Lupicinus: Like the story so far? You must because you've read this far, or you're just reading becuase the voices inside your head told you to. HAVE A NICE DAY! I like pommegranates!

(In the background Allen gets tortured by 4 year olds with scissors and permanent markers)

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Chapter 5:

It was about 4:25 when the two girls finally turned into the driveway leading up to Satori's home. Kira stared as she and Satori continued up to Satori's new house. The driveway itself was lined with lovely flowering trees that rained down pinkish white petals upon them. The aroma was delightfully wonderful and it truly was lovely as the sun gleamed off the body of water beyond the trees. After an about 3 minute drive up the rather long driveway, they reached her home. It was a good sized two-story with pretty oriental styled gardens all around it. Kira put her bike in neutral while Satori opened the garage door. Once the door was fully up, they both pulled in and parked.

Kira turned her motorcycle off and put down the kickstand, examining everything around her, "Wow, your house is really nice. Much better than your last one."

Satori dismounted and shut off her Vespa, making sure their vehicles were over far enough so her mother could get in, "Thanks, I like it too."

Kira jumped off her bike and stretched her arms, "Where's your mom? Is she home?"

Satori paused wondering if Kira had the ability to read her mind since she was just thinking about her mom, "No, not yet, she will be soon if she doesn't call saying she'll be working late." Satori couldn't help but smile. Kira had always loved Tsurina like another mother, and Tsurina always treated Kira like a second daughter.

Kira took a big whiff of the sweet flower smelling air and smiled, "Wow, that smells good. What are those trees out there, I don't know shit about plants or flowers."

Satori pointed to the flowering trees out in the yard, "The butter colored ones are Magnolia trees, their petals smell especially good. And the pinky white ones are dogwood, though they're prettier than the Magnolias, they don't smell as good."

"Cool, but why is it all Japanese like?"

"That's where I've been all this time."

Kira was wide eyed; Japan had been a place they had always wanted to go after watching so many samurai and ninja movies, it looked so cool and fun with all the anime and stuff they had over there. Kira was surprised Satori had actually got to go there and thought her lucky. Though Kira probably would've died of laughter if she had been in Antarctica all this time. Fly penguin fly!

Satori grinned and walked over to the door leading into the kitchen, pushing the button to shut the garage door before she went in. Once Kira was beside her she opened the door and ushered her inside, "Welcome to the inside of my house, and take off your shoes."

Kira walked in and after taking off her shoes like Satori instructed, started rushing through the house, exploring and examining everything. The first floor of the home was decorated well and it had a welcoming yet exotic atmosphere. She was in the middle of examining the living room when she heard hostile growling coming from the stairs. She cautiously peeked around the corner only to be greeted by gleaming golden eyes and snarling teeth. Kira wasn't frightened by dogs, well, what she was looking at was no dog but still she wasn't afraid. She had been bitten several times by dogs and she still loved them. For a moment all she could do was stand there and take in the splendor of the animal before her. Nor did she hear Satori's footsteps.

Satori walked by and gently whapped Ururu on the nose, "Knock it off. She's my friend so chill out."

He whimpered and stopped growling at Kira, studying her with his gorgeous golden orbs.

Kira kneeled in front of him, "Wow, a wolf! How cute, come here boy!"

Ururu looked at her awkwardly and looked to Satori for instruction who was standing close by, making sure he didn't attack Kira or anything. Satori rolled her eyes, "Well go on she's calling you."

Cautiously he walked over to Kira and allowed her to pet him. She smiled and stroked him, feeling the silkiness of his coat.

Satori mused to herself silently, (So she's still the same underneath it all.)

Though the peaceful moment didn't last long when a rather terrible squawking noise came from upstairs.

Kira looked up at the stairs, brows furrowed, "What the hell is that?"

Satori rolled her eyes mumbling, "That was Aeris, she's hungry..."

Kira cocked her head and stood, "Aeris?"

"Yeah, Aeris..." Satori passed Ururu and Kira and disappeared up the stairs.

Kira patted Ururu one last time and made her way up the carpeted steps. She came to the top and looked both ways down the hall. There was no sign of Satori so she just followed the squawking sounds. She stopped at the doorway of the room it was coming from and looked into it. It had a computer stand complete with a computer and an upright lamp. It also had several exotic plants in pots around the room along with shelves of books. By the window there was a large black birdcage that Satori was standing in front of, apparently attending to whatever was in the cage.

