Yugo stared down at Alice, watching intently as she breathed in her sleep. He smiled when she murmured something like "knock it off", wondering if she was dreaming about Uriko or about him. By the way she sighed and then smiled a little before rolling onto her side, he was pretty sure it was him. The young wolf chuckled inwardly as he propped himself up onto an elbow, continuing watching her dream away.
The world was perfect at that moment for Yugo, peaceful and still, the only sound was that of Alice's peaceful breathing gracing the air. Early morning light from the eastern facing window in his bedroom danced through across the rumpled sheets, highlighting the female zoanthrope's ivory skin that peeped out over the china blue fabric. The sunbeams kept themselves away from her face however; it was as if they knew that these series of moments were too precious to disturb and purposely kept from her eyes. Tentatively Yugo reached over and pushed back his lover's loose hair, taking in all the clean lines of her pretty face, thinking back on the first time that they had met. Another chuckle escaped him.

Looking back at how they both had been it was no real surprise that his first feelings towards Alice were sympathy and then annoyance immediately afterward. Sympathy because he of the situation Tylon had put all of their group in, and annoyance because Alice's overbearing perkiness just did that to most people back then, hell it often got to people now. He hadn't really gotten used to her for awhile, finding her altogether cheerful and bossy attitude too much for him at times, especially when she insisted that he needed someone to look out for him. Of course, later on, he would understand she was only being honest, with the temper he had. Despite that, it wasn't until five years after the Tylon incident, when she had followed him during the ZLF affair, and nursed him, that Yugo realized how endearing a woman like Alice could be.

She wasn't the brightest penny in the fountain, common-sense wise in any case, but then friends had told Yugo on more than one occasion that that description fit him at certain times, he didn't deny it. Little by little she had grown closer to his heart until finally one day, he'd realized with a bit of a jolt, that he was in love with her. It had taken awhile for him to see, but very slowly Alice's better qualities had become quite prevalent to him, Yugo finding the good in her always outweighed the little quirks. Alice was beautiful, that was obvious to anyone who would look her way, but she was so much more; she was considerate, honest, selfless, encouraging, and compassionate to no ends. By the time he'd seen that part, not too shortly after she had helped mend his rather broken and bruised form, Yugo hadn't given a damn about the curves on her body or the shapes of her face. It was probably the deepest moment of his existence when he had found out that he loved Alice, and Alice, to Yugo, was the soul lying beneath the flawless complexion, nothing else mattered.

Of course the body helps, he thought to himself, smile deepening as he remembered the night before in vivid detail. There was no other feeling that could compare with the one that rushed through Yugo when he held Alice in his arms. There was nothing lurid about their sex-life, they didn't really have sex, he couldn't think of it that way, he and Alice made love. They didn't "fool around", they didn't "screw", and they certainly didn't just "fuck". They were in love and they made love, it was a simple as that. They weren't innocent or anything, they had their moments of teenage frenzy, but Alice was different to him than any other girlfriend Yugo'd had, it was…clean, sweet, maybe even pure. He wasn't all that fond of the description but for lack of better and more articulate words that was what Yugo felt they had together, it was almost like being with Alice made him a better man. And he liked that idea; of course that made him wonder why he hadn't gotten the courage to take things to the next level with her.

Looking away from Alice's peaceful face Yugo glanced over his shoulder at the bedside table, at the drawer on it. More specifically he looked with his minds eye into the drawer at what it held. There had been a little black box sitting in that drawer since six months after their first date. He hadn't gotten it with the intention of handing it over immediately; he would wait, he told himself, until things were more solid, more stable. Yugo had promised himself that as soon as he had a grip on things around him, he was going to go the whole nine yards, candlelight, roses, one knee, everything. The trouble with that promise, however, was that Yugo had never really gotten a grip on things around him, there was always just too much to take care of.

First and foremost he had Kenji. Yugo's little brother was more responsible than he had ever been at his age, he was calmer and more thoughtful than Yugo had been at any age, but he was still young, and he still had issues… Not that he necessarily knew all of what those issues were but still, he knew they were there, and Kenji came first, always he was first, and until Yugo could be absolutely positively sure about Kenji and his hidden demons, Yugo's life remained at a standstill. Plus there was the added weight and tensions at the WOC that rested on the young wolf. Change was in the air, the entire zoanthrope nation knew it, and that meant, as a leader in such a place as the WOC, Yugo was going to have people looking to him constantly. And that was more than just a little frightening and stressful.

