Chapter XVI – More Than Meets The Eye

Rain is inspirational for any kind of artist, mostly because it can mean so many things. A smooth and light summer rain means relaxation and serenity, a torrential autumn rain means rage and destruction, the rain which falling between the sun rays is a reason to be happy. Still, the rain which fell over Gray's house in London was something which barely told anyone anything about what it meant. The big drops hit the ground in a straight angle, for there was no rain, and the water wasn't either cold or warm. The only emotion it made everyone around the house feel was boredom, because it hadn't stopped in almost two full days.

About two nights ago, Nicole had her unexpected visit from the stoic chevalier and, to be honest, the next morning she began to question herself if it was real or if she dreamt of it. Either way, it was also true that the girl hesitated to insult or even talk with Hagi these two days. She even showed signs of guilt at certain moments when they bumped one into another on the corridors, or when she missed her room and entered Saya's. Anyway, Nicole had been very emotive and thus she showed her emotions like that. She guessed that the one to blame was the weather alone.

Now, it was the dawn of the second day since the rain started, and it showed sighs of 'emotion'. A strong wind blew, the drops cooled down and fell on the ground full of force. Gray was in the living room, reading a two days old paper. He had read it at least seven times until now, yet there wasn't anything better to read around the house, mostly because none of them bothered to go outside and buy a new one. Only Kai went one to buy some bread, but other then that they had enough food and anything else they might have needed while they were blocked inside.

But, really now, who would have guessed how important it was for an old man such as himself to read the daily paper? If they knew this, it was pretty obvious that they would have bought subscription or something.

Gray sighed deeply as he folded back the paper after reading two pages and placed it on the coffee table, before leaning back into the cough his hands resting on his knees. His eyes slowly averted somewhere outside the window; it was noisy enough not to notice if someone called on him or something. Still, it wasn't like they did not know where he was, the man spent hours in the living room when he had nothing better to do. Like fishing, for example. Actually he was planning a fishing trip, but because of the weather they had to cancel it. Too bad, his fishing rods rested somewhere in the warehouse, being ignored once again. The funny thing was that he somehow used to enjoy rain and there were many memories which were connected with this kind of climate. But now it simply bored him to the point where it became truly annoying.

"Mr Gray?"

His eyes traveled the room until they met Monique's. "Yes?" he responded as leaned forward again. The girl's face inwardly turned upstairs for a second before she decided how to state this.

"I am rather worried for the new girl, Nicole. She wont come out of her room unless it's breakfast or dinner time, but she is always late and never eats with us." The blond grabbed her upper right arm with her felt hand and began to rub it nervously. "I haven't even seen any laundry from her ever since she came here. It's almost like she doesn't even exist."

Gray's gaze moved from her eyes when she finished and stared empty at the old carpet on the floor. Monique was right, Nicole was always in her room sitting there all day and night long all by herself. The man didn't knew what to think of this, because whatever it was, it made the girl always hurry back in whenever she got out to eat. Curious enough, none of the rooms had TVs or radios, so maybe she kept herself entertained with something of her own. Gray did recalled the fact that she received some packs from her tutor, but he highly doubted he sent her something so…addicting? When his gaze moved up towards the girl, he saw how concerned she was about the orphan. How could he comfort her? It wasn't like he was able to obligate Nicole to get out of there or something. Sighing, he tried to think of other possibilities, and only one popped in his mind.

"Monique, please do not forget that Nicole had suffered a great trauma a few months ago." He told the girl while her eyes slightly widened confused. Rising from his seat, Gray walked over to some drawers and pulled out one file from one of them. "come." He motioned towards his companion as she obeyed. In his hands he held Nicole's documents; her birth certificate, her identification card, along with some paper work to justify her stay in his house and the act which proved she was an orphan. There were also some notifications about her tutor, Cornelius Benton. She blond stared at the papers blankly, not knowing what to truly understand.

"I have studied these several times now. Two months ago, her father and mother died in a severe car incident and she had been left in the hands of her mother's brother, Nicole's uncle Cornelius Benton. This is the actual man I am intrigued in." Gray stated as he sat down on the couch followed close by Monique.

"What is it about him?" she asked curiously.

