James pulled up in the school parking lot with reckless speed, almost crashing the car into one of the signs in the parking lot. He yanked the keys out of the ignition and opened the door forcefully, only stoping to check he had his pocket knife.

"Ahri!" James yelled out as he slammed the door. He ran up to the building and started to yank on the door, kicking it with frustration when it wouldn't budge. "Damb it. Ahri!" He took of at a run around the building, desperately trying every door he could find. He had almost completed a whole lap of the building and was leaning against the concrete wall that surrounded the dumpster to catch his breath.

"Maybe... If I... Climb to the roof..." James looked up at the looming tower that was the side of the school and immediately gave up on the idea. He was more likely to fall and die than find the girl. "I have to wonder how she got in there."

James was trying to think of another way inside when a slight sound stopped him in his tracks. He dropped into a stealthy position and focused on his sense hearing, mixed feelings coming to life as he searched for it again. Sure enough, he could hear the sound of soft crying coming from the other side of the wall.

"Ahri?" James slowly peaked around the corner, not entirely sure on what he would find. What he found was slightly better than what he expected.

Ahri was curled into a ball behind the dumpster, only her feet poking out. She had no apparent injuries, but her face was soaked from tears. She had James sweatshirt wrapped around her, but she must have been there for a while since she was shivering nonstop. Her ears and tails were drooped with sadness, hanging limp like dead leaves on a tree. Her face was hidden in her arms and ever so often a quite sob would escape her grasp.

"Ahri, what happened?" James asked as he approached, only to jump back when a wall of fox fires bursted into existence between them.

"Stay back!" Ahri cried, throwing her hand out as if to hold up the wall. "You're just another one of them, aren't you!?"

"Ahri, what are you talking about? You called for help and here I am." He tried to reach through a gap in the wall, only to pull back in fear when the fires started to move around at a decent speed, blocking off all openings.

"They treated me like an object. That's all they saw me as." Ahri muttered darkly from her arms, still not raising her head. "That's why you keep me around, isn't it? I have caused you countless problems but you put up with it. All because I'm a rare item." Her sobs became more frequent, becoming more powerful the longer they went on. She got to the point of heaving at each sob, the weight of her depression pulling at each breath.

Then a hand rested on her shoulder, causing her to freeze with shock. For the first time in what felt like forever, she raised her head to look into the sad eyes of a slightly singed James, kneeling next to the fox girl with a look of a sad pain on his face. "If I really thought that way, why did I let you go out with those whose were thought to be your friends?"

"How did you get through my fires?" Ahri asked, looking over his clothing which was full of blackened holes.

"You told me a while back that your flames responded to your will." James said gently, moving his hand away from her shoulder and instead grabbing her hand. "You would never mean to hurt me." Ahri's eyes closed partly as fresh tears formed, her control over her emotions fully falling to pieces. James pulled her in and hugged her, wrapping his jacket around both of them.

Ahri didn't push him away this time, instead she burrowed her head into his shoulder and let it loose, cry harder than she had cried in a really long time. "It's okay, little one. I'm here." James told her soothingly, using the arm that wasn't wrapped around her waist and started to pet the back of her head. "I'm here little one." Ahri didn't respond and continued on with her crying.

It was a good twenty minutes or so before the last tear was shed and the last sob to get caught in her throat. Ahri fell into an exhausted state in James arms, fighting to stay conscious. "Im sorry." She managed to say, her grip on his shoulder notably slackening from the effort to say so few words.

"For what?" James asked cradling her in his jacket. "You did nothing wrong." He was surprised when Ahri began to shake weakly from a laugh.

"For doubting... You." James didn't even have to look down to know she had just fallen asleep.

"That's where your wrong, little one." James whispered quietly, unzipping the jacket and adjusting his hold on her so he was carrying her bridal style. "I learned a long time ago not to trust people. It's only an idiots habit to ignore that rule." He gently carried her back to the car, buckling her into the passengers seat. After he made sure she was secured, he went back and picked up his phone from on the ground where Ahri had left it. He quickly checked it to find that Ahri had been looking at a picture of him before he had shown up. It was a picture of him asleep, his arm wrapped around the fox girl as she held out the phone to get them both in the frame. James pocketed the phone and return to the car.

James drove slower this time, obeying the traffic laws that he had skipped out on his last reckless charge to the school. Ahri didn't wake up once, dozing all the way up the drive way. She stired slightly when he pulled her out, only to cuddle up against him unconsciously. James knocked on the door with his foot, silencing his worried mom with a quick shh before he passed her and took Ahri upstairs. He laid her down in their bed and pulled all the covers over her, tucking them under the mattress to trap in as much heat as possible. After she was set, James knelt by the bed and rest his head on the mattress next to her and watched her as she slept, racking his brain for a way to fix her problems. He eventually dozed of an hour later, no closer to an answer than when he started.

James awoke from a touch on the hand, his head snapping up so fast there was a loud pop and he had to set it back down from a burning pain at the base of his skull. "You shouldn't hurt yourself now. I'll feel sad again." James raised his head when he heard the humor in her voice, the pain suddenly bearable.

"Welcome back, little one." James said, a smile spreading across his lips. "You had me worried for a while there."

Ahri giggled, a gentle smile of her own greeting him. "I don't know why, but you remind me of a father when you call me that."

"Maybe because I save it for kids who I care about." James said, kissing her on the nose. "Maybe if you stopped needing my help so often I'll call you by your name again." He chuckled as Ahri playfully batted at him.

"So you really do care about me." Ahri said, her playful burst slipping into a comfortable drowsy. It occurred to James that she had just woke up also.

"Of course I do, little one." James said, resting his head back on the bed. "I care about you as if we were family." Ahri seemed to be pleased by his words, her ear twitching ever so slightly.

"Stop just lying there, come join me." Ahri said, lifting the cover to invite him in. "I'm still cold." James knew the last part wasn't true, but he still crawled under the cover and pulled her in for a hug. Ahri hummed in pleasure, creating a cute little tune as she went on for a few seconds. She then whispered in his ear, her pleasant tone soothing his ears. "Say it for me, just once." She rested her head against his chest, one arm on top of the covers and the other under James.

"Say what?" James asked, fully aware of what she wanted. He felt her tails shift under the covers, resting behind him.

"You already know the answer, James." She said it so earnestly, James knew she was no longer playing around with him. And who was he to deny her something that he himself wanted to tell her desperately?

"I love you Ahri." James said, laying his free arm across he waist and rested his head on her shoulder, affection seeping into his every action.

"I love you too James."