Disclaimer: I don't own the right to Sailor Moon, Takeuchi Naoko and a few other companies do, yada, yada, yada.


In simple terms, her life sucked at that precise moment.

Groaning internally to herself, Eri stared at the test in her hands dejectedly, looking as if someone had killed her cat; if some had killed Artemis though, they'd be dead from an "unidentified" murder; she was extremely creative with her revenge plots, after all. Her test score was like that in a sense, she'd need to find a completely innocent and believably creative way to get out of punishment before it occurred and rudely interfere with her treasured afternoon plans.

Eri closed her eyes and tighter her ribbon. Rei would probably have yelled at her for twenty minutes straight and Minako would've called one if the daughters of their long-time family friends, Kino Akemi to help her study, which was another terror all in itself; once Akemi got started witch anything my academic related, you should never interrupt her, or you'd probably be dead by the time the study session ended. Eri paled. She would never let her parents have Akemi tutor her; her life practically depended on the decision. She then shuddered. Akemi can't tutor me anymore, not after what happened last time.

Eri played the crumpled ball of paper in her hands. The exam had been a tough one, to say the least. It had been on the Edo period of Japan as just a review; however she still got confused on which event was which. But then again, history itself had never truly been her strong suit; in a nutshell, that probably explained her mark of an eighteen percent, which wasn't exactly an ideal one; that was definitely certain.

A nap sounds good right about now. Eri laid her head in her arms to go through with one of her favorite pastimes. She loved naps, honestly; they allowed her to forget everything that had been condemned as stressful, and then recharge. And they also allowed me to fantasize, too. Eri's face burned at the thought, although she couldn't particularly help either one, mostly due to teenage hormones. Hormones were extraordinarily aggravating, and she absolutely despised them; she despised them all with a burning passion. But you know you love fantasizing, Eri! she shot back to herself in mental turmoil. You know you constantly have willing fantasies about Kino Emi!

Eri felt her face stain a brighter red, even more so than it was previously. She had a small—according to her sister, huge—crush on the eldest of the three Kino siblings; and has had one for around a month or so, something in that matter, at least. It had all began after Emi had protected her against some common-found street thugs and successfully, for better terms, beat them up to pulp; Emi was a true martial arts practitioner, that much was definitely evident to the foolish stranger's naked and blissfully ignorant dual eyes.

Kumiko leaned over to sneak a peek at Eri's terrible score. Her eye brow were scrunched together in deep concentration, obviously to try and get a silent view without alerting Eri, because Lord knows that would turn out well for anyone. The last time Kumiko attempted to do that, the school nearly burst into flames and she almost died from her friend's wrath in the process. No, being the brunt of Eri's wrath certainly was not one of the many forms of fun—mainly teasing—that Kumiko enjoyed immensely; it wasn't any fun at all.

"What do you think you're doing, Kumiko?" Eri inquired darkly. She was staring at Kumiko with a slight eye twitch. She honestly hated how Kumiko though that she had the liberty to eavesdrop on her exam scores with her permission. She had a reputation to hold up; bad grades didn't exactly aid in that reputation she needed to uphold at school! Doesn't Kumiko have something better to do, like mind her own business or something?

Kumiko's face flushed red with embarrassment and her face showed nothing but true uncensored terror. "Uh, nothing Eri!" she squeaked. If Eri knew how fearful she already was, then all would be lost at the exact moment; if there was anything she was more careful to preserve, it would be her precious dignity that she loved so much—or what was left of it, and she wasn't going to let Eri's loud rant during class ruin it; only Kumiko was allowed to do that, not Eri. "It's nothing at all!"

"Yeah, right." Eri rolled her eyes. She knew that Kumiko was flat out lying to her face, and she wasn't happy about it; not one bit. However, Eri wasn't going to go on one of her everyday angry rants that day; she just wasn't in the mood for it after discovering her exam score. "And Mama and I want to be popular idols."

"But it was nothing!" Kumiko defended, her voice a little too high pitched for Eri's liking; it obviously indicated a very poorly executed low. "I was just," Kumiko paused a minute to come up with a believable answer, bringing a finger to her chin in contemplation, "stretching—yeah that's it; I was definitely stretching!"

Eri raised a brow before feeling her face go red from anger. Kumiko's answer was not short of any stupidity and lack of though; that was certain. It just made her blood boil when someone was dishonest about their actions; it nearly broke her resolve right then and there. She took a deep breath and attempted to calm down, opting for a witting retort rather than some impulsive anger-induced rant that was on the verge of occurring. "And I'm sure "stretching" involves standing up and trying to look at my score on the history exam."

