sparkle eyesFive! Five consecutive reviews for only one update! hugs reviewers I've never had so many before! Ah…I feel so loved. To all of my reviewers, I will answer now.

Omasuoniwabanshi: I kind of wasn't aiming for pathological, but I guess it did work out. I tried to keep that spirit throughout after your wonderful review from ch 1.

TelexDarkRyuu: TELEX! I miss you, sugah! We have got to hang out over sb.

Arano Honou: If you're going to read any of my other stories, I definitely recommend my recent KH story, Father of the Heartless, or one of my Gundam stories…The others aren't so great, though Heart of the Dragon (it's much shorter) definitely received high acclaim from fictionalley.

Saori Aki Orimi: You are so a great writer, don't even say that! Guys, go read ELEMENTAL ATTRACTION, too, it's AWESOME! And I'm afraid the browser must've cut you off or something, what did you do with veggies in sixth grade? Wow…when I was in sixth grade, I was making Pikachu and cat noises…actually, I still make cat noises. Oo

Sillylittlenothing: I love your nick, it's so unassuming. You need to write a story, sweetie, cause I think you'd be great at it. She will remember gasp! I told! that she died, in a place that Kurama takes her later on. I think it's in the next chappie… Okay, here's my theory on why Kurama can't sense her power.

She doesn't trust people right off, so when she's in close proximity to someone, her subconscious raises her blocking skills. She knows that Kurama has gone through something similar to what she has, and she doesn't want to tell anyone about it. For some reason, she doesn't sense the stuff with Yusuke and Kuwa as much…so she just doesn't put up the barrier.

chaos tenshi: Love the nick! Yeah, sugar loves me. I love sugar. It's a mutual relationship. Except I'm trying to cut down on it (poor me, right?). But, good news is, I'm losing weight.

Suntiger: HOORAY! Suntiger gets a whole box of the Macadamia nut, double chocolate chip cookies! But, there is something special about my lil Bri, which you will find out in the next few chapters!

Now that that's over with…Hoorah! I shall update! Oh, and I bolded certain parts of that, in case anyone wanted to follow the important parts and not listen to me babble…

Disclaimer: I do not own what you recognize. Please do not attempt to press charges. I am merely a poor college student who is currently floundering in certain subjects.

Chapter 8: Broken

Bri

Usually, I sleep like a rock. Tonight, however, proved to be my insomniac night. I couldn't sleep. No matter what I tried, I was wide awake and couldn't fall to dreamland. I don't know what it is on nights like these.

Maybe the wind just doesn't blow right.

But always, I wake up with wounds. I don't know why or how or when they come. I just know that whenever I can't sleep, I wake up bleeding and crying. My hands trembled on my sheets. What would Kaasan and Shuichi say the next morning? How bad would I be hurt? Would it be just a paper cut, like back in the second grade?

"Or will I be inches from death…like after Keiko died?" I whispered to myself.

I climbed out of my bed and crossed the tiny hall into the bathroom. The rose nightlight glittered welcomingly, even in the yellow light of the overhead. I turned the water on to a trickle and filled my cupped hands. After I rinsed my face, I headed back to my room. A noise stopped my feet sharp in mid-step.

An unbearable pain ripped through my shoulder. Then my leg. Arm. Thigh. Shoulder. Foot. What was this? Each of the blows were just as terrible and wrenching as the last. Why was I feeling it now? Why didn't I just wake up with it, like normal? A voice cried out in the night, soft, yet so, so sad. So very much in agony, I wished I could take more of the pain away. My hands felt as if someone had pressed them with a hot iron. A cry uttered from my throat, mingling with another's.

Shuichi's.

I stumbled toward his door, afraid for his life. He tossed and turned in his bed, sweating, moaning in pain. A word came from his throat, choked.

"Karasu…no…don't…Karasu…"

Whoever Karasu was, he was the one who was hurting Shuichi. But how, how when he was still fast asleep? Why were my wounds real and his only in his mind? Maybe if I woke him up…

"Sh-Shuichi!" I cried out in the dark. Stumbled forward again, the pain all the more sharp and intense. Nothing braced against my flesh, nothing but my shaking hands on my shaking arms.

"No, Karasu!" Shuichi's voice echoed in my ears. The pounding, spinning room…I shut my eyes tight against them. I saw an image in my head, unbidden, yet vivid. A pale man with long, golden hair and slim eyes. Shuichi's body…covered in blood from neck to torso to the ends of his feet. His cries of pain and agony were too much for me.

