"I am SO going to get them back. They won't know WHAT hit them when I get through with them..." Hands clasped behind her back in anger as she paced her room. Green glowered at the floor with as much irritation and frustration as she could muster. OH they were good. The little devils had to've been planning this for days. It was amazing they could keep straight faces the entire vacation. With a tight-lipped sigh, she stiffly marched to the bedroom door and harshly threw it open, nearly banging it on the wall. In half a dozen steps, she stopped in the open bathroom doorway and crossed her arms. "Sam! Are you DONE yet?!"

The sound of running shower water stopped behind a brightly colored curtain. After a few drips, matching grumbling sounded. "You got off EASY chica, so quit whining. God, I feel like I'm never going to be clean AGAIN."

Green rolled. "Whatever...'I got it easy - ' THEY DYED MY DAMN HEAD!"

There was a quick, muffled snicker before it was halted. A blurry form moved and Sam's disheveled head came into view. "They're geniuses, I'll admit...annoying little bastards. I'd rather be in YOUR place. I'll let YOU wash the crushed bugs out of brillo pad hair, replace eight dollar shampoo and conditioner, and I'LL take the green hair."

She gave a snort. "If I had to dye my hair, I'd rather have it ANY color than emerald green!"

Sam gave an evil grin. "But it matches your eyes."

She sputtered. "Oh SHUT UP and get done!" She twisted and marched out. A hand grabbed the locks falling around her shoulders. "I'm just thankful they didn't make it PERMANENT dye... I'd have to kill them for that. At least I can get rid of it before classes and work tomorrow!"

Casey and Kevin were masterminds. She HAD to give them credit for the old shampoo-and-conditioner shtick. Green narrowed to slits as she abruptly stopped and swiveled for the stairs. It was time to pace downstairs and find some way of retribution for the Christmas holiday.

'Hair dye and bugs in the shampoo. Not very original, but effective. I shouldn't have put it past them. I'm amazed they didn't find a skunk and spray my clothes while they were - HEY!' A positively sinister grin lit her face as she halted on the landing to the main floor.

A finger tapped her chin as malevolence melted away to congenial thoughtfulness. "Hmm...perhaps not SKUNK...but something just as bad would do... Garbage perhaps? What do we have in the fridge that rots quickly?"

Those two didn't clean their rooms and Missy made them do their own, since she took care of the rest of the house. It was the perfect payback. The worst smell in the world, stuffed into some unnoticeable crevice, would deprive them of sleep the worse it got. In the dead of winter, it was too cold at night to leave the windows open without a few layers of blankets.

She chuckled and hopped the rest of the stairs, feeling better than she had since she got out of the shower this afternoon.

Green zoomed in on the fridge as she pulled both doors open and stared. There were a few leftover containers holding some of her interesting concoctions. A hand grabbed a few, pulling the lid off to find exactly what each consisted of, before coming up empty-handed. She shut both doors and leaned against the fridge in thought. What DID they have that smelled so bad it would put a newborn baby's diaper to shame?

'If I can't FIND it...I'll MAKE it.' A hand absently reached up and gripped a chunk of hair. She pulled what she could into her field of vision, face souring. 'And it's going to smell worse than gym socks, sweat, a baby's diaper, AND rotting food all rolled into one!'

Carl and Missy weren't going to be happy one bit about having such a smell in the house, but SHE wasn't happy about unknowingly dying both hair and hands with shampoo and conditioner! There was still a green tinge under her nails, but five washings with two different kinds of soap got rid of most of that. Which was a good thing, considering she normally cooked!

With renewed vigor, she stalked to the cupboards and yanked them open, eyeing anything she could use. She was so deep in thought that she jumped a mile when the phone rang.

She snatched it up on the second ring and took the cordless back in continuing search for the perfect stink bomb. "Hello."

"Is K there?"

Her brow furrowed. The voice sounded familiar...but she couldn't divert off her main goal right now to figure out who it was. "This is."

"K - konnichi wa."

She sucked in a gasp before she could stop herself. Every part of her body froze, the hand dropping to her side. "I...Inaki..." If she wasn't gripping the phone so tightly, it would've fallen to the floor.