"Um, yeah, it's the newest yoga move my mom is teaching me; I learned it last week!" Kumiko laughed nervously. If Eri didn't know that she was lying to begin with, that right there would've been a dead giveaway. While standing, Kumiko grinned and performed an odd shape that did look suspiciously like something that would come out of a yoga class, although it had to be a really awkward one at that; or it was just that she was horrible at yoga, Eri had a feeling that the latter was correct rather than the former. Kumiko's guilty sheepish grin downgraded to a peppy smile. "See, yoga move!"

"You're luck we're in detention," Eri groaned. If there was one thing that was most evident among other things, it had to be that Kumiko was a terrible liar; she was eons worse than her test grade, and that was saying something right there. It was pathetic, Kumiko's laying history, and Eri would've been ashamed of it too, but since it forced her to be brutally honest, Eri didn't mind; she didn't mind one bit. "Yeah, because that is such a great yoga skill that everybody would use."

"Meanie!" Kumiko stuck her tongue out at Eri immaturely; it reminded her of the stories that Rei would to her of Minako as a small child, and even to this day, she would share them occasionally. Kumiko's playful glare became more intense as she pouted. "I'll have you know that I'm very excellent at yoga, Eri!"

"And good at acting like a five-year old too, apparently," Eri grumbled. As annoying as her friend—no, best friend—she still loved her, although that live would always be tested; just like it was right at that moment. At times, she wished Kumiko would at least try to be smart, for all their sakes; but if there was one thing that Eri had learned from early on in life, a smart-impersonating Kumiko was always a terrifying Kumiko, and she certainly didn't want to go through that like she had a few years back; just thinking about that sent shares down her spine, it was that scary.

"Hey, I heard that!" Kumiko exclaimed, insulted. She placed her hands on her hips and glared, this time, for real. She was irritated with Eri's idea that she was immature all the time; she did have the ability to be mature, she just didn't chose to use it a lot. "I can be mature if I wanted to; I have been mature in the past before, and you were there, so you know it!"

Eri was forced to stifle a sarcastic laugh, in fear of being g scolded of Sister Watanabe would return to the class room at any given moment. The last time that Kumiko attempted to be mature, as she had said before, had been a disaster; she was luck that she was even able to subdue to monstrous creature of evil known as the Mature-Kumiko. Eri allowed her eyes to roll for the second time in that ten minutes that they had been bickering, if one could even call it that. "Yeah, and we all know how that turned out. I think you actually scarred more than a few of our innocent underclassmen when you did that, including my poor sister; I think she was actually terrified of you for period of time afterwards, you know."

"Jerk!" Kumiko stuck her tongue out at Eri once again. She was honestly in denial about her friend's earlier statement, but a large part of her couldn't deny that Eri some logic in her statement; actually, in truth, it was a lot more than some, and she perhaps scarred Aiko too. Her voice then filled with what people identify as desperation. "I can't be that scary when I'm all in mature-mode, right? And Eri, you're worse than me when it comes to the terror department; you scarred my brother who's in college and many more in my family whenever you got angry with your short temper and all!"

Eri took a deep breath, feeling her resolve begin to waste away after each agonizingly long second ticked by, one by one; it was really starting to get to her. She couldn't get into more trouble than she already was with Sister Watanabe, and she had something to say to Kumiko before she lost all self-control. Eri rubbed her temple, her right eye and brow twitching, proving that the irritation was getting to her after each passing moment. "Kumiko, you're worse than me."

Only after then, her resolve finally broke.

~O~O~O~O~

Daisuke ran a hand through his hair as he stared at her with a frown. Regulus—no, now Miyuki—had decided to join him in his study if Hino Eri; she had said that he "doing a terrible job and hanging around too many schoolgirls" or something similar to that, with it of course have a large amount of cussing. Miyuki did make it a point to curse a lot when she was stressed out or frustrated, and it tended to be worse when both factors were combined; that was his case at the moment, apparently.

Fortunately for Daisuke, she had been enrolled in the public Juuban Azabu high school—the one that the civilian forms of Inner Sailor Soldiers had attended as teenagers, according to his sources—of the area, thankfully not his school. Not only did he have to deal with Miyuki scolding him about his failures every minute when she was in a bad mood after traveling to a domain, now he had to deal with it every day after school had ended; it was getting way to aggravating for him to deal with. One of these days, he thought grimly, I'm going to implode from one of Miyuki's rants, and it's not going to be fun for anyone at all.

