Here we are, next chapter! Gosh guys, I am really sorry about the wait. The good news is that the next three chapters will be ready and uploaded soon. I promise.

16

"This is ridiculous."

"No, you just aren't willing to actually try."

"Because it's ridiculous!"

Brick sighed, slightly melodramatically, as Blossom all but threw the sheet music he'd brought back in his face.

"I'm telling you, this is the perfect piece to practice this with initially." She gave a frustrated sigh and fixed him with a look of weary annoyance.

"Brick, I have played the violin for 9 years. I can play almost any classic piece you can name. I am not going to sit here and play 'Puff the Magic Dragon'!"

"Why not?"

"Because it is a children's song! It is not going to help me play the violin better! Urgh, I knew this was a mistake. I'm going home."

"Oh come on Bloss, are you going to give in that easily? Besides, do you even know this song? It's an emotional piece! You know, the kid and the dragon are best friends but then the kid grows up and he can't go and play with Puff anymore and he forgets him. Tell me that isn't sad, huh?" Blossom stared at him for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you are this serious about such a silly old song. Fine, you know what? I'll play it. Maybe then you'll get off my back." She sat herself back down and propped the violin up on her shoulder. She'd already memorised the notes, so there was no need for the music, which Brick had advised her to avoid using anyway.

Still can't believe I've let it come to this, she thought to herself grimly. Still, she played. It was silly and childish, but she played it anyway. However, it still didn't sound right. It was such a simple, stupid song and it still didn't sound right. She stopped short a few notes before finishing and stared dumbly at her hands, still clutching the violin and bow.

"What am I doing wrong exactly?" she muttered, mostly to herself. Brick said nothing, just smirked to himself behind a sheaf of music sheets. She growled at him to grow up and got up to go home, for real this time. He still said nothing, but he did wander over to the piano again.

"Oh what now, showing off?" she asked darkly. He shrugged.

"Just getting in some of my own practice. I mean, I need to keep my skills sharp." She watched him as he sat down and ran his fingers over the keys before starting to play. Of course, he decided to play 'Puff the Magic Dragon' probably as some kind of insult. Still, it sounded kinda nice the way he played. She was still holding the violin; she hadn't really started putting it away. Sneaking a glance to see if he was looking at her, she lifted it back up onto her shoulder and drew the bow over the strings, coming into the song at the same point he'd reached. He glanced up as she started, but then went back to his own playing.

Oddly, it did sound better playing along with someone else. Of course, that might have been to do with the fact that she was determined that she wouldn't be outdone in a fair match. Whatever it was, something about playing along with him was making her play better, was making her listen more closely to the music, making her more bold with her bow strokes. They played through it a few times before Brick finished up the third rendition with a showy flourish of chords.

"Not too bad for Little Miss Ice Queen. I'm almost impressed." She gave a sarcastic laugh.

"Very funny. Now I really, really am going home this time."

"Can I walk you?"

"No."

xxx

Brick had ended up walking her partway home anyway, despite her protests, but at least he hadn't try to get all the way to the front door. Bubbles greeted her in the front hall as she padded through from the kitchen to the sitting room, bowl of ice cream in hand.

"Have you seen Buttercup? She's not home yet." Blossom frowned as she set down her bag and violin case and flopped onto the sofa next to her sister.

"Really? I guess practice must be running late tonight."

"I thought so too, but I didn't think the team had practice tonight. Then again, I think there's a tournament coming up soon, so she's probably bullying them into doing more. Want some?" Blossom took the proffered bowl and jabbed the spoon into the ice cream.

"You okay? Normally you're not as edgy when you've been practicing. And you don't normally have sweets before dinner either." Blossom attempted a nonchalant shrug and sucked on the spoon for a few seconds after she swallowed her mouthful, although the metal tang it left in her mouth was less than pleasant.

"Was it Brick again?" She considered lying, but eventually just nodded. Strangely, Bubbles didn't ask any more questions on the subject, she just went to the kitchen to grab another spoon and the rest of the tub of ice cream.

"Buttercup's making dinner again tonight, so we may as well dig in before she gets home." Blossom didn't bother arguing and just took the tub without a word.

xxx

"Girls, have either of you heard from Buttercup? I tried calling her, but I'm not getting an answer." Blossom checked her watch and found that it was getting close to nine. Even if Buttercup had had practice that day, she would have been done and home by now, especially since she was cooking dinner and was still making it up to the Professor for yesterday; It had been a small miracle that he'd managed to talk the headmistress out of suspending her from school and from the sports team, and she knew it.

"Shall I go down to the school and see if she's there?" Bubbles was offering. The Professor shook his head, but he still looked worried.

"I'm sure it's nothing, but we agreed that she'd be home by eight for the next two weeks, and that'd she'd make dinner. She seemed content enough with the arrangement, so..." Blossom got out her phone and tried calling her, but sure enough, it went straight to voicemail.

