A/N: Right now I'm writing with my headphones on because the person who lives directly below me is having a party. Now, he doesn't normally throw parties, so I'm willing to forgive him. However, if it's this loud tomorrow, I'm getting out my DDR pads. Although, I do have a funny random story about DDR that I feel like sharing. There was one time when the person who lived below me came up to my place to complain about the stomping on the ceiling… however, when he saw the DDR pads, instead of getting mad, he said "Hey, is that DDR? I've always wanted to try that game!" and all turned out well in the end.

-End Incredibly Random author Note-

HEVN made a disgusted face and dug her sharply-filed fingernails into her pillow. Despite the fact that they were on as far opposite sides of the bed as possible, Akabane was annoying the hell out of her. It wasn't that he had cold feet, or that he tossed and turned in his sleep, or that he snored. It was the fact that he did none of those. Even back when she'd had a real boyfriend, she hadn't shared a bed with anyone who just laid there in one place and slept without making a sound. It was kind of creepy, almost like discovering you shared a bed with a corpse.

Akabane, for his part, was not actually asleep. It was a good thing HEVN didn't actually know that, for seeing his violet eyes wide and staring, unblinking, at the windows would have disturbed her all the more. He was watching the rain that had refused to let up, occasionally punctuated with bursts of lightning. However, his thoughts were not on the Thunder Emperor, as one might have expected from the distance look in his gaze.

In spite of not liking the company he was forced to keep, he was relatively grateful to be able to sleep in an actual bed for a few nights. His back and developed a terrible crack in it from the cold concrete floor of the warehouse basement. He hadn't bothered to tell HEVN, but the battered suitcase he'd hauled with him contained all his worldly possessions. When one lives the life of a serial killer (not a mass murderer, he'd point out to anyone who bothered to ask him before they met their violent end. The two are very different things, in truth), one doesn't really keep a steady place of residence for very long. Thank goodness for public bathhouses, at least. He had no idea how Americans could stand living without them.

He imagined that by this time, with this much rain, the floor of the warehouse would probably be flooded. He was beyond fully aware of the fact that most men would be counting their blessings to be sleeping in a warm bed, under a dry roof, next to an incredibly beautiful woman. The whole situation, however, just made Akabane's legs itchy. He hated staying in one place for too long, or the sensation that he might have "settled down". Of course, there was the old adage "you can run but you can't hide" to be considered, and after awhile of running, it becomes almost unnatural to sit still. There's a word for that sensation: inertia.

These were the thoughts that wandered through Akabane's mind as he suffered from insomnia. Every time I close my eyes, the noise inside me amplifies. I can't escape…every misstep I have made finds a way it can invade… and this is why I find myself awake, as the song went. He wondered where he'd heard that song. Perhaps at one of the tattered clubs his clients had been inclined to frequent before he'd made enough of a name for himself to be recognized as one of the "elite" transporters, the ones you called when you wanted to show that your item was worth big money.

Sometime around midnight, Akabane and HEVN both finally managed to get to drift into broken, unfriendly dream worlds. Akabane found himself dreaming of a world where a disease had ravaged the cities, leaving only empty and soulless buildings that he wandered through, the last survivor, eternally alone. HEVN, on the other side of the bed, was dreaming about a great green dragon that was trying to burn down the Honky Tonk.

HEVN woke up when the alarm clock lying on the ground beside her began to beep in a shrill, annoying tone. She reached out from under the warm covers, her bare arm braving the chilly room to hit the snooze button. It was only when she reached out that she'd shifted in her sleep; the clock was no longer within arms reach. Huh, she was lying on something relatively solid, and yet slightly squishy… cotton fabric texture, perhaps? She didn't have a giant pillow, so she was confused. Sleepily, she lifted her head up- only to realize that somehow in her sleep, she'd manage to roll over on top of Akabane.

Akabane, apparently already awake, blinked at her and smiled in that cold, eyes-shut smile he'd perfected. "You looked so serene that I didn't want to wake you even after you rolled on me," he smirked.

HEVN shoved backwards, scooting to the other side of the room entirely on her backside. Her hair was practically sticking up on end with surprise, and her eyes were big and round as dinner plates. "I didn't mean to!" she stammered, clutching sheets over her night clothes. She was not thinking about how nice and warm his body was, she was not!

Akabane yawned and stretched out, ignoring both HEVN's giant eyes and the fact that the yukata he was using in place of pajamas was gaping and showing more of his flesh than HEVN cared to see. She covered her eyes lightly with one hand, in more of a I-am-not-amused gesture than an I-just-saw-your-man-thing gesture. "Pull that thing closed, will you?"

