Thanks to: general zargon (Don't worry, Yuya has her friends and husband to comfort her.), Rinfantasy (Hotaru is always fun to write and he brings some much needed humor. Yuya will be alright and Aiko will help Shinrei in her own way), Azure (Shinrei always struck me as the type who would get embarrassed over genuine praise and you hit the nail on the head about Aiko learning his style of fighting. Since Ryu is the only other child she knows, Ruru doesn't really have anyone else to focus her affections on so she does like him a little. Hotaru is a mess, he understands that boys and girls have different bits and pieces but I don't think that the sex act itself fits into his brain, lol. Anyways, glad you are still enjoying the story), kyoandyuya (Hotaru is so...Hotaru and he isn't the easiest person to pair off. I could only really see him with Yuya or one of Yuan's sisters because he really needs a woman who is very strong to keep him focused. Ruru is jealous and of course Ryu won't let her get too out of hand because, as you said, he loves his sister. Lol, you just described a nice story idea, any plans to try your hand at writing it? Yuya with Hotaru and Akira as siblings is a hilarious image. I also thought Shinrei's style would make sense for Aiko who loves beautiful things and whose power is suited for dance in order to strengthen it, it was also an excuse to get him to lighten up since he's always so dour), DebyMU (I'm happy I was able to convey so many emotions to you. I don't mind couples with a large age gap as long as both parties are of legal age and you're right in that Shinrei does resemble Sesshoumaru with his coloring but his personality is all his own and I'm happy you like the way I wrote him. Yes, Ruru does have a bit of a crush but any romance between the two would have to happen in a sequel, the same as with his sister and Shinrei. Still working out the details for it though. I agree on how wonderful the manga is, I have the entire series of books and I love to take them out and read them over again.), magicalnana (I'm glad you are enjoying reading about Shinrei and Aiko, doubly so because she is an original character, and he is definitely going to do his best to watch over her.), Guest (Thanks for the review for chapter 18.), J Luc Pitard (I'm glad I haven't lost you along the way plot-wise. I have so many convoluted ideas in my head sometimes, y'know. I was worried about the last few chapters dragging because I know some people were like, "Where the heck is she going with this." More Kyo/Yuya and the gang here too and I hope I can continue to live up to the spirit of the characters and keep this enjoyable for you. Thank you as always for reviewing.), lmamc, PoleDancerWannaBe (Lol, Hotaru is a special kind of stupid but I love him. For you to say that I understand the SDK characters well is high praise indeed. Thank you so much!)

Author's Note: Just a heads up that there is a little tearjerking here and an apology because I use an internet program to type this up and my connection keeps going in and out so I haven't beta'd this chapter yet since I keep losing bits of my work in the middle of typing. =/

Kurenai Kioku

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sick Hearts and Hidden Talents

"Aiko!"

Yuya's voice was laden with desperation as she pushed her way through the charred wood that had once made up the front door, calling out her child's name while her husband padded silently after her. The acrid smell of old smoke stung her nostrils and she took shallow breaths, blinking her eyes from time to time to keep them clear as she waded through piles of ash. The blackened floorboards of the house creaked ominously beneath her weight and she had to step gingerly for fear of falling through the floor and tearing up her legs.

The bounty huntress paid no heed to the soot that was covering her feet as she made her way to Kyo's old room and reached out to push aside a beam that had fallen in front of the opening, flinching when a splinter stabbed her palm. Stepping through the opening, she took a quick survey of the space. The chest containing her personal items was more or less intact, albeit heavily damaged, but that wasn't what she worried about. What she wanted to find and yet, was terrified of coming across was a small body. She'd seen the leftovers of a bad fire once, back in Mizuto, and she felt sick at the memory of a corpse being carried out of the wreckage. Black and twisted, forever frozen in screaming agony.

She closed her eyes for a long minute, swallowing as she tried to gather the courage to search the half-room more thoroughly and then the rest of the house for the remains of her little girl. Lifting her lids, she took a deep breath and fought not to gag at the smell as she turned her head, scanning every dark corner and feeling somewhat relieved that she didn't see anything untoward yet. A breeze came in over the destroyed wall of the room and she gratefully inhaled the fresh air it was carrying, trying to work up the courage to return the way she'd come and pick through the rest of the house.

