Chapter 26 – Channeling

There was a dull thud as her ankle contacted the padded brace on my left forearm. I continued to gently smile at her as she whipped around with her other leg and I parried a solid kick aimed for my stomach instead.

Each hit would cause a burst of powder, which would take to the air, visible only in the morning light coming in through the dojo roof. The only sounds were her ever gentle footsteps mixed with the rhythmic dipping of the bamboo fountains outside. The dojo was always so peaceful when we were alone here.

Kisa's breathing was light and she was still smiling as she kicked into the air, placing three more kicks into the side of my upraised arm. She was fast and she knew it, but her smile showed me that she wasn't serious still.

Raising my right hand too, I put my right fist against the open palm of my left and nodded to her. She took the indication and stopped attacking, instead dropping into a guard stance and nodding to me. "Really good warm up so far, Kisa. You're definitely getting a lot faster. Shall we try what I was talking about earlier now that you're warmed up?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow to her.

Kisa smiled then and nodded twice, seeming eager. "Of course, Hiro! If you say it will help me, then I'll do it," she responded. I laughed. She put so much faith in me... but a little part of me was proud of that deep inside somewhere.

"Okay then. Close your eyes and focus exactly how I told you earlier this morning. You should be able to feel it if you try hard enough," I explained again, taking a few steps backwards to give her room.

Kisa had insisted on speeding up her training sessions after the incident. She had explained it as not wanting to be so defenseless in a situation like that again, so that I wouldn't have to go to such extreme lengths to defend her anymore and get myself hurt. I think it had something to do with college now, too. Before the incident on the street, Kisa used to get really excited every time college was brought up. She'd talk faster and start mentioning how much fun it would be... but now...

Kisa's eyes closed gently and she relaxed, losing her smile now. Instead, smiling myself, I focused on the same... feeling inside me. It was still there after all. Memories started to come back slowly. The forest beneath me... The cold night sky... Kisa by the river... I felt a slight pulse as I ignored all of it. Focusing further... there! The statue flooded into my memory and my eyes widened, losing my smile again.

The memory was shaky in how I got there but... the statue was memorized in perfect detail. It came together slowly in my mind and I understood its significance. It was a simple thought now as to why I picked that statue out of all of them. Slowly, the statue changed in my mind. Arms lengthening... Head twisting... The scarred face twisting into a terrible visage as the horns shattered out of the side of its head...

Suppressing the urge to throw up, I managed to only shudder violently instead as the face "looked" directly at me, eyes glowing a dark, freezing blue. I had to... control this somehow! Otherwise I was no different from... that monster!

Sweating now, I shook away the vision and forced the feeling up into my eyes instead. My vision swam for several seconds before clearing again. I'd only tried this once or twice before due to the unpleasant nature of the ordeal. My eyes snapped into focus and the world shifted several times more monotone. Not all color was lost, but things looked much colder, with an underlying shade of blue omnisciently present.

Looking back at Kisa, I noticed that I could see a faint aura around her. Her energy from her body. After staring for several seconds, her veins and arteries became apparent, along with her blood flow. I focused harder and noticed that I could see my breath in the air, my body temperature now contrasting with the warm dojo. No, I couldn't let it distract me any further than noting it or I'd lose control.

Then it snapped into focus. I smiled as her energy flow was visible inside of her body. As she started to frown now, I noticed that her energy flow was actually changing. She was focusing it into the core of her body, like I instructed. Good girl...

I just watched her as I let my energy recover. Changing only a part of myself into... that thing took a lot of my willpower. Touching my consciousness against that beast probably didn't help much, either. Everyone was wrong about Kyo, I now see. It's not him. We're all monsters on the inside. But I guess that's why they call it a curse... Were the spirits of the zodiac really like this?

Thinking back on it, everyone was rather shell shocked at what had happened. Still, it had went better than I had anticipated. That was a long night regardless, and I thought back to it while waiting for Kisa to focus herself...

Moonlit Redemption

The yard below us was dimly illuminated by the full moon adrift above. With two gentle flaps, I landed softly on the grass, white feathers drifting about from my wings. Kisa smiled gently at me from my arms as I set her down. I noticed the tingling sensation as she left my arms, and the weight my body suddenly seemed to contain.

Giving out a sigh, there was a light pulse of white from my back and a few rogue feathers drifted past my line of vision. Looking back, I noticed the wings had dispersed, leaving a ghost feeling of where they used to be. My mind remembered the muscles it needed to summon to make them flap, but the wings were no longer there, leaving my mind to strive against nothingness.

The fatigue of the night suddenly caught back up with me and I felt drained. The energy the prior state had given me was suddenly taken away just as quickly... Kisa gave a quiet yelp as I suddenly fell past her, landing on my knees in the grass. My hands extended and I caught myself...

"Hiro..." suddenly sounded in a soft whisper. I shuddered inside and looked up, past Kisa kneeling next to me, and up onto the rail of the porch. Tohru stood there, hands resting on the rail, but not leaning on it. Her eyes were big, but soft. She looked... sad, and I had to look away. Damn her. What was her... When she stared at you... it always brought about feelings. Unfortunately, it was always feelings of inadequacy with me.

Kisa grabbed my right arm and shoulder, helping me to my feet. "Hiro, that must have been a drain on you. Be careful, okay...?" she asked... no, reminded. I'd already known it, somewhere inside. That... thing fed on my energy when I used it.

Tohru frowned and followed our path with her eyes as we went to the side of the deck and up the stairs, Kisa still helping me along. Regardless of how it turned out... this was still all my fault. Others wouldn't be as forgiving as Kisa... or as pitying as Tohru.

