Enter Ken in this chapter. Hmm, seems Ryu's having a bad run of luck. Not only in my NG game is he getting repeatedly getting bulldozed by a freakin' tank… okay, I'll shut up now. That said, I think my friend likes me torturing him or something. –Cough-

Anyway. I'm back, (just…) and updating again. Perhaps a bit slower (LOL!) to give everyone a bit of a break, hey? Oh, and Mask, we don't ALL sound like that. Just Steve Irwin. (Thank goodness for that!)

"Hey, look! That's the new kid. That funny one,"

"She has funny hair!"

Glaring did little to distract the 'audience' she had attracted. They simply swarmed around her, reminding her distinctly of bees swarming around liquid honey.

"What's her name? Ayane? What an unusual name!"

She looked out for Kasumi. Perhaps she would help.

"Kasumi!" she called, spotting her sister with a few friends. "Can I play with you?"

The amber-haired girl shook her head instantly. "These are my friends, Ayane. You have to go out and find your own,"

"But…" she trailed off miserably as Kasumi walked off.

"Ayane has no friends!" A short girl popped her head out from behind the wall. "Ayane has no friends!"

"I do so!" she yelled angrily, embarrassed. "They just go to a different school!"

"Sure they do!" Another girl laughed. "Ayane the loner!"

…I've always been different. The odd one out. The… loner. But here, at this snobby school…

…I'm not any more. And that's only because I've made new friends. Even acting like myself. Not putting on some pretence to gain friends. Hayabusa, Tina, Hitomi. Not a bad start considering my track record.

Hayabusa… he… he has a crush on me. He admitted it to me the other day. One of the most popular guys at this school has a crush on me. Ayane. Ayane the different one, the odd one.

Kids are no different to teenagers, really. Their words cut as deep. They're just more immature. But that doesn't matter now. Because I'm not going to be known as Kasumi's sister any longer. I am my own person. Ayane. Me.

All me. Nobody else. And that's the way it's going to stay.

"Ayane, are you alright?"

She blinked, staring into the emerald green eyes of Ryu Hayabusa.

"Yeah, Hayabusa, I'm fine. Just zoned out for a second. No biggie,"

"Good,"

He nodded to her once, before turning back to his work. But he wasn't doing it. Simply staring at it blankly.

She shrugged. He had his reasons, no doubt.

Her hand started moving as she wrote in splotchy ballpoint onto her piece of paper.

Why the hell is English Literature so damn boring?

As she was in the process of decorating the word 'boring', she heard a voice call her name.

"…Miss Ayane?"

"You what?" she raised an eyebrow at the geek.

"Describe Victor's character for me, Miss Ayane,"

"Who the hell is Victor?"

Half-hearted chuckles met her statement. It wasn't supposed to be funny.

"Victor Frankenstein, Miss Ayane. The main character in the book you were supposed to have read. Detention,"

"What?" she spluttered indignantly. "I knew that! You can't give me a detention for not concentrating and not listening to your annoying, droning voice!"

"Not only have you disobeyed the instructions of a teacher, you are arguing with one. I suggest you quit while you are behind,"

"I suggest you quit, BUSTER, before I kick your behind!"

"MISS AYANE!" the geek's voice thundered. "Get out of my classroom!"

"With pleasure!"

She hitched up her skirt, before collecting her books and throwing her uncompleted worksheet on the desk. "Good riddance to bad geeks, arsehole!"

Well, she was out of the classroom. Also out of the school. Down having a coffee at the mall, her favourite cafe. But that wasn't a problem, was it? Hell no!

She sipped slowly on the warm liquid, feeling it warm her up as though she had just stepped into a nice warm bath. A small smile graced her lips.

Sometimes, the smaller things in life are the best things. A nice cup of warm coffee. A nice big hug. You know, the little things sometimes are the nicest things you can get.

…I wonder if Hayabusa would ever hug me...

What the bloody hell? Where did that come from? Why would I want that arse getting within ten feet of me? Am I going insane, or really just getting converted?

Someone shoot me if I ever say he's cute. Please, please.

"Ayane. Surprise seeing you here,"

Hearing that cool, calm, oh-so familiar yet so foreign voice at the same time, she turned around to meet emotionless hazel eyes. "How do you do?"

"Ken? What brings you here? I'm, uh. I'm good, thanks," she stumbled over the words.

"You look… troubled. May I?" he gestured at a chair, she nodding wordlessly. "So, Ayane. What is bothering you?"

"Just… your son," she blurted out before she could stop herself.

SHIT! Why did I say that?

"Oh, really?" Ken's expression was cool, then hard in seconds.

"Not like… that. He's a good guy. No, like… I don't know. He's just confusing me,"

Ken always makes me get tongue-tied. Probably I'm not used to seeing good looking guys old enough to be fathers. But he is good looking. Not really my type, but not bad for an old codger, at any rate.

"He has that tendency," Ken agreed, without, she noticed, actually giving her much information in the interim.

Why can't Ken like his son? It isn't my business, sure, but… even I can't help but like him. And I'm a bitch. Now, unless Ken is worse then me… but nobody is worse then me!

"Don't tell me," Ken's voice was completely deadpan as he leant on the table. "He's fallen in love with you?"

Shit. He's good, too. Must run in the family…

"A crush," she said determinedly.

To her surprise, a small chuckle escaped the older man's lips.

"One thing I know about my son. He falls, he falls hard. There is something about you, Miss Ayane, that would attract my son to a person like you. Even I can see it,"

"A person like me? What are you implying?"

"Your… frankness. So simple, yet so complex at the same time,"

She shook her head. I'm really confused. "That doesn't have anything to do with anything,"

"Perhaps not with most people,"

Ken was so enigmatic. Like Ryu, again. There really is a family resemblance between the two. Although, judging by how much Ken doesn't like Ryu, I probably shouldn't bring it up. But it's really obvious. Even his mannerisms are similar.

"So," Ken started mildly. "How are things? At school,"

"They're fine," she replied uncomfortably.

He sounds like he's trying to find out something. What it is I don't know.

Finally, she snapped, curiosity taking over.

"Why don't you like Ryu?"

Ken regarded her with a cool hazel stare.

"Why do you?"

"Touché," she conceded.

Because, underneath, he's really a nice, good person. In some respect, I'd like to be like that. Have someone else consider me a good person. Doubt it'll happen for the next, what, millennium?

"He's done a lot for me," she said finally.

"He killed my wife," Ken said.

Sounds kinda cliché… what the fuck?!

"He what?!"

Ken's once previously apathetic facial expression was now betraying mild sadness.

"Yes. My wife killed herself because of the likes of him,"

"Why on earth would she do that?"

"Because she loved him. She let that love destroy her,"

"I don't understand,"

Ken gave a hollow chuckle.

"Neither do I. As a child, Ryu was… antisocial, to say the least. To the point where we were wondering if there was something wrong with him. Otherwise, he was perfectly behaved and everything. We ended up having more disagreements because of it, stemming off because of it, and she was diagnosed with depression soon after. As much as we both tried to help Ryu, it couldn't work. Things went downhill from there, and she couldn't cope with it. A few other things went wrong, and that did it,"

Ken shrugged helplessly.

"I'm sorry," she said gently.

"You don't have to be. Just don't let Ryu come across as an angel. He'll just hurt you later,"

"Hurt me? He would never do that, intentionally at least," she said determinedly.

"That's what my wife said, too," Ken stated softly.