Yugo couldn't blame his hesitations all on Kenji and WOC responsibilities, he wasn't going to lie to himself. Deep down Yugo still had cold feet and a youthful unwillingness to settle down. He wasn't ready to be what that little black box implied, it's contract carrying more weight than both the problems of his brother and his job combined, and Yugo could not handle that right then. Or so he was sure of until he'd look down and see Alice's and her smile, then the wolf zoanthrope would question his anxiety, wondering if maybe just maybe, his fears were unfounded…

Alice stirred suddenly, shifting from one side to the other, so that her back faced him and broke Yugo's unusually absorbed train of thought. He laughed softly to himself again as she mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like "Damn combat boots" while frowning slightly. Yugo felt a little bit sorry for dream-Shina as she must have been getting an earful from his girlfriend about her so called poor taste in clothing.

"Oh, Ally, just let it go," he whispered, barely able to hear himself as he smoothed the hair back off the nap of her neck. "You'll get Mt. Everest to shrink before you get Shina to throw those things away." And Yugo moved closer to put his arm about Alice's torso, pulling her gently against him as he settled back down to close his eyes.

Almost instantly, he felt a smaller hand slide into his own, pressing it into Alice's abdomen. Yugo looked over, expecting to see his girlfriend's shining red-purple eyes open wide from being woken. His expectations didn't pan out as her eyes were still shut tight, though she was smiling again in her sleep, Yugo also noticed that the back of her head was resting closer in the crook of his neck than it had been previously. Yugo grinned and kissed her shoulder, more than just a little touched by this subconscious display of affection coming from his beloved.

"Love you too, babe," he whispered pecking the back of her neck a final time before closing his eyes once more.

Interlude

Long looked over the fishpond in his garden as the early morning light played across its surface, his brow wrinkled in thought. He took a deep breath, letting the surface of the pool reflect in his mind, clearing the thoughts milling about, as he always did during meditation. A calming wave, cool and soft, like the rays of premature spring sunlight, ran through his body, silencing any and all uneasy nerves. Letting the breath out slowly the tiger zoanthrope opened his eyes; he was ready.

Soundlessly, Long leapt up from the full lotus position, through the air, and onto one of the taller rocks in his "Zen" garden, landing like just as gracefully as a cat should, in a tense half crouch. He left the crouch in another leap, lightening fast spinning off into an airborne kick. On his second landing he vaulted in a backward somersault followed by a series of handsprings that ended in a direct kick to the sandbag he had hanging between two trees. A series of ever quickening jabs, palm strikes, and kicks followed that first blow, sending the heavy bag into an almost rapid sway. Long did not bother with the punching bag for a very extensive amount of time, however, and returned to the rocks, spinning, jumping, and flipping from stone to stone like an acrobat. He almost moved quicker than the normal human eye could catch as he somersaulted about in his limbering routine. The part about Long's movements that would probably blow the minds of most was that even as fluid, flawless, and controlled as they looked, he was barely even thinking about what he was doing as he flew it.

As all true masters of the Kempo style Long's mind entered a meditation state as he fought or practiced, therefore all of his movements weren't a conscious act. It was like he was out of his body with his mind telling his muscles how to move and where to place the blows. None of his friends knew it but this higher state of mind was how he had gotten through his job at Tylon, he hadn't actually known what he was doing. Well, Long knew, but it was like watching a movie in his mind's eye, like wasn't really there, just witnessing the inevitable outcome. Something else his friends didn't know was that there were times that he just couldn't stand this part of him, the killing machine, to the point he'd once stood an entire night in his bathroom with a loaded gun on the countertop. As far as he was concerned, no one needed to know either, especially the young girl bounding into his garden at that exact moment.

"Master Long, I'm here!" Uriko exclaimed rushing over to the gong and striking it as he had instructed her to whenever coming in on him while in practice. Long's mind returned to normal and he landed gracefully out of a flip on his feet, hands behind his back as he at Uriko over the rim of his glasses.
"Good morning, Master!" Uriko said brightly, bowing before him right before slamming into his lower half as she wrapped her arms about his waist.

Long, slightly winded stumbled back a foot or so, a wry half-smile on his face as he patted the girl's back.
"Good morning to you too, Uriko," he said prying her off and pushing her back an arm's length. "How was your evening at the movies, with Kenji?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "It was pretty cool," she told him, looking down to the ground instead of into his eyes. Long frowned, Uriko had something on her mind, he knew, and considering how Uriko bushed everything off, it must have been a serious thing. He started to ask about this but before he even opened his mouth, the teenager had turned her grinning face back up towards his, and announced, "My mom's waiting out in a Taxi, she wants to talk to you!"

