Notes:

I still only own Michiko, Kishi, and the Yankees. Borrowed part of a scene from the anime because I liked it so much. :)

~Tali

Chapter 8 – Magic

Michiko was on her way to the store when she spotted Kyou walking across the school quad. He looked very upset so she followed him into the building to see if he was going to class or if he was going to cut. Sometimes being so young came in handy. He headed for the stairwell to the roof and she followed him quietly. Once they were on the roof she smiled a little as he settled himself down for a nap in the sunshine. The scene would have been okay except for the miserable look on his face. He looked heartbreakingly sad. She walked carefully over and sat down next to him.

"Kyou-kun, what's the matter?"

"Nothing! Leave me alone!" he shouted.

She scooted so that she was close enough to touch him and started running her fingers through his hair and scratching his head gently. He started to relax and she shifted so she could rub his head with one hand and his back with the other. "Won't you please tell me what's upsetting you so?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I've started to think of you as my little brother and I want to help you if you'll let me."

He turned a little to look at her and saw she was serious. He put his head back down and closed his eyes. Sometime later he finally started to speak, "I don't understand you. Why do you care about me? I'm not worth it. No one cares. No one ever has, so why do you?"

Michiko looked at him with tears in her eyes, "Kyou-kun you are worth it. You are a good person. I don't know who's made you feel that you're not, but they are wrong."

"No, they aren't. I'm a monster."

She scrambled around so she could see his face. Sorrow was etched into it. She lay down next to him and reached out to rub her knuckles across his cheek. He looked at her in surprise at the gentle gesture.

"You. Are. Wrong."

"You don't know everything about me, how can you know that?"

"I've seen into your heart, Kyou-kun. When you speak of Sensei, when you fight, when you are around Tohru your heart is there to see and it is beautiful. We can't always see the good in ourselves, but that's why we have friends like Tohru. To remind us that we are not as bad as we think we are."

He looked over to see her looking unwaveringly into his eyes.

She moved her other hand to take hold of one of his and smiled teasingly. "You know I'm right."

"No, I don't." he said with some of his usual bite.

"Have you ever won an argument with me? Quit wasting your breath."

He opened his mouth to argue but found he didn't have anything to say.

"See? That's much easier, isn't it?" She glanced around the roof before returning her gaze to him, "Since you're obviously not going to classes this morning, do you want to come over to my place instead? The sun hits the couch very nicely this time of day and you can have a much comfier nap there."

He considered her for a few moments, searching for lies or tricks but could find only honesty and openness. "You really mean all that crap you spouted, didn't you?"

She raised a brow, "Yes."

"Okay. I'll go keep you company since you obviously can't stand being alone."

She chuckled at him as they stood and linked an arm through his. "Lead on. I barely found my way up here. I'm not sure I can find my way back out again."

He shook his head in exasperation, "You and the ushi are made for each other."

She smiled at him, "Your family has some odd nicknames for each other. I've been thinking about them and they are for the zodiac, aren't they? I have heard people use inu, neko, ushi, nezumi, hebi, and usagi." She ignored the way he stiffened slightly and continued, "You Sohma's are a bit odd. Loveable, but odd."

They finally escaped the school in a round about route that she would never be able to duplicate and she led the way to her apartment. When they got there she opened the door and turned to him, "Come in and be welcome."

Kyou looked at all the oil lamps everywhere and shook his head, "And you call us weird." He went over to the same couch he and Tohru had slept on and curled up on it.

She followed him over and ruffled his hair. "You really are a neko, aren't you? Do you want some tea or milk or would you rather go straight to sleep?"

Kyou blushed a little, "Milk?"

She chuckled and went into the kitchen to get some. After he had finished the glass she took it back into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. She wandered back into the living room with it and saw he was already fast asleep on her couch. She ran her hand over his head on the way by and tucked a blanket around him. It was a little chilly by the window even with the sunshine. Deciding he would be fine for now, she went back to her studies. She was researching a very archaic spell that had been used on a high ranking officer that they needed to get back to work. Today was her day off so she had brought a load of books home to look through. It was such an interesting spell . . . .

A few hours later the neko sat up and stretched lazily. She gave him a smile, "How are you feeling, little brother?"

He blinked at her for a moment, "Am I going to be able to get you to stop calling me that?"

The smiled widened, "Nope. You argue with me over stupid stuff, you sleep on my couch all morning, you fight with me, you teach me, you're nice to me in your own twisted way. That's all stuff brothers do."

