Writing this on Sugar High! (Well, the first part, I kinda lost inspiration when I got my second design project back in December)

So, I was surfing on (Yes, I'm from Taiwan and yes, I do have some cute cousins who should never see the light of day since they're so damn cute.) and found some inspiration.

Ohm... Sugar...

Calming

Chapter 5 - The Good Brother

"Mrs. Yun should die," muttered Shingo. He was, along with what seemed like millions of other people, milling along the train station. Normally, on a Wednesday, Meisi would let him leave kendo practice early and Shingo would happily avoid the train rush. Then that bastard Mr. Setshin somehow found him and brought Mrs. Yun with him.

Mrs. Yun did not give him good news. She gave him extra sets of homework due the next day, saying that he did below average on his last two quizzes. Thinking about it made Shingo want to beat the teacher. Physics was not his favorite subject. He swore that if he was god, Newton would have never been born. All the problems Mrs. Yun assigned were not something one completed within two hours. Not only that, he couldn't beat the afternoon rush. Now he was stuck with all these stressed out working men, packed together like smelly sardines.

"Shingo! Why are you late again?" The lovely voice of Mrs. Kazamatsuri rang in Shingo's head. "Your brain is going to rot with all those kendo fights and girls."

"Son, I would like it if you spend more time studying, instead of practicing Kendo." Dad's voice always carried that tone of disapproval, like someone had just failed him. Shingo hated that one the most. It's like being guilted into studying, you feel bad the whole time and the same nasty feeling never goes away afterward.

"I guess I'll just listen to them nag again," murmured Shingo with a sigh. He knew his folks wanted the best for him. That was why they push himed to study so much. Then again, he knew kendo was the best bet he had to attend a good college. They usually allowed you to be a bit stupid if you were good at a sport.

"Calling for all Shiki area passengers. Train is about to depart," the needlessly calming voice spoke over the intercom.

Shiki...Isn't that where Touma lives? Thinking about Touma made Shingo a little concerned. The girl was more than a little elusive. Shingo had seen her for about half an hour at the most on Monday. Then, she was absent for the next week and a half. Where did she go? Where did she spend her last two weeks? What was she hiding? How did she have Mrs. Yun to cringe at the very mention of her name? Come to think of it, Touma had never explained completely how she got so hurt.

Shingo's eyes started to wander, then a special blue-haired person caught his attention. That's gotta be Touma. I mean, how many people have that hair color in the world? That person, wearing a dark blue sweater and jogging shorts, was being pushed toward the trains. Shingo's promise to Touma surfaced in his mind. He was supposed to tell her what homework assignments she missed. But then he'd be late to home, and would have less time to do his extra homework, not to mention listening to the deeply incriminating speech from father...

"My folks are going to kill me," said Shingo even as he pushed his way to the train headed for Shiki.

He made it in right before the train doors closed. He hobbled unsteadily as the train accelerated. His eyes darted in each direction for his peer, skipping past the expensive suits and Rolex watches. He felt a little uncomfortable, knowing that most people in the train car probably made more than he would make in a lifetime. But they live in Shiki area...she would be too. With that thought in mind, blue-haired girl was not hard to find. He wormed his way through the people and snuck up behind the girl.

"Hi!" he greeted.

Touma blinked. She turned and looked straight into Shingo's dark chocolate eyes. "Shingo..." She looked as if she did not expect him to be there. "Hi..."

Shingo smiled a little. The bruise he saw last time was now only a slight discoloration on her cheek. The dark circles were now gone. Her slender legs lacked the bumps and seemed to be alright overall. She gave him an encouraging smile, the same one that made his heart flutter strangely.

"We missed you at school," he said. "Where have you been?"

Touma looked away and sighed. "Too many places..." Her eyes were slightly glazed but the life in them returned quickly. "Anyways, what did we do in school?"

"Well..." Shingo scratched his head. His memories about school specifics were never really good. It didn't help that all subjects besides kendo and history made his head smack the desk in boredom or drowsiness. "Took a quiz in Mrs. Yun and Mr. Tan's class. There's another test tomorrow. We got assigned a bunch of homework..." he looked to Touma whose mind seemed to be elsewhere. "What did you do the last week and a half?"

"Nothing that anyone wants to know," said Touma with a shrug.

"Come on. I want to know," said Shingo sincerely.

Touma only shook her head in silence.

"Pretty please?" sang Shingo.

The blue-head shook again.

"With sugar on top?"

A faint smile ghosted by the girl's lips but still she shook her head. "I don't feel like it."

"I'll give you candy," the young man offered with a grin.

"Hum..." her tone was grave. "What candy do you have?"