Just as she was about to perform an about face, Kyo's hand came down on her shoulder - warm, solid, and imminently comforting - as he said, "I don't smell burned flesh, Yuya. The people who did this might have taken them away or they could have left of their own accord."

It was a faint hope but she trusted his enhanced senses far more than her own and she grabbed onto his words like a drowning woman, turning around and looking at him with pleading eyes as she asked, "Do you really think so?"

He reached out and rubbed his thumb over her cheek to remove a speck of soot as he replied, "Even if the clan has a problem with Muramasa, they're too arrogant to just kill him and burn his body here. Aiko would be of value to them as well, judging by your description of her abilities and their interest in our other kid."

There was a fair amount of logic to what he said. If her experience with the clan was anything to go by, the Mibu didn't do things half-way. She wanted to believe that their conceit would prevent them from making the trek her father-in-law's house just to kill a man who was well on his way to dying already and a little girl who was hardly a threat.

Yuya couldn't hide her cautious optimism from her husband and he gave her a tiny smile before taking hold of her left hand and saying, "You need to get this looked at. I don't like smelling or seeing your blood."

She frowned at him and looked down, gasping at the red liquid staining her palm. The young woman had been so focused on the search for her child that she hadn't noticed how deeply the splinter had gotten her. As if her taking notice were a signal, the appendage began to throb and she sighed, curling it into a fist even though she knew it wouldn't do much because she didn't like to watch herself bleed either.

Footsteps sounded and they turned to see Sasuke entering the wreck with Kyoshiro in tow, who had a sad look on his face.

"Are you alright Yuya?" he asked the moment their eyes met, "You haven't...found...anything, have you?"

His voice was hesitant and her natural response was to reassure him as she said, "Kyo doesn't think either Aiko or Muramasa were caught in the fire."

"That's good but you only answered one question, Nee-San," Sasuke said as he reached her, flicking a glance down at her injured hand and frowning almost imperceptibly as he asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm...alright," she said with a smile that felt brittle, even to her, and the young man just stared at her with his penetrating eyes before he reached out to grab ahold of her good hand.

"You need to get out of here," he said, tugging her with a strong grip and forcing her to walk with him as he took her away from the wreckage and left Kyo and Kyoshiro to search the rest of the house to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

Bon and Tora crowded around her while Okuni and Akira hung back to observe, but it was Akari who marched forward and grabbed up her throbbing hand with surprisingly gentle fingers as he murmured sympathetically, "Oh, you poor thing. That's a nasty puncture you have there."

Yuya nodded and almost laughed as he broke Sasuke's grip on her other hand with a swift chop and, in response to the scowl the boy gave him, said in a teasing tone, "Don't get your panties in a twist. I'm not taking your precious Nee-San anywhere except to have a look at her. You can fawn over her later after she's been seen by an expert. In other words, yours truly."

The ninja looked as if he wanted to say something but Akari didn't give him a chance as he slid an arm around Yuya's shoulder and guided her off a ways before pushing her down into a sitting position.

Kneeling down next to her, he lifted her bad hand once more and said, "I take my eyes off of you for one second and you're already hurt."

"It's not that bad. Besides, it was just a splinter that caught me off guard."

"Whatever," he replied as a glow started to surround his hand, "I'm standing by what I said before, you are way too clumsy."

Yuya grinned, knowing that it was his way of telling her she needed to be more careful and sighing in relief as her wound healed and the throbbing disappeared almost immediately.

"You ought to be grateful to receive treatment from the wonderful and gorgeous Akari-Sama and that I'm doing this for free. I still prefer to obtain a secret in exchange for my services but you're such a boring person, I bet the only fun things you have to tell me involve you and Kyo behind closed doors and I've already suffered enough woe there."

His voice was regretful but the light in his violet eyes told Yuya that he was messing with her again and she leaned back once he was done and replied, "Well, excuse me for being boring. I guess we can't all be super strong or have special powers."

"Still," she gentled her tone and gave him a genuine smile, "you really are a sweet person. I'm so happy to have you as a friend."

The shaman flushed slightly and replied with less arrogance than usual, "Well, of course you are. Not everyone can be blessed by my magnificence. Although, maybe you aren't that, boring. Even if you don't have powers of your own, Aiko would have had to inherit her potential from you since Kyo is a Mibu and they can't produce shamans."