"Fine. But I'm not calling you big sister so don't even think about it."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

He looked around a bit. "Are all these books yours?"

"No, I borrowed some of them. They're for work."

He cringed. "Doesn't look like much fun."

She shrugged. "Sometimes it's more fun than others."

"Whatever. I should probably get back to school for afternoon classes at least."

"Do you need me to walk you back?"

"NO! Unlike you and the ushi, I can find my way around just fine. I've walked down this street hundreds of times."

"Oookay then." She stuffed a scrap of paper and a key into his hand. "Call me anytime you need to talk or just drop by. You are always welcome here."

He looked at the paper and key then at her before stuffing them into his pocket and slouching out the door.

----------

Haru was wandering down the hall lost in thought. He was thinking about what had happened earlier that morning. He had been on his way to class and saw Kyou leading Michiko out of the school by the hand. What he couldn't figure out was why Michiko was at the school and why she would leave with Kyou. It was really bothering him. They hadn't looked together but why were they holding hands?

Suddenly someone stopped directly in his path and he nearly ran into him. It was the Student Council President and the guy practically oozed rule-abiding citizen. He had seen him at the entrance ceremony and taken an instant disliking to him. Haru looked at him quizzically for a moment before stepping to the side to go around him. The teen side-stepped with him so he looked at him in vague irritation, "Do you need something?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I need you to start following the school dress code, Hatsuharu-san. You have more violations in your first day than most students have in an entire year." he started lecturing in a shrill voice. "I will not tolerate that white hair or those gaudy necklaces." Haru tried to tune him out as he went on and on and on about his supposed violations, starting with his hair and ending with his shoes, then back to his hair, and then what each of those violations said about him as a person – especially his hair. His voice got louder and shriller as he talked and Haru finally snapped.

"Shut up! Quite shoutin' like you're king of the friggin' world. You're making my ears bleed, you bastard. Now I've got some common sense for you. If I wore a tie, it wouldn't change who I am. If I had no piercings, it wouldn't mean I'm nice. And if my hair was black it wouldn't stop me from kicking your ass! Who do you think you are anyway?" he growled and punched the guy into the wall.

"I thought you were going to kick my ass?" he asked pathetically.

Haru stomped over to him and picked him up by the collar, "Are you calling me a liar?!" he shoved the guy away and kicked his ass all the way down the hall. He decided he had enough school for one day and stomped out of the building, still seething.

He followed his feet and found himself outside of Michiko's apartment after only three wrong turns. He banged on the door and a moment later it opened to reveal Michiko's smiling face. Suddenly his doubts were gone, or at least temporarily forgotten. She only smiled like that for him.

"Hello, Haru-kun. Come in and be welcome."

He waited until the door was closed then caged her against it, "Hello, Kitten. Are you going to let me kiss you again?"

Her eyebrows raised in surprise at seeing Black Haru. "Is that all you ever think about?" she asked playfully.

"No." he leaned forward and started whispering other things he thought about into her ear.

"We're not doing any of that today. Do you ever deviate from that general theme?" she asked with a bright blush.

He shrugged, "I also think about kicking obnoxious people's asses, but I've already done that once today so I thought I would try something new."

She raised a hand and ran her fingers through his soft hair, "Well, I suppose one kiss won't hurt."

He didn't need to be told twice and pressed his lips against hers passionately. He really did care for his kitten. Several minutes later he pulled away for air and smiled.

"So, what brought you out to play today?" she asked breathlessly.

He growled just thinking about it. "Some idiot started ragging on me about all the ways I violate the dress code and what that says about me as a person. I wish people would get over my hair. It's natural. I don't dye it." He growled again, "Every once in a while I wish more people had hair like mine so people wouldn't bug me so much."

Michiko watched him rant. "So it really is natural? I couldn't decide. It's so soft I didn't see how it could have been treated with chemicals, but it's so unique I wasn't sure that it could be natural."

"You thought it was dyed too?! Dammit! What is with people?" he asked. He growled again before an odd look crossed his face. "I can prove it." and with that he proceeded to show her that the carpet matched the drapes.

She spun around quickly covering her eyes, "Haru-kun! I'm not ready to see that yet!"

Behind her there was a strangled sound. She turned around cautiously to see Haru hastily zipping up with an utterly baffled look on his face.

"Mi-chan? What's going on?"

"White Haru?" she asked.

"Yes . . . ."