Kira walked in and over to Satori whom was feeding what appeared to be an eagle with white markings all over its body. Kira hadn't seen anything like it before.

She stared in wonder at the apparent predatory bird, "What kind of bird is that? It's pretty."

Satori filled Aeris' food bowl with feed and petted her down her back and then closed the cage, "She's a Harpy eagle, kind of tiny though, but we still love her haha. But watch out, she can be a bitch sometimes."

Kira raised an eyebrow, "Riiiight, so where's your room?"

Satori opened the long curtains and windows, letting the room fill with fresh air before she turned and left, motioning for Kira to follow her. Kira sighed and followed after her to a room at the end of the hall. The door was shut, but Kira observed the many pictures of dragons and other stuff all over it. Satori opened the door and politely motioned for Kira to enter.

"Welcome to my room."

Kira entered and was quite taken by the room. It was large with dark red walls and a light mocha colored carpet. Kira wandered over to the large queen sized, four post bed and felt the bed covers; it was dark red with a velvety look to it, but no matter which way you ran your hand through it, it felt soft and silky. There was also a transparent shimmering red cloth canopy.

She looked around the rest of the room. There were several other shelves; some were packed with books and other items. The upper shelves were full of dragon statues and sculptures, stuffed animals, and pictures. Scattered through out the rest of the shelves were more mystical creatures but the dragons were more numerous. There was also a ferret cage with the little black rodent sleeping happily on an adorable little mini hammock. The hammock had a little yellow chick flicking you off and at the bottom it said 'Peep this'. On Satori's large desk in the corner were art supplies and a cup of pencils and paintbrushes. On the black vanity with golden Japanese characters on it in the far right of the room, there was a swirling bamboo plant with little amulets hanging off it and the other usual things kept on a vanity.

On the nightstand beside the bed were an elegant lamp, a stereo, a portable telephone and an alarm clock. On the walls were some of Satori's artwork, but on the one wall, the only thing occupying it were several different types of swords mounted horizontally. Kira ran her finger across the sheathe of one sword in particular she found to be quite alluring. It was a black katana with a dragon coiling up the sheathe.

"Wow, these are gorgeous, ever use them?" She looked back at Satori and awaited her answer.

Satori was watering her several plants, "Those up there? No, they're just for decoration."

"I see. You have a cool room."

Kira walked over to the wall with several big windows on it and opened one up, discovering that you could crawl out the windows to get to a large balcony.

"Hey sweet! Can I go out there?"

"Sure, watch out for the plants though. Knives already took a few out while chasing a beetle."

Kira chuckled, "Alright."

Kira pulled up the big bay window all the way and climbed out, taking in the light breeze as it washed over her, "Wow, this is incredible, I bet you've climbed down this a few times for some late night activities eh Satori?"

Satori stuck her head out the window and grinned, "And how would you know about that sort of thing Kira Efimia?"

Kira grinned and folded her arms, "I know everything. You know, from up here you could easily snipe off some people walking by. Would you happen to own a sniper rifle? I need to let off some much unneeded stress."

"Heh, no...If I did I would have been in jail a long time ago."

Satori pulled her head back into the room and grabbed Kira's ear, dragging her back in the room rather ungracefully, "Hey ow! Let go! Pain! Pain! OWEY!"

Kira slumped down onto the ground and rubbed her throbbing earlobe, "JERK! Was that fucking necessary!"

Satori laughed and opened up her closet, "Oh stop your bitching and moaning. Get up and come over here would you?"

Kira groaned under her breathe and got up. She stood over Satori who was rummaging through her closet, "Ummm, what the fuck are you doing?"

