"You shouldn't be here!" he hissed at her in frustration. "What if you get hurt?"

"I won't get hurt," she whispered back indignantly. "I can take care of myself."

"You know that's not what I meant," he growled. "What if you were wrong? What if-"

"No," she interrupted him. "I refuse to accept that, even as a theory."

"I refuse to believe he's dead."

"Well, this sucks," Dell stated, watching Meito sleep. "I can't have my cancer sticks and Meito's gonna be out for a while. Maybe I should've carried the brat after all. It would've saved me from the torture now."

He sighed and sank back into his pillows. He didn't understand why he had to stay overnight when he only had a few cuts and bruises. It's not like he and Haku could afford hospital bills. But Haku, being the older sister and therefore responsible for Dell had said,

"You will stay there and force yourself to enjoy it! If you get an infection because you wouldn't suck up your pride and stay in a hospital for one night, we'll have even bigger bills to pay. Oh, and pick up my order from the liquor store on you way home."

Then she had uttered a dramatic sigh and hung up the phone on her half-sibling. Typical Haku, Dell had thought, rolling his eyes. She refuses to stay when she gets alcohol poisoning, yet I have to for non life threatening wounds. I'm not sure whether or not to call her a hypocrite or to be thankful she cares so much. Maybe I'll use both.

Hmmm…Haku, the caring sadist. Yeah, that's nice and paradoxical. Len would be proud.

At that thought, Dell had banged his head against the nearest hard surface, which was the wall behind him.

I take it back. If I'm comparing myself to him, then I was clearly injured in the fall. Maybe staying here won't be so bad…

That thought seemed light years away. How had he even considered the idea that staying in the hospital of Darkness could be enjoyable in any way? The doctor was a boy who wasn't even out of high school, and if any more were lurking around, they were certainly good at hiding. The food was terrible in general, but for some reason the milk, which came in pink half-pint cartons, was delicious. Dell figured it was laced with something that could kill him. Milk shouldn't taste that good.

But even though the day had started bad, it hadn't gotten worse. Or better, for that matter. At least Dell was conscious, unlike poor Meito, who had dropped into a deep sleep the second he sat down in Gumi's car. Since then, he hadn't woken up once, nor did he show any intention of waking up soon. The doctor (Mikuo, was it? Sounds familiar...) was worried about Meito being in such an unbreakable sleep since he had suffered a Grade 3 concussion. But Meito wouldn't wake up no matter what was done to him, so Mikuo had simply sighed and told Dell to buzz for a nurse if his roommate ever woke up. Dell, who hadn't been paying much attention, muttered something close to an agreement.

Mikuo tried not to slap something. He might've been only sixteen, but he knew what he was doing. Would someone at least listen to him? Heck, even pretending to listen to him would have made Mikuo happy. No one, from his peers to strangers on the street, ever seemed to give Mikuo the time of day, and it drove him insane. Every day, he prayed that someone, anyone, would walk up to him and ask for his opinion or just start a random conversation. It would be better to know that he was at least noticed by others. But that never happened.

Nothing happened, that is, until Mikuo met them.

Meiko's eyelids twitched as she began to awaken from sleep. She opened them a crack and stared up at the sunlight filtering down through a window with blinds that needed dusting badly. As her thoughts organized themselves, she became more and more panicked. There had been the fight on the rooftop…Meito…Kaito's reappearance ...and the blond brat… She closed her eyes, getting stressed from the overwhelming thoughts.

Kaito! As that thought registered fully in her brain, Meiko shot up from her position on the futon, only to instantly regret it. A sharp stab of pain was attacking her side, and the memory of being backstabbed washed over Meiko with a fresh wave of frustrating despair. Meito had tried to hurt her, and not out of blind rage or the effects of some other strong emotion. He'd been completely rational at the time, which meant that for once, Meiko was completely and utterly alone. This hurt more than the wound she'd reopened, and the brown haired woman grew angrier as she thought about it.