"Shuichi!" I shouted, but it came out a whisper. The pain ripped through me again, just as strong as if someone had driven knives into me. My wounds spattered blood into my eyes. More came, and as I received more places of hurt, Shuichi's body in my head received the same in the form of glowing green orbs.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stumbled forward, to Shuichi's bedside and took his hand in mine.

The pain, I couldn't handle the pain!

I was dying, dying, like a lightning bolt had struck, a lightning bolt struck me, raining, raining, pain, so much pain,

lightning bolt,

Keiko, Shuichi,

lightning,

rain,

pain,

pain,

PAIN

And then…it stopped.

Shuichi sat up in bed and stared at me. Blood ran down my arms and legs and chest, but it left my head alone. I could feel the blood, the life, draining away from me. Shuichi sat up, fear etched in his face.

"Bri…Bri, what…what happ—"

That was all I heard before everything went black.

Kurama

That dream again…I sat up quickly in my bed. Karasu's face faded from my head, but the pain he'd inflicted was still fresh in my mind. I heard a noise. A choked voice crying out my name. I followed the sound.

It was Bri.

Bri was hurt.

"Bri…Bri, what…what happened?" Before I'd even said anything, she'd collapsed onto my floor, blood pouring from so many, too many wounds. Where had she gotten such wounds? She looked as if she'd been locked in a battle and lost…

And was still losing.

I don't know how I'd ended up outside, Bri's bleeding body in my arms. But I knew where I was going. I ran as quickly as my feet could carry me. With every second, more of her life's blood was draining away. Tears were in her eyes, dormant. Her tough, cat-like personality was gone.

All that remained was this defenseless husk.

This girl, my sister.

Sister…

So this must be how Hiei feels about Yukina.

I kicked the door to Genki's temple by way of knocking. The master appeared at the door, bewildered. The instant she set her eyes on us, she raced into the house again.

"Set her on the couch." Those were her only words.

Yukina appeared, sleepy but ready.

"Oh, Bri, what happened, Kurama!" Yukina knelt beside her. "She's lost so much blood…"

"Will she be all right?" Genki asked.

"Yes." Yukina stood back again, the ugly wounds on Bri's body all but gone. The rips and tears in her pajamas were so familiar. Where had I seen these wounds before?

"What happened?" Genki demanded. As always, the straightforward answers, at least from otheres, were best for her. However, I had none to give. What had happened to Bri? She had just simply appeared in my room during my nightmares, as if calling out to me. I had been unable to help her. What was in our house that attacked her?

"Sh-Shuichi…" Bri choked out. "Shu…Shuichi…" Her coughs were ragged and uneven. Genki and I turned her over on her side. She coughed up blood. So much blood. What had happened to Bri?

"Not…again…" Bri wheezed, her voice faint. Again? Had the Vacant Lot been attacking her before and we simply had not known? Wouldn't she have told us?

"Really, Fox, I had expected more out of you."

Hiei walked from behind us, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. I knew the pose well. I had seen it few times. Insecurity was not a normal emotion for Hiei. Few emotions were, until lately. I'd even seen him shocked enough to have a twitch in his eyes.

"What is it, Hiei? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's really wrong. It's normal for her…powers. She's an Empathe."

I had no idea what an Empathe was. Apparently, Genki did.

"An Empathe?" Genki glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "This little one?"

"Yes, and a powerful one," Hiei said, scowling. "With only a few weeks training, she could probably rid herself of these pain empathies."

"What is it?" I asked. Bri murmured in her sleep again before I got my answer.

"Sh-Shuichi…why…Karasu…why…no…pain…lightning…"

"I understand now," Genki muttered. "You were dreaming of the Dark Tournament finals, weren't you, Kurama?"

"Well…yes—"

"She has little control, then," Genki sighed.

"What has that—"

"Would ya'll quit bein' so loud, yer givin' me a dang headache," Bri said, in English. The others were clueless as to what she was saying. She flexed her hands and legs. "Shoot, I though I was a goner that time." She glanced around the room, then at me. Now she spoke again in Japanese. "Where am I? What happened to those wounds?"

"My temple," Genki said. She turned to me. "Go call the dimwit and the others. This is going to take a while."

Bri took that particular moment to realize several things at once. "Gah! I'm covered in blood! Oh, Genki, I'm sooooo sorry about your carpet, ah, can that be cleaned? I'm sorry!"

Genki only laughed as I exited the room.

I knew why, of course. She'd had worse things in that carpet of hers.

I was only glad that my sister was all right.

For some reason, the page break thingies I've been using don't seem to work. So, I'm going to try different ones until I find something that works. I'll put the other chapters up on Saturday, as I decided to completely rewrite this chapter. The Karasu scene was a little more choppy…I hope that whole thing worked, with the italics and bold…