"Are you alright, Hiro? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" Tohru asked, seemingly consciously avoiding the main issue at hand.

Kisa smiled at her as we walked past and inside the main room. The main room was darkened, with the main source of light coming from the hallway leading past Shigure's den and to the living room. It seemed gloomy, but maybe it was just my dwindling mindset and dread of facing the others. "Yeah... I'm not... injured or anything. Um... how are Mori and Inoue?" I asked weakly, suddenly remembering something... bad happening with them.

Tohru frowned. "Well... they were taken to Hatori's office... Mori was a little scratched up and Inoue just... needed to calm down a little but they..." she started, seeming to lighten up a little... at least to her scatterbrained self again, anyway.

"What did they say to you?" Kisa suddenly asked, frowning. She looked... mad?

Tohru shook her head rapidly. "Does it really matter, Kisa? I mean... what happened is already done. It doesn't.... make sense to dwell on the past, right?" she rapidly reasoned, seeming flustered.

I frowned. In all honesty, I couldn't... quite remember what they said. It hurt my head to think about it... Then a dark chuckle followed. "You should have just let me kill them, Lamb..." was whispered inside my head. My right temple gave a throb and I massaged it, wincing slightly.

"Of course it matters! They said something that caused all this! I want to know what it was..." Kisa growled, looking up at Tohru.

A... pressure was building in my head again, causing both temples to throb now. "No! She's pissed off...!" echoed out in my head then. Wh...what? "You're so damn selfish all the time!" hit, harder instead. I groaned and slumped, holding my head again. Damn it! Get out of my head!

"Hiro... are you okay?" Tohru suddenly asked, sounding concerned. Kisa frowned and caught me as my hand slipped past the counter and I fell slightly.

"You were an immature brat..." echoed in my head instead of my formulated response. Mori's... voice. I didn't understand. My head gave a huge throb suddenly and my vision blurred. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on something else. What was... wrong with me?!

I felt Kisa help me stand up straight again. My head cleared a little, and I heard her say, "Oh! Yuki! Ky..."

My eyes opened to a fist colliding with my cheek! My world went sideways suddenly as my feet left the ground... Unfortunately, I'm not a kid anymore. Weighing slightly more now, landing hurts a lot more too, especially from a dead drop. Kisa and Tohru both yelped as I crashed into the floor against the wall, seeing stars...

"Dumbass! Going and just running away like that! What the hell were you thinking?!" was shouted in an ear splitting voice that could only belong to Kyo. Feeling the fist impression on my cheek, I deduced that it must have been him that hit me, as well. Yuki uses palms... and I probably wouldn't be conscious...

An irritated sigh sounded from the same direction, followed by, "Stupid furball... Violence isn't always needed, you know." It was in a much quieter, Yuki voice.

"Hiro!" Kisa exclaimed, running over to where I was just sitting up. Ow... damn.

Focusing my eyes, I could see Tohru freaking out where she was standing, looking back and forth between Kyo and I. I sighed again and looked at Kyo, glaring at me. Yuki suddenly smashed him into the wall to the left again with one hand and walked past calmly. "He does have a point though. It's better to talk about the issue rather than run away..." he added, leaning down and offering a hand to help me up. Somehow his words hurt more than Kyo's fist...

Rolling to the right, I stood up by myself and stared at the wall instead of them. They... didn't understand. Yes, this was all my fault... but... "I... know that, Yuki. I..." What could I say? There was no way to tell them what... had happened without them thinking I was just insane. The extremely aggressive spirit of my zodiac animal was talking to me in my head and telling me to kill things? Yeah... that worked so well.

Yuki smiled however and nodded, standing up straight again. He then looked at Kisa instead? "And you, young lady... You really must learn to time things better. I imagine you've talked it over more with him now?" he asked gently. Kisa looked down from him as well, but nodded slowly.

I snorted. "You know she barely did anything... so just hit me if you're angry still," I fired off, glaring at Yuki instead. I hated to see Kisa look sad like that, and she really looked up to Yuki so that made it much, much worse.

Yuki chuckled. "I'm not yelling at her, Hiro. I'm not even angry, so no need to bristle up," he commented, snickering and patting my head as he walked past. I felt like growling at him but I bit my tongue.

Kyo groaned and stumbled out of the heap he made when he hit the wall. "Damn you, Rat! What the hell did I do?!" he shouted back at Yuki.

"You were being too loud!" Yuki called back, seemingly not bothering to stop while progressing towards the living room. Tohru looked utterly confused as she called out Kyo's name and chased after.

I shook my head and sighed. Those two never quit. "Well... that went better than anticipated." I commented, glancing back at Kisa... who still looked gloomy. She raised her head up and nodded, attempting a smile. I brushed her left bang gently out of the way before pecking her forehead. "It's okay, Kisa... Everything can only improve from here," I assured. Looking back at how pissed off Kisa's mother was, I'm not so sure...

The Tiger's Strength

Oops! Snapping back to reality, I noticed the control over my vision had slipped. I had backed off several layers of intensity and was now just seeing through the thin layer of her shirt. Blushing, partially from my own thoughts over the matter, I rapidly shook my head and snapped my vision back to full strength. Her focus was almost complete... now she just had to...

Kisa's eyes slowly opened. I smiled at the sight of the brilliant golden glow emanating from her already gold pupils. She gasped as she looked around, but focused harder. The irises first shrank, then expanded upwards and elongated... into flawless looking cat eyes as she looked back to me. I nodded and smiled at her, drawing forth her own gentle grin.