"You know," Miyuki said impassively with her voice portraying no emotion whatsoever, flattening out her school's sailor uniform, "Kiyoko misses you terribly; she asked me to allow her to spend time here with you, as you already made my mission yours in this dimension and such, after I had went there for a short period of time."

Huh? Daisuke blinked perplexingly. He then suddenly felt dirty and angry with himself. How could he forget about Kiyoko, his loving and kind girlfriend whom he loved more than time and space itself? Of course, he know the answer instantly, and his was disgusted in himself, even more so than before. He had been too concentrated on solely the mission, so this, he forgot about what he had back home and everything else associated with it. I can't believe I forgot about her . . . I'm such a horrible person.

"Daisuke, you can't get yourself worked up over your forgetfulness," Miyuki said as if she could read his mind. She frowned as her gaze began to distance itself from reality. "It's rather foolish, and you are more fortunate than I am; you chose to come here by choice and still have everything, meanwhile, I had to give up everything I knew and endure an eternity loneliness long before you were born, all for the sake of the mission; so, stop pitying yourself damn it!"

Daisuke suddenly found the structure and planning apartment they were in extremely interesting. It had just occurred to him that the walls were painted a whitish-gray mixed shade, with many windows for lighting, and a tanned carpet; or was a nice living area, but there was truly no place like home, as stated in an American movie once. Once, Miyuki has commented about it looking identical to Kino Makoto's apartment that she had been living in since her junior high years; though, that was probably just because they lived in the same apartment district as Makoto did.

Daisuke frowned. In all truthfulness, he hadn't taken Miyuki's predicament info full consideration like he should have, before comparing it to his own. He scowled to himself in disdain, feeling even worse about himself, and now for his friend. So great, not only am I a horrible forgetful boyfriend, but now I'm inconsiderate and heartless towards others too, especially to my friends!

"You have to stop!" Miyuki's facial expression became pained and angry at the same time, he suspected that it had to do with conflicting emotions and pent up frustration. "Daisuke, you have to stop feeling bad for yourself! How are we ever going to complete the mission of you don't cooperate; don't forgot that you came her on your own, either!"

"All right," Daisuke groaned. He knew he wasn't going to actually go through with his agreement right away, as much as he was sure Miyuki wanted him too; it was going to take time, a time that he particularly wasn't ready to use up at the moment. "I will."

"Good," Miyuki said finally. She didn't seem to believe him one bit, and still seemed rather angry and looked as if she could burst into another rant at any given provocation; even the slightest one could possibly set her off, knowing his rotten luck. Her gaze gravitated itself towards when of the Windows. "Because we have to work harder, they're becoming more powerful."

"Yeah," Daisuke agreed solemnly, his own gaze transfixed on where Miyuki's was. He needed to find them; he had to find them and end their captor's existence, once and for all. Most of his reasons of traveling to this current dimension resided in just that. "I know."

~O~O~O~O~

Frowning as she went her merry way, Kumiko shoulder's sagged as she navigated her way through the vacant and barren alleyways of Tokyo. The stars twinkled above her in the inky black sky and a half moon shine above her and the various tall buildings of the large city. She knew she shouldn't have been out that late, but Eri's previous comments have been nagging that entire afternoon and evening; they had done nothing but hurt her feelings and slightly wound her pride. Of course, Eri had said those things before, but for some reason, the memory of them wouldn't stop harassing her, eventually causing her to cry lightly earlier that day. Does she really think that of me; does she really hate? If she does, why is she even friends with me? She bit back a bitter chuckle. And here I thought that I was the insane and illogical one of us two!

Kimiko visibly flinched as she caught a shadow in the corner of her left eye retreating into an entrance to an opposing darkened alleyway. The area that she was in sort of reminded her of a maze of sorts, with all of its confusing tunnels that intersected with each other's, ones that she had to choose to enter; one poorly made choice could prove to be fatal, in both alleyways and mazes alike. But still, she thought warily, what the hell was that shadow? Was it a rat or something; or could it be a . . . ill-intentioned thief?

"You know," a male voice began from the shadows, "you fit my criteria quite efficiently. You'd surely make a wonderful Youma. . yes definitely; Lord Sphene will be pleased."

