Thanks to those of you who read this when I posted the first chapter. Like
I said before, it's a sad story, and the outcome is likely already
apparent. Oh, Electric Star, Stevie Nicks did originally do the song with
Fleetwood Mac and that song was alright. The Dixie Chicks covered it for
their latest album, Home, and in my opinion made it a much better song.
Usually I don't like covers, but this is an exception. Tamagochi, glad you
liked it. Now where's that Tamer fic you've been promising for so long
now?? Huh? Come on. Jay Man, I promise I'll be as nice as I can. If
things get too rough, you could write the producers of ER and tell them.
It's there fault. every time I watch the show I always see eps where bad
things happen to kids. And Yoshiki, well, you know. Anyway, here we go.
Koushirou woke early the next morning and Tai was still sleeping heavily. Koushirou smiled and slowly rolled out of the bed, careful to let Tai sleep in. He rubbed the eye buggers away and made his way to the bathroom. While he was having his morning pee, he realized how sore he was. It feels like I was hit repeatedly by someone wielding a sock full of stones. He softly groaned while he flushed the toilet and dropped the lid. Maybe a hot shower will do me some good. Koushirou stepped into the shower and felt his muscles slowly relax and the soreness leave his body. When he stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, his skin was nearly as red as his hair, but the soreness was gone.
I actually feel like me again Koushirou dressed quickly, only bothering with a pair of swim trunks and a pair of Speedo sandals. (A/N: that was my 'uniform' while I was in Jamaica. I took a suitcase full of clothes and wore almost none of them. Anyway.) Koushirou stepped to the door and looked out over the Coral Sea. The sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon, only a pinprick of light visible so far. He opened the door and took a deep breath of morning sea air, feeling it invigorate his senses.
He shut the door quietly and reached to Tai's discman. He picked it up and popped the lid open, peering at his boyfriend's choice of music. NIN, nice. Koushirou closed the lid and was about to head out to watch the sun rise from the beach when he decided that Tai might worry if he didn't leave a note. Koushirou quickly scribbled one on the notepad by the phone and after picking up a magnetic key, silently exited the room.
Koushirou made his way down the steps and out on to the beach. He kicked his sandals off and let his feet sink into the sand. Again, he thought to himself that he'd not have even bothered with the sandals in the first place if the hallways weren't quite so unfriendly to feet. (A/N: my only complaint about my Jamaica trip was the hallways-so uncomfortable to walk on. Cobblestone, for some reason) Closer to the water's edge he went, his feet sinking a bit less the closer he got.
Koushirou strode over to a chair near the tide line and sat down. He put the earphones on and hit the play button. Music filled his head as the sun finally crawled up over the horizon. In a few minutes, the sun was high enough to begin shedding its rays over him. The warmth it brought was very welcome, shredding the coolness of the morning air.
He had reached song six and was contemplating how horrible the weather must be at home right now, being early January and all. Koushirou had closed his eyes to avoid the brightness of the sun, a little annoyed he'd forgotten his sunglasses. Suddenly a shadow fell across his eyes and he opened them, determined to find which ignorant cabana boy had stepped in and blocked his sunlight. "Alright, what's---"
"Good morning, sunshine," Tai said as he sat on the end of Koushirou's chair.
"Oh, good morning to you too, Tai," he said a little sheepishly. "Sleep good?"
"I did until I rolled over and found you weren't there. I panicked for a second and then I saw your note after I used the bathroom."
"So you waited to look for me until after that?"
"Well, I didn't really have a choice. I'd prefer not to talk to the police with a big wet spot right in the middle of my pants, Kou-chan." Tai started laughing, envisioning the scenario. Koushirou had no choice but to laugh with him.
"So, how are you feeling today, Kou-chan?"
"A lot better, really. I felt a little bad earlier, but after I took a shower I felt almost as good as new."
"Good, because you're no longer under warranty," Tai said as he grinned at his koi, "and I'd hate to have to replace you."
"Like you could ever replace me anyways, Tai," Koushirou said as he leaned forward and hugged Tai.
"You're right. They have better models out now, newer, better.."
"Hey!!" Koushirou exclaimed as he attempted to toss Tai off the chair. He succeeded, mostly on luck and surprise. They wrestled in the sand for a minute, ending when Koushirou whacked his arm on the chair. "Ouch!! Man!" That ended the festivities quicker than a parent arriving home early. Right on the fleshy part of the upper arm. Koushirou held it in pain.
