Chapter 8

When Tsume got out of the shower, a few minutes later, his mind immediately went to the stranger in his apartment, as he quickly changed. He had been by the frying pan, heating up some ground beef, when she'd gotten the idea to help him. He had told her she could make a salad, if she wanted to. That had somehow led her to reach for the flour above his head, and quickly spilling the bag all over him. Typical clueless rich girl.

He had invited her to dinner, how could he not? However, that did not mean he was helping her in any other shape or form. She had to leave right after. As he opened the door to his bedroom, he was alarmed by the sound coming from Toboe and Hige's bedroom. Were they home already? Great, they must have seen the stranger in the kitchen...

"Toboe? Hige?" He called, knocking on the door next to his bedroom.

"Just a second!" Came a chirpy, and nervous reply. Hamona heard it too, because she came rushing to his side, grabbing his arm. Tsume tried to remain calm, but he was disturbed by her cheery and touchy nature.

"Tsume! You're back. I met Toboe, super nice kid! Hey can you come to the kitchen..." She ushered, trying to buy Toboe as much time as possible to hide the adorable cat she'd just met.

"Um...Okay" He muttered, jerking his arm away. She was insane, he was sure of it.

"Listen, did you get a reply?" He asked as he followed her in to the kitchen, expecting a big fire, but instead finding that she had set the table and had served the food. He had mentioned that his brother Kiba wouldn't be arriving till later, so she had set out 4 plates.

"I did, thanks for asking. My father is calling the hotel on Gray Avenue and paying for my stay. He'll pick me up tomorrow, so again, thank you so much." At that, Tsume took a breath of relief, he hadn't been looking forward to having to pay her stay at a motel, and the hotel on Gray was probably more than he could afford, anyway.

"...Well, I guess I can drive you over, after dinner."

"Forever the gentleman" She joked, sitting down, and motioning for him to do the same.


After a disastrous dinner, where Toboe constantly ran back to his room, or "the bathroom", while Tsume questioned Hige's whereabouts, and Hamona tried to make polite conversation, they were all ready to be done. Hamona was looking forward to going home, and plotting her revenge against Darcia, or at least figuring out a way to avoid him for the rest of her life.

"Are you ready?" Tsume asked, already up, with car keys in hand.

"Yes. Toboe!" She turned to the young boy, who immediately blushed, as her pretty eyes looked right at him. "It was great to meet you, good luck on all things Leara."

"Ha! Thanks Mona... are you sure you can't just stay here? I mean, I'm sure Tsume would give you his room, and he can sleep on the couch-"

"Toboe!" Tsume yelled, hardly believing that his little brother would be so forward. He had just heard the story of how they'd met only a few hours ago.

"That's quite the offer kid, but no. I have my own life to get back to." She smiled, following Tsume to his car. It had been quite the day, and despite herself, she had to wonder about fate and the reason you meet people. She was determined to pay Tsume back somehow.


Later that night.

Blue stopped her car in the middle of the road, close to Hige's place. She was aware that it was dark, and that he father had been calling her non stop for the past 20 minutes, and that they'd been stupid. There was something about Hige, maybe it was his carelessness, or sweetness, but he made it almost impossible for her to be clear headed.

She knew they weren't a good fit. Her father was the sheriff. His parents were dead, and he'd been a ward of the state when they'd first met. She was a straight A student, a hard worker and she was 16. With a car! She was responsible and could be trusted. He was barely passing his classes, he was lazy and a total goof. He was younger than her.

"Thanks for the ride, Blue" He told her, and suddenly none of that mattered. They had gone to the park after they'd picked up her car, they'd walked and kissed, and unfortunately fallen asleep. Her father would be upset, unless she came up with a good lie.

"Well, it might be the last one. Pops has to be freaking out."

"Well, just tell him you were helping a friend study." He shrugged, as he gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. He was worried about getting home so late, too, but he knew that Quent Yaiden was on a whole different level of parenting and authority. Hige wasn't a fan of the man, but also, maybe he understood him. Blue was all Quent had, after all.

"Yeah, I'll try that. Alright, get out." She commanded, but it was with a smile, which was returned, as he got out and began the short trek home. It was almost 7pm, and he knew he hadn't told anyone he'd be home late. He was usually home by 4 at the latest. His usual excuse for not telling anyone where he'd be was that he didn't have a cell phone, though he knew that was unfair. It's not like they were rich.

He climbed the stairs slowly, as always, complaining about how the apartment was on the third floor. When he reached the door, he quickly paused to hope that nobody was around, and then opened the door, only to have his hopes totally crushed.

"Where the hell have you been?" Tsume asked from the kitchen table. He and Kiba were sitting around, trying to figure out what they could do to earn more money, when Hige walked inside. He didn't answer right away, instead taking his shoes off, and giving them a smile, acting as casual as he could.

"I was studying." He answered, looking over to them, and daring them to question him. He was a good liar, if nothing else.

Unfortunately for him, they were really good at sensing when he was. Kiba quirked a brow at him, which mean he knew that Hige was not being truthful, but he remained silent. Good old kiba.