"W-who are you and what do you want from me?" Kumiko paled and took a few steps back. Who was this young man, and what did he want from her? She felt her knees shake with terror. Was she going to be raped? Kumiko honestly had no idea, all she could do was pray, or perhaps bargain, for her future safety. "I-I have money if you want it," she stuttered fearfully. "P-please leave me be, sir."

"To answer your first question—since I am in such a great mood—I am Alexandrite, servant of my glorious Lord Sphene, Ms. Fukui Kumiko," Alexandrite introduced smoothly while bowing very prince-like, smirking slightly as he did so. He then held out his gloved hand in a welcoming matter, as if he wanted for them shake hands. "However, I do not want any of what you humans are referring to as money, I want something of much more value to me and my master; I wish to have your servitude as a loyal and powerful Youma! Dark Power!"

And when the hand that he held out began to glow a pulsating black color, Kimiko felt extremely dizzy and lightheaded. Then, suddenly, her world faded into nothingness as she collapsed onto the cold contents of the hard cement street of the alleyway below.

~O~O~O~O~

Eri closed her eyes as she swept the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, an act that she found both extremely calming and irritating to do simultaneously. She sighed. Eri knew that she shouldn't have been so cruel to Kumiko during her little rant and felt terribly guilty about it, but she could exactly hold her anger back once she got provoked—whether directly or indirectly; she was just impulsively that way. I still shouldn't have said those unnecessary things, like that she was the most annoying person in the world though, or that I didn't want to talk to her anymore during our argument and such; she was just defending herself too! God, I'm cruel.

"Are you okay big sis?" Aiko asked, appearing from a spot behind some nearby bushes that she had apparently been playing in, with a concerned expression written all across her youthful face. "You don't look alright; you actually look really sad."

Eri snapped her gaze to the ground. As much as she may have wanted to, she could never lie to her sister of all people; lying to Aiko was like murdering a young adorable puppy in front a child who loved it, basically not fun and a horrible act. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I was mean to a friend since I let my temper get the best of me; I think I might've hurt her feelings big time."

Aiko's face scrunched together in intense concentration. Eri should've know that her sister would've had to think really hard to come up with a valuable or comforting answer for her situation; she was an airhead, like their mother Minako, and only eight-years old, after all; it wasn't like she was a trained psychologist or something. Aiko smiled brightly, obviously finally coming up with an answer. "Then apologize, you really big dummy!"

"I'm anything but a dummy, thank you!" Eri stuck her tongue out at Aiko. She honestly hated being insulted, among other things, and had trouble holding biting back her tongue when it came to that sore subject, even with family; she guessed that was one of the few things that had originally fueled and began her previous rant to a poor unsuspecting Kumiko. She rested her head against a tree lazily as she closed her eyes once again. "But I guess you're right about apologizing, for once."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aiko inquired and stuck her tongue out like Eri had done a mere second before, thus earning a small amused glare from her elder sister. "You're a big meanie sometimes Eri!"

"Will you two stop fighting and realize the situation that we're in at the moment!" a male voice lilies, obviously finally fed up with their antics, although he didn't exactly know then just yet. "This is absurd; you two—the innocent citizens Tokyo as well—is in danger, and all you two can think of doing is fighting about trivial things?"

"That's not all we think about, you—cat?" Eri's eyes went wide. He was an older form of the white cat with brilliant blue eyes that shad had seen years ago, the one that had told her to and what attack to use against the evil Queen Mio and her minion Andradite. "Y-you're that cat . . ."

"And you're Sailor Eros, right?" He winked. "You can call me Selene, if you want, or just kid; Orion likes to call me that a lot."

"Who's Orion?" Aiko asked, not seeking phased about the talking cat at all; that was probably due to the knowledge that her intermediate family are all Sailor Soldiers and the fact that her playmate is another white cat known as Artemis. "Is he your friend or something?"

"Yeah, he's my friend," Selene said swiftly, although Eri could sense some nervousness in his voice; that could be an early attempt at lying. That revelation her eyes to narrow ever so slightly. Selene jumped down from the tree trunk that he had been standing on, the crescent moon on his forehead emitting a faint glow. "There's a Youma nearby, I can sense it. Eros, you need to transform, like now!"

"Eri, are you there?" Eri heard Kumiko call from a distance and she immediately ushered Selene into hiding, and Aiko plastered a huge smile on her face, and she did the same with an unfortunate plastic one. Eri's grip tightened on her broom handle. Something didn't seem quite right, and she could feel it too; it just seemed added onto her growing list of aggravations right then and there, which was unfortunate for her case at the moment.