Her throat immediately closed of any words to say. Ever since that day, she hadn't been able to get past the shortcomings she showed. She was so ashamed of what she gave away that she couldn't talk or write him. Not that she called him just to talk or had him drive forty miles out of his way for no real reason. Inaki's call had to deal with her silence. The fact that she hadn't written a word in twelve days would help with why she was hearing his voice right now...

...Right now when she suddenly wanted to hang up on him and retreat to her room.

"K?"

She jumped again and blushed, then mentally berated herself for being so stupid. Enough time passed...perhaps he resolved to let it go again and was just being friendly. The guilt and timidness in his voice certainly suggested that. She never really knew Inaki had that kind of withdrawn side...not someone who seemed so outgoing and brazen. It was like he didn't know the meaning of the word blush.

"I'm - I'm here. Sorry." Teeth bit her lip. She didn't know what to say, so she took the most obvious distracted route. "I was just looking for ingredients to make a stink bomb with."

THAT came right out of left field and on the other end, wide brown stared at the phone with an odd expression. After a second, it went against his ear as he got off the futon and ambled to look out the window. "Okay... Do...I even WANT to ask?"

She was thankful for the door she opened that brought them back to past behaviors. THIS she could deal with...as long as it kept on this vein and didn't skim anything else. She heaved an irate sigh and turned to lean against the counters. Green looked at her nails. "Mis hermanos dyed my freaking hair and hands green and put bugs in Sam's shampoo."

The language she was using he didn't know, but his brow ticked. A smile slowly started forming until it was in an ear-splitting grin. The mental picture he was getting was too funny. "Oh...REALLY?"

She playfully glared at the far wall, fighting a smile at his tone. "Wipe that smile off your face! It's not funny at all! I have emerald green hair with the residue under my nails and Sam's got all sorts of crushed bugs tangled in that curly mane of hers!" A quick shudder went through her. "Positively DISGUSTING. I don't know which I'd rather have, the dye or the bugs."

He chuckled, he couldn't help it. "Nice prank. So who pulled it?"

Her mouth opened to repeat herself, but remembered Inaki didn't know the amount of Spanish she was familiar with. "Sam's brothers. I call them mine because we all act like siblings." Deep green glowered. "TOO much."

He plopped down on Jayden's bed and leaned against the wall, absently staring outside. "One can only imagine... So, what's up with the stink bomb? Revenge?"

She smirked. "The four of us have these...wars as they were. Who started them I forget...but one starts the challenge by pulling a prank and the other tries to top it. I started it by taking their computer wires when they interrupted Sam's and my call on Thanksgiving. They responded in kind with current prank." Her face became positively evil again. "And I'm going to find everything and anything I can to make the world's worse smell, and put it in a place where they won't find it until it congeals to the point where they won't even TOUCH it."

He smirked. That sounded like rather good payback. "You're Satan's daughter, do you know that? Positively evil. And here I had you pegged for a nice girl."

She giggled. "Just goes to show how much you know me Inaki." It slipped out before she could stop it, and it was hard to take the words back. Such a casual voice tone and the way they were said almost sounded teasing.

She sobered immediately. With a harsh swallow, green diverted to the linoleum in utter seriousness. She felt like trying to divert off that line, but couldn't get words out. The phone remained in her hand like a dead weight. The good mood was forgotten as she fiddled with a nail.

Whether she was pointing that out on purpose or not he didn't know. It grated on his nerves - both good and bad - and his jaw clenched.

There was the worst, uneasy pause on the line with no real way to break. Conversation should be inserted right about now, but she couldn't get the words out again. It was just like last time. Even her body felt like it was forbidden to move and only her fingers dared to break that.

He took a deep breath after a second and slowly stood. "K... That's kind of why I called."

Her eyes closed, almost as if in pain. No...please don't let him bring up anything now! She was as bad talking about it on the phone as she was in person!

"Part of me wants to apologize for...what happened that day...but part of me wants to ask why you ran. And I finally figured it out and went with my second half. Why did you run from me? I just don't understand it. Did I do something wrong? Why can't you tell me??"

