Dinner with Alibaba and Morgiana had been just a little bit awkward for Aladdin. She still wasn't used to the hand holding and check-kissing between two of her best friends. She wasn't against them being a couple; in fact she thought the two of them together was adorable. It just wasn't quite normal for her yet. It was all right though, she could adapt.

It made her smile a bit when she saw Alibaba kiss Morgiana when he thought she wasn't looking. They were good to each other. It was a nice change from the Judal-Kougyoku relationship dynamic she was so involved with recently. Kouha was having problems with his feelings about his best-friend-almost-brother and little sister dating. He liked to bring Aladdin in to the situation so he didn't have to worry about it alone. Luckily, Alibaba and Morgiana were nothing like the other two. They got along really well as friends and as 'lovers.' It wasn't that Kougyoku and Judal didn't get along well or anything, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with their relationship. They just argued and teased each other constantly. The more docile relationship between the blonde and the red head was a nice change for Aladdin's heart.

She watched Alibaba and Morgiana walk home, hand in hand, after they finished dinner. Once she couldn't see them any more she turned to her house and hurried home. She had to get things ready for studying with Kouen later.

She had to clean first, just a few minor things. She straightened out the pillows on the couch, vacuumed the floors, and organized her cluttered desk. She changed out of the dress she had worn to school and dinner into shorts and a tank top. She turned the air conditioner on; it was definitely too hot today. She pulled out her Chemistry books and notes and set them on the kitchen table. They could start work out here and maybe move to her room later if that was more comfortable; it would take some time for her room to cool down.

She ran to get her phone when she heard it ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Aladdin, I have bad news. My flight was delayed because of a big storm. They say we will take off tomorrow morning at the earliest. I'm really sorry to leave you alone for the night."

"Don't worry about it. Are you staying at a hotel near the airport?"

"Yes, I got a room at the hotel next door. Do you want me to call someone and have them stay at the house with you?"

"No, I think I might invite some friends to come stay over or go to someone's house. If I can't do that then I will call Paimon and ask her to come stay. She practically lives here now anyway."

"You said you didn't mind her coming over of-"

"I don't. I like having her around a lot, and you deserve to have someone. Ugo, I will be fine, go get some rest. You got up super early this morning to get on the plane. I will call you if I have any problems. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Aladdin."

She couldn't invite Alibaba or Morgiana over; they were definitely doing things together tonight. The last time she had slept near Kouha he had practically strangled her. He was very clingy in his sleep, and he refused to use the guest room. Judal would make fun of her probably, or he would be out with Kougyoku, or maybe both. Probably both. 'Great, I have no one. Ugo forgot that Paimon is visiting her parents this weekend. He must be really tired. Tonight is really going to suck.'

The doorbell rang before she could worry about the night any more. Kouen was standing in the doorway reading a book. She invited him inside and got him water before sitting down to start studying. He didn't seem ready though; he kept reading his book. She just sat and waited for him to finish, she understood the need to finish reading at a good stopping point. After about ten minutes Kouen closed his book and looked up at her.

"Sorry, I needed to find out whether my prediction was correct."

"I don't mind. Where do you want to start working?"

"Let's start with the concepts from the second lab. The first lab was fairly straightforward, but the second lab had more conversions."

They did as he said. He cleared things up for her, and she explained things to him. They worked well together. Studying as a pair was twice as fast as normal, and they were both quite quick studies.

"That took less time then I thought it would. What are you doing for the rest of the night?"

"I'll finish reading the book. Koumei is on date supervision for the evening so I plan on doing more research."

"What about?"

"I've been looking into legends about lost kings. And the bloodlines of the legendary kings."

"Do you mean the kings whose resting places we can't find?"

"In part, but also the kings that lead large groups of people who didn't have a written language; the rulers of areas that aren't well documented for whatever reason. There were many powerful groups that don't have much recognition or documentation because we don't have much left from them. Often times their kings were the wisest though. It contrasts greatly with rulers of other areas. According to legend, anyway."

"Oh, I read a book about one of the legendary lost kings a while ago. It talked all about the lay lines and how some think the king was buried on a lay line to preserve his body for the future. He supposedly conquered a vast land and led a prosperous nation for most of his life. The problem was that we don't have enough clues about what was happening to go into any great detail."

"Are you interested in that type of history?"

"Of course! What people did before modern technology amazes me, and those rulers were a huge reason why people were able to prosper the way they did."

The girl wasn't just good at science, apparently. Maybe Kouha's constant boasting and praise wasn't exaggerated. So far everything Kouha had said was true from what Kouen could tell. She is intelligent then, not just gifted in one area. What a nice change from the sea of idiots at the school. She sparked his interest.

The conversation about kings turned into a more broad conversation about history, eventually leading to a debate about the lost century. It was one in the morning before they finally stopped their scholarly argument.

"I didn't realize how late it was. Is your family going to be worried that you didn't go home?"

"No, they will just assume I stayed up reading in a café somewhere. It has happened before. Aren't your parents coming home?"

"No, my uncle's flight was delayed so I'm home alone tonight."

"Your uncle?"

"Yeah, my parents died in laboratory fire a long time ago. My uncle Ugo adopted me after that."

He hadn't known her parents were gone. "Do you have someone coming to stay with you tonight? You shouldn't be alone."

"No but it's okay. I was going to call a friend but it's to late now. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine for a few hours. It will be light out in a few hours anyway."

Kouha would kill him if he found out Kouen had left the girl home alone over night knowing no one would be home to watch over her. Yeah, he wasn't going to go through that living hell. "Do you want me to stay?" And it wasn't like he wanted to leave her all alone. He wanted to protect her for whatever reason.

"You don't have to."

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"Um, it's okay. I really will be fi-"

"Where do you keep the blankets?"

"You don't-never mind. You can stay in the guest bedroom. It's all set up already. Do you need food or anything?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about-Shit!"

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to record the World War II documentary that was released today. Damn."

"The one about the Germans trying to invade Russia?"

"You heard about it?"

"I recorded it. I like to watch all the history documentaries. They compile all the information from the basic books into one hour so I don't have to spend hours reading several books to find the minor differences."

He thought the exact same thing. He needed to see the full extent of her knowledge. She was much easier to have an intelligent conversation with then the Senior Class President he had to deal with. Why couldn't Sinbad be more like Aladdin? The meetings would go so much smoother if he was.

"Kouen?"

"What?"

"Do you want to watch the documentary now? If you didn't record it then now would be a good time to watch it."

He nodded. It was an interesting show, but Aladdin was so tired she fell asleep half way through. Kouen finished the show and went back to reading the book from before. Eventually he fell asleep reading.

Aladdin woke up leaned against Kouen's shoulder. She jumped up immediately and blushed. How had that happened? It took her a minute to remember what happened the night before.

She moved into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast. The least she could do for using him as a pillow was to cook him breakfast.