So I had a very ugly case of writers block for this chapter, but there is something I have learned. APPRECIATE writers block. Some of my best chapters are the result of it.

Okay, I thought this came out awesomely but I will leave it up to you guys to be the judge of that. Misao: OFFICIAL? Yay! (^.^)b I can't wait!

Shakushana98: I'm glad you like them :D!

Now to do something I keep forgetting to do every chapter,

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Shakugan no Shana do you think I'd be writing this fanfic? Enjoy!

Appearing in the pitch black room, sitting in the same chair and taking a lemon off the same table was starting to become a routine for the flame haze, it wasn't necessarily a good one either. She sighed as she picked up the yellow fruit and cracked it open.

It had been nearly a week since she went with everyone to the beach and during the last 7 days it's been a little weird. Ever since she learned of the meaning of the cave, it was always awkward being around Yuji. It was only a little so luckily he, or anybody else, didn't noticed it.

Now let's get on to the weird part of the week.

For three days, after the cave day, she wasn't appearing here in this room anymore. Shana for the first time in a couple of weeks had actually had a real dream. Or rather dreams.

For three whole days she wasn't getting anymore lemons which baffled her beyond belief. No more fortune lemons? Is the world coming to an end?

...probably not. If it was, everybody and I mean everybody would know. Well you'd think so anyway.

BACK to the situation at hand now..

Shana wasn't sure what to make of the, what she called, 'Free Days' that happened. She thought Alice screwed something up on the other side and so the flame haze wasn't able to enter this room, well it wasn't really a room per say..more like a black abyss with a floating table and and chairs and something like that...who knows! Let's just call it a black pit. Nah...Crap, back to the 'back to the situation'.

All in all it was pretty confusing. The flame haze thought after the second night that it would never occur again; That whatever happened to make those dreams happen had broke or better yet, destroyed.

The thought brought a smile on Shana's face...but to say that everything that happened wasn't fun would be a partial lie.

When she's living in the moment, no. After it happened and she was able to look back at it and laugh..yes.

It was fun, for the most part.

A little voice inside her head, however, told her today was going to be the start of something bad. It was the same voice that told her whatever is behind the reasons why Alice is making these partial dreams, partial nightmares, it was BIG. And it's gonna be nothing they would have ever expected..

But it's just a little voice right?

...Right?

The flame haze rubbed her temples in aggravation. All this thinking about this and that was really starting to give her a major headache. Plus the confusion didn't make it any better, also know as the icing on the cake.

She swore sometimes this was all just a huge puzzle game that was dedicated to the fox girl's entertainment.

A puzzle? The thought never struck her as anything of importance until now. Why?She thought about it.

Was all this just a puzzle? Her sick sixth sense, which has been acting up a lot lately, started tingling. Though she highly doubted it was for Alice's amusement. After the time she spent in the coma with that girl, there is one thing she learned. Sure, Alice did like to play a lot of jokes, pranks and did a lot of teasing but she knew better than anyone when a joke is taken too far. Meaning she would have never gone this far just to play some prank.

The three 'Free Days' struck as important to to her sixth sense as well. Shana, after a lot of thought, decided that it wasn't Alice's comedian side showing.

However she just couldn't dismiss the idea of everything being a big puzzle, nor the free days, out of her mind.

Something was going on, something that is bigger than everyone and she has absolutely no idea what! It irked her that she couldn't figure it out. Thinking the sooner you solve the riddle the sooner you can help. But without the knowledge of how to put the pieces together, you can't, no matter what, find out what the 'something' is.

Cutting Alice momentarily out of the picture is starting to make the whole situation just down right bewildering.

Everything. It's definitely a puzzle, and the difference between this being the fox girl's puzzle and someone else's is that unlike Alice's...this one, if you put the pieces together you get a picture.

The picture could be anything now though. In a way she did have a lot of the pieces, but yet she couldn't put it together.

Speaking of puzzles, what about Yuji?

That was a completely different matter that Shana always thought of. How is she supposed to confess to him? You did it once flame haze, you can do it again! Haha, no. As she has learned, there is a fine line between confessing in a dream and in reality. In a dream if he rejects you, you can just wake up and try again the next night. But in the real world?

You pretty much have 'it's now or never' signs everywhere. One chance. You screw up, you can't always fix it. You have another chance? Don't screw it up again!