Long raised slim black eyebrow. "About what?"

Uriko simply shrugged, she just grasped his hand and started pulling back toward the house and entrance onto the street. "She didn't say to me, Master, she just said she wanted to talk to you."
Long frowned again, walking along with Uriko as she pulled him. Just as the girl said, her mother was waiting next to a rather suitcase-laden taxicab as it sat out on the street corner.

"Hello, Long," Mitsuko greeted him cheerfully in her manly voice, waving with her rather large hand. Long remembered the first time he had met Mitsuko, he had been very sure she was a man until they'd finally rescued Uriko and the child had called her "Mommy". Still, he liked her very much; she was a good mother and a very warmhearted person, even if she did have more testosterone in her system than he did.
"Hello, Mitsuko," he greeted her with a bow. He eyed the bags on the taxicab. "You're going on a trip?"
"Yep, sure am," the big woman said, her smile and perky attitude showing just where her daughter got it from. "The Japanese branch of Nonomura Groceries has been having some trouble with anti-zoanthrope protesters. I figured I'd show up and give them something to protest." She chuckled and winked, setting her hands on her hips the way all assertive women did when they meant business. "That's kinda why I'm here. I know it's short notice and all but do you think you could watch Riko for me while I'm gone? I'd ask Alice but she and Yugo are still in the process of moving their things into their new apartment and I'd rather not dump Evil Kinievl here on them while they're so busy."

Long nodded at once. "Of course, Uriko is welcome at my home at all times," he smiled down at the girl, who beamed in return. "Plus it will give us extra time to work on her meditation exercises," he added almost wickedly, smiling as the young half-beast groaned and her mother chuckled again.

"Thank you very much, Long, I really appreciate this," Mitsuko said reaching out to grip his hand and shake it firmly. "I'll be back in four days, or at least I should be, never know how these damn things'll end up." The muscular lady reached into the confines of her purse and pulled out a cell phone, or at least what looked like one. "This is my two-way," she told Long handing it out towards him. Upon the confused look on Long's handsome face she thought to say more. "It's one of two connected phones, Long. I've got the other one. See you just…never mind if you need it Riko will help you use it right, Riko?"

"Right," the girl piped in.

Mitsuko nodded before addressing the tiger zoanthrope once more, "The important thing is that with it you can always reach me, no matter where I am or where you are, All right?"

He nodded and accepted the little black phone, making a mental note to get Shina or Yugo to explain it to him as soon as possible. He loved Uriko like a daughter but he would rather not take her advice on anything electronic.
"Now, she's off of school for the next two weeks so there's no need to worry about that kind of transport," Mitsuko continued explain as he tucked the two-way into one of his pockets. "And as long as you don't object Kenji'll be around enough to get her out of your hair most of the day. Her curfew is eleven o'clock every night unless she asks, and it's entirely up to your judgment whether she can or not, I trust you with that." Mitsuko gave him a small smile, which Long returned. "I don't think there's much more you need to know, so I do believe that's my cue to get the hell to the airport."

"By, Mom!" Uriko said running up to hug her mother, who completely enveloped the teenager in her thick arms.
"Behave yourself, all right, sweetie?" Mitsuko told her daughter with a kiss on the forehead. "You listen to Long or he's gonna take care of you and then I'll lay you out, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Mom," Uriko giggled pecking her mother's cheek before she was released.
"Good, now—oh here!" Mitsuko exclaimed pulling her wallet out. She shuffled the bills around and handed a two-twenties over to her daughter. "Pay Shina back for the movies last night and use the rest wisely. Okay?"

"Can do."

"Oky-doke, I think that's everything," Mitsuko said. She reached out to shake Long's hand one final time. "Thank you, again, Long. I really, really, appreciate this."

"Anytime, Mitsuko," Long assured her with a smile.

Mitsuko smiled and waved a hand at her offspring. "Get your bag, sweetie, I've gotta get going if I want to say good-bye to your sister before I leave."

Uriko nodded obediently and heeding her mother's command grabbed a blue duffel bag out of the cab before Mitsuko slipped inside.

"Bye, Uriko! Bye, Long!" Mitsuko called, as she closed the cab door and it started to roll down the street. She waved out the window.

"By Mom!" Uriko called jumping up and down to wave, while Long, rolling his eyes at his students zeal, simply held his hand up in the direction of the fading yellow taxi. They remained on the sidewalk until the cab had disappeared completely.

