Notes: This takes place in early February of 2025, making Ren 39, Pin-Mei 37, the twins 17, and Níu-Năi 9 (try saying those three words ten times fast). OMG OLD PEOPLE! They can't stay 20 forever, sadly.

I had always known that I wanted Little Ren to be a captain on some sort of team. I had a few choices including table tennis and swimming. Both made me giggle and were quickly discarded. And yes, he has a sister complex. He gets aggravated when a boy casually touches her, but you could say that this is due to how he was forced to watch her get beat up to the point of bleeding when they were younger.

When I say that a certain student introduced in this chapter has grey hair, I mean it like Shu did or Allen does in D. Grey Man.

Disclaimer: The anime/manga Shaman King and its characters were created by Hiroyuki Takei. All original characters made specifically for this fanfiction and any tie-in/spinoff pieces were created by Jezebel Parks.

A Gift of Love – Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Invader

"And so, after dining in Hell, the Spartans-" The teacher turned to see one of her students' arms up in air. "Yes, Ms. Mao, what is it?"

A pretty girl with long black hair gracefully lowered her arm and batted her eyelashes. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, Ms. Wong," she said with faux remorse. "But it would seem that my fellow student Lien has once again fallen asleep during your lecture."

The teacher looked across the room to see Lien with her head down on her desk, snoozing away. She sighed and looked to Ren. "Tao, wake up your sister, please."

Ren reached across to the desk at his left and shook Lien's shoulder. She sprang awake, sending the papers on her desk fluttering to the floor. Her teacher sighed and walked down the aisle of desks and picked one of the papers up. She looked it over, then rolled her eyes.

"This doesn't look like a Spartan," she said flatly.

Lien blushed as she grabbed the drawing and stuffed it in her binder. She looked up at her teacher sheepishly. "I'm sorry Mrs. Wong. It won't happen again."

"That's what you said last time," the teacher sighed. "Now, about the movie we watched the other day, after dining in Hell, where did the Spartans dine the night after?"

Lien blinked. "Um...Arby's?"

The class laughed. She sunk low in her chair as Mrs. Wong sighed once more, then returned to the front of the room. "There's a test tomorrow, Miss Tao. I think it would be in your best interest to have your brother review the material with you. You need this grade."

Lien looked at her desk. "Yes, I know." She heard a snicker and glanced up to see Mao Suān, the girl who had tattled on her, smirking back at her. She sighed, then slammed her forehead on her desk.

"Bitch."

"Um...Niisama?"

"What?"

"Can you give me your notes?"

Ren sighed and handed his bag to her. "If you want them, find them yourself. I have practice today and there will be a lot of complaints if I'm late."

Lien just smiled as she rummaged through his bag. "Yes, Captain."

Despite only being a second-year, Ren had been chosen as the captain of the martial arts team at the end of the previous school year. He treated it as more of a bother than anything else. There were times when Lien had to walk home by herself because he had to go to practice, and that wasn't something he was comfortable with.

Lien finally just put the bag on her shoulder. He eyed her.

"What do you think you're doing with my bag?"

"It's all organized, so I can't find the notes. I'm going to take it home and dump everything out. Once it's in a big pile, I'll be able to find it easily."

He sighed, then reached into the bag and effortlessly pulled out a folder labeled "Film Studies". He handed it to her and then took his bag back. "Now, if you're done, I'm going to go to practice."

As he turned to leave, a student bashed into him, sending him backwards and onto the floor. He looked up to see a girl with grey braids past her chest hurriedly trying to collect her books and other materials. She pushed them into a pile, as if she had trouble organizing them. Ren looked to his left and spied a pair of eyeglasses which he suspected belonged to her, and casually picked them up and handed them to her.

"Here."

"Oh, thank you! I can only see fuzzy shapes without them." She gratefully took them and put them on. "Really, thank you. I'm so sorry for-"

She froze as her eyes brought the image of the boy in front of her into focus. Her entire face went red as she quickly gathered her belongings. She stood and started bowing repeatedly.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Captain Sir! It was due to my foolishness that I bumped into you! Please accept my sincerest apologies!"

Ren sighed. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

She just looked at him before she ran past him. Ren heard a thud, then a whimper and sighed again. He turned to see a group of popular girls, including Suān, around the one that had just run into Ren.

