God, I'm so sorry that it's been so long. I've been adjusting to summer vacation, and hanging with my grandma and whatnot. I got this phantasmagoric ring that's like one of those ancient Chinese finger claws. It's covered with dragon scales and claws, and has a giant onyx on the knuckle. I've also started the Godchild / Cain Saga. My evaluation: Cain's sexy; Riff's amazing; and Disraeli is a god among psychos. All in all: pretty damn awesome. I also loved the fact that Yuki-sempai named Riff after Riff-Raff from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and his mom's name was Magenta.

To answer Miorochi's question: Kisuke knows everything. How can you not know everything with an awesome hat like that?

And for anyone who was wondering…I passed my Physics Regents!! I got a 90. It's weird because I've been getting 75's all year, and I got a 74 on my midterm. So how did I manage a 90 on the Regents…? (shakes head)

Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba.

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Chapter Forty-Eight

(3 days later)

"Hm. That's strange." Haru looked around. "I heard Emily-san was here…"

"She is," Hiro answered.

"Where? I don't see her," Rin wondered, looking around.

"Down there," Kisa said, looking at the ground at her feet.

"Eh?" Rin looked like she was going to continue to speak, but she was interrupted by a silver flash as it cried, "Gure-san!"

Shigure appeared in the doorway. "Aaya!"

The two men embraced. Hiro covered Kisa's eyes.

"Don't look," he muttered. "It's disturbing. Very disturbing."

Ayame glided over to them with Shigure following behind. The silver-haired man sighed dramatically.

"Without dearest Yuki, my life has become so very humdrum! Oh, what I wouldn't give to again see his sweet face!" He put an arm around Hiro and Haru, who were standing closest to him. "We miss you, dear Yuki! Oh, how we miss you!" He threw an arm across his face in exaggerated anguish.

Hiro stared at him. "I bet Yuki's rolling in glee right now," he stated in a monotone.

Kisa giggled.

Shigure looked around. "Well, let's go have some tea, shall we?"

As they all sat down at the table and Kisa got the tea from the kitchen, the door slid open.

"Hm?" Shigure blinked and looked at the newcomer. Everyone else followed suit.

"…Tori-san!" Ayame leaped up and glomped the dark-haired man.

"Ayame," Hatori said.

"Hm?" Ayame looked up at him.

"Get off." Hatori stepped out of Ayame's arms.

"Oh! Hatori oji-chan's here!" Kisa exclaimed, coming out of the kitchen.

"Now it's a party," Haru murmured blandly.

Hatori shook his head. "I just stopped by on my way to the dojo. Kyo missed his check-up. Again."

"Oh, Haa-san," Shigure said. "Did you know? Emily's here, too."

"Yes, I've heard. Where is she?"

"Training. For three days straight now."

"Training?" Hatori looked up at the sky with an "Oh, boy…" expression. "Then I'm probably going to need to check up on her, too. Training always means a ton of work for me," he said, remembering back to the Kyo and Yuki wars.

"No, that's okay, Hatori. I think I'm fine."

They all turned to see Emily standing there, with Kisuke beside her. He looked tired, but pleased.

"Emily-chan! You're taking a break at last?" Shigure asked.

Emily's eyes widened. "A break? No, way. We're done. Done for good."

"Well, you still need to practice occasionally…" Kisuke began.

Emily waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. I know that. But you know what I meant."

Hiro's expression was slightly doubtful. "After just three days of training, you're done?"

"Three days? Three days?!" Emily exclaimed. "I think you mean three friggin' years!!"

Everyone blinked and did a collective "Wha?"

Kisuke sighed. "Here. I'll explain it simply. We were training in a Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which allows time to pass faster inside than it does in the real world. In this case, I set it so that a day out here equaled a year in there."

"Wait. So you mean I'm not 21? I'm still 18? Dude…" Emily grinned. "That's insane."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"And it was built by my insane friend. Who has apparently lost the tenuous hold she had on sanity. And now I have to go save her ass from whatever idiocy she's gotten herself into."(1)

She was silent then. Everyone watched her warily. She looked up.

"But first I'm gonna get some sleep. Training nonstop for three years is a bitch." She finally noticed everyone. "Oh, hey, Ayame. Haru, Rin. 'Sup?"

Rin shrugged. "Not much."

Haru nodded in acknowledgment.

Ayame suddenly appeared beside Emily and embraced her. "Oh, Emily-chan! I have missed thee so!"

Emily disentangled herself hurriedly. "Yeah. You, too."

She walked to the stairs. "Well, I'm going to bed. Oh. And one more thing." She looked back at them and grinned. "My name's not Emily anymore. It changed when I mastered reiatsu. Now you can call me Tai. Tai Kitamura."

-End-

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-- (1) When I typed this up, I felt like having someone say "Amen" at the end, but figured that it would kill the mood…

BTW, Tai's name is pronounced Tie, if anyone didn't know.

Alright, ya. Hope you liked it. I'll try to update next week. Ja ne.