Why? she thought. Why does everything fall apart just as it reaches perfection? Why, why, why, why,

"Why?" she screeched, punching the space to her right. It just didn't seem fair. Every single time Meiko found happiness about something, it all fell apart right at the end, and she was left grasping at straws once again. First it was her family, then that, Kaito and Taito, and now, her own brother…

As she went through the cycle of anger, Meiko failed to notice that she had woken up the other occupant of the room. Kaito watched her through blurry eyes, still just a few steps behind what was going on. It annoyed him to no end, but Gakupo never told him anything, and noting about the city triggered his memory. It was scary enough with its condemned buildings and cracked and deserted sidewalks in the daytime, so Kaito rarely went out at night, when the city of Darkness seemed to be truly haunted. He wanted his memories back, not for people to remember him at his funeral.

"Meiko?" he asked.

The woman, anger still burning with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns, turned her head to look down at the man next to her.

"You…" she growled, and from the way her eyes were narrowed to slits with dilated pupils and the near growling quality of her voice, Kaito had the good sense to get as far away as possible in a small amount of time. All traces of grogginess gone, he crouched beneath the window, muscles tense and eyes searching Meiko to predict what she would do next. She stood up and stretched, ignoring the pain her reopened wound must have been giving her, only to crouch down on all fours, staring straight at Kaito.

"You are just like a cat, Meiko," Kaito panted as they rested after a sparring session. The afternoon sun shone on his face through a gap in the trees, and despite being warm enough already, Kaito soaked in the sun's warmth. It wasn't very often he got a chance to be alone with Meiko, worry-free and his typical clueless self.

"Clever, flexible, and annoyingly-able-to-jump-out-of-anywhere."

"Well if I'm the cat," she replied, smirking, "you must be the dog. Loyal, clumsy, and willing-to-follow-his-master-to-certain-doom." Meiko let the words hang in the air, waiting for the delayed reaction she was sure Kaito would have. After all, unless someone's life was in imminent danger, Kaito was pretty slow on catching up with what others were implying. Well, maybe not slow, per say, but too innocent. Kaito was simply too innocent for his own good.

"Hey!" retorted Kaito. "I'd have stopped you before we got to the point where everything was headed for certain doom!"

Meiko's smirk got wider. "Forgetting something?" she purred.

Blushing, Kaito added, "And you're not my master…"

Meiko laughed her loud, booming laugh, and Kaito couldn't help but join in. It was such a pleasant day, and for once there were no missions to worry about or hit men tracking them down. Everything, he dared to say, was perfect.

Kicking aside Kaito's sleeping place, Meiko leaped for him, only to scratch the wall. Kaito had rolled to his right, narrowly avoiding the legs of a small table which held a half-eaten bowl of sticky rice and a bouquet of Tuberose in a fishbowl. He quickly righted himself and, pushing off the badly scratched wooden floor, tackled Meiko. They hit the floor with a crash that rattled the apartment and Kaito tried to figure out a way to subdue Meiko (who was arguably stronger then him) without hurting her too badly. Wriggling, Meiko freed one of her legs and brought her heel down on Kaito's ankle, causing a garbled sound of pain and his grip on her to loosen.

Day 1

Crap. Just crap. This shouldn't be happening, and that's not including the fact that I'm writing in a journal I stole from Nigaito. Why did they attack? From what I can tell, Mother hasn't acted on those impulses for a while. That aside, he promised he wouldn't come back for us until the red moon of the Rakshas Sacrifices… Someone gave her up…

But who? The only person with any reason to hold a grudge against Mother is Father (Why do I call him that?) unless, of course, Zeito, Akaito, and Kikaito remember enough of that time to hold it against her. Considering the kind of person Father is, they probably do remember, but Zeito might be they only one to act on his negative emotions. Plus, his body was the only one not there. It's all very suspicious, but I can't do anything about it until I get some more information, which I can't even start until I manage to get Kaito and myself out of here. They're definitely still out looking for us, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I sure am glad that sandstorm hit when it did. If it hadn't, we'd be dead by now.