"You should be more careful," Suān said in a scolding tone. "What if Ren had hurt his arm because you made him fall and he couldn't practice anymore?" The girls around her began to pipe in with their own comments.

"Yeah! Then he couldn't be captain of the team!"

"The martial arts team has a meet this weekend – do you want them to lose because Ren wouldn't be able to fight?"

The girl shook her head furiously. "No, of course not! I-I was honestly just clumsy and I tripped. Mr. Tao just happened to be in the way..."

"Oh, so now it's HIS fault, is it?" Suān said, her hands on her hips. "Just who do you think you are, anyway?"

Lien watched them from afar, clutching her brother's folder angrily. As she seemed ready to stomp over to them, Ren blocked her with his arm and began walking toward the group.

"What's going on?" he said as if he were a preschool teacher dealing with children. The bespectacled girl jumped as she noticed he had come up behind her.

Suān seemed breathless as she positioned her folded hands under her chin, her eyes not leaving his face. "We were just telling Ai-Li here that she should be more careful so she doesn't bump into you again."

"Thank you, but I can take care of myself," he said coldly.

Suān's smile faded slightly. "We know, we were just helping."

He eyed them. "You want to help?" The girls nodded their heads furiously. He smirked. "Fine. I forgot my water at home. Can one of you go buy some for me?"

Their faces lit up. "Yes, Captain!" They scurried away in a cloud of dust toward the nearest vending machine. Ren scoffed at them.

"There's nothing I hate more than people who blindly follow others. It's a shame that they're so useful."

Ai-Li squirmed next to him. "You...didn't need to do that."

He turned to leave, giving her a small smile. "I know."

She bit her lip and ran off. Lien sighed as he approached her.

"You don't have to pretend to be so cool all the time. You can show some humanity once in a while like you show me, you know."

He glanced at her. "Why should I? Then they'll probably just chase me even more than they already do, and that means they'll just harass you more."

His sister tossed her head, her navy blue hair freely falling down her back. "I can deal with it. It's not like they do anything especially malicious."

"It doesn't matter. Humans are fallacious creatures. Just because of the fact that you're a girl and you're always around me, they'll treat you as their competition, despite the fact that we're related."

She giggled. "Then they should come home and harass Mom, too."

"You know Father would just kill them and be done with it if that happened."

"Yeah, I know." She wrapped her arm around his. "But I'll always be the woman you love most, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course," he replied grimly, knowing that if he denied her she would just refuse to let go of him until she had gotten the answer she wanted.

"That girl was a third-year," she said suddenly. "Her uniform ribbon was blue."

"I know. I saw."

"Do you think that's why she was trying to be all tough and tell you that you didn't need to save her?"

"The question is whether or not I should really care."

"You're no fun."

"I'll play with you later," Ren grumbled as he shook her off. They were approaching the gym's mat room, where the martial arts team met, and he didn't want the boys to see his sister hanging on him as if they were going out. All the same, his eyes softened as he turned to her. "Be careful walking home, okay? If anything happens, come back here and get me, and I'll walk you home myself."

She stared at him, then laughed. "You're just like Papa sometimes. You both think I'm defenseless when I'm by myself." His eyes narrowed. "Okay, okay, I promise to come back if something happens."

"Good." He patted her on the head. "I'll see you tonight."

She fumed. "Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't mean you have to point it out."

He held in a chuckle. "It's an expression of endearment. Father does it all the time."

She threw his hand away. "Well stop it. When you're married, you can pat all the heads you want."

"IF."

"Papa will kill you if you don't."

"Just because he found is wun twu wub by our age doesn't mean you or I have to."

Before his sister could retort, he stepped into the matted room and closed the door. She could hear him yelling at his team to stop when they were doing, and then the sound of all of them falling onto the mat as Ren yelled "Hit!" She stared at the ground, then slowly turned to leave the school.

As she trekked up the hill toward the gates of Tao Castle, she thought of her brother's words.

He's right. Our lives are so much different. Niisama and I...we have no idea what sort of hell they went through together. Niisama died, but I don't know if it compares, really. They never went into detail about it. Father would just tell us a version that I now realize was watered down so that it wouldn't scare us. Mama basically grew up without parents...Papa's childhood was worse...

But they never tell us how. Mama will start to say something, but then Papa will silence her. What doesn't he want us to know? What's the big deal? I know they were torn apart, but...