"Cornelius Benton owns a small but profitable business in a rental company. You know, those old rent-a-cat services? This is exactly what he does for a living. And it seems his services are quite professional, because in New York only, there are seven offices which he takes care of himself."

"So I see he is a very responsible person…" Monique almost stated as she tilted her head forward a little. Gray's serious expression never changed.

"and he is pretty wealthy as well; he owns two apartments, a flat near the city center and a Lexus. Not to mention he has several bank accounts."

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't really understand."

Gray's eyebrows slightly narrowed when she took Cornelius's picture from Monique's hands and stared at it for several seconds. Nicole's tutor was a tall and very elegant man; dressed in a green suit, his dark brown haired was combed backwards with a ridiculous amount of hair gel and his eyes were half closed and staring at the old man with apparent kindness. His face had rough features, just like a man in his early 40s. Just like any other businessman, yet, Gray couldn't help but think there was more hiding behind the imagine he was staring at.

"Upon studying all of these, I cant help but wonder; why did Cornelius considered himself 'inapt' to raise this girl, when it is obvious that he held all conditions to take care properly until she was 18?"

A small moment of silence filled the room as the blond besides him widened her eyes a little. "Sir, you don't think that-"

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The lighting and thunder outside synchronized and the figures of Gray and Monique disappeared for a second under the white flash of the electric power. The girl was unable to suppress a small scream of surprise and shock while the man simply jumped in his seat on the couch. The next second, the dim, soft yellow light which filled the living room faded suddenly, along with every other source of light or electric device which was located in the house.

Gray blinked his eyes several times, as they adjusted to the darkness which took over the place. From upstairs three distinct voices were heard, all of them belonging to females. Mao screamed as if she saw a serial killer in her shower, Javier started to cry and the new orphan yelled 'shit' out of the top of her lungs. A second later, Kai also shouted a rhetorical 'what the hell is going on?' before he heard several crashes coming from the garage. The old man sighed deeply; they were all over reacting. It was only a small blackout caused by the storm; no need to shout, scream and cry as if it was the end of the world, even if the darkness around pretty much made it feel that way. Besides him, Monique held a hand over her chest as she panted lightly. By this time, the old man's eyes were ok with the black before them and he was able to see the shadowed figure of the blond.

"w-what happened?" she asked between pants. He simply placed a hand over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's a simple blackout of electricity." He assured her. "Do you have your cell phone with you?" Monique immediately took the device out of his pocket and clicked a button, it's screen lighting up.

"Please go check on Javier and calm her down."

"Oh-ok…"

Monique rose and made herself way unsure out of the living room using the cell phone's light to light up her way and not bump into things. Meanwhile, the old man gathered the files and blindly made himself way back to the drawers where he pulled the out of, grabbing a small and old flashlight instead. It was pretty old, so he had a rather hard time in actually making it light the place properly. Even so, the light was very dim and he was unable to see things clearly. But it was a light nonetheless. While he pointed it around the room, the wet figure of Kai came into view.

"Are you alright?" the man asked. Kai groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I kinda made a mess in the garage when the lights went out. But I'll live." He responded as he got closer. Gray noticed that he wasn't just wet, he was fully soaked.

"I guess the rain isn't getting close to an end." He mused slightly amused.

"Yeah, pretty much. Do you have a towel?"

"Come." Gray moved from his spot towards the kitchen. Under the sink in a kitchen cabinet, he took out an oil lamp which he lit with a small match. Grabbing it he passed it to the younger male and motioned towards the first floor. "Take this and go upstairs, there are some towels in the dresser. Call the others down as well."

Meanwhile, Nicole just experimented a new extreme sport; the backwards jump on one foot while holding a guitar then landing on the bed, rolling on your side and then finally falling head first on the floor, while the guitar remained intact. What? It really was an extreme sport! No one knew how much adrenaline passed through the girl's body while she done that, mostly out of fear to not break her instrument! They should held championships about this! Just imagine what a shit load of money they would get from the spectators who wished to see the contestants doing that shit!

The girl got up and inspected her lovely guitar. Nothing broke; that is a good thing. She placed it aside, in a safe place and then she began to complain about herself, cursing out loud and rubbing her head like there was no tomorrow. God that hurt…. She opened her eyes, but she saw nothing. She blinked then a few times, but she saw nothing. Her mouth dropped open and her heart skipped a beat.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, I GONE BLIND!"

