"There she is."

I opened my eyes, cursing under my breath at the light that blinded me. Someone touched my hair, and I glanced up to see the blurry shape of my older cousin. I blinked a few times, clearing my vision and focusing on her.

"Shit!" I bolted for the door, but the second my feet hit the ground I was on the floor, Shizuru cursing behind me and someone else gripping my arm to help her get me up. A burst of grey swarmed my vision, friendly and persistent, and a blast of electric honey gold sliced through it as another arm grabbed me, dotting my vision in a sickening mix of both colors. It took me by surprise, and I shook them off, staring up into pink eyes. What the hell was that? "Botan? What... you were-"

"We're safe. Kaeko and I are both fine. How are you, Ella? You took some fine blows back there." Botan looked genuinely worried, which threw me. We only just met a few... hours ago? How long had I been out? "You've been asleep for four hours now."

"You're lucky to be conscious, Gav." Shizuru gripped my elbow again, and this time I let her pull me up, shutting my eyes hard against that same blast of honey gold. It made me sick, but I knew better than to resist her twice, and took her kindness while she was still offering it. She had beat up Kazuma just enough in my time here for me to get the picture of her what her patience would allow and what would make it snap in two. I don't think I could take one of her lessons in manners in my current state.

I let her put me on the bed, relishing the full view of my room rather than color, and yanked down the sleeve of my shirt to inspect the injury on my shoulder, my stomach dropping again at the sight of smooth, flawless skin where the gash once was. I looked at my hand, flexing it experimentally, darting my hand to where there was once a large hole near my spine. There was nothing but that same smooth skin and painless reach to touch where the wound was. I stared up at Botan with accusation in my eyes. This game was getting old, and my patience was not much better than my cousin's.

Botan bit her lip, looking at me with pleading eyes. She glanced in Shizuru's direction, eyes widening at her threatening gaze.

"Tell me what happened. I heard Kaeko's side, about the teachers going crazy, and Botan's ridiculous story about being in the wrong place at the right time crap. What's your side of the story?" She sat next to me, ignoring Botan defending her story, adamant about her side. She was full of it.

"I was coming home and I ran into Botan on my way here. She told me that half of the city was suffering some kind of virus that messed with their minds, and that for some reason they were targeting Kaeko, so I followed her to see if her story had any validity, and to rescue Kaeko if it did." I crossed my arms, glaring at the blue haired woman. "How did you know they were targeting Kaeko, Botan? And how did you know who I was?"

"I'm friends with Kuwabara and Yusuke. Kuwabara talks about you quite a lot. There aren't many young women in Japan who match your description." She grinned, rubbing the back of her head nervously. I had seen the same tick in hundreds of anime throughout my lifetime. Was Japan really just one big stereotype?

"And how did you heal me up? Do you have special powers or something?"

"Heal you?" She added laughter to her suspicious behavior, waving her other hand rapidly in front of her. "There's no such thing as healing powers, you silly goose. Why would you say such a thing?"

"Because I was stabbed? Twice?"

"Woah, what?" Shizuru whipped her head around to glare at Botan. "My cousin was stabbed? And you thought this was information that was fine to leave out?"

"There was a mishap at the school, yes, but I wouldn't quite say 'stabbed' was the right word for it." She explained quickly, lowering her hands and taking a step back. "When we were attacked by the sick teachers, Ella stepped in front of Kaeko valiantly to take the blow, but there was a lot of blood for how minor the injury really was. We were scared, and we wrapped her up to make sure she didn't bleed out, but it was nothing serious. I didn't want to scare anyone by making a mountain out of a molehill."

"Minor? Seriously? If it was so minor, how do you explain this?" I pointed to my shoulder.

"Yeah Botan, where is this injury that was bleeding everywhere?" Shizuru examined my shoulder, and the lack of an injury, before staring back at Botan.

The woman was frozen in shock, looking like someone had just tossed her in the middle of an icy lake. I almost felt bad for her, but I was too mad to let that 'almost' tip the scales in her favor by dropping the subject. She was grasping at straws to try and come up with a reasonable answer.