She looked up to find that she had wandered into the backyard, where her father was going through his forms as always. As he put down his weapon to get a drink, he looked back and noticed her.

"Did you want something?" he asked rather impatiently.

Lien bit her lip as she dropped her bag and dashed at him. He rolled his eyes and dropped his milk bottle back into its basket as he planted his feet and prepared to receive her. She crashed into him, her arms instantly wrapping around his waist. Ren sighed and put his hand on her head.

"What's this about?"

She looked up at him innocently. "Nothing happened to you and Mama a long time ago, right? Before Niisama or I were born?"

"What?"

Her eyes studied his earnestly. This was one of the two people she looked up to most...He wouldn't lie to her, would he?

"Ewwww! I'm telling Mom you're cheating on her!"

They looked up to see Níu-Năi standing in the doorway snickering at them with malicious amber eyes. He ran inside the house shouting, "MOM! DAD'S CHEATING ON YOU AGAIN!"

A quiet "Oh my," could be heard as Pin-Mei made her way onto the porch. She glanced at her husband and daughter, then turned her face to hide it and began to shed fake tears into her sleeve.

"Oh Ren, how could you?" she sobbed.

Ren gave an annoyed sigh. "It stopped being funny the second time you did it."

She lowered her sleeve and smiled. "But Níu-Năi likes being the Fidelity Police."

"Well, teach him that his father isn't a louse who cheats on his wife. Don't encourage such behavior."

Her smile remained as she shrugged. "It's all in good fun, darling."

He flinched at the last word. "I told you not to call me that."

She giggled, then took her son's hand. "Come on, sweetheart, let's go see what the cooks are up to."

"Okay!" the boy cried as they went into the house.

"Mom really needs to let him know that hugging is okay," Lien sighed. She released him and he walked over to pick up his Kwan Dao.

"It's not my area," he said flatly. "I don't really care either way."

She looked at him, stunned. "Papa, how can you say something like that? Doesn't it bother you when he goes and tells mom you're being unfaithful to her?"

"No, it doesn't."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't bother her. She knows that I wouldn't do that, and she knows especially my views on incest."

Lien blinked. "Which are...?"

"It doesn't matter since I know I'll never have to deal with it." He slammed the armory door shut and started to go into the castle. "Now come on, I'm sure you have homework to do."

Lien did as her father asked and trudged up to her room and fell onto the bed. She rolled over and stared up at the ceiling.

You never answered my question...Did anything happen to you and Mom?

She closed her eyes as she yawned and turned on her side.

Just a little nap before homework. Then I'll give Niisama his notes back...

"Lien...Lien! Wake up, you fool!"

Lien groggily opened her eyes and looked up to see her brother shaking her. "What is it?"

"You fell asleep, just like you always do. Now get up."

She rolled over and looked at her clock. "It's only 7:15."

"In the morning."

"WHAT?" She looked at it again to see "AM" lit up. "OH SHIT!"

Ren stepped back as she sprang off the bed and ran a brush through her hair. She dashed into the bathroom and threw water on her face, then brushed her teeth for about fifteen seconds and rushed back out again. As she ran for the door, Pin-Mei stopped her.

"Honey, can you come sit down for breakfast with us? We'd like to be able to see you before you go off to school." She smiled.

Lien looked at the door, then her mother, then sighed. "Okay..."

She followed her to the dining hall and sat down with her family. Her brother was already sitting across from her, calmly eating his rice as if he had all the time in the world. She looked at the tiny glass of milk next to him, a look of slight concern in her eyes.

He had resolved to drinking a little bit of milk each day, as he had read that supposedly his body would get used to it, and over time cure him of his allergy. There were days when he would get sick over it, but he refused to stop. He never said why he did it, but Pin-Mei seemed to understand and made no protest.

Lien never really understood why her mother insisted that they all eat breakfast together. No one ever spoke, except to ask that something be passed to them. Even Níu-Năi seemed to recognize that it was no time for jokes. After about five minutes, she stood, and with a quick goodbye, dashed out the door again.

Ren joined her as they walked toward school. She opened up her bag and looked in her folder.

"I can't believe this! I was just taking a nap before I did my homework and the next thing I know, it's morning," she whined. "This sucks so much! I was hoping to get a good homework grade this term, too..." She looked at the papers, confused. "What...? These are all done..."

