It was weird being home. First of all, nothing had changed. I don't know what I was expecting, but being gone for sixteen days made me think that something would be different. Everything was different in the sense that Kazuma was lying to his sister and was now undergoing training to strengthen his body for the tournament that I was still terrified would kill him, but the house was still moderately taken care of, my room was still in the same order as I'd left it in, and no one on my dance team had practiced the routine that I had been practicing in my spare time at the compound. My teachers were still ignoring me, my classmates still gave me weird looks, and my cousin still felt the need to walk me to the entrance of his school before he let me go on my own.

Everything was so... normal.

I felt like a character out a comic book being thrown into a different world.

Everything had changed in me. I had already read the chapters assigned to us in class, my comprehension had increased, my grades seemed to be on a rise, and I was lacking interest in the idea of moving on in the world of dancing, the only thing in my life that had ever made me feel confident about myself and who I was. Watching the screw-ups of the girls was like watching a train-wreck in slow motion; disastrous and predictable. Mrs. Tanaka had started to notice my declining interest, and I passed it off as not feeling well since coming back, which wasn't completely a lie. I was lying awake every night thinking about the possible fates of Yusuke and Kuwabara, the demon Hiei and the red-haired Shuichi, whom had been oddly absent from the routine we'd had of walking home together. I couldn't blame him, as I'd been gone without a word for a little over two weeks, but it was disconcerting knowing that I had no idea what was going on in anyone's lives right now. This tournament was slowly consuming everything, and I couldn't do anything to help.

I rolled over on my bed for the dozenth time, staring out the window and watching the stars twinkle innocently. It was torture; I had been home for a week now, and every night I felt an odd pushing and pulling sensation with every heartbeat. I felt like I needed to go outside, exist within the night. It wasn't good to go out alone at night in the city, which was why I hadn't so far, but it was getting harder and harder to resist with every minute ticking by. I wanted to climb out the window, run like hell, and just exist. I couldn't sleep with all of the noise, all of the stress and all of the questions.

I groaned, rolling over and quietly creeping out of my bed. I changed into a pair of jeans and pulled a sweater over my sports bra, tiptoeing to my pile of clean clothes and picking up a pair of socks before I crept out into the hallway. I wouldn't go far... I would take some protection and I would be back before anyone could miss me. In theory, this would work out spectacularly. In reality, I was probably going to get caught, get hurt, or severely regret my life decision for the night. Hell, it would most likely be any combination of the three with my luck.

On the off chance that Shizuru would wake up to find me gone, I scribbled down a note that I was going out for a walk and that I would be back soon, writing down the time just for good measure. It was my experience that, in the case that your older cousin might find out your late-night mischief and skin you alive while your screams echoed off the walls, it was always better to provide as much information beforehand as possible, so that some rational part of said cousin's brain may decide to only take a pound of flesh instead of the whole suit.

Equipped with a flashlight, the metal baseball bat in the closet, and the house key, I grabbed the bike I was using currently and started off. The wind felt like heaven on my skin, relieving some of the achy, stuffy feeling I was having in that suffocating room. It was always too hot or too cold; how could those maniacs live with extremes? I could feel the sweat on my brow cooling the second the bike had started moving, and I pulled my hood up to try and at least partially hide my gender in case I ran into any punks. I didn't know where I was going yet, but it was damn well going to be somewhere I could hear myself think for a minute.

I was lucky; there was almost no one out on the path that I decided to take, and the few people that were on it were either people going home from late night work or kids like me who decided to risk sneaking out past their bedtime. It was cute, watching people my own age holding hands with lovers, talking about everything and nothing, blushing and acting innocent and shy when they both knew that nothing but stolen kisses and long conversation would happen. Others were less innocent with their intentions, but I always loved watching the shy ones. Something about their naive mannerisms always restored some of the faith I had in people and made me hopeful for the idea of finding my own partner one day. If the kids that blushed every time the opposite gender looked their way, someone like me should be able to find someone my speed too, when the time came that I was ready for that.

I pulled off to the side after a while of not seeing anyone out, parking myself underneath a bridge just out of the way of the general public. The moon was full tonight, shining bright and beautiful despite the city lights all around. I let my hand start to move, allowing that pressure to build behind my eyes and watching the streams of water pull upwards with my fingertips. I grinned, lifting my other hand and pulling up a column, twirling and bringing it around me in one fluid motion and trying out my footwork. Genkai had told me that I needed to control what I could do without thinking about it before I could learn to fight. She said that it would take time, but if I was going to help Kazuma, time was something that I didn't quite have the luxury of.

I went through some of the exercises Genkai had put me through as well as my entire dance routine before I finally pushed the water back into itself, still spilling it at the end. A thin layer of sweat made the air that much colder, and I shivered to try and get some friction going.

"You get a kick out of watching me make an ass of myself?" I called to the familiar presence I felt watching me.

I turned around, almost jumping out of my skin at the red eyes glowing in front of me. How the hell did he do that?

"I had hoped that your stumbling about would amuse me. On the contrary; I'm quite bored." Hiei condescended, his hands in his pockets. I twitched, an unfortunate family trait when we were irritated, and cleared my throat.

"Sorry to disappoint you." I ground out. "Look, I just wanted to thank you for leading me back to the compound."

His brow furrowed, a slight movement I would have missed if I hadn't been making eye contact, and his lips tightened in either anger or confusion. I couldn't really tell with him. "I told you that you would have to find your own way back; why would I go out of my way to save you?"

"Honestly, I don't know. But I do know it was you that sent the branch down in my path and made me turn around when I tried to stray. You didn't have to, but you stayed behind and guided me back despite your warnings, and you tried to make me think that I was on my own. I appreciate it. I would have been lost in those woods until dawn if you hadn't. So thank you."

He stared hard at me, seeming to analyze every breath I took before he closed his eyes and turned around as if to leave.

"You're thinking too much. When you're utilizing your ability, don't think about what you want the water to do; just do it."

I couldn't help the grin that pulsed forward, pulling my sweater tighter to keep out the chill. "Wow, I didn't know you could actually say something nice."

"It's advice you should follow. If you can't do something as simple as that, you shouldn't be wasting your time."

"That's more like it." I shook my head, looking up again and seeing that he was gone. I wasn't surprised.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling a different kind of pressure behind my eyes. Grabbing my bike, I headed home, snuck into my room, and was asleep before my head hit my pillow, the sounds of rushing waves filling my ears and the self-satisfied smirk of a certain demon fading away with my consciousness.