Yuya's improved mood lasted right up until he mentioned her daughter. Maybe it was heartbreak, pouring in to take the place of the excitement that she'd had up until she broke through the trees and saw the ruins of the house in which she had birthed her children and which she called "home." It could have been the uncertainty about the status of her beloved little girl and her dear father-in-law. It could even have been the result of Akari's kindness, which was all the more moving because she knew he struggled to trust others and make friends.

Really, when she thought about it, her day had gone from wonderful to miserable in the blink of an eye and her grief rose up, as if to say "surely you didn't forget about me", and tugged at the corners of her mouth and eyes until her smile became a pained grimace and her vision blurred with moisture. She blinked to clear her eyes but all that did was set her tears free so that more could replace them and she pressed a hand to her mouth, as if she could hide her distress from Akari.

Where was her little girl? Her baby?

It would have been better if she could have cried quietly, with little ladylike sobs that she could use to hide the depths of her torment but that wasn't the case. Instead, her anguish took on a life of its own and sat at her shoulder in order to sank its wicked claws deep into her, drawing out more and more fear and uncertainty and loss until she was crying loudly and mournfully.

She knew her friends were staring at her and that she was making a spectacle but she couldn't control herself. Her little girl was gone, and alive or not, it was devastating. Not since she had found out that Nozomu wasn't her brother and that she was no one's child had she felt such pain and she wanted to curl up into herself - go to sleep and dream because she could at least see her child and hold her tight in her memories.

Akari was saying something to her and then he was hugging her, making soft sounds that were intended to soothe her. She wanted to relax into that comforting embrace. His arms were strong and kind and she appreciated the gesture, truly she did, but the person she wanted, the person she needed was...

Yuya felt him behind her almost as soon as she had that thought, so warm that it was like he was already touching her before he pulled her away from the shaman with gentle hands. Kyo gathered her close to his side with an arm around her waist and she turned her face away from their friends, trying to hide her shameful tears as she buried her nose in her husband's chest and breathed him in. More than all the words he could have said, the masculine familiarity of his scent and his presence broke through her pain and reminded her that all was not lost.

She didn't know where he was taking her nor did she care, save that it was away from the rest of the group and away from the burned out house where she had made so many happy memories. The last place she had seen her daughter. A hush fell over the two of them and there was nothing to break the quiet except for her sobs, which were gradually becoming more manageable.

Her husband maintained his silence and she was grateful for his understanding of her needs. She was finally getting to the point where she was willing to turn her eyes to the outside world again and see where they were going when she felt the caress of warm, moist air on her bare legs and smelled a sulfurous scent. They were at the hot spring behind the house and she wondered why he'd brought them there as she lifted her head and looked around.

It was obvious that the people who had destroyed Muramasa's home hadn't felt compelled to do anything to the spring and she felt a touch of relief at seeing something familiar. The stool that they had once used to bathe each other and which she used when she and Aiko did the same was still intact. For some reason, even seeing the steam curling from the top of the pool made her feel better. The entire environment was relaxing and her tears finally slowed as Kyo stopped and pushed her down onto the little stool before going off to fetch water from the spring and kneeling down to pull her zori off when he returned.

She grimaced at seeing her feet stained black with soot with a white outline where the straps of her footwear had been and childishly pulled them back, curling her toes to hide their blackened nails from Kyo.

He quickly caught onto her small nod to vanity and grabbed one of her feet, dousing it with water and saying, "Should you really be worrying about what I'll think of your feet when your face is already covered in snot and tears? Who knew the woman I married could cry so messily?"

Yuya blanched at his honest remark since she knew she probably did look a mess and scrubbed her sleeve across her face as she said, "You are really bad at making people feel better, you know that, Kyo? And why is it that you always manage to see me when I'm at my lowest points? I've never been the type to cry so easily."

"I don't think worrying about your own child means you are easily upset, woman," her husband responded with a long suffering tone as he wet the other foot too and scrubbed at it with his fingers, "If you were a kid crying over losing a snack, I could tease you about it. But you're an adult, a mother, and a wife. That means you get to experience more things but the possibility of greater loss is there too and I've always known that family is important to you."

He understood her so well and she managed to crack a tiny smile, lowering her sleeve just enough to peek over it and meet his crimson gaze. So many people were afraid of those eyes but just knowing that they were focused on her was comforting.