Optimistically (I must be exhausted if I'm thinking like this), I do have a few leads to work with, however vague. The man I'm looking for- his name is Kion Duo, and he's a charming yet egotistical bastard. Lots of women fall for him, and as such he has a lot of children. Not that he bothers to claim us. Should I tell Kaito? No. I'll tell him on a need to know basis. It's better this way.

But that doesn't give me a lot. Kion has his own personal assassins, and they're the ones that took out our family. I think. But could Zeito have something to do with it? He never really liked the rest of us, except for maybe mother on one of his good days. Along with his missing body, I can't help but put Zeito right up there with Kion. Have I been repeating myself? I don't think I should care all that much as long as it's relevant. Well, I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll be able to think better in the morning.

Signed,

Taito (because I'm not related to him, nor do I plan on claiming myself to be)

Smiling smugly, Meiko flipped Kaito onto his back, catching him fully off guard as he reeled from the sudden flood of unconnected memories. His blue eyes were full of confusion and he was starting to develop a headache from the mental trauma of the last few hours and Meiko trying to break his face wasn't helping the situation. Kaito was only barely managing to hold back her fists, and she had pinned him in such a way that he was starting to loose the feeling in his legs.

The two of them, in their fight spawned of Meiko's misdirected anger, failed to hear the sound of voices coming up the stairs, or the click of the key in the lock. They didn't hear the unmistakable creak of the front door as it opened, the sharp, metallic, yet quiet sound of a sword being unsheathed, or the sound of shoes against the hardwood flooring.

"Gakupo, no!" Luka screeched. Finally drawn out of their bubble, Kaito and Meiko turned their heads to see the tip of Gakupo's katana centimeters away from Meiko's throat. A thin trail of blood ran down its edge and a drop of the scarlet liquid fell to the floor below. Meiko, who had been snapped out of her anger, looked farther up the katana's blade to see a shocked Gakupo with traces of rage still crossing his face being held back by Luka, who, through a mix of misfortune and a lack of speed had only stopped the purple-haired man from decapitating Meiko by using one arm to twist him to the side and the other to grab the blade of his weapon. By the way her hand was twisted as she gripped the katana, Luka undoubtedly had a long and deep cut right now.

"I don't think you can handle this right now," she ground out, and using her good hand, she knocked him out with a strike to the back of the neck.

"Never looses its charm…" she mused aloud, setting Gakupo down carefully on the floor. She glanced at Kaito and Meiko briefly, then stood upright and walked over to the bathroom, where she could be heard searching through the mess and bandaging her wound. When Luka came out a short while later, Meiko had freed Kaito and the two were sitting next to each other, breathing heavily. Meiko was holding her side and staring at the floor in guilt. Kaito stared off into space, more confused than ever. Noiselessly, Luka walked up to Kaito and placed a rag over his nose and mouth. Instead of fighting back, he breathed in deeply and slumped to the floor.

"Chloroform?" Meiko asked without looking up.

"Yeah," answered Luka. "It makes you wonder how paranoid Gakupo can get. You should see some of the stuff in his medicine cabinet." She turned to watch Meiko. "If it wasn't such a long way down, I'd have put you under too."

Meiko looked up at the younger woman pleadingly.

"Luka, can I stay with you for a few days?" Her wide, tearing eyes and cracked voice put the answer in Luka's mouth before she thought it through completely.

"Of course you can," Luka replied sweetly. Helping Meiko up, the two then set out of Gakupo's apartment and into the street, where Gakupo's motorcycle rested, a lone raven in an empty field. Despite everything, Meiko smiled.

"Still breaking the rules, are we?" she asked, and in reply Luka stuck out her tongue.

"Just get on."

Mikuo sat at his desk, dutifully reviewing his current patient files. Coming across something interesting, he double checked the database to be sure.

"Cousins?" he asked the empty air. "Who would've thought."

A/N: By my calculations, it is now mid-afternoon of the next day. (Yup, you can totally stretch out less than 24 hours for quite a long time. I've read a few novels like that...)

1. I don't really want to end this here, but it works out for the best like this. Otherwise the time skips between scenes will get kind of awkward.

2. Thank you for the reviews! I leave them in my inbox and read them over for inspiration.