"Err..."Shingo did not anticipate someone would take him seriously. Thinking quickly, his hands fumbled in his pockets and bags. I bought something during lunch time...Ah ha! "Extra Juicy Fruit Starburst!" He held up the square candy like one of those crazies on the TV commercial.

This caused a small laugh to burst from Touma's mouth. Her hand went to reach for the starburst just to have the delicious treat snatched away above her.

"Hey! You said you're going to give me candy!" Touma whined like she had just been insulted.

"Not until you tell me what you did the last two weeks," said Shingo. But somewhere in the back of his mind came the questions, Now...when did this happen before? This situation felt extremely familiar. Wait! The first time we...

Shingo realized with horror that he was still dealing with the a rather aggressive girl who would probably aim for that area again. He saw Touma move, and his free hand immediately went down there to protect that special spot, hoping to prevent the pain a second time.

It never came.

Shingo's felt something was amiss. He twitched his finger, there was an empty feeling in those fingers. He looked down to see Touma holding up a v-sign. Neatly wedged between the two fingers was the soft candy. With speedy dexterous fingers, she unwrapped the red wax paper one-handed and popped it in her mouth before Shingo could even blink.

"Yum..." Touma chewed happily. Her eyes narrowed into merry half-moon saucers. "Cherry flavored...I like it."

Shingo's jaw dropped, a little baffled at what had just happened but that bafflement quickly turned into a large smile. "You know, you are the first girl I know who could snatch that before I noticed it."

"Hehe," Touma giggled. "I bet I'm the only girl who can do that."

"Must be!" Personally, Shingo was very impressed. Meisi said that Shingo's lightening fast relaxes could only be bested by the best, and an average looking girl like Touma certainly didn't appear to fit that description. "You know, even Yumi couldn't do it, and she's faster than most of the guys on the school archery team."

"Yumi..." Touma said it thoughtfully. "She's very pretty and popular, isn't she?"

"Heck yeah! She's smart too." The memories of all those marks much higher than himself came up in his mind like some unwanted mother-in-law. "A lot of guys are after her," said Shingo.

"Why aren't you after her then?" asked Touma.

"Yumi? It would be too weird." Shingo had been going to the same school as Yumi for as long as he could remember. They were a lot closer back then. Now they were young adults and acted like it, with all the melodrama included. "I know her from way back. We've been on and off since kindergarten. During first grade, I promised that I would marry her when I was ten years old and have like twenty children." Shingo laughed a little. He certainly had some silly ideas when he was younger. "First grade," he said again to emphasize the point. "Can you believe that?"

Touma's eyes sparkled strangely. "I believe that."

Shingo smiled. For a moment there, he thought Touma was going to laugh at him for such infantile details about his life. Akira and the guys in kendo certain did when he said that. Of course, he was drunk at the time...

"We went through school together," continued Shingo. "She got prettier and I got into kendo. I still love her, but more as a sister than a girlfriend. Always have."

"I see." Touma sounded a little sad.

"Do you have brothers and sisters?" asked Shingo. "I got two little sisters and a little brother."

"I'm an only child," replied Touma simply.

"Huh..Any Cousins? Aunts and Uncles?"

"No." Touma looked down mutely at her tennis shoes. "My parents were the only children in their families."

"Oh..." intoned Shingo. Suddenly, Touma seemed quite lonely and small to him. Her thin legs and delicate looks were so obvious . Shingo could not explain it, but he unconsciously put an empathizing arm on her shoulder. "Hey. No worries. At the very least, I'll be your brother if you like."

Shingo was rewarded with a faint smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Shingo. "If you need anything else, just ask me."

Touma gave him the gentlest smile that he had ever seen. "So, tell me all the assignments I missed."

The day was overcast and large rain clouds threatened an imminent shower. Shin was sitting on a bench right outside the Shiki area station, a brown bag of fresh groceries next to him. Thousands of people rushed past him, their destinations known and routine. There were waiting wives, husbands, and children at home. Many had extra work from the office to be done and children's homework to check. Life was an endless cycle of duty, work, and obligation. Shin was no exception as he rubbed his tired eyes and adjusted his textbook again. On his lap was a writing pad with many drawings of sea turtles and scribbled descriptions in the corner of each turtle. His watch was always in plain view of his eyes. Keeping an eye on the watch helped him to study the material faster. Time was too precious and he had too little of it to waste.

When the hour and minute hand made a straight line at six pm, he looked up and within his vision was the girl in jogging shorts and a large blue sweater. Immediately, he shut the writing pad and book. The pencils and pens were placed into stationary boxes. He had just slipped everything into his backpack and stood up just as the girl arrived right next to him. Both wordlessly took the directions towards Touma's home and started walking without any words.