"Someone was bothering you about your hair and how you violate the dress code and really pissed you off. Once you finished kicking his ass you cut school and came here to neck with me. I mentioned that I couldn't decide if your hair was natural or not so you decided to show me that it was."

He closed his eyes, "Do I need to apologize for anything besides flashing you? I only remember flashes of what happened."

She pulled him down to rest her forehead against his, "You don't need to apologize for anything, Haru-kun."

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "You are very understanding."

"I told you I want to know all of you. I was serious. Does it really bother you that people talk about your hair so much?"

"Yes. It's hair. It's not important at all, so why do people make such a big deal out of it?"

"I don't know. I really love your hair." She leaned back so she could run her fingers through it. It really was quite beautiful and she would love to have hair like that. She felt him stiffen and returned her gaze to his face. "What's wrong?"

"What did you do to your hair?!" his voice was very close to Black.

She looked at him blankly. He spun her around to face the mirror and she gasped. Shit! She had been so focused on Haru's hair that hers changed to match!

She looked into his face and saw that he was very unhappy, and angry too. Okay the hair is going to have to go then and in order for that to work, you're going to have to tell him the truth. Damn.

Haru's eyes narrowed as he felt her tremble. He looked at her face and she looked like she was getting ready to face a firing squad. He turned her around and lifted her chin to capture her eyes. She continued to look down and he sighed softly feeling Black recede completely. "I'm sorry, Mi-chan. I did not mean to upset you."

She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to his, "Haru-kun there is something I need to tell you. I need you to promise to keep it a secret, okay?"

Haru furrowed his brows but nodded and led her over to the couch to sit down.

She took another deep breath before beginning, "Haru-kun, I have a gift that very few people have. I am a Metamorphagus, which is someone who can change their appearance at will."

"What does that mean, exactly, Mi-chan?"

"It's easier to show you than explain it. I was thinking about how much I like your hair, which is why it changed to match. I'll change it back to usual." she explained and concentrated on her usual hip length black hair with purple stripes. His eyes got impossibly large as he watched hair just sprout out of her head and change color.

"Wow." he studied her hair for a moment longer with a thoughtful expression, "What else can you change?"

"Um, everything about the way I look can be changed."

"So you could look just like me?" He watched her features blur and then he was looking at himself.

She got up and walked around a bit and she even moved like he did. "Huh. How does it work?"

"It's a type of magic that some people are just born with." she switched back to herself, with the correct hair this time.

"So is this what you really look like?"

She shrugged, "Mostly, yes."

"Can I see your true form?"

She quirked a brow a the phrasing but did as he asked. He stood next to her and studied her thoughtfully. "So you're a little taller, your eyes are blue, and your hair is dark red? That's all? Why did you change those three things?"

"I changed my height to make anyone one that tried to go after me underestimate me. I changed my hair because I like the purple and it clashed horribly with the red, and I changed my eyes because I thought the gray complemented the purple nicely. And they stood out too much anyway. It's hard being one of the few people with blue eyes in town. Easy to remember."

He lifted a brow slight, "And purple stripes blend into the crowd."

"Dye is easy to change and everyone does it."

"Would you stay like this when we're alone? I like the real you."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. Haru smiled back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "That's a neat power to have." When the time comes, I think she'll truly accept me and not freak out about the curse.

Michiko reached for his hand and noticed his knuckles were bloody. "Let's get your hands cleaned up, shall we?"

He nodded and allowed her to lead him down the hall to the bathroom, where she sat him down and started clucking over him and cleaning his cut knuckles.

"So you said it's a type of magic, does that mean there are others?" he asked half-jokingly.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" she asked.

"Um, . . . yes?" he asked curiously.

"There are many types of magic and shape shifting is not the only one I can do. When I said I went to school, it was not a school like yours. It was a school to learn real magic." she paused, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm okay." he replied. "The healing thing?"

"That's a combination of energy work and magic. I have a strong aptitude for healing magic and I don't need a wand to focus it." She shook her wand into her hand and held it out for him to see. "I use this to focus my power and an incantation to direct it for everything else. Like this." she levitated a book from one stack to the next.

"I thought you needed an incantation?"

"I learned how to do it without speaking it aloud. Makes it tougher to counter in a duel."

"A duel?" he asked interestedly, that sounded fun.

