Author's Note: Alright, alright, I'll make this quick... I don't own these characters, etc., but I clarified that in the last chapter... SECOND, from now on out, the pervy yaoi-type stuff kicks in. If you don't like it, then shoo, I wrote this for people like myself who think that all the male characters in HINABN make it a goldmine for guy on guy action. The M-rated stuff happens later... and THIRD, since HINABN is still in it's early chapters, I apologize if I got any of the info about runes wrong. Stone doesn't mention how they are used yet. Anyhow, enjoy!

Chapter Two: Hanna's POV

They could tell me all sorts of things. People could say that I couldn't do anything about it, that I couldn't have prevented it. That I shouldn't be so hard on myself. But what happened my sidekick (so to speak) was my fault.

And only mine.

My memories of last night were blurry , those of a half asleep man. They were surreal, segmented by short intervals of slumber. No Name had waken around midnight, pulling on his trenchcoat and hat. The shifting, the pacing, the non-silence had all waken me up, and I watched his tall, slender outline bend over as he stepped into a pair of shoes. Just before leaving, he turned to stare out the window.

The moon was fat and full, the stars dotted across the night sky. The profile of his handsome face was outlined against the moonlight. I dosed off for a few minutes. When I came to, he was still there. He turned to me and said something about leaving for a while, but he'd be back before light.

I'd murmured something of a sleep distorted "Okay", I think. I'm not sure. But when I woke up the next morning and he wasn't back, I panicked. In my nightclothes, I hurried through the door of the apartment and tore out of the building, into the city. I'd combed the streets and alleyways surrounding the apartment building, looking for his familiar greenish skin somewhere. But yet, my sidekick was still missing.

I had only one option.

When studying the art of spellcasting, I'd learned one spell that was able to summon up objects, and even people, before your very eyes. It was very complex and I'd never tried it. There were also many dangers involved. For example, if I marked something a tad off, he could come back with three arms or no face or mentally retarded or something. Did I really want to take such a big risk?

Yes, I did. I wanted him back.

I whipped out my black marker and found a semi-secluded spot in a smelly alleyway a few blocks down from the apartment building. I found a patch of concrete and began to write. I wrote quickly, and when I was finished, I had something that looked like a foriegn language all over the ground. There were some formulas I had to work out as well, and they were a combination of elements unique to spellcasting and algerbra. The spell, I had learned, was always different. The formulas varied depending on what you were trying to summon up, where, what season it was, et cetera.

In other words, it was very complicated.

The moment I finished writing, the runes glowed disappeared, and soon, there he was. Unconscious. Rune covered. And you know the rest of it.

But when I went to Worth about it, I kind of left out the part about casting the spell. I'd just told him that I found him like that.

It'd been almost 24 hours until I last saw him. I reclined against the brick wall outside of Worth's office. I'd left unnoticed maybe an hour back. I just couldn't stand to see him, laying there, practically lifeless, yet not lifeless. I don't know what to call it.

"Hanna."

It was Conrad. He rushed towards me. His index finger, I noticed, was bleeding. He'd been anxious, then. From all the time I spent studying him, I had figured out that when he was unsettled in any way, his index finger would snake up to a fang that would pierce it, and his tounge would lap up the scarlet that dripped down his finger. It was like his form of nailbiting.

Sure enough, I noticed traces of blood around the corners of his mouth. It was... cute. In a way.

I've always had the biggest crush on Conrad. Something just drew me to him... I can't explain it. Perhaps it was his dark hair and snow-pale skin, a combination I'd always loved. His glasses brought out his elegant features, and I don't think he was aware how attractive some of his mannerisms were.

"You've got a little blood..." I motioned around my lips. "Like, here..." I licked my finger and grabbed his face, which caught him off guard. To tell you the truth, I was nervous as hell. I rubbed my index finger around the edges of his lips as he stood there dumbly. I moved in my face close to his, taking my finger around the different parts of his lips, focusing on his lips only, but also half-aware of the breeze huffing against the side of my face. It was freezing, but when I was with Conrad it was perfectly fine, as he made me feel... warm.

I was about to pull back and survey my work when he caught me my surprise. "Kiss me, you fool..." He groaned, pulling my face back in and meeting for a kiss. I was dumbstruck for a second, but soon wrapped my arms around his neck. I opened my jaw slightly and slid my tongue into his mouth. Was that a soft moan I heard from him just then? I think so. It was incredibly sexy.

His arms snaked around my waist and pulled me in, closer (I had quite the boner by now...). He pulled and pulled, over and over, like thrusts, almost. He was really posessive, taking control with everything, which I didn't mind at all. One of his hands took the edge of my shirt, about to pull it up. I really wanted to do this, and I could've, but...

I broke the kiss. "Not...now..." I breathed. "It's cold..."

Conrad let go of me, taking a step back and looking me up and down. He smiled. "Come on, let's get back to Worth..."

I'd almost forgotten about the Zombie case. But before all the stress and guilt could come back, Connor carressed my cheek.

I melted a little.