"Mmm, the tie seems to have come undone while I slept. Unless, you had a hand in it coming untied…"

"WHAT?" she asked, her hair once again shooting straight out and giving her an angry cat look. "I wouldn't! I didn't! I rolled on you by accident! You're a dirty, dirty…" It was about that point that she realized from the way he was smiling that he'd been kidding her. She made a disgruntled ugh sound and talked into the bathroom, leaving the smiling freak to himself.

When HEVN emerged from the bathroom, Akabane was busily doing some kind of off spin-off of push-ups. HEVN studied him for a moment before deciding it was best to just turn her back and pretend she didn't see him. Finally, after a good thirty seconds of listening to him quietly counting off numbers, she decided her curiosity was greater than her desire to ignore him. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Push-ups, they're good exercise and great for stress relief. You should try a few; you could use some distressing," he said, and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd intended it as a pun or not.

She snorted at his comment and went to picking the tangles out of her long hair with a comb. "Is it really that obvious?"

"You weren't yourself yesterday, and I can only imagine the stress of having to keep up appearances for your family is the cause."

"I think even a blind man could see that," she snapped, before realizing that if she'd said such a thing in front of Madoka, she'd probably be rather embarrassed. "What do you mean by I wasn't myself?"

He stopped doing the push-up routine and stretched out his back, cracking noises ripping down his spine as he twisted himself. "You were far less professional than usual. The HEVN I'm used to treats me with a sort of distant buisnesslyness, if you will, that I respect. She's not the sort to let personal opinions of others get in the way of her making a few bucks."

"Then the HEVN you're mentioning is still me, only this HEVN is after a more than just a few bucks. This HEVN is after the house, the car, the family business…"

"Understood," Akabane cut her off. "Do you wish me to dress myself in the bathroom?"

"What else would you do, strip right in the middle of the room in front of me?" she asked. Looking back and seeing that smile creeping across his face again, she raised one hand and pointed hastily at the bathroom. "Change in there, please."

While Akabane was still doing his beauty routine, HEVN and her sister discussed the day's plans. "So, what have you got planned for me today, my sister?" Marci purred. She was wearing a white summer dress that contrasted with HEVN's black pants and shirt combination nicely. Clifford looked like someone had shoved him in a closet to sleep, as his clothes were rumpled and creased. Akabane almost suspected that Clifford was wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing yesterday. Of course, not that Akabane could really talk… he was just grateful that HEVN had a washing machine, and that no one could tell if he really changed clothes or not underneath his coat.

"I'm thinking of taking you to a few historical locations and-"

"Boooooring. Come on, sis, we went to those 'historical' dusty old temples when we were kids and they made us. We've only got a few more days to enjoy Japan for everything it's worth, save the education for someone who cares."

"Right. Where do you suggest we go?"

"How about that super-huge water park that just opened up?"

HEVN blinked. "Okay, first, you complain about having to go to a historical site, then you want to go to an amusement park that is based on the concept of hundreds of other amusement parks in the country you just came from?"

"Yes. Do you see a problem with that?" Marci asked, arms crossed.

"Mom and dad in swimsuits," was HEVN's short response.

Marci groaned. "Okay, you win. Take us somewhere 'historical,' but it better have a good gift shop."

Once again, there were too many people to fit in one taxi, and despite HEVN's insisting that it would be easier to just take the train, her father agreed to pour out the money to pay the drivers rather than have to be shoved in a tiny space with a bunch of people using mass transportation. For reasons Akabane would never understand in his natural lifetime, he was once again pushed in a car alone with Clifford, just staring at one another over the top of the language barrier.

In the other car, things were none the merrier. "You know, sister, I've noticed something odd about you and your boyfriend. You don't hold hands, or accidentally brush fingers and kind of smile about it, or any of those silly love things engaged couples do."

"Neither do you," HEVN pointed out, rather snappishly.

"That's because Clifford knows better than to potentially damage my manicure, and one time he touched my arm after I got my airbrushed tan touched up and his hands were brown for a week."

HEVN's sharp yellow eyes studied her sister. "And you're proud of that?" she asked.

"Girls, girls, don't fight," their mother pleaded. "What place were you taking us again, HEVN dear?"

"Marci and I compromised between historical site and water theme park. We're going to a waterfall."

"Which reminds me, I think your toilet was plugged when we left. I hope it doesn't run over," Marci smirked. It was a good thing the taxi driver was listening to bad Euro-pop CDS, because they drowned out the sound of HEVN's teeth grinding together in irritation. Her only consolation was that she knew that somewhere, deep down in Marci's cool exterior, the driver's choice of music was making her cry on the interior.

