°Third Person°

There was something she wanted, something she desperately needed, when she was in that stall.

"You two look like you're having a serious conversation," a black voice said lowly.

Akito stood in the grass, dressed in a black long-sleeve with matching pants. His hands were laced behind his back, expression cold.

Ally and Skylar froze for a heartbeat, both taking their time preparing. Skylar counted to ten in her head, measuring, calming herself, hoping to keep her anger in check long enough for this meeting. Ally, however, was thinking, trying to figure out a way to keep Yuki as far away from this place as possible.

It was Skylar who broke the silence.

"Oh, not really," she said brightly, smiling. "Actually, we were a little worried about the new year — harder classes and what not. Did we look scary for a minute?"

Ally shot her a look, but didn't say anything.

"Not at all. I'm just taking a scroll to clear my head myself," Akito said lightly, seemingly unbothered by her carelessness as he stepped towards them.

"Clear your head?" Skylar repeated, tilting her head. "Something on your mind?"

He smiled easily. "A little. Family can be such an interesting thing, no?"

"It can indeed."

Ally was both impressed and terrified. Skylar was managing to hold a conversation with Akito without screaming or threatening him. She looked calm, innocent, like she honestly had no idea who she was talking too. But she did know who she was talking to, and that scared Ally.

"Oh! I'm Skylar, by the way," she said, smiling warmly as she bowed a little.

"I'm the head of the Sohma family," he said naturally, returning her smile, "Akito."

She stopped, eyes widening, and Ally quickly followed suit. "Mr. Akito!" Skylar bowed more deeply. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea—"

He laughed, waving her off. "There's no reason to fret; it's quite alright. I wanted to apologize for last time, actually."

"Last time?" Ally blurted, entering the conversation.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you when you went to the Main House last time. I can be quite shy at times."

Yeah, right.

They stood up straight, smiling.

"It's fine!" Skylar chirped.

"We totally understand," Ally said.

"My my, aren't you two kind," he said, leaning into Ally, staring at her. "And cute too."

Instead of turning red, Ally's face paled, especially when she saw Skylar's mouth twitch.

Don't do it, Sky. Just hang in there.

Thankfully, she didn't say anything.

"I would like us to be friends," he said nicely, but something was off. His face was smiling, but his eyes… his eyes were dark, menacing. "Just like you two are with Yuki and the others."

There was a pause. Just a second. Ally's eyes darted to Skylar, trying to see if she saw the hatred, hoping she hadn't, but could see she had by the anger starting to get through. Skylar's smile tightened, eyes narrowing, muscles tensing.

She didn't like being threatened.

And she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut this time.

"Liar." It wasn't loud, barely above a whisper, but it was hard, matching Akito's tone.

His eyes widened, turning to Skylar slowly, daring.

She was smiling innocently. "Whoops! I better get going. I forgot they needed me to help with some of the class preparations. I'm sorry to leave on such short notice!"

She needed to get to Kyo.

It took Akito a minute, but he seemed to have recovered, returning her smile with a harder one of his own. "It's alright. Ally and I can continue our conversation, right?"

Ally nodded, smiling at Skylar. "Don't worry about us; we'll be fine."

She wasn't talking about her and Akito; she was talking about her and Yuki.

Skylar nodded and turned around, going for a normal pace, but ending with a jog-type walk when she rounded the corner. When she passed Yuki, she started running, ignoring the possibility of getting in trouble as she scanned the hall. Her mind was on fire, thinking of anything she could do to help. Something struck a cord on her memory and her eyes stopped at an old, sliding door. Quickly, she opened it, pulling out two badminton birdies and a couple of racquets. Securing them in her arms, she continued down the hall, not bothering to shut the door.

She nearly ran into Sano.

"Woah there," he said, steadying her. "What are you doing, running around the halls like that?"

She ignored him, thrusting a racquet in his hand. "Here, take that."

He blinked, gripping it. "What?"

Opening the window, she grabbed a birdie and watched.

°°°v°°°^°°°v°°°

Akito was approaching Yuki in the distance, Ally's eyes wide as the wheels turned in her head.

"Why did you skip out on New Years?" he asked, eyes sharp and metallic. "Why would you do something like that? It hurts me deeply when you do things like that, and after I've been so lenient lately."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a feathery ball hit the back of his head, stopping his sentence.

"Oh, crap." It was Sano standing in the opened window, Skylar next to him. "Sorry, man, that was my bad."

Akito looked over at them, newfound hatred glaring into Skylar as she smiled and waved.

"We were trying to see if they were still as bouncy as they were last year," she shouted. "Didn't mean for it to go out the window."

Ally looked at Skylar, caught the wink, and quickly went to Akito's side.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," was the curt reply she got, "I guess I should be getting back to Shigure and the others anyway, lest they worry."

He looked in the window one last time before he walked away, but Skylar was gone. Sano was the only one there, smiling and waving. And Kyo was nowhere to be seen.

Ally watched as Akito left, feeling all the fight in her drop.

Man, she was tired.

"Miss Hall," Yuki interrupted her thoughts, "About that birdie—"

She looked at him, smiling. "Let's go have some fun!" she announced, grabbing Yuki's hand.

His eyes widened. "What?"