Teeth bit her lip and her eyes squeezed shut. The emotion in his voice got to her already and the guilt she felt about being so unable to speak what he wanted to hear started eating at her again. She slouched to the floor and leaned against the cupboards. Her forehead silently thudded against a knee. Her tongue darted over her lips.

This was where she answered him. But...she just COULDN'T. For years, she confided in people and they left. Why should she waste a person like Inaki and push him away because of what happened to her the past decade?

That was only one of the many reasons she couldn't speak. Forcing it all away from thought and onto the farthest backburner she could find was another. She'd done that almost venomously ever since THAT day happened...vowing never to be so stupid and put it past her. She never wanted to feel that ever again, and tried her damndest to never speak of it. It wasn't easy when someone WANTED to know...

She inhaled a shaky breath. A hand clutched her forehead as if in pain and tears stuck to her lashes.

Teeth harshly bit into her lip. She HATED being this way! But she couldn't avoid it...she never could. It was so easy to feel something she had been immersed in only a few measly years ago. She hadn't been lucky enough to put it THAT far in the past...

"Kalie?"

She harshly swallowed. Why did he have to say her name in such concern...and her full name? If he said her nickname, it would be on a friendlier basis. She didn't get serious unless someone said her full name...that type of stuff normally meant she was in trouble.

"I - Inaki. I - I - I just...I can't...I can't tell you..."

The broken, almost desperate sound of her voice tore at his heart. A fist clenched as he leaned against the kitchen wall. It took physical will to make it the rest of the way outside before he dropped into the porch swing. Breath clouded his lips, but he ignored it and dully stared at the sky. "Why?"

The near pleading and sadness in his voice caused a tear to fall. Her throat locked up and she couldn't swallow. Her heart twisted. She didn't want to put him through any undue stress like this, but why did he want to know so badly? Just because he WANTED to know on a general curiosity? Just to get to know her? It didn't make sense!

He was better off not knowing...it would only tear their friendship apart if he knew the horrible truth about how weak she was. She wasn't as strong as she liked to think she was. Trying and pretending was the best she could do.

Her head inched back and dully thumped against the wood. A tear trailed down her cheek, burning as it went. Bleary eyes squinted at the ceiling. She wanted to break down and bawl like a baby right now. She knew it was possible to feel this low by inadvertently torturing someone and that you could feel the need to crawl into a hole and die...but she was hoping to never, EVER feel like this again.

Why did Inaki have to bring this back up?? She was TIRED of it! Tired of feeling worthless...

She inhaled another shaky breath, this one tenfold worse. It was taking all her strength to keep it out of her voice - to halt the wobbling of her chin - so she could answer him. She didn't want him to know this affected her so much...not to the point she knew of. "I - Inaki...I - I...I just-"

"Yo! Where the hell are you?? I thought you wanted the shower!"

She jumped and banged her head on the countertop. The sharp sting of pain helped distract her enough to wipe tears from her mind and throw her to the mindset she was supposed to be in before the call screwed it all up.

"K? Are you okay? What was that??"

She gently touched the crown of her head and hissed in pain. "I...I conked my head on the countertop..." She rasped. "Least I'm not bleeding... Hold on a minute." She stood and quickly wiped her face clean. With the phone at her waist, she took a deep breath and quickly let it out. "I'm down here you dork!" She shouted, leaning on the banister. There was no point in going upstairs, yet. "Are you done now??"

"It's all yours!"

She stared at the phone as a door closed, most likely Sam's, biting her cheek in indecision. It was a good bet if she gave it a few minutes of total silence and then hung up - like a coward - that Inaki would call back wondering what happened. And he would only get through if she didn't leave the phone off the hook.

She was tempted to take such a cowardly route...but she just couldn't. The polite side of her was screaming at how stupid it was to do that to a friend. She couldn't hang up on him like THAT. With a deep breath, determined to do this, she slowly headed back to the kitchen. "I...I have to go now Inaki. I'm going to see if I can't get this green out of my hair before work tomorrow night."

