Disclaimers: Some language

Zanshin: *bows*I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make everyone wait this bloody long to get the next chapter! But my computer crashed (twice), my dad took the laptop on a business trip, school started back up again, and on top of that I procrastinate like crazy.

Nasaiki: Ha! The truth comes out. You better get the next chapter out faster…*threatens with bazooka*

Zanshin: Wah! Sumimasen!

Izumi: We still own nothing. And now on with the story! ^_^

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Chapter Three: Unsettling Coincidences

The next day, Zanshin, Nasaiki, and Izumi were late in getting to their homeroom class. Izumi had forgotten to set her alarm clock, and threw off everybody's routines. Fortunately for Zanshin, however, Izumi's punishment was to wake Nasaiki up that morning. Izumi was not happy with this new development.

Izumi tried to wake Nasaiki up by shaking her, but was gleefully told by Zanshin that that never worked, and wasn't going to start working today.

"You have to steal the covers and pillow, otherwise she just murmurs death threats, and turns over." Zanshin pointed out helpfully. Unfortunately for Izumi, Zanshin 'forgot' to mention that you also had to start backing away quickly, or something, be it fist or foot, was going to hit you. Hard.

"Oi, where's Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb?" Zanshin asked when Lyserg showed up to class by himself.

"Don't mind her, she's an idiot. Even more so when she's still half asleep." Nasaiki said, ignoring that Zanshin stuck her tongue out at her. "What she meant to say was, 'where are Yoh and Trey?'"

"They said that they didn't feel all that well. They both seem to get sick every so often. The teacher's never seem to comment on it though…. Er, what happened to you Izumi?" Lyserg asked, staring at her cheek, which had a large bruise on it.

"I was Nasai's alarm clock this morning." Izumi stated shortly. Lyserg gave her a sympathetic but confused look.

"Ah, don't you guys have a regular alarm clock?" Lyserg asked. Zanshin and Izumi smiled weakly.

"The idiot forgot to set it last night." Nasaiki replied. Zanshin and Izumi turned around to stare at the red head, who then proceeded to pull a Yoh and tried to pass out on the desk. Zanshin and Izumi looked at each other.

"I ain't doing it. I do it everyday, and today's my day off. Izumi, you do it." Zanshin said turning back around, pulling out a piece of paper from her backpack and beginning to draw. Sighing, Izumi shook Nasaiki's shoulder, though she knew it wouldn't work. 'Honestly, I should just drop some cold water on her…' Izumi thought.

"Do it, and I'll kill you. Remember, I know where you sleep." Nasaiki growled, sitting up. Lyserg looked confused.

"Do what? She didn't—"

"Lyserg, did you ever find out more on that rumor you told us yesterday?" Zanshin quickly cut in, distracting him. The other two girls stopped their glare-down to listen.

"Huh? Er, no, I didn't. I still can't think of anybody sadistic enough that would bleed out a human, then rip it to pieces."

"Has anybody thought that maybe the lack of blood means they were—killed—somewhere else then dumped there?"

"No, there were signs of a struggle, and some blood spatter…or, uh, so I've heard." Lyserg explained.

"Oh, right. So much for my foray as a CSI." Zanshin replied dejectedly, just as the teacher walked in. Oddly, he looked relieved; at least it was odd if you didn't know about the dead bodies. Surprisingly, the information hadn't leaked to the student body yet, which was nothing short of a miracle what with how obvious the teachers were being.

"Good morning class. The announcements for today are: the curfew will remain in place, as it seems to be working…"

"I take that to mean there weren't more dead students discovered last night." Nasaiki pointed out. "Well that's a good thing at least."

"Yes," Lyserg agreed, albeit distractedly as he looked deep in thought.

"Lyserg?" the teacher asked, startling all three of the friends.

"Yes, sir?"

"You're roommates with Asakura and Usui. I need you to take them their homework."

"Hai. I will, sir." Lyserg replied. The girls looked at him questioningly.

"How did he know Yoh and Trey were absent? He hasn't even taken role yet." Izumi asked, confused. Lyserg turned to her and smiled.

"Because they seem to get sick about once a week, and always on the same day." He explained.

"And…you don't think that's weird?" The blonde girl asked, confused.

"Well, they've done it ever since they transferred in last year, so not really. They probably just have a weird genetic problem or something."

"Oh, ok." She replied uncertainly. The four friends lapsed into silence, the mysteries surrounding the deaths of their schoolmates weighing heavily on them.

* * *

The weekend had finally, finally rolled around and the three friends were intent on sleeping as much of the day away as they could get away with. This turned out to be very little as their door slammed open around ten in the morning and a blur began jumping all over them. The thing was able to narrowly dodge fists and feet that shot out at it in sleepy protest to being woken up at the ungodly hour.

After a few seconds of being assaulted, the girls suddenly realized that there was a voice talking loudly in time to the jumps and another voice laughing it's ass off.

"Up, up, you guys are wasting precious daylight! Get up!" It was Trey's voice that cut through their sleepy minds as he came to rest on Izumi's bed, sitting on her glaring form.

"What the hell are you two doing in our room? And why are you up? It's bloody Saturday, in case you didn't get the memo." Zanshin growled, before turning over. This unfortunately faced her towards the window and the direct sunlight shining through a crack in the curtains. Cursing, she covered her head with her pillow.

"Exactly, it's Saturday. Only one of two days we have to goof off, so get up." Yoh said, pulling the covers off the reluctant teen.

Nasaiki glared at everyone in the room her gaze coming to rest on the one that had been jumping all over her sleeping person. However, she had forgotten to raise her guard due to the unconventional way of waking up, and the eye contact strengthened her power, sending her directly into Trey's thought.

