Sat. back and very late, I know and I'm sorry to those who are still reading. The lines of excuses are too long a painful, so let's skip those. In case you forgot (don't blame you), it was Valentine's Day a little bit ago, the girls just got caught running a circuit and are beginning to unravel some of Kuran's plans for the Cross Academy. Oh, and not to mention that Kaitlin and Aido are an item now! Let's see how this goes now. I own nothing familiar.

Rena

Chapter Twelve: He did what?!

I shouldn't be doing this. I mean, I really shouldn't be doing this. Staring in the bathroom mirror, I have the necklace Kain gave me. Every rational part of me is saying no, but I really want to put it on. If I don't get out of the bathroom soon, Kaitlin'll start asking questions and that will cause problems. With an annoyed huff, I clasp the necklace on and slip the cold metal down my shirt. I give. Brushing out my semi-long hair, I leave the bathroom and dodge Kaitlin as she dives in. She woke up late. There is something up with her.

I'm not sure where to pin it, but she seems a little on edge and off. She's been running into walls and she hasn't done that since I met her, which was a while ago. She always has a look on her face like she's trying to figure out how to start something, but I have no idea what. I haven't had the chance to ask Sarah yet since she just got in last night, but Angelica said that she noticed it as well. I glance at my watch. We need to leave in a few minutes.

"Kaitlin," I call through the door, "You have about five minutes before you have to run across campus. I'm heading out a bit early."

"Okay, thanks!" she calls back with a rushed voice, "See you in class."

Picking up my backpack, I head out and lock the door. I'm starting to think that Ana's right about Mondays being horrible. Every since we came to this school, Mondays have been really crappy. Perhaps it's payment for finding a place where we have a little bit of freedom. After all, we can be regular teenagers when it comes to school and Cross knows about us being E-Shifters, so we don't really have to worry about hiding that from anyone else important. I suppose we became another secret of Cross Academy.

"I can't believe I got detention with Kaze," Kaitlin mutters, dragging her feet.

"Well," I respond with a shaky grin, "You really wouldn't get up out of bed for anything. Not even when I said Aido was in the room. Bad night of sleep?"

"Something like that," she says, running a hand through her brown curls, "Ana's gonna be mad when I tell her."

"Tell me what?"

We both jump and turn around to find Ana with a questioning look.

"I hate that you can still do that," Kait says flatly to her.

"She got a detention with Kaze for being late," I inform, receiving a glare from Kait.

"Really?" Ana asks with a quirked brow and a glare, "Okay, but don't let that happen again. The last thing we need is for you to have school obligations interfering with our usual ones."

That was pretty lignite. In fact, that wasn't even a lecture but a reminder. I wonder what's up with Ana. She may just be leaving Kait alone because of the way she's acting, but I doubt it. Ana hasn't been back here long enough to really notice it as much as Angelica and I have. We take a seat on the hill we decide to meet at after classes. It's about halfway to the Hall, so we guessed here would be best. It's a sunny day in February and warm out, a sure sign that spring's settled in nicely.

"Hey, where's Sarah?" I ask Ana, just noticing that she wasn't here. They have their last class together.

"Library," she responds, "Takuma didn't give her an answer yet, so she's going to see if today's any different. Said that Kuran was still contemplating the proposal last time. I really don't think he'll take it."

"I'm not sure what we'll do," Kaitlin says, leaning her chin in her palm, "What they have going here isn't harming anyone, but we do need that information out of Kuran's hands. He's good at keeping that stuff quiet, but it will bring down fall to him eventually and everyone else here. I'd hate to imagine what the Hunters' will do if they found that out."

"If they're planning on attacking the school," I reason, "They'll find that info eventually. It's hell for them either way; one side of it just affects us a bit more and it's only more reasons for the Hunters to harm people that know us."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Ana says in a quiet voice, rubbing her injured arm a little. It must still be sore. Usually she takes off her blazer because she hates the thing, but she still has it on.

"Hey, guys," Angelica greets with a raised hand, "What's up?"

"Waiting," Kait responds, "Since Sarah's going to be a bit late should we go?"