"No seriously Eri, are you there?" Kumiko called again, but now in a much louder volume that time, and oddly, speaking on a tone as if she were demanding something of another. She sounded much colder too, not her casual peppy self.

"Yeah, I'm at the shrine's steps with Aiko!" Eri called back and paled, much more so than before. She was beginning to feel concerned now, and that large amount guilt that had begun to fade had returned to the surface again, this time much more intense than it ever was before. Was the extent of my jabs so bad that it made Kumiko cold towards me; did I really that horrible to her? She's usually so happy; for this to happen; it has to be really bad. But, something still doesn't feel right . . .

"Hi guys!" Kumiko approached them with a sadistic-looking smile; it sent chills up their spines. "What's up? I hope you didn't waste any energy doing chores."

Eri immediately grimaced. Kumiko's aura was off, way to off for her liking. She squinted to get a better look. Rather than Kumiko's normal bright yellow aura, a pulsating purple-blackish aura took its place; oddly, it began to give Eri a migraine. "Are you alright, Kumiko?"

"I'm fine, no better than ever, actually!" Kumiko enthused gleefully, though her wicked smile still creepily remained. "Now, do you think you guys can help me out with something?"

"Sure!" Aiko bobbed her head up and down quickly and happily, obviously obvious to her older sister's suspicions that she had wished that she had never had in the first place. "What'd you need?"

"Eros, transform; that girl is the Youma and you need to defeat her!" Selene suddenly announced with his voice loud and clear. "Transform now!"

"Damn cat! I almost had them too!" Kumiko's skin tone suddenly to a white sheet and she sprouted black crow-like wings and long vampire-like fangs. She narrowed her now ruby eyes as a long midnight broadsword appeared in her hands. "I guess I'll just have to end Sailor Eros' life, and then steal the stupid little blonde brat's energy for Lord Sphene."

"I'm not stupid or a brat!" Aiko defended, obviously insulted by Youma-Kumiko's earlier jab. "And you're not going to take my energy, you big meanie; mean people don't always get what they want, unless they're Eri!"

"Hey!" Eri piped up at her sister's remark. She felt the heat rise up in her cheeks from a growing embarrassment and anger. "That was completely uncalled for!"

"Hey Youma, leave my daughters alone!" a voice declared angrily. "I won't let you harm them!"

"I knew I sensed a disquieting presence after I arrived from work," another said. "Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct, and you vile scum will not lay a hand on my daughters!"

Eri craned her head to find Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars, respectively, glaring at Kumiko with a murderous look painted across their faces. She began to become fearful that her parents would kill Kumiko along with the Youma's spirt too; she'd be de estates of that occurred. "Mom, Mama, that's Kumiko; she's just brainwashed by some guy named Sphene!"

"Alright. We'll handle this Eri," Mars said before raising her arms. "Mars Flame Sniper!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Venus shouted.

Eri's eyes went wide as Kumiko dodged Venus' move, but was pinned to a tree due to Mars' arrow piercing her wing. Eri went to open her mouth to scream for them to stop—they were going to kill her if they kept it up, after all—but she was cut off by an attack call.

"Now, Evil Spirit Be gone!" Mars cried, sending her ofuda expertly in Youma-Kumiko's direction. After the ofuda made contact, Kumiko suddenly went back to her human counterpart and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Eri went to help her friend, but she didn't fail to notice the outlines of a tuxedoed stranger and an oddly clad figure watching them from afar or Selene's departure.

Eri squeezed her eyes shut for around the third or fourth time that day as their mother's began enveloping her and Aiko in a group hug to ease their immense concern for them. As grateful as she was that her mothers cared, Eri still couldn't help but feel somewhat negative. Mom going on and on about how worried she was for Aiko and I and Mama grounding my for my exam mark is going to by my whole day, isn't it?

~O~O~O~O~

Sighing loudly, Emi ran a hand through her chestnut hair. To anyone's eyes, she looked exactly like her mother, Kino Makoto, but had her mother, Ami's, blue eyes. Akemi—her logistic-minded timid younger sister—on the other hand looked exactly like Ami, but had Makoto's green eyes, oddly enough. Emi was extremely talked, just like Makoto, and Akemi was scrawny like Ami, but they both had athletic builds. Considering their bodies, they spend lots of time in front of the TV eating junk food, but to their mothers' consternation.

