When I heard the front door slam, I had to turn around and give Schuldich a high five for that one. Crawford had been yelling at me all morning before Schu got out of the shower, and I was totally surprised when he signed my field trip form. From the way he had been bitching, I wouldn't have expected him to even look at the paper. Honestly, you'd think borrowing one of his ties was a federal offense. I had good reason, too. I had a date with Omi on Wednesday, and I wanted to look nice. I think that's a damn good reason myself, but Brad didn't agree.

Omi.Aside from Schu, probably the person I can connect the most with. I don't care if he's on Weiss, things changed when Taketori was killed. If not for Omi, I wouldn't have wanted to go on the stupid trip at all. But then our teacher (I'm sorry, I meant Obsessive Blimp) said it was a joint excursion with Omi's high school. Ten days without Crawford? Ten days with Omi? Ten days without flashing glasses? Ten days with my blonde koibito? Well DUH I was going now.

I would miss Schu though, that was definite. He was like a big brother and a surrogate father mixed into one, and I was happy to see his name next to Crawford's on the permission form. I mean, Schu was the one who tucked me in (when he was home, which wasn't often) and tied my tie. Well, Crawford's tie. But he tied it on me, so for the day, it was my tie.

Uh oh.Farfie's staring at me. That either means I have something on my shirt or he's about to jump over the table. I readied myself to leap backwards out of my chair if need be.

"Nagi?"

I looked behind me to see Schu. "Hai?"

"You're going to miss your bus if you don't hurry."

I checked my watch. "K'so!" It was already 6:15. I don't know why Schu was up at this hour, because usually he doesn't even sleep here, but I didn't have time to ask him. I grabbed my backpack and waved to the older man before flying out the door. I mean, I literally FLEW. Like Superman. If Superman was Japanese and wore a gray school uniform. Come to think of it, maybe I flew more like Batman. He had a mask, so I mean, he could be Japanese. Right?

All ramblings aside, I flew like a maniac something and just made it to the bus stop as the damn thing was pulling away. I must have looked like a loon, jumping up and down and yelling, "TOMARU! TOMARU!!!" However, it did stop the bus. The driver gave me an evil look and I responded in some inventive English hand gestures, courtesy of Bradley Sensei. No idea what they meant, but it was fun trying them out anyways.





Now that Nagi had left, the house was quiet, except for the sound of Farfie spearing the butter over and over again. I understood how he felt. This place was BORING in the morning. No wonder I usually sleep late. It's not as if I'm missing anything important.

"Hey Farf?"

The Irishman looked up, his lone eyes slightly glazed over.

"I'm gonna go take a walk, and then I'll fix your alarm clock, ok?"

He nodded once and resumed his attack on the butter. Standing up, I stretched myself with a satisfied sigh and winced as I heard something crack.

"Man, I'm in really bad shape," I muttered. Farfie made no sign that he had heard me. I took another look at the "berserker" and fished his medicine out of the cabinet next to the fridge. I popped open the cap, placed three tiny pills in Farf's hand and pushed his glass of milk towards him. He regarded me silently, then gazed at the caplets.

"Swallow these with your milk Jei." He growled softly at my use of his Japanese name but obeyed. I shoved my feet into old tennis shoes and pulled on a black hooded sweatshirt over my tanktop. Saying goodbye to Farfie, I left the apartment and began walking down the street.



Comments, questions, suggestions? Please review, and if you have a pressing question, you can always email me at kyoko_wolf@hotmail.com Ja ne, and don't forget to review!!! The next chapter is coming soon.^^