"Awesome, Kisa. Using this technique, you should be able to channel your spirits energy into you. This will help you defend yourself much easier!" I exclaimed, not losing the smile. In truth, I was proud of her, even if I wouldn't admit it.

Kisa's nod was an extremely happy one... and extremely short as she stopped nodding and widened her eyes. I was confused at first until a deep crimson flush came over her cheeks and she rapidly looked away from me. "AH! Hiro, why can I.... uh..." she started stuttering.

I broke into laughter. "See through my clothing? You can actually see into my body if you focus harder... and I don't know why we can..." I explained upon regaining my composure.

Kisa was laughing by now as well and shook her head. "Haha! Silly! I couldn't see through your clothing. Where'd you get that idea? Were you checking me out with some power I don't know about?" she asked, grinning back at me. Her sudden bold question totally caught me off guard and I blushed again.

"No! I... just accidentally did... a few times..." I admitted, looking away from her. Wait... she can't see through organics? Then why did she... She snickered then... and was suddenly gone?! Wait... no! She was just...

Barely bringing my arms up in time, I was suddenly sent hurtling backwards with a feral Kisa clinging to my chest! Fast! Dust blew up, along with the telltale low thud and dragging sound as we hit the dojo floor and slid. Not having time to respond, I just widened my eyes further as she started kissing me!

After the initial surprise lessened and I smiled into her kiss, finally returning it... until...

"Hey now! There are other places to do that, you know..." called out in a teasing, laughing tone. Kisa looked up, breaking our kiss. Not being in a good position to do so myself, I just turn my head to the right and looked that direction to the best of my stretching... Kazuma was walking up, smiling at us, albeit sideways to me.

His eyes widened slightly as Kisa looked up, but she didn't seem to notice and smiled anyway, hopping off of me... in an extremely fast manner. "Kisa..." I mentally groaned. Her eyes were still changed! And her speed indicated she was OBVIOUSLY still channeling...

"Kisa... your eyes. What's going on?" Kazuma asked, frowning. Said subjects of his inquiry widened, then shut rapidly. She opened them a split second later and they were back to normal.

"What do you mean, Master Kazuma?" she asked so politely and cutely that I had to smile as I crawled to my feet. Ow... my back hurt... for obvious reasons.

Kazuma raised an eyebrow, then shook his head after she didn't stop smiling. "So be it. I'll have Hiro tell me later, I guess. I only wanted to point out that it's almost time for school. You two had better get going."

Both of us yelped at the same time and rushed for the changing rooms. Kisa beat me by mere feet and I grinned at her as I grabbed her shoulder to pull her back. She laughed and spun to attempt to dislodge my hand, but only succeeded in yanking me forward and getting us both stuck in the doorway at the same time! Slipping sideways, I managed to fall into the room as she fell backwards, hooking her foot around the door knob as she went, pulling the door shut on us to the sounds of Kazuma's laughter over our show.

"Smooth one, Kisa..." I teased as she landed on top of me in the pitch dark. She started laughing more and I got smacked in the face with her martial belt! That's it! Rolling with her, I pounced her to the floor and started tickling her relentlessly in the dark. She burst into uncontrollable laughter and squirmed to and fro under me, shaking. After several seconds of this, she decided to attempt to escape by crawling forward and trying to get out from under me. I grabbed at her shoulder to attempt to stop her and...

OUCH! My back gave a tremendous spasm of pain and I winced, letting her go instantly and sharply sucking in my breath! She stopped struggling the instant my reaction changed and turned around again. "Hiro! Are you okay?! What happened?" she asked, sounding concerned. I was a little concerned myself at this point...

Standing up, I hit the light switch and turned my back to the mirror. My eyes widened at the long streaks of red that was soaking into the back of my training shirt! Kisa's eyes bugged out too, and she immediately stripped the shirt off me and looked at my back. Ten cuts in count, each about three inches long? How the hell?!

"What happened? How did you get... cut like this?! It looks like..." she started, then frowned and looked down at her hands? Oh... that's interesting. She had grabbed me when she pounced but....

Frowning, I looked back down at my shirt on the floor. No cuts? The shirt wasn't damaged but my skin was? That's a weird... ability, Kisa... "I think it has something to do with you channeling when you pounced on me, Kisa. Maybe your tiger gives you some type of natural defense in the form of claws?" I speculated, looking back at her and immediately wishing I hadn't. Her eyes were already getting watery as she suddenly hugged me!

"I'm so sorry, Hiro! I didn't know I had them and...!" she started apologizing before I shook my head and cut her off.

"I know that, Kisa. Don't worry. The cuts aren't that deep so you didn't hurt me that badly. It's better that we figure out what you're capable of NOW anyway, rather than later when it's more dangerous," I tried to comfort. Kisa sighed but didn't let go of me.

But that didn't hide the fact that I still needed to bandage them. Sighing, I broke her hug and slipped my training pants off, changing back into the lower half of my school uniform. Nodding to Kisa, I then slipped the door open a crack and exited again. Kisa nodded as she realized where I was headed and proceeded to get changed herself.

Walking slowly back across the dojo, I knocked on Kazuma's office door. "Yes? Come in..." called out from inside. Kazuma raised an eyebrow at me entering shirtless, but then sighed as I went for the medical closet. As I was digging out a gauze wrap, I heard a low whistle from behind me. "I didn't think you and Kisa were training with weapons... but then again, something tells me you weren't," he commented, walking up behind me.