Both Emi and Akemi were enrolled in the same public school too—the hell-like prison was known Shiba Koen Middle School. The only contrasts were that Emi wore the male uniform and was three years ahead of her younger sister, who was in her first year. Of course, their personalities were different too. Akemi was obsessed with school and the logic of everything while Emi couldn't care less about any of those things, as she was carefree and impulsive with her actions when it came to her emotions; Akemi was cowardly to a sense and Emi was as tough as a door nail. They were polar opposites when it came to personality traits, with the exception of a few shared; it was a complete and utter shock to their parents and brother on how they ever managed to get along at times, if not none at all, in the long run.

Speaking of school, the day hadn't been exactly to most productive day for her, as she missed several assignments that previous day and was honestly too lazy to take notes, much unlike her mother, Ami, and eerily similar to their close family friend, the notorious Tsukino Usagi's past behavioral habits during her past days as a student. She groaned. If there was anything she hated more in life than the horrible deeds in the world, it had to be school. Wait, she thought. Isn't school one of the horrible deeds in the world too; isn't it like one of the seven greatest sins in the old Testament from God in Cristian Bible or something?

Emi closed her eyes and slung her school briefcase over her shoulder. She smiled to herself, remembering something fondly. The only reason her sister was in jail nice high despite her ripe of twelve years of age was because of her genius and excelling grades, which she had inherited from Ami. Emi knew she's never get as far as Akemi in life; out if both of their mothers, she was most like Makoto in life, after all

She went to stuff her free hand into her school uniform's pocket. She was alone, she noted, which wasn't probably the smartest choice she had ever made either, as Makoto had warned her to be careful at that time of day. The Tokyo street was unusually barren, with the orange-golden hue of the sun setting as Emi's only company and comfort; had she not been so immersed in her thoughts, she'd probably pay notice to her current surroundings with a definite sharper eye, too.

Without a doubt, Hino Eri would've.

Emi glued her gaze to the dirtied cement ground, her thoughts traveling to the current object of her affections. It was no shock that she had turned out to be that way, and if she had she had been raised differently, she would've no doubt been disgusted by her feelings, but she was raised differently, so she felt no such ill way. Emi had known Eri since they were newborns, and their mothers were the closest friends, although they hadn't seen each other as much as they had during their teenage and college years, if the stories she had been told by her mothers and their friends were true or not.

Emi felt her proud smile turn to a rather inevitable dreamier one. How long has she had her crush on Eri for; wasn't it since she was twelve or thirteen, or something like that? It had been years since she first started crushing, so much so, that it was to the point where should was having trouble recalling where and when it had first began. Makoto had never ceased to stop playfully teasing her relentlessly, either; but that was one of her many ways to show that she cared about Emi, and for that, she was grateful.

Emi looked up again, playing with one of the rose earrings that she had inherited from Makoto after she had grown old enough to get her ears pierced. She was glad to have family that cared, considering that some people didn't. Emi had been terribly confused by Eri's view about her grandfather until she had met the man herself; only after that, she had understood that not all family was plausibly perfect and caring for their relatives, unfortunately. If only, for the sake of all the people who had suffered due to their mistakes, they were different; "you can't change people though," her mother Ami had once said after she had asked about Takahashi shortly after their awkward and unpleasant meeting, "if they aren't willing to change themselves."

Emi realized that her mother was right in a sense. If people aren't willing to change, they won't, but what if they had some mental disease or some similar to that; what if it was a fault that they couldn't help, like an autism or deformation somewhere? If it wasn't their fault, why should they be blamed as the sole cause as the problem? Of course, Takahashi did have a choice, but chose his work over his daughter; that was unacceptable all together, but what if, in an alternate scenario, he had to work non-stop to keep his family a float due to money reasons after his wife died and kept Rei with him? That would've definitely been an understandable, respectable, and moral reason for not being around as much as one would like, as much as he claimed he didn't wish for it to occur, but it would also change the resent they had now, no doubt; they didn't exactly need tangible proof either, that theory alone was surely definite enough to warrant truth and agreement.