"I thought you said you didn't know what your mother wanted, Uriko?" Long questioned the girl with a sidelong glance when her mother's taxi had gone.

"I didn't," Uriko said with an honest shrug as she looked up into her Master's eyes. "She just told me to pack and we were going to swing by your house on the way to the airport. She never told me I was going to be staying with you."

Long laughed softly at his pupil's naiveté, reaching down to fondly ruffle her hair short brown hair. "Come one, Uriko, lets go in. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Uriko looked at him with raised eyebrows. "It depends…what are you eating, Master?" she questioned, ready to run down the street if the words "rice cake" came out of his mouth.

The tiger chuckled at his pupil as they entered his home. "I believe we can splurge a bit today on breakfast," he said, pretending to relent. "What do you say we celebrate your stay with a bowl of blackberries and cream?"

"I'd say I'm not going to run down the street like mad," Uriko giggled, following him into the kitchen. Since Uriko had been at Long's house so often she knew where almost everything in his house was and immediately set to helping her teacher prepare their meal, setting out bowls, food, and brewing water for tea. Their rather simple fare didn't take very much time to prepare, maybe ten minutes at the most, so it was no time before Long and his student were sitting cross-legged in his dining room, full bowls before them. Long allowed the girl to eat in comfortable silence for a few moments before he decided to further pursue their earlier conversation.

"So how is Kenji, Uriko?" Long asked, tactfully averting his eyes down at into the smoky green-brown of his chai. "I haven't seen him in several weeks. The last I heard he was spending much of his time at a skateboarding park, is he still doing that?"

Uriko, once again, did not look up to meet his eyes, confirming Long's suspicions of what exactly was eating at her mind. "Yeah," she mumbled before piling a great spoonful of white and indigo mush into her mouth, doubtlessly to try and avoid the conversation she feared he was getting into. So of course Long hounded it further.

"Uriko, you know, if you ever need to discuss anything, I'm here, don't you?" he prompted, taking a lengthy sip of his tea, eyeing her as he did.

"Yes, Master," she said quietly, looking down into her bowl with less enthusiasm than he had seen in quite some time.

"Well, then, are you going to stop making me beat around the bush and tell me what's bothering you?" he asked, knowing that questioning her straight out was the best thing that he could do. "Mind, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to." He offered the girl a kind smile. "I just worry about you, you know."
Uriko returned the smile, giving her mentor some relief—which quickly faded when she started frowning again.

"Kenji' being obsessive about something really dumb," she finally told him after a short, thoughtful silence. "And well…I don't know how to help him with it."

Long folded his hands on the tabletop, focusing completely on the young girl. "Well what exactly is he so bothered about, Uriko?" he questioned. "Does it have anything to do with the WOC or Yugo?"
"No, nothing like that," Uriko said biting on her lower lip as she rubbed the handle of her spoon idly. She let out a heavy sigh. "He—he's worried about what he used to be…You know like you were…"

Long raised an eyebrow in surprise, he certainly hadn't expected to hear that.

Despite how they had common pasts, Long and Kenji hadn't developed very much of a camaraderie. Long suspected that it was because of was because of his fatherly affection for Uriko and the fact that Kenji and she had been very good friends for quite some time now and well…he knew how teenagers could get. Or at least he knew how most teenagers could get; he himself had never went through much of a hormonally driven state, he was a thirty-something year old virgin after all, but he was not blind. Shina and Yugo thought he didn't know much in that entire department because of that little fact, but his best friends didn't give his knowledge from traveling and people-watching much credit. Alice and Yugo had been good friends and schoolmates before they'd become lovers, Mitsuko and her late husband Thai; it ran in the women of that family and Kenji and Uriko were at just about the right age to start. And Long did not by any means think that his student was ready to fall into such a cementing relationship. Again, though, he thought of himself as a father figure to the girl and knew he was more than just a little overprotective of her at times and did his best to back away when he realized how he was acting.

"You mean he's uncomfortable about his past as Bakaryu?" Long questioned. "He's felt guilt for this in the past before, though, hasn't he?"

"Yeah…but this time it's different," Uriko told him. "I—it's like he's holding himself back on things, like he's afraid that something will just set him off and he won't be who we know anymore. He said some really odd things about not becoming too competitive at the skate-park or driven so he would never loose control. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me." She met Long's eyes then; a frown deeply set into her young face that troubled her master very much. Uriko was too carefree of a soul to frown like that. "I'm just worried that he's worried I guess…I tried to reassure him last night and it seemed to be working but…" She grinned a little. "I can never tell with Kenji, you know? He's not all that open, I feel like I need a dictionary to get him sometimes."