"School's out early today, so Uo, Hana, and even Skylar and I wanted to do something fun. And since it's a special occasion, let's all do something together!"

"Eh? Uh…"

She ignored him, dragging him with her towards the tennis court, laughing about Sano's idiocy, Skylar's clumsiness, anything to keep him distracted while they ran.

When they got there, everyone was piled in a circle, even Haru and Momiji. The net was set up, the racquets in a pile next to it, and a single birdie on top.

"Alright!" Skylar said, "Rock or paper, let's choose!"

On the count of three, they each held out their hands, some with rock, others with paper.

"Why the hell do I have to play?" Kyo muttered, hand forming a fist.

"Oh shut up. You're not the one who has to wear this stupid mask," Uo stated.

"No one's making you play!" he threw back at her.

"Now what happens?" Yuki asked, "What are the rules?"

"What rules?" Hana looked at him blankly. "Badminton does not need rules. Use the racquet to serve the ball, then use the racquet to hit the ball back. Simply put, whoever falls down first, loses."

"Clearly simplified," Haru compliments.

"Too clearly simplified," Kyo gripes.

"Let's start!" Tohru smiled.

Yuki blinked.

And Skylar and Ally smiled at each other.

There was something she wanted, something she desperately needed, when she was in that stall. She wanted people who defended her when she needed it, and people for her to defend when they needed her.

Kyo hit the birdie a little too hard, but Uo managed to hit it back just as hard, nicking Skylar's cheek.

She needed a family outside of her family that was warm and inviting, where everyone smiled and had fun together.

Ally laughed as Kyo got fired up, yelling at the "yankee" for trying such a cheep trick.

She needed people who's laughter drowned out the names everyone called her.

Hana's face was blank as the birdie bounced off of her racquet back at Momiji, who was too distracted by Uo and Kyo's fight to hit it back over the net.

She needed friends.

Everyone but Hana was sweating, breathing heavily as the sun set.

"Time sure does fly when you're having fun," Tohru wheezed. "It's already dark."

"We'll see you tomorrow, Tohru," Hana said.

"How come electric girl is the only one who's not tired?" Kyo rasped.

"We're going home too," Haru joined, "The car has waited for us for quite a while."

"Oh, you two are leaving already?" Ally asked, standing up with a smile.

"Thanks for hanging out with us." Skylar grinned.

Haru returned it. "I was worried about Yuki, you know, but it seems to be okay. Thank you, you two."

They shared a look and grinned at the same time. "Don't mention it!"

It seemed as if things were going to get complicated, especially since Skylar can't seem to control herself, but neither girl really paid it any mind. When they were with their cat and rat, everything was okay, and as long as they were happy, that was good enough for them.

BLAH BLAH BLAH: 3

I know I promised this chapter a lot sooner than it came out, but I'm terribly sorry! I just couldn't get interested enough in this chapter after writing it halfway through. I basically went back and rewrote it before I was able to continue past a certain point. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it, honestly. I wanted you all to see that Skylar has had a past of bullying, but I wanted it to be vague, kind of like the manga does for Yuki. Anyway, as a treat, a bonus part under this! Enjoy, cupcakes, and look forward to the next chapter~(:

"He said Skylar was ugly and dumb!" Shigure said, leaning on his leg as he looked at Hatori next to him. "In the car, he said she was hideous and poor Ally was her follower!"

Hatori looked over at him. "That doesn't seem to be what's bothering you."

Shigure smirked, taking a drawl from his cigarette. "I wouldn't say it's bothering me per se," he said, "More like an "Ah-ha!" moment, really."

"Oh?" Hatori didn't seem interested, but he listened patiently.

"The reason Skylar's dumb," he said slowly, "he said it was because she hadn't even known it was him when he stopped them, but I'm sure she and Ally both saw him when we visited before New Years."

"You think she lied?" he inquired, sounding more incredulous than anything.

"Not just because of that," he defended. "As always, our Skylar has such impeccable timing, even her clumsiness seems perfectly coordinated." He took another quick drag. "Just as Akito was interrogating Yuki, she somehow managed to accidently hit him in the head. With a birdie. From a window over three yards away."

Hatori looked at him, eyes wide.

"Akito didn't seem suspicious, of course. Since he had already had the notion that she was stupid because she didn't recognize him, something like purposely hitting him to stop his mental game would be inconceivable." Shigure looked at him with a meaningful look. "Purposely leading him to believe she was stupid was one of the most brilliant things she could've done, ironically."

His eyes darkened. "Your theory may indeed be correct, if that's the case."

"Seems that way," Shigure agreed. "Can't say I'm angry about it either. At the moment, I'm more impressed than anything."

"Because she hit him?"

"No, that's just a bonus." He chuckled. "I'm impressed because she thought so far ahead, making herself seem ignorant in front of us, making everyone believe she's straightforward, when in reality, she just prepared herself for when she met Akito."

"How could she have known how his personality would be?" Hatori reasoned. "She's not a mind-reader."

"No," he agreed, "but maybe she noticed how tense Yuki and Kyo were each time we mentioned Akito."

"If you were right about one thing, you could be right about another," Hatori gave him, "but it's not adding up. Why would she try so hard for a family she doesn't have to be in?"

This time, Shigure's smirk was devious. "Because," he said, putting out his cigarette, "she likes cats."