"Damn," I muttered while gazing at the tall green trees. I was following Shizuka so intensely that I had no idea where I was going. I could tell that she was shocked that I could keep up with her.

"What are you?" she screeched out.

"Um… try 100 human, unlike you," I said rudely. I probably ran four miles or something just chasing her, so you can imagine why I wasn't in such a "Hi, let's be friends!" mood. And on a side note, I do NOT look good when I sweat. "What are you doing here?"

"He's mine. He'll always be mine. He promised that we'll be together. You better get your hands off him if you don't want to end up like that Yuriko girl," she spat out.

… that made PERFECT sense.

"I don't know who "he" is, but fyi, buddy, you're DEAD. You can't do anything about it, except reincarnate. If you two are really meant to be, then you'll be together once again in your next lifetime."

"I don't care anything about the next lifetime. I only want THIS lifetime," she screamed out, getting angrier.

Can you spell "spoiled"?

BECAUSE I CAN! S-P-O-I- okay, I'll stop acting insane.

"Well then, I guess I have to MAKE you reincarnate then. It's not going to be very fun though," I said edgily.

"I really don't like you at all," Shizuka said in a cold voice.

"You know the saying," I replied calmly as my hands started to glow a mauve color. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"Foolish little girl," she smirked. "Tell me, do you still hear your parents SCREAMING in your nightmares at night? The smell of blood surrounding you?"

I stopped conjugating a fireball as her words rang in my ears. Forget how she appeared. Forget what she's doing here. Forget she tried to choke that Michael Jackson's girl. Forget EVERYTHING.

"Ho – How did you know?"

The rotten smell of burning flesh.

The sharp tang of blood and fire mixed into the air.

… The sound of my parents dying. Screaming. Crying.

Yelling.

Yelling at me to get out. To run.

HOW DARE SHE?

"Let's say I'm not the only one who has powers," she smirked. "I can read anyone like an open book now… given what I am. I have the ability to tap into anyone's past and bring up their nightmares. Ones that they want to forget."

I fixed an icy stare at her, and warm feeling encircled me. I could feel my whole body glowing from rage. From sorrow.

From guilt.

HOW DARE SHE?

She looked at me, surprised at the rage I was producing. A second passed, and I hurled a fireball at her.

A fireball with all my hate inside. With all the emotions I keep hidden in my interior. In my heart.

She dematerialized.

I stared.

A chilly breeze swept over me as I remembered what I was doing there, and I relaxed by taking deep, slow breaths.

"Damn," I said again as I glanced quickly at my surroundings. "Where am I?" I muttered silently to myself.

The heavy sound of feet scurrying behind me caused me to turn in that direction, and in front of me stood Akira, Tsukasa, and Soujiro. They stopped running as they saw me turn and look at them. They were only panting a little bit, and their faces showed no sign of running at all.

… Psh, I wasn't tired too.

Much.

"What are you doing just standing there?" Soujiro asked.

"Uh..." I muttered. There was absolutely NO way that I'll admit the fact that I was lost. "Uh... just admiring the scenery. It's really beautiful, don't you think?"

They looked around them. Huge looming decaying trees were planted randomly all over the place with their leaves brown and dying. Trash of all sorts were scattered all over the place. I could get glimpses of old banana peels, scraps of paper, and stuff that I couldn't even TELL what it was. Not to mention that the place smelled like rotten eggs.

Akira lifted an eyebrow at me.

Crap.

Just much for my suave answer.

"Heh…." I giggled nervously. "Beauty is within."

"Uh-huh…." Akira said. "In other words, you got lost."

I blinked a few times. "…maybe."

Soujiro sighed. "Come on, we'll take you back."

"So…" I slowly said as we started turning around. "You were telling me something about Hanazawa Rui…?"

The three guys turned to look at each other again.

Whoa. Talk about Déjà Vu.

"You see…" Soujiro began. "Rui wasn't always this quiet, but this girl that's… really really close to him died."

"He hasn't been the same since," Akira muttered.

I blinked. "Er… her name wouldn't happen to be Shizuka, would it?"

They all stared at me in surprise.

"How did you know? Toudou Shizuka," Tsukasa said.

… joy.

A few moments later, we reached the school. The crowd from the whole Yuriko-getting-attacked-by-a-dead-ghost thing seemed to dispersed, but there were still tons of people walking around. Hm… class must have ended. Come to think about it, I didn't go to class because I was too busy chasing Shizuka.

Oh darn it. P.S. Note the sarcasm.

"Um…" I turned around to face F3. "Thanks, I guess."