Adrenaline can also make you scream things before you have the chance to think about them…

Just outside her room, Kai jumped two feet in the air when she heard a certain orphan's scream. And as a result, because of the lack of light he lose his balance when he made contact with the floor under his feet and ended up crushing his skull into Nicole's door. Well the irony made the door open, but luckily Kai got to his feet before his face would make contact with the floor too. Inside, Nicole closed tight her eyes at the sudden wave of yellow light which came from the male's oil lamp. She placed her palms before her face and grunted a curse or two, but a second later realization hit her as well.

"Wait…im not blind?"

Kai rubbed his head before snapping his eyes open to meet the face of a confused girl. "What the hell are you screaming for!" he barked at her while shooting the girl a piercing glare. She simply rose and eyebrow.

"Kai? What the HECK are you doing in my room!"

"Oh, SHUT UP! It's just a blackout! The light went out!"

Nicole took herself a minute or two to process the info she just received. The only valuable conclusion she reached was that she wasn't blind, and that she freaked out for nothing, which probably made Kai to rush in her room and snap out of his pants because she screamed and then he screamed at her and…actually it was just a blackout.

"Really?" the girl asked frankly as she rose her eyebrows still confused. But the male before didn't seem to have as much patience as she thought he might have. Slapping a hand over his face, he simply got out of the doorway and pointed outside.

"Get down in the living room. NOW."

Nicole almost tripped in her own feet again as she tried to obey. Well, the adrenaline still haven't run out, because in her rush she didn't had enough time to think of what she was doing. Why? She actually tripped over her own foot, she banged her head in the door when she closed it AND grabbed her guitar as well, bringing it downstairs with herself. Only when she arrived in the lobby she realized that she was carrying it with her.

"Dammit." She grunted as she turned to go upstairs and leave her guitar there as well, but as soon as she rose her first foot she tripped and hit her head on the railing. Again. Why? No light anywhere close.

She rolled on her belly while still laying on the stairs and rubbed her forehead. Ok, this was getting out of hand. Her head was something valuable; she couldn't just go around hitting it on every dam thing around her. From that moment on, Nicole decided to be much more careful with her head, and not hit it around wherever she went. Just then another light was pointed on her figure.

"Nicole? What are you doing there?"

Turning her head, she saw the big figure of the old man, Gray pointing a flashlight over her. Still, he was kind enough not to point it in her eyes.

"Just…rolling around…" the girl answered sarcastic as she rose to her feet, grabbed the neck of her guitar and carefully descended the couple of stairs she lied on.

"You should be more careful, the man reproached her."

"Eh, don't worry I have a hard head." The irony. "Anyway, what just happened."

"Nothing serious, the light just went out. The problem is that I only have this flashlight and the lam Kai has. We need to stay together until the lights will come again. Come" he told the girl as Gray made himself way back in the living room. Nicole nodded and followed close by, dragging the instrument after her. As he sat down on the couch, the girl followed and sat across the coffee table, on the opposite couch. With care, she placed the guitar at her feet and crossed her arms sighing deeply.

For gray, that was the very first moment when he realized she had it. He would have never guessed that she actually played an instrument, even if he read it in her file, she never really seemed to be the type who would like such things. In the darkness of the room, he was unable to see exactly what kind of guitar it was, so he decided to ask her directly about it.

"You play the guitar?" he asked with a small smile curving his lips. Nicole flinched a little at the sound of his voice. Shit, she had to expect something like that to come; what in the world was in her head when she brought that thing with her? Well, absolutely NOTHING for that matter, but she blamed the blackout and Kai for scarring her and making her act so quick she had to time to think. Scratching her nose nervously, Nicole shifted in her seat.

"Yeah…kinda." She replied frankly. This was a topic she wasn't the most comfortable to discuss about. He was oblivious to her embarrassment.

"I've never heard you play it until now. It there something wrong with the strings?"

"I guess I simply forgot about it a little." She replied still avoiding his gaze. Gray nodded.

"I see."