I sighed. I hadn't wanted to tell anyone about Kisa's... alternate training, but Kazuma was one of my higher up individuals on my trust list... so I guess it couldn't hurt. "I was trying to teach her to channel her Zodiac. I'm guessing it worked a little too well and neither of us noticed in time..." I commented, finally finding the stupid cotton pads. Someone really needed to re-organize this closet... but it got used a lot as we weren't known as the gentlest dojo around.

Kazuma laughed as he grabbed the pads away from me and started putting antibiotic ointment on them. "I kind of thought that's what you were doing when I saw her eyes. You need to learn to experiment in a more controlled way, though..." he pointed out, causing me to chuckle.

"It wasn't exactly an expected outcome, you know..." I commented, smiling again finally. Kazuma put two pads on the lower cuts and I held them there using the gauze wrap, then twisted the entire wrap around my lower abs and looped it around again, waiting for the next two pads.

Kazuma shook his head. "The zodiac spirits are dangerous, you know that, Hiro. Just be careful from now on. You don't want anything to happen to Kisa, and I know that," he continued. I sighed and frowned again. I certainly didn't want her to start hearing things like me, no. But I had a feeling that was more due to my... incident than anything.

Neither of us said anything further until the bandaging was complete. Kisa had come in by then, carrying our two bags and my school shirt. She smiled at Kazuma, whom nodded in reply. "They're not very deep at all, so they should heal up nicely. Just don't do anything stupid for a few days and tear them, okay, Hiro?" Kazuma informed, patting me on the head. Kisa laughed and handed my shirt to me as I tried to hold back my eye from twitching.

"I'll try not to almost die for a few days, then..." I returned irritably, causing Kazuma to laugh. Kisa just smiled gently at me.

"Come on, Hiro. We're gonna be late for school," she pointed out, motioning me towards the dojo entry. I nodded and we both headed for outside...

Maternal Anger

"What were you THINKING, Kisa?! You didn't tell him until today, then expected everything to be just perfectly okay?!" Mother screamed. I sighed and winced, closing my eyes. I knew this would happen. I'd been regretting not telling Hiro and made up excuse after excuse to my Mother... Eventually she had stopped asking, I guess after she logically assumed it was so close to me leaving that I MUST have told him by now... which only made me feel worse about the aspect.

Hiro glared at her, in his typical irritated but calm manner. "Don't yell at her. I was the one who over-reacted in the first place and now she's told me, so there's obviously nothing more to yell at her for," he defended. I didn't deserve such a nice boy... why did he love me so much.

"Hiro..." I muttered, grabbing his hand. He looked down and seemed sad then, and I knew he was thinking bad thoughts again. No, he mustn't.

Mother sighed and shook her head. "This is so pointless. He didn't even have to suffer at all if you had just told him sooner and talked it through calmly, Kisa. His reaction was justified!" she exclaimed, sounding even more frustrated than before. I winced again. She was right, of course. I had no excuse not to tell him sooner.

Hiro looked irritated again. Either because she was ignoring his defending of me entirely, or that she was being persistent in lecturing me. "Stop it! You shouldn't say things like that to your own daughter! The only thing it does is make her feel bad, which she doesn't deserve. I'm not mad at her, so you shouldn't be either!" he exclaimed, looking quite upset.

I didn't know what to think. I felt I DID deserve it but... Hiro was defending me again and... this was all my fault anyway! If I'd told him, Mother wouldn't be mad and Hiro wouldn't HAVE to defend me!

"Well you SHOULD be mad at her! The whole point is that she obviously doesn't trust you enough with important decisions, which isn't how a strong relationship is sustained! Frankly, I'm sad that my daughter is acting like this, not mad..." she shot back, right arm shaking now.

I... couldn't help it. They just... came out on their own. Hiro frowned over at me as he saw my eyes get wet and I had to look down. He blamed himself for this... but he always did that! Nobody realizes how sensitive he actually is! I didn't not trust him... I was just worried about hurting him.

Two arms suddenly draped over my shoulders from behind! I stiffened for a second, then recognized Sis' hands as she hugged me gently. "Stop fighting, everyone... Kisa didn't mean to do this and was only afraid to tell Hiro. It had nothing to do with her not trusting him, so we need to focus on what's really important. Nobody's hurt from the accident and we can start to recover now, right?" she questioned gently from behind me. Mother sighed and looked down then. Yuki exhaled quietly and sank back into the couch again, and Kyo smiled at Sis with that soft look I always saw him get around her...

Hiro, however, stared sadly at Sis for a few seconds before lowering his head and looking away from us. I frowned at him. He still felt bad...

Shigure suddenly stood up? "Then it's decided then. The little Tigress and Lamb will stay here tonight instead of going back to that cold, lonely apartment! Shall I get out the sake, anyone?" he asked spontaneously, out of nowhere. Wait... what?!

WHAM! Kyo knocked Shigure into the floor with a smack to the back of the head! "Don't just decide things for yourself!" he scolded, looking irritated again. Yuki chuckled and stood up, resting a hand on Mother's shoulder and nodding to her.

"You should get some rest. Kisa will be fine for tonight, so don't worry..." he said quietly to her. Mother nodded gently and let him escort her out of the room, still not looking at me. I sighed. Worried about me? Maybe when I was younger... but not now.

Sis let me go then and walked around in front of me. "Come on, Kisa. Let's go make some supper for the boys," she said, tugging at my arm. I smiled and nodded to her, following her into the kitchen...