"This!" Satori pushed her clothes aside, and took down a poster revealing a well hidden door, "This is my secret place where I keep my really personal stuff, and things I don't want mom to find. Now is too early for any serious details...but...While I was in Japan I had quite the adventure so to say. While I was there, I was lucky enough to gain a master who would willingly teach me how to use a sword in exchange for payment of course. He also happened to be one of the few remaining samurai descendants who remained true to tradition, which means his family passed down their dojo to the next heir after the current master died or 'retired' so to speak, teaching their children the way of the sword since the day they could hold one in their hands. My master's son and next heir trained with me.... Moving along, since I couldn't pay for the classes since mom forbid me to do it and wouldn't give me the money, I made an agreement with the current master of the dojo Yasoyuki, Youji, so he could teach me. Master Yasoyuki also happened to be a wondrous weapons craftsman so he made me a few weapons. But of course I repaid him for his teachings and weapons by fulfilling my part of the agreement. But as I said no big details for now, it's too early for that so I'll stop there. But...I managed to bring them all back with me, and I keep them up here."

She opened the secret door, revealing rather narrow and dark stairs that led upwards. Kira watched as Satori disappeared from sight, and the light thunk noise of her shoes on the wooden stairs was all she could hear. She sighed and followed after her friend, wondering about all she did while in Japan, and this agreement she had made with that Yasoyuki guy...and not to mention his son...she had noticed Satori's face turn solumn when she mentioned about him.

On her way up she hit her head on the low ceiling because she was thinking and not being careful, "Ouch, dammit! What was this thing built for? Midgets!"

She got no response and just continued going up until she ran into Satori, "Ouch! Hey, why'd you stop?"

Satori groaned, "I have to unlock the lock you retard..."

Satori unlocked what looked like a trapdoor and pushed it open, pulling herself up and moving out of the way so Kira could do the same.

Kira pulled herself through the trapdoor and was quite amazed when she looked around the small room they were now in, "Wow, this is freaking awesome!"

The room may have been less large than Satori's room, but it was lovely. The walls and floor were glossy wood with scrolls hanging off them, which were in Japanese though. In the middle was a low black squared Japanese style table with a dragon sculpture with holes for incense sitting in the center, as well as four cushions around the table with dragons on them. In each of the four corners of the room were small miniature blossoming trees. Hanging upon the far wall were several weapons. There were spears, chakrams, pikes, kanas, arm scythes, firearms, and lots of different swords. Katana's as well as Wakisashi's. Kira looked over them all. There was also a bamboo closet.

She could barely find the words to speak as she stared at everything, "Wow...so this is your own little armory, very nice indeed..."

Satori shrugged and smirked, "You can't go to Japan and not get weapons, it's like sin if you don't."

"Japan...Why there...?" Kira said while running her hand along an ornate pike.

"...All in good time don't worry, I'll tell you. I swear I will. Oh and don't mention this room to mother. It was a wonder I found it, I don't know why it was built, but lets keep it a secret eh?"

"I won't! Too awesome to bust! Though you seem to have a lot of secrets..."

Satori narrowed her eyes and faintly smiled, "I do, and you do too. We all have our secrets, we can't tell them all or else we'd have nothing left to keep hidden."

Kira tensed, there was something weird about the look in Satori's eyes, it was almost like a glimmer of insanity. She half closed her eyes and eyed the closet curiously, "What's in there?"

Satori averted her gaze to the far wall, "Clothes and other things in the drawers and spaces. That closet has little secret chambers all over it so it's doubtful you'll be able to explore them all."

"Can I peek...?"

"You may."

She opened it up and revealed several interesting outfits. There were a few kimonos, what looked like battle clothing, and other nifty outfits. There was one outfit that caught her eye and she pulled it out.

"Hey, what's this for?"

It was an interesting black outfit covered in flames and dragons.

Satori smiled sadly, "Hell Fire uniform."

Kira looked over it, she found it very cool, "Hell Fire, I mean, that was Atomsk's gang right?"

Satori cast her gaze downwards, "Yeah..."

"Um, did you get it back together? I hadn't seen any members around since a long time ago when we used to watch the fights together and stuff...You should get it back together, I've seen them, the Skulls, they've taken over everything..."

Satori clenched her fists, "Not yet, but I have every intention to do so..."

Kira hung it back in the closet and turned and faced Satori with a confident smile, "You'll be leader, and every leader needs someone they can trust. I'll be by your side whenever you need me. We can rebuild it, our trust; we can rebuild all of it. Just, don't leave me in the dark all the time."

Satori smiled, "I know you will."

They both heard the garage door open and then close, "Looks like mom's home!"

They both raced down the hatch after Satori locked it and out the hidden door after she covered it with the werewolf poster and her hanging clothes. Kira patiently waited for her and they quickly went down stairs to greet her mother.