"Something about this seems a little off," she muttered. Buttercup had been repentant about yesterday, even if it had taken her a long time to admit it. There was no reason for her to disappear like this, and despite her moody attitude, she was not really one to sulk over punishment.

"I'm gonna call for pizza for now; I'm hungry." Blossom could see that Bubbles was worried, and it was made more obvious by the fact that her hair kept flickering back and forth from long and blonde to short and black, and her eyes were green, but she was keeping a brave face on it and trying to act normally.

"Good idea," the Professor said, the worry also apparent in his voice. Blossom tried to concentrate on the English essay she'd been working on, but now that this had been called to her attention, it was hard to think about much else. After about ten minutes, she gave up and put it aside.

"I'm going out to look for her," she said, heading for the hall and grabbing her jacket on the way. However, she'd just put it on when the door opened, and Buttercup came stumbling around it.

"Oh my god..." Bubbles rushed past Blossom as Buttercup entered, battered, bruised and bleeding from a cut on her cheek. Blossom simply stood there staring at her in shock.

"Professor! Professor come quick!" Buttercup was mumbling protests as Bubbles tried to examine her injuries.

"Quickly, get her upstairs," the Professor said, looking extremely pale. Blossom finally got herself moving, helping Bubbles to carry their sister to her room.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Buttercup was saying, sounding half annoyed, half pure exhausted as they got her laid out on the bed. She tried to sit up, only for Bubbles to push her back down.

"You are not fine, and you are going to lie here at least until the Professor takes a proper look at you, now stop arguing." Buttercup made a noise that may have been a swearword, but was interrupted by the Professor entering with a first aid kit.

"Can I ask you two to wait outside? I'll call if I need you for anything." Bubbles looked like she was going to argue, but Blossom pushed her outside without a word.

"It's better if he talks to her first. She listens to him; maybe she'll tell him what happened," she explained afterwards. Bubbles nodded, but still looked worried.

"She never gets injured that badly... This is almost as bad as at the ceremony." Blossom nodded grimly. She had a feeling that Butch was involved with this, but she wasn't sure how yet. She would talk to Buttercup later, and hopefully get to the bottom of it.

xxx

"Seriously man, what is up with your obsession with her? I don't get it."

"I told you; you wouldn't understand, and I'm not going to explain it."

And he wouldn't. Not to either of his brothers. Hell, he barely understood it himself. Before, he would never have thought that he was capable of this... this feeling, whatever it was. He had never been interested in her before. Was it as simple as a cliché? He had always loved being in control, being in power, but she had always thwarted him in that regard. Was that the reason for this? He wanted her because he couldn't control her? Or because he wanted to control her? It made no sense, and yet he was continuing to play with her. What would happen if she weakened? Would he lose interest? No, that couldn't be right. That would make her just another girl, and she wasn't like the others, he was sure of that...

xxx

Buttercup still looked terrible with all the blood cleaned off and all the worst cuts and grazes bandaged up. In fact, she may have looked worse for it.

"What?" she spat, seeing Blossom looking at her. "You come to interrogate me too?"

"Well yes, but I brought some tea as a peace offering." Her sister groaned and sank back into the pillows.

"I'm sorry, I'm still all riled up from- uh..."

"It was Butch, wasn't it?" Blossom sat herself in the chair at Buttercup's desk and looked over at her sister. She saw her struggle, trying to think of a lie, could see a million different images flashing through her mind, but eventually, she gave up.

"It's useless; I know you're reading me. Yeah, okay, it was him. It's always him who gets me this badly scratched up."

"That's a little bit of an understatement considering that this is the second time this month that he's cracked your ribs." Buttercup made a weak attempt at a laugh.

"Yeah, bastard packs a mean punch, but I gave as good as I got. Didn't let my powers get in the way so much this time."

"Well, that's... good I suppose, but what happened? How did you two end up fighting?" There was another pause.

"Do... do you remember what I told you?" Buttercup finally said, looking away.

"You mean the day we had that race?"

"Yeah, about how when I get... that way, sometimes all I want is for him to show up. Well... I couldn't wait for him to pick the fight. I went looking..." Blossom stared at her, opened her mouth to tell her stupid, how reckless she'd been, but one look at her sister's face showed how much Buttercup hated herself for this.

"You... really had no other choice, did you?" Her sister shook her head slightly, staring at the ceiling, suddenly looking drained and very, very small.

"I lied to the Professor; told him Butch caught up to me on the way home. I didn't want him to know about... what's wrong with me." She suddenly shuddered violently and clutched her chest.

"Go, get out. I'm starting to heal up, and it's not going to be pretty." Blossom stood and left without a word. There was nothing more to say about this, and nothing she could say to make it better. At least, not yet.