"No problem," Soujiro said. "It's nice to have at least one girl at this university not scared of us or trying to flirt with us with her breasts and butt."

He began to eye me from my head to my toes. "… Not that you could, even if you wanted to," he grinned.

I stared at him, my face growing red. "Mr. Nishikado," I said with my teeth clenched, "first you called me a little girl, and THEN you make fun of my body."

"I didn't say little girl, I said innocent."

"SAME THING!" I yelled. "You see, once upon a time, you don't just insult people you meet for the first time… or at least you don't do it in front of their faces. I could make a bunch of crude insults about your long oily hair… and... and…" I studied him from head to toe, imitating what he did to me. "Your girly fingers, your humongous feet, and your weird… weird…um… YEAH. But I don't, you see? Because I have something called manners," I pouted.

Okay, I lied. His fingers were far from girly, his feet weren't humongous, and his hair… was beautiful, even better than mine!. It might actually be the softest thing I've ever seen. And he had absolutely no weird body parts on him. Uh… from what I could tell. Not that I would know what's underneath those…

OKAY, NASTY MIND. EW, EW, EW.

Yes, I'm 20-years-old. No, I'm not 5.

He gazed at me and grinned again. "Feisty," he remarked.

I groaned exasperatedly as Akira laughed. "You really don't know who we are. If you did, you wouldn't say those things."

I turned to look at him. "Then tell me, who are you guys?"

"Easily said, we are the greatest," Tsukasa blurted out.

I blinked.

One Mississippi.

Two Mississippi.

"HAH!" I burst out, giggling loudly.

"What are you doing? I'm serious!" he said.

"Yeah, and I'm the Da S from ASOS," I chuckled. "Well, thanks for the laugh, but I have to go."

"HEY!" Soujiro yelled at me as I turned around, running. "You were kidding about my body, right?"

I waved my hand in reply, but before I turned the corner, I could hear him asking Tsukasa and Akira. "Um… she was kidding…right?"

Why, you ask? Why would I give those oh-so-precious time with three hot, drool-worthy guys?

I needed peace.

After my first day at school with visions, ghosts, and plenty of insults thrown in my way, you can't blame me. I was starting to think that maybe this was a little bit too much for me to take.

No. I never backed down from a mission, and I wasn't going to start.

I began climbing stairs while pondering about the Rui and Shizuka thing. I was going to ask F3 more about them, but since I wasn't all that close to any of them, it would have been kind of rude.

And I'd rather be friends with them then be enemies. So punching them wouldn't turn out all that great of an idea.

Rui and Shizuka. Rui and Shizuka.

How did Shizuka die? What is their story? What happened?

Granted, I didn't really want to help her, given what she said to me. Given what she did to me.

The only person that knew about my past was Sensei… and he didn't even know the full story. This woman just shows up and taps into a secret that I've been keeping silent since I was little. Damn her.

DAMN HER BIG.

But despite my personal feelings, it was my duty. My duty to help the dead, the lost, the vulnerable.

I scoffed as I reached a door.

I blinked, snapping out of my trance as I realized that I was at the very top of the school. I pushed the door opened as a relaxing breeze swept over me.

"Wow…" I whispered. The rooftop was obviously the only sanctuary that Eitoku University has. The sky was so blue and beautiful.

I walked to the edge and looked down, barely seeing the people walking down there. They looked like little colorful ants swarming around.

I snatched my cell phone out of my backpack and called Sensei's phone number.

"Hello?" Sensei's voice rang out.

In a matter of minutes, I told him everything that happened to me today… conveniently taken the part about Shizuka founding out my past out. He remained quiet as I was talking.

"If Toudou Shizuka can produce that kind of jealousy and kill anyone for this… Hanazawa Rui, she's not going to be easy," Sensei said.

"… I'll find a way," I muttered.

"Tsukushi, I don't want you to do anything until we find out more about her, understand? Meanwhile, protect Hanazawa Rui" Sensei commanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

PROTECT HIM? PROTECT HIM? He'll probably be the one protecting ME. I didn't mention to Sensei how well-built he and his friends were.

But I suppose that wouldn't have made a difference since they can't see her.

… okay, Sensei had a point.

"I'm serious, Tsukushi. Nothing at all," Sensei warned me.

"Alright, alright! But if she comes back and messes with me again, you know I wouldn't just stand there and take it."

"Just try. If you can't, then just do what you can do to divert her attention, and then run," Sensei said. "Are you feeling okay, Tsukushi? You don't seem like your usual self."

… And I thought my acting skills could match up to Andy Lau's.

Guess it's probably somewhere around the downer level of Lindsey Lohan's.