Due to a strange anomaly in traffic, Clifford and Akabane's taxi arrived a good ten minutes before the taxi carrying the rest of the family. When HEVN found them, they were standing inside a small convenience store and souvenir stand. Clifford was waving a pack of candy in Akabane's face and very slowly saying "In my country, we call these Skittles." HEVN didn't know if it was worth pointing out that the writing on the box essentially did say Skittles in Japanese (or as close as Japanese can get to the word Skittles), but figured that of all people who should understand branding in an international market, a businessman like Clifford should.

"Stop acting like he's an idiot because you speak English," she snapped.

"I thought they taught that language in high school."

"Yes, and they teach Spanish in American high schools. How many Americans do you know who speak Spanish well enough to count as half-fluent?"

"Quite a few, actually."

"Take out the ones whose families speak Spanish."

"Ummm…."

"Case in point."

"Right, the sooner we look at a bunch of water falling off a rock, the sooner we can go home." Marci commented.

"I've tried to explain six times in the car, Marci. It's not a natural waterfall, it's a man-made sculpture of falling water surrounded by a garden of rare and beautiful flowers that's supposed to symbolize the diversity of life itself," HEVN sighed, rubbing her head to try to make the throbbing veins go away.

"It just looks like a giant pe-"

"Marci!" Hevn snapped, cutting her sister off in mid-word. "Here, have a guide book to the diversity of plants," she snapped, shoving a small booklet into her sister's hand.

Marci snorted, thumbing through the poorly printed pages. "I can't remember half of these kanji. Or maybe I didn't know them in the first place, seeing as how they're probably the names of some plants that all look alike. I mean, what's the purpose of flowers if they're in dirt instead of floral arrangements from boyfriends?"

A single large sweat drop had appeared on HEVN's head. "Ladies and gentlemen, my sister, the ultimate materialist."

"She's hardly anything compared to some of the Yakuza brides I've met," Akabane shrugged, sucking on a yellow Popsicle.

HEVN looked up at him and frowned. "Where did you get that popsicle? You didn't have it a half minute ago."

"A child tried to stick it to me. He said something about my hat being stupid. I believe that child will now need expensive therapy for the rest of his life," Akabane answered calmly, licking at the ice treat.

"And you're eating it?" HEVN asked, her head dropping with the absolute stupidity of the situation. Tears streamed out of her eyes. "I'm… I'm surrounded by insanity. That's it. Not one person in my life is sane."

HEVN and Marci's mother nudged their father. "Just look at our children. Eating ice cream treats or whispering quietly with loved ones in a gorgeous flower garden. Isn't young love just beautiful?"

In truth, Marci and Clifford were trying to figure out if there was a way to push HEVN over the side of the artistic waterfall, and whether or not the drop was actually great enough to do more than just break her wrist.

HEVN wiped her eyes. "Okay, even if you are being difficult, I'm willing to make this 'engagement' work. Now hold my hand as we walk through the garden."

"I don't think you want-" Akabane's words came too late, and HEVN already had a firm grip on his hand. At that moment, however, she was beginning to realize that sticky Popsicle leavings had trickled down Akabane's gloves and those sticky bits of juice were now all over her hands. To top it off, there wasn't a water fountain or hand washing station in sight.

"Why didn't you tell me your hands were sticky?" she asked, trying to keep from starting to weep again. She'd actually been looking forward to holding a man's hand, not that she'd admit it, and she got… a sticky toddler hand in its place.

"I was going to, but you grabbed me before I could. At least, with your family about, I'm not bored enough to do something that would later be regarded as an international incident."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, turning around to see what Akabane was looking at. "MARCI! Get off the sculpture!"

"Oh, hush! We're going to take the picture quickly! Won't it look good, with me in this dress and the water in cascades behind me?" she asked, striking a pose on the safety fence.

"Security will kick us out if they see you up there! Get down!" HEVN pleaded, running up to where her sister was standing on the fence.

"We'll take it quickly and- AH! BEE!" Marci screamed, flailing her arms as a small and rather non-threatening insect flew past her. In her flailing, HEVN watched in slow motion horror-o-vision as her sister's foot slipped backwards on the wet railing. She reached out, her arms seeming to also move in slow motion, realizing that she wouldn't reach her sister in time no matter how earnestly she wanted to.

With a loud splash, Marci fell backwards and several feet down into the basin of the statue. "Marci!" Clifford cried, shoving HEVN aside as he ran to the fence that was intended to keep tourists from doing that very thing. "Marci, Marci! Are you okay?" By that time, several other concerned visitors had rushed to the fence as well to see if the toppled girl was okay.

