*AIYOKU FAIYUKI'S POV*

"Aiyoku-kun!" Hiraku-sensei yelled in agitation as he stared at me.

"Sorry…" I muttered, looking down, then back up at the teacher with tears in my eyes. "I almost missed my bus, and my uniforms are being washed." I sighed. "It's just been an all around bad day, I guess. I have a uniform slip."

"The angst… the dark clothes…" I blinked at my art teacher, who once again invaded my personal bubble.

"I'm sick." I stated simply, and he stepped back.

"YES!" He yelled, as I was once again shoved into the modelling stool. "TODAY OUR THEME IS DARKNESS! LOTS OF ANGST PEOPLE!"

*********

Aiyoku-san…" My math teacher sighed. "Where is your uniform?" I looked down at the black turtleneck and black pants, then grabbed the slip from my pocket and handed it to her.

"My uniform is being washed." I stated, with a forced smile, as I forced myself to not look at the flash of red across the room. "I'm sorry…" I sighed.

"Don't worry about it, you've been sick all week; you're probably still recuperating." She smiled.

"Uh… Yea, that's it." I smiled back.

"We seem to be short a desk." The teacher sighed in annoyance. "I bet that Hiraku took it for some abstract model… again." I chuckled, as that seemed like something he would do.

"I can go and get a desk, Miss." I smiled.

"Yes, that would be good." The teacher smiled back.

"Sakamoto-sensei!" I cringed as a familiar, polite voice rang out. "I should go as well. You said yourself that Fai-san was still recuperating."

If I hadn't been avoiding Kurama, I probably would have glared at him.

"Ah, yes. That's a wonderful idea!" I twitched slightly at the pleased teacher, but didn't object. I turned and walked out the door, with Kurama in close step behind me.

It was an awkward silence, to say the least. I jumped, startled, as a fist hit the locker right above my head.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Kurama demanded.

"That's oddly blunt... for you at least." I muttered, averting my eyes. I tried to walk away, but Kurama's other hand hit the locker in front of me blocking my exit.

"I'm sorry if I did something, Fai-san, but I'm sure we could…" Kurama sighed in annoyance. "Look at me, please."

"I don't… I don't want to." I muttered, turning my head away from the accusing gaze.

"Why are you ignoring me? Please, tell me." Kurama asked, using a less forceful voice.

"Because, I hide from things I don't like." I stated. "I can't erase what I said to you, and I don't like what I said to you. Because I can't erase the words, or take them back there's only one way out. I said the words to you; if you don't exist then I could have never said those things."

"So you pretend I don't exist?" Kurama frowned. "So in other words, you're trying to protect me, and yourself, by rejecting me?"

"I'm allowed to be selfish."

"This is beyond selfish, Fai-san. You're hurting everybody by acting like this, including yourself." Kurama sighed again. "I don't see why. This isn't like you."

"Shuichi, Kurama, Yoko. These are all just persona that 'you' act out to protect 'you'. None of them are really you, because that would be dangerous; you could be hurt. Faiyuki, Fai, Brittany. These are all acts that 'I' put on to protect 'me'. If everybody was who they really are everybody would be so paranoid that they'd lock themselves away." I frowned. "Even idiots like Yusuke are not entirely 'them'."

"That doesn't mean the 'persona', as you put it, cannot get along. People come to trust one another and that's when they open up." Kurama said. "And ignoring me isn't going to make what you said go away."

"I reject your reality and substitute it with my own!" I stated as I crouched under his arm and walked off, back towards the class. I wanted to wipe away the tears that were streaming down my cheeks, but then Kurama would know that I was crying. That was not happening.

"Fai!" Kurama yelled out as he grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face him. He blinked, seeing my tears, and let me go.

I ran away, down the hallway towards my math class.

"Sensei!" I hollered into the class room, "I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the nurse's office!" I ran down the hall before she could reply.

**********

I was lying on the soft bed in the nurse's office. I was lucky, since the nurse herself had left hours earlier and the door was unlocked.

Rain tapped steadily against the window, and a clap of thunder made me jump.