"Yeah," Ana says, rising from her spot on the grass, "Kait also got detention."

"I heard," our ebony skinned friend says with a grin, "That's not like you, Kaitlin. Got something on your mind?"

"Oh, buzz off," she fires back with a huff.

Yuuki's whistle sounds and we hear her yelling over the usual crowd of hormone crazed teens. We have to pass by the Night Classes general path, but we usually get down there before the gates opened. I wonder why Angelica was late. I don't have a chance to ask her as we descend from our little hill. I'm a little worried, though. Angelica has one of those grins where she knows something is up and it's good, but still doesn't quite know what it is. This must have something to do with Kaitlin. Does this involve Aido's Valentine gift? I know she's been upset about that for a while. Does Angelica think Kait will try to beat up the blonde vampire? No, she's not that reckless. So, what is it? Kait can be such a closed book sometimes.

The crowd roars with fan girl screams and other shouts. I really think they need a life or something other than this. It's creepy. By the time the Night Class is almost all the way down the path, we cross over and try to get out of their way. What is Aido doing? He stops the entire procession and draws everyone's attention to him…more than usual. Kaitlin mutters something in a shaky voice, but it was too low to hear.

"Ladies," he says in a loud, commanding voice, "I have a terrible announcement for all of you. I'm a taken man now."

"Say what?" I ask, nearly dropping my backpack, "Why in the hell is he announcing this and who…? Oh, Kait, no way."

"W-w-what?!" she nearly screeches.

We all lock our eyes on Aido as he ignores the loud crowd asking who. He marches right up to Kaitlin, grabs her by the wrist and pulls her in front of the crowd. Oh sweet God in Heaven, he's not gonna do something stupid, is he? Kaitlin's too stunned to try and resist anything…I hope. Suddenly, he dips her back and gives the audience a wide view of their full fledged kiss. The entire student body is quiet. Ana slaps a hand over her mouth and the girls just stare with eyes and mouths wide open. Hell, so is mine. Is…is she…responding? Oh holy crap.

"Oh my God," we all say.

She finally fights back and only hits him upside the head and walks away completely red and flustered. We all stare at her as she comes back into our flank. What the fuck?!

"Care to explain, Ms. Rose?" Kuran asks.

Where did he come from? Oh, who cares! What in the world is wrong with…the world?!

"Loved to," she says, removing her hand from her mouth, but not her eyes from Kait, "If I could. Either way, this isn't violating the agreements we made, so I don't see much of a problem. I just…have no idea what to say to this, except: what the fuck?"

"Hm," the tall vampires mummers, "Agreed. We must be going to class. I shall see you soon."

"Yeah, sure," she responds with a dazed wave of her hand, "Whatever."

"Erm," I hesitantly say, "We should discuss this somewhere else…we have some unhappy fan people behind us."

I just started to notice the quiet roar of angry teens behind us and I think we should move before something really horrible happens. We rush off to the Hall, keeping Kaitlin in the middle. Once there, we slam the door shut and lock it. We only have some time here since we're just letting the students know that we have to cancel class today for certain circumstances. We all just stare at our curly headed friend in disbelief.

"Did that really happen?" Angelica asks, pinching her arm a little, "Ow, yeah. I knew something was going to happen, but holy cow."

That might have been why she was late.

"Care to explain?" Ana asks, crossing her arms and leaning her weight on one side, "Please, at least tell us you weren't for that escapade back there."

"No!" she defends herself, "That was all him and he's grass for it!"

"As for the whole 'girlfriend' bit?" Ana continues with a quirked brow.

"U-uh, w-well, you see now…" she stutters, twisting her finger in a curly strand of hair.

We all grin at the poor, stuttering girl. I knew it.

"You totally did have a crush on him," Angelica states, pointing a finger at her, "and you accepted his offer from the Valentine's gift."

"Which means," I say as though I'm introducing a new product, "Ladies, the man-hater herself has snagged a boyfriend! When were you going to tell us, you evil-sneak of a friend?"

"I'm not a man-hater," Kaitlin snaps back, clenching her fists, "I hate idiots! There's a big difference. I was gettin' around to tellin' y'all…eventually."