From the old man's point of view, this was rather strange, so he remained silent afterwards. Still, he couldn't help but analyze what the girl told him and doubt it deeply. He had learned long ago how to play the piano. Gray re-called the time when he was in his early 20s, a young man who just finished his superior studies at the college. By that time, he learned how to play an instrument as a hobby, mostly because it was one of the few things which helped him relax with all the stress which got to him, and he was no pro, but it was a small little something which meant a lot to him. Several years later, the death of his father injected more pain in his veins then the strongest venom on earth. From that period of time, he couldn't remember anything clearly. Anything except one thing. He remembered the way he locked himself in his home and played hours and hours at the piano every single song he knew over and over again. It was as if his whole body auto-programmed itself to act like that, taking advantage of the only thing which helped him overcome events.

And Gray was sure this was no coincidence. Every musician who played an instrument with all their heart and soul would have done the same. Yet, Nicole sat before him and said she 'simply forgot about it'. How was that even possible? Wasn't she a dedicated musician? Gray had no right to judge her like that, because just like he said earlier, he never heard her play. It was true, her file said that she studied the guitar, but if she studied it in school, it was pretty possible for her to actually play it only in the paper, and not reality. The old man shook his head as he dropped his eyes. This was a little to much for someone as old as himself….

"Mr Gray?"

He immediately opened his eyes and averted them at the exit of the living room. Monique stood there with a lit up white candle in her hand, while the other one held the small palm of Javier. The little girl had a frightened face and she was shaking lightly. As soon as she spotted him, she ran over at him and threw her arms around his neck.

"I'm scared…" she admitted. Gray rubbed her back and pulled her in his lap.

"It's ok, I'm here." He smiled from under his mustache as he pat her head.

"Ok, anyone care to explain what in the world happened here?"

Everyone in the room rose their eyes and stared at the slim and slightly annoyed figure of Mao. When she noticed her, Nicole could only roll her eyes; boy she grew to dislike this particular female. In her view Mao was nothing more but a little spoiled chick. In fact, she never actually bothered to ask why was she here? Well, considering this was some kind of orphanage, maybe she was just like her, but Nicole rejected the idea right away. No, she remembered she heard once or twice her voice while she talked to hell knew who, and she mentioned once something about a 'daddy'. Well, unless it was her pimp, then Mao wasn't there for the same reason Nicole was. So the teen just decided to ignore her 'great entry' thing. On the other side, Monique offered the info she demanded right away.

"It's just a mere blackout, because of the storm. It's better for us to stay here until it will pass." She explained as she caught the sight of Kai descending the stairs. Mao averted her eyes in the same direction as well.

"and why isn't anybody going to fix it? Kai!"

"What? Why me?" the male protested as soon as he heard his name being called. The brown haired girl was about to shoot a reply, but Gray's deep voice interrupted them.

"Enough, you two. Monique, what about David?"

When her ears picked up the name, Nicole became suddenly more interested. This David guy was someone she heard them talk several times now, but she had never seen him in person. Apparently his room was always locked or something like that, he almost never came down to eat, and he drank a lot. Inwardly, her eyes averted towards the blond also waiting for an answer.

"I…haven't went in his room at all. I guess he might be sleeping."

Ah, the irony. Don't you just hate when someone you are eager to see wont come out of their cave not even when it rains and the lights went out? Just wonderful. Nicole collapsed in the sofa with a small sigh. Maybe next time.

"Again? Is that man even human anymore?" Mao interrupted once more as she placed her hands on her hips and made herself way towards the couch the punk was sitting on. Still, Nicole was happy that she made sure to stay in the other end, as far as possible from herself.

"Don't be so rough with him, Mao. You know none of us are in full shape at the moment." Nicole's interest rose once more at the sound of Kai's sighing voice. "And it's affecting David more th-"

"look who is here." Gray interrupted, making everyone follow his gaze. Standing at the doorway, Saya stared back, a tired expression planted over her features. Nicole's eyes fell on the light colored night gown she wore, making her eyebrow rose a little. Saya had been sleeping? What the heck? What time was it, 9pm? And as far as she knew, the black haired girl haven't done anything out of the ordinary to tire herself with. For a second she had an impulse to ask her out, but before she had the chance to even open her mouth, another tall figure revealed itself from behind her. It immediately made her swallow whatever words were about to come out.

