As before, people crowded during the breaks, but at least now they were more restrained, only have a few people circulating her desk at a time and waiting between questions. Eliana discovered how much she didn't know about herself. Every time she was asked about a preference she was usually unable to give them an answer other than something vague about being new and not sure.

"What type of guys do you like?" a girl asked, leaning on her desk.

Eliana blinked, her expression going slightly blank. "I... haven't really thought much about it," she told her carefully, looking down a her desk. 'Not like I'd be able to anyway. A human's life is short, mine isn't.' She sighed, slightly depressed at the reminder of her somewhat lonely existence.

A few of the girls exchanged glances, wondering what her response meant. "A-anyway! Some of us are going to go to Karaoke after school. You wanna come with us?"

She tilted her head. "Karaoke?" She'd heard others talking about it, but she had no idea what it was.

"Yeah. You said you liked to sing right? Well it's a great way to do it. And you'd just be in front of a few friends, nothing to be nervous about."

"So... you sing at Karaoke?"

There was a long silence. "You're kidding right? You don't know what Karaoke is?"

She blushed. "I've lived a... sheltered life of sorts," she told them.

"Don't they have Karaoke in Rome? You never went with your friends from school?"

"This is the first time I've gone to school," Eliana told them. "I was home schooled before this."

More stares and more silence. "Wow... well we need to get you out from under the rock you've been living in. Seriously have you been in prison all you're life or something?" one of the girls joked.

Eliana didn't laugh, instead she sighed. She wasn't very good at lying and she had no idea how to tell them the kind of life she'd lived. "Let's just say I've been living in a place that's sort of out of touch with the rest of the world." She didn't want to have to talk about this anymore and so she used a very convenient drive away tool. "Tsukino-san, Sensei said that homework was on our text readers. Can you show me what he was talking about?" Sure enough as soon as he entered into conversation the others scattered. "Sorry," she murmured after he finished showing her. "For using you like that. I know it was rude but-" She stopped and shook her head. "No excuses. I'm sorry." She gave him an apologetic smile.

Hajime shook his head.

"It's fine. You really did need help with that, and I could tell that you were uncomfortable." He shrugged. "It's expected." After that, the rest of the day went rather smoothly, with him only needing to show her a few more things on the text reader before the day was through. The teacher gave Eliana her own text reader after the last class was over, and Hajime left a few seconds later, making his way home.

His apartment was a few minutes away from the school, and just big enough for him. A few tasteful pictures of waterfalls decorated the living room, and a picture of his parents rested on the mantel near the television. He took his school bag into his own room, which was decorated quite differently. It was nearly covered with overlapping pictures of the beautiful woman, her sad eyes staring out from every drawing, some of them colored, most of them black and white. The colored ones seemed more alive, her silver eyes drawing Hajime in, her silver hair, which faded to blue, nearly brushing the ground beneath her feet, the ground strewn with rubble. Her silvery blue gown, diaphanous, opaque and sheer all at once, flowed about her. She reached for something, her ruby lips formed in a plea for help, and tears streaking down her face from the agonizing sorrow that filled her eyes. Hajime sighed as he put his schoolbag on his bed, and pulled out the drawing he had done that day. It was half finished, the ground beneath the woman's feet not drawn in, but some of the drawings on the wall were like that. He pinned the drawing to the wall and then sat on the bed, pulling the crystalline rose out of his pocket. Nothing odd had happened on the way home from school that day, for which he was thankful. Staring at the rose, he sighed, and looked up. There she was, floating in the doorway of his room. Reaching out, her sad silver eyes pleading for help.

"What do you want from me?" he wearily asked of the wraith, but she merely faded away, and he put his face in his hands.