They were met with a loud, high-pitched, and incredibly shrill scream. "My sister is hurt!" HEVN cried, genuinely concerned. "I'll call an ambulance," she shouted, sweating with nervousness, hitting the wrong buttons on her phone.

Akabane placed his hands over hers. "Stop," he said gently. "That wasn't a scream of pain."

"Wasn't a scream of pain? My sister fell into the fountain! It's a steep drop!" she shouted at him, perhaps bordering more on the hysterical than she should have for how deep the drop truly was.

"Yes, but… perhaps I should say it wasn't a scream of physical pain. Do you remember what your sister was wearing when she fell into a fountain full of water?"

"A… white… sundress…" HEVN said slowly, beginning to get the picture.

A half hour later and a few talks to the security guards, HEVN sat next to Akabane on a bench. "Thank you more than I can say for loaning your coat to my sister until her dress dried."

"It wasn't a problem. I've always been a gentleman at heart," he answered. "Tell me again why the two of us were cordially not invited to dinner tonight, despite my kindness?"

"I think it had to do with the fact that we took a picture before we helped my sister out of the fountain. I don't see why that would be a problem, though; she had everything covered."

"Perhaps that is it. She might not have had to go through the security interrogation if we hadn't stopped to do that."

"When do you think the taxi I called will arrive?" she asked, swinging her legs. "We've been waiting a terribly long time for it."

"Yes, and yet the inside of my coat is still wet," Akabane frowned, turning the coat over so the setting sun would continue to shine on it and hopefully dry it out. HEVN turned her attention away from him, and towards the tones of reds and yellows fading to orange across the sky.

"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, staring up at the sky over the tops of skyscraping office buildings and high rise luxury apartments. "Even in spite of the fact that we spent most of the day waiting for security to release my sister."

"I prefer sunrises over sunsets, myself. I see more of them because of the hours my job requires. Mornings just seem more right than nights, at any rate. It's quiet when the city hasn't woken up yet, whereas at night people are just beginning to rush off to clubs, theaters, whatever they want to get done before their day job takes them over again."

"Most people who prefer mornings like them because they're fresh starts. A new, clean slate to work with. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life any everything."

Akabane drew his legs up so he could rest his head on his knees. "That assumes that what you wrote on the slate yesterday didn't leave any residue, and that others are willing to also wipe their slates instead of piling up perceived indignities over time."

"Hmmm…." HEVN said, leaning back on the bench. "But, a slate that is never wiped clean becomes an incomprehensible garble," she retorted, glancing over at him. Akabane was playing with his hair, twisting it between his fingers. He'd been playing with one of his knives earlier, twitching it repeatedly in and out of his hand. She hadn't really noticed it before, but both were nervous ticks generally done by bored, fidgety people. If there was one thing HEVN knew she definitely didn't want, however, it was to be around Akabane when he was bored. "Akabane-san, how long have we been sitting here, waiting for a taxi? It's been here so long we've become vaguely philosophical."

He made a noise that indicated he was amused by her comment. "I believe it's been close to an hour."

"Should I just call Ban and offer to pay him to drive us back? Or at least call the taxi company and ask them what's taking so long?"

"I would call the taxi company first. Calling your friend Ban, while amusing, would probably require a lot of explanations you are honestly too stressed to give right now. Wait, perhaps that won't be necessary. Here comes one now."

HEVN sat promptly upright. "Is that for us?" she asked.

"Let's see if it slows down?"

"It's slowing, it's stopping… yes!" HEVN shouted, punching the air. "Come on, hurry before it drives away."

Akabane hastily gathered up his still damp-coat and followed HEVN to the taxi. She was honestly grateful it had arrived right when it had, as she didn't want to deal with Akabane's strange behaviors.

She noticed him wrinkle his nose when they entered the cab, mainly because the wrinkle lines that formed between his eyebrows had a kind of cute quality to them. Wait, did she honestly think that… about Akabane? HEVN smacked herself on the face lightly with the palm of one slender hand. Heat stroke, yes, that was it… she'd gotten heat stroke while sitting and waiting for the taxi.

If she hadn't been distracted by her tangent, she might have remembered Akabane's initial reaction and asked him about it. There was the scent of blood in the cab, and though Akabane knew strange things happened frequently in cabs as he'd been the cause of many strange incidents himself, it bothered him. The taxi was incredibly late, then finally showed up with the faint scent of blood in it? He could also detect cleaning fluid recently applied, and the blood-scent was surprisingly fresh.

To HEVN, he said nothing. If the driver was up to no good, all the better for him. The last few days had been terribly boring, after all… An unintentional smile crossed his face. Perhaps he'd finally get some entertainment after all.