"Rain, yay." I smiled. "I'll walk home today. I could do without the thunder though…" I added as I hugged my knees to my chest. I flinched as another clap of thunder rang out loudly. The lights flickered, and then went out. I heard murmurs and squeals from nearby classrooms. Suddenly footsteps could be heard running towards the door.

I rushed over to the window, pulling it open. I jumped out, grabbing onto the ledge of cement that went around the building.

"Kyaa! Scary!" A high female voice rang out.

"Yea, what if the lights stay out?" Another whimpered.

"Look!" One of them gasped. "The windows open!"

"Eahh! The rain's getting in!" The first girl whined as she rushed over and slammed the window shut.

"Shit." I hissed as I pulled myself up onto the ledge, and then almost fell off it as thunder crashed again. I leaned against the building, looking for a ladder or something to get to the roof, which was just above my head. "A storm drain..." I grinned. "Perfect." I edged my way over and put my foot onto one of the large nails that stuck out, holding the drain up. "Go!" I grunted as I pushed up hard, just managing to grab onto the bottom of the fence that surrounded the rooftop.

Slowly I managed to climb up and over the fence. I walked over to the door that led into the school, and twitched when I realised it was locked.

"Why is my luck only good in cards?" I asked, as I sat down, exhausted and wet. "Shit…" I shot up and yelled loudly. "WHY IS EVERYTHING IN CONSPIRACY AGAINST ME!?" I sighed again, and slouched. "My life fails."

Suddenly a figure leapt up and over the fence, proceeding to give me a hard punch to the face.

I blinked up at Yusuke, his face torn with rage.

"You don't like reality so you reject it?! Do you know how stupid that is, even to me?!" He yelled. I blinked in surprise.

"So Kurama told you." I muttered. "Okay, I deserved that then." I started to stand up when another fist came down hard on the top of my head.

"Idiot!" Kuwabara yelled.

"Owww. Okay THAT I didn't deserve." I hissed as I quickly kicked Kuwabara hard in the ribs, sending him flying.

"I don't understand it, I just don't get it!" Yusuke yelled out, as he shook his head, sending water flying in every direction.

"Really?" I asked. "It's not that hard. It's no different than Hiei acting like a cold hearted, pms-ing bitch so he doesn't have to get close to anybody, including his baby sister, because he's afraid of being rejected."

"Shut up!" Hiei yelled as he leapt off the small building that surrounded the door and slashed at me. I just barely caught his blade with a shield of ice.

"Hiei has a sister?" Kuwabara muttered in the background.

"Hi there, Sparkey-chan." I smiled as I strengthened the shield. Suddenly a blunt force, Hiei's foot, collided with my side, sending me flying through the fence. I hung out in the air for a few seconds before gravity took its toll and started to pull me towards the ground.

Hiei appeared over me and came down again on me with his sword.

"What's wrong, Sparkey-chan? Did I hurt your feelings?" I hissed as I blocked another would-be lethal blow. I kicked Hiei away with both my feet, using the projection to flip around and land on my hands and feet in the mud.

Hiei quickly recovered and fell down on me with his blade.

My feet slid back in the loose mud as he put more and more force into the attack. I flew backwards and summoned a blade of ice to the side of my hand and I lunged at Hiei, and then blinked in surprise when all the movement suddenly stoped.

I felt restraints on me, and saw them on Hiei. Thick green vines wrapped around our arms, legs, and torsos. I hissed slightly, noticing Hiei's blade just a few centimetres away from my face. He glared, noticing the blade of ice a few millimetres from his throat.

"A draw." I smiled mockingly at Hiei who pulled against the restraints.

"Let me go Kurama!" Hiei growled, "I'm going to kill this bitch."

"Ohhh, a challenge... Sounds like fun." I hissed back.

"Hiei, calm down." Kurama sighed. "Fai-san, please stop encouraging him."

I turned my head away and sliced the vines with ice.

"Where are you going Fai?!" Yusuke yelled out. I paused.

"All I'm good at is running away, anyway." I muttered.

"You idiots!" Mo-mo yelled as she ran up. "Why didn't you wake me up on the bus?! I had to run from the next stop… What's going on here?" She asked, taking in the tense atmosphere.

"Cook for one tonight, Mo-mo." I smiled as I sprinted away.