"Besides, I'm always here because of your questionable taste in men," he continued in an amused tone, sloshing water over both of her feet and rinsing them off, "Instead of a farmer, you married the infamous Thousand Killer. As you said once, I'm never going to be a "nice" person."

She recalled saying those words in that very hot spring and chuckled as she said, "I did say that once upon a time, didn't I? Well, you might be a jerk sometimes but I don't think a farmer would have suited me either."

"Definitely not. He couldn't handle all that passion and emotion. A normal guy would take one look at that hideous face you're currently sporting and run off because he wouldn't know what to do with it."

"Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically, "I'm not sure how I can withstand so much praise from you."

"My pleasure," he replied without missing a beat before reaching up and tugging her arm down all the way so that he could get a clear look at her and saying in a more serious tone, "and I can't complain about you blubbering all over the place. Better to see you here and alive instead of screaming your head off and choking to death on your own blood."

It was the first time he'd ever directly alluded to his feelings while he watched Fubuki torture her and she peered into his eyes, spotting the lingering traces of pain that the memory dredged up. It was how she imagined her own eyes looked when she stopped to reminisce about that terrible day.

"The Mibu keep touching what is mine and my patience with them has already worn thin," he said with a dark note in his voice that made her shiver as he reached forward to undo the ties of both her inner and outer garments before pushing and sliding them off of her.

He sat back afterwards and simply stared at her for a long while, his gaze opening admiring, before he laid his hands on her knees and said, "I know it hurts but we'll get them back, Muramasa and the twins. Do you believe me?"

Yuya nodded because she didn't trust herself to speak when he gave her such an earnest look while he promised to finish putting her world back together. His return had completed half of the puzzle but there had been other pieces added that needed to find their places before their family would be whole again.

"Do you trust me to find our children?"

She nodded.

"Do you also understand that I will kill anyone who gets in my way?"

"Yes," she managed to whisper and he gave her a smile that was pure wickedness.

"Sweet woman," he said, sliding his hands forward across her thighs, "you understand what sort of monster I am. A nice man would say it won't be for vengeance and that he wouldn't enjoy himself but...I'm not nice, am I? If I told you those sorts of lies, you would be disappointed in me, wouldn't you?"

It wasn't a question that he was expecting her to answer and so she didn't, focusing instead on the fact that he was there and that his hands felt wonderful. She also realized that he was comforting her in his own way, bringing to life for her his belief that Aiko was still alive and waiting for them to rescue her.

How she loved her husband, as evil as he could be at times. Even if she didn't always agree with the leanings of his - often absent – conscience, she trusted his strength and his promises to make things right. It was enough.

Those rough, sword-calloused hands found their way to her waist and he leaned in closer as he said, "I don't think you feel like crying anymore. Do you have a special request once I get naked too?"

She smiled apologetically as she replied, "I'm not quite up to having another round of our usual activities, Kyo. But, do you think we can soak in the springs for a little while. And..."

She paused, flushing a bit because her next request would probably sound overly mushy to him.

"And...," he prompted with raised brows.

"Would you just...hold me for a bit? Like you did the day after our wedding night."

He gave her a long, silent stare before smirking and replying, "It's boring but it can't hurt."

"Really?" she asked, her voice hopeful.

"Sure," he replied, "as long as we get to repeat what happened after we came out of the springs on that day, at some point."

Yuya reached out and cupped the side of his face, laughing as she said, "You really are oversexed."

"That sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle "black", woman," he replied and her laugh turned husky as she bent forward to reward him with a kiss because he was right and because there was no one else like her Kyo.

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She was watching him again as he went through his katas, trying to cool his temper down as he cursed himself for getting so upset with Keikoku.

Shinrei could keep his calm with anyone else - to the point that some referred to him as an ice prince because of how much control he tried to exercise over himself and his emotions. But the moment his half-brother entered the picture, all of that control went out the window. It was like what happened when you stroked a cat's fur in the wrong direction, a reaction that was swift and angry. Their personalities just abraded each other and they lashed out, usually over things that he would ordinarily have deemed too stupid to fight over.

Of course, Keikoku had no business trying to look under the little girl's kimono, no matter how innocent his intent was, but he probably shouldn't have kicked him. The blonde wouldn't have hurt her and he could have just nudged her out of his way until something else new and shiny caught his brother's famously-short attention.