"Yes. That's what wizards call a fight. Personally, I prefer martial arts but there is something satisfying about hitting an opponent with a well placed spell. Anyway, magic is also how I get around so fast. I can move instantly from one place to another as long as I've been there before or someone can clearly show me. But that only works if they want me to see. I can't do it otherwise. It's quite handy."

"Can you take me along when you do it?"

"Of course. It's a little disorienting when you first start, but you get used to it after a while. Where would you like to go?" she asked.

"Somewhere to eat. I think I missed lunch."

She nodded and stepped close to him, "Still no hugs?" she asked.

Haru shook his head, "No hugs."

"Okay." she moved so her arm was around his waist and her other hand was gripping his arm across their bodies. "Ready?"

He nodded a little nervously and then felt like he was being squished. Suddenly he was standing inside an ally in the middle of town and nearly fell flat on his face. "Where are we?"

"Two streets up from the noodle place. Are you okay?" she asked gently.

"Yeah, I just need a moment and I'll be fine."

"Take your time." she said as she rubbed circles on his back. "You're taking this pretty well."

He shrugged a little. "I've seen enough things that I can't explain to keep an open mind." At least I won't have to worry about her telling our secret. I'm going to have to one day if I want to keep her.

"Ready?" she asked a few moments later.

"Yeah. I think so." He took her had and led her into the restaurant.

They placed their orders and found a table. Haru made small talk until their order had been delivered and then asked the question that had been on his mind during the entire conversation.

"Is magic part of why you moved out early?"

"Yes. I started using accidental magic when I was very small. It frightened my parents and they started punishing me for it. I never meant to do it and I couldn't control it so I was punished often. My mother ignored me utterly and my father only paid attention to me to punish me. It only got worse as I got older and he got drunker." she explained matter-of-factly.

Haru watched her closely as she explained and noticed that her eyes darkened a little at the end of her explanation. Remembering her scars and the incident with the belt, he decided not to push the issue.

"Well, I think it's pretty handy all in all." he said as he dug into his meal.

"So, what do you really do for a living?" he asked curiously, a few bites later. He had noticed that she always seemed to evade questions about work or answer them in such a way that it discouraged further conversation or changed the direction of said conversation.

She giggled and leaned forward to speak quietly, "I research spells that have been cast on people that no one can figure out how to remove."

"Ah. Wouldn't have guessed that."

"I'm glad you're taking all of this so well. I've only told one other man about my ability and promised I would never tell anyone ever again. I wasn't sure I would ever tell anyone about the rest of it if they didn't already know."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Well, think about it for a moment, you tell a man that you can look like anyone or anything and suddenly he wants to go out with the 'perfect girl' and never wants to see the real you anymore."

"So he was an old boyfriend then?"

"I'm not sure I would go that far. He happened to catch me while I was testing out new looks and I had to explain. Once he started asking me to change my appearance I stopped talking to him. We dated for less than two months."

"Well, I like the real you and to hell with the other guy. He was an idiot." Haru said with a slight scowl.

She smiled as she reached over to touch his arm, "I like the real you too."

His eyes landed on the bandages on his hands and he held one up, "If you can heal with magic why did you use bandages on me?"

"Because I know those injuries don't really bother you and taking the time to clean and bandage them is one way I show you that I care for you. Rest assured that any serious injury you receive will be tended as quickly as Yuki's asthma attack."

"So you used magic on him for that?"

"Of course. It was an emergency. Would you prefer I heal your hands instantly?" she asked curiously.

"No. I like that you do it the long way. It makes me feel cared for and that's not something I had a lot of before I met you."

She smiled softly in response, "I want you to always feel cared for when I'm around."

"I do."

----------

Michiko answered the door with a grin and welcomed Hatori inside. "Are you ready?"

He shrugged slightly, "I believe so." He looked around at the lit lamps and shook his head. "Do you have something against electricity?"

"No, but this will work better for what we're doing tonight." She had pushed most of the furniture to the edges of the living room and indicated the older man should take a seat on a cushion. "Tonight we will be meditating and you will practicing aura gazing and energy sensing."

His brow lifted ever so slightly in question.

"Yes, aura gazing and energy sensing. You can hardly manipulate something you can't see or sense." She lit a tall white taper. "Now I want you to relax your mind and do some of the meditation exercises I assigned you and when you feel your mind has relaxed try to see the aura of the candle and sense the energy from your own hands. If you have any questions I will be sitting right next to you doing the same thing."

"You can really see auras?" he asked with a slight edge of disbelief coloring his voice.

"Yes, and yours is tragically complicated." she returned.