"Shit!" Koushirou mumbled as he pulled into a half-fetal position.
"Let me see, Kou-chan," Tai said as he tried to pull Koushirou's protective hand away. He slowly succeeded, and saw the beginnings of a large bruise already forming.
"I'm sorry, Koushirou, I didn't mean for that to happen," Tai said remorsefully.
"I know, Tai. It was an accident."
"Well, if nothing else, at least part of you got a bit of color finally." Tai was slightly mocking him. They'd been in Australia for only two days, but Tai already had a great tan going. Koushirou on the other hand simply got red (Us redheads take forever to tan ^_^ )
"Yeah, it's not the type of color I wanted though," Koushirou said as they picked themselves out of the sand. "Let's go get some breakfast, Tai. What do you think about that?"
"I think that is a prodigious idea, Koushirou," Tai told his koi, using his patented word. They walked back up the beach, retrieving the sandals on the way. As they made their way to the hall for breakfast, anyone looking at the two of them from behind would have noticed the ugly patch of black and blue already forming above the elbow of Koushirou's arm.
They stepped into the hall and made their plates from the huge buffet. Everything from fried squid, which they avoided, to a huge pile of cut fruit, which they devoured. They sat on the edge of the deck, looking over the pools, watching as people slowly filtered in. Couples and families took seats and conversations in all sorts of languages slowly grew in intensity.
The two boys passed comments back and forth about the other people, things like how that lady shouldn't be wearing that tight dress, how that old man shouldn't be wearing that little Speedo. Fun things like that. They also rated a few of the boys on a one to ten scale. One being, well, hella unattractive to ten being Tai or Koushirou-like. Most of them fell in the middle. Koushirou's parents came down about ten minutes after they got there.
"Feel better this morning, Koushirou?" Mara asked as she sat down across from him.
"Like I'm a new person. I wish I knew what the deal was yesterday though."
"Maybe your body needed to relax. You kids have been through a lot in the not too distant past, remember."
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." Koushirou took a bite of pineapple. "Where's Dad?"
"He's talking to some guy we met yesterday while you two were out. He and your father hit it off like they've been old friends." Mara was smiling as she thought about it. It seemed like something out of the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where new neighbors moved in and the two fathers sat in the garage and listened to old records all afternoon while the wives and kids hated each other. Mara didn't hate the man's wife though. Not yet, anyway.
"Is he as weird as some of Luke's other friends?" Tai asked, thinking about the redneck buddies Luke had back home.
"I think so. I'm not sure why, but he strikes me as odd."
"Well, I don't think he could be any odder than 'Wild Bill'," Koushirou said. (A/N: Wild Bill is one of Luke's truckin' buddies from A Redhead's Wish, in case you care.)
"I think you're right on that." Mara's thoughts drifted back to when they'd gone out to dinner with Wild Bill..scary. Koushirou and Tai thought about the time they'd met him and came to the same conclusion - scary.
Breakfast ended with no sign of Luke, not that his non-appearance really surprised any of the seated three. Mara and the boys left the table and returned to their rooms. Tai was going to change, as was Mara. They had hours of sun to enjoy.
Mara brought her bag of stuff down with them, though the bag was hers in name only. Most of the contents were Tai and Koushirou's stuff. Her only possessions in the bag were a bottle of tanning oil and a book. Everything else, well, you name it and it was likely in there. She sat on a chair and watched her two kids dash into the waves, seemingly six again instead of almost fourteen.
She had gotten nearly halfway through her book, Neil Gaiman's 'Book of Dreams', passing almost three hours before her kids showed back up. They were both dripping sea water all over and Koushirou looked like he was exhausted. Koushirou fell into the nearest chair and laid back with his arms over his face.
"Koushirou, what happened to your arm?" Mara questioned when she saw the ugly bruise.
"I whacked it on a chair earlier today."
"Ouch. I hope you gave the chair a stern lecture," she told him as she lifted her sunglasses to get a better look at it.
"The chair only spoke French," Tai said while laughing, "so there was no point in it." Koushirou looked up at the two of them like they were both aliens, having no clue what was funny about the last exchange. He lay back down and replaced his hands.