He sighed and continued to move, doing his best to ignore the red eyes trained on him until she actually started to hum along with his actions, completely breaking his already weak concentration. He dropped his hands to his sides in exasperation before turning to face her..

His swords were held loosely as he fixed her with a tired gaze and asked, "Why do you keep chasing me? You should be playing and spending time with your brother and the other children instead of a grown man."

"But you're sad again," Aiko replied.

She was currently sitting on the ground not too far from him with her legs stretched out in front of her and both of them were a good distance from Taihaku and his orphans, situated close to the wall enclosing the courtyard. The girl wasn't staying still either. She wiggled her little feet from side to side, moving them away and bringing them back together with a rhythmic tap-tap sound as the soles of her shoes met over and over again.

"I think we've already established that I'm not the happiest person, Aiko," he said, "but there's no point dwelling on it when it won't go away until my family is safe."

"You weren't sad when you were fighting with Keikou-Sama," she said.

"That's because we don't get along and I have no time to be depressed when I'm arguing with that idiot."

The child frowned and the next words out of her mouth nearly made him lose his balance.

"Why don't you like your brother?" she asked innocently.

He just gaped at her for a moment before recovering quickly and asking, "Where in the world did you get the idea that he and I are brothers?"

"You have the same eyes. And when you get mad, it's the same too."

Her uncanny comprehension of something even Keikou wasn't aware of gave him pause and he looked at her a little more closely. Perhaps he was a bit biased, but he had assumed that she wasn't quite as perceptive as her brother. Of course, a lot of that had to do with the fact that communicating her thoughts took more effort than it did with her twin. She still struggled to refer to herself by "I" instead of using her own name, after all.

However, those crimson eyes were sharp and he decided that it might be better to re-evaluate his assessment of her. Yes, she was a child but maybe there really was a method to her madness.

Walking over to her, he kneeled down slightly and said, "It's not well known that we are related."

"You mean, it's a secret?" she said, dropping her voice a few octaves as if the other people on the far side of the courtyard could actually hear her.

It was an endearing gesture and the corner of his lip twitched upwards involuntarily as he said, "Yes. You aren't to tell anyone, not even Ryu."

She seemed to turn that over in her head a few times before nodding eagerly and beaming at him as she said, "Okay!"

He didn't quite trust her not to forget her agreement with him but she was happy and he hopefully wouldn't have to answer more questions, so he accepted that there was now one more person who knew his secret.

Of course, he should have known that she wouldn't leave things there and as he moved to resume his katas, she said, "You didn't tell me why you hate Keikoku-Sama. I don't hate Ryu."

He paused again and, knowing that she wouldn't let it go, he said, "I don't exactly hate him."

"So then, you like him?" her voice was disbelieving and he wondered just how sharp she was to pick up and try to untangle his complex emotions toward his half-sibling.

"Like is too strong a word. I respect his strength but he's a disgrace by my father's standards and he's tried multiple times to get rid of him."

It might have been too much honesty because her eyes grew wide as if the idea of a parent wanting their own child dead was incomprehensible. It was hard for him to wrap his head around too, at first, until he realized that his father didn't actually see people when he looked at his sons. Rather, they were pieces in a game designed to advance their family's influence. Shinrei was the model son and Keikoku was his bastard cast-off - the wild, unwanted, and uncouth son who didn't fit his ideal.

"Shinrei-Sama has a lot of feelings for Keikoku-Sama," Aiko said in an awed voice and he wondered for the hundredth time what she saw when she looked at him.

"Our relationship is complicated," he replied, "And our conflicts are more personality than anything else. I want him to love the clan and serve it well as a member of the Goyosei but all he ever talks about is getting strong on his own. I went through a lot of work to give him the chance to become one of us without my father knowing but he always wants to do his own thing. He's independent to the point of frustration."

Just thinking about it was enough to get his back up and he pressed his lips together before forcing his arms and legs to move again.

Aiko laughed and said, "You do like Keikoku-Sama."

Making a sound of disgust and immediately writing off her observation as a wrong interpretation of whatever her powers were showing her, he replied, "He is a member of the Mibu clan and my family. No matter how much we might fight, that won't change."