"The Kuwabara family seems to recover very quickly from injuries. You should be thankful for such a wonderful body that heals so quickly." she backed into the corner as Shizuru came forward, threatening as all hell. You couldn't pay me to trade places with Botan.

"You're calling my cousin a liar, Botan, and me a fool. I don't appreciate that."

"I'm not saying anything like that! I don't know how to explain what happened, the world works in mysterious ways; anything can happen. We should just be thankful that she wasn't hurt lethally, and that we all made it home without carrying this virus with us or any fatal injuries. A few scrapes and bruises, but nothing life threatening."

By some stroke of luck for the young woman cowering in the corner, a tall, familiar red head knocked on the doorframe before Shizuru could do anymore psychological or physical damage to Botan. I felt my face heat up at the sight of him standing there, still dressed in that pink school uniform, and quickly looked down in hopes that he didn't see my red face.

"Pardon my intrusion. I thought I heard yelling and came to see if there was anything that I could assist with." Shuichi looked concerned, but I noticed that once again it did not quite reach his eyes. There was just something about him that seemed to stop him from really feeling anything 100%, something that was too detached.

"No... it's fine. How's my brother doing, Kurama?" Shizuru reluctantly abandoned her pursual of knowledge from Botan, turning her full attention to the man in the room. I frowned, staring up at him. Kurama?

"He's doing well. He should be up in a few hours. He's just recovering." /span/p

"So what exactly happened to him? That much wasn't really clear. I just assumed he got his ass kicked by some punk, but that doesn't seem likely. The only one he loses to is Yusuke, but with him unconscious as well, it makes me think I'm not getting the full story." She crossed her arms, examining him carefully. I watched Botan in my peripheral, but didn't say anything as she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, breathing out slowly. It was interesting how much stress lying put on someone. Just a few simple untrue words and there was a mountain on their shoulders.

"I'm sure he'd rather me not spoil his story for when he wakes up." He chuckled. "He gets a little rambunctious I've noticed when someone steals his thunder."

"You don't know the half of it." Shizuru shook her head, looking about the room again. "I'm going to make some snacks. Anyone want anything?"

"Just tea for me please." I looked up at her, smiling.

"I have to get home for supper, but thank you for the offer." Shuichi gave her a grateful smile.

"If you insist. Botan, I think I need some help getting the tea ready. Why don't you come help me?" Shizuru motioned her to follow downstairs, and Botan looked terrified. I took pity on her, offering a condoling smile. She was a nice enough girl, if a little flakey. I didn't appreciate all the lies, but she seemed like she was protecting something by lying, and I couldn't fully blame her if that was the case.

However, once we were alone together, she would be doing a little more explaining, away from the fear that every word out of her mouth would lead to more pain from Shizuru.

I cleared my throat, standing up from the bed and straightening my school uniform. It was nerve-wracking being in the same room as him outside of that school. I definitely wasn't expecting him to be in my room at any point, and alone at that.

"I'm sorry about the mess. Would you like to sit down?" I offered, smiling again at him. He returned it, holding his hands out.

"No thank you, I won't be staying long. You're very kind for offering though." He crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe. "Are you alright? I heard what happened at the school. It was very brave of you to rescue Kaeko from those men."

"I wouldn't say it was 'brave', but thank you." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I would never classify that as brave; I was too scared for it to ever be considered brave, and the very thought that it could be misconstrued as such made me very uncomfortable. "I'm fine, just a little jostled I guess. My memory doesn't seem to be serving me correctly with the events that went down at the school."

He nodded, his eyes focused on mine, taking in every movement I made. It was intimidating, like a fox inspecting his prey.

"Bravery is the very act of not thinking about the consequences of your actions. From what I was told, you rushed to save your friend immediately upon hearing that she was in trouble. You didn't hesitate. I think that's incredibly brave." He smiled, seeming to ponder over the vision of what happened. I cleared my throat to try and alleviate some of the awkward tension that was rising in the room. "I've made you uncomfortable. Forgive me; I was speaking without thinking."

"No, it's okay. I'm just... I guess I didn't really think about it that way. I just wanted to help Kaeko in any way that I could. If anything, it was probably foolish to trust a stranger."