Long smiled at the analogy, he knew people who acted like this as well, specifically a blonde, leopard, zoanthrope who never made anything an easy for anyone around her. Of course that's why he and Yugo cared for Shina's company so much, she was about one of the most complicated human beings he had come across in his entire life. But her complications could be considered good when she was put in the same room with her two best friends. Shina was convoluted, Yugo was reckless, and Long had enough stuffy reservations to drive the world crazy, but when the three of them got together, they balanced one another out. And that, he suspected, was exactly the reason Kenji and Uriko had become so close, Uriko's immaturity was countered by Kenji's seriousness, he cooled her down while she loosened him up.

"Yes, I think I've a very good idea of what you mean, Uriko," Long said, smiling more or less to himself as he picked up his tea, mind flashing with an image of Shina and Yugo.

"Do you think I'm worrying over nothing then, Master?" she asked, propping her face in her hands as she looked at him with her innocent cow brown eyes.

"Uriko…I honestly don't know," Long told her honestly. "But—" he added when her face started to fall. "But even if he's is going to be just fine, you would worry anyway, wouldn't you?" He smiled and reached over to pass a hand through her short locks. "You wouldn't be a good friend if you didn't, Uriko, it's the trademark of someone who honestly cares. If it makes you fell better, though, I believe that Kenji will be fine. He has too many people around him that care for any other outcome."

Warmed by the comment Uriko's lips slowly turned up in a smile, and she jumped up to throw her arms about her teacher.

"Thank you, Master," she said, voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. "I feel a lot better."
The older zoanthrope went rigid from the awkwardness of being hugged so tightly, but it didn't last more than a few seconds as Long put his arm about her shoulders and returned the embrace. "I'm very glad I could help, Uriko. It puts my mind at ease knowing yours is as well."

"Um...thanks…I think," she giggled as he released her and she sank back down into her chair.
They continued to beam at one another for a few moments in comfortable silence before Long asked, "So are you ready to go and begin your meditation, Uriko?" Uriko's only reply was a groan as she feigned to faint in her seat. Her teacher only laughed good-naturedly at Uriko's behavior and took another drink of his tea, swilling the last few drops down. As big of a stickler he was for dedication in training, Long had to admit that he found her antics funny. Besides, he knew that she would move along without too much badgering if he mentioned that afterwards they could spar.

Interlude

Shina glared wrathfully into the stormy twilight from her western facing bedroom window, waiting for the boom to follow the lightening that had crashed not to far from her house, and questioning her sanity and mindset. She had to be bipolar or something along those lines. Yesterday morning she had been just fine (except for the incident at longs house), it had been stable. She'd even had something to look forward to for awhile, and then along came Jenny. Her shoulders trembled from even thinking that name, from thinking about anything that had to do with her in general.

The leopardess had never felt such a feeling before. It wasn't hate, as much as she could not stand the thought of Jenny or her father she did not hate them, she didn't even feel rage, not really. No, the feeling that those two had left her with was far worse than any of the above said emotions. The space beneath Shina's heart was filled with the worst kind of things that until three months ago she had never had to endure: emptiness and betrayal. The worst part, to her at least, was that a seasoned a warrior that she was, Shina hadn't even been remotely prepared for any of it. Shina could have taken it from anyone else, anyone, but not them, not the woman she disdained for trying to weasel into her family, and certainly not from Gado.

Gado, her adoptive father…her real father, or so now it seemed to be…she had never expected this from him, and that was what hurt her the most. He had promised that after all her troubles with losing him during the times of the ZLF and of the Tabula, that he would never keep any secrets from her again. He'd vowed on his honor that he would be honest with her no matter what happened, and since her father had said honor was life, she had trusted him. And that trust, that faith, even the bond between them, had been shattered when he and Jenny had taken her aside that fateful evening to spill themselves to her.

"Whoever said the truth would set you free was a fucking liar," she whispered thickly as a flash of lightening cracked all the closer to her condo and a hard rain began to fall. She turned away; not caring to close the windows to protect from the damp chill that would spread through the house. Walking out of the room she caught sight of herself in the mirror hanging near the door.

Shina passed a hand through her damp from the shower locks, frowning at her steadily paling features. Did she see a hint of green in her irises or was it just her imagination?