Kira could hardly wait for Tsurina Irerno to come through that door. Sure, she might have been Satori's mom but she was totally awesome and Kira loved her like her own mom. Tsurina considered Kira her own daughter and would gladly aid her and give her guidance when she needed it. After six years Kira still hoped that their terms were still good.

Satori sniggered at Kira's anxiousness and opened the fridge, pulling out a frappuccino, "Hey, you want one?"

Kira didn't take her eyes off the door, "Yeah!"

Satori shook her head and rolled her eyes, pulling out the two beverages and sitting one on the island behind Kira.

Kira's breath caught in her throat as the door to the garage opened and the fire haired woman entered, apparently having a not so good day at work.

Kira beamed and lunged forward, "MOM!"

Tsurina shut the door smiling at the call of her name, recognizing the young blonde as she leaped on her and gave her a big hug, "My god! It's so good to see you again bobble head!"

Kira grinned, "Hey, I'm not a bobble head! I can't believe you still call me that!"

Tsurina laughed warm-heartedly, "Oh my dear but you are!"

Kira sighed sarcastically and released Tsurina from her death grip, stepping back and looking the older woman over. She was still just as she remembered her. She still look quite young for 38 and her hair still had its fiery gleam and wavy curls. Her eyes still possessed the look of wisdom and cunning. Kira felt nothing but pride coming from her.

Tsurina chuckled at Kira's staring and walked over the bar, setting her work things and keys on the counter, "You've grow into a fine young lady Miss Efimia. How have you and your family been?"

Kira took a seat beside Satori in one of the stools on the opposite side of the bar where Tsurina was standing, "Nothing much really that I can remember. Dad repainted the barn and Yura and Damen had a baby!"

Kira's family owned a large amount of property and had a barn built a while back before she was even born. They had two, well, now three horses. All of which were broke (able to be ridden). Yura was a pure black mare. She wasn't fond of people, only a select few. Damen was a mix of red and tan with a darker reddish tan colored mane. He was a very lovable horse to everyone, but if he was untrusting of you, he would keep his distance. And last but not least was the new baby boy, Dune. He didn't like people much, usually hiding behind his mother when strangers were around. Only when Kira was around did he turn into a big baby who always wanted to be petted and loved. He was a mix between his parents but he favored Yura more. He was a dark brownish with a black mane. He would often gallop and play, and he would only come up to strangers if coaxed by food. He usually tried to eat peoples clothing but he loved being rubbed behind the ears.

Tsurina poured herself a glass of iced tea and smiled, "That's wonderful, I bet the baby is simply adorable..." Kira rolled her eyes because she knew Tsurina didn't really like horses. Even though her mother (Satori's grandma) owns a horse ranch and she grew up with them, she still was weary of them. It was because she had a bad experience with one old horse that nearly dragged her across the whole ranch. She made it out of the situation with a broken arm and ankle. At the ranch is where Satori's horse is kept. Kira would usually bring one of her horses up and they would usually ride along one of the many trails together before she had moved away to Japan.

Tsurina leaned forward on her arms, "Do you have anything planned tonight?"

Satori nearly choked on her drink. It always amazed her how her mom knew EVERYTHING, "Yeah, we're going to a club for karaoke!"

Tsurina chuckled and headed out of the kitchen, "You can go but be back at least by 12. NO later! I have to go back into work to finish off a project. I came back to grab my suitcase. I'll be back by 12 so I'll know if you're late young lady. And I don't care if you have two days off of school, be back!"

"Yes mom."

Tsurina headed up stairs and quickly grabbed her case. She stood at the garage door and eyed Satori, "Well are you going to give me a hug or sit there?"

Satori smiled sheepishly and gave her mother a hug.

"I'll be back later. It was so nice to see you again Kira, we'll have to do something together, just the three of us girls and your mother if she's free!"

Kira nodded happily and Tsurina left. They heard her open the garage door and pull out.

Kira grinned and looked at Satori who had chucked her empty bottle in the recycling out in the garage, "Let's go get you ready. We need to make 'em drop dead at seeing you!"

Satori nodded in agreement and both girls excitedly raced upstairs with Ururu tailing them.

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I think you should go buy some puppies, you can never have too many puppies