That's all you will get in reality. Why is love so complicated? The flame haze noticed she was always asking herself. Unfortunately that question has but one possible answer. It's complicated because the person makes it that way!

If you didn't over-think things that shouldn't be and looked more into things that needed to be studied, and played the right game then it wouldn't be such an issue these days.

That brings up another thing involving love. People WILL tell you in order to win his/her heart you need to play your cards right. But the important thing is to know what game your playing.

Sometimes you'll play a card and it will do the opposite of why you laid it, or if it happens more than once, you really need to look at the game box again to see if your playing the right game.

Don't trust it all the time though. Sometimes you don't need to know the game to play your hand to their heart, heck, sometimes there isn't even a game to be played, just random card laying! That could get confusing though.

But one thing you need, and I mean need, to remember is to look study your cards before playing anything! You won't get anywhere without knowing what's in your hand.

Shana grabbed her head as it started pounding. Peace. It sounded like a foreign word now. She doubted anything would be peaceful for a little while.

Complicated. It was like a nagging mother(no offense). No matter what she couldn't get rid of it, the more she tried, the harder it came down on her.

Confusion. Why hello new best friend!

Love. An acquaintance.

Serenity. Who are you?

Alice. Congratulations! You just became my new frienemy.

Yup. As of now the fox girl will always be classified as a frienemy.

Mainly because, how could Shana call her an enemy when that girl helped her realize her true feelings for the Mystes boy?

...The rest considers her an enemy.

Frienemy, it didn't feel 'right' but would do.

The flame haze sighed in annoyance. All or if any problems she is enduring they always seem to surface in this voided place. It's just too quiet! Kinda like in a horror movie or the calm before the storm.

She glanced down at the paper and read it's contents out loud.

"A good deed goes a long way"

Not really mystifying but okay. The flame haze hit the big red button.

******************************Shakugan no Shana****************************

Shana opened her eyes before quickly shutting them from the sun that was blinding. She got up and headed over to the window about to shut the curtains when she looked out and noticed how beautiful the day was.

Some fresh air will do some good. The flame haze grabbed a change of clothes before heading off into the shower.

After finishing her daily routine, she left out the door and into the burst of sunshine that was abundant outside.

The flame haze walked down the sidewalk by lots of different shops. Occasionally she went in one but didn't last very long before coming back out, it's not like she was looking for something in particular so going into the store's was just plain boring.

A couple of hours had passed by and Shana was thinking about heading back to her apartment. Maybe watching T.V would cure her case boredom. She stopped and looked around.

After mindlessly walking around she had ended up in the part of the city's shopping district that barely ever was crowded. As of now she hadn't seen a soul, there wasn't any open shops either. Just 'Out of Business' signs hanging in the windows of lifeless stores. No wonder no one ever came down here, it kinda gives you the creeps.

It's like a ghost town but yet a few blocks back down the street it was Sunnyville, overloading with people every second.

The flame haze turned around and as she was starting to walk, back down to the populated section, she heard a scream.

"What's wrong with you?" Mihara asked as she entered her little sisters room.

"Do you really care?" Yoshida retorted, laying on her bed while staring at the ceiling with a blank expression.

"Nope" The older girl popped the 'p'. "Mom just wanted me to tell you lunch was ready"

"Okay"

Mihara turned around and headed to the door. "I'll just leave now.."

"Okay"

"And I probably won't see you anytime soon today" She grabbed the door knob and glanced back at the girl on the bed.

"Okay"

"Leaving now"

"Okay"

"So cya"

"Cya"

"I'm going~" Mihara had only her head sticking in the room as she slowly closed the door.

"You really want to know that bad?" Yoshida asked with an annoyed sigh, now looking over at the girl.

"Kinda" The elder Kazumi said with a sheepish smile, then she nearly ran and sat on the edge of the light brown haired girl's bed while said girl watched her the whole time.

Yoshida raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"Well?" Mihara asked impatiently.

"That time we went to the beach has been bothering me" The younger Kazumi was hesitant to say.

"What do you mean?"

"You know when the storm had come, right?"

"Yea.."

"And that we all came back but at different times?"

"..Yea"

"Well who were the first to reach the docks?"

"Eto..You and Hayato-kun were"

"Right! Who came in after us?"

"Umm...it was 10 minutes after you guys got out of the boat when Matake-chan and Eita-kun came back"

"Right, but when did Shana and Sakai-kun come back?"