Mara watched his chest rise and fall like he'd just ran an entire marathon. She arched her eyebrow slightly. "Koushirou, are you sure you're okay?"
"I think so. I'm really tired now. I think the sun had taken a lot out of me already." Mara only half bought that answer, already having made her mind up to have Koushirou checked up no later than the day they returned from vacation. Tai was in the same line of thinking. He knew something was wrong with Koushirou; he didn't know how he knew, but he did.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Into Kou-chan's Mind We Delve ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What is wrong with me? Why can't I seem to catch my breath? It's not like I really did anything extremely exertive so far today. I had breakfast and we've played in the waves for a few hours. I shouldn't be this tired already. The one thing I do know is that I'm not going to let Tai spend the day worrying about me. This is his vacation too and I'm not going to ruin it for him. So, it's time to get up and get back in the water.. Maybe after I sit here for a few more seconds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Real World ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Koushirou sat up after another couple of minutes, trying not to show any extra effort getting to his feet. "Tag, you're it!" he said, lightly smacking Tai on the top of the head and taking off for the water. Tai grinned at him and jumped up after him and would have easily caught him had it not have been for a giant beach ball rolling in his path. He tried to jump it, but his foot clipped the top of it and he went sprawling into the sand face first.
Koushirou heard the muffled 'thud' and turned back to see Tai lift his face out of the sand and saw a little boy standing with his hands to his face in what looked like a cross between horror and hysteria. Koushirou couldn't hold in the laughter and he burst out, nearly doubling over. Koushirou saw Tai get a smirk on his face while he got up. Tai handed the ball to the little boy and began his dash back to Koushirou. Koushirou dove into the waves with Tai quick behind.
The rest of the day was spent playing in the waves or sitting in the lounge chairs sunning themselves. Koushirou used the times on the chair to surreptitiously rest himself, while claming he was cold and wanted to warm up. By taking frequent rests, Koushirou was able to keep himself from becoming as exhausted he was the previous day. As far as he knew, his ruse worked stellarly.
The next three days were rather easy for Koushirou to pass off as well. Two of them were spent sight seeing in Australia's Interior and the third diving on the Great Barrier Reef. On the first two days he was mostly in a car so his movements were limited. Only on the third was his ruse more difficult to pull off. He spent most of his time under water simply floating in place, watching the fish swim by and his parents snap pictures of the reef. Tai gave up on chasing fish after a few tries and spent most of his time watching crabs patrol the bottom of the reef.
Koushirou laboured back into the boat and slowly took off the equipment when his time was up. It shouldn't have been so tiring doing that. It's not like I really have any appreciable weight down there He sighed as he tossed the fins into the proper bin. Tai came up a few minutes later and after he got into the boat, with no trouble, handed Koushirou a beautiful shell.
"Here, Kou-chan, I thought you'd like this," he said as he duck walked to him. Koushirou took the shell and was stunned by its beauty.
"It's incredible, Tai, I don't know what to say," Koushirou was actually speechless, something that rarely happened.
"You don't have to say anything, Kou-kun, just take it." Koushirou looked it over and watched as it reflected the setting sun. Tai couldn't have given him anything better ever, no matter how hard he tried.
The next four days, their last in Australia, Koushirou spent repeating his earlier plan. He would wake up early, relax in a shower, rest a bit during the day, and go to bed soon after dinner. Each day his rests grew more frequent, the showers a bit longer, the bedtimes progressively earlier.
Mara grew increasingly worried, her son not one to normally do these things. She was heavily considering having a doctor take a look at him here in Australia, but she didn't. She didn't want to make a production out of it just yet. One more day, then I'll have him checked out She kept an eye on him as much as possible, spending her time at the beach a bit more than she'd like.
As they were packing their bags for their final night, Koushirou reflected on the trip. I think Tai had a really good time. I'm glad he didn't spend it worrying about me. Besides, it's not like he had any real reason to. I'm just tired these days.
His parents and Tai had their own ideas about the vacation though. Tai soon realized when Koushirou was getting tired and would claim that he was tired himself, saving Koushirou the burden of taking another break. His worry kept mounting even though Koushirou played it as if nothing was wrong.
After they boarded the plane the next morning, Koushirou fell asleep almost instantly.