"No wonder he didn't want to stick around," she muttered under her breath, Sy's face flashing in her mind's eye before she ran out and down the stairs into her kitchen, another thing that had nagged the back of her mind all day. He must have seen the part of her that came from that damn batwhore, that would have made any sensible man run.

Once in her kitchen Shina set to making an icy version of a hazelnut-rum latte. She had just let off the blender and poured it into an awaiting glass when lightening crashes, thunder boomed, and her phone rang. The young woman jumped but didn't shriek and she didn't spill the pitcher. Instead she scowled at herself and the phone, swore, and picked up the receiver.

"Hola," she greeted whomever was on the other end before taking a swig of her drink.

"Shina?" Yugo's voice crackled through the other end.

"Hey, Yugo," she said taking a seat on top of her kitchen counter. "How's it hanging with you today, bro?"

"Loose and slightly to the left," he chuckled; Shina could picture the goofy smile on his face and rolled her eyes.

"And you? You played hooky from work today, may I inquire why?"

Shina sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"I just wasn't in the mood to work today, man," she told him. "I've been…distracted I guess, and I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything for you so I just figured I'd keep outta your hair and stay home today."

"You're never in my hair, Shin, you know that," Yugo rebuked her dour attitude. "If anything it's a vice versa situation."

"You said it not me," she chuckled, taking another drink of her hazelnut-rum latte.

"Oh to hell with you too, bitch!" Yugo exclaimed with feigned indignance. "Here I was all worried about you and you insult me! Some friend you are!"

"Oh, Yugo, shut up!" she laughed. "We both know that Ally made you call, it's no secret, It's cool."

"She did not!" he protested. "She isn't even home right now, thank you very much! I called of my own will—completely! Though now I'm beginning to regret it, considering all you're gonna do is tell me how fake and crappy a friend I am!"

"Take it easy, mutt," Shina was almost giggling as she pushed hair back out of her eyes. "I'm just kidding. Thanks for calling too, I was afraid that if I listened to my own voice or the TV much longer I wouldn't make it through the night."

"How many bottles of beer did you take off the wall?" he joked.

"I got to sixty-two."

Then you forgot what came after, right?"

"No then I went and actually drank a couple. Jesus, Yugo, I'm not you, I finished high school, remember?"

"Hey, I finished high school!" Yugo snapped playfully. "I just didn't do that…well."

"Flunky," she teased.

"Whore," he teased back.

"Whipped."

"Cock biter."

"How'd you find out about that?"

That comment made them both start snickering rather hard and it was a few more moments before the conversation was continued.

"So, seriously," Yugo asked when their laughter had subsided and they could both breathe again. "How have you been today, Shina? Why'd you cut work?"

Shina bit the inside of her cheek, glad that her friend couldn't see the guilty look on her face. Of course she forgot that awkward silences were just as damning, and, despite the fact that he had the wit of a two-year-old, Yugo wasn't so absentminded that he could miss one.

"Shina, please answer me," he begged in a sincere and slightly worried voice that anyone ever heard coming from the wolf zoanthrope. "I'm worried about you. Me, Long, Ally, we're all worried about you and we want to help all we can so please, please don't start pushing us away."

The leopardess swallowed hard, both touched and frustrated with her friend. Shina knew that she was more than just a little lucky to have all these people caring about her, but regardless, she'd rather not burden them with her troubles. Not to mention she was to closed off inside to be able to share her most intimate worries with anyone, not even her best friends, Yugo and Long. Still…

"I—I'm okay, Yugo, really, she managed to breathe after a few tense moments. "Or at least I will be. I just you know, needed to chill and stuff today. I needed some time alone."

"But why did you need to chill, Shina?" he pressed on. "What's going on with you lately? I don't see how in the fuck it's possible but you're getting harder and harder to understand anymore. Does it have to do with Gado and Jenny? What happened to your hand?"

Caught somewhere between aggravation and panic, Shina lost control of her temper right at that moment, and before she could stop herself, the words had already started pouring from her mouth.

"What the hell, Yugo!" she exclaimed, unable to hold the anger from her voice. "Nothing's wrong with me! I'm fine, I'm peachy, I'm great, so why don't you and the rest of the fucking world stop asking me? Jesus Christ I'm not a china doll, I'm not gonna break! Get the fuck off my case and stop asking me, all right?"