"That's because when I went to get my notes, you were passed out on your bed, so I decided that I was going to do your work as well," Ren said casually.

"But-But why didn't you just wake me up? That way you wouldn't have had to do twice the work!"

"I was bored."

"Bored?"

He shrugged. "I came back from practice, did my homework, worked out, read for a while, took a shower, then I had nothing else to do, really,so I decided to help you out a little bit. Now maybe you'll feel guilty enough to actually do the work yourself."

She stared at the ground. The guilt was taking over already. "...That's what you said the last time you did my homework for me."

She stuffed the papers back into her bag and they walked in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Niisama...Why are you always helping me like this?"

He looked at the sky, then back down again. "Maybe because I want to see you succeed. I don't like seeing you struggle, and neither does Father. I kept thinking, 'Maybe if I just give her a push, she'll be fine on her own, she won't need me anymore'. I'm not as coldblooded as you sometimes think I am. You're still my little sister, which means I'm responsible for you when our parents aren't around." He looked up to find her standing in front of him. "What?"

She dropped her bag and hugged him, sobbing into his chest. "I'm really sorry that I make you feel like you have to look out for me," she whimpered. "I know that you have enough to worry about, with all your own homework from the advanced classes and being captain and dealing with all those girls constantly fawning over you." She looked up at him, her eyes flooding in distress. "I'm so sorry, Niisama. I'll try harder, I promise! I know I'm stupid compared to you, but I'll still try!"

Ren sighed and lightly bopped her on top of her head with his fist. "Fool. You're not stupid. If you were, I probably wouldn't even bother trying to help you. You're smart, just in a different way."

He pushed her back by her shoulders slightly so he could wipe away he tears. He softened slightly.

"You know, Father found me doing your homework last night," he said.

"...How did he know it wasn't yours?"

Ren gave a small grin. "I was writing with my right hand. He knows I only do that to imitate your handwriting." He waved it off. "Anyway, instead of getting mad and telling me that I shouldn't help you like that, he told me about how he had to tutor Mother almost every night."

His sister's eyes widened. "He did?"

Ren nodded. "Apparently, she had difficulty in almost every subject, but especially Japanese. Since some of the kanji look similar, she would get confused and just end up writing Chinese instead."

"Papa must have been at his wits' end by her graduation."

"Actually, he said that he secretly enjoyed being able to help her. When she would 'get' something, he would just pat her head and say 'Good job', like she was a puppy or something. She'd get so embarrassed, blushing and hiding her face." His grin became slightly mischievous. "Besides, because he was helping her so much, she was indebted to him. But he said she always managed to 'make it up to him'." He walked past her, still grinning.

Lien whirled around, a skeptical look on her face. "What do you mean? What did she do for him?"

"Oh, I'm sure she did many things in order to compensate. Ask her yourself when we get home." She isn't stupid, but she sure is slow.

When they entered the classroom, their classmates were buzzing with excitement.

"What the heck is all the noise about?" Lien wondered aloud as she took her seat.

"Let's find out." Ren calmly walked over to Suān and her group. "What's going on?"

The girls froze. "We're fine!" they chirped.

He dug his fist deep into the pocket of his blazer, trying to make sure it didn't suddenly jump out and attack the nearest female. "That's great. But what's everyone talking about?"

"There's a new student!" a girl cried.

"Yeah, from Japan!"

"Maybe it's a boy!"

Suān silenced them. "Even if it is, we'll always stay loyal to you, Ren!" She smiled while clasping her hands to her heart.

His fist dug even deeper. "That's nice." He quickly swiveled and headed back to his seat next to Lien.

"How did it go?" she asked, knowing how much he hated dealing with his fangirls.

"I'm about ready to just drink a gallon of milk and die, but at least they were somewhat useful."

"O RLY?"

"What have I told you about chatspeak?"

She sighed. "Belongs on the screen, not on the tongue." She straightened. "So, what did you find out?"

"Apparently there's an exchange student from Japan transferring into our class today. No big deal."

"Do you think it's-!"

"It's not Seta, don't get your hopes up. This guy probably can't speak any Chinese."

"Sweet, we can play charades."

"...Hopeless..."

There was a ruckus as the students dashed to their desks upon hearing their teacher coming down the hall. She entered and stood at the front of the room, then seemed to beckon to someone outside the room.

"Come on, no need to be shy, now."