"Yes, but most of those always seemed to be males…" Angelica explains, trailing off with a smirk.

"Well, I'm happy for you Kait," Ana says, "But I think you shouldn't wander around the Day Class students alone for a while."

Someone knocks on the door and Ana turns to unlock it. There is a line of some of our students with questioning looks.

"Sorry guys," she says as we all come out, "Class will have to be cancelled today for certain circumstances."

"Oh, is it because of Idol-sempei?" one girl asks.

"Originally, no" Ana informs with a weak look, "Though, it's been added to the list of his latest antic. Can you guys spread the word to the other students? We have to go."

"Oh, sure," one boy says, "Just be careful when leaving. Some of the Day Students look like they're ready to kill."

"We'll be sure of that," I answer with a grin.

We head off, keeping our little embarrassed Kaitlin in the middle of us. Sarah's gonna flip a switch when we tell her. I grin a little to myself at that thought. We head up the stairs to Cross's office and Angelica knocks on the door. After receiving an answer, we come to Cross sitting behind his desk with his usual grin, Kuran in a chair in front of his desk and Sarah standing next to the only empty chair. With a small huff, Ana takes the empty seat next to Kuran and pulls out the complied data from the weekend circuit from her backpack.

"Before we get to business," Cross says with a growing grin, "I heard here from Kaname that some strange transaction occurred not too long ago between one of your group members and a Night Class student."

"When did that happen?" Sarah asks, cocking her head to the side a bit.

She must have gotten here after Kuran did, so she doesn't know. In answer, Angelica offers Sarah her hand and most likely sends the best mental image of what just happened. Sarah turns to Kaitlin with a flopped open mouth and choked sounds coming out.

"Please, just tell me you didn't end his undead life," she stutters out after a moment.

In return, Kait gives her humph, crosses her arms and turns away, her face very red.

"This just got a whole lot more interesting," she mutters, rubbing a hand on her forehead.

"Headmaster Cross," Ana starts, using a business tone, "First, I want to thank you for understanding our reasons for disobeying your rules. Here is the complied data we have. It seems that there are only active Hunters here in this town. The other places that seem to have promise might have only one or two local ones and they are single people. Therefore, we can dismiss them for the moment. They may be called in for back-up, though the group established in town is so small that the measures of precaution are still the same. We'll be able to handle the numbers."

Cross flips through the data packet, skimming the written reports and glancing at the maps.

"Detailed work in such a short amount of time," he comments, "I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less. Would you mind if I show Kaname?"

Ana twitches and Kaitlin straightens her shoulders a bit. That would be a big "no", but we're in debt to this man. There's not much of a choice. She nods to him to hand the information over to the vampire. He takes it and easily reads through it as though it were a magazine. I suppress an annoyed sigh. It's like he's completely ignoring our efforts to make that. Oh well, I'm just defensive against this guy because of whatever he did to Ana.

"We'll be running the next circuit in the same areas," Ana informs the two men, "in about two weeks time."

"Alright," Cross answers with a nod, "Do any of you having anything you want to say or to ask?"

"I would like to send a few of the Night Class members with you on these circuits," Kuran says as he continues to flip through the data.

"What?! Where does he get the gall to ask that of us? We aren't working for him.

"No," Ana immediately says, "Vampires stick out among a crowd of humans, Hunters can spot them a mile away and they'll only slow down the outer rim runs with the different sleep patterns."

"I'm only trying to strengthen our truce," he responds, still looking through the data.

"The truce has plenty of strength," she retorts, "We haven't killed each other. I deny your request with or without Headmaster Cross's say. I'm sorry Headmaster, but I will not allow that. That request will compromise all of us."

"I agree with you, Ms. Rose," Cross answers with a nod, "but do not deny help with others tasks when the help is needed."

"Indeed, Headmaster," she says with an annoyed tone, "but do not expect us to receive it so easily."

"You are still put on the defensive when offered help," Kuran mummers.

"Some traits don't die out," she mutters back, "Headmaster, if you don't mind; we have some homework in need of attending."

"Of course," he says with a smile, "Good night ladies."

