Once in it, she closed the door but didn't bother to lock it. Experiences told her that it was a futile attempt anyway so why bother? She ran to the bed and picked up the invitation once more. She read and re-read it. It still contained the same words. How could Kurei be so cruel in this? She wondered who else was on the guest list. Well, it can't possibly be a party if it's just her friends?

She stood up, thinking of all the possible things that could happen in this engagement party. Would Kurei really bend down on his knees and give her a ring? And if so, could she really bring herself to say 'yes'?

Her thoughts then swerved to Tokiya, for some unknown reason. She sat back down again and contemplated why actually was she bothered by Tokiya's reaction to the whole thing. "It's not like I'm guilty of something or anything," she said aloud, forgetting the fact that no one can hear her.

She spent her entire afternoon, or what's left of it this way. Standing up, sitting down, reading the invitation and pacing about her room.

She was startled to hear a knock on the door, and a feminine voice behind it. "Fuuko-san?" it asked. "May I come in?"

"Sure, it's open," Fuuko replied, throwing the invitation on the bed. She turned to see whom the person was and was a little bit surprised to see Aki, in her domestic clothes, come in. "Yeah?"

"Well, Kurei-sama had requested your presence in the dining table," she said, bowing. Who would have thought? Fuuko thought, amused. "Dinner is ready."

"Um . . . I'll be down in a minute." Fuuko replied.

Aki just nodded and went out of her room, closing the door behind her. Fuuko went downstairs to the dining room to see Kurei on his usual place, at the head of the long table. Another place was set right opposite his. She took her seat and unfolded the napkin.

They ate silently. Rather, Fuuko ate silently. Kurei just sat there, playing with his food and watching her. She tried her best not to get annoyed but of course, Fuuko's patience can only last for so long.

At the middle of her meal, she put down the fork and looked at Kurei in the eye. It took her a couple of seconds before actually saying anything. There was something in his eyes that she hasn't seen before. What it was, exactly, she did not get to find out for it looked like Kurei had finally snapped out of his little world.

The Right Things

By saicho_18

October 30, 2002

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she lied. "I was just wondering why I'm not getting any crap from you today."

He remained silent. He must really have a problem this time. It was so un-Kurei like to pass up so many insults.

The Right Things

By saicho_18

October 31, 2002

Ok, since this obviously is getting them nowhere, she decided to stop it with the small talk.

"Oh, yeah," she said, remembering what Francois said earlier. "The gay guy said that the dress is going to be delivered tomorrow."

Kurei smiled. "Such marvelous things money can do," he started, looking down on his plate of untouched food. "The old sniveler said that it was impossible to make a dress in a day. A few thousand dollars more and he did a complete turn-around."

Curiosity getting the best of her, Fuuko launched another question. "Why the hell are you spending this much money on this anyway? I though this was only a front."

Kurei didn't look up at her. "Because," he started, drinking some of his wine. "We Mori's are perfectionist. Even though this is just a cover-up, I must make it believable. For your friends, that is."

"And the experiments," she began. "When will they take place, tomorrow?"

Kurei shook his head. "Please, Fuuko. Do use your brain. We can't have you wearing a very nice dress, showing a lot of skin if you have bruises. The experiments will be rescheduled until after the party."

An unexpected shiver went through her body when Kurei looked up at her. It wasn't that she was afraid of bruises, hell no. She got them all the time when she was still with her teammates. Seeing that Kurei didn't want to open up anymore conversations, Fuuko stood up for bed.

She walked past him, not giving him a second glance. Once she was out of the room, Kurei, still sitting down, dropped the fork loudly. "Good night," he whispered to no one.

After a few minutes more, he also stood up and left the dining room. The maids soon went in to collect the dishes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fuuko turned in her bed that night. She had already changed into her normal sleeping attire, pajamas, brushed her teeth, washed her face and the rest of her nightly rituals. She then went to bed, tucking herself in.

There was only one problem. She couldn't sleep.

For some unknown reason, Fuuko Kirisawa couldn't sleep. She had been tossing and turning in her bed for quite a while now. The moon was already high up in the sky before she decided to give up. She sat up, and leaned against the headboard of the bed.

The door opened. She groaned. 'Not another one of Kurei's weird visits', she thought. She didn't look up to see whom it was but she did hear the door close.

"Kirisawa-han," someone called out. Funny, Kurei never called her that. She looked up and was very surprised to see a male whom she had never met before.

"Who are you?" she asked furiously, hand getting her fuujin.

To her utter shock, the man stepped back, put his arms in front of him, as a sign of defense and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Kirisawa-han," he said. Fuuko narrowed her eyes to slits. "Don't you recognize me?"

Fuuko shook her head almost imperceptibly.

"It's me, Joker."

Surprise registered onto her face as she pictured in her mind the man in front of her in Joker's weird outfit. It was a perfect match. She lowered her arm down a bit. "What do you want?"

Joker took a few steps towards the bed. "Could you put that down? I'm not here to hurt you or anything." He held up his hands. "I'm unarmed, for goodness' sake."

Fuuko put her arm down but stayed alert and eyed him carefully. "What do you want?" she repeated, as Joker walked closer to the bed. He didn't speak until he was seated at the very edge of it.

"I have come here to offer you something." He said mysteriously.

Fuuko said nothing but nodded for him to continue. What was this guy up to?

"Well, things are getting a bit boring in this house so I figured that you must be bored too," said he, not really waiting for Fuuko to respond. "And I'm going out tomorrow morning. Out to the city."

"So?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to join me."

Fuuko's eyes flared. "No way. Did Kurei send you to ask me this?"