Memory

I yawned slowly as I walked next to Hiro on our way outside. The sun greeted us and I sighed as it didn't manage to heat the air at all. It might start snowing soon... Mori and Ichijo were already waiting for us at the entry. I smiled and nodded towards them as Hiro stopped and adjusted his coat.

He'd questioned me more about what I felt while channeling but it all happened so fast I didn't have a lot of time to make observations. All I knew was that I clawed his back up, which frustrated me. I should have better control over myself! I had to laugh, though. His eyes must convey the ability to see through organic things? Mine let me see heat sources... which seems to be slightly weird... but... well he MUST have seen SOMETHING with his eyes, as certain parts of him were DEFINITELY hotter than others... heh. He almost died of embarrassment when I told him, though...

After a minute had passed, Hiro sighed and looked around. "Where ARE those two?" he asked, sounding irritable. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at my watch. They WERE a little late.

Ichijo snickered. "Kissing in a closet somewhere?" he threw out. Mori laughed.

"He wishes... although it must be bad if even you noticed," she pointed out, causing Ichijo to glare at her.

"Noticed what?" suddenly came from behind us. I turned around and saw Inoue walking up, smiling softly and carrying a small painting canvas. Yoko was following behind her and carrying three much larger ones.

I blinked and stared at Yoko before smiling. "Ah... you're taking your canvases home. That's what took you..." I concluded. Inoue nodded happily.

"Yes, and Yoko's helping me carry them. He's so nice sometimes..." she cooed, smiling back at him. His cheeks went a pink color... way before the cold should have gotten to them, causing Mori to snicker endearingly again.

Yoko rapidly shook his head. "It... it's nothing. I mean, we live on the same street, so it's no big deal..." he managed to get out, smiling back at her. I smiled wider and nodded before leaning my head against Hiro's shoulder. He was warm and my face was cold, so a perfect resting spot!

Mori sighed. "Well it's chilly out here, so let's get going. Where to after this, by the way?" she asked as we started walking.

Hiro sighed as he slipped his hand into mine. "I'm hungry, so going to get some food would be the perfect start to the weekend," he concluded. I chuckled and nodded. It had been a few days since the incident and life was pretty much back to "normal" for us. As normal as it is for cursed zodiac members, anyway.

I stared sadly at Mori and Inoue. Both were sticking rather close to Hiro now. Hatori had to re-structure their memories, as per Akito's orders. The only way he could think of to write off all the scratches and bruises was that they were attacked again, though. It's not... fair in a way... but Hiro seemed okay with letting Mori off the hook, so being mad at her still was pointless.

Thinking about it though, the restructuring was probably better for Inoue in the long run. She was seriously disturbed after what happened and had difficulty talking. She was actually better after her memories were altered, which made Hiro sad, so I tried not to bring it up.

"Hiro... do you still think it's a good idea for us to sign up for the defense training?" Mori suddenly asked, after walking about halfway to Inoue's house.

Hiro sighed and nodded gently. "It's always a good idea to learn how to defend yourselves better... and you two seem to have very bad luck with needing to," he pointed out.

Yoko frowned and used his free hand to brush a wisp of his brown hair off his brow. "We want to take a martial art too! That way we can help if we're there..." he agreed, looking sadly at Inoue's back as she walked ahead of him. Ichijo nodded in agreement, but seemed deep in thought.

I sighed. "Kazuma will probably accept more students... if he can find another instructor, anyway. Weren't you helping him with that, Hiro?" I questioned. Hiro frowned.

"I've been trying. Ads in the paper and a few posters here and there have drawn some attention, but nothing more than weekend help. We need an actual master that can run another class slot. Kazuma is really the only master there, and he's kept busy with four class slots plus his training times at the school," Hiro pointed out, seeming exasperated. I guess I was lucky that Hiro himself was training me. Or was that "spoiled" instead? I snickered at my own mental joke, causing Ichijo to raise an eyebrow.

"What's so funny, Kisa?" he asked half a second later.

I laughed again, causing Hiro to look over at me questioningly as well. "Oh, I guess I'm just lucky... or spoiled that Hiro is teaching me himself. Now that I see all of the issues involved in classes, I guess I should be thankful to have my own personal Master to teach me," I explained, smiling at Hiro.

Yoko snickered and nodded, before replying, "Yeah. You're really lucky. Almost as lucky as Hiro was to be personally trained by Kazuma in the first place. He's a Sohma too, isn't he?"

I nodded gently and rested my head on Hiro's shoulder again as we walked. Mori seemed deep in thought and Ichijo looked distracted at best. After several seconds, Mori smiled suddenly and asked, "Is it possible for Hiro himself to take a weekend class slot? Then we wouldn't have to worry about it, would we?"

My eyes narrowed automatically. She was being greedy again... and I knew she still liked Hiro, no matter what she said. Ichijo shrugged and nodded. "It would be a good idea, if Hiro's up to it," he agreed after several more seconds.

Hiro sighed and was silent for a while. We'd quit working after school started back up, much to Michael's disappointment. We were apparently one of the harder workers that he'd gotten... but he promised us the same pay if we wanted to start up again at any point. Hiro knew he'd have time if he wanted to do this... although a part of me would rather he punch her in the face for asking...

"I'll ask Kazuma if he'd mind me using the dojo for a smaller class on the weekends. He already knows you guys, so it should be easier than normal," Hiro commented, after a few more seconds. Mori squealed and suddenly grabbed his other arm!

"Thank you, Hiro! I knew you'd be able to help us!" she exclaimed, smiling happily at him.