I walk over to retrieve the information packet. He hands it to me without even a glance. Pompous bastard. Snatching from his hand, I follow the girls out of the room. Kaitlin immediately heads off to Kaze's classroom, nearly running to not be late. This has been one interesting day and it's not even over yet.

The cool spring breeze licks my bare shoulders and bare legs. The moon is at half, only giving small silvery graces to the wide campus. The sky is randomly blemished with thin clouds. Hopefully, it won't rain too much later on in the month. I don't mind the rain, but I don't like staying in it longer than I have to. There have been many weeks wading in thick and nasty liquids. One too many jobs in the sewers. Now, the question is for this evening: How can we get that information away from Kuran peacefully if he doesn't take our offer?

As we discussed before, by force will be the utmost worst idea. Perhaps we can use Angelica's plan of holding Kuran still long enough to rummage through his mind, but somehow I don't think that will work. Angelica's very good at what she does, but we've never tried that on a Class A pureblood vampire before and this one is pretty strong. He already has mind wiping abilities. Most A's can't receive that until they hit at least the age of forty or more. I wonder how he got that. The fact that he has that ability makes me worried, needless to say.

Shifting my position on the tree branch, the necklace moves a little against my skin. It's amazing that Kait didn't kill Aido. Nice to know I'm right about that, at least. A smile still comes to my face after that escapade. Perhaps now that she and Aido are together, it might allow Kuran to agree to our request for a meeting. Though, the two very bad things that could be interoperated from this is the idea that we're using Aido to get closer or Kuran won't care either way. I'm kind of thinking the last idea is most accurate. I really hope neither of those is right. Kaitlin deserves a little happiness and a break from our normal reality.

"Is your bed defeating your purpose again?"

I look down and see Kain with his life aura strongly pulsing from him.

"That and it's a nice night out. Aren't you supposed to be in class?

"Are we really having the same conversation again?"

"Perhaps," I answer with a grin, "What's up with you cousin?"

"He's always been a little reckless," he answers, shrugging his broad shoulders, "Not that many of us really believed him when he said he was going out with your friend."

"Have you come here to confirm that?" I ask, swinging my legs a little.

"That would be part of it. The other part is the nice evening."

"Well, it's true," I answer with a small sigh, "Our little man-hater finally got snagged by a guy. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it, do you?"

"As long as she doesn't kill him, not really."

"And if she doesn't," I answer with a laugh, "the rabid fan people will. They're seriously nuts here."

"Humans," he responds with another shrug and leans on the tree I'm in.

"Too true."

I lean on the trunk on my left and just listen to the natural nocturnal symphony. Being outside has always made me happy since my ability is so closely tied with life. Somehow, even for a split second, I feel perfectly connected with the world and everything is…right? Perhaps as it should be is a better term.

"What about you?"

My body jolts, nearly falling off the tree from Kain's sudden smooth baritone voice.

"Whatcha mean?"

"You seemed to exclude yourself from the generality of humans," he explains, not looking up at me, "What about you?"

Should I really tell him anything? Would he use this on me later? Would it be wrong to tell him nothing? The necklace shifts a little again, reminding me that there is something…nice about this guy.

"Well," I start, looking up to the semi-clear sky, "There are two reasons why I don't really fit in that category. That doesn't exclude me from doing some really stupid things or…humane things, I suppose is the best word for it. Bad acts of mercy would be another."

"You see mercy as a bad thing?"

"Only when someone shows it to someone that could come back and kill you or close ones later."

"What are the two reasons?"

"One is being what I am," I continue with a somewhat sad look, "I'm human in every way but for what I am, which sounds like a contradictory but it isn't if one thinks about it. The other reason is the fact that I was raised to kill without question, true purpose or reason. I can understand taking a life for survival purposes, which is personal gain but it's something all living creatures have a right to. All I did was meaningless killing or killing for personal gain. I'm so connected to life that it hurts having no reason to harm anything or even to save something. Saving a person that could and would cause so much pointless damage is just as bad as killing someone who didn't do anything. That is something I consider…horrifically mindless. Humans and other creatures wouldn't really do that without some guilt. They're self-aware and I was trained not to be."