Well, it's getting a bit worse for Kou-chan, huh? You ain't read nothing yet. I'm afraid to say that things will be worse. Anybody want to hazard a guess as to what is wrong with Kou? If you do, send me an email, just in case anybody who doesn't want to know yet happens to read the reviews. I always read other reviews of stories to see what others are thinking and I hate it when I get spoilers. Well, R&R and all that goodness.
energy
Koushirou woke early the next morning and Tai was still sleeping heavily. Koushirou smiled and slowly rolled out of the bed, careful to let Tai sleep in. He rubbed the eye buggers away and made his way to the bathroom. While he was having his morning pee, he realized how sore he was. It feels like I was hit repeatedly by someone wielding a sock full of stones. He softly groaned while he flushed the toilet and dropped the lid. Maybe a hot shower will do me some good. Koushirou stepped into the shower and felt his muscles slowly relax and the soreness leave his body. When he stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, his skin was nearly as red as his hair, but the soreness was gone.
I actually feel like me again Koushirou dressed quickly, only bothering with a pair of swim trunks and a pair of Speedo sandals. (A/N: that was my 'uniform' while I was in Jamaica. I took a suitcase full of clothes and wore almost none of them. Anyway.) Koushirou stepped to the door and looked out over the Coral Sea. The sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon, only a pinprick of light visible so far. He opened the door and took a deep breath of morning sea air, feeling it invigorate his senses.
He shut the door quietly and reached to Tai's discman. He picked it up and popped the lid open, peering at his boyfriend's choice of music. NIN, nice. Koushirou closed the lid and was about to head out to watch the sun rise from the beach when he decided that Tai might worry if he didn't leave a note. Koushirou quickly scribbled one on the notepad by the phone and after picking up a magnetic key, silently exited the room.
Koushirou made his way down the steps and out on to the beach. He kicked his sandals off and let his feet sink into the sand. Again, he thought to himself that he'd not have even bothered with the sandals in the first place if the hallways weren't quite so unfriendly to feet. (A/N: my only complaint about my Jamaica trip was the hallways-so uncomfortable to walk on. Cobblestone, for some reason) Closer to the water's edge he went, his feet sinking a bit less the closer he got.
Koushirou strode over to a chair near the tide line and sat down. He put the earphones on and hit the play button. Music filled his head as the sun finally crawled up over the horizon. In a few minutes, the sun was high enough to begin shedding its rays over him. The warmth it brought was very welcome, shredding the coolness of the morning air.
He had reached song six and was contemplating how horrible the weather must be at home right now, being early January and all. Koushirou had closed his eyes to avoid the brightness of the sun, a little annoyed he'd forgotten his sunglasses. Suddenly a shadow fell across his eyes and he opened them, determined to find which ignorant cabana boy had stepped in and blocked his sunlight. "Alright, what's---"
"Good morning, sunshine," Tai said as he sat on the end of Koushirou's chair.
"Oh, good morning to you too, Tai," he said a little sheepishly. "Sleep good?"
"I did until I rolled over and found you weren't there. I panicked for a second and then I saw your note after I used the bathroom."
"So you waited to look for me until after that?"
"Well, I didn't really have a choice. I'd prefer not to talk to the police with a big wet spot right in the middle of my pants, Kou-chan." Tai started laughing, envisioning the scenario. Koushirou had no choice but to laugh with him.
"So, how are you feeling today, Kou-chan?"
"A lot better, really. I felt a little bad earlier, but after I took a shower I felt almost as good as new."
"Good, because you're no longer under warranty," Tai said as he grinned at his koi, "and I'd hate to have to replace you."
"Like you could ever replace me anyways, Tai," Koushirou said as he leaned forward and hugged Tai.
"You're right. They have better models out now, newer, better.."
"Hey!!" Koushirou exclaimed as he attempted to toss Tai off the chair. He succeeded, mostly on luck and surprise. They wrestled in the sand for a minute, ending when Koushirou whacked his arm on the chair. "Ouch!! Man!" That ended the festivities quicker than a parent arriving home early. Right on the fleshy part of the upper arm. Koushirou held it in pain.
"Shit!" Koushirou mumbled as he pulled into a half-fetal position.
"Let me see, Kou-chan," Tai said as he tried to pull Koushirou's protective hand away. He slowly succeeded, and saw the beginnings of a large bruise already forming.