Joker shook his head. "No, not like that, silly. And Kurei-sama had nothing to do with this. Why do you think I came here at this hour knowing that you could very well do some serious damage to me? For the kicks of it? So what do you say? I mean, I have a date tomorrow I'm meeting. And I'm pretty sure that you're already suffocated in this place."

"Why exactly are you doing this?"

"As I said, things are getting boring inside this house."

"Won't Kurei be angry at you?"

"Since when did you start to care?" he replied slyly. Fuuko glared at him. "Of course, he will. But that's exactly the fun of it. Let's see if, no when, he catches us, who will he punish more?" Joker's smile widened. "So what do you say, Kirisawa-han?"

"I'll think about it," replied she, already doing so. "What the heck would I do in the city anyway?"

Joker shrugged. "I don't care. It's up to you. Tell me your answer tomorrow at breakfast. I'll join you and Kurei-sama at the table. And don't worry about the distractions, I'll take care of it."

Saying so, he stood up and walked towards the door. Fuuko lied down again as she thought about it. Sounded interesting. She does have some money stashed and she could go to the mall. The thought sounded more and more alluring to her as she thought about it.

The final thought that had made her consent was the thrill that Kurei will be mad.

She fell asleep almost instantly after she made up her mind. Looked like Joker's little visit was exactly what she needed for her insomnia.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fuuko woke up to the sound of birds chirping merrily outside her window. She squinted as the rays of the sun hit her face.

She got up, made her bed automatically and went to the bathroom. She took a shower, brushed her teeth, and got some clean clothes to wear. As she went out of the room, she checked the time. Quarter to eight o'clock in the morning.

She silently hoped that breakfast was served and that she wasn't too early.

She walked towards the dining room to find no one. She peeped inside the kitchen to find Aki cooking.

"Good morning, Fuuko-san" she greeted cheerfully.

"Um . . . why are you so cheerful?" she asked, trying not to be blunt.

"Well, it looked like Joker had already told you about our date," she started. Fuuko's jaw dropped, literally. "So, are you coming or not? It was his idea to take you out, actually. So you should thank him for it."

It took a few seconds before the lot of Aki's words actually sank in. "Huh? What? Oh, that. Yeah, tell Joker that I say yes. I'll tag along with you."

Aki had no time to reply as Kurei went in, wearing a green v-neck shirt and white pants.

"Aki, please hurry up with the breakfast," he said stonily. Just then, the phone rang and he went outside to answer it.

As Aki set up the dining table, she smiled. "That must be our distraction right now."

Fuuko was about to ask what that was all about but Kurei entered and nodded, then went to the dining room again. She decided to follow and take her seat opposite him.

Fuuko eyed him as he ate. He was eating exceptionally fast, like he wasn't even chewing before swallowing.

"You'll get a stomachache if you continue that," she said, taking a bite of her breakfast as well. Seeing that Kurei did not and would not listen, she merely shrugged and ate her food slowly. "Why are you in such a hurry, by the way? She asked as he stood up. She didn't think that he would actually answer her but he did.

"Koran Mori called," he started, walking out of the dining room. Fuuko heard him shout out the rest as he went upstairs towards his room. "He said he wanted to talk to me personally."

"Oh, " was the only thing Fuuko could say.

Aki and Joker sauntered in, wide smiles plastered on their faces.

"You done yet?" Joker asked. Fuuko shook her head as she continued to eat.

"Oh, well," started Aki. "Doesn't matter anyway. We can't go until Kurei-sama leaves."

As Fuuko took her last bite, she turned to Joker, who had seated himself at the side of the table. "How did you do that?"

Joker, already knowing that she was talking about the distraction, just smiled. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

"Yeah, well, Mr. Magician," Fuuko shot at him. "What are we gonna take to the city? We obviously can't take one of the limousines. We have no permission over them."

"Well, the only thing that we have no permission over, " Aki started. "Is you. We already asked permission for this date. But since Joker was feeling a little rebellious, he decided to take you with us."

Kurei didn't bother to say good bye to them, and it looked like he was in a real hurry. Did Koran Mori still strike fear in him?

She had no more time to contemplate on the answer because Joker stood up from the table. "Let's roll. Meet you both in the porch, ok?"

She nodded as she stood up and went up to her room. No need to change clothes since she was already wearing blue pants and a white shirt. Plainly Fuuko. She just took out some money and went downstairs towards the main door.

She went out to find Aki climbing in the passenger seat in front. Fuuko figured that it was Joker who was driving this limo. She went in the backseat. She sat there, alone, looking out through the window, as usual.

"How long will Kurei be gone?" she asked up front.

"Oh, I don't know," started Joker. "A few hours I guess. Why? Are you afraid of him?"

Fuuko chose not to answer that question. Well, was she?

The rushing scenery changed and she soon found herself looking at the view of the city.

"Kirisawa-han," called out Joker before she went out of the vehicle. "Meet me here in front of your school at three thirty in the afternoon, ok?"

Fuuko nodded and went out. The limousine sped off towards a direction Fuuko did not want to know.

Fuuko walked on the school grounds for a minute, deciding where exactly she would go. She looked at her watch and saw that she still had lots of time to burn.

"Fuuko?" a voice asked behind her.

She froze. She knew that voice. She turned around to see an angry face.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yeah, well so sorry that it took this long before I updated . . . well, you know the drill, school, life, friends. They all keep getting in the way.

Truthfully, this was written earlier than expected. And you can thank Strife_07 and Chaos_chan for this chapter. So if you have the time, read their work, and please review it.

That can be a sign of gratitude, I think. Here's the link: Entwining Paths

If you have the time, please check it out. Oh, and don't forget to review this chappy.

--saicho_18

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