Apollo had followed the boy home as Sailor Sun had requested him to. No matter how much she asked him to call her Eliana that just wasn't who she was to him. He made his way up to the door of his apartment, noting the location as well as the number before we wandered around the apartment itself to see what he could see. He looked up, and counted windows, trying to get a rough idea of where the kids apartment was located. He found it and then looked around. Good there was no one else about and he didn't feel anyone watching. He jumped, much higher than a normal cat could have, the sun mark on his forehead glowing for a moment then fading again when he landed on the balcony he wanted. And as luck would have it the balcony was for the kids room. He stared at the walls, filled with drawings of Princess Serenity. All of them looked more or less the same. She was surrounded by destruction, tears spilling out of sad eyes that pleaded for help. Sailor Sun had relayed to him that he seemed to have visions of her, but this was something else. He sat down outside the window, studying the room and then his ears perked, catching Hajime's voice asking what was wanted from him. He wasn't looking at Apollo, but instead towards his doorway- which was empty. Did he see her again?

Apollo wondered for a moment what he should do, and then decided to try and play out a possibility to learn more about this kid. He sighed. It was going to be so undignified, but he had to do as duty required him to do. He mustered up his courage and then let out a somewhat pitiful meow, and pawed at the door of the balcony as if trying to get it open on his own. Technically he could have, but since a cat couldn't have, he had to pretend to be a normal, disgraceful feline.

Hajime jumped at the sound of a cat meowing, and looked towards the door of his balcony. Seeing a cat trying to get in his door, he stood and went over, opening the door. Stopping down, he gently picked up the tan cat, not sure if it had fallen and hurt itself.

"Well there sir," he said softly. He smiled and rubbed the cat's head slightly, petting him. "How did you end up out there?" Stepping out onto the balcony, Hajime looked up, wondering if the cat had fallen. "Did you fall from somewhere up there? Are you hurt?" he asked. He was high enough in the structure that there was no possible way for the cat to have jumped onto his porch. Shaking his head, he took the cat inside his room and out to the living room, closing his door behind him. There was a small partition that kept the kitchen somewhat separate from the living room, and after setting the cat down on the couch, he went to the kitchen. "Are you hungry sir cat?" He opened a can of tuna, and putting it onto a plate, took it out to the living room for the cat to eat. "There you go." Hajime briefly went back into his room to grab the crystalline rose, and tucked it into his pocket before returning to the living room and sitting beside the cat, after closing the door behind him.

Feeling he would never be able to rid himself this undignified act Apollo purred and rubbed his head against Hajime's chins giving a soft meow. He stayed still, sitting with his tail curled around his paws as he waited for Hajime to return from the kitchen. Tuna... well... like Sailor Sun he didn't tend to need to eat, but... he did like tuna... He started in on the fish as soon as the plate was down, savoring the rare treat. He stopped when Hajime went back into his room, wondering what the kid was doing, but soon enough Hajime returned and took a seat beside him. Apollo eyed him for a moment, his yellow eyes calculating before he returned his attention to the fish.

Having finished the prepared snack he shifted to lay against Hajime's side, giving a purr of thanks for the food. He felt something hard in his pocket and then shifted, doing as any curious cat would and pounced on the pocket, his paws pressing on the rose before starting to lightly bap at it from within his pocket.

Hajime had turned on the television, but left it a low volume, and so didn't notice at first what the tan cat was doing. When he did though, he gently pushed the cat away.

"That's not for play sir cat," he said softly. He pulled the rose out of his pocket and let it rest in his hand, letting the light catch the crystal petals. "It's special. And very fragile." He looked over at the cat, and noticed, for the first time, that there was a small golden sun upon its forehead. "Well there's something you don't see everyday," he murmured softly, gently tapping the small sun before petting the cat. "You seem special too."

Apollo disgraced himself farther with another meow and leaning into the hand that was petting him. He then walked over to the rose, sniffing at it. He stared at it a moment, trying to figure out just what is was. He could feel the magic coming off of the rose and then his back arched. The crystal! He already had the crystal in his possession. He needed to report this to Sailor Sun as soon as possible! He started to move and then froze. He'd have to reveal himself in order to talk to her, or to get out of the apartment... that meant- that so long as he wanted to be able to use this path in the future he'd have to avoid burning the bridge so to speak. He hopped off the couch and started to explore the apartment- or the rooms that were open to him- as a good little kitty would. He'd have to tell her whenever he managed to find a convenient way out of the apartment.