'Urgh, we had to stay inside all day yesterday in order not to turn into crispy bacon. I want to go out into the sun again. They smell so good, it's a good thing we fed last night. Why is she looking at me like—' Nasai was thrown out of his head by the pillow thrown into her face. She used the distraction to regain control of her power and remain safely in her own head.

"Nasai, you have to wake up, you're freaking out the idiot with your morning zombified stare." Izumi said before grabbing the pillow she had left and slamming it directly into the blunettes face. "As for you, get off."

"Fine, fine, we're up! Now get out so we can change." Zanshin growled, sitting up and glaring at the two boys in their room. "Um, where's Lyserg?"

"It seems he hurt himself yesterday, so he went to the medical wing to get his bandages changed." Yoh said.

"Medical wing? Wait, bandages? What did he do to himself?" Izumi asked.

"We don't know, he didn't want to tell us and we…sorta had to leave. We have a…problem with blood." Trey said, smiling weakly.

"Uh-huh, tell us all about it later. We really need to get dressed." Nasai said pushing the two boys out of their room. "Guys, I think there's something weird going on with those two, or at least Trey. I was in his thoughts earlier, accidentally of course, and he equated us to food…I think."

"Well, I thought you said it was hard to tell what someone was thinking because they think about five different things at one time." Izumi pointed out.

"Well, yes. But—"

"Come off it Nasai. It's not like they're cannibals you know, they're far too nice for that." Zanshin pointed out. Nasai sighed and nodded, albeit halfheartedly.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we go and visit Lyserg?" Izumi ask suddenly as they left the small café they had had breakfast in. "He's still in the medical wing yeah?" She grimaced at the absurdity of a high school having it's own wing devoted to medicine.

The boys shared a look between them that had the girls at a loss to figure out what it meant. Finally they nodded. "Sure we'll take you there. We can't go in though, like Trey said earlier, we have a problem with blood. We'll just wait outside for you guys." Yoh said, smiling widely.

"Ok, cool. I hope he's alright, I wonder what he did to himself." Izumi replied, falling into step with the boys as they made their way to the infirmary. When they arrived at the medical wing, however, Zanshin took one look at it and threw her hands in the air in defeat.

"Ok, that's it, I quit. I'm gonna go home and go to a normal high school." She growled, spinning around back towards the dorms. Yoh stopped her by grabbing her arm, an inquiring look on his face.

"Zanshin? What's wrong now?" He asked, concerned.

"You said medical wing, right?" She asked, waiting for his nod to continue. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but this isn't a medical wing. It's a whole bloody hospital! It's got three floors! You rich people are insane. A high school doesn't need a hospital."

"Feel better now Zanshin?" Nasaiki asked. Zanshin sighed, looked at the hospital and shook her head.

"I suppose. Rich people are still insane though." Trey laughed at her and told them the room number Lyserg was in.

He was in a small room that looked like a nurse's office in any public school, which was a pleasant surprise. The fact that they caught him with most of his bandages still off and a large gash across his left shoulder, wasn't.

"Geez, that looks bad." Izumi blurted out, causing Lyserg to jump and instinctively shield his hurt shoulder. "What did you do to yourself?"

"I—What are you guys doing here?" The green haired boy asked, surprised to see the girls there.

"We came to see if you were ok. Trey and Yoh told us you had gotten hurt. What happened?" Nasai asked stepping further into the room.

"You know how the teachers were so happy yesterday that the attacks seemed to have stopped due to the curfew? Well, there were two more killings last night. Same thing, mauled, but barely any blood on the ground. I saw one of the students out my window, and I went to go warn him. He was…already dead when I found him, along with a female student. But whatever had attacked them went after me as well. It got my shoulder." Lyserg explained as the nurse finished bandaging his shoulder up.

"Lyserg, you're an idiot." Zanshin snapped. Lyserg looked up at her in surprise. "Next time you want to help someone, don't. You're one of our only friends, if you die on us, I'll bring you back to life and kill you again." The purple haired girl said, giving her injured friend a loose hug.

"You've scared me straight Zanshin. I'll do my best not to get killed." Lyserg vowed solemnly, though it was ruined by the sudden grin on his face.

"Damn right I did. Get better soon 'kay?" Lyserg smirked and waved as the three friends left him to finish getting bandaged.

"So, how is he?" Trey asked as soon as the girls appeared in front of the medical wing.

"He's got a huge gash down his left shoulder, but he seems fine. I'm sure he'll be in classes when Monday rolls around." Izumi replied, a hopeful note tingeing her voice.

"Well, that's good. It'll be great when we get ol' Lyserg back up and around." Trey said happily as the five friends walked back to the main campus. The five of them spent the rest of the day hanging out and movie hopping at the theater.

That night, Nasaiki lay awake, wondering about her new friends. She just couldn't help but think that there was something wrong about them. 'I mean, the day they are 'out sick' is the day no bodies are found. And then Trey said something about feeding, and Lyserg tells us that two more students turned up dead.' Honestly, she didn't know whether she was over thinking things or if everything was a huge coincidence, though her instincts were usually right. She turned onto her side and looked out the window, seeing two figures sneak into the forest. They turned back to look at the school, and it seemed as if they were looking right at her. Nasaiki blinked and rubbed her eyes, but the figures were gone. She could have sworn they looked like Yoh and Trey though.

"Obviously I'm losing it." She muttered to herself, snuggling under the covers and forcing herself to go to sleep.

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Izumi: Third chapter finally completed. Reviews will make us pressure Zanzan to write faster!

Zanshin: Gee, thanks. I said I was sorry. And just so everyone's aware, the fourth chapter is already started. I don't know when it should be up, I do have to write it around my school shedule….

Nasaiki: Less talking, more writing! *Smacks over the head with a paper fan*

Zanshin: Ok, ok…slave driver.