"What does it look like?" he asked, trying to remember what he'd read on aura colors and what they meant.

"Complicated. You'll see it for yourself soon enough and you are sufficiently self aware to know how you feel from the roots up."

He nodded his agreement to that and turned his attention to the candle. He felt ridiculous staring at a candle while sitting on a cushion and looked over at Michiko. She was gazing at it serenely with her eyes slightly unfocused. He frowned lightly and moved his gaze back to the candle and relaxed one muscle at a time.

Michiko's head snapped around as she heard a very soft snore from beside her and she grinned at the sight beside her. Hatori had fallen asleep while meditating. He was obviously not getting enough sleep in the course of things and he looked so sweet she couldn't bring herself to disturb him. She carefully spelled him onto the couch and tucked a pillow under his head and a light blanket over him before pulling a book out and settling in to read until Hatori woke up or she fell asleep.

Hours later a soft sigh sounded from the couch and Michiko grinned over at it, "Feeling better?"

Hatori sat up immediately and looked around, "Did I fall asleep?"

"You did. You should get more rest, Hatori-san. It's not good for you to wear yourself down."

He brushed her off, "I am fine. Do not concern yourself." He glanced at his watch and hurried to his feet. "You should not have let me sleep for so long."

"You needed it. Who am I to get in the way of someone taking care of themselves?" she returned easily. "You'll practice and we'll get together in a week or two?"

He nodded before letting himself out. Michiko cleared the candle and books and headed to bed to get some sleep.

----------

The next day Michiko was at the store and smiled when she spotted Tohru at the end of her aisle. Nate stayed a few aisles over and she pretended not to notice him hovering. "Hello, Tohru-chan."

The girl looked up and smiled in return, "Hello, Michiko-chan. Are you shopping for groceries? Of course you're shopping for groceries. You're at the grocery store."

Michiko's smile turned into a grin, "Just a quick trip. My cabinets are nearly bare and Haru, Kyou, and Yuki are coming over for dinner tonight after we spar. I'll do my regular shopping tomorrow or the next day. It's too bad you have to work tonight or you could come over with them. Maybe we can get together another night so we can all watch a movie or something."

"That would be so much fun." Tohru replied. "I really enjoyed last time even though we were all worried about you being hurt. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"Me too. Speaking of last time you were all over, how are you and Kyou doing?"

"W-what do you mean? I think he's fine. I'm okay." she stuttered.

"The way you two were curled up says something's going on. Isn't there?"

"Oh, I don't know. We're friends. He's nice." she replied with a bright blush as she looked anywhere but at Michiko.

"He is very nice. And he seems to like you."

"R-really? I doubt it. He's so special and I'm just me."

"You're very special as well, Tohru. And I really think you two make a nice pair."

Tohru shook her head, "I don't think he thinks about me like that. I'm just Tohru. Not special at all."

"That's part of what makes you special. You don't even know what you do for the people around you."

"W-what?"

"You remind us of everything good in the world and you're such a good friend to all of us."

Tohru shook her head. "I just want to be a good friend because all of you are so good to me."

"Well, I think you and Kyou would do well as more than friends, but it's none of my business."

The other girl glanced away as she spoke, "I might think about Kyou as more than a friend sometimes but he would never see me that way and I don't have the courage to show him."

Michiko slipped an arm around her shoulders, "I think that if it's meant to be it will fall into place. When the time is right, you'll have the courage."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes. That's what happened with me. I was so scared of getting to know people but when I met Haru and then all of you it was all I wanted. I'm so glad all of you have come into my life."

Tohru smiled and returned the half hug, "I'm happy I have a chance to get to know you better."

"Maybe we'll get together just us girls one of these days."

"That would be a lot of fun. Maybe you'd like to meet Hana and Uo too." Tohru said before bowing quickly. "I better hurry or I'll be late for work. See you later, Michiko-chan."

Michiko returned the bow, "See you later, Tohru-chan."

After Tohru walked away Michiko caught Nate's eye, beckoned him over and dumped her stuff into his hands, "You may as well carry the groceries as stand around doing nothing."

He laughed at her but accepted the items and walked close to her while she finished up her shopping. She hoped they would catch the other gang soon so she could go back to not having to worry about someone following her around.