It was Hagi.

Dammit.

Nicole averted her eyes towards the lamp on the coffee table and tried to appear bored and uninterested, but she knew the fucker had already noticed her looking at both of them. Damn…why was everything so complicated? Couldn't he just pretend not to exist and she would do the firkin same?

But, wait; if you come to think about it, wasn't she the one who… didn't ignored him?

FUCK! Nicole felt like slapping herself right there and then. Luckily, she realized that maybe in the darkness of the room she might not aim her face corrently and maybe she would have ended up slapping someone else. That was a thing she knew she would come to regret. That if she wouldn't have slapped Kai. Then she would be happy.

Still, somehow, her logic was right. Except for the time he busted in her room unnoticed by her when she played the guitar, she was the one who ran into him with or without intention. Well, from that moment on, Nicole swore to herself she was going to become a real bitch and ignore the heck out of him! To come and think about it, this decision only made her feel somehow better about herself… Damn, she was a weird person.

"Why is so dark in here?" the sleepy voice of Saya asked no one in particular.

"The lights went out." Mao answered while she made herself more comfortable, hugging a pillow. "Wanna stay with us or you are going to follow David's tribe?" She patted the seat besides her, the seat which divided Nicole spot and her own. When she heard her request, Nicole narrowed her eyes a little as she pushed the musical instrument at her feet a little to a side, just to make sure Saya wasn't going to touch her with her own feet if she sat there. In return, the guitar gently hit the coffee table's feet, making a few of its strings tremble. All eyes everted in her direction.

Shit.

Silence followed. Damn, she hated silence.

"what? I was making room for Saya." The teen mumbled as she stared blankly at the floor.

"Um…thank you." The black haired girl mumbled as she sat down. Unlike Nicole or Mao, her position was very tense, and it was petty obvious that she did not felt that comfortable. The teen simply shot her another confused look, and accidentally her eyes met her chevalier's for an instant. Before she realized it, she was glaring at the blue eyed man, for apparent no reason, but he did not seemed that affected by this like herself. With a small grunt, she turned her head and gazed lazily at the coffee table, while Hagi made himself way towards a corner of the room.

"Hagi, what are you doing?" came the smooth voice of Gray. The young man immediately brought his eyes to meet the elder's. "No need to run off like that. Take a seat, you are among friends here."

Inwardly, Nicole brought her gaze up as well, only to take spot Saya looking over her shoulder.

"It's ok." She muttered in her low and tired voice, and the next instant, footsteps were heard, as Hagi made himself way at an armchair and sat down quietly.

Nicole couldn't help but widen her eyes. Things went from awkward to totally strange. Did she just witnessed at some kind of…master-slave thingy? She shook the thought out of her head. Well, she was being only over-reacting. Gray mentioned Hagi wasn't a servant around the house, and didn't Saya said something about him being her friend? Yet, wherever she went, he went after her, and now she was sure as hell that he almost asked for permission to sit besides them, even if he done it without words. By this time, Nicole learned that the young chevalier was good at speaking without words…or something like that.

Gray's eyes traveled the room, Mao, Saya, Nicole, Monique and Javier, Kai, himself and Hagi. He smiled from under his mustache.

"Good, I guess everyone is here."

After the flash of light of a lightning, a thunder was heard. Then they all shared the silence.

And the silence stayed in place for another hour or so. The atmosphere wasn't tensed, nor relaxed. Each one of them simply stared at some blank point avoiding each other's gaze. The rain outside had not changed in intensity, and every now and then the lighting filled the living room and the thunder replaced the silence. Other then that, nothing; as if the room wasn't filled with living creature in first place.

Mao allowed herself to yawn loudly. "This is sooo boring…" she mumbled in a low voice, but it was enough to make herself heard.

From his seat, Kai opened his eyes and grunted; he was in a half-awake half asleep state. "Umm…wha…?" he moaned. Another small yawn escaped Javier's mouth.

"Can't we do anything?" she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"what is there to do? We cant even see each other properly." Mao reproached again. God, that girl was never pleased.