"But K, wait a minute, please -"

"I - I'll talk to you later I guess."

"Kalie! Wait a minute! Don't hang up on me when I'm trying to -"

"Bye." She clicked the phone off with a beep and evenly stared at it. It took a lot of courage to do that. She almost caved and let him continue, which would've killed any means of disconnecting the call. She couldn't let him get any other words in...she wouldn't.

Some part of her mind knew that was the wrong thing to do, but if it kept him from asking questions...so be it. She wasn't prepared - and never WOULD be - to answer them, so it was pointless for him to keep asking. She didn't know why he kept asking, but hopefully would get the hint and whatever it was that he was holding onto would eventually be not worth the fight.

When it came to stubbornness of keeping quiet, she was far worse about this than he by a long shot. But she couldn't help the guilt that laced her system as she immediately turned the phone back on and put it on the top of the fridge.

Green stared in indecision. Perhaps she should leave it hung up. Maybe he wouldn't call back? Her head shook. No...someone as stubborn as Inaki would DEFINITELY call back, more irate and demand an explanation for that hang up.

Resolved to quit thinking about it, she turned and headed back upstairs. She had a few precious hours of natural daylight left to help make sure the green was out. Light bulbs just didn't cover it.

Not even half an hour later, the bedroom door opened. Hands wrapped a towel around overly washed hair.

A snack sounded good. All that time in the shower gained an appetite from hell. And it was just far enough away from dinner to gain that hunger again, so a snack was justified. But the problem with wanting food and not knowing what sounded good didn't help. Both fridge doors were opened and closed without anything retrieved.

"This sucks." A hand all but slammed the door shut in frustration and rattled the appliance...effectively knocking the phone off the top. "What the hell?! What is this doing up here??" The second the phone was put back in the charger, it rang with a shrill whistle. "Stranger than fiction...this's getting a little freaky... Hello?"

"Finally! Do you know how many times I've tried to get a connection??"

A brow ticked. The irritation was not appreciated. "I didn't even know the phone was off the hook or for how long, so I don't appreciate the tone. Who IS this??"

"Inaki. Is this Sam?"

Light blue blinked. "Yea...what's going on buddy? How come you've been trying to call?"

He heaved a frustrated sigh and shoved a hand through his bangs. "K turned the phone on so I couldn't call back. I've been trying for almost twenty minutes now."

Blonde furrowed as Sam went to the cupboards in her earlier search for munchies. "She did? That's strange. Why would she do something like that? It's not like you two talk on the phone that often..." A hand pulled open a door and blue lit up. "Ah - ha! There they are...munchies!" Twisting, Sam leaned against the counter and grabbed a few chips to nibble on. "You were saying now? Explain this to me; I'm always out of the loop when it concerns you two."

The sound of her crunching chips was not helping his anxiety any, but he tried to pull the earpiece away to ignore it. "I called K to talk to her about something and she all but snuffed me on it."

Sam plopped down at the table and cradled the phone in between head and shoulder. "That's odd...doesn't sound like K, and I should know - I live with her. What did you ask her that made her go bitch on you?"

"I...I asked her about her past."

The crunching paused in mid nibble. Light blue widened a little bit as Sam stared without expression to the opposite wall. "Oh..." She finally muttered.

"Oh!? What does THAT mean? What does OH mean??"

Sam looked to the table with pensive eyes. Why was SHE being put in this position?? This was NOT her job to say something like this! 'Damn girl owes me for this...'

"Inaki...well I don't know exactly what to say or where to start..." She paused and tapped the blunt edge of the chip against her teeth. "I don't really know how to put this if I had to choose a starting point." Another pause. "Kalie isn't one to badger about her past. Trust me." She seriously muttered. Light blue darkened.

"But I don't know WHY I shouldn't!" He grumbled, gripping his crown. "This is driving me insane! Ever since I got that little insight about her dating in a letter when I broke up with Blitz-san, I've thought of death, drugs, prostitution - why are you giggling?"