"I'm sorry, Koushirou, I didn't mean for that to happen," Tai said remorsefully.
"I know, Tai. It was an accident."
"Well, if nothing else, at least part of you got a bit of color finally." Tai was slightly mocking him. They'd been in Australia for only two days, but Tai already had a great tan going. Koushirou on the other hand simply got red (Us redheads take forever to tan ^_^ )
"Yeah, it's not the type of color I wanted though," Koushirou said as they picked themselves out of the sand. "Let's go get some breakfast, Tai. What do you think about that?"
"I think that is a prodigious idea, Koushirou," Tai told his koi, using his patented word. They walked back up the beach, retrieving the sandals on the way. As they made their way to the hall for breakfast, anyone looking at the two of them from behind would have noticed the ugly patch of black and blue already forming above the elbow of Koushirou's arm.
They stepped into the hall and made their plates from the huge buffet. Everything from fried squid, which they avoided, to a huge pile of cut fruit, which they devoured. They sat on the edge of the deck, looking over the pools, watching as people slowly filtered in. Couples and families took seats and conversations in all sorts of languages slowly grew in intensity.
The two boys passed comments back and forth about the other people, things like how that lady shouldn't be wearing that tight dress, how that old man shouldn't be wearing that little Speedo. Fun things like that. They also rated a few of the boys on a one to ten scale. One being, well, hella unattractive to ten being Tai or Koushirou-like. Most of them fell in the middle. Koushirou's parents came down about ten minutes after they got there.
"Feel better this morning, Koushirou?" Mara asked as she sat down across from him.
"Like I'm a new person. I wish I knew what the deal was yesterday though."
"Maybe your body needed to relax. You kids have been through a lot in the not too distant past, remember."
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." Koushirou took a bite of pineapple. "Where's Dad?"
"He's talking to some guy we met yesterday while you two were out. He and your father hit it off like they've been old friends." Mara was smiling as she thought about it. It seemed like something out of the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where new neighbors moved in and the two fathers sat in the garage and listened to old records all afternoon while the wives and kids hated each other. Mara didn't hate the man's wife though. Not yet, anyway.
"Is he as weird as some of Luke's other friends?" Tai asked, thinking about the redneck buddies Luke had back home.
"I think so. I'm not sure why, but he strikes me as odd."
"Well, I don't think he could be any odder than 'Wild Bill'," Koushirou said. (A/N: Wild Bill is one of Luke's truckin' buddies from A Redhead's Wish, in case you care.)
"I think you're right on that." Mara's thoughts drifted back to when they'd gone out to dinner with Wild Bill..scary. Koushirou and Tai thought about the time they'd met him and came to the same conclusion - scary.
Breakfast ended with no sign of Luke, not that his non-appearance really surprised any of the seated three. Mara and the boys left the table and returned to their rooms. Tai was going to change, as was Mara. They had hours of sun to enjoy.
Mara brought her bag of stuff down with them, though the bag was hers in name only. Most of the contents were Tai and Koushirou's stuff. Her only possessions in the bag were a bottle of tanning oil and a book. Everything else, well, you name it and it was likely in there. She sat on a chair and watched her two kids dash into the waves, seemingly six again instead of almost fourteen.
She had gotten nearly halfway through her book, Neil Gaiman's 'Book of Dreams', passing almost three hours before her kids showed back up. They were both dripping sea water all over and Koushirou looked like he was exhausted. Koushirou fell into the nearest chair and laid back with his arms over his face.
"Koushirou, what happened to your arm?" Mara questioned when she saw the ugly bruise.
"I whacked it on a chair earlier today."
"Ouch. I hope you gave the chair a stern lecture," she told him as she lifted her sunglasses to get a better look at it.
"The chair only spoke French," Tai said while laughing, "so there was no point in it." Koushirou looked up at the two of them like they were both aliens, having no clue what was funny about the last exchange. He lay back down and replaced his hands.
Mara watched his chest rise and fall like he'd just ran an entire marathon. She arched her eyebrow slightly. "Koushirou, are you sure you're okay?"