"You didn't tell anyone" Tsume remarked, cold in his delivery, and Hige had to roll his eyes. It was frustrating, how they had just decided they were in charge. Just because he wasn't properly motivated all the time, didn't mean he was dumb. No, he was actually quite clever and very perceptive. He could take care of himself, and resented being treated like a child.

"I told Toboe" Hige lied, again, knowing that he was just being argumentative.

"Don't be childish" Tsume responded, not willing to explain why, even if true, that was inappropriate and not what he had meant.

"Don't be controlling." Hige responded, as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the necessary ingredients to make himself a sandwich, hoping that they were going to let it go, as he closed the fridge, he realized they were both still staring at him, expectantly, and so he sighed and swallowed his pride.

"I'm sorry, okay? Can we drop it?"

"No-" Tsume started, but was quickly shut down by Kiba's hand on his arm.

"Just drop it."


"You guys were fighting without me?" Toboe joked, as Hige walked into their bedroom and threw himself on his bed, flipping him off. The 12 year old just laughed.

"So cranky"

"Not cranky, just...ready to turn 18."

At that, Toboe gave him a sympathetic smile. He agreed that life would be better when they were all adults, making their own decisions, and granny had always told him they'd all understand each other better when they were adults, but for now...Well, for now he shared a room with a cranky teenager.

"Well, you'll have to turn 15 first."

"Ugh"

The 12 year old chuckled again, and then went over to sit next to his brother, sitting by his feet, and patting his legs. "There, there. You'll be okay. Hey, can I show you something?"

"Is it cake? I'll love you if you say it's cake."

"You already love me, and it is not cake." Toboe responded, but before he could explain the situation, there was some clear sounds of something scratching the closet door, by the younger boy's bed.

"Please tell me it's not a rat…"Groaned Hige, as he followed his brother to the closet door.

"Of course not, it's a..." Toboe opened the door, to reveal a tiny black kitten waiting to play. She ran over to Hige, and immediately started purring. "Surprise!"

"Aha! This is great; little perfect Toboe has smuggled an animal into the apartment." Hige laughed, as the kitten played with his shoelaces.

The boy flushed, embarrassed by the description. "Yeah, well, you're not gonna tell right? I mean, I cover for you all the time."

Hige grinned, playing with the cat, but knowing they would not be able to keep it. "Oh, I don't know..."

Toboe immediately frowned, and pushed him. "Like how I know you and Blue were together tonight, but I didn't go tell on you!"

"How did you know?"

"I saw her car, when I was taking out the trash, which by the way, was your job today."

"You little snoop" Hige joked, not really caring that Toboe knew. Toboe knew everything, and he wasn't a snitch. Hell, he'd have probably told Toboe himself at some point.

"I still don't know why she likes you." The younger boy remarked, as he grabbed 'Cat', and scratched her little ears.

"Because I'm charming, considerate...and I would never snitch on a bro."

At that, Toboe perked up, smiling and then hugging his older brother.

"You're the best, Hige! I really don't know what to do, Leara asked me to take care of the kitten, but then she never came to pick her up..."

"Well, we'll take the kitten to her!"

"But it's late.." Toboe mused, he had thought about going to check on her, he didn't know her phone number, but he knew where she lived. It was strange that Leara had never come, and he was oddly worried. What is something had happened to her? Or to Shelly? There had been quite a few reports of girls going missing in the city, lately.

"How late?"

Toboe shrugged, looking at his watch, and then having to fight little paws off, as the kitten had started playing with it.

"Almost 8"

"Toboe, that's not late at all, let's go!" It wasn't late, no, but it was Freeze City. It wasn't safe to be out past 6 most nights, and there was a strict juvenile curfew, set at 9PM, that was all thanks to Quent Yaiden, Blue's overbearing father, who happened to be the police commissioner.

The two brothers made their way down the hall, as quietly as possible, with 'cat' inside Toboe's backpack, but stopped in their tracks when they realized Kiba was in the living room, watching television. Unfortunately for them, the TV was next to the front door, and he looked up as soon as he heard their footsteps.

"Oh, you're still around?" Hige asked, trying to step in front of Toboe, who was holding his backpack carefully.

"Yeah, I live here."

"I thought you'd be in bed by now."

"It's 8pm. I'm probably gonna go running in a few hours" Kiba muttered, annoyed by two. It was painfully obvious that they were up to something.

"That sounds like fun!" Toboe encouraged, and headed for the door, Hige still trying to block Kiba's view. "We're just gonna go throw the garbage away."

"Stop" Kiba finally said, before Toboe could step outside. He usually kept quiet, letting things unfold naturally. Kiba was calm and reserved, but also painfully aware of the dangers of the city at night.

"I'm not stupid, and I'm 10 second away from calling Tsume." It was his trump card, and he used it way too often, but it usually got the job done.

"We're just going, literally, 5 minutes away to give somebody something, geez Kiba!" Hige exploded, still upset about what he perceived to be mistreatment over spending time with the girl he loved.

"Hey!" Kiba growled out, now, close to losing patience, but still willing to hear them out. Toboe recognized this, and pulled Hige's arm, to have him calm down.

"Sorry Kiba. I just need to return something to Leara, she lives in the Westlake apartments...can you give us a ride?"

"...Yeah, I guess. Go tell Tsume we'll be back in 10 minutes."

To Be Continued...