"Sorry, sorry..." Sam mused, covering her mouth. She quickly threw the chip in before full out laughter developed. It took a second, but Sam managed to calm herself down. "I don't mean to laugh. Really I don't. From my point of view, all that is a TAD overblown. I'll divulge this and say that none of that has happened to K in her lifetime. Rest easy."

"Then what could it be??"

Sam's face rapidly darkened. "But I'll also say THIS. If you don't want to open Pandora's Box, you'd be best to let it go."

"But WHY? I just don't understand it! Damn it Sam, you're not helping here!"

"I never said I was going to." Sam heaved a sigh and looked to the bag, losing her appetite. She scowled but went to put the chips back. "Look Inaki...I'm not going to be a stool pigeon and tell you exactly what happened in Kalie's life, because I don't even know every detail...and I'm her best friend! K prefers not to let her past get the better of her. If it did, she would end up like she did when Arthur broke her heart."

Yes! He had a name! Perhaps only one in who knew how many, but it was still a name! What ELSE could he subtly wheedle out of her??

"And besides, you don't want to go there anyway. I've seen some of it and I wish I didn't. It's not something you could associate with someone Kalie likes to make people think she is. So like I said, leave it alone."

"I just can't do that. I have to know."

Sam leaned against the counter again and speared a confused look to the carpet. "Why? What is so godly important that you would make her go through all that?? That whole decade is something she'd rather never live through again. Don't make me suggest it to you one more time."

"If it's nothing that horrible as I mentioned...how bad could it be?? You're making it sound worse than it probably IS."

Sam's face darkened as her eyes clouded into the past. "I am, am I? You have a big family I hear. Have close friends who you still hang out with regularly? Have a pretty good track record with dating? Never seen some of the horrors that lurk in a person's consciousness I bet. Consider yourself lucky. And chew on that one for a while."

"Sam?"

Light blonde whipped to the stairs as blue widened. This was something K would seriously hurt her over if she knew Inaki was getting sideways information - even half assed - from someone deeply confided into! Not to mention she wouldn't cook anything for weeks! "I am cutting you off before I get in trouble. As surrogate big sister and best friend, I'm telling you to harshly rack your brain for any VALID reason of putting K through hell. If you can't find one, you'd better cease and desist."

A raven brow ticked. "You can't make me stop if I want the truth."

"To be cliché, you can't handle the truth. And I pay the phone bills. Don't make me be mean." Footsteps started down the stairs and Sam whipped around to keep her voice from directing in that area. "Got it?"

"Wait a -"

Sam clicked the phone off and was putting it back on the holster just as a turban/towel-wrapped K passed the archway. With an easily feigned scowl, hands went on Sam's hips. "Was there some reason you took the phone off the hook? I wouldn't have known it was even up there if it didn't fall off the fridge when I went rummaging for food."

K stopped and for a second looked rather panicked before quickly covering it up. "Wait a minute...what were you doing rummaging for munchies when I was just coming down to get something started??" A finger wagged in Sam's face. "You KNOW I always make enough for leftovers the next day. Why does that never sink in?"

Sam mildly glowered as her friend walked past and looked for pans. A quick save. No telling how much of a tongue-lashing she'd get if K had been a second earlier. She heaved a mental sigh. Done and over with.

'And if Inaki knew what was good for ALL of us, he'd do as I suggested.'

Brown stared at the phone, slowly looking from surprised to annoyed. That was twice in an hour that he'd been hung up on by someone from the same household over the same topic! He heaved a sigh and headed back in. A shiver went through him from the temperature change.

His mind was in a whirl as he set the cordless on the wall. This just didn't make SENSE! Now he was even MORE curious and baffled at this mysterious past than before! Sam's words did NOT help him right now. His head lightly thudded against the wall a few times. It paused with a sigh and pressed against the paint. 'I wouldn't put it past her to unplug the phone for a few days without K knowing... Not to mention finding a way to make my life miserable.'

Sam's warning had the opposite reaction. He was supposed to search himself to find a reason why he wanted information worse than anything in his life and most likely find none.

His resolve and stubbornness to figure this mystery out increased tenfold.