"How did the legal proceedings go?" was Shin's way to break the silence.

"Appalling," said Touma. "Mr. Hanarui is dead set on that property and he was very crude about it."

"I'm sure you insulted him," said Shin.

"Of course. His wife and business partner think that he's no smarter than an amoeba." There was a rather wicked look to Touma's features. Her eyes had narrowed in fiendish pleasure, almost no white in them at all. Personal vengeance was never complete without total humiliation and Touma was the type of person who would get more than even. Then her expression turned serious. "Did you get Urasai?" she asked.

Shin shook his head. "Urasai is as slippery as an eel. All we got was his subordinates."

"Ah," acknowledged Touma. "Did my traps work though?"

"Perfectly as usual. None of us got hurt either."

"That's good," said Touma. "I get worried when you go hunting in Youkai."

"Worried?" scoffed Shin. "You should worry about yourself. You gave Ryo quite a scare last week. He thought you were going to die."

"Ryo's a worrywart," stated Touma. "We've survived more than that."

Shin closed his eyes and furrowed his brows. It was not hard to recall the battered body. Large welts and bruises all over her arms and legs from blunt trauma. Deep slashes on her back to the bones were left unattended like the strikes from a maddened butcher on a fresh slab of meat. Her eyes dilated from near shock but, yet maintaining a furious expression for allowing her enemy to escape. Shin had to admit that her persistence was admirable, but even he was not willing to test his mortality.

"Touma, did you even realize that you faced one of Urasai's equals that night?" asked Shin.

Touma was silent to that question. Her eyes had narrowed and breath deepened. The memories of that night were unpleasant in more ways than just Urasai.

"We were fairly surprised when we realized that," said Shin. He opened his eyes and turned to stare straight into the darkness of Touma's eyes. "The three of us haven't been successful in getting anywhere near Urasai, but you could defeat one of his equals on your own. You are either really powerful or really lucky that you weren't killed."

The girl shrugged. "Well, he's gone now. That's one less evil spirit to concern ourselves with."

"That's not the point. You were nearly killed, why didn't you call for us? Any of us? Heck, you could had teleported out of there."

"And let him trash my apartment, lose the opportunity?"

"Is it worth your life?" Shin's tone was irate. His natural personality and age made him feel obligated to care for the health of the others in their special friendship of five, especially for Touma, their youngest. Now her lack of regard for her life was annoying him.

"I made a calculated risk and decided to take it."

"Is it worth your life?" he asked again.

"Quit asking that question."

"Is it worth your life?" he asked firmly.

"How about you shut up?"

Shin spun around at the comment, causing both to halt their walk. His green eyes stared into the darkness of Touma's. Shin could not believe what Touma had said. She was normally very kind and gentle around Shin, even during times of trial with her family.

"I'm sorry." She looked away ashamed. She should be more patient with people who cared enough to spend time with her. "But in my defense, you have done the same before!"

Shin started to walk again. "Sa...It's okay. It's just that we're concerned since you left Hana High." Shin looked down and sighed. "It must be hard, with your father and all."

The two continue to pace in silence. Touma now walked about a step behind Shin, still feeling abashed by her inappropriate behavior. Shin was only being kind, perhaps the kindest person in the world to her now. Who would ever withstand the two-hour travel from Tokyo to Osaka each week to give her cooking lessons? Particularly when that person was a college student with exams and papers due the next day?

"You know...Seiji said he wanted to see you," said Shin when they were about a block away from Touma's place. Usually, the mention of Seiji cheered Touma up. Shin suspected there was something between the two though they acted like no more than friends at all times. "He said he'll come tomorrow to check up on you."

"Tell him that I don't want to see him." She sounded very tired. "Besides, I missed a week and half worth of school. I have a lot of homework to make up."

"Oh." Shin did not comment on that. If Touma did not want to do something to the point of giving an excuse, there was probably no way she would do it.

"Come on. I left the balcony door open. We can fly in."

Shin raised an eyebrow. It was the same problem the last time he came. The gatekeeper was unusally anal with security procedures. "You still haven't gotten it back yet?"

Touma shook her head.

"You could just make a fake one..."

Touma looked aghast. "That's illegal..."

Shin just laughed. "That has never stopped you before. Is there something you are not telling me?"

Touma blushed. "Let's just say, I found a really good friend."

"Love interest?"

The Warrior of the Skies could only laughed shyly.

Okay. That took a while to get out. I'm still trying to get this writing thing down better. I hope to improve on the next chapter.

Suikorin