"Chapter Five;
Shopping Crisis"

I was anxious, yet excited. I finally had hope to become human; to live a life. Of course my current problem was how I got here, who did it, and why do they need me. But at the moment, I was too distracted to care.

I didn't have a lot for clothing, and I was being dragged shopping. I told the girls I'd only go if they didn't drag us somewhere where they could get something, and could only put things in with my approval. Thanks to Shun and Joe, this rule was enforced. They were really unhappy when I made those points; Runo and Julie more than Alice.

I had no idea a mall could become this huge, but things kept on getting better. And of course, by this I mean: catastrophic. "We need to get him some gentleman's clothing!" Runo said, turning to Julie and Alice as If I wasn't even there.

Julie giggled. "We could put in some pink dress shirts." She suggested.

"Perfect, let's go!" She declared, moving forward.

I was horrified, and I wasn't walking, no matter how much I felt the bags in my hands were heavy. Hell, I didn't even know that they were slipping from my hands until I heard them plop on the ground. Even then, I was still frozen. I don't do bright colors, I told them that, which is why everything in the bags were either average or dark. It's all I wanted, and in case people forgot already, I'm no gentleman!

Joe and Shun, walking forward, took my bags, and pointed at a store called 'Dawning Moon.' I looked at them, slightly confused. "We'll meet you there!" Joe said, rushing forward.

Shun nodded. "We'll hold 'em off as long as we can, just get in there; you'll blend right in!" He guaranteed, running off.

I looked at the shop. It was for anything dark, I could tell, simply seeing the clothing inside, and the logo. The name of the store was spread out on the top in dark blue letters and appeared as though they were painted with a slight curved slant. A full moon was part of the the first 'o' in 'moon,' and a black shadowed raven was hunched over the 'd,' along with the dark clouds running in, and out of each letter, same as around.

I smirked. This was gonna be interesting.

I walked into the store. It had dark purple tiled floors, and midnight blue wave patterned walls. In the store, there were small, round lanterns giving off feint light. The whole store had all sorts of dark clothing on racks, and shelves. The counter was more toward the back, right hand corner, seeing for how small this place was next to all the others, and the small set of changing rooms. Along the walls, the shelves carried all sorts of dark ornaments, accessories, and a ton of other creepy things; some meant for pranks.

I was liking what I was seeing, so I took my time and began to explore. There were all sorts of emos and goths in there, and man it was practically creepy; thank you Shun and Joe! That thought said that, once again, I owed them, and with it, I was able to smile, simply because I knew those three lunatics called girls wouldn't be caught dead in here!

I went to one of the shelves and looked at this weird charm. In all truth, it was a set of charm necklaces. They were small dragons, one white and one black, rushed into a circle, their eyes both red, and a small gem in their mouths; the white one had purple while the black one had green. There was a small scroll connected at the middle, where their bodies curved. The white said: Seme, while the black said: Uke.

"Find something you like?" A feminine voice said to me. I turned to my right and saw a girl, a little shorter than me by a couple inches, with shoulder length black hair, pale skin, and lavender eyes staring up at me. She was wearing light blue skinny jeans, black combat boots, along with a white tank top, and a dark green coat similar to my old one. The only difference it that she didn't cover her chest, and it just hung loosely.

I felt a little awkward, but I just gave her a small smile. "I don't know yet, um..." I looked at her name tag and read it aloud. "Susan." I finished.

She rolled her eyes. I arched a brow, wondering if something was wrong. "Sorry!" She said, looking at the charms I had recently looked at. "I asked the store for a different tag, but they were too cheap to make it."

"Huh?" Was the only thing I said. I didn't have a clue on what she was talking about to begin with, so I was pretty much as lost as Dan when he decides to pay more attention to his food than to Runo while they were talking; that was pretty funny!

She looked at me, only just realizing how lost I was. "I'm not making any sense, am I?" She asked. I shook my head. She let out a sigh, putting a hand on her hip and giving me a casual gaze. "My real name is Susannah Kakurohoshi! I prefer my full name instead of its shortened version, so hearing people call me Susan bugs me, so please don't call me that!" She explained to me, her eyes giving off kindness, pleading, and a hint of annoyance as her agitated smile grew.

I smirked, and nodded. "I have a similar problem! Don't worry about it!" I told her. The expression on her face became more pleasant, and if anything, much less painful than it seemed like before. I had only guessed that she was just bugged by a routine, so I decided to let the topic slide, looking back at the necklaces.

It didn't take long for her to speak again. "You're one of few people who looks at those!" She stated. I turned back at her, seeing her give me a casual look as if she's known me for forever. "Not many people even bother to; it's the reason they're on clearance." She complimented.