----------

Michiko stumbled to the door when someone started pounding on it. She had no idea what time it was or who it could be. The group had agreed to go home for a couple hours to rest before getting back to work. They had a high priority case and no one was getting much sleep while they all worked to fix it. Haru knew she was swamped and to not call until she called him. She yanked the door open and stared blearily at Kai as his worried frown changed to a laugh at her disheveled appearance.

"Can I come in?" he asked when she only stood there glaring at him.

She blinked slowly as she processed that before nodding and stepping back to give him some room. Once he was through the door she shut it and walked into the kitchen to make tea. She very nearly picked up her wand on the way by before realizing that would be a very bad thing.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he followed her.

"Tired. Need some tea." she responded as she started the kettle and got out her secret stash of super-caffeinated tea. She very rarely drank it because it was expensive but this was one of those times that it was necessary.

"Why are you so tired?"

"Work. Why do you ask so many questions so early in the morning?"

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Whatever." she replied before resting her head against the wall next to the stove and willing the water to hurry up already.

"You're quite the ray of sunshine in the morning, you know that?"

"We can't all be morning people. Name three people that are nice before tea when they've been working twenty hours a day for a week."

"Hmmm, me, myself, and I."

"Aren't you the comedian." she muttered as the kettle whistled. "Thank all the Gods in heaven."

Once tea was made they took a seat at the table and she propped her head up on one hand while she stirred in an ice cube. She was desperate for caffeine but didn't necessarily want to scald herself getting it. Yet.

"Where's Haru?" Kai asked conversationally as she had her first sip. It was hot but not intolerably so.

"No idea. I haven't been able to talk to him in a week. I hope we finish this project up soon."

"What are you working on?"

She was halfway through the cup and things were a little less fuzzy. That was probably just wishful thinking, but it got the job done. "It's classified. All I can say is if it wasn't important we wouldn't be running up the overtime. Poor Kishi is going to have a heart attack when she gets payroll next week." She paused for a moment before smiling, "But that dress will be paid for and I'll have a little money back in the bank."

He chuckled, "Did you spend all your savings on something pretty?"

"Not intentionally." she replied before finishing off the first and pouring her second. Kai hadn't even touched his so she left it alone. She glanced around and realized she hadn't gotten any snacks to go with the tea and went back to the kitchen. After several minutes of digging she found half a box of cookies stashed in the wrong cabinet and brought them out after making sure they weren't stale. "I'm sorry, I need to get to the store. I'm out of nearly everything."

"It's fine." he responded easily. "You haven't asked why I was pounding on your door yet."

"I didn't?" I hope it's not because I keep slipping my tail on the way to work. her tired brain managed.

"No." he replied before starting on his now cool tea.

She blinked a couple of times before realizing he wanted her to ask. Probably to make her admit something she didn't want to. "What brings you here Kai?"

"Strangest thing happened this morning."

"Oh?" she was pretty sure she hadn't done anything she didn't want to admit to this morning.

"The guys that attacked you and your friend turned up near our area."

She blinked as she waited for him to continue. When she realized he wasn't going to without further prompting she gulped her tea and poured another for them both. She wasn't awake enough yet to keep up with this. "And?"

"And they were acting very strange."

"Were they drunk?"

"No."

"High?"

"Not that we could tell."

"Injured?"

"Not where we could see."

"How were they acting?" Ah, the tea was finally kicking in and some of the cobwebs cleared. His put his hand over his cup when she picked up the pot again so she only poured for herself.

"Dazed. Confused. When we attacked them they dropped to the ground and curled up into the fetal position."

Michiko frowned as she thought about that, "Did you notice any unusual scents around them?"

He returned the frown as he thought about it for several minutes, "I remember smelling something sticky sweet. I don't know if it was them or not."

"Were they pale with bright pink on their cheeks?"

"Just pale."

Her frown deepened, "Did they say anything strange?"

"They were sorry."

"Is that strange when you have a group of people about to beat you up?"

"For these guys."

"Interesting. What did you do with them?"

"Dropped them off with the police with their signed confessions of all their misdeeds."

"That must have taken a long time to write."

"It did."

"Thank you. For taking care of them and for everything else."

He brushed back her messy hair, "It's our pleasure. Take care of yourself."

"I will." She glanced around as she finished her fourth cup of tea, "I should probably get back to work since I'm awake."

"All right. I should get back to the guys and let them know you're all right. They've been worried since you keep slipping your tail on the way to work. Be careful."

"I always am." she replied softly as she led him to the door and locked it after he left. She poured another cup of tea to drink while she cleaned up and dashed out the door half an hour later.