A boy in a grey blazered school uniform stiffly walked in to stand at her left. His dark brown hair was spiked up with a piece rebelling and flopping over at the top of his forehead. He seemed mildly disinterested in what his new teacher was saying, and instead opted to look around the room at his peers, who stared back at him like he was an animal at the zoo.

"Class, this is Meihou Tadashi. He's come to us from Hokkaido, Japan. I'm counting on you all to make him feel welcome and help him since he hasn't mastered Chinese yet."

Everyone stood up at their desks. "Welcome." They sat down again.

The teacher smiled, then looked around the room. "Now, let's see...where should we put you..."

A girl pushed her friend from her desk and onto the floor. "There's a free seat here!"

"Ms. Ye, that's Shang-Xiang's seat and you know it." She looked at Lien, who blinked. "There's a free seat behind Ms. Tao. Please raise your hand so Tadashi knows who you are. There, now go sit with her and she'll help you get situated." Tadashi bowed to the teacher and walked to the back of the room where the Tao twins sat.

Ren eyed him as he passed. He hadn't anticipated anything like this. I'll have to watch him closely.

Tadashi locked eyes with Lien as he passed. She felt awkward, but tried to smile warmly. He sat in his chair and placed his bag on the desk.

"Now, let's start class. First, let's review the history homework from last night..."

Lien clenched her fist in determination. CHANCE! I'll shine today, tomorrow, and everyday after that!

She heard a soft giggle from behind her and looked to see her new neighbor smirking at her. Slightly embarrassed, she turned back around and tried to concentrate on her worksheet, eagerly awaiting her chance to be called on. Ren glared at the boy, who finally turned his head to stare back at him. He grinned, giving him something that looked like a sloppy two-finger salute.

"Yo."

Oh, the many things Ren would have liked to say back to him, chief among them being, "Don't talk to me," and, "Stay away from my sister." He was fluent in Japanese – his father had seen to that – but making scenes wasn't a cherished pastime.

As they moved on to film studies, Ren watched his sister nod off and finally lean over her desk in slumber. He rolled his eyes and sighed quietly, knowing that she was, once again, a glutton for punishment. He heard his new classmate stir, and turned to see him poking the sleeping girl in the back with the eraser of his pencil, presumably in an effort to wake her up.

"Stop it. Don't wake her up. She needs to learn the consequences of her actions," he whispered harshly in Japanese.

Tadashi glanced at him, then went back to poking Lien. Ren gritted his teeth.

"I said stop it." He didn't. "I said stop, goddammit!" He reached over to grab his wrist, but before he could, the boy wound up and stabbed Lien with the eraser.

She sprang awake with an audible yelp and minor flailing, causing some of her papers to go onto the floor. The class stared at her, and she shrunk in her seat.

"Yes, Ms. Tao? Do you have something you'd like to contribute to the discussion?" Ms. Wong asked.

Her student's face instantly turned red. She had no idea what they had been talking about. "I...I...In my opinion...um..."

She was interrupted by the noise of Tadashi standing up behind her. "I kick her by sorry," he said in broken Chinese. "Dumb action. Very sorry." He bowed.

"So cute!" a few girls squealed.

His teacher looked flustered, unsure of whether to reprimand a new student so quickly. "It's okay, Mr. Meihou," she said finally. "Just be more careful from now on, alright?"

"Understand." He went to sit down, then put his hand on Lien's shoulder. "Very sorry. No hate?"

She looked back at him with a smile. "No, I don't hate you," she whispered in Japanese. "It's okay." Then she turned her attention back to her teacher as if nothing had happened.

Ren kept staring at his sister's shoulder. This kid, this FOREIGNER, whom he had barely known for two hours had already crossed the line and laid a hand on his sister, territory that only their family and very few others could venture into.

How dare you...How dare you...No one outside our family is allowed to lay a hand on her, and here you are thinking you can just pat her whenever you want to...You bastard...

There was a snapping sound. The class turned and looked at Ren, whose pencil had mysteriously broken in half in his hand. Lien timidly opened her pencil case, fished out a new writing utensil, and then offered it to him.

"Here, Niisama..." she whispered, thinking he was mad that she had fallen asleep again. She knew he had broken the pencil himself and was clearly disturbed by it, but she tried to smile, hoping that he would forgive her.