Mihara looked thoughtful for a second before the whole reason of her little sisters dilemma dawned on her. She tried to hold back a smirk. "They never came back to the docks in their boat"

"Exactly! But how long was it until they showed their faces?"

"As I recall it was a good 5 hours" Yoshida looked like she was about to explode and was going to say something until Mihara spoke up before the other girl could, not trying to hide the knowing smirk that appeared on her face. "And you're worried they were doing stuff during that time, right?"

Yoshida groaned.

"I'll take that as a yes"

"So? What should I do?" The younger Kazumi eagerly asked.

"You need to fight fire with fire!" Mihara exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Fire with fire?"

"Yes! And I won't lie to you. Shana-chan is a very pretty girl so it's not gonna be a breeze of a battle"

"Then tell me what I need to do to win Sakai-kun's heart!" Yoshida said latching onto her sisters arm, sounding more desperate with each word.

Mihara looked startled by the sudden action before sweat-dropping. "Don't worry, All you need to do is play a little dirty"

"WHAT?" Kazumi looked flabbergasted by the idea. "I could never do something like that!"

The older girl, after freeing her arm, stood up and walked over to the door.

"How could you even suggest that?" Yoshida asked, her eyes still wide.

"All's fair in love and war" Mihara shrugged, then she left the room.

The other girl stared at the place her sister was just at with an incredulous look on her face.

Shana ran in the direction she heard the scream sound from. You couldn't really forget that scream, it was both high-pitched and a bit nasaly meaning it could have come from a mere kid.

The flame haze stopped and looked around. I thought I heard it come from over here

She looked left and right before starting to run again when she heard the scream. But this time it was very short, like it was cut off.

She looked around before she spotted the opening to an alley and she headed straight for it.

As soon as the flame haze had arrived to the alley something hit her legs hard. She looked down to notice a very young little girl, maybe about 5 years old, and she looked a bit short for her age. The girl had apparently knocked into the flame haze and was now on her butt on the ground.

The little girl had dark brown hair that was tied up in pigtails and she had a matching set of warm chocolate eyes, but all you could see in them was fear.

She looked up and saw older girl, her eyes widened and she instantly shot up and hid behind the flame haze.

Shana was surprised by the girl's speed, but her attention was quickly drawn back into the alley when she heard a voice.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" A man, with the appearance of a thug, approached her. "Trying to run away are we?" He asked to the pigtailed girl.

Said girl was now clinging onto the flame haze's leg as if for dear life.

"It looks like we'll have to punish you" Another man started making his way toward the two girls. He was shorter and a lot more chubbier than the first guy. He smirked looking at the flame haze. "And if you don't give her back we will do something to you that you'll never forget" Man #2 said as his eyes had a creepy hungry look to them, and she knew what it meant.

Shana could practically feel his dirty hands ravaging her body through her clothes as he continued to eye her.

His gaze then landed on her chest and a small frown appeared on his scarred face. "A bit...small"

The flame haze could feel a vien pulsing. "Uresai! Uresai! Uresai!". You will be sorry. The two guys started laughing.

To say she was mad is such an understatement that you would insult her, to say she was pissed... your getting warmer.

Shana murderously glared at them. If looks could kill, she would have been on her merrily way a long time ago.

The men looked at her and their laughter stopped cold. She smirked in victory.

"F-Fine! W-We'll let you g-go if you hand the little girl b-back over!" Man #1 stuttered, fear whelling up in him.

The flame haze glanced down at the small girl as she cowered even more behind the older girl.

"You see there is a difference between me and you" She said pushing the little girl in the back, signalling for her to go to safety. Shana looked back at them. "I'm smart and you guys are complete morons"

Did they really think she was going to just give them back the little girl when they were obviously going to do something to her?

"Your going to pay for that!" Man #1 barked before drawing a pocket knife and charging at her. She smirked and dodged his attack with ease. The guy's eyes widened when his knife didn't make contact with anything and he heard her whisper in his left ear.

"Baka"

She elbowed him in his side, causing the man to drop his knife. She then did a 180 degree kick staight to his gut making him double over in pain.

She ended it with a punch going staight up and coming in contact with the mans jaw, sending him spiralling through the air and hitting one of the alley walls.

The flame haze searched for the other man and narrowed her eyes once she saw he had grabbed a hold of the little girl.

He was pointing a knife at her.