"Shina I'm just—"

"Worried, yeah,. I know!" she snarled. "So you and everybody else has been saying from the moment I showed up. But, you know what? I don't need you to worry about me so back the fuck off, ya god damn mutt!" And she clicked the off button before throwing the phone across the room. Shina immediately felt a combined surge of regret and of guilt. She hadn't meant to act that ay with Yugo, they were friends, he was one of her best, but right then, she just couldn't deal with his protectiveness and worrying. She didn't need sympathy and concern, what she needed was something that no one could give her: a new memory.

She gulped down the last of her latte, tossing the glass idly into the sink beside her when it was drained. Afterwards she pulled her knees up to her, chin, continuing to sit on the counter, eyes dull as she stared guiltily into the torn black of her jeans. All she wanted was to lie down and wake up as someone else, someone who was happy, someone who didn't flow with all the complex emotions she did at that moment. Most of all she wished she hadn't said what she'd just said to Yugo, not so much because she didn't like hurting someone who cared so much for her well being, because she didn't like it. For the most part Shina didn't want to have to apologize in the morning; she hated admitting that she had regrets.

She was debating whether or not to pick up the phone and call Yugo back, when the fine little hairs on the nap of her neck began to intuitively stand on end. Shina looked up, eyes narrowing in blue, catlike slits, searching the dark with her nocturnal gaze. Scanning by the staircase Shina saw a shadow move, shortly after a soft, almost inaudible, laugh pierced the silence that had been so constant in her house the majority of the day. Her upper lip curled in an inward snarl as her body contorted into a crouch, her back arching just as her feline counterpart's would. Someone was skulking about in her home, and lucky them; they'd caught her just in the right sort of mood. Shina continued to crouch and focused her mind, pinpointing the actions of her intruder.

Footsteps, almost unheard even by her keen ears were slipping up the staircase. The snarl on her lips went to her throat, albeit quietly, and the leopardess slipped down onto the floor with ease even Long would envy. From there, Shina slowly, carefully, made her way up the stairs, moving so carefully that she didn't make the slightest squeak or clang on the iron steps and rail. She paused at the final step, licking her lips and listening for further noise coming through the dark. Another soft laugh to the right and she knew he was waiting in her room.

Indignance rose in Shine's chest and she stood to her full height, deciding to confront the arrogant son-of-a-bitch who'd dared enter her most private chamber. She let out the snarl that had so been digging in her breast since the kitchen and strode into her bedroom, hand clenched into fists as she prepared to knock some sense into whomever waited so overconfidently on the other side. That snarl however faded just past her bared teeth when she saw whom her intruder was.

He leaned against the open window seat, watching her from beneath lowered lashes and sodden tendrils, hands behind his back. The whole of him was soaked, like he'd run through the rain to get there, and he wore no shirt. Shina watched in a combination of heated wonder and surprise as a drop of water rolled seductively down his abdomen, creating a trail over his six-pack and. She followed the little drop until it disappeared into the low rise of his cargo pants. A faint blush began to rise in her cheeks and she looked away while he chuckled again.

"I told you I'd see you again, chaton," Sy reminded her, the laughter in his voice and eyes smoldering with heat.

"How did you know where I live?" she inquired casually, more than demanded, something that surprised them both.

"I followed you," he said with a shrug, eying her carefully just in case the calm facade broke and she decided to charge.

"Why?" she questioned, despite the fact her instincts told her she should probably rip him apart on the spot. "Why follow me? I was perfectly willing to let you come with me that night at the club. Why follow me home around?" She reclinched her fists. "What are you planning on buddy, because I'm telling you now, if you thought that you could come here and take me you've been sadly mistaken." She bared her teeth where her fangs had started to shift and grow, showing the razor edged canines behind her soft lips. "I'm not like other girls, pal."

"I know," he said without bulking, almost shocking the leopardess. Any normal man would have fled at the sight of a five foot eleven woman with a GI Jane complex who'd just shown him vampiric eyeteeth. "That's precisely why I've been following you, chaton." He smiled slowly, a certain wildness behind it that altogether intrigued Shina and sent chills of wariness down her spinal column. "There's no one else in the world like you." And he stepped forward abruptly, as if to grab her.

Instinctively Shina drew back her fist, meaning to ram it into his sternum with enough force to crack a couple of his ribs. Her plans, however, were foiled as Sy caught her hand within his. Shina started in surprise, he was quick. She looked up angrily, already starting to curl the fingers on her other hand but as she did that she found herself released, Sy stepping back to open his arms wide and fully expose himself to her attack.

"Go ahead, chaton," he murmured, amethyst eyes glowing on her face. "Hit me. Make me hurt. If it comes from you then the pain will be sweet."

