Kyo swallowed audibly as Meilin grabbed his arm to pull him to school the next morning. She looked over at the face of her friend and once again felt her heart go out to the young man trapped inside.

"You'll be fine Kyo, just don't do anything stupid." She smiled.

"Easy for you to say." Kyo muttered and reminded himself not to get angry.

"Li!" several people in the yard held hands up in greeting. Shy as Kyo was he didn't realize that the slight smile and nod in acknowledgement he granted them was more than Li ever did. He blushed as several girls giggled,

"He smiled today!" one of them laughed louder than the rest. Meilin looked back at him and shook her head, her eyes rolled up.

"Give me strength." She muttered as she pulled him past the girls.

"What was that?" Kyo asked.

"Li doesn't smile." Meilin told him, "but that's ok, its not a big thing."

"Not a big thing, huh?" Kyo looked back at them and blushed as one of them winked.

"Li, its your turn to clean the board today." A taller boy with perpetually squinting eyes greeted Kyo with a cheery grin and a duster held out in his hand. Meilin released his hand and frowned at the boy sternly.

"Takashi..." she warned, her hands on her hips as the boy held his up in surrender.

"No, really, it is! Its even on the board!" he exclaimed, but his hand held his chin as Kyo accepted the duster, and his eyes opened a bit to gleam mischievously. "You know, chalk boards were invented by the Egyptians when Cleopatra lead the attacks against the Greeks."

"Really?" Kyo's eyes widened as Takashi began to weave his tale.

"Yes, you see, she needed a visual way to show her captains how to advance, so she had a slate board made and she drew on it with pigments made from goats blood, unfortunately they could not wash off the stains so the Greeks seized these and used them to..."

"Yamazaki!" A short girl with puffy brown pigtails stalked up, grabbed Takashi by the arm and marched him back to his seat, "Stop talking."

"Thanks Chiharu." Meilin let out a puff of breath and looked over at Kyo, who was still blinking, stunned into immobility.

"He..."

"He was lying." Meilin said shortly and pushed him to the board. "Clean it up and meet me in the back. Your seat is behind Sakura's."

Kyo let his gaze run over the occupants of the room, "Well, where is she-?" he asked as a loud squeal and a crash of bodies was heard outside the door.

"Domo!" Sakura giggled nervously as Meilin opened the door to discover the girl fallen in a tangle with another student. "So sorry Rika!"

"Are you girls all right?" the teacher had appeared just in time to help both girls to their feet. Sakura beamed up at Mr. Terada and bowed slightly.

"Thank you, we're fine, right Rika?" Rika smiled slightly, a light blush on her cheeks as Mr. Terada let her hand go.

"We're fine." She said softly. "That should teach me not to be late, I'd bump into Sakura every day!" she smiled as most of the class laughed. Sakura blushed but joined in.

"All right then. Everyone take your seats please." Sakura and Rika stepped into the class room, Kyo put the duster down and followed Sakura to her seat.

"You're here Kyo." She whispered, indicating the seat behind her. "Don't worry, you'll get through this." Kyo smiled nervously and hung his hat on the corner of his chair. Class then began.

Li woke to the sound of a man moving stealthily through his room. It was dark, but he strained his ears to identify. At least five feet seven inches, probably taller considering Kyo's body was a bit taller than his own, his senses weren't used to being higher, the man seemed to be familiar with the room. He rolled out of bed silently catching himself on his toes and the tips of his fingers. Then he swung his leg out, catching the man behind the knees and bringing him with a thump to the ground.

He fell, catching himself with his palms as Li shot to the desk to turn on the study lamp.

"Morning Master." Li nodded in respect at the man sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Good." He acknowledged. "Breakfast will be ready soon, get dressed for school, I'll see you downstairs." Li bowed as he left the room. He's met the man briefly the night before. Like Kyo had instructed he'd walked past and grunted to anything he'd asked. Then stomped up to his room to go to bed. The man had done nothing to stop him, and told him to be ready to go to school in the morning. Kyo was not going to miss school because he was in a bad mood.

"Fine." Li shot out like a sulky kid. Apparently that was the right answer, because the man hadn't spoken again.

Li dressed in the uniform spread out on the chest and held his hands in front of his face.

"This is so weird." He shook his head and tucked his hands into his pockets. Haru told him that Kyo walked with his head hung sulkily, and kept his hands in his pockets to keep his temper in check. Li, never permitted to have a temper, didn't really understand how one let theirs loose so often that it had to be restrained physically. But he followed instructions and made his way to the common room. Master was already sitting, reading the paper and sipping tea. Li picked up his chopsticks and began to eat quietly.

"You ran out on Akito yesterday." Master said calmly. Li merely grunted. "He's not pleased Kyo."

"I don't want to talk about it." Li finished and got to his feet as Master studied him carefully.

"There's something different about you today Kyo."

"No." Li said shortly, "There's not." A slight sweat broke out along his spine as the older man narrowed his eyes.

"Kyo?" A welcome voice came from the hallway.

"Haru." Li let out a breath as Masters head swiveled around.

"Hatsuharu? What are you doing here?" he asked as he took a sip of tea.

"Kyo and I are walking together today. I have some stuff to bring in and I needed his help. Can we go Master?" Haru grabbed Li's wrist and tugged him along.

"Practice after school Haru, don't forget." He looked at Li, "You too Kyo."

"Master." Li bowed politely, not noticing the way Master blinked in thought, and left with Haru leading the way.
oh, gosh, I'd like to thank everyone and anyone who's reading this for being so patient... its not that my creative drive has dried up or anything... I'm just frustrated lately cause my car was hit by lightning and the guys fixing it are dumb-asses... which does not inspire great trust, considering they've had it for a month already! I'm already working on a new chapter, and those of you reading my Kenshin story, yes, its plodding along but I'm not really happy with the direction its heading, so I need to tweak it a bit... if any of you know of the name of a small area in Japan that can be devastated by fire during the beginning of the Kenshin saga (what I call Samurai X in my own little head) could you please let me know? Or even the name of a fictional town would work... I'm kinda having problems with that...

I'd thank everyone whose reviewed this past month but I can't find where I saved the e-mails... I'm kinda incompetent in that respect... But thanks for everyone whose encouraged me, I really do appreciate it.

OH! I found them!

Cheerful-pinkstar- I know! These two animes are awesome! Have you ever read the manga??

Ghoulee- YOU ROCK!

Swt-Anime-Angel- Thanks a bunches for reviewing AGAIN!