~Rin's POV~

I woke up the following morning, feeling pretty good for once. I had gone to sleep a little early, so I felt better-rested than most days. I yawned, getting up as my tail stretched out behind me. I looked to my left and spotted the clock.

It was only 5:00. I looked out the window, and saw that it was still dark out, and Kuro and Yukio were still asleep. I stretched a little more.

Good morning, Rin-sama… You're up a little early… The sudden entrance of Kurosune's voice startled me, and I tried not to yelp.

'Morning, Kurosune.' I yawned, wanting to lie down again. 'I wonder why I woke up so early in the morning.' A sudden pain rocketing from behind my eyes to the bottom of my ribcage answered my question. It was worse than before. I gripped my stomach, suddenly feeling sick, but I knew that no amount of medicine would make it go away.

Rin-sama! Kurosune yelped, surprised. I could feel the earring get slightly heavier before going back to its lightweight self.

'Its fine, Kurosune… It just surprised me. I probably won't be able to go back to sleep now….' I thought, feeling a little miserable. True, my body did hurt, but it also felt tired and wanted the relief of lying down. 'I should probably just lie down for a while, then…. I'll find a way to fall asleep in class, again anyway.'

Kurosune just sighed. Alright, well, do you want to go upstairs, at least?

I nodded. 'That sounds like a good idea…' I gently tiptoed out of the room, but I found my feet taking me to the kitchen, and I couldn't stop myself. 'Why am I going to the kitchen?'

I sense Azami's presence, but she is not actually here. She is probably summoning your body to the kitchen for a reason only known to her at the moment.

'Oh.' I sighed, allowing my feet to take me to the kitchen, where there was a small glass saucer on one of the dining room tables with 4 petals inside of the glass. On top of the saucer was a small glass teacup filled with a strange, pinkish liquid that smelled strongly like roses… and in the drink was a small white rose petal. Next to the saucer was a small, glass candy jar completely stuffed with white rose petals, and tied close with a scarlet ribbon with white trimmings. In front of it all was a small note with a single earring pinning it down. The earring was a small, white rose stud earring, with two gold chains hanging off of it, both of which were attached to a small cuff. The note read:

I hope this helps with the pain.

-Azami

I looked back at the glass teacup, the white rose petal sitting in it. I picked up the teacup with my right hand hesitantly, smelling it. It smelled endearing. I slowly brought it to my lips and tasted it.

It tasted sweet beyond understanding, but it still tasted good. I downed the rest of it, and I felt the pain slowly leave my body. I looked back and saw that the earring was gone, but realized a small piercing pain in my left ear. I put my finger to my left ear, and found the earring had pierced it and the cuff had placed itself on the upper part of the outer rim of my ear.

I sighed, looking back down at the table. I figured I would have to hide this before Yukio woke up. I just hope Ukobach didn't see this… or worse, Azami herself. Good thing is, I have hiding places everywhere, throughout the entire building. I headed to the floor below me, into one of the bedrooms. I pulled on a few floorboards, until one of them came loose and came out. I removed it gently and removed an empty wooden box from the hole. I placed the candy jar and the saucer and the teacup inside gently, and placed the wooden box back inside the hole and adjusted the floorboard over it carefully. I stood up, staring at the floorboard for several minutes, before leaving the room and searching several others, before finding a rug and dragging it back into this one and placing it in the room, hiding the floorboard. I sighed, realizing how tired I was. As I passed through the kitchen on our floor, I felt myself sitting down. I kept telling myself to get up, but I didn't, and my head eventually rested on the table, and I fell asleep in the kitchen.

(Line Skip)

I felt my shoulder being shaken as my senses slowly returned, and a familiar voice reached my ears.

"Rin, wake up!" Yukio shook my shoulder, wearing a concerned expression, frowning slightly. As I sat up, a black mass of fur jumped into my arms.

Rin! When-When I woke up and you weren't there, an-and there was no note or anything, I got so scared! Kuro began crying, huddling against me. I hugged him. "Sorry, Kuro… I woke up and I was going to get some water… I was going to come back to the bedroom but I fell asleep down here…" I kept hugging him, upset with myself for scaring him. Ukobach popped into view, staring at me intently from the kitchen. Kuro and Yukio seemed to notice this.

Is something wrong, Ukobach? Kuro tilted his head, apparently having stopped crying. Ukobach just looked at Kuro, then at Yukio, but then glared daggers at me.

'…Did he see something?' I thought, feeling the color drain from my face.

Rin-sama, Kurosune thinks you should calm down… Kurosune voiced in, concerned. Ukobach just huffed and went back to what he had been doing, while Yukio seemed to notice me staring off and noticed my paleness.

'Nii-Chan, is something wrong?" I asked, still worried. I snapped out of it, shaking my head slightly, color returning to my face. "I'm fine, four-eyes. I'll go help Ukobach make breakfast!" I put on my best fake smile before going into the kitchen, spraying a pan with cooking oil before turning on the stove.

Awhile later we were heading out to the school. Most of the morning classes bored me, so I only really remember daydreaming, but for some reason my thoughts kept drifting back to white roses… but for some reason, they were stained in blood. They weren't even actual thoughts, just images that kept popping into my mind… Images of white roses.

Stained in blood.

And for some reason… I got the feeling they were my classmate's blood. Not just my cram school classmate's blood. Even the classmates in my normal school.

I also had the feeling that I had been the one who spilt their blood.

I began to wonder why I would do that, when the want to attack the girl next to me with copper hair.

I wanted to see her blood spill.

I shook my head involuntarily, when I felt something warm on my left ear. I put my finger to my earring, and I pulled it away, looking at my hand, which now felt warm.

There was a bloodstain on my finger. I wiped it quickly on my paper and put my finger to my earring again, but it was gone. I stared at the bloodstain on my paper. It almost seemed… enticing. My nose twitched, a slight want entering my mind. Not just to see it…

I shook my head again, the thoughts leaving my head as the last class of normal school ended and I headed over to cram school, wondering how I would suppress these wants.