Hajime blinked in surprise when the cat arched his back. Maybe he didn't like the rose. Watching as the cat walked around the apartment, Hajime realized that he didn't have a litterbox for the cat.

"Sir cat, if I open the door for you, you can come and go as you please," he said tactfully, standing and going to the front door. He opened it slightly, and smiled a little at the cat. "Don't worry." Just then, something dark danced through the door, destructive as it ripped through the room. Hajime had ducked, and he didn't see the woman from down the hallway who seemed to throw a fit that she had missed. Dressed in a tattered Victorian Era gown, and her black hair writhed around her pale face, as if made from snakes...

Apollo saw her and let out a roar that should not have come from a cat his size, his back arched and he glared at the woman, his fangs bared, but then she was gone. He charged forward, tail erect and twitching. he couldn't feel her presence any longer. There was no doubt about it. That had been Metalia. He really did need to tell Sailor Sun. She'd already found him so they didn't have a lot of time to act. He trotted towards the boy now, making sure that the attack had indeed missed him, eying him carefully.

Hajime looked up from where he had fallen, shielding himself. He had heard the roar and was a little shaken. Looking about at his living room, he sighed.

"Not again..." he groaned. Looking back at the cat, he smiled wanly. "I sure hope that you aren't the one who just roared... I've had enough of strange things today..."

His tail flicked back and forth and was still a bit fluffled, but he just meowed at him and then rubbed on his leg as he made his way out through the crack in the door. He got down the hall before light enveloped him and he vanished, reappearing in the appartment. "Sailor Sun we have a problem!" he told her- wasting no time at all on pleasantries.

"What happened?" she asked, setting aside her text reader, her eyes once again pale yellow since she'd taken the contacts out.

He told her everything that he had discovered while at the apartment. "We must act now Sailor Sun."

"Not yet. He's already on edge enough with everything that's been happening to him. I need to gain more confidence with him before I can act. And I need to determine how much of his power had started to leak out... Though it's possible all the bad things that have happened have been a result of Metallia trying to attack him..." She closed her eyes, thinking. "Go back to his apartment and stay with him. If he's leaving the door open for you, then slip out whenever you can to come and let me know when there is a development. If worse comes to worse you have my permission to act accordingly for the safety of him an those around him." He told him.

Apollo nodded and the glow surrounded him again, taking him to the roof of the apartment- where he was sure he wouldn't be seen. He looked down, locating the floor he wanted and check that on one was around before jumping of and drifting onto the railing of the floor he wanted. He jumped down from the railing and went to the door, which was still slightly cracked and pushed it open with a meow to let him know he had returned.

Hajime had started to clean up the mess the dark thing had created in his apartment. When he heard the cat meow, he turned, and went over to pick him up.

"Well sir cat, I thought that you had left for good. I wouldn't blame you after this," he said, then settled the cat on one of the intact surfaces of the living room. He turned and continued to clean up shards of glass, warning the cat to keep where he is so that he didn't get glass in his paws. Pausing for a few moments, Hajime looked at the cat. "You know, I think we would get along better if I could figure out your name," he said. Going over to the trash can, Hajime threw out all the glass, and then walked back to start cleaning up more, some wood shards and some cotton from the couch. "I'm going to have to replace some things again... As for your name though. I wonder what it could be..."

Apollo remained silent, just watching him. 'If he tried to rename me Fluffy or Kittykins or anything like that I am going to scratch his mouth off.' he thought. It's not like he had anyway of telling him, 'My name is Apollo' without actually saying it or doing something uncat-like and spelling it out for him.

In the morning he got himself let out and sent a quick message to Sailor Sun to let her know he was leaving for school soon and he was actually only slightly out of her way. She'd just have to take about a block or two that she normally didn't if she wanted to 'bump' into him. She thanked him and told him to continue sticking with Tsukino-san. Apollo yawned and stretched before settling down on the railing to wait. Once Hajime was heading out he got up and started walking beside him. They got about a block before Apollo spotted Sailor Sun. She was walking at a liesurely pace just ahead of them. She wouldn't force her company onto Tsukino-san so she decided to let him decide if he wanted to call out to her. She could feel Apollo so she'd known exactly where he was to know when to start walking again- as she'd actually been waiting for a few minutes for them to head out.