I guessed it was because she was at work, seeing as how these things seemed to have not been selling. I simply shrugged. "I think they're unique! Not often a time I see things like this." I stated.

She smiled. Only twice I was existing so how could I know about them? Still, I had yet to question her smile. "Tell ya what!" She started. Susannah picked up the two necklaces and grabbed my arm, leading me to the checkout counter. She scanned the two necklaces bar codes on the plastic that held the strings. She had pushed a few buttons, and a receipt came out. She took it, and placed some cash into the register before placing the the white one into a bag and handing it to me. "I'm the only employee that actually likes these things, but I only bother getting things for those I actually like." She stated, placing the bag in my hand. "You seem like a nice guy, so I believe it's worth the trouble." She finished.

I caught on a bit, and began to shake my head. "You shouldn't!" I started, handing her back the bag. "I would be happy to be friends, but it doesn't mean you should be wasting your money on me, Susannah." By the time I looked back at her, I was at a loss for words.

Susannah had gone around the counter, took the necklace out, and getting rid of the plastic on it all while I was speaking, so by the time I looked back at her, I found her placing it around my neck. I was staring at her as she hooked on the clasp from the position; her arms around my neck with her face barely an inch from mine. By the time she reverted back, she smiled in approval. "I think it suits you!" She started, placing the black charm around her neck.

She seemed to have been having trouble, and me standing there, I supposed it would be alright. I approached her, placing my hands on the clasp behind her neck. "Let me help!" I insisted in a quiet tone.

She had permitted this without argue. She left her hands on my arms, unknown to me at the time, stroking up and down them, slowly, but I was working on the clasp, and I was concentrated; there's barely a chance I'd notice a touch. Sounds and sight, easy, just not touch. It took me a little, but I was finally able to clip the thing on, and by that point, I was satisfied.

It was also by this point I noticed her hands finally making their way to my shoulders. The feeling was awkward, so I could only help but step back. My head went down immediately, my right hand rubbing its opposite's arm. This just went from odd to completely embarrassing within five minutes, and it made me wonder if girls always had that effect on guys.

I noted it as an advantage because a couple moments after getting into this position, Susannah had begun laughing up a storm. I stared at her with great confusion. I let her calm herself instead of ask simply because I was afraid to; who wants to look like Dan in public? Once she did, she explained. "Sorry, I just seem to have that affect on people!" She started. Susannah looked away with a hint of shame in her eyes. "It's because of how weird I make them feel! I've always liked dark things, but I also act regular, how some people call it."

I let out a chuckle at this. "No such thing as regular!" I stated. She stared at me in question. "When you say 'act regular,' do you mean like a bitch, or by a sweet lollipop girl? Either way, I wouldn't call them regular! You aren't either, in all defense. The bottom line is, is that being yourself is regular, and to others, being what you're not is regular. If people really liked you for who you are, they'd enjoy coming in here and seeing you, not worrying how awkward it would be to everyone else, and if they don't, well that's too bad! They miss out on a great girl, and a great friend!" I explained.

After a couple seconds, she looked at me with a sincere smile. "Thanks!" She finally said. I smirked and only nodded in response to this. She was about to say more, only with some strike of realization to bring her to a face palm. I nearly laughed, but composed myself as to not be rude, figuring out what was going to happen next. "I'm so sorry! We've been talking so much, I didn't as for your name." She stated.

I chuckled. "That was kinda my fault too!" After saying this, we let out a good chuckle. By the time we stopped, I stuck out my hand to shake hers. "Adrian Gahebich!" I greeted. She smiled, and shook my hand.

For those of you questioning why I used Alice's last name, it's simply because we used to be one person, and looking at us, side-by-side, you could say we were related. I didn't really know who actually would believe that, but I was positive with the assumption, as was Shun and Alice, so I made it clear to act like a brother or cousin, whichever came first.

Susannah looked at the clock, which read 12:30 in the afternoon. I began to inwardly curse myself, knowing that at this time, the girls had probably stopped at the food court, two of them rather steamed that I bailed. "Friends?" She questioned. I nodded once. "Pretty pissed?"

"At least two of 'em." I muttered.

She sighed as she walked towards some book behind the counter. "Louie, I'm taking my lunch break!" She yelled through some door.

"Go ahead, Suse!" A voice yelled back.

Susannah took off her name tag, walking around to the other side of the counter. "Come on! Let's go get some lunch, and straighten things out!" She insisted, offering me her hand.

I stared at it for a moment, considering how completely awkward it would be if they saw us, but took it anyways with a smile on my face. We left the store and towards what seemed like the end of our lives with two ways for Runo and Julie to kill us.

hope u like the update!