Me: Wow. That was hard.

Karson27: For both of us.

Me: I have nothing to say.

Karson27: That's a first.

MAKE SURE TO REVIEW! (or Tiny Tim will eat your SOUL!)

Our return home was hard. Watching Tailyr was hard. None of us went to school the first couple days back, trying to adjust from the vast time changes. The first couple days were also the most important. It showed how Tailyr and everyone else was going to handle the change. The impact was obvious.

Especially with Tailyr. Everyone knew that she'd take it the hardest. She hadn't ever been without her best friend and brother. Ever. The plane ride home was pure hell in its surest form. No one really had any words to say. Not the talkative twins or the wordsmith, melodramatic king. No one. Not even Honey asked for cake on the way home.

We made it to Japan. Tailyr hadn't slept the whole time and I was afraid she was developing a fever so I went home with her, planning on sleeping there myself. I carried her to her room and laid her down in bed. Once I was sure she was comfortable, I laid down to.

She was already asleep. She was out as soon as we got into the limo. Like once we left the awkward handing silence in the plane, the normal silence in the car was relaxing enough to put her to sleep. I carried her in.

I was just about to fade out when I heard it. Soft at first and then a little louder. Tailyr was crying in her sleep. Not awake. I knew that sleep was important in rationalizing everything that your subconscious mind knew that your conscious mind was completely oblivious of. I just pulled her close to me. Not that I had to. Tailyr was a cuddler.

She and I slept like that, her crying and me holding her. I didn't know if she was going to make it out of this whole thing okay.

-Tailyr-

Depression just sucked. I wallowed in it for two whole days before I went back to school. The mansion was too quiet now. Too lonely. I didn't like being there anymore. It was too empty now.

Takeshi stayed the first day but I knew I was still on suicide watch, though I didn't think there was a real risk of that. I was bummed yeah but if I wanted to leave I could. I felt so split in two. Either go with my brother and friends to America or stay with the man I loved and the friends I had in Japan.

The second day drug on forever. I didn't sleep much. Rather, I moped around, pouting and thinking. Marx's words kept cycling in my head and it irritated me. What if he was right? I guess he was. I didn't have anything to go back to America for. I couldn't understand their feelings.

"Tailyr," Takeshi called softly.

"I'm in here," I said. I was sitting on my bed, just hanging out. Sleep for the last nine hours was impossible and my body still ached for sleep.

He sat down next to me and I crawled into his lap.

"Talk to me," he begged. He had wanted me to tell him what was on my mind. He could read it anyway but he probably believed that I'd feel better if I talked. There was something about this whole mess that was particularly bugging me. He could probably sense it.

"When I went to talk to Marx," I said slowly. "He said that I didn't know what it's like to miss a family because I don't have one. He said I didn't want to go back because I had nothing to go back to."

Takeshi didn't say anything. I wasn't expecting him to. I cuddled closer to him. I really just needed to tell someone about it. I didn't needed advice or sweet little words telling me that it was okay. He hugged me tighter. That was his way of saying that he was there for me.

And that was all I needed.

-Karsyn-

Three weeks since we'd returned to America. It was almost Thanksgiving. Fall had arrived and days seemed to be just dragging by. It wasn't the same as it used to be. A lot more quiet and calm.

"Karsyn. Karsyn. Karsyn!" Marx called. I jumped and looked up at him from my homework. I'd been intensely focusing on it pretty hard. Some of the teachers weren't nice enough to let me just come back. They felt the need to do everything that they'd already taught all year. I was going to have to work my butt off to catch up.

"Oh. Hey Marx," I said slowly. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," he said sitting down in front of me. "You?"

"The Dragon -" I cut short. I was about to say the Dragon Lady, which was the name that Tailyr had assigned to one of her least favorite teachers, but I couldn't force myself. I didn't want to talk about her. I was still a little cheesed off, to say the least. "I have homework."

Marx noticed but he was a guy so he wasn't going to say anything.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing? I mean, Kyoya called last night. He tried to talk me into going to Japan. He said he was sorry. He called me last night but I just … I can't forgive him and I'm still mad at Tailyr and -"

"Shouldn't you be telling Bethany all of this?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yeah but she's so hung up on my idiot brother," I said. "It's all she talks about and you where there. I mean, she is your friend too and you know about the Kyoya thing."

"Heh. I doubt she'll ever speak another word to me again after what I said to her," Marx said smugly.

"What was that?"

"She didn't have a family waiting here," he admitted sheepishly.

I gasped. "Marx, you didn't!"

"I did."

"You're an ass."

"I was angry. I already feel miserable enough about it. She won't even talk to me. Just Mom and Dad."

I sighed. Maybe we didn't do it the right way, I was still confident that Marx and I had made the right choice. Even if Tailyr wouldn't talk to us for a while. It was what was best for us at the time but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was trouble brewing somewhere.

Okay. Just a short chapter. Just so you can get a feel on everyone's emoness. How depressing. I don't like this. Sigh. Just make sure to reivew.