"I'll grad the radio; maybe we can listen some music." The old man stated as he rose from his seat and made himself way towards the drawers. In one of them an old and dusty radio played was placed. Gray grabbed it and dusted it's surface with the back of his palm, but when he tossed it backwards he sighed defeated.

"No batteries…" he mumbled again while he placed it back.

Another moan of annoyance escaped Mao's lips. "That is so not cool."

Another moment of silence filled the room. Gray was still standing by the drawers, and his eyes silently and smoothly scanned its occupants. All of them were bored or tired of of their minds. Monique tried to keep herself awake while she listened to the little girl's chatter about some cartoons, while Kai did not gave a damn about the others in the room and simply threw his head backwards, eyes closed and threatening to fall asleep. Vis-à-vis of them, on the opposite couch, Mao still hugged the pillow and had her chin pinned on the palm of her hand; her features showed nothing more but annoyance and boredom, pretty much like Nicole. Only that the other female seemed a little more relaxed while she sat Turkish style on the couch. Between them Saya exchanged every now and them glances with her chevalier, and Gray wasn't surprised to notice that his features barely showed anything besides seriousness and detachment.

Much to his surprise, Saya spoke up. "How about we listen after all some music?" she asked no on in particular before turning her head towards her chevalier.

"Hagi, do you mind playing the cello for us, please?"

The young man's eyes blinked at her request, but nonetheless he showed no emotion that he was going to object anything. Rising without effort from his chair, he started to make himself way around the couch, upstairs.

"I left the case upstairs." He stated monotone. "I shall go get it."

Gray's eyes narrowed, barely visible. This was his chance to verify something.

"Wait a little Hagi." He asked the man in a slightly louder voice. Inwardly he drew more eyes upon his figure then just his. "I don't want to seem rude, but, Nicole would you like to play for us, please?"

Say…what?

Nicole's heart skipped a beat, as her whole body tensed up and her eyes slightly widened. That was something she truly didn't expected, and she didn't knew how to react at it. The teen wasn't sure if she was able to play with this many people around her but she didn't knew how to turn down the request either. Her brain was too numb to find herself a way out and, as she turned around to face the older man, she knew he was going to insist.

"Besides, you already have your guitar here; what do you say?"

In that mere second, she truly hated this old man! How could someone be so…polite and yet so cruel at the same time! He practically just said something like 'ill make you a deal you cannot refuse' and stuff. Nicole couldn't help but frown as she stared at the musical instrument which still lied at her feet. Should she..? Or shouldn't she?

Maybe somehow she wanted to play it. After all, that was what she was doing when the lights went out in first place. Still, in her view there were too many people around for her to feel comfortable while playing.

"guitar?" a perky voice asked with a slight hint of excitement. Nicole's eyes rose to meet Javier's sleepy ones. "you can play the guitar? Oh, please, please, please, can you play it now?" she asked the teen with half closed eyes, while she planted a tired smile on her features. God, she could have been a younger version of Maria, her crew mate.

Or better said ex crew mate, Nicole corrected herself mentally as her lips frowned even more. Yep, Maria always wore her hair in pigtails, just like that little girl did, not to mention her eyes sparkled with the very same amount of excitement as Javier's, and even in a tired state she would manage to show her excitement and joy no matter now numb her brain or body might have been. Yeps, Maria was a grown up child, and that was why Nicole and the others loved her. For several second, the teen wondered what would Maria do if she met this girl and where she was now and what was she doing?

Still, all in all, one thing was certain. If Maria would have pleaded Nicole to play the guitar just like Javier just did, she would have done it nonetheless.

So…maybe there was a slim reason to play after all, despite the large audience and the numbness in her body.

Sighing deeply, Nicole bent and grabbed the guitar's neck, placing the instrument in her lap. "Maybe just something really short…" she mumbled absently as she positioned her left hand on the neck and the other one ready to pick on the strings. But then her eyes rose upon Hagi's figure.

"you are going to sit or what?"

In the morning, she would slap herself for giving him attention despite the promise she made to herself.

The room fell silent once more, but it was some other kind of silence. It was some kind of anticipating silence, mostly because all eyes were glued on the fragile figure of Nicole, waiting for her to begin.

But there were two pairs of eyes who stared at her in a different way. Hagi and Gray's.