"I keep forgetting that," he mummers, looking up at me.

"Forgetting what?"

"That you were a Hunter, and a special weapon at that," he replies with a slightly…sad look? I'm not entirely sure. "You're just so…happy and you smile every time I see you. Even when you were in this tree tonight, you had a smile on your face."

"I try to look at some of the brighter sides of thing," I reply with an awkward smile. I didn't know he watched me that much. How could he have?

"You seem so gentle, too," he says, still looking at me.

"Life and death can be both gentle and harsh," I reply, "I suppose just knowing this fact kind of separates me the general human group a little more. I might be a little too wise and perceptive."

Another silence passes between us and I start to become uncomfortable. I'm not used to people forgetting I'm a killer and being called…gentle. What the hell is up with that? There have been too many weird things happening today, so I think it's time to go to bed. Slipping quietly down from my branch, I land next to the tall vampire and wipe my hands on my shorts.

"See you later," I say and begin to walk away.

A cool finger slides over the back of my neck and I freeze, unsure what to do. His finger links on the chain under my shirt, but he doesn't pull it up to try and choke me. Coolness radiates at the right side on my face where he leans down some.

"Thank you for wearing it," he nearly whispers and pulls it out of my shirt so it can go over it, "You must have worn it for a while now since the metal is very warm."

No, that's my face heating up from this embarrassing situation. I can't reply to him. My breathing is so shallow that I'm nearly holding my breath. He lets go of the chain and walks away. I turn to see he has his hands stuffed in his pant pockets and his usual slow stride. Yes, today has been a very random day.

"With this battle on the turn of the century and with a new emperor coming into power, the Japanese army was unable to secure a victory."

I think I'm falling asleep.

"The current emperor wanted to control part of the continent, what is modernly called China."

Why? That campaign failed before it even got off the ground. The emperor was assassinated by him son. Geez, this guy is losing me. My head is beginning to dip down. Kaze is, by far, the most tiring teacher. He loads the students with homework and expects them to pay attention in his long boring lectures. A yawn wells in my lungs and I do my best to suppress it. This is my last class, so I just need to hold out a little more. The bell chimes and I stretch my legs. For once, Kaze's not giving us homework.

A month has passed, so March is warming things up nicely. All we've had were clear and sixty-five to seventy degrees days. We've even had club meetings outside. Surprisingly, activities have been pretty quiet. The blood foxes aren't really bothering anyone, the circuit was clear and no Hunter activity. This quiet life and silence makes me uneasy and jumpy. There's going to be something big coming soon. Karma works like that.

"Wait just a moment," Kaze says with a hand up, "There is one announcement I need to make. Next week is the cherry blossom festival and spring break, so there will be no classes all next week."

Say what?! The class cheers and whoops. This is so great! I forgot that this school centers the first weeks of blossoming season with spring break! Thank you Japanese people for loving cherry blossoms, thank you so much. That explains why Kaze hasn't given us homework today. It's Thursday and I guess he doesn't want to grade anything over his break and I do not blame him.

"Also, the Spring Dance will be next Friday night. It will be held by the Day Class this year, so if anyone wants to volunteer to help, talk to the student council. Dismissed."

Yeah, the girls and I have better things to do than going to a dance. That's the last thing we need. Gathering up my school stuff, I head out to the usual meeting spot. I wonder if we should have our meetings next week or maybe a party or something. That would be good for the students. Maybe I'll bring it up to Ana. I'm the first to come to the usual meeting spot and take a seat. Makes me wonder what happens when the Day Class is allowed to mingle with the Night Class? Perhaps Yuuki and Kiryuu will be working at the dance. I'd kind of feel sorry for them if they do.

"Hey, honey," Angelica says above me, "Hear the good news?"

"God is giving us a break?" I ask with a grin, "Or the fact that we're getting outta school for a week."

"Both, actually," she responds with her own grin and takes a seat next to me, "There are times were I'm thankful for customs."

I nod in agreement and watch the crowd below at the gate slowly grows larger and louder. It's so odd that I've gotten used to seeing these rabid teens here nearly every day.