It was the truth. He'd long since given up on the idea of forming a close brotherly bond with Keikoku, the very idea was enough to make them both vomit, but that didn't change the fact that he would fight to the death for his sibling's sake. Yes, they threatened to kill each other all the time, but the unspoken agreement was that no one else was allowed to do so.

Aiko kept smiling at him with a satisfied look that made him feel as if he'd just given her something she really wanted. It was unnerving and his discomfort grew until he turned his back to her, figuring that it would allow him to better ignore her. Unsurprisingly, she didn't take the hint and he heard her stand and make her way over to him with vigorous strides until she was violating his personal space again while she observed him up close.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't stand so close when I'm practicing," he said, "I do not want to cut you by accident."

"Mmhmm," she said distractedly and he heard her take all of two steps away from him before she stopped again.

Minutes passed why she just stood there until her infringement on his privacy started getting to him again and he asked, "Why are you still here? And it can't just be because I'm so sad or whatever you want to say about me."

"Aiko...I want to see you dance."

"Yes, we've been through that before. According to you, everything I do is "handsome". That still doesn't explain why you aren't with your brother."

"I can always feel Ryu-Chan," she replied simply, "but Aiko...I don't always get to see you dance and...I like to dance too."

Shinrei stopped once more and turned to stare at her, blinking when she hastily rearranged her limbs into her normal standing position and stared back at him.

He frowned and said, "No point hiding from me. If you can watch me, then I can do the same to you."

The girl bit her lip, one of the few times he'd ever seen her show uncertainty in his presence, before she delicately pointed one foot forward and raised her arms, mirroring his prior stance almost perfectly, down to curling her hands where swords would go. For such a small child, her balance was superb – better than Ryu's he admitted grudgingly – and he stepped forward and reached out to adjust the foot that was supporting her weight from behind. She held the position for a few seconds with an unusually serious look of concentration on her face before her limbs trembled and, with a squeak of alarm, she toppled over.

Shinrei caught her before she hit the ground and set her back on her feet, holding her by the shoulders as he stared at her. It was her turn to become nervous under his scrutiny and she wrung her hands together while she waited for him to get mad at her for copying him.

He wasn't sure why she thought he would be upset but he was interested in her ability to imitate his moves so closely and said quietly, "You're not bad. Why are you so afraid of showing me what you can do?"

Those tiny fingers danced around each other as she lowered her eyes and said, "When you show Ryu-Chan what to do, it looks like you only want to spend time with him."

She said the words slowly, doing her best to convey a complete thought to him, and he realized that she might have taken his grudging tolerance of her presence at their practice sessions to mean something else. True, he treated Ryu like the son that he wanted to pass on the family school too, but it was more about how focused he was on teaching and his low patience for distractions, and Aiko was a huge one.

Still, if her poise was anything to go by, she actually had some talent and he wondered if he could include her in their next session. It would slow things down since she would be behind in the basics initially and, traditionally, the more complex parts of the school were reserved for whichever male student was slated to inherit the role of performing the Dance of Water. However, there were no hard and fast rules against teaching her and it would keep her occupied. He was perfectly fine without another session of her calling him and everything under the sun handsome.

"You aren't mad," she stated after a while in a wondering tone when the sharp words she was expecting didn't come and he shook his head.

"It was not my intention to make you feel left out," he said.

"So it's okay for Aiko to keep dancing?"

"Wouldn't it be better if I showed you how?" he asked and her face lit up like he had gifted her with a lifetime's supply of sweets and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Then I don't mind. But if you want me to teach you, there are a few things you have to do."

Her face indicated that she was hanging on his every word and he had to force his voice to remain stern as he said, "First, you must do whatever I ask you to do during training."

She nodded.

"And second and third, you must understand that this is also a fighting style and that I might not be able to continue training you once your parents come for you."

Her nod was a bit slower this time and he hoped for both of their sakes that he hadn't just given her false hope. He knew her mother and father wouldn't leave their children with the Mibu but whether or not they would survive to claim their progeny was something else entirely.

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I can't lie, I teared up a bit while I was writing about Yuya's feelings because I was thinking how I'd feel if one of my daughters went missing. Hopefully there was a good balance of romance and plot progression and I also hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I apologize again for the typos and hope my internet will stabilize. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.

P.S. How many people figured out that I would have Shinrei train Aiko too?