He stared at it for a moment before taking it from her with a mumbled "Thank you." When he looked up, his nemesis was looking back at him, as if studying his actions. Ren dug his right hand into the pocket of his blazer.

After class, he watched as Tadashi tapped Lien on the shoulder. She turned to see him with his right elbow on the desk, his jaw resting on his fist.

"What?" she asked. He didn't answer, just continued to stare at her. She grinned nervously. "Did you need something?"

He smiled. "Interesting eyes."

She blushed, not used to receiving compliments. "T-Thank you! My Dad gave them to me." She froze. "I mean, he has them and I have them – He didn't take his out and give them to me, that'd just be weird...It's a genetic thing! Niisama has them too and um, my little brother sort of has him but they're a darker yellow so it's not really the same...My Mom has black eyes, but she's the only one – she – she jokes that it's because Papa's so controlling that none of her genes were able to have a say in anything since she's not as outspoken as he is and um..."

He chuckled. "Cute."

Ren's crosshairs finally locked on. He quickly stood up. "Meihou, you're coming with me." He grabbed the boy by his collar and half-dragged him to the door.

"Tour?" the boy asked, seemingly confused.

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Yes...Tour."

He dragged him out into the courtyard, quickly looking around to make sure no one was there. When he knew that they were alone, he fisted the front of his prey's uniform and slammed him against the brick wall. Tadashi flinched and moved his hand to seemingly rub the back of his head.

"Dangerous tour..."

Ren fumed and pushed him harder against the wall. "Drop the act, you lying bastard. I know you can understand me. You didn't ask one question during any of the lectures today. You understood every word, and your notes prove it."

Tadashi lost his innocent eyes in favor of braver ones. He grinned.

"There's no fooling you is there, Tao Ren?" he said with a smirk, his Chinese suddenly perfect. "You discovered me even quicker than I thought you would."

"I really don't care about this little game of yours. All I care about is what you want with Lien," Ren said in a low, cold voice. "I don't like you talking to her, much less TOUCHING her."

"I'm just being nice to her, making conversation...you know, being friendly. You don't seem to make an effort to talk to her. She's probably lonely."

"That's none of your concern. She comes to talk to me when she needs help. If she needed me, she'd tell me. She's my responsibility – NOT YOURS."

Tadashi looked down and grinned. "Did you ever think that maybe if you woke her up when she falls asleep in class that she might do even a little bit better in school? After all, at least she'd be able to listen to the teacher and take notes."

Ren paused, then tightened his grip. "How I treat my sister is my business and mine alone. There is no room for you to interfere."

The grin grew. "I don't get why you're so anal about her. Being overly protective is usually the father's job, isn't it? Are you trying to be his proxy or something? Is that why you feel the need to call out anyone who even speaks to her? Or maybe something in your past is eating at you and making you think you have to protect her?"

All Ren could do was grit his teeth. He had always felt responsible for how his sister had been bloodied at the hands of their classmates so long ago. If only he had been stronger, he kept telling himself, if only he had been stronger, he could have protected her and prevented the beating she received.

Sure, at home, his father was the one who was responsible for protecting Lien, as well as Pin-Mei and himself. He was more than strong enough to defend his family if need be. But at school, with their father so far away, the responsibility came to rest on the young heir's shoulders. It was up to him and him alone to protect his sister.

"What makes you think I'm out to get you? Maybe I'm just the opposite," the boy went on. "Don't you think it would help and maybe even be a little refreshing to have an ally in a crazy place like this? I mean, you can't always be around when the fangirls attack."

Ren narrowed his eyes. He had a point. With his commitment to the martial arts team, it was impossible for him to watch over Lien after school. However, he was well aware that this could also be a trap. He let go of his classmate and watched him drop to the ground. The foreigner held his head and looked up as the young Tao overshadowed him.

"I'm giving you ONE chance to get on my good side. Succeed, and I'll consider letting you hang around Lien. Fail..." Tadashi looked down to see the thumb of Ren's left hand sequentially pushing down each of fingers, causing them to crack. "...You'll have to worry about waking yourself more than her."

He turned and walked away, leaving the transfer student on the ground. Tadashi sighed as he stood and brushed himself off.

"I know she means a lot to you," he said when Ren was out of earshot. "But remember: Lien's your sister - not someone you can take for yourself and have and love forever. That's why I'm here. Don't worry..." His eyes flashed. "...I'll take good care of her for you."