Apollo debated trotting up to her to force an encounter- he wanted her to feel that she had enough of this Hajime kid's confidence to start acting- but decided against it. For now he'd just keep walking beside him and follow her lead. Let him take that step on his own.

Hajime walked silently, curious about the cat, then snapped his fingers.

"I got it. Apollo. Ancient Greek god of the sun. From that little sun on your forehead." Hajime tilted his head to the side, smiling a bit. "Does that sound good?" His hand was in his pocket, as if making sure that the rose was there. "I think it sounds dignified, and it seems to suit you." He looked up, and saw Eliana, he almost raised his hand to wave at her, but thought better of it. After the incident the day before, he didn't want to take any chances. She seemed like a genuine person, and he didn't want her to get hurt because of his incredibly bad luck.

'Oh good grief. Just hurry and and get to know her so we can finish our jobs and go back to Sanctuary,' Apollo thought exasperated. But the fact that he'd gotten his name right did please him. And it gave him an excuse. He gave a meow, looking up at him before looking forward again. As he hoped, his meow made Sailor Sun turn around.

'Rotten cat. I told you to let he decide if he wanted to walk with me,' she thought to her cat and then smiled, stopping. "Good morning Tsukino-kun," she told him, waiting for him to catch up. "Thank you again for showing me how to use the text reader. It really helped. I'd have been at a loss for doing the homework last night otherwise." She wanted to avoid lying to him if she could so she had to think for a moment on how to ask about Apollo without lying. "He's a handsome cat. Is he yours or just following you around?"

"Good morning, Eliana," Hajime said. His grip on the crystalline rose in his pocket tightened slightly, but he soon relaxed. Sometimes, he had a strong feeling of impending disaster if something was to happen, but for some reason, he felt at ease. When she asked about Apollo, he looked down at the cat and smiled. "He fell from someone else's apartment above me yesterday I think. Either that, or he's just a very daring climber. Anyways, he was on my balcony and he's just stuck around." Realizing that he'd forgotten the homework, he groaned. "Shoot... Alot happened yesterday afternoon, and I completely forgot about the homework. Was it easy? I think I'll have enough time to get some of it done before class if we run now."

"Well... it wasn't too difficult but there was some of it I wasn't sure about. I can try to help you if you want." she told him picking up her pace. He's said 'we' so she assumed he planned to walk with her now... or run with her at least. "Wanna talk about what happened?" she asked as they moved. "I think I'm a pretty good listener." she assured him.

Apollo kept up with them and when they reached the gate he went up a head a bit and jumped onto the wall of the gate, settling down to take a nap in the sun.

"Just another one of those bad luck incidents," Hajime said, shrugging. "Nothing really to worry about. And sweet. I could help you with what you had trouble with if I understand it." He grimaced. "I hope there wasn't a whole lot..." He looked up at Apollo. "I'll see you after school Apollo. You don't have to wait up for me if you don't want to. I left the door to the apartment slightly open if you wanna go back there. No one will walk in."

Apollo just yawned and turned away from them- mostly to avoid the raised eyebrow that she was giving him.

"You named him Apollo?" she asked, following him up to the classroom. "It should be okay if I help you out. It didn't take long to do math, but history took me a little while," she told him. 'Mostly becuase it's not fully acurate in you text reader and I had to go and read the darn thing to make sure I didn't put something down historians didn't record,' she thought, following him into the room. There were a few other people in the room already and she gave them as cheerful a greeting as she could. It had only been a day so she was still a bit uncomfortable around others.

She pulled out her text reader and opened it up to the math section. "Alright, let me know as soon as you think you need help. I'm pretty good at math," she told him.