Behind his solemn mask, Hagi stared at her with worried and expectant eyes. About two days passed since he had 'violated' her intimacy while she tried to make her own version of a song. Her singing then was fragile and insecure; every note seemed to be out of it's place one way or another and the tune, even if it was rather clear seemed to run out of it's line every now and then. The night after that, he listened to her playing the very same tune, though somehow she appeared to be less insecure while her fingers picked on the strings. Still, the melody wasn't flowing the way it had to. Somehow, tonight Hagi felt it was the night when he would listen to her playing flawless, a perfect cover for the tune she tried to transform that she listened in her headphones. Well, it wasn't more like a feeling that he would have listened to her, it was more like a need or maybe even a want. As the rain fell one and one for almost three days straight, he found her music a great medium to relax in, even if she wasn't a pro. Maybe it was all this stubbornness which she impaled between the notes the one which fascinated him and helped him drift out of his thoughts a little. Still, when she played, he kept wondering how would have the tune sounded when Nicole would have finally mastered it. When the lights went out, he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, but now he regained the hope that maybe he would witness the result of the two nights she tried to master the song. So, he simply watched her closely, with an interest which fell beyond the boundaries of a music critic.

On the other side, Gray watched Nicole with interest as well, only that the interest he aimed towards her dripped from his suspicious side. There was only one thing he wanted to inspect while she played and his heart skipped a beat as he waited for her finger to finally start.

Nicole was not unaware of the glances she received, but she tried to ignore them. In her mind she tried to pick up a song to play; a short and simple one which wasn't going to exhaust her more then she already was. Still, she couldn't come up with any, so she simply decided to abuse whatever idea first popped in her head.

So, she left her fingers swings across all strings, earning her a descent tonality. Not even a second later, she swung them again, this time hitting only three of the strings, still in a descent manor. Then she stopped swinging her fingers, and a small melody started to form, as each of her thumb, index, middle and ring finger picked the strings at certain different intervals. Her hand moved only from her wrist, as her arm rested on the box of the guitar. Her whole body was leaned forward and her brown messy hair made any glance at her features impossible. The only limb which significally moved was her left arm which pressed on the strings on the guitar's neck, in order to achieve different notes. Other then that, she sat motionless, in a very relaxed manor. That until, her body began to rock every so slowly back and forth on the tune.

A tune which was so much more different then what Hagi expected to hear. The melody was slow and grave and the notes came out much more smoothly. The chevalier was positive that this wasn't the same song he had heard her play in her room the other nights. The instant he realized it, he began to wonder why haven't she played that song? Was she afraid that she wasn't going to succeed if she did? It was true, the song she played now was far more simple, but he was so certain that she was going to play the other one, he almost felt disappointed again that he haven't heard it.

Still, inwardly Hagi closed his eyes and leaned backwards into the seat, just a little as he enjoyed the song. Between the noisy drops of the rain outside, the tune was so calming and distinct, almost like a lullaby, but there was also what seemed to resemble a melancholic touch which was pretty hard to notice unless you were musician yourself. But Hagi noticed it; the kind of tune-line which was characteristic for a piano or maybe even violin. He could have told it was yet another cover she mastered herself, transforming what once was a piano melody into what he heard now. The chevalier even started to think that chords he could have ran his bow over, and mentally he painted the song as a duo of his cello and her guitar; a rather awkward combination, but lovely and touching nonetheless.

Nicole continued to play, showing no attention to whatever happened around her. Behind her messy bangs of hair, her eyes were closed and only her lips were parted just a little, as she inhaled and exhaled rhythmically. In her mind the original song played at the same time as she played it, the notes and lyrics flowing smoothly. The original song belonged to some Irish composer who's name didn't mattered as much as his work. He was a talented pianist with a lovely voice and this song was a pretty old creation of his. Still, it never ceased to touch whoever heard it's heart. Pretty much like Hagi's assumptions it was a melancholic song about someone's feeling about love. Pretty ironic…Nicole never seemed to be the romantic kind of girl, yet the song impaled itself in her mind and betrayed her sentimental self. Still, it was pretty hard to figure that out, mostly because her face was hidden while she played. If her bangs weren't covering her face, her soft half closed eyes and her serene expression would have even visible, an expression of which Nicole had never been aware of. Inside her mind, the lyrics went by.