Ichijo raised an eyebrow to her and I actually glared this time, but she didn't seem to notice as she danced away again, spun, then ran back over to Ichijo. Yoko just rolled his eyes but Inoue didn't seem to notice. She was deep in thought over something, it looked like.

We walked for five more minutes or so before getting to Inoue's house. Yoko helped her carry the things inside, despite Mori's teasing that they shouldn't take "too long" then. I sighed and looked up at the sky. It was a light gray color, which seemed to make everything the colder.

It only took them a few minutes. I'd imagine her mother was glowing all over Yoko more. She seemed to really like him. Inoue looked almost... worried as she walked outside with Yoko, though. She stopped about ten feet away from us and looked up at a forty five degree angle. Yoko stopped walking shortly thereafter and looked back at her. Her eyes followed the path of a single flake of snow as it descended in front of her. Yoko smiled at it and extended his hand. It drifted gently into his gloved palm and he just watched it. Inoue did as well, but she wasn't smiling. "Something about the winter this year... just makes me feel uneasy," she muttered all of a sudden.

I frowned and looked at Hiro, who was just watching her sadly. Hatori had said that he couldn't bury the memories very deeply in her. Particularly traumatic things were difficult to modify, it would seem. Chances are, she still felt uneasy about Hiro's element.

Mori raised an eyebrow. "You and your feelings. It's just snow, Inoue," she pointed out, shrugging. Yoko rubbed Inoue's left shoulder though, gently and assuring, mixed with one of his soft smiles. She smiled back at him and nodded, catching back up with us. I sighed. This was going to be a long winter, I had a feeling... or would it be all too short, being my last one with Hiro for a little while? I guess I'll just have to see...

The four of us turned around and headed for the dojo to talk to Kazuma...

Weariness

Well, overall, things had went better than I was dreading. I guess I was overreacting to things as usual, but I had only assumed everyone would be utterly pissed at me. It makes me wonder how much Tohru has changed this family.

I leaned gently against the deck's railing using my waist, while resting both of my hands on the top of the rail. I'd changed out of my very tattered uniform and into a light fitting tank top and shorts after Kisa and I showered. I'm just glad that Kisa and I had brought more than one change of clothes for the party that was supposed to be today. I laughed to myself as a mental image of a frolicking Momiji drifted through my mind. He had been so excited over the water balloon fight that was planned...

The cool air played against my skin as I looked up at the moon. Every joint in my body was throbbing, and the shower hadn't helped as much as I hoped. Kisa seemed concerned when I just sat at the bottom of the tub with the water running over me, but seemed to calm down when I played it off on sore muscles. Muscles? My entire body was sore. It was like someone drove a hammer into every conceivable inch of my skin, just hard enough to bruise. But... no bruises were there. Just the ache. Maybe I should see Hatori...?

I heard a brief, but dark chuckle suddenly and looked around. Not finding anyone, I sighed. What did he want now? "No need to be rude, little one. Just noticing that you... we seem to be a bit on the sore side, now," he pointed out, mirroring exactly what I'd just irritably thought about.

"Brilliant assumption, genius. Unless you can do something about it, just leave me alone..." I whispered, looking back through the door to make sure nobody was within hearing distance. Kisa was still sitting at the table twenty feet away, squealing over that retarded cartoon with her "Sis"... Joy.

The dark laughter occurred again. "It seems like your fleshy frame is not meant to channel me to... such a degree, Little Lamb. Perhaps it... puts a drain on you to do so?" he contemplated, almost as if not to me. I frowned. Drain?

"You know more than you're letting on. Tell me what's going on!" I whispered, trying to control my anger. More laughter...

Hearing footsteps then, I started and looked to my left in time to see Kyo walking up from the side of the house? "What, have you started talking to yourself now, brat?" he asked, smirking as he approached. I rolled my eyes. Great... just when I'd got to the important part.

"Shut up, Furball. You're not one to talk about bad habits, sneaking about in the dark," I muttered irritably, looking away from him again.

Kyo's eyes narrowed and he looked about to say something, but he just snorted instead and leaned on the rail with his back, next to me. "Look, I didn't... I mean, I wasn't sneaking around in the dark. The garbage needed to be dumped for the morning pick up and I happen to have good hearing, Okay?" he reasoned, grumpily. I sighed and flipped about so I was facing inside again, same as him.

"So if the garbage is taken out, why is your mangy hide still out here, bugging me?" I asked, wishing he'd just leave me in peace.

That did it. Kyo was getting better, but he still wasn't known for his patience. "You damn brat! Why the hell do you have to act so conceited all the time?!" he screamed at me, almost shaking the windows. Kisa and Tohru both looked, startled, in our direction. Wow, he even got them to stop watching Mogeta. Definitely impressive.

"Conceited? I just want to be left alone. Who are you to judge as conceited, Furball? What gives you the right to call other people by such unpleasant adjectives when you yourself were the one who sought out their company in the first place? Do you think you're special or unique that you can do this? That sounds pretty damn conceited to me," shot back in an uninterrupted stream.

Kyo growled at me by the end and just stomped off, causing me to roll my eyes and walk to the other end of the deck, escaping Kisa's sad eyes. This was pointless. Nothing was solved so much as everybody just knows where everyone else stands now. Is that all it takes to "live", as they call it? The dark chuckle returned then and I just mentally shut him out. I certainly didn't need him at the moment, with my mentality already crappy enough. At least Kisa's Mother had went home already...

