Author's Note: Peacewish, feel honored. Yes, I was thinking of Scattered Blossoms when I wrote the last chapter. If that makes you feel honored, I'm pleased because I never would have started this story if not for you. Oh, and I am actively working on Moon's Dance and Shadow, so an update shouldn't be far behind. I just needed a bit of a break from it I think. Well, okay, it helps that this story has gotten so many reviews. Yes, I write where the reviews prompt me to. ~grins~ What kind of a fool wouldn't?

Kazune Kikenshi, if you strangle me I won't be able to update. Trust me, there's nothing for you to feel jealous of! You're a better writer than I am, I swear! ~huggles~ I simply update more often. ~winks~

And to everyone else, I want to say thank you! Kira, your support from the very start has kept me going when I almost gave up. Moon Child, Silver Angel, and S.K.-chan, thank you for your support and all the good words. Askani Blue, you totally rock. You've egged me on to work on this story above all others with the constant IM-ing and the death threats. Every time I'm stuck on what to write, you make up my mind for me and I always work on this one. Thank you. And, finally, to those who don't leave reviews but love this story anyway. I know two of you at least, and I've heard rumors of others floating around. I'm glad I can offer you this entertainment. (I'd offer a "No thanks" list as well, but Aishuu said I can't steal her ideas. Dang it! Well, if I were allowed to make such a list, she would be at the top of it with Alter Egos!)

I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Shades of Discovery

Enter the Glomp Queen

I didn't want to admit it, but I was hiding. Lunch and after school yesterday, delivering papers today, and that predatory gleam in her eyes just a few minutes ago had me fearing for my poor back muscles. I shuddered as I thought of that piercing voice again. Why was she doing this to me?

"Just, let me know if you see her heading this way, okay?"

Yuki frowned a little, but nodded. "She's just trying to be friendly. After all, she is new here. When I was new you--"

"Just stop it right there. We're comparing apples and oranges here, and I--"

I was cut off by having the wind knocked out of me. I winced, not from any physical discomfort, but in anticipation of her shrill cry next to my ear.

"TOUYA-KUUUUUUN!!!"

I sighed with resignation. "What do you want this time, Akizuki?"

"Silly! How many times do I have to tell you, call me Nakuru!"

I refused to dignify that with a response this time.

"I was just thinking that we should walk home together today because of the poor weather. We could share an umbrella." The last was said so suggestively I wanted to retch.

That girl was shameless! Utterly and without a doubt, shameless. She was pretty enough, but she was so forward that I couldn't think of her as anything but annoying. "You forgot to bring an umbrella on a day like this?"

"No, silly. I have my own umbrella, but I was thinking it would be so sweet to share one."

Well, if she wouldn't let go of my neck I wouldn't be able to help but shelter her with my umbrella.

"We're not going anywhere until you get down." Hadn't I said that enough times to Sakura when she was little? Why did I have to say it now? This was the ultimate in irritation. I had known her two whole days and already I couldn't stand her. It was a new record I think, because it had only taken meeting her once.

She let go of my neck, but stayed close enough that we ended up sharing an umbrella on the way home. I kept throwing Yuki pleading looks, but somehow he didn't understand that those looks meant the same as me shouting at the top of my lungs, "PLEASE HELP ME AND SAVE ME FROM THIS ANNOYING LEACH!"

I tried to ignore her. I was downright rude about it and she just didn't get the hint. "So, Yuki, are you sure you want to brave the monster's food to join us for dinner tonight?"

He didn't answer right away. His eyes were downcast and he looked distracted. I had to call his name again to get his attention, and even then he looked over my shoulder at her before he would look at me. There was a look on his face that was both wary and hopeful before his eyes met mine, then all was hidden behind his usual smile. Then he simply nodded and turned back to watching the rain hit the puddles that were everywhere.

Nakuru was still at my elbow, and she chatted away about nothing in particular. Walking through the park on the way home had never taken this long when I walked with Yuki before. I started wishing I had taken my bike despite the rain. Sure, it wouldn't be safe, and I'd get cold and soaked to the bone, but I wouldn't have to put up with the inane babble of that girl and how she tried to exclude my Yuki without being obvious about it.

I looked at her in annoyed disbelief, wondering if her mouth had an "off" switch. When we finally reached the corner to turn off for Yuki's house my head felt like it would explode and I wanted to throw something. Instead I just smiled and looked at the annoying girl next to me. "Which way do you have to go from here?"

She pointed straight ahead, just as I had hoped. "This way, but--"

"Gee, that's too bad. We have to turn off here. I'll see you tomorrow I'm sure, see you later, bye."

I didn't give her a chance to tell me what that "but" would be. We were walking away quickly when we heard her enthusiastic parting. Yuki actually turned to wave back to her and she went silent after that. I didn't bother looking.

We walked the rest of the way to his house in silence, letting the rainy weather talk for us. When we reached his door he was smiling again and I was simply trying not to let my bad mood get out of hand. It wasn't his fault that the new student got on my nerves more than anything else I could think of.

"Would you like a snack while I go change?"