"Think any of them will ask for a date for the dance?" Angelica questions.

"Who, the crazy teens down there? Maybe," I reply with a shrug, "I'm thinking that the ones that don't ask today will tomorrow and they'll have gifts to bribe them with."

"Having fun watching the annual sacrifice?"

We both turn to see Ana and Sarah walking up the hill. They both have smiles on their faces and I grin in return. Guess we'll all be in a bit of a good mood today. We're all up for extra sleep. They take a seat next to us, each sitting on their blazers. It doesn't make any sense if they want to keep their clothes clean, but I guess Sarah and Ana hate the jackets more. The usual screams break loose while I propose my idea for the party and the cancelation of meetings. Ana says she'll think about it and for me to run it by again when Kaitlin gets here. Apparently, she wants to stay away from the dangerous pack of hormonal teenagers for a day or two. Can't say I really blame her, but I wonder how she told Aido. She said that he knows that she's staying away from the gates for a day or so when I asked if the vampire would have his feelings hurt without her there. Always so sneaky.

With a sly smile on my face, we head to the Fight Hall before the rabid pack of teens notice us. Needless to say, because we're friends with Kaitlin, they don't really like us either. Once we get to the Hall, we change and wait for other people. Kait is already here and changed, looking a bit bored though happy. We grin at each other and being to ramble about having some time off. Nothing like having school to realize how much you miss the freedom from it.

"Hey," I start, steering the topic away from a movie night, "What do you think about having a party for the class next week instead of meetings? I think they would like it and we'd get our own sparring time."

"Y'know," she says, taping her lip, "That's actually a good idea. The teachers get a break from teaching so I think we should too. The students might really enjoy a party."

"Yeah, I brought it up to Ana and she said she'd think about it," I decide and tighten my shoelace, "Let's go."

Kaitlin pushes herself off the wall she was leaning on and we walk out of the changing room. Hopefully the students will still have some focus since vacation is less than two days away. The usual groups of early students (the few that don't go to the gates everyday) are chatting excitedly. I shake my head and start to look for Ana in the small mass. I know she's around here somewhere. That or she's in the office. I start to head back there when someone intercepts me. Chisu looks timidly at me and I smile to try and make her feel less nervous.

"Rena-sensei," she hesitantly starts, rubbing her palms on her legs, "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

"Sure. What's up?"

"Well, I'm going to volunteer to setup for the spring dance," she continues, "but I looked at the list and there isn't anyone I know on it."

That's right, I forgot. Chisu has social phobia. She's doing much better since she joined the club, but these kinds of things move slowly.

"W-would you mind signing up with me," Chisu stutters, "You're the only person I know enough to ask this."

"The setup date is the same day as the dance?" I ask, feeling myself give in. At least I won't have to go to the dance.

"Yeah," she mummers.

"Sure, I'd be happy to help out. We'll both go and sign up after the club meeting is over."

"Really, sensei?" she says with a hopeful look, "You'll come with me?"

"Sure," I respond with a smile, "I may even convince the girls to come with me."

"I would have asked the others, but they seemed busy and…Ana-sensei is kind of scary."

"Yeah, she can be," I say with a smile, "But she's really nice and everything. I'll ask her."

Chisu gives a quick bow and walks away to join the rest of her group while I head back to the office. I find Ana and Sarah sorting through a few papers. It seems to be homework. Taking a deep breath, I walk up to her.

"Hey Ana," I start, "I have a question to ask you before we starting the meeting."

"Shoot," she says without looking up from her papers.

"Well…" I say, rubbing my neck, "Chisu wants to help set up for the dance and you know how social phobic she is. She wants to know if some of us can go help her out. She also wants you to come as well."

She and Sarah look at me with befuddled expressions. I shrug and tell them I'm going with her either way. Sarah says she'll go, but Ana says she's having issues with Kaze's homework from a few days ago. Somehow, she lost it in the mess that is her room. If she doesn't get it in before eight, she'll have to make up the assignments just to get a partially deducted grade for lateness. It would depend on the finding of the homework.

