Chapter Four, Painful Memories
Fortune cookie say: 'Learning is a treasure which accompanies us everywhere.'
((8:00 a.m., School laundry room, September 1st))

A/N: Thanks Jaime and Matt! Jaime, let me know if you want any flashbacks for Dion's past 0o you choose, just let me know. I just want to give the characters…more character.

"So," Dusty slipped on her freshly dried shirt, the faint floral sent warming her body. "Run this by me again?"

Dion rolled her eyes and buttoned her shirt.

"The Sohmas are cursed by the 13—"

"I thought there were only 12?"

"Shut up and let me finish!" Dion shushed.

"Fine."

"There are 13 counting the cat! You know the legend…"

"Oh yeah," Dusty began to follow Dion to class. "When God held a banquet, inviting all of the animals. The rat told the cat that it was the day after and the cat misses all of the festivities. The other version…. Uh… God had a race to see which animal was the best and both the cat and rat rode on top of the bull. The rat pushed the cat into the river and rode on top of the bull until the finish line—where he jumped off and came in first. Thus explaining why the cat is not included in the zodiac and why there is so much hostility between the two animals…"

"Well, if you know so much about it why did you ask me?"

Dusty shrugged. Dion rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, every time they are hugged by the opposite sex, outside of the family, they transform."

"That still doesn't explain why Kyou didn't transform when I pounced on him in the woods or—"

"…when you held him outside. I don't know…"

The two arrived at their first period classroom door. Dusty's eyes flickered to grey, memories of past emotional scars arousing. Dion opened the door, walking in with her friend.

She glanced at the clock.

'Five minutes till class starts…what's wrong?'

Dusty sighed.

'Nothing at all.'

'Don't try to hide from me, our emotions are connected. Tell me!'

"Hey! Dion, Dusty, over here!" Yuki smiled sweetly and waved them over, Dusty was grateful for the interruption. Splitting up, Dion pranced over to him and Dusty walked to the window seat. She stared longingly outside, wishing she were there instead of the classroom. Too many painful memories...

Dusty's heart fluttered in excitement as she sat behind him like she always had.

"Hey." He smiled sweetly at her, eyes sparkling.

"Hi." She was breathless.

He was the only boy in the class who actually treated her like a normal person. Even though she was normal, no one ever did.

He turned to talk with his friends. Dusty didn't understand why he was friends with such a jerk anyway. He turned back to her.

"Any new sketches?"

"Yeah." Dusty's heart raced, slipping a note into her sketchbook as she handed it to him. She looked away as he curiously picked out the note with his initials. For what seemed like years, she waited for him to read the words:

'I know how dumb this sounds but I really like you… Do you like me?

Yes

No'

He looked up at her and began to laugh.

"Like you? I would never like you! I just like you sketches!" His friends next to him laughed and the class echoing shortly as the story spread around the room…

A lone tear silently strolled down her cheek. Face with her expression stone cold, her eyes were full of emotion. She failed to notice that Kyou had sat down beside her. Her senses dulled by her blind misery, she finally allowed the tears to flow freely, believing that no one was watching. Kyou stared in shock at this sudden display of emotion.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly. She jumped, startled.

"Nothing, nothing at all." She angrily wiped away her salty tears and looked out the window again. Kyou looked at her sympathetically.

"Why were you crying then?" he asked, lowering his voice to a whisper. Dusty glowered at him.

"No reason, OK?"

He shrugged. Just then her ears picked up some classmates' conversation. One of them laughed loudly, mentioning her name and another still made fun of the color of her hair. Anger began to well up inside of her as someone spoke to her directly.

"Hey, Dusty! You miss you're mommy?" The obnoxious and immature boy rubbed his cheeks and quivered his lower lip in a mockery. Dusty swiftly opened the second floor window and jumped out into the open air. The class gasped and didn't move quickly enough to the window to see her teleport to the ground. Nor did they move quick enough to stop Kyou from jumping after her.

I really shouldn't have done that… Dusty regretted as she began to walk home.

Who really cares what they saw. I needed to get out of there anyway.

I guess I shouldn't have jumped out the window…I could've run out the door or something…

Kyou's voice shocked her from her own thoughts.

"Hey!" he grabbed her arm, perhaps a little too forcefully, to stop her. In shame she hid her tear drenched face and yanked her arm away from him. She continued to walk, Kyou followed again.

"Where are you going?" he asked, walking beside her.

"Home." She gruffly replied.

'Dusty? Dusty, where are you?' Dion called in her head. Dusty sent a shield of energy around her mind, blocking out her voice.

"Why are you so upset?" Kyou peered at her. Dusty sighed and stopped walking. She looked directly at him.

"Why are you following me?" with that said, she teleported home.

Her feet landed delicately on the roof, the shingles were slick with rain but her balance was maintained. Sighing frustratedly, Dusty sat down and took a notebook out of her backpack. The sun traveled through the clouds, chasing out any of the rain that had been to stubborn to pour. The pen touched the paper and words flowed from the tip like a brook. Her mind was whirring in circles as she stripped her mind of every thoughts aside raw emotion. Poetry, her outlet.

The soft clunk of wood of wood vibrated on the roof. Creeks escaped from the old joints of the ladder as Kyou ascended to the roof. This time, Dusty appreciated the company as she was immersed in a pool of her own creativity. Neither of them spoke as the day drew on.

Dion was furious when she came back home.

A/N: Yes Jaime, I know what you're thinking. "You're so pathetic!" Yeah, yeah… So what if I mixed a couple of events together it is my story anyway! Let me know if you want me to put some more focus on Dion, just so I can give a little background/history…If you don't mind… I wuv you my bersht frien… OK PEOPLE! I've got the next chapter already written up so I just need to type it. I'd appreciate some reviews…anyone? I was actually thinking about discontinuing this one…I've got another story I'm writing and a better idea for a different one so if you really like it and you want me to continue, please review.