"I just kept calling him sir cat, and I felt that it was a little too formal. And he has that little golden sun on his forehead too. So I called him Apollo. He was the ancient Greek god of the sun." Hajime shrugged. "It seemed to fit him." Once they got to the classroom, he sat down and quickly zipped through his homework. It turned out to be something that he had already learned. "Well, you're right, that wasn't too hard at all."

She'd watched him the whole time, seeing what he did with the tools available on their text reader to help him along. 'I see... so that's how a calculator works.' she thought. "Hey so, what happened that was bad luck?" she asked. "Did you see that woman at all around the time? I wonder if maybe seeing her and those incidents are somehow connected." she asked, trying to get him talking about what was happening with him. She needed more information if she was going to be able to help him. But at least- after having meet him- she wasn't as worried about him having an out of control personality that would put the universe at risk.

Hajime pondered her observation thoughtfully.

"You know, that is rather true. Every time I see her, it means that something is going to happen," he says softly. "I wish it wasn't true. She seems so desperate for my help. I don't know what she wants from me..." He sounded bitterly depressed about it, not know what he needed to do to help the woman move on, or so to speak. "It's like she's from another world, and there is some other force that took her from it." Looking up at Eliana, he sighed. "I don't know why you are so interested, but I'm glad that you are. It's a relief to be able to talk to someone about it. No one else would believe me if I tried to explain something like this to them. Maybe later you can help me get things for Apollo so that he is more comfortable in my place. I also need to get some new furniture..." He shook his head and sighed again. "I could show you some of the pictures that I have of the woman."

'I already know the woman, but I have no idea how to tell you this yet.' she thought giving him a slight smile. She was glad he wanted to keep Apollo around. Honestly it would do him some good to be forced to be a 'normal' cat for once. Not to mention it would offer extra protection since she couldn't safely be around him all the time. "Sure, I'd be glad to help. I need to learn my way around town anyway." she told him, leaning forward on her desk slightly. She'd turned her desk to face his for the time being, so the action brought her closer to him. "As for the woman... I don't want to say someone stuck in such misery is the cause of this bad luck you're having... so... maybe she's trying to warn you that it's coming somehow." she hesitated a moment then added. "As for helping her, I'll do everything I can to help you do that." she promised, staring at him with a sincere intensity. She needed to find a way to make this bad luck end. Based on what Apollo and told her, Metalia had found him and knew who he was. She was trying to eliminate him before he could become a threat to her... 'at least she's not trying to recruit him to her side or anything...' she thought. Honestly his best defense for when she wasn't around was his own power... but with the prophecy looming over him... she'd need to make sure any release of his power was carefully controlled...

Hajime nodded.

"If she's trying to warn me, she's doing a decent job. I only wish..." He sighed. "She has an ethereal quality to her, otherworldly. I only wish I knew what was going on..."

Eliana smiled but didn't offer an answer. How could she at this point? She needed for him to figure out who he was a little more... and telling him how to release his power would be of some extra help. He already had the crystal... she just needed him to not take such a firm hold of it that Princess Serenity and Prince Dymion were released from the seal. They'd be taken captive by Metalia or killed...

Class started to much later thankfully, giving her time to try and think. She sat there, wondering what she could do to help him. If she could use her power as some sort of a buffer and a barrier for his own... it should help him keep his own power in check and keep the protection on their Majesties from disappearing... but how to give him that was the challenge.

She sighed, resting her forehead against her hand for a moment before she started to fiddle with hr bangs, twirling the golden hair around her finger. It was then that she got the idea, sitting up straighter as it occured to her. She could LITERALLY give him a part of her power. A ring. But... would he wear it? She could fashion a ring from her hair- a piece of herself- and that would help her to take the brunt of his power if she ever had to should he lose control... but would he- a guy- wear a ring? She knew men wore rings after they were married usually... but would he? She looked around the room. Yes... there were a few guys in the room that had rings on as accesories. Good. Now to let him know that crystal would help him release his power. She smiled ever so slightly. That would be easy enough. She closed her eyes and contacted Apollo to tell him the plan.