"You're crazy," she whispered before throwing her fist at him, once again however, Sy caught her off guard. Side stepping the blow he grasped her by the waist and forced her body to meet his. The female zoanthrope shivered as her warm skin found cool, wet, muscles against her abdomen. Sy's hand slipped to the small of her back while the other moved to the side of her face.

"Je suis fou. Fou pour vous, le chaton," he whispered as he started to cup her face. Shivers continued to radiate through Shina's body as his cold fingertips played against her hot cheek. He stared deeply into her eyes for several moments, violet shimmering warmly into blue. "But then it's the same for you, isn't it. You've been thinking about me all day, haven't you, chaton?"

"Don't flatter yourself," she snapped, though she did not push him away.

Sy chuckled as he moved his fingers to brush the bangs back out of her eyes. "Then why haven't you left the house today?" he inquired almost wickedly. "It wasn't because of me even a little?"

Shina stiffened. How did he know? How did he know that she hadn't been able to stop thinking of him the entire day? She opened her mouth to tell him off, but yet again Shina found that Sy was one step ahead of her.

That same delicious electricity she'd experienced the night before at the club, shot mercilessly through Shina as Sy covered her mouth with his. Her anger and resentment melted as his arms conformed warmly to her frame and she reveled in the hardness of his body pressed against hers. She felt herself go weak as his hands and hers slid into places that they didn't belong. They stumbled backward, Shina's legs buckling as they hit the bed and she tumbled backwards.

Even as her brain screamed out orders that this was going to lead her into a bad situation, Shina didn't stop herself, she did not push him away, all that Shina complied with was the heat that was rising from inside of her and the dominating urges she had in bed-play.

Interlude

After tucking in the last of his charges Stun reentered the kitchen to find Jenny still staring into her cup of now very cold coffee, without blinking, her face more pale and drawn than Stun had seen in a very, very, long time. She'd been like this for the entirety of the day, since Ursula had shown her her pictures, and it disturbed him to no end. Though he could hardly blame her for any other behavior, he himself had been feeling more than just a little bit strained since witnessing the girl's work.

"Still fretting over it all?" he asked gently as he sat down across from her at the table.

The former model looked up at him with large haunted eyes. "Is–" Jenny muttered through paper dry red lips as she tried to form the proper words. "Is–Are her drawings–are they–?"

"Often correct?" Stun finished for her. He looked down and way. "Ninety–nine point nine percent of the time yes."

Jenny swallowed hard. "Do–do you think that there's anything I can do–"

"Other than stand back and let the universe guide you, no," he answered. "The more you tamper, I'm, afraid, the faster these things will happen."

"But Stephan I can't not do anything," she whispered, as tears began to leak from her flawless eyes. "I–I can't not try and protect her...There has to be something dammit!"

Stun reached over to put his hand over her wrist. "You can only watch her, Jenny. It's not like you can anticipate the when and the where, in any case."

"So I just set back?" she whispered in disbelief. "I--I just wait for these...events...to happen?"

"I don't see any other options, Jenny," Stun told her gently. He looked down at one of Ursula's renderings, and shuddered at the image of himself and the children running from a flaming building. "Trust me…if it's meant to happen you're not going to be able to hold it back. You can only anticipate and plan out your choices for when these key moments occur."

Jenny didn't say anything; she didn't so much as blink. All that she did was shift her eyes downward to the to the spread about pile of drawings, focusing on the one in which she was with Shina. The leopardess' skin was placed beneath her tan, her white tank top was soaked in crimson, her body appearing to be feeble as a small child's as she clung to a weeping Jenny for support, eyes starting to close. Studying the background so that she would see it for years to come, Jenny made she memorize every detail, and told herself that, when the time did come, she was going to be ready to make the ultimate choice if that's what it would take to save her daughter.

"Do me a favor, Steph?" Jenny's voice was more of an order than a request.

"Anything," he told her immediately, wishing that he had never brought this up to her in the first place.

"You plan on showing these to the others when the time is right, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, I think you should omit this one and not speak of it anymore to anyone," Jenny said, reaching down to take up the frightening picture. She folded it neatly before tucking it into her shirt and standing up. She held out her hand to Stun, who took it graciously. "Good-bye for now, old friend. I'll see myself out."

Stun nodded. "I'm sorry, Jenny, I wish—"

"Don't be, Stephan," she cut off gently, withdrawing her pal from his large blue digits. "I'm not." And she turned and exited the room, leaving her apprehensive and penitent friend behind.