Looking up at the moon, I noticed it sure was bright tonight. An ethereal sort of aura almost extended off it, and I smiled to myself. Things would get better. Nothing extraordinarily detrimental had happened, I guess. I sighed softly and looked back at the forest.

"You're such the romantic. You should let more people see that side of you. It's so cute..." suddenly was spoken softly from right next to me! My eyes widened as I spun, sliding myself backwards and away from the voice as fast as I could!

The small girl was sitting on the handrail, staring up at the moon? She was in a black t-shirt with kind of a frilly sleeve to it. Her shorter skirt, also frilled at the bottom, only dropped to about two inches above her knees... but an inch below her knees, her strange socks or whatever they were started. The sock things themselves were striped with dark black and a gray. Her shoes were weird, buckled things with way too many straps in my opinion. To top off the rather weird outfit, she had black gloves on with flaring cuffs to them, and her hair was done up in two loose ponytails laying flat against the straight portion going down to her mid-back, tied with black ribbon. The awkward thing was that it was a shocking teal color, itself. Still... black. That was the overall sensation I got from her.

She didn't seem an immediate threat so I frowned instead and stood up straighter. She just sat there, kicking her legs out childishly as she looked upwards. "Who are you?" I asked cautiously after several seconds of silence.

"Andrea!" she answered instantly, without hesitation and at the same time, telling me absolutely nothing! She turned her head then and smiled at me. Her eyes were as blue as her hair. Her lips as well, although a darker shade in color. Weird. Other than her lips, she wasn't wearing makeup it looked like. "Oh wait... I probably should have told you my alias instead... um... oh well. I'm Mirage's little sister!" she added, looking slightly embarrassed before squealing out the last part excitedly. Twelve, maybe? Her age was hard to guess...

I blinked. Wait... who the hell was Mirage? "Uh... I don't think I know a Mirage... and alias?" I questioned, really confused now instead of worried.

Andrea giggled. "She said you were really hot, even if you beat the crap out of her, which was hilarious! Although... I can see she was definitely right!" she exclaimed, laughing this time. Beat the crap out of...?

I was back on defensive instantly and my eyes narrowed at the girl. No... she couldn't... in reality? I should have guessed that bitch was a real person somewhere! But how did this little girl... her "sister," sneak up on me like that!? "Oooh! Now you recognize the name! Figured it wouldn't take much. I can see why she likes you now!" Andrea exclaimed, smirking at me before looking back up at the moon.

"Why are you even here, if you're her sister?" I asked, cautiously still. Something was wrong. Shouldn't she be mad if I did that to... Mirage?

The girl shook her head. "I'm technically not supposed to be here, but I admit that Sis was worried about you... so I decided to check up on you myself!" she declared, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. I growled.

"Her? Worried about me? Bullshit," I returned, looking to see if I could find anything to defend myself with. She couldn't have gotten up onto the railing without me noticing... which indicates that she has a potentially dangerous new trait that I don't know about yet.

The girl shook her head. "It's not every day that someone first learns how to physically manifest, and I know it's draining on the body..." she pointed out, finally looking back at me, seemingly sad this time? I was confused again. Did she somehow know about...?

"Be careful, Little Lamb. This one's not what she seems. There's something not totally there with her form..." I heard in a dark voice that was familiar. It was just the strangely assisting tone that I wasn't used to. Her form?

Soft footsteps sounded from behind me then, and I partially looked to my left as Yuki appeared next to me. "Who's your little friend, Hiro?" he asked softly... but with a surprisingly suspicious undertone. Had he heard at least a part of our conversation?

The girl stood up on the railing and lowered into a polite curtsy using her skirt. "Very nice to meet you! I'm Fyre," she replied, smiling. She pronounced it more like "Fai-ray," though. Was that her "alias" that she was talking about. Furthermore, as she turned to face us fully, I noticed that she wore a strange looking amulet. It appeared to be an elaborate ankh made in an almost Celtic weave pattern. It was a silver in color.

Yuki shook his head. "I had asked Hiro, not you. This would have me believe that you are indeed uninvited on private property. Perhaps you should explain yourself properly?" he requested, not moving his eyes from her. His entire body was more tense than usual. He must have heard the conversation prior.

Andrea suddenly looked at a loss. "What? Aww. I thought I only had to ask permission before going inside the house. I'm sorry..." she muttered, frowning. Wait... what?

Her hand suddenly reached up and grabbed the amulet on her chest! There was a pulse of light from it and Yuki instantly fell backwards into a guard stance! My hand was already extending back and grabbing the nearest object it could find! Which... turned out to be the broom that Tohru was using earlier on the deck...

Everything happened extremely fast. Her hand whipped out and sent a strange red orb flying at my chest. Yuki sidestepped at the last second and drove his right palm sideways into the orb, just as I whipped my arm around and let the broom fly! The orb was knocked sideways and flew off into the yard. The broom flew straight and, unexpectedly, stabbed right through Andrea's stomach. No blood came out and it acted as if she wasn't even there, fully.

She laughed then. "So you noticed! Don't worry... it was just a small blast! But I am indeed a blaster type. I guess I'll see you later, Hiro! And next time I'll make sure to be invited properly," she declared after several seconds, with the broom still casually resting in her stomach. She giggled further and faded away, the giggling turning into an echo. The broom fell casually to the deck after she faded completely. That was... very strange.