"I think so. I'm really tired now. I think the sun had taken a lot out of me already." Mara only half bought that answer, already having made her mind up to have Koushirou checked up no later than the day they returned from vacation. Tai was in the same line of thinking. He knew something was wrong with Koushirou; he didn't know how he knew, but he did.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Into Kou-chan's Mind We Delve ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What is wrong with me? Why can't I seem to catch my breath? It's not like I really did anything extremely exertive so far today. I had breakfast and we've played in the waves for a few hours. I shouldn't be this tired already. The one thing I do know is that I'm not going to let Tai spend the day worrying about me. This is his vacation too and I'm not going to ruin it for him. So, it's time to get up and get back in the water.. Maybe after I sit here for a few more seconds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Real World ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Koushirou sat up after another couple of minutes, trying not to show any extra effort getting to his feet. "Tag, you're it!" he said, lightly smacking Tai on the top of the head and taking off for the water. Tai grinned at him and jumped up after him and would have easily caught him had it not have been for a giant beach ball rolling in his path. He tried to jump it, but his foot clipped the top of it and he went sprawling into the sand face first.
Koushirou heard the muffled 'thud' and turned back to see Tai lift his face out of the sand and saw a little boy standing with his hands to his face in what looked like a cross between horror and hysteria. Koushirou couldn't hold in the laughter and he burst out, nearly doubling over. Koushirou saw Tai get a smirk on his face while he got up. Tai handed the ball to the little boy and began his dash back to Koushirou. Koushirou dove into the waves with Tai quick behind.
The rest of the day was spent playing in the waves or sitting in the lounge chairs sunning themselves. Koushirou used the times on the chair to surreptitiously rest himself, while claming he was cold and wanted to warm up. By taking frequent rests, Koushirou was able to keep himself from becoming as exhausted he was the previous day. As far as he knew, his ruse worked stellarly.
The next three days were rather easy for Koushirou to pass off as well. Two of them were spent sight seeing in Australia's Interior and the third diving on the Great Barrier Reef. On the first two days he was mostly in a car so his movements were limited. Only on the third was his ruse more difficult to pull off. He spent most of his time under water simply floating in place, watching the fish swim by and his parents snap pictures of the reef. Tai gave up on chasing fish after a few tries and spent most of his time watching crabs patrol the bottom of the reef.
Koushirou laboured back into the boat and slowly took off the equipment when his time was up. It shouldn't have been so tiring doing that. It's not like I really have any appreciable weight down there He sighed as he tossed the fins into the proper bin. Tai came up a few minutes later and after he got into the boat, with no trouble, handed Koushirou a beautiful shell.
"Here, Kou-chan, I thought you'd like this," he said as he duck walked to him. Koushirou took the shell and was stunned by its beauty.
"It's incredible, Tai, I don't know what to say," Koushirou was actually speechless, something that rarely happened.
"You don't have to say anything, Kou-kun, just take it." Koushirou looked it over and watched as it reflected the setting sun. Tai couldn't have given him anything better ever, no matter how hard he tried.
The next four days, their last in Australia, Koushirou spent repeating his earlier plan. He would wake up early, relax in a shower, rest a bit during the day, and go to bed soon after dinner. Each day his rests grew more frequent, the showers a bit longer, the bedtimes progressively earlier.
Mara grew increasingly worried, her son not one to normally do these things. She was heavily considering having a doctor take a look at him here in Australia, but she didn't. She didn't want to make a production out of it just yet. One more day, then I'll have him checked out She kept an eye on him as much as possible, spending her time at the beach a bit more than she'd like.
As they were packing their bags for their final night, Koushirou reflected on the trip. I think Tai had a really good time. I'm glad he didn't spend it worrying about me. Besides, it's not like he had any real reason to. I'm just tired these days.
His parents and Tai had their own ideas about the vacation though. Tai soon realized when Koushirou was getting tired and would claim that he was tired himself, saving Koushirou the burden of taking another break. His worry kept mounting even though Koushirou played it as if nothing was wrong.
After they boarded the plane the next morning, Koushirou fell asleep almost instantly.
Well, it's getting a bit worse for Kou-chan, huh? You ain't read nothing yet. I'm afraid to say that things will be worse. Anybody want to hazard a guess as to what is wrong with Kou? If you do, send me an email, just in case anybody who doesn't want to know yet happens to read the reviews. I always read other reviews of stories to see what others are thinking and I hate it when I get spoilers. Well, R&R and all that goodness.
energy