The meeting goes without a hitch and no late students. After everything is done, I tell Chisu that Sarah and I are going with her to help with the dance on Friday. She is very happy, to say the least, and tells us a good night. Shaking my head, I walk towards the office.

"I think next week will be interesting," Angelica says from behind me.

"I don't know," I respond, "I think it might be a little quieter on some of the days."

"Supposedly, people have to pay to get in to the dance. It's somewhere around the equivalence of ten bucks."

"It takes money to hold a dance," I say with a shrug, "I'm surprised it's so low."

"I still think this next week will be interesting," the taller girl mutters.

The girls and I have posted the time and place for the party. Apparently we made their week. Unpinning one of the signup sheets down from a bulletin board; I see that we will have enough food. Two days to allow them to sign up apparently was enough, seeing how the ten lines are full of names on each sheet. They're even bringing cups, plates and everything. The only thing we have to do is the cleanup I guess. We didn't have to get anything at all. I hear running down the halls and see Kaitlin coming near full speed towards me.

"Something's up," she mutters in English.

I run with her, stuffing the paper in my messenger bag. What could be wrong? We head up to Ana's room, the few students we meet part for us, murmuring questions about our sprinting. Kait opens Sarah and Ana's door and we see her pacing, Sarah wringing her hands and Angelica sitting on the edge of Ana's bed. I shut the door, drop my messenger bag and wait for someone to say something.

"Well, what's going on?" Angelica finally asks, "You have us waiting here."

"It's really faint," the short blonde mutters, "so faint that I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake. I've never felt something like this and I really don't know if my mind and senses are playing tricks on me."

"You're senses have never been wrong," Sarah states flatly, "Tell us."

"In a routine radar check," Ana explains, pacing a little faster, "I came across a very strange and familiar energy signal."

Odd and familiar? How does that happen?

"I…I think I found…another E-Shifter," she stutters.

She stops walking. Sarah falls back on to the wall and Angelica freezes. Suddenly the world is taller than me. My knees are on the ground. This is…absurd. I mean we haven't found any others before and the Hunters found us. How did this one…wait, is this one out of the Hunters' hands? I mean, it seems a bit too convenient for this new E-Shifter to be here where Hunters are looking for us. And the fact that one exists? Never mind the probability of six running into each other, let alone five. I shakily stand and find that Kaitlin hasn't moved at all.

"What do we do?" Angelica asks in a thick voice, "Do we investigate, make contact or leave them alone?"

"You know we can't leave them alone," Kaitlin whispers, "None of us would."

"Investigate," Ana mummers, "Now. He might not stay there for very long and it's a bit of a run."

"He?" I ask. That disproves the hypothesis that what we are being strictly made for a female body.

We all leave through the window, making our bodies blur with speed. Kaitlin runs up with Ana while Sarah and I take a staggered middle and Angelica takes the back. Soon, the clear campus becomes dense woods. The trees are thick enough to jump on and we start to do that. It lowers the possibility of being tracked. Suddenly Ana veers into a small area next to a stream and stops. Even from back here I can see the tracks the guy made. Apparently he knew we were coming. The tracks look fresh, very fresh in fact. He is probably only a few minutes ahead of us, if less.

"What do you want to do?" Kaitlin says, staring at the spot where he was, "Want to go after him?"

"No," Ana responds slowly, "He'll come back when he wants. We have his interest now. I just hope we can me without pulling out weapons."

"It would be great to meet another one of us without conflict," I mutter, leaning on my tree.

Ana contemplates the ground below her and gives a short sigh. That usually means she's come to a decision about something.

"Let's head back," Ana says, jumping on the ground.

She's letting him know how to find us. That could be dangerous considering we don't know anything about this guy. If he was from the Hunters, he could be a scout and only here to confirm we are here. If so, we're fucked. He could be harmlessly wandering around. There are just too many possibilities. The Hunter files would be helpful. Seems like Angelica and Sarah have another hacking job. We shouldn't tell Cross. He'll tell Kuran and more tension will start. We might be accused of something, which isn't doubtful. Ana jumps back into the trees and we start back. I suppose Angelica was right about this week being interesting. It makes me wonder and worried as to what will happen now.