This day just keeps on getting better and better.

NOT.

"Of course I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?" I asked in a fake cheery tone. "Oops, have another call coming. Bye!"

I quickly hung up the phone and gazed down again at the miniature people. Tears threatened to come out.

Okay? How could I be okay? Wasn't it my entire fault that they're dead? If I was so stupid, so rebellious, so…

"That wasn't very convincing."

My blood turned icy cold as I heard that aloof distant voice behind me. I slowly turned around.

"You… you were there the whole time?" My voice shook as I heard him.

He gazed at me. "I only heard the last part where you pretended everything was fine. I was asleep until you woke me up."

Oh.

"What do you mean, pretended?" I said as I tried to choke back a sob.

Great. I was going to wail like a banshee in front of this aloof, hot guy.

And have you ever HEARD a banshee wail? Trust me, NOT a very pleasant sound.

"You're about to cry," he stated.

Okay, what was WITH this guy? Why is it that somehow, he's able to perceive exactly what I was feeling?

"If you feel like crying," he continued, "just do a handstand and the tears that want to come out won't."

"… then you must do it often then," I replied.

He looked at me, and without a word, handed me a handkerchief.

"In case you don't know how to do a handstand," he said.

I took it, even though I knew how to. Who knows? It might come in handy someday.

"Tha-," I started to say, but he left.

… Weird. Sighing, I also turned to leave. As Sensei said, he wanted me to protect Hanazawa Rui, and if it means stalking him…

Then by god, I'll do it.

… Sensei is SO SO lucky he has me.

Opening the door, I descended from the stairs and walked towards my locker in silence. But not long after, I could hear snatches of whispers of people talking about me.

HELLO? They were doing it as I wasn't there. I CAN HEAR, PEOPLE.

"Yeah, that's the girl that Mimasaka Akira was protecting from Yuriko."

"Did you see her flirting with F3 in front of the school?"

"Yeah, so disgusting. Absolutely no class. Can you SEE what she's wearing?"

I rolled my eyes. Apparently, the whole fitting into the school and drawing no attention thing was not working. Oh well, what else can I do?

"SHUT UP!" A voice boomed out behind me, startling everyone, including me.

I turned around, and guess who I saw? Yup, F4. All four of them. Standing so magnificently straight in front of me, glowing with heaven's light and rings of halo around their heads. Oh, my knights in shining armor!

Uh… kidding. I have a tendency to daydream about nonsense. Please ignore me.

Okay, you probably are.

ANYWAYS, there they were, standing. The people that were whispering behind my backs quickly scampered away.

Cowards.

"Hey, thanks," I said to Tsukasa. I could totally tell it was his voice.

He grunted in reply. "Can't you defend yourself when people are talking about you?"

"Yeah," I said defensively. "I was about to, before you guys came."

"Right."

"After this whole day, can you finally tell me who you guys are?" I asked. "Why do people crowd around you guys, acting as if you're kings?"

Akira smirked. "Because we own the school?" It was a statement, not a question.

I widen my eyes. "Wha-?"

"Doumyouji Corporation, Hanazawa Enterprise, Mimasaka Company, and Nishikado Inc.?" Soujiro said.

… oh.

"Wow," I said. "That's why your last names were so familiar. But I didn't tie it in or anything…" I murmured.

"Scared?" Tsukasa asked arrogantly.

"No," I replied honestly. "Just feel sorry for you guys."

That caught them off. Even Hanazawa Rui showed a bit of emotion, his eyes flashing a bit. "I mean," I continued, "it must suck to have people scared of you and trying to lick your boots all day long. Not to mention that you're expected to follow the family business when you graduate, right? And being buried in a bunch of papers about stocks and investments isn't very fun… at least in my book, it isn't."

Akira gazed at me and smiled. "You really are something."

I smiled back at him. "I know," I joked.

Just then, a person came running to us. "F4, F4, F4!" he cried out, panting.

"What?" Tsukasa asked, annoyed.

"Yuriko… Yuriko... Yuriko's drowning in the pool!"

We stared at him in shock. "What the hell? Nobody can swim in the school?" I asked.

"We tried, but there seemed to be something pulling her down. We can't bring her up."

Shit. Shizuka.

"Where's the pool?" I asked frantically. "Let's go!"

------------------------------------

A/N: Yay, finally another update. I'm not sure if you know who Andy Lau is, but he is a really popular Chinese actor/singer. He made the Guinness World Records… ring a bell, anyone? And if you're a fan of Lindsey Lohan, um… sorry for the comment on her.

Review?

- S.Y