I shook my head. "I'll wait until you are finished, otherwise I'll be waiting forever with nothing to do while you snack."

We shared a laugh over it, but it wasn't really funny. The last two days, since school had started again, I had noticed that he was eating a lot more than usual, even for him, but he was still tired all the time. He had mentioned something about that over summer vacation, but seeing it with my own eyes had shown how he had downplayed the situation. So, I nervously paced around, looking at things around his house with a detached eye as I waited.

Everything had the warmth and personal touch of a window display at a furniture store. Without him in the room it looked more like a stage set than a home. Everything rested in perfect little places that reflected nothing of his true self. I knew that his bedroom had been gaining small personal touches, but nothing had changed anywhere else in the house the entire time I had known him. He wouldn't change things that belonged to the grandparents that never existed. It was all too perfect, everything was put back in the same places when he cleaned, and no one was really here to move things at any other time.

I heard his footfalls returning down the hall and turned to see him. He smiled as usual, completely unaware of the void in his life that was so obvious to me.

I couldn't stand staying in his house one moment longer. "We'll have snacks at my house. I was just thinking that Sakura might get worried about us if we're late because of the rain."

"That's a good idea! It's good to see that you're finally not being so mean to her," he said in a teasing tone.

"It's a fluke," I muttered to forestall any 'sister-complex'-type teasing.

I should have known it wouldn't work that way because he teased me the entire way home. It was good to see him acting more like himself, but I was frustrated. He didn't give me a moment to say anything, and I was feeling a little more urgent about telling him the truth about himself.

There would be other opportunities.

~~~~~@~~~~~

I opened the door that night, followed by Yuki. There was a silly rush of pleasure that he was walking me to the door before work, but I stifled that. It meant nothing, that was just the way he was. He looked over my shoulder, then said with soft amazement, "It's still raining."

"Because it's not an ordinary rain," I muttered under my breath. I heard Yuki gasp a little behind me and I realized he had heard me. "Nothing," I answered before he formed the question. I headed out into the rain after we exchanged the usual parting pleasantries, and as the door closed behind me I wondered how long it would take Sakura to call on Yukito's other form after I left. She had never asked to have him come over before, and there was that odd feeling to the rain of the past few days, so it was obvious to me why she had asked to have him over this morning.

As I walked I let my mind mull it all over. I had hoped that whatever had happened when Sakura faced judgment would be the last of everything. Clearly, that wasn't the case. Things had started again, and I was still to be left out of it.

Mostly.

I was positive that fate had dealt me a hand that would not leave me out of things entirely. I had a purpose here, one that tied in with everything my sister was going through. I already knew I'd sacrifice anything for Sakura, I'd do anything in my power to help her if she only asked me. I wished she would confide in me and tell me how to help her. When would she realize she didn't have to be alone in all of this? I would help her, Dad would help her, and even Kaho had tried to let her know she would help, but Sakura wouldn't let anyone else help her. Just those few people her age who somehow found out. Kaho had said that even after she had proven that she knew about the cards and tried to show she could help, Sakura had tried to hide it all.

Maybe Sakura didn't realize how I would be dragged in anyway. Yukito had become my best friend. There had to be more of a reason for that than just to get close to her. Not only that, but now there was another being in my life that was like him. Akizuki. I saw through her disguise as easily as I had seen through Yuki's, but this time I knew what I was looking at.

So, why was she constantly all over me? Was she trying to annoy me? Or--was she trying to distract me?

What could she be trying to distract me from? From Yuki? It would never happen.

Another question would be, why would she do that?

I just didn't have the answers no matter how I played with the situation in my mind. It still didn't make sense yet. There was one more question I couldn't answer yet that bothered me.

What am I supposed to do about it all?

~~~~~@~~~~~

I tried hard to ignore her. The Glomp Queen. I had come to the conclusion that her whole purpose in hanging around me was to break my back by hanging off of it as often as possible. I'd say "as often as humanly possible", but of course, she wasn't human.

But, she even attacked me in the middle of the soccer field after I had made a good shot. While everyone watched.

We won that game easily because the rest of the game I imagined that the ball was her head.

I couldn't get rid of her, and her timing was terrible. How many times had I wanted to tell Yuki the truth, but she came along and got in the way? I wondered if it was on purpose, or if she was just some curse that had been put on me.

Yuki grew more and more tired, and he was eating more and more. I stared in shock as I watched him eat one day, but after a time we weren't eating together anymore. I lost track of him while I was either hiding from Akizuki or some time after she found me. We managed lunch together about once a week or so, and each time we did he was eating more and more. I remembered with some nostalgia how shocked I had been the first time we had had lunch together and he ate more than twice as much as I thought he would. Then there was the time he and Sakura had come in to the restaurant I was working at back then, and she had been shocked at how much he ate, even though I had warned her.

Now I saw him eating more and more, and he still complained he was hungry all the time. He didn't gain any weight. He didn't have any more energy than usual.

And Akizuki wouldn't give me a moment alone to tell him that I wanted to help, whatever way I could.

I was already this frustrated and things had just begun.

True frustration and worry wouldn't actually show its face until the start of the new year.