what I do to people who don't follow my order."

His fingers snapped, and the fuse to the light above them blew out, covering them in complete darkness.

The demon didn't move, didn't make a sound. The only sound Gyouji could hear was his own heart, his own heavy breathing. How long would he make him wait? What would he do? Was he going to fight him?

"Okay, if it's a fight he wants, I'll be glad to give it to him. Don't underestimate me, trash like you doesn't even deserve to…"

Thud! Something landed on the car behind him. The demon? No. He was still in front of him. The moonlight gave it off. He didn't move an inch since the light flickered out, so what could it be.

Gyouji felt the hot breath of a living being on his neck. Gyouji heard the low growling of a wild animal sizing up his prey. Gyouji knew something was behind him.

Whipping around in a panic, Gyouji came face to face with a dark entity. But it wasn't a wild animal. It was shaped just like him! It was shaped just like the demon before him! It was shaped just like that piece of trash Tsuchimi Rin!

It was human.

Except, that is, for the large, razor-sharp teeth that glistened in the moonlight. Teeth that conformed to the smile of its lips.

The figure hung off the car like a cat, its back twisted in a peculiar way to mold the windshield of the car. And like a cat, it opened its jaws and pounced towards him.

END

Writers Block:

A heavy Sia chapter I know, it'll equal out in the next chapter. Not that I'm sure some of you don't mind more Sia. 

I got some good news and bad news.

Good news: I've canceled my WoW subscription, so I'll have a ton of time to write.

Bad news: Finals are coming up in the next couple weeks, so writing time will be down.

Again, it took a while to produce this chapter, but it was all due to WoW. I was getting last play time in before I finished it for good. Like I said, finals are coming up soon, but afterwards I'll have most of the summer to work. I hope to finish a lot of work on this story by the end of summer, if not all of it. I'm keeping myself busy with other activities like games and working out so I don't just drone on in my story (even though this chapter was exceedingly long).

Once again, please go to my profile page to keep updated on Shuffle!Hope and when I make changes to a particular chapter. One more piece of information I'm looking for, I posted it in chapter 9 and would really like someone to answer it. So it here it is again!

And now I shall address one more question to the dedicated Shuffle! fans. And yes, it involves Sia and Nerine's mothers. I've searched the Japanese homepage in hopes of recognizing a number that would represent their ages; alas I've only found height and some other numbers that make no sense to me. Eventually I'll understand hiragana, katakana, etc. In the mean time, I would like it if someone with knowledge of the Shuffle! Aniverse could tell me the ages of the girls' mothers. If you can give me the girls ages as well that would be great. I'm assuming, since it's based off an H-Game and since the characters are in high school that the two girls are 16-17 years old, but an exact age would be fantastic. That goes with the girls' mothers too, since there is so little data in English on them that I can find.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you look forward to the next installment of Shuffle!Hope as much as I look forward to write it.

Chapter 12: Rin and the girls return to school. But something might stop Rin from missing class.