Yuki frowned and looked at the broom, then out to the small fire that had started in the backyard. Fyre was a play on fire, I'd imagine. Frowning as well, I glanced at his still partially raised hand. The palm was red and looked like it had been partially burned? I sighed and remembered his palm the way it was before briefly before extending my energy out of my palm and into his like I had before. Yuki looked alarmed for a second before the burnt skin on his palm sealed up and healed over. I withdrew my energy and walked over to pick up the broom.

"Thanks. Who was that girl really?" he asked after a few seconds.

I shrugged, standing up. "She told me her real name was Andrea, and that she was the sister of that bitch who attacked me in the dream," I replied, walking back to him with the broom in hand still. It shouldn't have sunk into her like that unless she wasn't entirely here to begin with... which would explain how she got there so quietly.

Yuki frowned. "That Mirage person, huh? She didn't seem aggressive. If she was... what she called a blaster type, that attack seemed more playful than anything. What do you think she wanted?" he asked, again a question in which I really had no idea.

"She said she wanted to check up on me after something called physical manifestation, but I doubt that's why she was really here. Think she'll be back?" I asked, setting the broom back where it was before.

Yuki shook his head. "Let's hope that's not a trick she can repeat easily, but she said she wouldn't be back without permission," he pointed out. True.

I nodded and headed back towards the door. "Let's... not tell the others about this. They don't need anymore stress today..." I pointed out. Yuki chuckled and nodded, following me.

"Indeed. You especially... I had originally came to see if you were okay, you know," he informed, causing me to laugh. This had been a really... really long day. Now I just felt like going to sleep. Kisa smiled gently at me when I came back in with Yuki, and I nodded to her before walking over. She stood up then and laughed, pouncing...

Chapter 26 – End!

Author's Notes:

Um... yeah. Wow. It's been such a long time, I know. I could make any number of excuses, ranging from issues with school to clinical depression but that's all they'd be, excuses. I'm terribly sorry and apologize profusely for almost giving up on this story. It's sad now that I think about it and I'm glad I didn't now, if anyone is still here to read it, of course. Heh. I'm going to start writing on a schedule each day now, so updates should be quicker as I take my writing more seriously. We'll see, but I definitely am not going to let this story drop now.

Back to this chapter, then. Shorter than my usual ones, but my laptop that had all of my chapters on it crashed and died, and stupid me didn't make backups, so I guess I deserve that. I wanted to get this chapter out faster than usual I guess. Something about not wanting to make my readers wait any longer than they had to. I know, kind of a moot point after this long. This chapter is largely wrap up of the last story arc anyway.

Oh, and a special thanks goes out to LullusHuo for their very polite PM they sent me a while back. That snapped me out of my stupid mood about this story and that's when I started revising my storyline for it. It took me a bit to get the chapter out after that, but they were the one who got me started on the process again by reminding me that people were still waiting for my update, so I dedicate this new chapter to LullusHuo. Thank you for reminding me that people like my story.

See you all again soon, and my sincere apologies once more.

Signed,

Angsty Tiger

ronandhermy

Wow... now your final statement really stings. Heh. And I apologize for making you be lonely for so long with this one. If all goes according to future plans however, my updates should be much faster in the future. I'll probably be aiming at once a week. Thank you for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

lightningstrxu

Awesome Avi! You love Mahou Sensei Negima too?! Cool! At least I read it on your profile. Hee. And I'm glad it's still interesting. I admit that I'm experimenting with different descriptive styles at this point and I hope they're not confusing or something.

Anonymous

Every review you write intrigues me. -laughs- Wish I knew more about you. But anyway, yes, you're right. I also keep up with Naruto and was indeed inspired by the tailed beast idea... Plus Furuba plays itself to that well already, so I decided to experiment with the concept based on my cousin's request. And I don't like writing action scenes because I don't feel I'm good at them. But I realize that sometimes... storyline is best conveyed through direct action. Just drama and romance gets... sticky and oozy to me after a while, for very poorly chosen adjectives.

And I do try to do research on things I'm unfamiliar with. At least the basics of the fighting styles used. Plus my own background of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido help with that at least a little, at least for structure's sake. I'll definitely have to look more into Ranma, though! Thank you. Oh, and thank you again for reviewing, and I hope you enjoyed this shorter chapter as well.

Zith

Indeed. Very nice choice of words with adjustment. I'll also admit to using this story as experimentation to improve my writing ability for my hopefully, eventually published book. So some themes are used to that purpose. And I also agree about Momiji. That's mostly the reason why I have him understand Hiro the best. It seemed fitting with said backgrounds.

Heh... indeed Kisa's confidence has been attempted at increasing slowly, with a few mis-adjusted spikes here and there. Although... I wouldn't entirely call beating up half a dozen immature grade school students bad-ass. I'm attempting actually to build up an alternate facet to Kisa that she lacked before. Her character in the manga isn't set for confidence at all, which is frustrating to work with. I also note that Hiro has a tendency to be, at least physically, slightly the same way. There's an extreme re-balancing in his mentality however, where he is extremely vulnerable.

You should read the Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny. He far outshines me for making perfect protagonists, but it's still an awesome story. Heh. Thank you for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Kamen Disguise

Ah! I want to watch that movie so bad! -cries!- But yes, I'm trying to stay as cannon as I possibly can while adding the fantasy element further into the story. And... thank you. Nobody's ever said that to me before, so I thank you. Oh, and for reading the story and reviewing, of course! Hee. Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

Beege

Oh dear! You've probably stopped checking all together by now! Sadness! Well... I hope you at least check once more to see that I'm back to updating... although the college thing didn't go exactly as planned, I haven't given up yet on that, either. Thank you for reading and reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter just as much, if not more.