Shana, with one hand, grabbed the hand that was holding the knife while she elbowed him in the face with her other. The guy immediately let go of the little girl and tackled the flame haze to the ground. He held the knife to her throut as blood ran down from his nose, he smirked. "Not so tough now are you?"

She gave him a smirk of her own. "More than you'll ever be"

She kneed him in the stomach and then during his state of pain, kicked his groin area very hard. Since the guy never let go of his knife, the flame haze punched him in the face before shoving him off of her body.

Shana was about to deliver another blow when she heard police syrens. Quickly she started running out of the alley, but stopped when she saw the girl chasing after her.

"Don't leave me alone onee-chan!" The girl cried. Seeing nothing else she could do, the flame haze swung the little girl on her back before dashing away as the police arrived. She didn't believe that the police would accuse her of being apart of the two men, like a gang leader, but there was a small chance they would and she didn't want to have to go through the time to sort it all out. Though whoever called the cops might remain a mystery..

*********************************Shakugan no Shana*************************

Shana walked along until she found a bench and set the girl down. She sat down next to her.

"Thank you for saving me Onee-chan!" The little girl said with a ear-to-ear smile.

"You don't have to thank me..." The flame haze trailed off. What was the girl's name? "What's your name?"

"Ah! Yuki" The little girl said proudly.

"Yuki, where's your mom and dad?"

"My daddy is on a trip far away. My mommy brought me and my wittle sister to the park to play today, but those mean people took me away from her" Yuki finished with a pouting face.

The flame haze giggled at how cute she was when she did that. "Well then I think we should go look for your mom"

Yuki nodded, smiling. "Let's go" Shana said getting off the bench and looking back at her. It's not like she had anything else to do so she decided to help Yuki find her mother, it would keep her from getting bored again.

"Yosh!" The little girl exclaimed excitedly while pumping a chubby little fist in the air.

Three hours later...

The flame haze and Yuki had now been searching for hours on end and still had not caught sight of the mother.

Just as they were passing a diner Yuki's stomach made a very audible growl. Shana laughed.

"You want to go in and eat?" She asked pointing to the diner, to which the little girl eagerly nodded. The flame haze was actually starving and was happy to be able to get some food in her aching stomach.

They were seated in a booth when Shana looked out the window and realized something. It was late.

The sun was setting, making the clouds around it glow with a orangish red hue. The last of the light was shining but for not much longer. Searching for someone at night isn't an easy task.

The flame haze sighed. What am I going to do?

She looked at the little girl who was happily munching away at her food. She smiled. It was like the little sister she never had.

After eating their food the waitress came back and took the empty plates away while asking with a forced smile, "Can I get interest you in any desert?"

"Um N..." Shana trailed off when she looked over to the little girl who was looking back at her with big puppy dog eyes.

The flame haze rolled her eyes in a playfully-defeated way, and looked back at the waitress. "I guess whatever she wants"

Yuki made a victory 'Y' before looking to the lady and telling what she wanted. The waitress nodded and left.

Until the desert came the two girls were talking.

The flame haze lightly sighed, so as to not be heard from the little girl. What am I going to do about you? She mentally asked herself while looking at Yuki, who was happily eating what she ordered.

As if God had just answeres her, Shana heard the bell on the front entrance door to the diner dingling. She looked up and saw a sight she didn't think she would.

"I'll be right back" She told Yuki before scooting out of the booth and making her way to the front.

"Didn't think I would see you here" The flame haze said while playfully poking the person in the side.

"Shana?" Yuji asked, startled by her voice since he didn't think he would run into her here. Not that it was a bad thing mind you.

"The one and only"Something about Yuki seemed to bring a different side of her out, and saying she didn't like it would be a white lie.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked her curiously. "Having dinner?"

"No I'm planning on robbing the place" She playfully rolled her eyes.

He laughed. "Seriously?"

"Nah" The flame haze shrugged. Then her face lit up. "Maybe you can help"

She started dragging him back to the booth. "You see I'm in a little situation and could use some extra help"

They stopped once they were in front of the booth, but Yuji was still looking at her and didn't notice Yuki when he spoke. "What kind of situation?"

Shana pointed to the booth. He glanced over but then did a double take.

He looked at the flame haze with a what's-going-on? face. She sighed before sitting down in the booth opposite of the little girl while pulling the boy with her.

"Eto..Yuji this is Yuki" She introduced him to the little girl. When she looked up the flame haze continued. "Yuki this is my...friend, Yuji" So badly she wanted to add a boy to the friend but managed to catch herself from blurting it out.