He laughed, ducking his head as he did so. I grinned, feeling accomplished for getting the response that I had hoped for out of him.

"That's probably true, though I would say that your foolishness did earn you a good deal of experience, and saved a young girl's life. I dare say that would make you very intuitive."

"You're making me blush." I teased, turning around to hide the fact that the teasing was 100% honesty. "Are you sure I can't offer you a seat? I hate making you stand there to talk to me. You're welcome to come in at least, if that would be more comfortable for you."

"With such a generous offer from my host, it would seem imprudent of me." his footsteps were quiet, but entered the room regardless, stopping maybe a few feet in just to be polite and not refuse all of what we offered. "You have a lovely room, Ella."

"Thank you." I looked around it to see what he saw, inspecting the overall plain room. I had put in a bookshelf across from my bed, and rested a small cd player on top of it so I could dance. There were notebooks and flashcards from my tutoring with Kazuma on my desk, along with several textbooks that I didn't need at school today. The only thing on my walls was that small photograph of my mother and father and toddler Gavriella centered above my bed so I could look at it at night. "I like it. They spoiled me getting me such nice furniture when I moved here."

"It suites you."

I smiled again, getting it under control before I looked back at him. "So what did happen today, if you don't mind my asking? I didn't know Kazuma was hurt."

"It's nothing to worry about. You should be more concerned with your well being. It was quite the ordeal you went through." He repeated what he'd told Shizuru, and I nodded.

"Just thought I'd check. I worry about him getting into fights; the human body can only take so much before it gives out, and as much as he thinks he's a man he's only a kid." I sighed, leaning against the wall near him but not so near that it was inappropriate. "Sorry, I shouldn't be complaining to you. You're my guest."

"It's no trouble. It's important to show that we care about those that we love." He looked almost thoughtful for a moment, which made me smile a little. I assumed he was thinking of his mother, which made me happy. It was a rare thing for a young man to be so openly caring about his parents, so dedicated to their well being. He seemed to notice me looking at him, because he offered a small smile as well as a nod of his head. "I should get going. Thank you for being such a gracious host."

He turned to leave my room, so I pushed myself off of the wall and took a step forward. "Wait. We haven't been formally introduced yet."

Shuichi turned his body halfway to look at me, and I extended my hand to him.

"My name is Gavriella Kuwabara. I'm happy to meet you."

He stared at my hand for a brief moment, seeming to analyze the situation, before a genuine, amused smile graced his lips. He reached out his hand to meet mine.

"It's a pleasure to meet-"

The moment our skin connected, I was launched into a world of pale purples, deep pinks. It was smoky, smelled like a greenhouse. It was cold, like anything that wasn't necessary to breathing was completely shut out and pushed away so it wouldn't interfere with that one simple task. It was dangerous, dark, but beautiful. It was suffocating, terrifying.

I jerked my hand backwards, staring at the now visible Shuichi Minamino. His eyes were wide, stunned, but he fixed himself to a more relaxed, concerned stance and pulled his hand back to his side. I swallowed, exhaling slowly to catch my breath. This wasn't just a fluke. What the hell was going on with me.

"Sorry, you shocked me a little." I forced a laugh, trying to play this off for now. It wouldn't do to freak him out any more than I already had. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow.

His eyes were guarded again, and his smile was careful. Whatever this was, clearly my uncalled for reaction to him touching me had made him pull back.

"Until tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Gavriella."

I watched him until he disappeared down the stairs, and ran to catch him as he was walking out the door, making sure that he had indeed left before I walked back to my bed and faceplanted directly into my pillow. Smooth, Gavriella. Really smooth.

"You okay, kiddo?"

I turned my head to look at Shizuru, who was setting down my tea on my bedside table.

"Yeah, just... tired." I sighed, sitting up so I could sip my tea. Shizuru sat down next to me and inspected my current state.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Where's Botan?"

"I sent her to check on Kazuma." She leaned back, looking up at the ceiling, relaxing for a minute. I smiled, sipping my tea and enjoying her company. It was nice sometimes, just to sit in each other's presence. To not have to worry about the redheads you might have driven away from you permanently or the colors that you see whenever you touch people. Just to sit down and relax like a normal human being.

Normal.