Emi spotted young eight year old boy standing around doing nothing, well, other than kicking around rocks. With his green eyes and spiky rift of her that seemed to gravitate towards the right, he looked the most like Makoto out of his oblongs; he was just male. He didn't look he had just recently came back from school either, as he wore a dusty brown jacket of a white t-shirt, denim jeans, and black sneakers; he probably hadn't too, since she had spent the afternoon at the Crown Arcade, albeit alone, as Eri had said that she was extremely busy at the moment due to her drowning in schoolwork and could barely talk, much less spend lots of time at an arcade. She wished that Eri could've went though, since she tended to brighten the room just by smiling, in Emi's opinion, at least; hilariously, she always sounded like a love-sick sap whenever she spoke about her crush, and that didn't aid in her attempt to end her mother's non-relentless string of teasing; it did nothing at all.

"Oh, hi Emi!" the boy—Akira, her brother—greeted in any typical boy fashion that was most commonly found in eight-year old's, which was very fitting, given his age and all. A small smile took the place of his previous frown. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Emi replied nonchalantly. As much as he tried to remain aloof, she knew that her brother loved communicating with his mother's and siblings, especially her the most, if she were to be specific, since she was the most tomboyish in their family, and he could easily talk to her without being jovially teased or utterly confused by sophisticated grammar. "How about you?"

"Me neither, well except for . . ." Akira fished for a piece of paper in his pocket, and then unfolded it. Did she forget to mention that he had OCD too? He motioned the mark on his—she finally realized what it was—test. ". . . I got a twenty on my math exam; please don't tell Mom."

"If you don't want me to rat you out, then why did you tell me in the first place?" Emu inquired slyly. Like Makoto, she had her fair share of teasing him, just not as much as their mother would. "That grade is bad, and Mother will surely be able to help you improve it . . . maybe I should tell her."

"No, anything but Mother!" Akira exclaimed, with fear laced into his tone; Apparently, he didn't seem to quite catch on to the fact that she was teasing him yet, which happened to be fortunate for her growing amusement. "She'll gut me alive with studying of she finds out my score! I needed to tell you so that you could cover me with my excuse that it was Eri's exam!"

Emi's face went a bright red and an inevitable grin spread across her anything-but-chapped lips;, she had noticed over the years, those three things had always seemed to occur whenever someone would bring up Eri's name—even if it were adorning a non-teasing intention as a mask—in a conversation, unless they were in the same room together. Apparently, that was a symptom of an evident crush, as she had been told. Emi dropped her briefcase and buried her face into her hands. "Shut up Akira!"

"We got you good, sis!" Akira smirked as if he were a God and she, a mere mortal peasant, an extremely inferior one at that, too. "Our plan worked, now we actually have proof of your crush so you can't deny it anymore!"

"I don't have a crush!" she argued defiantly, the blood rushing back to her face once again. She's make him pay for his action; she definitely would make them pay—wait, them; there was a them? "What do you mean exactly by "we", Akira?"

"He means that I aided with this little experiment," Akemi said as she walked out of her hiding spot of under a nearby bench, clad in both her clear glasses and school uniform. She held a video camera that had to have been used to film Emi's reaction. "The results were rather satisfactory; now Akira will have to stop harassing me now that it's done."

"I always keep my promises," Akira chuckled goofily, rubbing the back of his neck like their mothers' friend Motoki did when in his wife's presence; he was certainly whipped from to start, according to their mothers.

"Good." Akemi tossed Akira to video camera. She didn't seem particularly happy about the whole ordeal, in fact, she looked quite grim at the moment; maybe it was because she hated betrayal as much as Emi despised school, maybe even more so. "Now I'm heading home to study."

"Why did you videotape me?" Emi finally demanded. She was rather mortified, due to her brother's actions, and concerned that he might possibly show Eri or Aiko the clip and her most well-kept secret would be revealed; she couldn't let the happen; she couldn't let that happen at all. "Delete it now!"

"Never!"

"Delete it or else!"

Akira laughed loudly as he ran down the road with Emi hot in his heels. She would make him pay for his actions, and she wouldn't stop until she had gotten her point across; it was: one should never mess with the semi-professional martial artist, Kino Emi, and expect to get away with it free of any horrible wounds whatsoever. And an angered Emi planned to teach Akira just that, and she definitely planned to go through with it the hard way.

Although, as she chased Akira around, Emi couldn't seem to fight the reoccurring feeling that something life-changing was going to happen in a short time's notice. And one word oddly began to slip its way into her mind and stayed stuck there for the longest, most aggravating, time.

Bacchus.


A/N: Um, reviews are nice? But, anyway, I hope you readers enjoyed this latest chapter!

. . . But, seriously, reviews really are nice . . .