Kiss while your lips are still red
While he's still silent
Rest while bosom is still untouched, unveiled
Hold another hand while the hand's still without a tool
Drown into eyes while they're still blind
Love while the night still hides the withering dawn

A lover's feeling it was, about a love which never came true.

Nicole wasn't sure if she had to feel ashamed or proud of the fact that she had never actually experienced love, and still be able to reproduce a song about these feelings so well. Of course, the only one who knew it was a love song was herself, but still...even in this numb mental state she somehow feared that she would end up exposed. Still, she wasn't sure what she was to be exposed of…maybe the fact that she was just a poser and her true self was nothing more but an over-reacting sentimental girl? Maybe the fact that she liked to play these songs because she knew she never had anyone to say 'I love you' to?

Her eyes snapped open, her body jumped a bit backwards and her hand missed a string, making the part of the song she was playing incomplete. This was the main problem she had while she played her guitar; she wasn't able to fully empty her mind, as she had to. Instead she began to think inwardly about the things which she locked deep inside her mind and soul. Really was she now thinking about the fact that she never really had a boyfriend? In fewer words, this was exactly what her thoughts meant, even if it was such a less 'poetical' way to put things. Nicole blinked her eyes and snapped herself to reality. There was no need to worry over such things; she was only 16 years old, too young to think of such feelings. There were so many things which she needed to think of, such as the new dance crew she was to be part of, or what was she going to do once she will be 18 and Gray wont be able to keep her in his house?

Instead, she thought of those pathetic meaningless things. Really, what was she? She was Nicky, for God's sake! A loud mouth, annoying and bad-ass little bitch, right? Right!

Out of the blue, her eyes narrowed, and her hand stopped picking on the strings. Nicole sighed deeply as she leaned backwards and placed the guitar on her lap. One hand rose and wiped clean her forehead. "I'm done." She muttered with a strange seriousness in her voice as she rose and placed the instrument at her feet where it was before. When she opened her eyes, she picked up a few reactions; surprise masked with indifference from Kai, surprise masked with snobbism from Mao, pure excitement from both Monique and Javier and so on. Still, she couldn't have cared for none of them or the few compliments she received seconds later.

Still, she forgot to pick Hagi's confusion and Gray's seriousness.

The chevalier remarked her sudden change of attitude, and he did not understand what just happened to her. It was as if someone just shot a bullet in the back of her head, making her snap out of her meditative state and abort whatever action she was performing. The man decided to be quiet and keep his feelings for his own as he shot just one last look in the girl's direction. Why was he so complicated to read? The way she fell from one extreme to the other was just too confusing for him, and instead of answers it gave birth of even more questions. Closing his eyes, he tried to replay the tune in his head and wondered how its ended sounded.

On the other side of the room, Gray watched Nicole with serious eyes, but the glare implanted in its gaze was enough to make a hole right between her eyes. The old man seemed somehow unpleased because of the fact he had just realized. Nicole was a skilled player and a dedicated singer. She had just been through a trauma by loosing her parents in a car accident. She ended up in an orphanage, on the other side of the globe. Yet, she stated she forgot about her musical instrument, a thing which obviously made the burden on her shoulders lighter each time she played.

Something was wrong; he was able to feel it. There was something about that girl which had been hidden, and Gray was more determined then ever to find out just what that thing was. He closed his eyes and brought a hand to his temples rubbing them lightly; he had faced many mysteries up until then, but this was the most questionable of them all.

The lightning lit the room and then the thunder claimed it's silence. The rain continued to fall, probably even more vicious then before. The clock hanged on one of the walls showed it was only one hour before midnight.

Nicole yawned and crawled into a ball, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. She slowly drifted into her lands of dreams, unaware that she just done more then just play a song on the guitar.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: I don't really know what to say. A long chapter which I am not that proud of, I mean, it could have come out a lot better, but I had a block. Again. If there are any other questions ask in a review please, because I am tired out of my brains….. Oh, the lyrics used are from a Nightwish song, 'while your lips are still red'.

Oh, and please point out any mistakes or oocness if you see any, ok? Also suggestions are welcomed ^^ good-night!