Yuki looked at him wearily, but it dissapeared when the other girl gave her a reassuring smile and nod.

"Konnichiwa" She said with her cheerful smile.

"Ah..um Konnichiwa" Yuji greeted back awkwardly. "We'll be right back"

He grabbed a hold of the flame haze's hand before pulling her beyond ear shot of Yuki.

"Who is she?" He instantly asked.

"Her name is Yuki"

"And why is she with you?"

She sighed. "Some guys snatched her away from her mother so I'm now helping her find her mom"

Yuji's face reflected one a shock, which insulted Shana a little but she didn't say anything. More like mildly glared.

He immediately replaced the shock with one of surprise but then to one of curiousity. "Wait, what happened to the guys to kidnapped her?"

She grinned. "I took care of them"

The Mystes boy raised an eyebrow but didn't say anthing.

The two headed back to the booth.

***********************Shakugan no Shana***********************************

After Yuji finished eating he payed for the whole check and the three headed outside to begin the search for Yuki's mother.

They were walking along the sidewalk, the little girl happily skipping ahead of them, when Shana looked over at Yuji.

He looked deep in thought, he almost looked bothered in a way.

"Are you alright?" The flame haze asked, her voice layered with concern.

She seemed to wake him up as he slightly jumped when she spoke. He looked back at her and tried to smile but failed. "I'm not sure. I feel like I should be remembering something but I'm not"

She made a 'Hmmm' sound in reply.

Then silence.

Shana jumped when he exclaimed very loudly, "I know!"

"What?"

He grinned at her before gabbing her hand and racing off somewhere with Yuki in tow as well.

"Mama!" Yuki exclaimed when a women came into view. The lady quickly turned around and she ran toward the three.

"Yuki!" She called out with tears in her eyes. Anybody could tell that the woman had been crying, frantically trying to find her child, but not having much luck.

The two reunited in a hug, the lady lifted her little girl off the ground and held her tight. Not wishing to experience the same pain she was going through 5 minutes ago.

After some time she finally noticed Yuji and Shana.

She looked to them with relieved and overjoyed eyes. "Thank you! Thank you for returning my little girl! I was so worried!"

They smiled at her.

"Where did you find Yuki? I looked everywhere" The lady asked curiously.

"Well you could say, she found us" The flame haze replied, keeping her answer vague as to not worry the woman. Yuki was not physically hurt in any way nor did she seem hurt at all, it seems that Shana had gotten to the scene before the men were able to do anything to her yet. So long explanation short, it wasn't that necassary to tell the lady of the guys. The flame haze figured she'd go down to the police station later to tell of what happened. That way the men won't be let loose.

After some times Yuki and her mother finally said their goodbyes and started heading down the sidewalk when the she turned around.

"Wait! What's your name Onee-chan?" The little girl nearly yelled so the flame haze could hear her.

Shana looked back at the girl. What's the harm? "Shana"

Yuki smiled. "Arigatou!"

The flame haze let a small smile adorn her face as she walked back toward her apartment with Yuji.

"It was nice of you to help that girl find her mother" He commented after some time in silence.

"No, I was just planning to let Yuki fend for herself" She said sarcastically.

He chuckled. "I get it"

"How did you know where Yuki's mother was?" Shana asked, very curious to the answer. He slightly shurgged.

"I ran into her on my way to the diner, she told me her little girl was missing and she wanted me to help. I tried helping but we got nowhere so I headed off to the diner after promising her I would keep a look out for the girl. And then I ran into you guys" He took a deep breath in from lack of oxygen.

The two continued to chat about different things until they arrived at the flame haze's stopped before the pathway that lead to the apartment building.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Yuji asked, trying to keep his tone casual but slightly failing as he sounded a bit hopeful.

"Maybe"

Silence enveloped the two for awhile as neither of them wanted to say their goodbyes, but knew it would come sooner or later. They gazed into each other's eyes and started to involuntarily lean in.

He swooped down and placed a sweet kiss on her cheek.

The flame haze could feel the heat radiating of her face, knowing well that she was probably blushing. "What was that for?"

He smiled. "For being you"

Her blush darkened as she could hear every word was dripping with sincerity and fought back the urge to just kiss him already. Instead she smiled. "Goodnight"

"Goodnight"

And they went their separate ways, not noticing the dark figure that had been watching them.

:D

REVIEW! Onegai~